FailFast: The terminfo database is invalid

[cvandal]

Steps to reproduce

pwsh

Expected behavior

Enter PowerShell without having to set the TERM env var. I could `export TERM=xterm` but this isn't picked up by VSCode and I'd prefer to leave it set to `xterm-256color`.

Actual behavior

> pwsh
PowerShell v6.0.1
Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

https://aka.ms/pscore6-docs
Type 'help' to get help.

FailFast: The terminfo database is invalid.

   at System.Environment.FailFast(System.String, System.Exception)
   at System.Environment.FailFast(System.String, System.Exception)
   at Microsoft.PowerShell.UnmanagedPSEntry.Start(System.String, System.String[], Int32)
   at Microsoft.PowerShell.ManagedPSEntry.Main(System.String[])
Aborted (core dumped)

Environment data

> printenv TERM
xterm-256color

> TERM=xterm pwsh
PowerShell v6.0.1
Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

https://aka.ms/pscore6-docs
Type 'help' to get help.

PS /home/chris> $PSVersionTable                                                                                                                       

Name                           Value                                                                                                                 
----                           -----                                                                                                                 
PSVersion                      6.0.1                                                                                                                 
PSEdition                      Core                                                                                                                  
GitCommitId                    v6.0.1                                                                                                                
OS                             Linux 4.15.0-1-default #1 SMP PREEMPT Wed Jan 31 07:03:28 UTC 2018 (ac01747)                                          
Platform                       Unix                                                                                                                  
PSCompatibleVersions           {1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0...}                                                                                               
PSRemotingProtocolVersion      2.3                                                                                                                   
SerializationVersion           1.1.0.1                                                                                                               
WSManStackVersion              3.0                                                                                                                   

[AmandaCameron]

This is (most likely) caused by the terminfo database getting a new version in the ncurses 6.1 release. It was upgraded from 16-bit to 32-bit to allow more codes.

I noticed it the other day but ended up getting side tracked by other stuff before I filed an issue.

[SteveL-MSFT]

Need steps to repro. unset TERM; pwsh starts without error.

[datenteiler]

That doesn't work well:

$ printenv TERM
xterm-256color
$ unset TERM; pwsh 
PowerShell v6.0.1
Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

https://aka.ms/pscore6-docs
Type 'help' to get help.

PS /home/christian> 
PS /home/christian> $                                                           
PS /home/christian> $p                                                          
PS /home/christian> $ps                                                         
PS /home/christian> $psv                                                        
PS /home/christian> $psve                                                       
PS /home/christian> $psver                                                      
PS /home/christian> $psvers                                                     
PS /home/christian> $psversi                                                    
PS /home/christian> $psversio                                                   
PS /home/christian> $psversion                                                  
PS /home/christian> $psversiont                                                                                               
PS /home/christian> $psversionta                                                
PS /home/christian> $psversiontab                                               
PS /home/christian> $psversiontabl                                              
PS /home/christian> $psversiontable   
                                          
Name                           Value                                           
----                           -----                                           
PSVersion                      6.0.1                                           
PSEdition                      Core                                            
GitCommitId                    v6.0.1                                          
OS                             Linux 4.12.14-lp150.4-default #1 SMP Fri Jan ...
Platform                       Unix                                            
PSCompatibleVersions           {1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0...}                         
PSRemotingProtocolVersion      2.3                                             
SerializationVersion           1.1.0.1                                         
WSManStackVersion              3.0                                             

Setting TERM to xterm (see cvandal) works better:

TERM=xterm pwsh

[tullo-x86]

It seems to be specific to xterm-256color, which is the default in (at least) Arch:

tully@dopamine ~ $ pwsh
PowerShell v6.0.1
Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

https://aka.ms/pscore6-docs
Type 'help' to get help.

FailFast: The terminfo database is invalid.

   at System.Environment.FailFast(System.String, System.Exception)
   at System.Environment.FailFast(System.String, System.Exception)
   at Microsoft.PowerShell.UnmanagedPSEntry.Start(System.String, System.String[], Int32)
   at Microsoft.PowerShell.ManagedPSEntry.Main(System.String[])
Aborted (core dumped)
tully@dopamine ~ $ printenv TERM
xterm-256color
tully@dopamine ~ $ TERM=xterm pwsh
PowerShell v6.0.1
Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

https://aka.ms/pscore6-docs
Type 'help' to get help.

PS /home/tully> ^D
tully@dopamine ~ $ unset TERM; pwsh
PowerShell v6.0.1
Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

https://aka.ms/pscore6-docs
Type 'help' to get help.

PS /home/tully> ^D
tully@dopamine ~ $ printenv TERM
tully@dopamine ~ $ pwsh
PowerShell v6.0.1
Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

https://aka.ms/pscore6-docs
Type 'help' to get help.

PS /home/tully> ^D
tully@dopamine ~ $ TERM=xterm-256color pwsh
PowerShell v6.0.1
Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

https://aka.ms/pscore6-docs
Type 'help' to get help.

FailFast: The terminfo database is invalid.

   at System.Environment.FailFast(System.String, System.Exception)
   at System.Environment.FailFast(System.String, System.Exception)
   at Microsoft.PowerShell.UnmanagedPSEntry.Start(System.String, System.String[], Int32)
   at Microsoft.PowerShell.ManagedPSEntry.Main(System.String[])
Aborted (core dumped)
tully@dopamine ~ $ 

[dargmuesli]

This renders pwsh unusable on Arch in combination with VS Code. AUR/PowerShell does not even install (see comments) until TERM=xterm is set. VS Code cannot start pwsh as the default shell RC file's exports are not respected.

[swinny89]

xterm-256color not giving me problems on Debian Sid.

$ printenv TERM
xterm-256color
$ pwsh
PowerShell v6.0.1
Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

https://aka.ms/pscore6-docs
Type 'help' to get help.

PS > $psversiontable                                                

Name                           Value                                           
----                           -----                                           
PSVersion                      6.0.1                                           
PSEdition                      Core                                            
GitCommitId                    v6.0.1                                          
OS                             Linux 4.15.0-1-amd64 #1 SMP Debian 4.15.4-1 (...
Platform                       Unix                                            
PSCompatibleVersions           {1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0...}                         
PSRemotingProtocolVersion      2.3                                             
SerializationVersion           1.1.0.1                                         
WSManStackVersion              3.0   ```

[izznogooood]

Same issue and then some:

Prints new line for each input.

[znmeb]

I have this too - also on Arch User Repository. Does anyone have it from another Linux? It might just be the Arch PKGBUILD needs some more dependencies.

Confirmed it crashes with TERM=xterm-256color and works with TERM=xterm. Same behavior for both powershell and powershell-bin from AUR.

[codywd]

Has anyone found a workaround or fix for this issue as it relates to VSCode? I can't seem to pass TERM=xterm anywhere in VS Code Settings for PowerShell, or inside the Powershell extension code. Is there anyway to pass --rcfile to VSCode before it starts bash?

I am running this on Arch Linux by the way.

[SteveL-MSFT]

@codywd you might have better luck asking in the VSCode repo. However, vscode as a process should inherit it from the parent process.

[dargmuesli]

Seems like this is fixed upstream. The next update should solve this.