https://github.com/mmitch/vater

Vala terminal emulator
https://github.com/mmitch/vater

Last synced: 5 days ago
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Vala terminal emulator

• Host: GitHub
• URL: https://github.com/mmitch/vater
• Owner: mmitch
• Created: 2017-03-14T21:19:24.000Z (almost 8 years ago)
• Default Branch: master
• Last Pushed: 2023-12-17T20:20:12.000Z (about 1 year ago)
• Last Synced: 2023-12-17T21:28:06.007Z (about 1 year ago)
• Language: Vala
• Size: 16.6 KB
• Stars: 1
• Watchers: 2
• Forks: 1
• Open Issues: 0
• Metadata Files:
  • Readme: README.md

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README

        
vater – Vala terminal emulator

==============================

[![Linux Build status](https://github.com/mmitch/vater/workflows/Linux%20Build/badge.svg?branch=master)](https://github.com/mmitch/vater/actions?query=workflow%3A%22Linux+Build%22)

`vater` is a small terminal emulator written in [Vala].  It is mostly

using on the [VTE] library which provides the terminal emulator and

just configures it in the way I want.

This is based on an idea from [Write your own terminal emulator] - in

fact I converted the C code from there to Vala as a starting point.

installation

------------

* just run `make`

  it will compile `vater` and try to install it into `~/bin`, so you

  should a) have that directory and b) have it in your `$PATH`

configuration

-------------

At startup, `vater` looks for these environment variables:

* `VATER_FONT` controls the font to use.  It is passed to Fontconfig,

  so a valid value should look something like `Noto Mono 11` (which

  currently is the default font).

* `VATER_SELECT_TO_CLIPBOARD` controls selection mode.  By default,

  selected text is only copied to the X11 primary selection.  If

  `VATER_SELECT_TO_CLIPBOARD` is set to `1`, selected text is

  additionally copied to the X11 clipboard.

bitmap font selection

---------------------

`vater` was originally designed to use the `efont` bitmap fonts.  This

gets harder and harder as classical bitmap fonts managed by the X

server are not en vogue any more.  My last success using `efont`

worked like this:

* install the `efont` font

  On Debian and Ubuntu, it's in the `xfonts-efont-unicode` and

  `xfonts-efont-unicode-ib` packages.  Otherwise see [efont].

* for bitmap fonts to work, you might have to tweak your Fontconfig

  settings

  Bitmap fonts are mostly deactivated by default (eg. Ubuntu has

  `/etc/fonts/conf.d/70-no-bitmaps.conf`).  Activating *all* the

  bitmap fonts could lead to problems, so just activate the `efont`

  font family by creating a configuration file

  `/etc/fonts/conf.d/99-enable-fixed-bitmap.conf` and run `fc-cache`

  afterwards or restart your X session (based on [this idea]).

```xml

  

  

    

      

        

          BiWidth

        

      

    

  

```

* set `VATER_FONT` to `BiWidth`

* no, I don't know why Fontconfig insists on calling `efont` `BiWidth`

  

  But I'm happy that it worked!  Took long enough...

bugs/todos

----------

* clipboard paste problem

  Over SSH, I was only able to paste the first line of several lines

  in the clipboard (*this needs some further investigation*).  Could

  be related to my colored prompt and all the escape sequences in

  there.  I think there is code (= further escape sequences) in my

  prompt that makes xterm only select the plain text but not the color

  codes.  Perhaps this is missing from VTE.  Hopefully there are hooks

  available.

* use Github issues

  This is a Github project, so why keep a list of issues in the

  README?  Just add them as Github issues ;-)

[Vala]: https://wiki.gnome.org/Projects/Vala

[VTE]: https://wiki.gnome.org/Apps/Terminal/VTE

[Write your own terminal emulator]: https://vincent.bernat.im/en/blog/2017-write-own-terminal

[efont]: http://openlab.ring.gr.jp/efont/unicode/

[TravisCI]: https://travis-ci.org/

[this idea]: http://marklodato.github.io/2014/02/23/fixed-fonts.html