Zirconium Linux From Scratch - Version r12.4-45-systemd

Chapter 12. Preparing Xorg and Support Libraries

xterm-403

Introduction to xterm

xterm is a terminal emulator for the X Window System.

This package is known to build and work properly using an LFS 12.4 platform.

Package Information

  • Download (HTTP): https://invisible-mirror.net/archives/xterm/xterm-403.tgz

  • Download SHA256 Sum: 1331b0df5919cb243ffe326dc6ff10a291e683a262f70cdf964a664be733ad83

  • Download MD5 sum: 79f1aae7cb79066b4252b699169c378c

  • Download size: 6,417.4 KB

  • Estimated disk space required: 14,578.0 KB

  • Estimated build time: less than 0.2 SBU

xterm Dependencies

Required

luit-20250912

Required (at runtime)

A monospace TTF or OTF font such as "dejavu-fonts"

Optional

"emacs", "valgrind" and man2html

Installation of xterm

Install xterm by running the following commands: 

sed -i '/v0/{n;s/new:/new:kb=^?:/}' termcap
printf '\tkbs=\\177,\n' >> terminfo

TERMINFO=/usr/share/terminfo \
./configure --prefix=/usr    \
        --sysconfdir=/etc    \
        --localstatedir=/var \
        --disable-static     \
        --with-app-defaults=/etc/X11/app-defaults

Now Build the package, issue: 

make

This package does not come with a test suite.

Now Install, as the root user: 

make install

mkdir -pv /usr/share/applications
cp -v *.desktop /usr/share/applications/

Command Explanations

sed -i ... termcap, printf ... >> terminfo: These commands modify the terminal description so that the Backspace key is expected to send the character with ASCII code 127. This is done for consistency with the Linux console.

TERMINFO=/usr/share/terminfo: This ensures that the xterm terminfo files are installed to the system terminfo database.

--with-app-defaults=...: Sets the location for the app-defaults directory.

Configuring xterm

There are two ways to configure xterm. You can add the X resource definitions to the user's ~/.Xresources file, or add them to the system-wide /usr/share/X11/app-defaults/Xterm file.

In order for xterm to follow the locale settings in the environment, use TrueType fonts, and follow the Linux convention about the code sent by the Backspace key, add the following definitions as the root user: 

cat >> /etc/X11/app-defaults/XTerm << "EOF"
*VT100*locale: true
*VT100*faceName: Monospace
*VT100*faceSize: 10
*backarrowKeyIsErase: true
*ptyInitialErase: true
*foreground:  white
*background:  black
*cursorColor: white
*boldMode:    true
*colorBD:     white
EOF

Contents

Installed Programs: koi8rxterm, resize, uxterm, and xterm
Installed Libraries: None
Installed Directories: None

Short Descriptions

koi8rxterm

is a wrapper script to set up xterm with a KOI8-R locale

resize

prints a shell command for setting the TERM and TERMCAP environment variables to indicate the current size of xterm window

uxterm

is a wrapper script that modifies the current locale to use UTF-8 and starts xterm with the proper settings

xterm

is a terminal emulator for the X Window System