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28 -- $Id: INSTALL,v 1.143 2010/01/09 19:26:36 tom Exp $
29 ---------------------------------------------------------------------
30 How to install Ncurses/Terminfo on your system
31 ---------------------------------------------------------------------
33 ************************************************************
34 * READ ALL OF THIS FILE BEFORE YOU TRY TO INSTALL NCURSES. *
35 ************************************************************
37 You should be reading the file INSTALL in a directory called ncurses-d.d, where
38 d.d is the current version number. There should be several subdirectories,
39 including `c++', `form', `man', `menu', 'misc', `ncurses', `panel', `progs',
40 and `test'. See the README file for a roadmap to the package.
42 If you are a distribution integrator or packager, please read and act on the
43 section titled IF YOU ARE A SYSTEM INTEGRATOR below.
45 If you are converting from BSD curses and do not have root access, be sure
46 to read the BSD CONVERSION NOTES section below.
48 If you are trying to build applications using gpm with ncurses,
49 read the USING NCURSES WITH GPM section below.
51 If you are running over the Andrew File System see the note below on
52 USING NCURSES WITH AFS.
54 If you are cross-compiling, see the note below on BUILDING NCURSES WITH A
57 If you want to build the Ada95 binding, go to the Ada95 directory and
58 follow the instructions there. The Ada95 binding is not covered below.
64 You will need the following to build and install ncurses under UNIX:
66 * ANSI C compiler (gcc, for instance)
68 * awk (mawk or gawk will do)
70 * BSD or System V style install (a script is enclosed)
72 Ncurses has been also built in the OS/2 EMX environment.
75 INSTALLATION PROCEDURE:
76 ----------------------
78 1. First, decide whether you want ncurses to replace your existing library (in
79 which case you'll need super-user privileges) or be installed in parallel
82 The --prefix option to configure changes the root directory for installing
83 ncurses. The default is normally in subdirectories of /usr/local, except
84 for systems where ncurses is normally installed as a system library (see
85 "IF YOU ARE A SYSTEM INTEGRATOR"). Use --prefix=/usr to replace your
86 default curses distribution.
88 The package gets installed beneath the --prefix directory as follows:
90 In $(prefix)/bin: tic, infocmp, captoinfo, tset,
91 reset, clear, tput, toe, tabs
92 In $(prefix)/lib: libncurses*.* libcurses.a
93 In $(prefix)/share/terminfo: compiled terminal descriptions
94 In $(prefix)/include: C header files
95 Under $(prefix)/man: the manual pages
97 Note that the configure script attempts to locate previous installation of
98 ncurses, and will set the default prefix according to where it finds the
101 Do not use commands such as
103 make install prefix=XXX
105 to change the prefix after configuration, since the prefix value is used
106 for some absolute pathnames such as TERMINFO. Instead do this
108 make install DESTDIR=XXX
110 See also the discussion of --with-install-prefix.
112 2. Type `./configure' in the top-level directory of the distribution to
113 configure ncurses for your operating system and create the Makefiles.
114 Besides --prefix, various configuration options are available to customize
115 the installation; use `./configure --help' to list the available options.
117 If your operating system is not supported, read the PORTABILITY section in
118 the file ncurses/README for information on how to create a configuration
119 file for your system.
121 The `configure' script generates makefile rules for one or more object
122 models and their associated libraries:
124 libncurses.a (normal)
126 libcurses.a (normal, a link to libncurses.a)
127 This gets left out if you configure with --disable-overwrite.
129 libncurses.so (shared)
131 libncurses_g.a (debug)
133 libncurses_p.a (profile)
135 libncurses.la (libtool)
137 If you configure using the --enable-widec option, a "w" is appended to the
138 library names (e.g., libncursesw.a), and the resulting libraries support
139 wide-characters, e.g., via a UTF-8 locale. The corresponding header files
140 are compatible with the non-wide-character configuration; wide-character
141 features are provided by ifdef's in the header files. The wide-character
142 library interfaces are not binary-compatible with the non-wide-character
143 version. Building and running the wide-character code relies on a fairly
144 recent implementation of libiconv. We have built this configuration on
145 various systems using libiconv, sometimes requiring libutf8.
147 If you configure using the --with-pthread option, a "t" is appended to
148 the library names (e.g., libncursest.a, libncursestw.a).
150 If you do not specify any models, the normal and debug libraries will be
151 configured. Typing `configure' with no arguments is equivalent to:
153 ./configure --with-normal --with-debug --enable-overwrite
157 ./configure --with-shared
159 makes the shared libraries the default, resulting in
161 ./configure --with-shared --with-normal --with-debug --enable-overwrite
163 If you want only shared libraries, type
165 ./configure --with-shared --without-normal --without-debug
167 Rules for generating shared libraries are highly dependent upon the choice
168 of host system and compiler. We've been testing shared libraries on
169 several systems, but more work needs to be done to make shared libraries
170 work on other systems.
172 If you have libtool installed, you can type
174 ./configure --with-libtool
176 to generate the appropriate static and/or shared libraries for your
177 platform using libtool.
179 You can make curses and terminfo fall back to an existing file of termcap
180 definitions by configuring with --enable-termcap. If you do this, the
181 library will search /etc/termcap before the terminfo database, and will
182 also interpret the contents of the TERM environment variable. See the
183 section BSD CONVERSION NOTES below.
185 3. Type `make'. Ignore any warnings, no error messages should be produced.
186 This should compile the ncurses library, the terminfo compiler tic(1),
187 captoinfo(1), infocmp(1), toe(1), clear(1) tset(1), reset(1), and tput(1)
188 programs (see the manual pages for explanation of what they do), some test
189 programs, and the panels, menus, and forms libraries.
191 4. Run ncurses and several other test programs in the test directory to
192 verify that ncurses functions correctly before doing an install that
193 may overwrite system files. Read the file test/README for details on
196 NOTE: You must have installed the terminfo database, or set the
197 environment variable $TERMINFO to point to a SVr4-compatible terminfo
198 database before running the test programs. Not all vendors' terminfo
199 databases are SVr4-compatible, but most seem to be. Exceptions include
200 DEC's Digital Unix (formerly known as OSF/1).
202 If you run the test programs WITHOUT installing terminfo, ncurses may
203 read the termcap file and cache that in $HOME/.terminfo, which will
204 thereafter be used instead of the terminfo database. See the comments
205 on "--enable-getcap-cache", to see why this is a Bad Thing.
207 It is possible to configure ncurses to use other terminfo database formats.
208 A few are provided as examples in the include-directory (see --with-caps).
210 The ncurses program is designed specifically to test the ncurses library.
211 You can use it to verify that the screen highlights work correctly, that
212 cursor addressing and window scrolling works OK, etc.
214 5. Once you've tested, you can type `make install' to install libraries,
215 the programs, the terminfo database and the manual pages. Alternately, you
216 can type `make install' in each directory you want to install. In the
217 top-level directory, you can do a partial install using these commands:
219 'make install.progs' installs tic, infocmp, etc...
220 'make install.includes' installs the headers.
221 'make install.libs' installs the libraries (and the headers).
222 'make install.data' installs the terminfo data. (Note: `tic' must
223 be installed before the terminfo data can be
225 'make install.man' installs the manual pages.
227 ############################################################################
228 # CAVEAT EMPTOR: `install.data' run as root will NUKE any existing #
229 # terminfo database. If you have any custom or unusual entries SAVE them #
230 # before you install ncurses. I have a file called terminfo.custom for #
231 # this purpose. Don't forget to run tic on the file once you're done. #
232 ############################################################################
234 The terminfo(5) manual page must be preprocessed with tbl(1) before
235 being formatted by nroff(1). Modern man(1) implementations tend to do
236 this by default, but you may want to look at your version's manual page
237 to be sure. You may also install the manual pages after preprocessing
238 with tbl(1) by specifying the configure option --with-manpage-tbl.
240 If the system already has a curses library that you need to keep using
241 you'll need to distinguish between it and ncurses. See the discussion of
242 --disable-overwrite. If ncurses is installed outside the standard
243 directories (/usr/include and /usr/lib) then all your users will need to
244 use the -I option to compile programs and -L to link them.
246 If you have another curses installed in your system and you accidentally
247 compile using its curses.h you'll end up with a large number of
248 undefined symbols at link time.
250 IF YOU DO NOT HAVE ROOT: Change directory to the `progs' subdirectory
251 and run the `capconvert' script. This script will deduce various things
252 about your environment and use them to build you a private terminfo tree,
253 so you can use ncurses applications.
255 If more than one user at your site does this, the space for the duplicate
256 trees is wasted. Try to get your site administrators to install a system-
257 wide terminfo tree instead.
259 See the BSD CONVERSION NOTES section below for a few more details.
261 6. The c++ directory has C++ classes that are built on top of ncurses and
262 panels. You must have c++ (and its libraries) installed before you can
263 compile and run the demo.
265 Use --without-cxx-binding to tell configure to not build the C++ bindings
268 If you do not have C++, you must use the --without-cxx option to tell
269 the configure script to not attempt to determine the type of 'bool'
270 which may be supported by C++. IF YOU USE THIS OPTION, BE ADVISED THAT
271 YOU MAY NOT BE ABLE TO COMPILE (OR RUN) NCURSES APPLICATIONS WITH C++.
274 SUMMARY OF CONFIGURE OPTIONS:
275 ----------------------------
277 The configure script provides a short list of its options when you type
281 The --help and several options are common to all configure scripts that are
282 generated with autoconf. Those are all listed before the line
284 --enable and --with options recognized:
286 The other options are specific to this package. We list them in alphabetic
289 --disable-assumed-color
290 With ncurses 5.1, we introduced a new function, assume_default_colors()
291 which allows applications to specify what the default foreground and
292 background color are assumed to be. Most color applications use
293 full-screen color; but a few do not color the background. While the
294 assumed values can be overridden by invoking assume_default_colors(),
295 you may find it useful to set the assumed values to the pre-5.1
296 convention, using this configure option.
299 Assume machine has little memory. The configure script attempts to
300 determine if your machine has enough memory (about 6Mb) to compile the
301 terminfo database without writing portions to disk. Some allocators
302 return deceptive results, so you may have to override the configure
303 script. Or you may be building tic for a smaller machine.
305 --disable-big-strings
306 Disable compile-time optimization of predefined tables which puts
307 all of their strings into a very long string, to reduce relocation
311 Use only built-in data. The ncurses libraries normally read terminfo
312 and termcap data from disk. You can configure ncurses to have a
313 built-in database, aka "fallback" entries. Embedded applications may
314 have no need for an external database. Some, but not all of the
315 programs are useful in this configuration, e.g., reset and tput versus
319 Disable function-extensions. Configure ncurses without the functions
320 that are not specified by XSI. See ncurses/modules for the exact
321 list of library modules that would be suppressed.
324 Compile without hashmap scrolling-optimization code. This algorithm is
327 --disable-home-terminfo
328 The $HOME/.terminfo directory is normally added to ncurses' search
329 list for reading/writing terminfo entries, since that directory is
330 more likely writable than the system terminfo database. Use this
331 option to disable the feature altogether.
334 Disable compiler flags needed to use large-file interfaces.
337 For testing, compile-in code that frees memory that normally would not
338 be freed, to simplify analysis of memory-leaks.
340 Any implementation of curses must not free the memory associated with
341 a screen, since (even after calling endwin()), it must be available
342 for use in the next call to refresh(). There are also chunks of
343 memory held for performance reasons. That makes it hard to analyze
344 curses applications for memory leaks. To work around this, build
345 a debugging version of the ncurses library which frees those chunks
346 which it can, and provides the _nc_free_and_exit() function to free
347 the remainder on exit. The ncurses utility and test programs use this
348 feature, e.g., via the ExitProgram() macro.
351 The header files will ignore use of the _LP64 symbol to make chtype
352 and mmask_t types 32 bits (they may be long on 64-bit hosts, for
353 compatibility with older releases).
355 NOTE: this is potentially an ABI change, depending on existing
356 packages. The default for this option is "disabled" for ncurses
357 ABI 5, and "enabled" for ABI 6.
360 For testing, use functions rather than macros. The program will run
361 more slowly, but it is simpler to debug. This defines NCURSES_NOMACROS
362 at build time. See also the --enable-expanded option.
365 If you are installing ncurses on a system which contains another
366 development version of curses, or which could be confused by the loader
367 for another version, we recommend that you leave out the link to
368 -lcurses. The ncurses library is always available as -lncurses.
369 Disabling overwrite also causes the ncurses header files to be
370 installed into a subdirectory, e.g., /usr/local/include/ncurses,
371 rather than the include directory. This makes it simpler to avoid
372 compile-time conflicts with other versions of curses.h
375 If --enable-rpath is given, the generated makefiles normally will
376 rebuild the libraries during install. Use this option to simply
377 copy whatever the linked produced.
379 This option is ignored if --enable-rpath is not given.
381 --disable-root-environ
382 Compile with environment restriction, so certain environment variables
383 are not available when running as root, or via a setuid/setgid
384 application. These are (for example $TERMINFO) those that allow the
385 search path for the terminfo or termcap entry to be customized.
387 --disable-scroll-hints
388 Compile without scroll-hints code. This option is ignored when
389 hashmap scrolling is configured, which is the default.
391 --disable-tic-depends
392 When building shared libraries, normally the tic library is linked to
393 depend upon the ncurses library (and in turn, on the term-library if
394 the --with-termlib option was given). The tic- and term-libraries
395 ABI does not depend on the --enable-widec option. Some packagers have
396 used this to reduce the number of library files which are packaged
397 by using only one copy of those libraries. To make this work properly,
398 the tic library must be built without an explicit dependency on the
399 ncurses (or ncursesw) library. Use this configure option to do that.
401 configure --with-ticlib --with-shared --disable-tic-depends
403 --disable-tparm-varargs
404 Portable programs should call tparm() using the fixed-length parameter
405 list documented in X/Open. ncurses provides varargs support for this
406 function. Use --disable-tparm-varargs to disable this support.
409 For testing, compile-in assertion code. This is used only for a few
410 places where ncurses cannot easily recover by returning an error code.
412 --enable-broken_linker
413 A few platforms have what we consider a broken linker: it cannot link
414 objects from an archive solely by referring to data objects in those
415 files, but requires a function reference. This configure option
416 changes several data references to functions to work around this
419 NOTE: With ncurses 5.1, this may not be necessary, since we are
420 told that some linkers interpret uninitialized global data as a
421 different type of reference which behaves as described above. We have
422 explicitly initialized all of the global data to work around the
426 Recognize BSD-style prefix padding. Some ancient BSD programs (such as
427 nethack) call tputs("50") to implement delays.
430 Compile with experimental $COLORFGBG code. That environment variable
431 is set by some terminal emulators as a hint to applications, by
432 advertising the default foreground and background colors. During
433 initialization, ncurses sets color pair 0 to match this.
436 The curses interface as documented in XSI is rather old, in fact
437 including features that precede ANSI C. The prototypes generally do
438 not make effective use of "const". When using stricter compilers (or
439 gcc with appropriate warnings), you may see warnings about the mismatch
440 between const and non-const data. We provide a configure option which
441 changes the interfaces to use const - quieting these warnings and
442 reflecting the actual use of the parameters more closely. The ncurses
443 library uses the symbol NCURSES_CONST for these instances of const,
444 and if you have asked for compiler warnings, will add gcc's const-qual
445 warning. There will still be warnings due to subtle inconsistencies
446 in the interface, but at a lower level.
448 NOTE: configuring ncurses with this option may detract from the
449 portability of your applications by encouraging you to use const in
450 places where the XSI curses interface would not allow them. Similar
451 issues arise when porting to SVr4 curses, which uses const in even
455 Use the option --disable-echo to make the build-log less verbose by
456 suppressing the display of the compile and link commands. This makes
457 it easier to see the compiler warnings. (You can always use "make -n"
458 to see the options that are used).
461 For testing, generate functions for certain macros to make them visible
462 as such to the debugger. See also the --disable-macros option.
465 Extend the cchar_t structure to allow more than 16 colors to be
466 encoded. This applies only to the wide-character (--enable-widec)
469 NOTE: using this option will make libraries which are not binary-
470 compatible with libncursesw 5.4. None of the interfaces change, but
471 applications which have an array of cchar_t's must be recompiled.
474 Modify the encoding of mouse state to make room for a 5th mouse button.
475 That allows one to use ncurses with a wheel mouse with xterm or
476 similar X terminal emulators.
478 NOTE: using this option will make libraries which are not binary-
479 compatible with libncursesw 5.4. None of the interfaces change, but
480 applications which have mouse mask mmask_t's must be recompiled.
483 Use the 4.4BSD getcap code if available, or a bundled version of it to
484 fetch termcap entries. Entries read in this way cannot use (make
485 cross-references to) the terminfo tree, but it is faster than reading
488 If configured for one of the *BSD systems, this automatically uses
489 the hashed database system produced using cap_mkdb or similar tools.
490 In that case, there is no advantage in using the --enable-getcap-cache
493 See also the --with-hashed-db option.
495 --enable-getcap-cache
496 Cache translated termcaps under the directory $HOME/.terminfo
498 NOTE: this sounds good - it makes ncurses run faster the second time.
499 But look where the data comes from - an /etc/termcap containing lots of
500 entries that are not up to date. If you configure with this option and
501 forget to install the terminfo database before running an ncurses
502 application, you will end up with a hidden terminfo database that
503 generally does not support color and will miss some function keys.
506 Compile-in cursor-optimization code that uses hard-tabs. We would make
507 this a standard feature except for the concern that the terminfo entry
508 may not be accurate, or that your stty settings have disabled the use
512 Controls whether the filesystem on which the terminfo database resides
513 supports mixed-case filenames (normal for UNIX, but not on other
514 systems). If you do not specify this option, the configure script
515 checks the current filesystem.
518 Compile-in support for the $NCURSES_NO_PADDING environment variable,
519 which allows you to suppress the effect of non-mandatory padding in
520 terminfo entries. This is the default, unless you have disabled the
524 If pkg-config is found (see --with-pkg-config), generate ".pc" files
525 for each of the libraries, and install them in pkg-config's library
529 Compile experimental configuration which improves reentrant use of the
530 library by reducing global and static variables. This option is also
531 set if --with-pthread is used.
534 Use rpath option when generating shared libraries, and (with some
535 restrictions) when linking the corresponding programs. This originally
536 (in 1997) applied mainly to systems using the GNU linker (read the
539 More recently it is useful for systems that require special treatment
540 shared libraries in "unusual" locations. The "system" libraries reside
541 in directories which are on the loader's default search-path. While
542 you may be able to use workarounds such as the $LD_LIBRARY_PATH
543 environment variable, they do not work with setuid applications since
544 the LD_LIBRARY_PATH variable would be unset in that situation.
546 This option does not apply to --with-libtool, since libtool makes
547 extra assumptions about rpath.
549 --enable-safe-sprintf
550 Compile with experimental safe-sprintf code. You may consider using
551 this if you are building ncurses for a system that has neither
552 vsnprintf() or vsprintf(). It is slow, however.
555 Compile support for ncurses' SIGWINCH handler. If your application has
556 its own SIGWINCH handler, ncurses will not use its own. The ncurses
557 handler causes wgetch() to return KEY_RESIZE when the screen-size
558 changes. This option is the default, unless you have disabled the
562 The term.h header declares a Booleans[] array typed "char". But it
563 stores signed values there and "char" is not necessarily signed.
564 Some packagers choose to alter the type of Booleans[] though this
565 is not strictly compatible. This option allows one to implement this
566 alteration without patching the source code.
569 If your system supports symbolic links, make tic use symbolic links
570 rather than hard links to save diskspace when writing aliases in the
574 Compile-in support for user-definable terminal capabilities. Use the
575 -x option of tic and infocmp to treat unrecognized terminal
576 capabilities as user-defined strings. This option is the default,
577 unless you have disabled the extended functions.
580 Compile in support for reading terminal descriptions from termcap if no
581 match is found in the terminfo database. See also the --enable-getcap
582 and --enable-getcap-cache options.
585 Turn on GCC compiler warnings. There should be only a few.
587 --enable-weak-symbols
588 If the --with-pthread option is set, check if the compiler supports
589 weak-symbols. If it does, then name the thread-capable library without
590 the "t" (libncurses rather than libncursest), and provide for
591 dynamically loading the pthreads entrypoints at runtime. This allows
592 one to reduce the number of library files for ncurses.
594 --enable-wgetch-events
595 Compile with experimental wgetch-events code. See ncurses/README.IZ
598 Compile with wide-character code. This makes a different version of
599 the libraries (e.g., libncursesw.so), which stores characters as
602 NOTE: applications compiled with this configuration are not compatible
603 with those built for 8-bit characters. You cannot simply make a
604 symbolic link to equate libncurses.so with libncursesw.so
606 NOTE: the Ada95 binding may be built against either version of the the
607 ncurses library, but you must decide which: the binding installs the
608 same set of files for either version. Currently (2002/6/22) it does
609 not use the extended features from the wide-character code, so it is
610 probably better to not install the binding for that configuration.
613 Compile-in support experimental xmc (magic cookie) code.
615 --with-abi-version=NUM
616 Override the ABI version, which is used in shared library filenames.
617 Normally this is the same as the release version; some ports have
618 special requirements for compatibility.
620 This option does not affect linking with libtool, which uses the
621 release major/minor numbers.
623 --with-ada-compiler=CMD
624 Specify the Ada95 compiler command (default "gnatmake")
626 --with-ada-include=DIR
627 Tell where to install the Ada includes (default:
628 PREFIX/lib/ada/adainclude)
630 --with-ada-objects=DIR
631 Tell where to install the Ada objects (default: PREFIX/lib/ada/adalib)
634 If --without-cxx is specified, override the type used for the "bool"
635 declared in curses.h (normally the type is automatically chosen to
636 correspond with that in <stdbool.h>, or defaults to platform-specific
640 If cross-compiling, specify a host C compiler, which is needed to
641 compile a few utilities which generate source modules for ncurses.
642 If you do not give this option, the configure script checks if the
643 $BUILD_CC variable is set, and otherwise defaults to gcc or cc.
645 --with-build-cflags=XXX
646 If cross-compiling, specify the host C compiler-flags. You might need
647 to do this if the target compiler has unusual flags which confuse the
650 You can also set the environment variable $BUILD_CFLAGS rather than
653 --with-build-cppflags=XXX
654 If cross-compiling, specify the host C preprocessor-flags. You might
655 need to do this if the target compiler has unusual flags which confuse
658 You can also set the environment variable $BUILD_CPPFLAGS rather than
661 --with-build-ldflags=XXX
662 If cross-compiling, specify the host linker-flags. You might need to
663 do this if the target linker has unusual flags which confuse the host
666 You can also set the environment variable $BUILD_LDFLAGS rather than
669 --with-build-libs=XXX
670 If cross-compiling, the host libraries. You might need to do this if
671 the target environment requires unusual libraries.
673 You can also set the environment variable $BUILD_LIBS rather than
677 Specify an alternate terminfo capabilities file, which makes the
678 configure script look for "include/Caps.XXX". A few systems, e.g.,
679 AIX 4.x use the same overall file-format as ncurses for terminfo
680 data, but use different alignments within the tables to support
681 legacy applications. For those systems, you can configure ncurses
682 to use a terminfo database which is compatible with the native
685 --with-ccharw-max=XXX
686 Override the size of the wide-character array in cchar_t structures.
687 Changing this will alter the binary interface. This defaults to 5.
690 Override type of chtype, which stores the video attributes and (if
691 --enable-widec is not given) a character. Prior to ncurses 5.5, this
692 was always unsigned long, but with ncurses 5.5, it may be unsigned.
693 Use this option if you need to preserve compatibility with 64-bit
697 Specify the terminfo source file to install. Usually you will wish
698 to install ncurses' default (misc/terminfo.src). Certain systems
699 have special requirements, e.g, OS/2 EMX has a customized terminfo
703 For testing, compile and link with Conor Cahill's dbmalloc library.
704 This also sets the --disable-leaks option.
707 Generate debug-libraries (default). These are named by adding "_g"
708 to the root, e.g., libncurses_g.a
710 --with-default-terminfo-dir=XXX
711 Specify the default terminfo database directory. This is normally
712 DATADIR/terminfo, e.g., /usr/share/terminfo.
715 For testing, compile and link with Gray Watson's dmalloc library.
716 This also sets the --disable-leaks option.
719 Specify a list of fallback terminal descriptions which will be
720 compiled into the ncurses library. See CONFIGURING FALLBACK ENTRIES.
723 use Alessandro Rubini's GPM library to provide mouse support on the
724 Linux console. Prior to ncurses 5.5, this introduced a dependency on
727 Currently ncurses uses the dlsym() function to bind to the library at
728 runtime, so it is only necessary that the library be present when
729 ncurses is built, to obtain the filename (or soname) used in the
730 corresponding dlopen() call. If you give a value for this option,
733 --with-gpm=$HOME/tmp/test-gpm.so
735 that overrides the configure check for the soname.
737 See also --without-dlsym
739 --with-hashed-db[=XXX]
740 Use a hashed database for storing terminfo data rather than storing
741 each compiled entry in a separate binary file within a directory
744 In particular, this uses the Berkeley database 1.8.5 interface, as
745 provided by that and its successors db 2, 3, and 4. The actual
746 interface is slightly different in the successor versions of the
747 Berkeley database. The database should have been configured using
748 "--enable-compat185".
750 If you use this option for configuring ncurses, tic will only be able
751 to write entries in the hashed database. infocmp can still read
752 entries from a directory tree as well as reading entries from the
753 hashed database. To do this, infocmp determines whether the $TERMINFO
754 variable points to a directory or a file, and reads the directory-tree
755 or hashed database respectively.
757 You cannot have a directory containing both hashed-database and
758 filesystem-based terminfo entries.
760 Use the parameter value to give the install-prefix used for the
762 --with-hashed-db=/usr/local/BigBase
763 to find the corresponding include- and lib-directories under the
766 See also the --enable-getcap option.
768 --with-install-prefix=XXX
769 Allows you to specify an alternate location for installing ncurses
770 after building it. The value you specify is prepended to the "real"
771 install location. This simplifies making binary packages. The
772 makefile variable DESTDIR is set by this option. It is also possible
774 make install DESTDIR=XXX
775 since the makefiles pass that variable to subordinate makes.
777 NOTE: a few systems build shared libraries with fixed pathnames; this
778 option probably will not work for those configurations.
781 Generate libraries with libtool. If this option is selected, then it
782 overrides all other library model specifications. Note that libtool
783 must already be installed, uses makefile rules dependent on GNU make,
784 and does not promise to follow the version numbering convention of
785 other shared libraries on your system. However, if the --with-shared
786 option does not succeed, you may get better results with this option.
788 If a parameter value is given, it must be the full pathname of the
789 particular version of libtool, e.g.,
790 /usr/bin/libtool-1.2.3
792 It is possible to rebuild the configure script to use the automake
793 macros for libtool, e.g., AC_PROG_LIBTOOL. See the comments in
794 aclocal.m4 for CF_PROG_LIBTOOL, and ensure that you build configure
795 using the appropriate patch for autoconf from
796 http://invisible-island.net/autoconf/
798 --with-manpage-aliases
799 Tell the configure script you wish to create entries in the
800 man-directory for aliases to manpages which list them, e.g., the
801 functions in the panel manpage. This is the default. You can disable
802 it if your man program does this. You can also disable
803 --with-manpage-symlinks to install files containing a ".so" command
804 rather than symbolic links.
806 --with-manpage-format=XXX
807 Tell the configure script how you would like to install man-pages. The
808 option value must be one of these: gzip, compress, BSDI, normal,
809 formatted. If you do not give this option, the configure script
810 attempts to determine which is the case.
812 --with-manpage-renames=XXX
813 Tell the configure script that you wish to rename the manpages while
814 installing. Currently the only distribution which does this is Debian.
815 The option value specifies the name of a file that lists the renamed
816 files, e.g., $srcdir/man/man_db.renames
818 --with-manpage-symlinks
819 Tell the configure script that you wish to make symbolic links in the
820 man-directory for aliases to the man-pages. This is the default, but
821 can be disabled for systems that provide this automatically. Doing
822 this on systems that do not support symbolic links will result in
823 copying the man-page for each alias.
826 Tell the configure script that you with to preprocess the manpages
827 by running them through tbl to generate tables understandable by
831 Override type of mmask_t, which stores the mouse mask. Prior to
832 ncurses 5.5, this was always unsigned long, but with ncurses 5.5, it
833 may be unsigned. Use this option if you need to preserve compatibility
834 with 64-bit executables.
837 Generate normal (i.e., static) libraries (default).
839 Note: on Linux, the configure script will attempt to use the GPM
840 library via the dlsym() function call. Use --without-dlsym to disable
841 this feature, or --without-gpm, depending on whether you wish to use
845 Override type of ospeed variable, which is part of the termcap
846 compatibility interface. In termcap, this is a 'short', which works
847 for a wide range of baudrates because ospeed is not the actual speed
848 but the encoded value, e.g., B9600 would be a small number such as 13.
849 However the encoding scheme originally allowed for values "only" up to
850 38400bd. A newer set of definitions past 38400bd is not encoded as
851 compactly, and is not guaranteed to fit into a short (see the function
852 cfgetospeed(), which returns a speed_t for this reason). In practice,
853 applications that required knowledge of the ospeed variable, i.e.,
854 those using termcap, do not use the higher speeds. Your application
855 (or system, in general) may or may not.
857 --with-pkg-config=[DIR]
858 Check for pkg-config, optionally specifying its path.
861 Generate profile-libraries These are named by adding "_p" to the root,
865 Link with POSIX threads, set --enable-reentrant. The use_window() and
866 use_screen() functions will use mutex's, allowing rudimentary support
867 for multithreaded applications.
870 Compile-in RCS identifiers. Most of the C files have an identifier.
872 --with-rel-version=NUM
873 Override the release version, which may be used in shared library
874 filenames. This consists of a major and minor version number separated
875 by ".". Normally the major version number is the same as the ABI
876 version; some ports have special requirements for compatibility.
879 Generate shared-libraries. The names given depend on the system for
880 which you are building, typically using a ".so" suffix, along with
881 symbolic links that refer to the release version.
883 NOTE: Unless you override the configure script by setting the $CFLAGS
884 environment variable, these will not be built with the -g debugging
887 NOTE: For some configurations, e.g., installing a new version of
888 ncurses shared libraries on a machine which already has ncurses
889 shared libraries, you may encounter problems with the linker.
890 For example, it may prevent you from running the build tree's
891 copy of tic (for installing the terminfo database) because it
892 loads the system's copy of the ncurses shared libraries. In that
893 case, using the misc/shlib script may be helpful, since it sets
894 $LD_LIBRARY_PATH to point to the build tree, e.g.,
895 ./misc/shlib make install
897 --with-shlib-version=XXX
898 Specify whether to use the release or ABI version for shared libraries.
899 This is normally chosen automatically based on the type of system
900 which you are building on. We use it for testing the configure script.
903 use FreeBSD sysmouse interface provide mouse support on the console.
905 --with-system-type=XXX
906 For testing, override the derived host system-type which is used to
907 decide things such as the linker commands used to build shared
908 libraries. This is normally chosen automatically based on the type of
909 system which you are building on. We use it for testing the configure
912 --with-terminfo-dirs=XXX
913 Specify a search-list of terminfo directories which will be compiled
914 into the ncurses library (default: DATADIR/terminfo)
917 When building the ncurses library, organize this as two parts: the
918 curses library (libncurses) and the low-level terminfo library
919 (libtinfo). This is done to accommodate applications that use only
920 the latter. The terminfo library is about half the size of the total.
922 If an option value is given, that overrides the name of the terminfo
923 library. For instance, if the wide-character version is built, the
924 terminfo library would be named libtinfow. But the libtinfow interface
925 is upward compatible from libtinfo, so it would be possible to overlay
926 libtinfo.so with a "wide" version of libtinfow.so by renaming it with
930 Specify a search-list of termcap files which will be compiled into the
931 ncurses library (default: /etc/termcap:/usr/share/misc/termcap)
934 When building the ncurses library, build a separate library for
935 the modules that are used only by the utility programs. Normally
936 those would be bundled with the termlib or ncurses libraries.
938 If an option value is given, that overrides the name of the tic
939 library. As in termlib, there is no ABI difference between the
940 "wide" libticw.so and libtic.so
942 NOTE: Overriding the name of the tic library may be useful if you are
943 also using the --with-termlib option to rename libtinfo. If you are
944 not doing that, renaming the tic library can result in conflicting
945 library dependencies for tic and other programs built with the tic
949 Configure the trace() function as part of the all models of the ncurses
950 library. Normally it is part of the debug (libncurses_g) library only.
953 For testing, compile with debug option.
954 This also sets the --disable-leaks option.
956 --with-wrap-prefix=XXX
957 When using the --enable-reentrant option, ncurses redefines variables
958 that would be global in curses, e.g., LINES, as a macro that calls a
959 "wrapping" function which fetches the data from the current SCREEN
960 structure. Normally that function is named by prepending "_nc_" to the
961 variable's name. The function is technically private (since portable
962 applications would not refer directly to it). But according to one
963 line of reasoning, it is not the same type of "private" as functions
964 which applications should not call even via a macro. This configure
965 option lets you choose the prefix for these wrapped variables.
968 Suppress the configure script's check for Ada95, do not build the
969 Ada95 binding and related demo.
972 Don't install the ncurses header with the name "curses.h". Rather,
973 install as "ncurses.h" and modify the installed headers and manpages
977 XSI curses declares "bool" as part of the interface. C++ also declares
978 "bool". Neither specifies the size and type of booleans, but both
979 insist on the same name. We chose to accommodate this by making the
980 configure script check for the size and type (e.g., unsigned or signed)
981 that your C++ compiler uses for booleans. If you do not wish to use
982 ncurses with C++, use this option to tell the configure script to not
983 adjust ncurses bool to match C++.
985 --without-cxx-binding
986 Suppress the configure script's check for C++, do not build the
987 C++ binding and related demo.
990 Disable development options. This does not include those that change
991 the interface, such as --enable-widec.
994 Do not use dlsym() to load GPM dynamically.
997 Tell the configure script to suppress the install of ncurses' manpages.
1000 Tell the configure script to suppress the build of ncurses' application
1001 programs (e.g., tic). The test applications will still be built if you
1002 type "make", though not if you simply do "make install".
1005 Tell the configure script to use "xterm-old" for the entry used in
1006 the terminfo database. This will work with variations such as
1007 X11R5 and X11R6 xterm.
1010 COMPATIBILITY WITH OLDER VERSIONS OF NCURSES:
1011 --------------------------------------------
1013 Because ncurses implements the X/Open Curses Specification, its interface
1014 is fairly stable. That does not mean the interface does not change.
1015 Changes are made to the documented interfaces when we find differences
1016 between ncurses and X/Open or implementations which they certify (such as
1017 Solaris). We add extensions to those interfaces to solve problems not
1018 addressed by the original curses design, but those must not conflict with
1019 the X/Open documentation.
1021 Here are some of the major interface changes, and related problems which
1022 you may encounter when building a system with different versions of
1025 5.7 (November 2, 2008)
1028 + generate linkable stubs for some macros:
1031 + Add new library configuration for tic-library (the non-curses portion
1032 of the ncurses library used for the tic program as well as some
1033 others such as tack. There is no API change, but makefiles would be
1034 changed to use the tic-library built separately.
1036 tack, distributed separately from ncurses, uses some of the internal
1037 _nc_XXX functions, which are declared in the tic.h header file.
1039 The reason for providing this separate library is that none of the
1040 functions in it are suitable for threaded applications.
1042 + Add new library configuration (ncursest, ncurseswt) which provides
1043 rudimentary support for POSIX threads. This introduces opaque
1044 access functions to the WINDOW structure and adds a parameter to
1045 several internal functions.
1047 + move most internal variables (except tic-library) into data blocks
1048 _nc_globals and _nc_prescreen to simplify analysis. Those were
1049 globally accessible, but since they were not part of the documented
1050 API, there is no ABI change.
1052 + changed static tables of strings to be indices into long strings, to
1053 improve startup performance. This changes parameter lists for some
1054 of the internal functions.
1058 + add NCURSES_OPAQUE definition in curses.h to control whether internal
1059 details of the WINDOW structure are visible to an application. This
1060 is always defined when the threaded library is built, and is optional
1061 otherwise. New functions for this: is_cleared, is_idcok, is_idlok,
1062 is_immedok, is_keypad, is_leaveok, is_nodelay, is_notimeout,
1063 is_scrollok, is_syncok, wgetparent and wgetscrreg.
1065 + the threaded library (ncursest) also disallows direct updating of
1066 global curses-level variables, providing functions (via macros) for
1067 obtaining their value. A few of those variables can be modified by
1068 the application, using new functions: set_escdelay, set_tabsize
1070 + added functions use_window() and use_screen() which wrap a mutex
1071 (if threading is configured) around a call to a user-supplied
1074 Added internal functions:
1085 These are used for leak-testing, and are stubs for
1086 ABI compatibility when ncurses is not configured for that
1087 using the --disable-leaks configure script option:
1092 Removed internal functions:
1095 Modified internal functions:
1101 _nc_locale_breaks_acs
1103 _nc_update_screensize
1105 Use new typedef TRIES to replace "struct tries":
1113 5.6 (December 17, 2006)
1116 + generate linkable stubs for some macros:
1118 getbegx, getbegy, getcurx, getcury, getmaxx, getmaxy, getparx,
1121 and (for libncursesw)
1129 Added internal functions:
1143 Also (if using the hashed database configuration):
1158 Removed internal functions:
1161 Modified internal functions:
1168 5.5 (October 10, 2005)
1171 + terminfo installs "xterm-new" as "xterm" entry rather than
1172 "xterm-old" (aka xterm-r6).
1174 + terminfo data is installed using the tic -x option (few systems
1175 still use ncurses 4.2).
1177 + modify C++ binding to work with newer C++ compilers by providing
1178 initializers and using modern casts. Old-style header names are
1179 still used in this release to allow compiling with not-so-old
1182 + form and menu libraries now work with wide-character data.
1183 Applications which bypassed the form library and manipulated the
1184 FIELD.buf data directly will not work properly with libformw, since
1185 that no longer points to an array of char. The set_field_buffer()
1186 and field_buffer() functions translate to/from the actual field
1189 + change SP->_current_attr to a pointer, adjust ifdef's to ensure that
1190 libtinfo.so and libtinfow.so have the same ABI. The reason for this
1191 is that the corresponding data which belongs to the upper-level
1192 ncurses library has a different size in each model.
1194 + winnstr() now returns multibyte character strings for the
1195 wide-character configuration.
1197 + assume_default_colors() no longer requires that use_default_colors()
1200 + data_ahead() now works with wide-characters.
1202 + slk_set() and slk_wset() now accept and store multibyte or
1203 multicolumn characters.
1205 + start_color() now returns OK if colors have already been started.
1206 start_color() also returns ERR if it cannot allocate memory.
1208 + pair_content() now returns -1 for consistency with init_pair() if it
1209 corresponds to the default-color.
1211 + unctrl() now returns null if its parameter does not correspond
1212 to an unsigned char.
1215 Experimental mouse version 2 supports wheel mice with buttons
1216 4 and 5. This requires ABI 6 because it modifies the encoding
1219 Experimental extended colors allows encoding of 256 foreground
1220 and background colors, e.g., with the xterm-256color or
1221 xterm-88color terminfo entries. This requires ABI 6 because
1222 it changes the size of cchar_t.
1224 Added internal functions:
1228 _nc_retrace_cvoid_ptr
1229 _nc_retrace_void_ptr
1232 Removed internal functions:
1235 Modified internal functions:
1240 5.4 (February 8, 2004)
1243 + add the remaining functions for X/Open curses wide-character support.
1244 These are only available if the library is configured using the
1245 --enable-widec option.
1249 + write getyx() and related 2-return macros in terms of getcury(),
1252 + simplify ifdef for bool declaration in curses.h
1254 + modify ifdef's in curses.h that disabled use of __attribute__() for
1255 g++, since recent versions implement the cases which ncurses uses.
1257 + change some interfaces to use const:
1269 Added internal functions:
1272 _nc_is_charable() wide
1273 _nc_locale_breaks_acs()
1276 _nc_to_widechar() wide
1278 _nc_trace_bufcat() debug
1279 _nc_unicode_locale()
1281 Removed internal functions:
1285 Modified internal functions:
1287 _nc_retrace_chtype()
1289 5.3 (October 12, 2002)
1292 + change type for bool used in headers to NCURSES_BOOL, which usually
1293 is the same as the compiler's definition for 'bool'.
1295 + add all but two functions for X/Open curses wide-character support.
1296 These are only available if the library is configured using the
1297 --enable-widec option. Missing functions are
1301 + add environment variable $NCURSES_ASSUMED_COLORS to modify the
1302 assume_default_colors() extension.
1308 Added internal functions:
1309 _nc_altcharset_name() debug
1311 _nc_retrace_bool() debug
1312 _nc_retrace_unsigned() debug
1314 _nc_trace_ttymode() debug
1319 Removed internal functions:
1322 Modified internal functions:
1325 5.2 (October 21, 2000)
1328 + revert termcap ospeed variable to 'short' (see discussion of the
1329 --with-ospeed configure option).
1334 + made the extended terminal capabilities
1335 (configure --enable-tcap-names) a standard feature. This should
1336 be transparent to applications that do not require it.
1338 + removed the trace() function and related trace support from the
1341 + modified curses.h.in, undef'ing some symbols to avoid conflict
1344 Added extensions: assume_default_colors().
1346 5.0 (October 23, 1999)
1349 + implemented the wcolor_set() and slk_color() functions.
1351 + move macro winch to a function, to hide details of struct ldat
1353 + corrected prototypes for slk_* functions, using chtype rather than
1356 + the slk_attr_{set,off,on} functions need an additional void*
1357 parameter according to XSI.
1359 + modified several prototypes to correspond with 1997 version of X/Open
1360 Curses: [w]attr_get(), [w]attr_set(), border_set() have different
1361 parameters. Some functions were renamed or misspelled:
1362 erase_wchar(), in_wchntr(), mvin_wchntr(). Some developers have used
1365 Added extensions: keybound(), curses_version().
1367 Terminfo database changes:
1369 + change translation for termcap 'rs' to terminfo 'rs2', which is
1370 the documented equivalent, rather than 'rs1'.
1372 The problems are subtler in recent releases.
1374 a) This release provides users with the ability to define their own
1375 terminal capability extensions, like termcap. To accomplish this,
1376 we redesigned the TERMTYPE struct (in term.h). Very few
1377 applications use this struct. They must be recompiled to work with
1380 a) If you use the extended terminfo names (i.e., you used configure
1381 --enable-tcap-names), the resulting terminfo database can have some
1382 entries which are not readable by older versions of ncurses. This
1383 is a bug in the older versions:
1385 + the terminfo database stores booleans, numbers and strings in
1386 arrays. The capabilities that are listed in the arrays are
1387 specified by X/Open. ncurses recognizes a number of obsolete and
1388 extended names which are stored past the end of the specified
1391 + a change to read_entry.c in 951001 made the library do an lseek()
1392 call incorrectly skipping data which is already read from the
1393 string array. This happens when the number of strings in the
1394 terminfo data file is greater than STRCOUNT, the number of
1395 specified and obsolete or extended strings.
1397 + as part of alignment with the X/Open final specification, in the
1398 990109 patch we added two new terminfo capabilities:
1399 set_a_attributes and set_pglen_inch). This makes the indices for
1400 the obsolete and extended capabilities shift up by 2.
1402 + the last two capabilities in the obsolete/extended list are memu
1403 and meml, which are found in most terminfo descriptions for xterm.
1405 When trying to read this terminfo entry, the spurious lseek()
1406 causes the library to attempt to read the final portion of the
1407 terminfo data (the text of the string capabilities) 4 characters
1408 past its starting point, and reads 4 characters too few. The
1409 library rejects the data, and applications are unable to
1410 initialize that terminal type.
1412 FIX: remove memu and meml from the xterm description. They are
1413 obsolete, not used by ncurses. (It appears that the feature was
1414 added to xterm to make it more like hpterm).
1416 This is not a problem if you do not use the -x option of tic to
1417 create a terminfo database with extended names. Note that the
1418 user-defined terminal capabilities are not affected by this bug,
1419 since they are stored in a table after the older terminfo data ends,
1420 and are invisible to the older libraries.
1422 c) Some developers did not wish to use the C++ binding, and used the
1423 configure --without-cxx option. This causes problems if someone
1424 uses the ncurses library from C++ because that configure test
1425 determines the type for C++'s bool and makes ncurses match it, since
1426 both C++ and curses are specified to declare bool. Calling ncurses
1427 functions with the incorrect type for bool will cause execution
1428 errors. In 5.0 we added a configure option "--without-cxx-binding"
1429 which controls whether the binding itself is built and installed.
1434 + correct prototype for termattrs() as per XPG4 version 2.
1436 + add placeholder prototypes for color_set(), erasewchar(),
1437 term_attrs(), wcolor_set() as per XPG4 version 2.
1439 + add macros getcur[xy] getbeg[xy] getpar[xy], which are defined in
1442 New extensions: keyok() and define_key().
1444 Terminfo database changes:
1446 + corrected definition in curses.h for ACS_LANTERN, which was 'I'
1451 We added these extensions: use_default_colors(). Also added
1452 configure option --enable-const, to support the use of const where
1453 X/Open should have, but did not, specify.
1455 The terminfo database content changed the representation of color for
1456 most entries that use ANSI colors. SVr4 curses treats the setaf/setab
1457 and setf/setb capabilities differently, interchanging the red/blue
1458 colors in the latter.
1460 4.0 (December 24, 1996)
1462 We bumped to version 4.0 because the newly released Linux dynamic
1463 loader (ld.so.1.8.5) did not load shared libraries whose ABI and REL
1464 versions were inconsistent. At that point, ncurses ABI was 3.4 and the
1465 REL was 1.9.9g, so we made them consistent.
1467 1.9.9g (December 1, 1996)
1469 This fixed most of the problems with 1.9.9e, and made these interface
1472 + remove tparam(), which had been provided for compatibility with
1473 some termcap. tparm() is standard, and does not conflict with
1474 application's fallback for missing tparam().
1476 + turn off hardware echo in initscr(). This changes the sense of the
1477 echo() function, which was initialized to echoing rather than
1478 nonechoing (the latter is specified). There were several other
1479 corrections to the terminal I/O settings which cause applications to
1482 + implemented several functions (such as attr_on()) which were
1483 available only as macros.
1485 + corrected several typos in curses.h.in (i.e., the mvXXXX macros).
1487 + corrected prototypes for delay_output(),
1488 has_color, immedok() and idcok().
1490 + corrected misspelled getbkgd(). Some applications used the
1493 + added _yoffset to WINDOW. The size of WINDOW does not impact
1494 applications, since they use only pointers to WINDOW structs.
1496 These changes were made to the terminfo database:
1498 + removed boolean 'getm' which was available as an extended name.
1500 We added these extensions: wresize(), resizeterm(), has_key() and
1503 1.9.9e (March 24, 1996)
1505 not recommended (a last-minute/untested change left the forms and
1506 menus libraries unusable since they do not repaint the screen).
1507 Foreground/background colors are combined incorrectly, working properly
1508 only on a black background. When this was released, the X/Open
1509 specification was available only in draft form.
1511 Some applications (such as lxdialog) were "fixed" to work with the
1512 incorrect color scheme.
1515 IF YOU ARE A SYSTEM INTEGRATOR:
1516 ------------------------------
1518 Configuration and Installation:
1520 On platforms where ncurses is assumed to be installed in /usr/lib,
1521 the configure script uses "/usr" as a default:
1523 GNU/Linux, FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, Cygwin
1525 For other platforms, the default is "/usr/local". See the discussion
1526 of the "--disable-overwrite" option.
1528 The location of the terminfo is set indirectly by the "--datadir"
1529 configure option, e.g., /usr/share/terminfo, given a datadir of
1530 /usr/share. You may want to override this if you are installing
1531 ncurses libraries in nonstandard locations, but wish to share the
1534 Normally the ncurses library is configured in a pure-terminfo mode;
1535 that is, with the --disable-termcap option. This makes the ncurses
1536 library smaller and faster. The ncurses library includes a termcap
1537 emulation that queries the terminfo database, so even applications that
1538 use raw termcap to query terminal characteristics will win (providing
1539 you recompile and relink them!).
1541 If you must configure with termcap fallback enabled, you may also wish
1542 to use the --enable-getcap option. This speeds up termcap-based
1543 startups, at the expense of not allowing personal termcap entries to
1544 reference the terminfo tree. See comments in
1545 ncurses/tinfo/read_termcap.c for further details.
1547 Note that if you have $TERMCAP set, ncurses will use that value
1548 to locate termcap data. In particular, running from xterm will
1549 set $TERMCAP to the contents of the xterm's termcap entry.
1550 If ncurses sees that, it will not examine /etc/termcap.
1554 The terminfo file assumes that Shift-Tab generates \E[Z (the ECMA-48
1555 reverse-tabulation sequence) rather than ^I. Here are the loadkeys -d
1556 mappings that will set this up:
1558 keycode 15 = Tab Tab
1559 alt keycode 15 = Meta_Tab
1560 shift keycode 15 = F26
1561 string F26 ="\033[Z"
1563 Naming the Console Terminal
1565 In various systems there has been a practice of designating the system
1566 console driver type as `console'. Please do not do this! It
1567 complicates peoples' lives, because it can mean that several different
1568 terminfo entries from different operating systems all logically want to
1569 be called `console'.
1571 Please pick a name unique to your console driver and set that up
1572 in the /etc/inittab table or local equivalent. Send the entry to the
1573 terminfo maintainer (listed in the misc/terminfo file) to be included
1574 in the terminfo file, if it's not already there. See the
1575 term(7) manual page included with this distribution for more on
1576 conventions for choosing type names.
1578 Here are some recommended primary console names:
1580 linux -- Linux console driver
1585 If you are responsible for integrating ncurses for one of these
1586 distributions, please either use the recommended name or get back
1587 to us explaining why you don't want to, so we can work out nomenclature
1588 that will make users' lives easier rather than harder.
1591 RECENT XTERM VERSIONS:
1592 ---------------------
1594 The terminfo database file included with this distribution assumes you
1595 are running a modern xterm based on XFree86 (i.e., xterm-new). The
1596 earlier X11R6 entry (xterm-r6) and X11R5 entry (xterm-r5) is provided
1597 as well. See the --without-xterm-new configure script option if you
1598 are unable to update your system.
1601 CONFIGURING FALLBACK ENTRIES:
1602 ----------------------------
1604 In order to support operation of ncurses programs before the terminfo
1605 tree is accessible (that is, in single-user mode or at OS installation
1606 time) the ncurses library can be compiled to include an array of
1607 pre-fetched fallback entries. This must be done on a machine which
1608 has ncurses' infocmp and terminfo database installed (as well as
1609 ncurses' tic and infocmp programs).
1611 These entries are checked by setupterm() only when the conventional
1612 fetches from the terminfo tree and the termcap fallback (if configured)
1613 have been tried and failed. Thus, the presence of a fallback will not
1614 shadow modifications to the on-disk entry for the same type, when that
1615 entry is accessible.
1617 By default, there are no entries on the fallback list. After you have
1618 built the ncurses suite for the first time, you can change the list
1619 (the process needs infocmp(1)). To do so, use the script
1620 ncurses/tinfo/MKfallback.sh. A configure script option
1621 --with-fallbacks does this (it accepts a comma-separated list of the
1622 names you wish, and does not require a rebuild).
1624 If you wanted (say) to have linux, vt100, and xterm fallbacks, you
1625 would use the commands
1628 tinfo/MKfallback.sh linux vt100 xterm >fallback.c
1630 Then just rebuild and reinstall the library as you would normally.
1631 You can restore the default empty fallback list with
1633 tinfo/MKfallback.sh >fallback.c
1635 The overhead for an empty fallback list is one trivial stub function.
1636 Any non-empty fallback list is const-ed and therefore lives in sharable
1637 text space. You can look at the comment trailing each initializer in
1638 the generated ncurses/fallback.c file to see the core cost of the
1639 fallbacks. A good rule of thumb for modern vt100-like entries is that
1640 each one will cost about 2.5K of text space.
1643 BSD CONVERSION NOTES:
1644 --------------------
1646 If you need to support really ancient BSD programs, you probably
1647 want to configure with the --enable-bsdpad option. What this does
1648 is enable code in tputs() that recognizes a numeric prefix on a
1649 capability as a request for that much trailing padding in milliseconds.
1650 There are old BSD programs that do things like tputs("50").
1652 (If you are distributing ncurses as a support-library component of
1653 an application you probably want to put the remainder of this section
1654 in the package README file.)
1656 The following note applies only if you have configured ncurses with
1659 ------------------------------- CUT HERE --------------------------------
1661 If you are installing this application privately (either because you
1662 have no root access or want to experiment with it before doing a root
1663 installation), there are a couple of details you need to be aware of.
1664 They have to do with the ncurses library, which uses terminfo rather
1665 than termcap for describing terminal characteristics.
1667 Though the ncurses library is terminfo-based, it will interpret your
1668 TERMCAP variable (if present), any local termcap files you reference
1669 through it, and the system termcap file. However, in order to avoid
1670 slowing down your application startup, it will only do this once per
1673 The first time you load a given terminal type from your termcap
1674 database, the library initialization code will automatically write it
1675 in terminfo format to a subdirectory under $HOME/.terminfo. After
1676 that, the initialization code will find it there and do a (much
1677 faster) terminfo fetch.
1679 Usually, all this means is that your home directory will silently grow
1680 an invisible .terminfo subdirectory which will get filled in with
1681 terminfo descriptions of terminal types as you invoke them. If anyone
1682 ever installs a global terminfo tree on your system, this will quietly
1683 stop happening and your $HOME/.terminfo will become redundant.
1685 The objective of all this logic is to make converting from BSD termcap
1686 as painless as possible without slowing down your application (termcap
1687 compilation is expensive).
1689 If you don't have a TERMCAP variable or custom personal termcap file,
1690 you can skip the rest of this dissertation.
1692 If you *do* have a TERMCAP variable and/or a custom personal termcap file
1693 that defines a terminal type, that definition will stop being visible
1694 to this application after the first time you run it, because it will
1695 instead see the terminfo entry that it wrote to $HOME/terminfo the
1698 Subsequently, editing the TERMCAP variable or personal TERMCAP file
1699 will have no effect unless you explicitly remove the terminfo entry
1700 under $HOME/terminfo. If you do that, the entry will be recompiled
1701 from your termcap resources the next time it is invoked.
1703 To avoid these complications, use infocmp(1) and tic(1) to edit the
1704 terminfo directory directly.
1706 ------------------------------- CUT HERE --------------------------------
1708 USING NCURSES WITH AFS:
1709 AFS treats each directory as a separate logical filesystem, you
1710 can't hard-link across them. The --enable-symlinks option copes
1711 with this by making tic use symbolic links.
1713 USING NCURSES WITH GPM:
1714 Ncurses 4.1 and up can be configured to use GPM (General Purpose Mouse)
1715 which is used with Linux console. Be aware that GPM is commonly
1716 installed as a shared library which contains a wrapper for the curses
1717 wgetch() function (libcurses.o). Some integrators have simplified
1718 linking applications by combining all or part of libcurses.so into the
1719 libgpm.so file, producing symbol conflicts with ncurses (specifically
1720 the wgetch function). This was originally the BSD curses, but
1721 generally whatever curses library exists on the system.
1723 You may be able to work around this problem by linking as follows:
1725 cc -o foo foo.o -lncurses -lgpm -lncurses
1727 but the linker may not cooperate, producing mysterious errors.
1728 See the FAQ, as well as the discussion under the --with-gpm option:
1730 http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses.faq.html#using_gpm_lib
1732 BUILDING NCURSES WITH A CROSS-COMPILER
1733 Ncurses can be built with a cross-compiler. Some parts must be built
1734 with the host's compiler since they are used for building programs
1735 (e.g., ncurses/make_hash and ncurses/make_keys) that generate tables
1736 that are compiled into the ncurses library. The essential thing to do
1737 is set the BUILD_CC environment variable to your host's compiler, and
1738 run the configure script configuring for the cross-compiler.
1740 The configure options --with-build-cc, etc., are provided to make this
1741 simpler. Since make_hash and make_keys use only ANSI C features, it
1742 is normally not necessary to provide the other options such as
1743 --with-build-libs, but they are provided for completeness.
1745 Note that all of the generated source-files which are part of ncurses
1746 will be made if you use
1750 This would be useful in porting to an environment which has little
1751 support for the tools used to generate the sources, e.g., sed, awk and
1754 When ncurses has been successfully cross-compiled, you may want to use
1755 "make install" (with a suitable target directory) to construct an
1756 install tree. Note that in this case (as with the --with-fallbacks
1757 option), ncurses uses the development platform's tic to do the
1758 "make install.data" portion.
1760 The system's tic program is used to install the terminal database,
1761 even for cross-compiles. For best results, the tic program should
1762 be from the most current version of ncurses.
1765 Send any feedback to the ncurses mailing list at
1766 bug-ncurses@gnu.org. To subscribe send mail to
1767 bug-ncurses-request@gnu.org with body that reads:
1768 subscribe ncurses <your-email-address-here>
1770 The Hacker's Guide in the doc directory includes some guidelines
1771 on how to report bugs in ways that will get them fixed most quickly.