topic Re: Using command line up arrow/down arrow in Operating System - HP-UX

Using command line up arrow/down arrow

JohnSeel — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 18:23:40 GMT

Hello,
I am new to HPUX but have extensive experience on Tru64.

I would like to configure my terminal access to allow use of the up arrow and down arrow for command recall. I have done this in Tru64 by using ksh and setting the editor to emacs (set -o emacs). I use an old terminal emulator called KEA. It can be configured to emulate vt100 or vt400 (7 bit and 9 bit).

So far, I have been unable to get the arrow keys to work properly without actually mapping them via the KEA maps which causes other issues.

I don't like using vi for the command line editor.

Someone recommended installing and using bash instead of ksh, but I would prefer keeping the system shells native to HPUX.

I am running HPUX 11iV3 (B.11.31).

Is there any simple mechanism to configure this? Should I load bash?

Thanks.

Re: Using command line up arrow/down arrow

James R. Ferguson — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 18:34:59 GMT

Hi John:

I think you covered your options: use 'bash' or learn 'vi' at least insofar as using it as a command editor.

Whatever you do, do *not* change the default shell for 'root' from '/sbin/sh' [the POSIX shell in HP parlance]. To do so will lead to an un-startable system. You can temporarily change to the 'bash' shell as root. Simply don't make it the default login shell.

Regards!

...JRF...

Re: Using command line up arrow/down arrow

JohnSeel — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 18:50:23 GMT

Thanks, James.

I have already changed the root shell to ksh. Would this also be an issue?

John

Re: Using command line up arrow/down arrow

James R. Ferguson — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 19:07:06 GMT

Hi (again) John:

> I have already changed the root shell to ksh. Would this also be an issue?

Yes. The default root login shell as defined in '/etc/passwd' *must* remain '/sbin/sh'. This is a statically linked executable that doesn't use shared libraries found in '/usr'. Thus, during startup, before '/usr' is mounted, a fully functional runtime environment exists. Shells other than '/sbin/sh' live in the '/usr' directory and use shared libraries from that mountpoint.

The HP-UX POSIX shell ('/sbin/sh' for root and '/usr/bin/sh' for non-root users) is really as superset of the Korn (ksh88) shell available as '/usr/bin/ksh'. You should have no problems with the POSIX shell if you are accustomed to using 'ksh'.

A Korn93 version of 'ksh' is available as '/usr/dt/bin/dtksh' if you want the enhancements of Korn93. In 11.31, however, you must have loaded the CDE bundle for this to be available.

Regards!

...JRF...

Re: Using command line up arrow/down arrow

JohnSeel — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 19:36:26 GMT

Okay, thanks.
I've changed it back to /sbin/sh.
Thanks for the heads up.
John

Re: Using command line up arrow/down arrow

James R. Ferguson — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 20:32:25 GMT

Hi (again) John:

> Okay, thanks.

If you have found the answers you received, helpful, please read:

http://forums.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/helptips.do?#28

Regards!

...JRF...

Re: Using command line up arrow/down arrow

TwoProc — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 23:20:37 GMT

John -
I'd go with bash. By default, it does command history via arrow keys. You'll just have to invoke the shell by hand after you log in. No biggie.

Re: Using command line up arrow/down arrow

VK2COT — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 23:47:13 GMT

Hello,

Arrow keys can work in Ksh.

Add into .kshrc

set -o emacs
alias __A='^P'
alias __D='^B'
alias __B='^N'
alias __C='^F'

Where:
^P type as CTRL-V CTRL-C P
^B type as CTRL-V CTRL-C B
...

Some of my students asked me this questions
in the past.

Cheers,

VK2COT

Re: Using command line up arrow/down arrow

Steven Schweda — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 00:14:42 GMT

> [...] You'll just have to invoke the shell
> by hand after you log in. [...]

Or exec the thing from the shell start-up
scriptlet (only) if "/usr" is mounted. As
usual, many things are possible.

Re: Using command line up arrow/down arrow

Dennis Handly — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 08:15:35 GMT

>Steven: Or exec the thing from the shell start-up scriptlet (only) if "/usr" is mounted.

This may not be good enough. You should make sure that /usr/local/bin/ (if bash is there) is available and all the shlibs and dld are also available.

Re: Using command line up arrow/down arrow

JohnSeel — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 13:52:24 GMT

VK2Cot,
I've set up the .kshrc file. I can get my shell to recognize the up and down arrows, but all they do is echo on the command line as "^P" and "^B", etc.

Am I missing something else?

Also. I don't understand what you mean by:
Where:
^P type as CTRL-V CTRL-C P
^B type as CTRL-V CTRL-C B

Thanks.

Re: Using command line up arrow/down arrow

JohnSeel — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 13:59:02 GMT

All,
I've loaded bash (bash-4.1.005-ia64-11.31.depot, termcap-1.3.1-hppa-11.11.depot, and gettext-0.16.1-hppa-11.11.depot -- the last two were the latest versions I could find)They all loaded successfully with swinstall.

However, when I invoke "bash" I get messages like:
/usr/lib/hpux32/dld.so: Unable to find library 'libtermcap.so'

I find the lib file it is looking for and link it back into /usr/lib/hpux32 but then it just goes to another lib file it can't find.

Two questions:
1) Why is it looking in hpux32 when I loaded a 64bit version of bash?
2) I tried setting LD_LIBRARY_PATH to various directories including where I've found the files it is looking for, but that does not seem to work. Is there another environment variable I need to set?

Thanks.

Re: Using command line up arrow/down arrow

Dennis Handly — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 14:13:16 GMT

>I don't understand what you mean by:
^P type as CTRL-V CTRL-C P
^B type as CTRL-V CTRL-C B

I think that should be:
CTRL-V CTRL-P
CTRL-V CTRL-B

You need CTRL-V to escape the next char.

>1) Why is it looking in hpux32 when I loaded a 64bit version of bash?

Why do you think it is 64 bit? The kernel and dld.so don't lie.

>2) I tried setting LD_LIBRARY_PATH to various directories including where I've found the files it is looking for

What does "chatr /path-to-bash/bash" show?

Re: Using command line up arrow/down arrow

JohnSeel — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 14:49:43 GMT

I thought Itanium was 64bit?
My uname -a output shows:
HP-UX srvunx01 B.11.31 U ia64

Isn't that 64 bit?

Re: Using command line up arrow/down arrow

JohnSeel — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 16:21:34 GMT

Yeah!
The escape character before the Control P was the final issue (with that anyway, I still don't know why bash doesn't work.)
To recap:
LEAVE ROOT as sh!

For other users, or when invoking ksh after logging in as root:

In the user's .profile
ENV=~/.kshrc; export ENV

In the user's .kshrc enter:

set -o emacs
alias __A='^P'
alias __B='^B'
alias __C='^N'
alias __D='^F'

When entering the aliases, DO NOT cut and paste the above. The characters must be escaped with CONTROL V. So, for example ^P would be typed "CONTROL V CONTROL P", etc.

Thanks to everyone.
John

Re: Using command line up arrow/down arrow

Steven Schweda — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 20:57:55 GMT

> I've loaded bash (bash-4.1.005-ia64-11.31.depot, [...]

It's more work, but I've found it useful to
build most GNU stuff from the sources.
(Pulling a loose strand of GNU yarn does tend
to result in a lap filled with what looks
like the annual output of a whole herd of
sheep, but sometimes it's actually finite.)
When all the builds are done on your own
system, finding all the run-time stuff seems
to be less of a problem.

The current kit seems to be version 4.1 with
seven patches available, resulting in:

dyi # bash --version
GNU bash, version 4.1.7(1)-release (ia64-hp-hpux11.31)
Copyright (C) 2009 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
[...]

http://www.gnu.org/software/bash/

Re: Using command line up arrow/down arrow

Dennis Handly — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 12:11:48 GMT

>My uname -a output shows: ia64. Isn't that 64 bit?

No and yes. This is just a name so it doesn't show the mode of a particular program.
But the hardware always runs in 64 bit mode so it is only with software smoke and mirrors can you have a 32 bit application.

And the default compile mode is +DD32.

>Thanks to everyone.

If you are happy with the answers you were given, please read the following about how to assign points:
http://forums.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/helptips.do?#33