Add standalone terminfo definition

This replaces the current definitions, which depend on the system's
'xterm-256color' terminfo definition with the `alacritty` and
`alacritty-direct` definitions.

The new definitions are completely standalone.

The default `TERM` value has been changed to be dynamically
set based on the definitions installed on the system. Alacritty will
try to use the `alacritty` definition first and fall back to
`xterm-256color` if the `alacritty` definition is not present.

1 files changed, 21 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index d7d299e9..a96ed29c 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -336,6 +336,27 @@ To install the completions for fish, run
 sudo cp alacritty-completions.fish $__fish_datadir/vendor_completions.d/alacritty.fish
 ```
 
+## Terminfo
+
+The terminfo database contains entries describing the terminal
+emulator's capabilities. Programs need these in order to function
+properly.
+
+Alacritty should work with the standard `xterm-256color` definition,
+but to allow programs to make best use of alacritty's capabilities,
+use its own terminfo definition instead.
+
+Unless the user has set the `TERM` environment variable in the
+alacritty configuration, the `alacritty` terminfo definition will be
+used if it has been installed. If not, then `xterm-256color` is used
+instead.
+
+To install alacritty's terminfo entry globally:
+
+```sh
+sudo tic -e alacritty,alacritty-direct alacritty.info
+```
+
 ## Configuration
 
 Although it's possible the default configuration would work on your system,