vttest

vttest is an open source and free command-line software implemented in C and designed from the ground up to be used for testing the compatibility, as well as to demonstrate the non-compatibility, of VT100-compatible terminals.

Features at a glance

Originally written for the Sargasso C compiler that was available on DECsystem-10 machines, vttest doesn’t support all the VT100 variations, such as the new VT200 series, or the old VT125 and VT131 ones.

Please note that additional tests are provided in application since version 1.7, which offers support for the analysis of some variants of XTerm, as well as the VT420 and VT220 compatible terminals.

Getting started with vttest

The software is written entirely in the C programming language and distributed as a tar archive, which contains the application’s source code. To install and use the program on your GNU/Linux system, you must first download the latest version from Softoware or the official website (see link below), save the file on your path, extract its contents and open a terminal emulator.

In the terminal window, use the ‘cd’ command to navigate to the location where the archive file have been unpacked, and run the ‘./configure && make’ command to optimize, configure and compile the program for your architecture and operating system. After a successful compilation, you can install the software by executing the ‘make install’ command as root or with sudo.

Run the ‘vttest’ command in the Linux Terminal to interact with the application, which will present users with a menu menu from where they can choose a test type. Type the number of the preferred test to start it.

Includes twelve tests

Twelve tests are included in the vttest program. These are test of cursor movements, test of screen features, test of character sets, test of double-sized characters, test of keyboard, test of terminal reports, test of VT52 mode, test of VT102 features (insert/delete or char/line), test of known bugs, test of reset and self-test, as well as the ability to test non-VT100 terminals like XTerm or VT220, and to modify the test parameters.

What is new in this release:

• save/restore color enable-flag for menu 11.6 in a couple of places so that the ISO-6429 tests do not reset it unexpectedly.
• amend the REP test to not reset colors if it happens to be run via the menu entry for BCE-related tests.

What is new in version 20140116:

• cosmetic changes (suggested by Itay Chamiel):
• clear screen just before resetting SCS in menu #3 character sets, in case a VT100 emulator does not simply ignore VT220 G2/G3 selections when it does not implement them.
• add check for maximum operating level before deciding whether to send a DECSCL to set it to VT100-level.
• adjust starting point of items for menu #9 "Test of known bugs" to avoid overwriting part of the description of the test.
• add configure check for -Wlogical-op to gcc-warnings
• update config.guess, config.sub

What is new in version 20111210:

• This version adds test screens for SGR 1006 and 1015 (alternate mouse responses), and modifies the ISO scrolling test screens to demonstrate color filling.

What is new in version 20110705:

• This release adds test-screens for several status reports of vt420/vt520.
• There is also a portability fix.