Ubuntu – No entry for terminal type “unknown” Error

apache-2.2Ubuntuubuntu-12.04

I am periodically seeing the following text show up in my apache2 error logs:

No entry for terminal type "unknown";
using dumb terminal settings.

There is no reference to what is causing this error to be thrown. I would appreciate help figuring out 1) How can I track down the source of this error and 2) what might an appropriate solution be?

Best Answer

The error means:

  • you have a library or apache module that is using ncurses or similar library that can render text in a terminal
  • the TERM environment variable is set to "unknown"

You can check the environment of a process with ps e $PID or with cat /proc/$PID/environ |sed 's/[\x0]/\n/g' where PID is the process id.

To find which library is using curses, ncurses, slang, check the binaries with ldd.

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