[Konsole-devel] [Bug 96280] New: Character set selection no longer operative; breaks backwards compatibility; xterm vs Linux console

[H.Peter Anvin]

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http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=96280        
           Summary: Character set selection no longer operative; breaks
                    backwards compatibility; xterm vs Linux console
           Product: konsole
           Version: 1.4.1
          Platform: RedHat RPMs
        OS/Version: Linux
            Status: UNCONFIRMED
          Severity: wishlist
          Priority: NOR
         Component: general
        AssignedTo: konsole-devel kde org
        ReportedBy: hpa zytor com


Version:           1.4.1 (using KDE KDE 3.3.1)
Installed from:    RedHat RPMs
Compiler:          gcc-3.4.2 
OS:                Linux

It seems that the use of ISO 2022 codes - including <SI> and <SO> to select the DEC graphics character set - to select character sets has been completely disabled in konsole 1.4.1, with the sole exception of <ESC> % G and <ESC> % @ to switch in and out of UTF-8 mode.  As far as I can tell, it looks like recent xterms behave the same.

Unfortunately, this severely breaks a number of older applications, some which aren't even running on Linux, and are not possible to change.

As an additional complication, Linux window terminals like konsole tend to be compatible with xterm, as opposed to the Linux text console.  This is somewhat awkward, especially since there are any number of xterm versions out there, and the newer ones seem to have broken what little commonality one can count on when one sees TERM=xterm.

The Linux implementation of ISO 2022 is severely broken, but at least it is self-consistent.  Perhaps as a result, Linux emulation is now a standard feature in decent Windows terminal emulators!  Perhaps konsole should, at least as an option, emulate a Linux console instead of an xterm?