The ncurses (new curses) library is a free software emulation of
curses in System V Release 4.0, and more. It uses terminfo format,
@@ -18,8 +46,8 @@ and multiple highlights and forms characters and function-key mapping,
and has all the other SYSV-curses enhancements over BSD curses.
In mid-June 1995, the maintainer of 4.4BSD curses declared that he
-considered 4.4BSD curses obsolete, and is encouraging the keepers of
-Unix releases such as BSD/OS, freeBSD and netBSD to switch over to
+considered 4.4BSD curses obsolete, and encouraged 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.
@@ -35,172 +63,294 @@ the library and tools.
-This release is designed to be upward compatible from ncurses 5.0 and 5.2;
+This release is designed to be upward compatible from ncurses 5.0 through 5.6;
very few applications will require recompilation, depending on the platform.
-These are the highlights from the change-log since ncurses 5.2 release.
+These are the highlights from the change-log since ncurses 5.6 release.
Interface changes:
-
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.
+
generate linkable stubs for some macros:
+
+ getattrs
New features and improvements:
-
Improved support for termcap applications:
+
library
-
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.
+
new flavor of the ncurses library provides rudimentary
+ support for POSIX threads. Several functions are
+ reentrant, but most require either a window-level or
+ screen-level mutex.
+ (This is API-compatible,
+ but not ABI-compatible with the normal library).
+
+
add NCURSES_OPAQUE symbol to curses.h, will
+ use to make structs opaque in selected configurations.
+
+
add NCURSES_EXT_FUNCS and
+ NCURSES_EXT_COLORS symbols to curses.h to make
+ it simpler to tell if the extended functions and/or colors
+ are declared.
+
+
add wresize() to C++ binding
+
+
eliminate fixed-buffer vsprintf() calls in C++ binding.
-
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.
+
add several functions to C++ binding which wrap C functions
+ that pass a WINDOW* parameter.
-
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.
+
adapt mouse-handling code from menu library in form-library
-
add tic -A option to suppress capabilities which are commented out
- when translating to termcap.
+
improve tracing for form library, showing created forms,
+ fields, etc.
-
modify logic in lib_baudrate.c for ospeed, for FreeBSD to make it
- work properly for termcap applications (patch by Andrey A Chernov).
+
make $NCURSES_NO_PADDING feature work for termcap interface .
+
add check to trace-file open, if the given name is a
+ directory, add ".log" to the name and try again.
+
+
several new manpages: curs_legacy.3x, curs_memleaks.3x,
+ curs_opaque.3x and curs_threads.3x
-
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).
+
programs:
+
+
modified three test-programs to demonstrate the threading
+ support in this version: ditto, rain, worm.
+
+
several new test-programs: demo_panels, dots_mvcur,
+ inch_wide, inchs, key_name, key_names, savescreen,
+ savescreen.sh test_arrays, test_get_wstr, test_getstr,
+ test_instr, test_inwstr and test_opaque.
+
+
add adacurses-config to the Ada95 install.
+
+
modify tic -f option to format spaces as
+ \s to prevent them from being lost when that
+ is read back in unformatted strings.
-
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.
+
The tack program is now distributed separately
+ from ncurses.
+
+
+
terminal database
+
+
added entries:
+
+
Eterm-256color,
+ Eterm-88color and
+ rxvt-88color
+
aterm
+
konsole-256color
+
mrxvt
+
screen.mlterm
+
screen.rxvt
+
teraterm4.59 is now the primary primary
+ teraterm entry, renamed original to
+ teraterm2.3
+
9term terminal
+
Newbury Data entries
+
+
updated/improved entries:
+
+
gnome to version 2.22.3
+
h19, z100
+
konsole to version 1.6.6
+
mlterm, mlterm+pcfkeys
+
xterm, and building-blocks for function-keys
+ to xterm patch #230.
+
+
Major bug fixes:
-
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.
+
add logic to tic for cancelling strings in user-defined
+ capabilities
+ (this is needed for
+ current konsole terminfo entry).
+
+
modify mk-1st.awk so the generated makefile rules for
+ linking or installing shared libraries do not first remove the
+ library, in case it is in use, e.g., libncurses.so by
+ /bin/sh.
+
+
correct check for notimeout() in wgetch().
+
+
fix a sign-extension bug in infocmp's repair_acsc() function.
+
+
change winnstr() to stop at the end of the line.
+
+
make Ada95 demo_panels() example work.
+
+
fix for adding a non-spacing character at the beginning of a line.
+
+
fill in extended-color pair to make colors work
+ for wide-characters using extended-colors.
-
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().
+
improve refresh of window on top of multi-column characters,
+ taking into account split characters on left/right window
+ boundaries.
-
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.
+
modify win_wchnstr() to ensure that only a base cell
+ is returned for each multi-column character.
-
modified wresize() to ensure that a failed realloc will not corrupt
- the window structure, and to make subwindows fit within the resized
- window.
+
improve waddch() and winsch() handling of
+ EILSEQ from mbrtowc() by using unctrl()
+ to display illegal bytes rather than trying to append further bytes
+ to make up a valid sequence.
-
altered resizeterm() to avoid having it fail when a child window
- cannot be resized because it would be larger than its parent.
+
restore curs_set() state after
+ endwin()/refresh()
-
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 keyname() to use "^X" form only if
+ meta() has been called, or if keyname()
+ is called without initializing curses, e.g., via
+ initscr() or newterm().
-
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.
+
modify unctrl() to check codes in 128-255 range versus
+ isprint().
+ If they are not printable, and locale was set, use a "M-" or "~"
+ sequence.
-
add a check in relative_move() to guard against buffer overflow in
- the overwrite logic.
+
improve resizeterm() by moving ripped-off lines, and
+ repainting the soft-keys.
-
add some limit/pointer checks to -S option of tputs.
+
modify form library to accept control characters such as newline
+ in set_field_buffer(), which is compatible with Solaris.
-
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).
+
use NCURSES_MOUSE_MASK() in definition of
+ BUTTON_RELEASE(), etc., to make those work properly
+ with the --enable-ext-mouse configuration
+
+
correct some functions in Ada95 binding which were using return
+ value from C where none was returned.
+
+
reviewed/fixed issues reported by Coverity and Klocwork tools.
Portability:
-
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.
+
configure script:
+
+
new options:
+
-
correct a typo in configure --enable-colorfgbg option, and move it
- to the experimental section (cf: 20011208).
+
--disable-big-strings
+
control whether static string tables are generated as single
+ large strings (to improve startup performance), or as array
+ of individual strings.
-
modify configure script to allow building with termcap only, or with
- fallbacks only. In this case, we do not build tic and toe.
+
--disable-relink
+
control whether shared libraries are relinked (during install)
+ when rpath is enabled.
-
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.
+
--disable-tic-depends
+
make explicit whether tic library depends on ncurses/ncursesw
+ library.
-
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.
+
--enable-mixed-case
+
override the configure script's check if the filesystem
+ supports mixed-case filenames.
+ This allows one to control how the terminal database
+ maps to the filesystem.
+ For filesystems that do not support mixed-case, the library
+ uses generate 2-character (hexadecimal) codes for the
+ lower-level of the filesystem terminfo database
-
add several configure script options to aid with cross-compiling:
- --with-build-cc, --with-build-cflags, --with-build-ldflags, and
- --with-build-libs.
+
--enable-reentrant
+
builds a different flavor of the ncurses library (ncursest)
+ which improves reentrant use of the
+ library by reducing global and static variables
+ (see the "--with-pthread" option for the threaded support).
-
add experimental --with-caps=XXX option to customize to similar
- terminfo database formats such as AIX 4.x
+
--enable-weak-symbols
+
use weak-symbols for linking to the POSIX thread library,
+ and use the same soname for the ncurses shared library
+ as the normal library (caveat: the ABI is for the threaded
+ library, which makes global data accessed via functions).
-
add configure option --with-ospeed to assist packagers in transition
- to 5.3 change to ospeed type.
-
+
--with-pthread
+
build with the POSIX thread library (tested with AIX,
+ Linux, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, HPUX, IRIX64, Solaris, Tru64).
-
library:
-
-
implement a simple vsscanf() fallback function which uses the %n
- conversion to help parse the input data.
+
--with-ticlib
+
build/install the tic-support functions in a separate library
+
+
+
+
improved options:
+
+
+
--enable-ext-colors
+
requires the wide-character configuration.
+
+
--with-chtype
+
ignore option value "unsigned" is always added to
+ the type in curses.h; do the same for --with-mmask-t.
+
+
--with-dmalloc
+
build-fix for redefinition of strndup.
+
+
--with-hashed-db
+
accepts a parameter which is the install-prefix of a given
+ Berkeley Database.
-
various fixes to build/work with different implementations of
- vsscanf().
+
--with-hashed-db
+
the $LIBS environment variable overrides the search for the db
+ library.
-
add/use macro to suppress sign-extension of char type on
- platforms where this is a problem in ctype macros, e.g., Solaris.
+
--without-hashed-db
+
assumed when "--disable-database" is used.
-
finish changes needed to build dll's on cygwin.
+
-
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.
+
other configure/build issues:
+
+
build-fixes for LynxOS
+
modify shared-library rules to allow FreeBSD 3.x to use rpath.
+
build-fix for FreeBSD "contemporary" TTY interface.
+
build-fixes for AIX with libtool.
+
build-fixes for Darwin and libtool.
+
modify BeOS-specific ifdef's to build on Haiku.
+
corrected gcc options for building shared libraries on Solaris
+ and IRIX64.
+
change shared-library configuration for OpenBSD, make rpath work.
+
build-fixes for using libutf8, e.g., on OpenBSD 3.7
+
add "-e" option in ncurses/Makefile.in when generating source-files
+ to force earlier exit if the build environment fails unexpectedly.
+
add support for shared libraries for QNX.
+
change delimiter in MKlib_gen.sh from '%' to '@', to
+ avoid substitution by IBM xlc to '#' as part of its extensions to
+ digraphs.
+
-
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.
+
library:
+
+
rewrite wrapper for wcrtomb(), making it work on
+ Solaris. This is used in the form library to determine the length
+ of the buffer needed by field_buffer.
+
add/use configure script macro CF_SIG_ATOMIC_T, use the corresponding
+ type for data manipulated by signal handlers.
+
set locale in misc/ncurses-config.in since it uses a range
+
disable GPM mouse support when $TERM does not happen to contain
+ "linux", since Gpm_Open() no longer limits its assertion to terminals
+ that it might handle, e.g., within "screen" in xterm.
+
reset mouse file-descriptor when unloading GPM library.
+
-
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".
+
test programs:
+
+
update test programs to build/work with various UNIX curses for
+ comparisons.
@@ -230,14 +380,15 @@ The ncurses package also has many useful extensions over SVr4:
The API is 8-bit clean and base-level conformant with the X/OPEN curses
specification, XSI curses (that is, it implements all BASE level features,
-but not all EXTENDED features). Most EXTENDED-level features not directly
-concerned with wide-character support are implemented, including many
-function calls not supported under SVr4 curses (but portability of all
+and most EXTENDED features).
+It includes many function calls not supported under SVr4 curses
+(but portability of all
calls is documented so you can use the SVr4 subset only).
Unlike SVr3 curses, ncurses can write to the rightmost-bottommost corner
of the screen if your terminal has an insert-character capability.
Ada95 and C++ bindings.
-
Support for mouse event reporting with X Window xterm and OS/2 console windows.
+
Support for mouse event reporting with X Window xterm
+and FreeBSD and OS/2 console windows.
Extended mouse support via Alessandro Rubini's gpm package.
The function wresize() allows you to resize windows, preserving
their data.
@@ -249,7 +400,9 @@ and define_key() allow
you to better control the use of function keys,
e.g., disabling the ncurses KEY_MOUSE,
or by defining more than one control sequence to map to a given key code.
-
Support for 16-color terminals, such as aixterm and XFree86 xterm.
+
Support for 256-color terminals, such as modern xterm, when configured
+using the --enable-ext-colors option.
+
Support for 16-color terminals, such as aixterm and modern xterm.
Better cursor-movement optimization. The package now features a
cursor-local-movement computation more efficient than either BSD's
or System V's.
@@ -317,61 +470,57 @@ including (versions starting with those noted):
-The original developers of ncurses are Zeyd Ben-Halim and
-Eric S. Raymond.
+Zeyd Ben-Halim
+started it from a previous package pcurses, written by Pavel Curtis.
+Eric S. Raymond
+continued development.
+Jürgen Pfeifer wrote most of the form and menu libraries.
Ongoing work is being done by
-Thomas Dickey
-and
-Jürgen Pfeifer.
-Thomas Dickey
-acts as the maintainer for the Free Software Foundation, which holds the
-copyright on ncurses.
+Thomas Dickey.
+Thomas Dickey
+acts as the maintainer for the Free Software Foundation,
+which holds the copyright on ncurses.
Contact the current maintainers at
bug-ncurses@gnu.org.
@@ -404,7 +553,7 @@ This list is open to anyone interested in helping with the development and
testing of this package.
@@ -416,14 +565,17 @@ on them, please join the ncurses list.
Other Related Resources
-The distribution includes and uses a version of the terminfo-format
-terminal description file maintained by Eric Raymond.
-http://earthspace.net/~esr/terminfo.
+The distribution provides a newer version of the terminfo-format
+terminal description file once maintained by
+Eric Raymond .
+Unlike the older version, the termcap and terminfo data are provided
+in the same file, and provides several user-definable extensions
+beyond the X/Open specification.
You can find lots of information on terminal-related topics
not covered in the terminfo file at
Richard Shuford's
-archive.
+archive .