PuTTY + Ubuntu 12.10: why do I have no colors unless I use screen?

Question

I am accessing a new Ubuntu 12.10 installation via PuTTY. I am attempting to get my shell to display in color. Color works fine in interactive applications like vim, but I want to get color in e.g. my $PS1 prompt, git, ls, etc.

When I use a screen session, the color magically works. Without screen there is no color.

Without screen:

$ set |grep -i term
TERM=xterm

With screen:

$ set |grep -i term
TERM=screen
TERMCAP=$'SC|screen|VT 100/ANSI X3.64 virtual terminal:\\\n\t:DO=\\E[%dB:LE=\\E[%dD:RI=\\E[%dC:UP=\\E[%dA:bs:bt=\\E[Z:\\\n\t:cd=\\E[J:ce=\\E[K:cl=\\E[H\\E[J:cm=\\E[%i%d;%dH:ct=\\E[3g:\\\n\t:do=^J:nd=\\E[C:pt:rc=\\E8:rs=\\Ec:sc=\\E7:st=\\EH:up=\\EM:\\\n\t:le=^H:bl=^G:cr=^M:it#8:ho=\\E[H:nw=\\EE:ta=^I:is=\\E)0:\\\n\t:li#62:co#115:am:xn:xv:LP:sr=\\EM:al=\\E[L:AL=\\E[%dL:\\\n\t:cs=\\E[%i%d;%dr:dl=\\E[M:DL=\\E[%dM:dc=\\E[P:DC=\\E[%dP:\\\n\t:im=\\E[4h:ei=\\E[4l:mi:IC=\\E[%d@:ks=\\E[?1h\\E=:\\\n\t:ke=\\E[?1l\\E>:vi=\\E[?25l:ve=\\E[34h\\E[?25h:vs=\\E[34l:\\\n\t:ti=\\E[?1049h:te=\\E[?1049l:us=\\E[4m:ue=\\E[24m:so=\\E[3m:\\\n\t:se=\\E[23m:mb=\\E[5m:md=\\E[1m:mr=\\E[7m:me=\\E[m:ms:\\\n\t:Co#8:pa#64:AF=\\E[3%dm:AB=\\E[4%dm:op=\\E[39;49m:AX:\\\n\t:vb=\\Eg:G0:as=\\E(0:ae=\\E(B:\\\n\t:ac=\\140\\140aaffggjjkkllmmnnooppqqrrssttuuvvwwxxyyzz{{||}}~~..--++,,hhII00:\\\n\t:po=\\E[5i:pf=\\E[4i:k0=\\E[10~:k1=\\EOP:k2=\\EOQ:k3=\\EOR:\\\n\t:k4=\\EOS:k5=\\E[15~:k6=\\E[17~:k7=\\E[18~:k8=\\E[19~:\\\n\t:k9=\\E[20~:k;=\\E[21~:F1=\\E[23~:F2=\\E[24~:F3=\\E[1;2P:\\\n\t:F4=\\E[1;2Q:F5=\\E[1;2R:F6=\\E[1;2S:F7=\\E[15;2~:\\\n\t:F8=\\E[17;2~:F9=\\E[18;2~:FA=\\E[19;2~:kb=\177:K2=\\EOE:\\\n\t:kB=\\E[Z:kF=\\E[1;2B:kR=\\E[1;2A:*4=\\E[3;2~:*7=\\E[1;2F:\\\n\t:#2=\\E[1;2H:#3=\\E[2;2~:#4=\\E[1;2D:%c=\\E[6;2~:%e=\\E[5;2~:\\\n\t:%i=\\E[1;2C:kh=\\E[1~:@1=\\E[1~:kH=\\E[4~:@7=\\E[4~:\\\n\t:kN=\\E[6~:kP=\\E[5~:kI=\\E[2~:kD=\\E[3~:ku=\\EOA:kd=\\EOB:\\\n\t:kr=\\EOC:kl=\\EOD:km:'

What is the TERMCAP environment variable, and how does it get set by screen? How can I get that to be set outside of screen (short of just copy-pasting it into my .bashrc)?

Answer 1

The issue was that ~/.bashrc is not sourced when logging in directly via PuTTY, but it is when using a screen session. Apparently, logging in via PuTTY is considered a "remote non login non interactive shell".

As @terdon pointed out, ls, grep et al are colorless by default, but my .bashrc has it aliased to use colors.

My fix was to source .bashrc in my .bash_profile:

if [ -f ~/.bashrc ]; then
    . ~/.bashrc
fi

Answer 2

ls etc do not use color by default, if you want to have the colored you need to set the specific option. You can do this globally by setting aliases in your $HOME/.bashrc file (on the remote server):

1. Set $PS1 (this one is from my .bashrc., you can change it as desired):

   PS1='${debian_chroot:+($debian_chroot)}\[\033[01;33m\]\u@\h\[\033[01;34m\] \W \\$\[\033[00m\] '
   

   This looks like so:

2. Set aliases for (in this example ls and grep you need to find the appropriate option for git and any other programs you want to always have colored):

   alias grep='grep --color' 
   alias ls='ls --color=tty'