netdev - Re: [PATCH v3] iproute2: color: default to dark background

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Message-ID: <27cd8235-ac98-46dc-bac8-3a72697281d5@gedalya.net>
Date: Thu, 30 May 2024 00:36:32 +0800
From: Gedalya <gedalya@...alya.net>
To: David Ahern <dsahern@...nel.org>, netdev@...r.kernel.org
Subject: Re: [PATCH v3] iproute2: color: default to dark background

On 5/30/24 12:23 AM, David Ahern wrote:

> On 5/22/24 12:43 PM, Gedalya Nie wrote:
>> Since the COLORFGBG environment variable isn't always there, and
>> anyway it seems that terminals and consoles more commonly default
>> to dark backgrounds, make that assumption here.
> Huge assumption. For example, I have one setup that defaults to dark
> mode and another that defaults to light mode.

The code currently assumes light mode and it's generating complaints. It seems like we need to figure out a way to find some support for whatever is the best assumption.

>> Currently the iproute2 tools produce output that is hard to read
>> when color is enabled and the background is dark.
> I agree with that statement, but the tools need to figure out the dark
> vs light and adjust. We can't play games and guess what the right
> default is.
>
That's not possible.

COLORFGBG won't be allowed through by SSH servers.

If you try to write \e]11;?\a to the PTY you need to establish a timeout. There won't always be a response.
I'm not aware of any good way to do this, though I'm certainly not an expert. But I don't think that tools "figuring out dark vs light and adjusting" is a thing. If you just so happen to be happy with your results then so was I until Debian changed the way they build iproute2 and I never even used color overrides -- now I do. Tools just throw colors in your face and no, there is no really good and universally working way to be smart about it.
The fact remains that the code currently makes an assumption and I don't see why it is better than the other way around.
We need some kind of (possibly crude) way to assess what is more common, light or dark. But as I have pointed out already, as long as graphical terminal emulators are concerned, the reality out there is that people use themes and such and the ANSI color codes don't dictate the actual color displayed. But on a linux vt it is easier to say that the background will be dark, and it's neither simple to change the background nor to override the way ANSI colors are displayed.