Helix not picking up true color when running inside Zellij

[andradei]

Summary

When inside Zellij, true colors are not being detected and themes can't be set.

Versions

• zellij 0.35.2
• uname -av: Linux AE-22-01 5.10.102.1-microsoft-standard-WSL2 moved insert keymap to keymap.rs #1 SMP Wed Mar 2 00:30:59 UTC 2022 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
• Windows 11
• wezterm: 20230408-112425-69ae8472
• helix: 23.03 (3cf0372)

Reproduction Steps

1. Open a terminal (wezterm or windows terminal)
2. Start wsl
3. Open helix: theme is picked up and works
4. Close helix
5. Start a Zellij session
6. Open helix: theme is borked, trying to set a new theme throws the following message

Helix log

~/.cache/helix/helix.log

2023-04-12T13:54:16.283 helix_vcs [ERROR] failed to obtain current head name for /home/andradei/.config/helix/config.toml
2023-04-12T13:54:16.294 helix_view::editor [ERROR] Failed to initialize the LSP for `source.toml` { cannot find binary path }
2023-04-12T13:54:49.495 helix_view::theme [WARN] Theme: invalid modifier: "normal"
2023-04-12T13:54:49.495 helix_view::theme [WARN] Theme: invalid modifier: "normal"
2023-04-12T13:54:49.633 helix_view::theme [WARN] Theme: invalid modifier: "normal"
2023-04-12T13:54:49.633 helix_view::theme [WARN] Theme: invalid modifier: "normal"
2023-04-12T14:06:40.308 helix_vcs [ERROR] Error {
    context: "failed to open git repo",
    source: Discover(
        NoGitRepository {
            path: "/home/andradei/.config/helix",
        },
    ),
}
2023-04-12T14:06:40.308 helix_vcs [ERROR] failed to open diff base for /home/andradei/.config/helix/config.toml
2023-04-12T14:06:40.308 helix_vcs [ERROR] Error {
    context: "failed to open git repo",
    source: Discover(
        NoGitRepository {
            path: "/home/andradei/.config/helix",
        },
    ),
}
2023-04-12T14:06:40.308 helix_vcs [ERROR] failed to obtain current head name for /home/andradei/.config/helix/config.toml
2023-04-12T14:06:40.327 helix_view::editor [ERROR] Failed to initialize the LSP for `source.toml` { cannot find binary path }
2023-04-12T14:07:16.037 helix_view::editor [ERROR] editor error: Unsupported theme: theme requires true color support
2023-04-12T14:07:17.562 helix_view::editor [ERROR] editor error: Unsupported theme: theme requires true color support
2023-04-12T14:07:19.840 helix_view::theme [WARN] Theme: invalid modifier: "normal"
2023-04-12T14:07:19.840 helix_view::theme [WARN] Theme: invalid modifier: "normal"
2023-04-12T14:07:19.840 helix_view::editor [ERROR] editor error: Unsupported theme: theme requires true color support
2023-04-12T14:07:20.955 helix_view::theme [WARN] Theme: invalid modifier: "normal"
2023-04-12T14:07:20.955 helix_view::theme [WARN] Theme: invalid modifier: "normal"
2023-04-12T14:07:20.955 helix_view::editor [ERROR] editor error: Unsupported theme: theme requires true color support
2023-04-12T14:07:23.970 helix_view::theme [WARN] Theme: invalid modifier: "normal"
2023-04-12T14:07:23.970 helix_view::theme [WARN] Theme: invalid modifier: "normal"
2023-04-12T14:07:23.981 helix_view::editor [ERROR] editor error: Unsupported theme: theme requires true color support
2023-04-12T14:07:24.232 helix_view::editor [ERROR] editor error: Unsupported theme: theme requires true color support
2023-04-12T14:07:24.626 helix_view::editor [ERROR] editor error: Unsupported theme: theme requires true color support
2023-04-12T14:07:28.070 helix_view::editor [ERROR] editor error: Unsupported theme: theme requires true color support

Platform

Ubuntu on WSL2

Terminal Emulator

wezterm 20230408-112425-69ae8472

Helix Version

helix 23.03 (3cf0372)

[andradei]

Opened an issue on Zellij, but it may be the case that the problem lies on the helix side
zellij-org/zellij#2359

[andradei]

Don't know what happened. Maybe I had to reboot the machine (?😂) but now it is working. No errors.

[HollayHorvath]

I'm having the same issue but only when I restart a Zellij session and that session has a Helix instance.

If I drop back to shell ([Esc]) and run Helix everything is good, but if I press [Enter] to run Helix it's on default theme and on :theme I only get base16_default and default themes.
The only relevant line from the log: 2024-01-23T21:00:47.065 helix_term::application [WARN] failed to load theme `gruvbox_dark_hard` - Theme: file not found for: gruvbox_dark_hard

Terminal emulator: either xfce4-terminal or alacritty, doesn't seem to matter, my guess would be that it's caused by some kind of path issue.

Zellij: 0.39.2
Helix: 23.10

Edit:
OS: Linux Mint (Ubuntu 22.04)

One thing I found is that it's the only process that is a session leader (px aux | rg hx, unnecessary columns dropped)

pts/11  Sl+  Jan02   0:05 /usr/lib/helix/hx
pts/20  Sl+  Jan09   0:09 /usr/lib/helix/hx weekly_hours
pts/17  Sl+  Jan21   2:29 /usr/lib/helix/hx .
pts/34  Sl+  Jan22   0:12 /usr/lib/helix/hx .
pts/5   Tl   11:33   0:00 /usr/lib/helix/hx /home/allegretto/.config/helix/languages.toml
pts/5    Tl  12:09   0:01 /usr/lib/helix/hx /home/allegretto/.config/helix/languages.toml
pts/24  Sl+  21:08   0:00 /usr/lib/helix/hx .
pts/18 Ssl+  21:15   4:44 /usr/lib/helix/hx . <- the offending one

Edit 2:
I checked the environment variables of Helix when it produced the error and HELIX_RUNTIME is missing (also SHLVL is set to 1 but my config is actually 2).