Why does login prompt for "TERM" only sometimes?

[Debbie Fleith]

We have many user's sharing the same .profile and all using the same terminal emulation package configured to use ".wy60". We are using the following statement within this .profile:

TERM=`ttytype`;export TERM

Some of the users login without getting prompted for a TERM type, others get prompted to enter it.

Does anyone know why?

[Rick Garland]

The terminal setup features could be a possibility.
The term setup could be set to UNKNOWN and when that is sent to the OS, it receives and UNKNOWN term type.

Does sound like something in the terminal setup.

[Debbie Fleith]

All are using the same "wyse60" emulation in the same Tiny Term emulation package. I suppose there might be some other differences though.

[Rick Garland]

There are wyse60 configuration options in alot of term emulation packages

[James R. Ferguson]

Debbie:

I would guess that something is amiss in the terminal auto-identification sequence.

During login, when /etc/profile executes (before the .profile), the 'ttytype' command attempts to identify the current terminal by sending an identification request to it.

I am assuming that a timing issue or some other state of the physical terminal has prevented the return of any ID, leaving the TERM variable unset. Then, when the $HOME/.profile is read, a 'tset' command is offered with the option to query the user.

All of this happens BEFORE YOU set and export the TERM variable.

...JRF...

[Paula J Frazer-Campbell]

Hi
I have found this to happen if users start to enter login/passwd detail before the session is fully established.

Give it a try and see if you can recreate it.

HTH

Paula

[Bill Hassell]

The ttytype program is actually a big guessing game. There are hundreds of terminals (see /usr/lib/terminfo/*.*) and some respond to queries, others do not. ttytype by default tries the 3 major categories by sending escape sequences hoping to trigger a response. If nothing comes back quickly, it tries another sequence.

However, users may clobber a normal response with type-ahead data (like extra CR's or other characters) in which case ttytype doesn't see anything it recognizes and resorts to asking the user for a TERM value.

[Dan Hetzel]

Hi,

It guess that some of your terminals (or emulators) provide a valid answer to the identification query and some don't.

I know that the wyse 60 has a setup entry for the identification string, a good emulator should have the same. Make sure that all the emulators are configured identically.

Best regards,

Dan

[Tracey]

I have seen this problem when the connection between terminal and HP is slow. As one other person says, it doesn't get a response back in a "timely" manner and prompts the user.