X-Git-Url: http://ncurses.scripts.mit.edu/?a=blobdiff_plain;f=announce.html.in;h=403e6762489950b199d6925d525c88e98b55e1f9;hb=46722468f47c2b77b3987729b4bcf2321cccfd01;hp=b797f0d03c36d00f7d7451a83f7c697083300dea;hpb=0eb88fc5281804773e2a0c7a488a4452463535ce;p=ncurses.git
diff --git a/announce.html.in b/announce.html.in
index b797f0d0..403e6762 100644
--- a/announce.html.in
+++ b/announce.html.in
@@ -1,10 +1,10 @@
-Announcing ncurses @VERSION@
+Announcing ncurses @VERSION@ Pre-Release
@@ -22,8 +22,11 @@ considered 4.4BSD curses obsolete, and is encouraging the keepers of
Unix releases such as BSD/OS, freeBSD and netBSD to switch over to
ncurses.
-The ncurses code was developed under GNU/Linux. It should port easily to
-any ANSI/POSIX-conforming UNIX. It has even been ported to OS/2 Warp!
+The ncurses code was developed under GNU/Linux.
+It has been in use for some time with OpenBSD as the system curses library,
+and on FreeBSD and NetBSD as an external package.
+It should port easily to any ANSI/POSIX-conforming UNIX.
+It has even been ported to OS/2 Warp!
The distribution includes the library and support utilities, including a
terminfo compiler tic(1), a decompiler infocmp(1), clear(1), tput(1), tset(1),
@@ -33,153 +36,172 @@ the library and tools.
-We decided to release ncurses as a new whole number release (5.0) because it
-incorporates several interface changes, including some that would invalidate
-existing shared libraries. These are the highlights from the change-log
-since ncurses 4.2 release.
+This release is designed to be upward compatible from ncurses 5.0 and 5.2;
+very few applications will require recompilation, depending on the platform.
+These are the highlights from the change-log since ncurses 5.2 release.
Interface changes:
-
The principal source of changes to the interface comes from the
- release of X/Open Curses in 1997. Earlier versions of ncurses (4.0
- and before) were based on a draft version of the specification. The
- release version adds parameters to some functions to support the
- evolving internationalization of curses. These summarize the impact:
+
change type for bool used in headers to NCURSES_BOOL,
+ which usually is the same as the compiler's definition for
+ bool.
+
+
add all but two functions for X/Open curses wide-character support.
+ These are only available if the library is configured using the
+ --enable-widec option. Missing functions are
+
+
pecho_wchar()
+
slk_wset()
+
+
+
add environment variable $NCURSES_ASSUMED_COLORS to
+ modify the assume_default_colors() extension.
+
+
+New features and improvements:
-
modified several prototypes to correspond with 1997 version of
- X/Open Curses (affects ABI since developers have used attr_get).
+
Improved support for termcap applications:
+
+
add logic to dump_entry.c to remove function-key definitions that do
+ not fit into the 1023-byte limit for generated termcaps. This makes
+ hds200 fit.
-
corrected prototypes for slk_* functions, using chtype rather than
- attr_t.
+
modify tgetent() to check if exit_attribute_mode resets the alternate
+ character set, and if so, attempt to adjust the copy of the termcap
+ "me" string which it will return to eliminate that part. In
+ particular, 'screen' would lose track of line-drawing characters.
-
the slk_attr_{set,off,on} functions need an additional void*
- parameter according to XSI.
+
add check/fix to comp_parse.c to suppress warning about missing acsc
+ string. This happens in configurations where raw termcap information
+ is processed; tic already does this and other checks.
-
correct macros for wattr_set, wattr_get, separate wattrset macro from
- these to preserve behavior that allows attributes to be combined with
- color pair numbers.
+
add tic -A option to suppress capabilities which are commented out
+ when translating to termcap.
-
reviewed/updated curses.h, term.h against X/Open Curses Issue 4
- Version 2. This includes making some parameters NCURSES_CONST
- rather than const, e.g., in termcap.h.
+
modify logic in lib_baudrate.c for ospeed, for FreeBSD to make it
+ work properly for termcap applications (patch by Andrey A Chernov).
-
reviewed/corrected macros in curses.h as per XSI document.
+
-
add set_a_attributes and set_pglen_inch to terminfo structure, as per
- XSI and Solaris 2.5.
-
-
The newest version of the X/Open Curses is implemented on Solaris
- and other vendor's systems. It adds new features to the terminfo
- descriptions:
-
-
implement tparm %l format.
+
add a call to _nc_keypad() in keypad() to accommodate applications
+ such as nvi, which use curses for output but not for input (fixes
+ Debian #131263, cf: 20011215).
-
implement tparm printf-style width and precision for %s, %d, %x, %o
- as per XSI.
+
correct logic for COLORFGBG environment variable: if rxvt is compiled
+ with xpm support, the variable has three fields, making it slightly
+ incompatible with itself. In either case, the background color is
+ the last field.
-
We made additional changes to reduce impact by future interface
- changes:
+Major bug fixes:
-
rename key_names[] array to _nc_key_names since it is not part of
- the curses interface.
+
rewrote limit-checks in wscrl() and associated _nc_scroll_window(),
+ to ensure that if the parameter of wscrl() is larger than the size of
+ the scrolling region, then the scrolling region will be cleared.
-
move macro winch to a function, to hide details of struct ldat
-
-
modify configure script to embed ABI in shared libraries for HP-UX
- 10.x (detailed request by Tim Mooney).
+
modify tset to restore original I/O modes if an error is encountered.
+ Also modify to use buffered stderr consistently rather than mixing
+ with write().
+
+
move calls to def_shell_mode() and def_prog_mode() before loop with
+ callbacks in lib_set_term.c, since the c++ demo otherwise initialized
+ the tty modes before saving them.
+
+
modified wresize() to ensure that a failed realloc will not corrupt
+ the window structure, and to make subwindows fit within the resized
+ window.
+
+
altered resizeterm() to avoid having it fail when a child window
+ cannot be resized because it would be larger than its parent.
+
+
correct/improve logic to produce an exit status for errors in tput,
+ which did not exit with an error when told to put a string not in the
+ current terminfo entry.
-
modify configuration of shared libraries on Digital Unix so that
- versioning is embedded in the library, rather than implied by
- links (patch by Tim Mooney).
+
modify behavior of can_clear_with() so that if an application is
+ running in a non-bce terminals with default colors enabled, it
+ returns true, allowing the user to select/paste text without picking
+ up extraneous trailing blanks.
+
+
add a check in relative_move() to guard against buffer overflow in
+ the overwrite logic.
+
+
add some limit/pointer checks to -S option of tputs.
+
+
modify mvcur() to avoid emitting newline characters when nonl() mode
+ is set. Normally this is not a problem since the actual terminal
+ mode is set to suppress nl/crlf translations, however it is useful to
+ allow the caller to manipulate the terminal mode to avoid staircasing
+ effects after spawning a process which writes messages (for lynx
+ 2.8.4).
-New features:
+
+Portability:
-
enable sigwinch handler by default.
+
configure script:
+
+
modify check in --disable-overwrite option so that it is used by
+ default unless the --prefix/$prefix value is not /usr, in attempt to
+ work around packagers who do not read the INSTALL notes.
-
turn on hashmap scrolling code by default
+
correct a typo in configure --enable-colorfgbg option, and move it
+ to the experimental section (cf: 20011208).
-
improved support for termcap applications
-
-
modify tput to accept termcap names as an alternative to terminfo
- names.
+
modify configure script to allow building with termcap only, or with
+ fallbacks only. In this case, we do not build tic and toe.
-
provide support for termcap PC variable by copying it from terminfo
- data and using it as the padding character in tputs.
+
modify run_tic.sh to check if the build is a cross-compile. In that
+ case, do not use the build's tic to install the terminfo database.
-
provide support for termcap ospeed variable by copying it from the
- internal cur_term member, and using ospeed as the baudrate
- reference for the delay_output and tputs functions.
+
modify c++/Makefile.in to accommodate archive programs that are
+ different for C++ than for C, and add cases for vendor's C++
+ compilers on Solaris and IRIX.
-
change name-comparisons in lib_termcap to compare no more than 2
- characters.
+
add several configure script options to aid with cross-compiling:
+ --with-build-cc, --with-build-cflags, --with-build-ldflags, and
+ --with-build-libs.
-
add configure option --enable-tcap-names, which essentially
- allows users to define new capabilities as in termcap.
-
-
add mouse support to ncurses menus.
+
add experimental --with-caps=XXX option to customize to similar
+ terminfo database formats such as AIX 4.x
-
add mouse and dll support for OS/2 EMX
+
add configure option --with-ospeed to assist packagers in transition
+ to 5.3 change to ospeed type.
+
-
modify terminfo parsing to accept octal and hexadecimal constants
+
library:
+
+
implement a simple vsscanf() fallback function which uses the %n
+ conversion to help parse the input data.
-
add configure option --enable-no-padding, to allow environment
- variable $NCURSES_NO_PADDING to eliminate non-mandatory padding,
- thereby making terminal emulators (e.g., for vt100) a little more
- efficient.
+
various fixes to build/work with different implementations of
+ vsscanf().
-
modify lib_color.c to eliminate dependency on orig_colors and
- orig_pair, since SVr4 curses does not require these either, but
- uses them when they are available.
+
add/use macro to suppress sign-extension of char type on
+ platforms where this is a problem in ctype macros, e.g., Solaris.
-
add -f option to infocmp and tic, which formats the terminfo
- if/then/else/endif so that they are readable (with newlines and
- tabs).
+
finish changes needed to build dll's on cygwin.
-
modify tic to compile into %'char' form in preference to %{number},
- since that is a little more efficient.
-
-Major bug fixes:
-
-
modify lib_tstp.c to block SIGTTOU when handling SIGTSTP, fixes a
- problem where ncurses applications which were run via a shell script
- would hang when given a ^Z. Also, check if the terminal's process
- group is consistent, i.e., a shell has not taken ownership of it,
- before deciding to save the current terminal settings in the SIGTSTP
- handler.
-
-
suppress sc/rc capabilities from terminal description if they appear
- in smcup/rmcup. This affects only scrolling optimization, to fix a
- problem reported by several people with xterm's alternate screen,
- though the problem is more general.
-
-
modify relative_move and tputs to avoid an interaction with the
- BSD-style padding. The relative_move function could produce a string
- to replace on the screen which began with a numeric character, which
- was then interpreted by tputs as padding.
-
-
modify setupterm so that cancelled strings are treated the same as
- absent strings, cancelled and absent booleans false (does not affect
- tic, infocmp).
-
-
modify lib_vidattr.c to allow for terminal types (e.g., xterm-color)
- which may reset all attributes in the 'op' capability, so that colors
- are set before turning on bold and other attributes, but still after
- turning attributes off.
-
-
use 'access()' to check if ncurses library should be permitted to
- open or modify files with fopen/open/link/unlink/remove calls, in
- case the calling application is running in setuid mode.
-
-
correction to doupdate, for case where terminal does not support
- insert/delete character. The logic did not check that there was a
- difference in alignment of changes to old/new screens before
- repainting the whole non-blank portion of the line. Modified to fall
- through into logic that reduces by the portion which does not differ.
+
add #undef's before possible redefinition of ERR and OK in curses.h
+
+
+
programs:
+
+
modify ifdef's in write_entry.c to allow use of symbolic links on
+ platforms with no hard links, e.g., BeOS.
+
+
modify _nc_write_entry() to allow for the possibility that linking
+ aliases on a filesystem that ignores case would not succeed because
+ the source and destination differ only by case, e.g., NCR260VT300WPP0
+ on cygwin.
+
+
modify logic in tic, toe, tput and tset which checks for basename of
+ argv[0] to work properly on systems such as OS/2 which have
+ case-independent filenames and/or program suffixes, e.g., ".ext".
+
Features of Ncurses
@@ -294,39 +316,62 @@ including (versions starting with those noted):
@@ -339,10 +384,10 @@ The original developers of ncurses are Zeyd Ben-Halim and
Eric S. Raymond.
Ongoing work is being done by
-Thomas Dickey
+Thomas Dickey
and
-Jürgen Pfeifer.
-Thomas Dickey
+Jürgen Pfeifer.
+Thomas Dickey
acts as the maintainer for the Free Software Foundation, which holds the
copyright on ncurses.
Contact the current maintainers at
@@ -359,7 +404,7 @@ This list is open to anyone interested in helping with the development and
testing of this package.