Bug 159800

Summary:	app-editors/vim - syntax highlighting bad colors w/ x11-terms/xterm
Product:	Gentoo Linux	Reporter:	Bernard Wolff <bwolff>
Component:	Current packages	Assignee:	Seemant Kulleen (RETIRED) <seemant>
Status:	RESOLVED UPSTREAM
Severity:	normal	CC:	dickey
Priority:	High
Version:	2006.1
Hardware:	x86
OS:	Linux
Whiteboard:
Package list:		Runtime testing required:	---

Description Bernard Wolff 2007-01-02 19:31:18 UTC

When I open files which have syntax highlighting in vim, the colors look washed out. The colors look as they should for maybe 500 milliseconds after opening a file, but then immediately switch to the washed out look. This applies to all file types which have syntax highlighting (at least all of the ones I have tried, which include php, c, cpp, cc, pl). I think the problem mentioned on this page might be the same or a similar problem to what I am experiencing: http://permalink.gmane.org/gmane.editors.vim/24259
Here is an example of what the colors should look like (and what they do look like for the first ~500 milliseconds after opening a file):
http://img486.imageshack.us/img486/5691/goodda4.png

and here is what they look like after that brief period: http://img486.imageshack.us/img486/6564/badmr6.png

This problem only occurs in xterm. In rxvt, Konsole, and Eterm, the colors appear as they do in the first image.

If I use xterm to ssh into another (non-gentoo) linux machine, the colors are still washed out. However, if I use any other terminal to ssh into that machine, or if I log in locally, the colors look fine.

I believe this issue has something to do with some xterm-specific settings (possibly something in /etc/terminfo), but beyond that I don't really know.

% emerge -pv xterm vim
[ebuild R ] x11-terms/xterm-222 USE="truetype unicode -Xaw3d -paste64 -toolbar" 0 kB
[ebuild R ] app-editors/vim-7.0.17 USE="gpm perl python -acl -bash-completion -cscope -minimal -mzscheme -nls -ruby -vim-pager -vim-with-x" 5,997 kB

Comment 1 Carles Pagès 2007-05-07 19:13:00 UTC

Your problem is probably related to the vim parameter "background", which lets you choose from 2 different color schemes for light or dark backgrounds.

Try adding :set background=dark in your vimrc to force it.

Comment 2 Bernard Wolff 2007-05-07 22:28:15 UTC

I don't think it is the background setting.  I already had it set to dark.

Comment 3 Jakub Moc (RETIRED) gentoo-dev

2007-12-26 10:55:29 UTC

Try your luck upstream, please. eel free to reopen once there's a patch or some additional info available at least.