warn when TERM=dumb is set?

[tknopp]

This is from a colleague of mine, which has issues with the current Windows installers. Attached is a screenshot. Issues:

• the prompt is not green
• the ; and ? mode do not work

And actually Pkg.init() hangs forever, which might be related but also can have other reasons.

Pinging one of our windows experts: @tkelman

[tkelman]

Is ENV["TERM"] set by any chance?

[MandyA]

Hi there, ENV["TERM"] results in "dumb".

[tknopp]

What does dumb mean, is the julia prompt still there? Might be best to post a screenshot, simply drag the picture into the comment field. Thanks!

[tkelman]

See #6560 and #6428 - can you recall why that environment variable is set? Are you an emacs user by any chance? If you can unset that environment variable or change it to something different (outside of Julia) I believe you should get the full-featured REPL back (after restarting Julia).

[MandyA]

Thanks a lot, that did the trick. I can't figure out why the variable was set, I'm not using emacs on the machine.

[tknopp]

Ok thanks Tony! Should we close this or should there be checks in Julia to warn about this issue?

[tkelman]

I think it's intended behavior to be able to request the basic REPL for scenarios like emacs where the LineEditREPL would cause problems. We could maybe test for TERM being explicitly set to dumb which I guess was assumed to not happen unless you're asking for it?

[ivarne]

Since the banner is still printed, it might make sense to indicate that you are using a more limited REPL.

[vtjnash]

it seems like a reasonable thing to warn about. less already takes this approach:

~$ export TERM=dumb
~$ echo | less     
WARNING: terminal is not fully functional
-  (press RETURN)
~$