Hardware cursor and console colours resetting when starting mutt

[Cameron Simpson]

On 28Sep2018 23:06, David Woodfall <dave at dawoodfall.net> wrote:
>On Friday 28 September 2018 17:44,
>Patrick Shanahan <paka at opensuse.org> put forth the proposition:
>> * David Woodfall <dave at dawoodfall.net> [09-28-18 17:37]:
>> > In the (framebuffer) console I've used the standard escape codes to
>> > set a small 1/3 block cursor to make it more visible, and softened
>> > the colours to not be so stark.  They were a bit of a headache
>> > before, and the normal cursor is very hard to see.
>> >
>> > Unfortunately, when I start mutt everything resets back to the
>> > defaults.  I only see a couple of settings regarding the cursor, but
>> > they don't seem to help.  I've tried running with a -F /dev/null so
>> > it doesn't seem to be something in my config.  Is there any way of
>> > avoiding this?
>> >
>> > In screen it's not so bad, but the cursor resets even just switching
>> > to the window where mutt is running.  The colours remain as they were
>> > though.
>> >
>> > The cursor code I use is:
>> >
>> > printf '\e[?3c'
>> >
>> > Any ideas?
>>
>> your chosen terminal is undoubted the cause.  I run a tmux session on my
>> server and attach to it remotely usually via yakuake(konsole) but have not
>> made any effort to change the cursor.
>>
>> you have pretty well removed mutt from the equasion using "-F /dev/null".
>
>I'm using the vanilla linux console (i.e. no X and 16 colours) plus screen.
>Don't really have a lot of choice.

Does the behaviour persist if you don't use screen? I'm wondering if screen's 
terminal management is reseting your cursor change.

Conversely, does the behaviour occur if you use screen but don't use mutt (but 
_do_ use some other curses programme like vim inside screen)?

Just trying to isolate where the reset is coming from. And I don't have a 
convenient linux framebuffer console to test against (though I should set one 
up).

When we know where the reset comes from maybe we can devise a workaround.

Cheers,
Cameron Simpson <cs at cskk.id.au>