[Bug 272126] vi: Misleading error "No terminal database found" in case of unsupported terminal type

From: <bugzilla-noreply_at_freebsd.org>
Date: Wed, 21 Jun 2023 07:24:55 UTC
https://bugs.freebsd.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=272126

            Bug ID: 272126
           Summary: vi: Misleading error "No terminal database found" in
                    case of unsupported terminal type
           Product: Base System
           Version: 13.2-RELEASE
          Hardware: Any
                OS: Any
            Status: New
          Severity: Affects Many People
          Priority: ---
         Component: bin
          Assignee: bugs@FreeBSD.org
          Reporter: netch@segfault.kiev.ua

Happens at least with `vi`, other full-screen tools might suffer as well.
If an unsupported terminal is in TERM, `vi` rejects starting with a misleading
message:

$ TERM=abc123 vi 111
vi: No terminal database found

i.e. "no terminal database found" instead of "no terminal database entry
found", "unknown terminal type", etc.

The message can confuse even experienced users, not saying for novices. For me
it appeared during system upgrade in virtualbox, TERM was
`screen.xterm-256color` as provided by newer `screen` versions (even after
forcing with "-T screen" - this is `screen` issue not for this ticket), so, the
exact moment suggested upgrade error.

Please consider replacing it with more elaborated error description.

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