DELETE/BACKSPACE key paradox on RS/6000

[Joachim Richter]

In article <1991Mar5.154645.10479 at cs.utk.edu> jxt at cpdws1.ctd.ornl.gov (Tolliver J S) writes:
>Hi!
>I have an RS/6000. Sometimes I log in at the console, where the key marked
>Backspace works as intended--it rubs out the previous character. Sometimes,
>though, I log in from a VT100 terminal emulator, where the "delete" key
>sends an ASCII 177 to the RS/6000, which echoes as ^?. Then one must press
>control-H once to rubout the ^? and once more to rubout the original
>character one wanted to "delete". This behavior can be fixed with the
>stty erase command, but that's a pain. I could put stty erase in my .profile
>along with enough smarts to know whether it's on the console or a dumb
>terminal, but that seems rather inelegant.
>
>My TERM variable is correctly set to be "vt100". Also, note that this same
>behavior results when one telnets to the RS/6000 with a REAL VT100 via some
>other host.
>
>I claim, but am willing to be convinced otherwise, that the terminfo entry for
>a vt100 is wrong. That it should deal with the ASCII 177 sent by the delete
>key on a VT100 (or an emulator) "correctly" and make it behave as the "erase"
>character without messing with stty erase in .profile or .login. Is this
>reasoning incorrect? Why or why not? If correct, how do I hack the terminfo
>entry? I've tried hacking around a bit, but terminfo is hieroglyphics to me.
>I found cub1=^H and kbs=^H in the vt100 stanza in the dec.ti terminfo source
>code stanza. Interestingly, they were each TWO characters (i.e., a carat (^)
>and in H), not real control-H characters. I replaced them with ^?'s, applied
>tic, logged out and back in. No luck. Also tried replacing them with actual
>ASCII 177 codes entered with the ^V quote mechanism in vi (which echoed as
>^?). Still no luck.
>
>Is there a way to do this? How? Is it a good idea? Why or why not?
>
>Many thanks,
>Johnny Tolliver
>Oak Ridge National Laboratory
>jxt at ornl.gov