Gnome: solarized dark gnome-terminal theme seems to have same fg/bg color making text go "missing"

[ankursinha (FranciscoD)]

Hi folks,

I use the solarized dark theme in Gnome terminal. Today, I noticed the output of ls giving me blank lines:

A little investigation showed that the text is there, but it looks like the color of the text is the same as the background in the solarized dark theme. Changing the theme seems to fix it:

I’m trying to reproduce this in a new user, but It’s kind of hard to reproduce because I haven’t able to nail down what kind of files it’s using the same FG as BG for—what’s special about vim swap files?

Anyone else seeing this (vim users?)? Any thoughts? If someone else is seeing this too, it’s probably a bug in the gnome-terminal solarized theme that I can report.

thanks!

[ptrck4193 (Ptrck Lhrtr)]

I changed my gnome-terminal Preferences → Colors → Built-in schemes to Solarized Dark, and had no similar result with listings. Since it involves the ls utility, I would concentrate there. Execute

dircolors --print-database >~/.MyGNUDircolors.txt

so that we in no way corrupt file "/etc/DIR_COLORS’'. Open in editor and search for .swp. By default, it would not be there. Change it if present; if not, enter it with the desired color such as

.swp 1;3;93;48;2;75;0;130

for bold italic; bright yellow FG; indigo BG (see “file:///usr/share/doc/xterm/ctlseqs.txt”). If you have different colored terminals, it would be best to have a standard BG color for ls that would not saturate with your other colors. So also enter into the file

ENDCODE \e[0;48;2;128;128;0m\e[K

which will give an olive BG. Now execute

eval “$(dircolors ~/.MyGNUDircolors.txt)”

and - WOW!, really ugly in solarize.

[ankursinha (FranciscoD)]

Thanks for your reply Ptrck! I learned something new today.

@ptrck4193

Open in editor and search for .swp. By default, it would not be there.

So, this is my colors file:

# Configuration file for dircolors, a utility to help you set the
# LS_COLORS environment variable used by GNU ls with the --color option.
# Copyright (C) 1996-2022 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
# Copying and distribution of this file, with or without modification,
# are permitted provided the copyright notice and this notice are preserved.
# The keywords COLOR, OPTIONS, and EIGHTBIT (honored by the
# slackware version of dircolors) are recognized but ignored.
# Global config options can be specified before TERM or COLORTERM entries
# Below are TERM or COLORTERM entries, which can be glob patterns, which
# restrict following config to systems with matching environment variables.
COLORTERM ?*
TERM Eterm
TERM ansi
TERM *color*
TERM con[0-9]*x[0-9]*
TERM cons25
TERM console
TERM cygwin
TERM *direct*
TERM dtterm
TERM gnome
TERM hurd
TERM jfbterm
TERM konsole
TERM kterm
TERM linux
TERM linux-c
TERM mlterm
TERM putty
TERM rxvt*
TERM screen*
TERM st
TERM terminator
TERM tmux*
TERM vt100
TERM xterm*
# Below are the color init strings for the basic file types.
# One can use codes for 256 or more colors supported by modern terminals.
# The default color codes use the capabilities of an 8 color terminal
# with some additional attributes as per the following codes:
# Attribute codes:
# 00=none 01=bold 04=underscore 05=blink 07=reverse 08=concealed
# Text color codes:
# 30=black 31=red 32=green 33=yellow 34=blue 35=magenta 36=cyan 37=white
# Background color codes:
# 40=black 41=red 42=green 43=yellow 44=blue 45=magenta 46=cyan 47=white
#NORMAL 00 # no color code at all
#FILE 00 # regular file: use no color at all
RESET 0 # reset to "normal" color
DIR 01;34 # directory
LINK 01;36 # symbolic link. (If you set this to 'target' instead of a
 # numerical value, the color is as for the file pointed to.)
MULTIHARDLINK 00 # regular file with more than one link
FIFO 40;33 # pipe
SOCK 01;35 # socket
DOOR 01;35 # door
BLK 40;33;01 # block device driver
CHR 40;33;01 # character device driver
ORPHAN 40;31;01 # symlink to nonexistent file, or non-stat'able file ...
MISSING 00 # ... and the files they point to
SETUID 37;41 # file that is setuid (u+s)
SETGID 30;43 # file that is setgid (g+s)
CAPABILITY 00 # file with capability (very expensive to lookup)
STICKY_OTHER_WRITABLE 30;42 # dir that is sticky and other-writable (+t,o+w)
OTHER_WRITABLE 34;42 # dir that is other-writable (o+w) and not sticky
STICKY 37;44 # dir with the sticky bit set (+t) and not other-writable
# This is for files with execute permission:
EXEC 01;32
# List any file extensions like '.gz' or '.tar' that you would like ls
# to color below. Put the extension, a space, and the color init string.
# (and any comments you want to add after a '#')
# If you use DOS-style suffixes, you may want to uncomment the following:
#.cmd 01;32 # executables (bright green)
#.exe 01;32
#.com 01;32
#.btm 01;32
#.bat 01;32
# Or if you want to color scripts even if they do not have the
# executable bit actually set.
#.sh 01;32
#.csh 01;32
 # archives or compressed (bright red)
.tar 01;31
.tgz 01;31
.arc 01;31
.arj 01;31
.taz 01;31
.lha 01;31
.lz4 01;31
.lzh 01;31
.lzma 01;31
.tlz 01;31
.txz 01;31
.tzo 01;31
.t7z 01;31
.zip 01;31
.z 01;31
.dz 01;31
.gz 01;31
.lrz 01;31
.lz 01;31
.lzo 01;31
.xz 01;31
.zst 01;31
.tzst 01;31
.bz2 01;31
.bz 01;31
.tbz 01;31
.tbz2 01;31
.tz 01;31
.deb 01;31
.rpm 01;31
.jar 01;31
.war 01;31
.ear 01;31
.sar 01;31
.rar 01;31
.alz 01;31
.ace 01;31
.zoo 01;31
.cpio 01;31
.7z 01;31
.rz 01;31
.cab 01;31
.wim 01;31
.swm 01;31
.dwm 01;31
.esd 01;31
# image formats
.avif 01;35
.jpg 01;35
.jpeg 01;35
.mjpg 01;35
.mjpeg 01;35
.gif 01;35
.bmp 01;35
.pbm 01;35
.pgm 01;35
.ppm 01;35
.tga 01;35
.xbm 01;35
.xpm 01;35
.tif 01;35
.tiff 01;35
.png 01;35
.svg 01;35
.svgz 01;35
.mng 01;35
.pcx 01;35
.mov 01;35
.mpg 01;35
.mpeg 01;35
.m2v 01;35
.mkv 01;35
.webm 01;35
.webp 01;35
.ogm 01;35
.mp4 01;35
.m4v 01;35
.mp4v 01;35
.vob 01;35
.qt 01;35
.nuv 01;35
.wmv 01;35
.asf 01;35
.rm 01;35
.rmvb 01;35
.flc 01;35
.avi 01;35
.fli 01;35
.flv 01;35
.gl 01;35
.dl 01;35
.xcf 01;35
.xwd 01;35
.yuv 01;35
.cgm 01;35
.emf 01;35
# https://wiki.xiph.org/MIME_Types_and_File_Extensions
.ogv 01;35
.ogx 01;35
# audio formats
.aac 00;36
.au 00;36
.flac 00;36
.m4a 00;36
.mid 00;36
.midi 00;36
.mka 00;36
.mp3 00;36
.mpc 00;36
.ogg 00;36
.ra 00;36
.wav 00;36
# https://wiki.xiph.org/MIME_Types_and_File_Extensions
.oga 00;36
.opus 00;36
.spx 00;36
.xspf 00;36
# backup files
*~ 00;90
*# 00;90
.bak 00;90
.old 00;90
.orig 00;90
.part 00;90
.rej 00;90
.swp 00;90
.tmp 00;90
.dpkg-dist 00;90
.dpkg-old 00;90
.ucf-dist 00;90
.ucf-new 00;90
.ucf-old 00;90
.rpmnew 00;90
.rpmorig 00;90
.rpmsave 00;90
# Subsequent TERM or COLORTERM entries, can be used to add / override
# config specific to those matching environment variables.

and this is the /etc/DIR-COLORS file:

# This file goes in the /etc directory, and must be world readable.
# You can override the system defaults by making a copy of this file
# as ~/.dir_colors

# Configuration file for dircolors, a utility to help you set the
# LS_COLORS environment variable used by GNU ls with the --color option.

# Copyright (C) 1996-2022 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
# Copying and distribution of this file, with or without modification,
# are permitted provided the copyright notice and this notice are preserved.

# The keywords COLOR, OPTIONS, and EIGHTBIT (honored by the
# slackware version of dircolors) are recognized but ignored.

# Global config options can be specified before TERM or COLORTERM entries

# For compatibility, the pattern "^COLOR.*none" is recognized as a way to
# disable colorization.  See https://bugzilla.redhat.com/1349579 for details.

# Below are TERM or COLORTERM entries, which can be glob patterns, which
# restrict following config to systems with matching environment variables.
COLORTERM ?*
TERM Eterm
TERM ansi
TERM *color*
TERM con[0-9]*x[0-9]*
TERM cons25
TERM console
TERM cygwin
TERM *direct*
TERM dtterm
TERM gnome
TERM hurd
TERM jfbterm
TERM konsole
TERM kterm
TERM linux
TERM linux-c
TERM mlterm
TERM putty
TERM rxvt*
TERM screen*
TERM st
TERM terminator
TERM tmux*
TERM vt100
TERM xterm*

# Below are the color init strings for the basic file types.
# One can use codes for 256 or more colors supported by modern terminals.
# The default color codes use the capabilities of an 8 color terminal
# with some additional attributes as per the following codes:
# Attribute codes:
# 00=none 01=bold 04=underscore 05=blink 07=reverse 08=concealed
# Text color codes:
# 30=black 31=red 32=green 33=yellow 34=blue 35=magenta 36=cyan 37=white
# Background color codes:
# 40=black 41=red 42=green 43=yellow 44=blue 45=magenta 46=cyan 47=white
#NORMAL 00	# no color code at all
#FILE 00	# regular file: use no color at all
RESET 0		# reset to "normal" color
DIR 01;34	# directory
LINK 01;36	# symbolic link.  (If you set this to 'target' instead of a
                # numerical value, the color is as for the file pointed to.)
MULTIHARDLINK 00	# regular file with more than one link
FIFO 40;33	# pipe
SOCK 01;35	# socket
DOOR 01;35	# door
BLK 40;33;01	# block device driver
CHR 40;33;01	# character device driver
ORPHAN 40;31;01 # symlink to nonexistent file, or non-stat'able file ...
MISSING 01;37;41 # ... and the files they point to
SETUID 37;41	# file that is setuid (u+s)
SETGID 30;43	# file that is setgid (g+s)
CAPABILITY 00	# file with capability (very expensive to lookup)
STICKY_OTHER_WRITABLE 30;42 # dir that is sticky and other-writable (+t,o+w)
OTHER_WRITABLE 34;42 # dir that is other-writable (o+w) and not sticky
STICKY 37;44	# dir with the sticky bit set (+t) and not other-writable

# This is for files with execute permission:
EXEC 01;32

# List any file extensions like '.gz' or '.tar' that you would like ls
# to color below. Put the extension, a space, and the color init string.
# (and any comments you want to add after a '#')

# If you use DOS-style suffixes, you may want to uncomment the following:
#.cmd 01;32 # executables (bright green)
#.exe 01;32
#.com 01;32
#.btm 01;32
#.bat 01;32
# Or if you want to color scripts even if they do not have the
# executable bit actually set.
#.sh  01;32
#.csh 01;32

 # archives or compressed (bright red)
.tar 01;31
.tgz 01;31
.arc 01;31
.arj 01;31
.taz 01;31
.lha 01;31
.lz4 01;31
.lzh 01;31
.lzma 01;31
.tlz 01;31
.txz 01;31
.tzo 01;31
.t7z 01;31
.zip 01;31
.z   01;31
.dz  01;31
.gz  01;31
.lrz 01;31
.lz  01;31
.lzo 01;31
.xz  01;31
.zst 01;31
.tzst 01;31
.bz2 01;31
.bz  01;31
.tbz 01;31
.tbz2 01;31
.tz  01;31
.deb 01;31
.rpm 01;31
.jar 01;31
.war 01;31
.ear 01;31
.sar 01;31
.rar 01;31
.alz 01;31
.ace 01;31
.zoo 01;31
.cpio 01;31
.7z  01;31
.rz  01;31
.cab 01;31
.wim 01;31
.swm 01;31
.dwm 01;31
.esd 01;31

# image formats
.avif 01;35
.jpg 01;35
.jpeg 01;35
.mjpg 01;35
.mjpeg 01;35
.gif 01;35
.bmp 01;35
.pbm 01;35
.pgm 01;35
.ppm 01;35
.tga 01;35
.xbm 01;35
.xpm 01;35
.tif 01;35
.tiff 01;35
.png 01;35
.svg 01;35
.svgz 01;35
.mng 01;35
.pcx 01;35
.mov 01;35
.mpg 01;35
.mpeg 01;35
.m2v 01;35
.mkv 01;35
.webm 01;35
.webp 01;35
.ogm 01;35
.mp4 01;35
.m4v 01;35
.mp4v 01;35
.vob 01;35
.qt  01;35
.nuv 01;35
.wmv 01;35
.asf 01;35
.rm  01;35
.rmvb 01;35
.flc 01;35
.avi 01;35
.fli 01;35
.flv 01;35
.gl 01;35
.dl 01;35
.xcf 01;35
.xwd 01;35
.yuv 01;35
.cgm 01;35
.emf 01;35

# https://wiki.xiph.org/MIME_Types_and_File_Extensions
.ogv 01;35
.ogx 01;35

# audio formats
.aac 01;36
.au 01;36
.flac 01;36
.m4a 01;36
.mid 01;36
.midi 01;36
.mka 01;36
.mp3 01;36
.mpc 01;36
.ogg 01;36
.ra 01;36
.wav 01;36

# https://wiki.xiph.org/MIME_Types_and_File_Extensions
.oga 01;36
.opus 01;36
.spx 01;36
.xspf 01;36

# backup files
*~ 00;90
*# 00;90
.bak 00;90
.old 00;90
.orig 00;90
.part 00;90
.rej 00;90
.swp 00;90
.tmp 00;90
.dpkg-dist 00;90
.dpkg-old 00;90
.ucf-dist 00;90
.ucf-new 00;90
.ucf-old 00;90
.rpmnew 00;90
.rpmorig 00;90
.rpmsave 00;90

# Subsequent TERM or COLORTERM entries, can be used to add / override
# config specific to those matching environment variables.

They both contain entries for swp files:

$ grep swp mycolors-gnome-dark.txt 
.swp 00;90
$ grep swp /etc/DIR_COLORS
.swp 00;90

So, this seems to be the problem.

I’m surprised you don’t see the issue too, given that the default config seems to have these set. What version of the package do you have?

$ rpm -qf /etc/DIR_COLORS
coreutils-common-9.1-6.fc37.x86_64

[ankursinha (FranciscoD)]

I went digging, taking full advantage of FOSS

It looks like these were added in the latest 9.1 release to coreutils:

dircolors: colorize backup files with bright black

The bug says it works on both light and dark backgrounds, but to me this is a hinderance, so I’m going to override these to set them back to “normal”:

https://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi/bugreport.cgi?bug=54521

So, the “fix” is to modify these to 00 (normal file) or whatever color one chooses. I’ll mark your post as the solution, since that’s effectively what needs to be done. Folks can read these posts for more diagnostics.