Many of the workarounds described below circumvent terminfo, presumably because a lot of them are broken and can't be relied upon. While this works well on your own system, it may cause others problems when they connect to your system (i.e. when they use a different keymapping), the reason why the terminfo database was made in the first place. Oh well... I am not sure what caused all this trouble, on the other hand, I am quite sure that many people disagree whatever you say or do. Anyway, this is listed as an alternative, and because it contains lots of hints that I don't mention on the other page.

The first step is to change the kernel's keyboard translation table. If you load a keymap at boot time, read on, if not, apply the kernelpatch in the login section. Let's begin with finding the installed keymap. Different Linux-distributions put the system files in different places. Here are some suggestions for finding the keymap on your system. Type at the command line:

[localhost]> find /etc -type f | xargs grep loadkeys

If you see something like:

/etc/init.d/boot: loadkeys /usr/lib/kbd/keytables/us.map

You have actually found the keymap you were looking for. If not, you can also search for us.map with locate (provided it's installed and up-to-date):

[localhost]> locate us.map

On a RedHat system, type:

[localhost]> cat /etc/sysconfig/keyboard

and you'll probably find something like:

KEYTABLE="/usr/lib/kbd/keytables/us.map"

On a Debian system, copy /etc/kbd/default.map to custom.map. If it isn't there, there may be some maps in /usr/share/keytables, or you can copy /usr/src/linux/drivers/char/defkeymap.map to costum.map, and edit this file (provided you have installed the kernel-sources). Also check /usr/doc/kbd/. Alternatively, sit back, relax and fetch one of the following files: customus.map.tar.gz which is a modified us.map or a modified version of dk-latin1.map: customdk.map.tar.gz.

Be careful, it's possible to leave the keyboard in an unusable state if the instructions are not closely followed. Since you have copied the system keymap it's no problem, just reboot and the original keymap will be loaded. If you have edited the system keymap (without copying it) you will have to reboot using a boot flop. However, if you carefully follow the instructions you shouldn't worry. Find the following lines:

keycode 14 = Delete               Delete
        alt     keycode 14 = Meta_Delete

keycode 14 = BackSpace            BackSpace
        alt     keycode 14 = Meta_BackSpace 

keycode 111 = Remove

and replace it with the lines:

keycode 111 = Delete          Delete
        alt     keycode 111 = Meta_Delete

If you want to be able to generate characters such as àéáë in a very convenient way, you can add a compose key to your custom.map. To use the right control-key, add the line:

keycode  97 = Compose

for bash:   export LC_CTYPE=iso-8859-1

for tcsh:   set LC_CTYPE=iso-8859-1

Now you can generate (after loading custom.map) e.g. ø by pressing the right control key, slash (/), and o.

Also very nice: if you want CTRL-ALT-END to shut down linux (halting the system instead of rebooting) you can add the following to your custom.map:

# Numeric Keypad End
control alt        keycode 79 = KeyboardSignal
control altgr      keycode 79 = KeyboardSignal
# Editing keypad End
control alt        keycode 107 = KeyboardSignal
control altgr      keycode 107 = KeyboardSignal

# Action on special keypress (CTRL-ALT-END)

kb::kbrequest:/sbin/shutdown -h now

Now, type (as root):

[localhost]> loadkeys custom.map

If the new keytable works, install it permanently by putting it's location in /etc/sysconfig/keyboard for RedHat, or, on a Slackware system, copy the new keymap to /etc/rc.d/rc.keymap. On a Debian system, add the line loadkeys /etc/kbd/default.map to the /etc/init.d/boot boot script (provided the file you edited is placed in /etc/kbd/default.map of course). On other systems, by editing the boot script containing the loadkeys command. Well, that's it. Almost. You still need some shell specific modifications for bash and tcsh, and fiddle with xterm settings to get the keys right.

infocmp | grep kbs

infocmp | grep kdch1

*ttyModes: erase ^H

Rxvt only uses Xresources if it is compiled with this option. Luckily, the key bindings are correct by default (however, since rxvt uses readline, to get home and end to work you will have to edit .inputrc, see the Bash section).

While you're at it, let's get the Home and End keys to work:

*vt100.translations: #override \
        <Key>Home:      string("\033[1~") \n\
        <Key>End:       string("\033[4~")

BTW, have I told you that Ctrl-V <key> will tell you what sequence is sent to the shell? Try Ctrl-V <Delete>, it should give a ^? in your xterm or console.

Some notes:
1. Emacs resets the numeric keypad. In the emacs section you will find how this behavior can be corrected.
2. People have reported that the keypad-entry doesn't work with nxterm.
3. The syntax of the Xresources files is very strict, make sure you don't leave blank spaces after the backslash on each line. Also watch the newline (\n\) sequences, there shouldn't be one at the last line of an entry.
4. The sections are named, if you only use *VT100.Translations it will work for all xterm and friends.
5. For info about Xresources and other X related stuff try see 'man X'.

keycode 22 = BackSpace
keycode 107 = Delete

Note that the keycodes in X are not the same as in a VT. Use showkey to see the keycodes generated by the keyboard in a VT, and xev in X. There is a graphical front end for X-keyboard configuration: xkeycaps. Get the .rpm at RedHat Powertools, or get the Debian-package (or plain tarball).

Another way of generating special characters in X (without using xmodmap) is by defining a Compose-key (for use as a "dead key") in XF86Config in the Keyboard section:

  RightCtl        Compose

  XkbModel    "microsoft" 

Yet another way to use "dead keys" in X is by installing a modified version of libX11 which includes support for dead keys (transparent for all apps). First, get the modified version of libX11 (make sure you get the right version, if you use glibc replace both libX11, ELF-libc5 and ELF-libc6). Now, deactivate the XKB extension of XFree86 (edit XF86Config and run xmodmap on a Xmodmap file with dead keys like dead_acute, dead_grave, dead_cedilla, dead_ogonek and a Multi_keys one too.

A special case is if you use xdm, you need to deactivate XKB from the /etc/X11/xdm/Xservers file, passing a -kb parameter to the server like this:

:0 local /usr/X11R6/bin/X -kb

if [ -r /etc/X11/xinit/.Xmodmap ]; then
        /usr/X11R6/bin/xmodmap /etc/X11/xinit/.Xmodmap
fi

Create a file, /etc/inputrc for system wide use and set the INPUTRC variable to point to it, or ~/.inputrc for personal use. Actually, this is the readline initialization file, readline is a library that some programs (bash, kvt) use to read input (try bind -v to see a list of readline key and function bindings). Cut and paste the following in the file to make the Delete key delete characters under the cursor, and make Home and End work as well. DEL works only if you've created and installed custom.map, if not you need "\e[3~": delete-char. However, kvt needs this no matter what you do with your keymap, so just throw them both in (if you try bind -v you'll see that some keys or functions can be found on 5 different sequences, this is perfectly ok...):

DEL: delete-char
# this is actally equivalent to "\C-?": delete-char
# VT
"\e[1~": beginning-of-line
"\e[4~": end-of-line
# kvt
"\e[3~": delete-char
"\e[H":beginning-of-line
"\e[F":end-of-line
# rxvt
"\e[7~":beginning-of-line
"\e[8~":end-of-line

export INPUTRC=/etc/inputrc

I wonder what's easier, cutting and pasting the above (and the international bit below) or (right/shift) clicking on inputrc to download the file...

Make sure that the stty erase character is set to ^H. Type

stty -a | grep erase

and check if it says

erase = ^H;

If it is set to something else (e.g. ^?) then put the following line in both .bashrc and in either .bash_profile or /etc/profile:

  if tty --quiet ; then
    stty erase '^H'
  fi

if [ "$TERM" = "xterm" -o "$TERM" = "xterm-color" -o "$TERM" = "rxvt" ];
then
   # activate keypad
   echo -en '\033>'
   # BackSpace sends ^H
   echo -en '\033[36h'
fi
            

If you create /etc/inputrc, note that Bash will ignore ~/.inputrc (currently this happens in all distributions except Debian, however, this might change in the future). As an alternative, you can edit ~/.inputrc, and copy this to /etc/skel/, so it's in the home directories of all new users.
Push the key-combination 'Ctrl-x-r' (push the control-key, the x-key. release it, push the r-key, release it, and then release the control-key) to see if the changes in inputrc take effect. Or just login again, and it will work. If it doesn't work, note the following:

if you leave alone the line

	keycode 111 = Remove

"\e[3~": delete-char

	DEL:	delete-char

You can also change the keybindings on the fly with the bind command, e.g:

[localhost]> bind "\C-?": delete-char

People using keymaps with e.g. Scandinavian characters who would like bash to display these characters (øl;-) have to add the following lines in .inputrc:
set convert-meta off
set output-meta on
set input-meta on

For more info, check the Danish-HOWTO.

  if ($term == "xterm" || $term == "vt100" \
            || $term == "vt102" || $term !~ "con*") then
        # bind keypad keys for console, vt100, vt102, xterm
          bindkey "\e[2~" overwrite-mode    # Ins
          bindkey ^? delete-char            # Delete
          bindkey "\e[1~" beginning-of-line # Home
          bindkey "\e[4~" end-of-line       # End
      endif 

[localhost]> source .cshrc

*Text.translations:    #override \
        ~Shift ~Meta <Key>Delete: delete-next-character()

Emacs resets the numeric keypad when exiting, which means that the numeric keypad will no longer transmit escape sequences. However, this behavior can be corrected by removing the "rmkx" capability from the terminfo database (be careful, make a backup first and only attempt this if it bothers you...):

[localhost]> cd /usr/lib/terminfo/x (note: on some systems /etc/terminfo/x)
[localhost]> infocmp xterm > xterm.txt
[localhost]> emacs xterm.txt

Remove the "rmkx" entry, save the file and exit. Then:

[localhost]> tic xterm.txt
[localhost]> rm xterm.txt

backs           ^?              Backspace
backs           ^H 

 backs           ^?              Backspace
backs           ^H 

delch           ^?              # Del = Delete in default.map
delch           ^[ [ 3 ~        # Del = Remove in default.map

Add the following lines to in the same section to enable the Home en End keys:

bol              ^[ [ H          # Standard xterm escape seq.
bol              ^[ [ 1 ~        # Standard VT escape seq.
bol              ^[ [ 7 ~        # rxvt
eol              ^[ [ F          # Standard xterm escape seq.
eol              ^[ [ 4 ~        # Standard VT escape seq.
eol              ^[ [ 8 ~        # rxvt

bind-to-key delete-previous-character ^H
bind-to-key delete-next-character ^?

"\e[3~":delete-char

"\e[H":beginning-of-line
"\e[F":end-of-line

#line-edit
\177           delete
\e[1~          home
\e[4~          end

^H              BackSpace

[localhost]> lesskey -o /etc/less /etc/lesskey

Add the following line to /etc/profile:

export LESS="-MM -k/etc/less"

Now type:

[localhost]> . /etc/profile

And the next time you use less Delete will delete, and BackSpace will backspace! In an ideal world, anyway. Actually, my system needed some additional modifications. To get it to work in a VT, I had to make sure that the stty erase character was set to ^H, please refer to the Bash section.

By fiddling with these settings you should be able to get less to accept (all of) the holy keycodes, at least, it works on my computer. For some exciting reading, check 'man lesskey'.

[localhost]> minicom -s

Select "Screen and Keyboard" from the menu. Type "A", then press the space bar. Use "B" to determine what BackSpace should transmit. Since most remote systems will use Delete to erase to the left, "DEL" is probably the best choice here. If this creates a problem, change it to "BS". Press ESC when done. At the configuration menu, select "Save setup as dfl", then "Exit from Minicom".

bind editor      delete         delete-char

 nedit.remapDeleteKey: False

Save the file, and the next time you start nedit the Delete key will do what we want it to: delete under the cursor. Note: you can also put the line in ~/.nedit, but every time you save the default settings, the .nedit file will be overwritten, and you'll have to (n)edit it again.

# Specifies the program invoked by ^_ in the Composer,
# or the "enable-alternate-editor-implicitly" feature.
editor=

You can enter the command for any editor here, e.g. joe or vi.

If you want the editor to be started right away, start pine, enter SETUP and Config and select the enable-alternate-editor-implicitly option. Now the editor of choice will be started automagically when you start writing a message.
Another way to deal with pine is to switch to mutt, it's six times as small, and can do a lot more (colors, threadsupport, pgp... you name it). Sorry, just had to mention that.

#!/bin/sh
$if TERM=linux
export TERM=vt100
endif
exec vi "$@"

#!/usr/bin/expect

eval spawn -noecho $argv

interact {
 \010        {send "\177"}
 \177        {send "\033\[3~"}
}