1 -- $Id: TO-DO,v 1.38 1997/10/11 14:47:42 tom Exp $
3 SHORT-TERM TO-DO ITEMS:
7 * XPG4 specifies that the enhanced features are not available unless the
8 _XOPEN_SOURCE_EXTENDED test macro is defined by the application. Ncurses uses
9 this macro (incorrectly) to address a dependency upon wchar_t. The functions
10 which use wchar_t are not implemented, so the effect of the test macro is
13 * The screen optimization has been tested only in an ad hoc manner. We should
14 develop a good set of regression tests to cover lib_doupdate.c and
17 * Magic cookie support does not work, since the logic does not take into account
18 refresh. Also, the initial optimize does not adjust the current location
19 when a cookie is emitted.
21 * Scrolling optimization has holes: for example, it forces repaints of the
22 screen between calls to refresh().
24 * SVr4 uses slightly different rules for determining when softkeys are shown.
25 For example, they are initially displayed (before the ncurses 'e' test
26 activates them), and a touchwin can apparently also force them to be
29 + The code departs from perfect 8-bit cleanness in one respect; you cannot
30 specify a character \200 as part of a capability string, because the terminfo
31 library interprets \200 as a request to embed NUL (\000) at that point. This
32 is a legacy terminfo property we can't mess with.
34 * The window classes defined in the c++ subdirectory need documentation.
35 Some C++ programmer could earn a lot of good karma by doing this...
37 Portability (or lack thereof):
39 * Users of older System V UNIXes (but not Solaris, and probably not SVr4)
40 may trip over a known problem with the signal-handling code which causes
41 abrupt termination of ncurses applications following resume from a ^Z
42 suspend (this problem was first seen running lynx). You will not see
43 this problem if you are running Linux or one of the 4.4BSD derivatives
44 like FreeBSD, NetBSD, or BSDI. For details, see the analysis in the
45 header comment of ncurses/lib_tstp.c.
47 * In theory, vwprintw and vwscanf are supposed to use the older varargs.h
48 interface for handling variadic argument lists. Linux doesn't have
49 varargs.h, it has the newer X/Open-standard stdargs.h equivalent. So
50 these functions use stdargs instead. This is unlikely to be a problem
51 unless you're building ncurses on a System V old enough to only have
52 varargs.h. (Solaris 2.5.1 uses the stdarg.h binding as well).
54 * If you're using a BSD earlier than 4.4BSD, or a Linux old enough not to
55 have a native vsscanf(3) in its library, vwscanw() will not work. You lose.
56 (It should work on any System V, however). If you want to fix this, add
57 an implementation to ncurses/vsscanf.c.
59 * The demo build for the c++ library craps out with many link errors under gcc
60 2.6.3. We're told the C++ support in 2.6.3 is broken and that the right
61 fix is to upgrade to 2.7.0. This demo is also known to not build with
62 the Sun SPARCworks 4.1 C++ compiler, due to a problem resolving templates.
64 * Under Ultrix, configure craps out (Ultrix sh is lame). Run it under ksh.
66 * We've not tested the configure script with cross-compilers. The autoconf
67 tests are supposed to be able to support this (please report bugs). You will
68 have to configure and build in two steps. The first step must create the
69 automatically-generated sources (e.g., comp_captab.c) on your host machine.
70 Then, run "make mostlyclean", remove config.* from the top-level directory
71 and configure for the cross-compiler.
73 + terminfo.5 does not format with the SunOS (and most other platform's) tbl
74 utility because it relies on a diversion for each table entry. Get the groff
79 * The code for the HP color model using set_color_pair is untested.
81 * The code for handling soft labels on a terminal type with built-in support
82 for them (num_labels > 0, label_height, label_width, label_format, label_off,
83 label_on, plab_norm, lab_f*) has not been tested. The label_format and
84 lab_f* capabilities aren't presently used.
86 LONGER-TERM TO-DO ITEMS:
88 1. Extended COSE conformance
90 There is an XPG4 standard recently released which describes a superset
91 of the SVr4 API. The library is BASE conformant with this standard.
92 We would like to make ncurses fully conformant at the EXTENDED level
93 supporting internationalization.
95 Here are page references to all material involving wide or multi-byte
96 characters in Issue 4 of the XSI Curses standard, with notes on their
97 status in this implementation:
99 Page 1 (1.1.2) New Features discussion of internationalization.
100 Page 12 (2.4): Definition of cchar_t, wchar_t.
101 Page 16 (3.3.2): Introduction of multi-column characters.
102 Page 17-18 (3.3.5): Description of non-spacing characters.
103 Page 19-21 (3.4.2): Basic character operations.
104 Page 34 (addnstr): These should now call underlying wide-
105 character functions, and do (through waddnstr) if _XOPEN_SOURCE_EXTENDED is on).
106 Page 35 (addnwstr): wide-character add-string functions. All macros
107 except waddnwstr() which is not yet defined.
108 Page 36 (add_wch): wide-character add-char functions. All macros
109 except wadd_wch() which is not yet defined.
110 Page 39 (attr_get): implemented -- we've just made the current-
111 attributes field of the window an attr_t.
112 Page 43 (bkgrnd): None of these are implemented.
113 Page 45 (border_set): Neither of these is implemented.
114 Page 47 (box_set): box_set implemented as macro, but the underlying
115 wborder_set() is not yet defined.
116 Page 78 (echo_wchar): echo_wchar() implemented as macro, underlying
117 wecho_wchar() not yet implemented.
118 Page 81 (erasechar): Neither entry point is implemented.
119 Page 87 (getbkgrnd): Not implemented.
120 Page 88 (getcchar): Not implemented.
121 Page 93 (getn_wstr): All implemented (as macros) except the
122 underlying wgetn_wstr().
123 Page 97 (get_wch): All implemented (as macros) except the
124 underlying wget_wch().
125 Page 99 (get_wstr): Xref to page 93.
126 Page 105 (hline_set): All implemented (as macros) except the
127 underlying whline_set(), wvline_set().
128 Page 114 (innstr): Multi-byte character-completeness check is
130 Page 115 (innwstr): All implemented (as macros) except the
131 underlying winnw_str().
132 Page 119 (insnstr): Implementation may not be correct for multi-byte
134 Page 120 (ins_nwstr): Not implemented.
135 Page 121 (insstr): Xref to page 119.
136 Page 122 (instr): Xref to page 119.
137 Page 123 (ins_wch): Not implemented.
138 Page 124 (ins_wstr): Xref to page 120.
139 Page 126 (in_wch): Not implemented.
140 Page 127 (in_wchnstr): Not implemented.
141 Page 128 (inwstr): Xref to page 115.
142 Page 133 (killwchar): killwchar not implemented.
143 Page 158 (pechochar): pecho_wchar() not implemented.
144 Page 176 (setcchar): Not implemented.
145 Page 181 (slk_attroff): slk_wset not implemented.
146 Page 200 (ungetch): unget_wch() not implemented.
147 Page 203 (vidattr): vid_attr() and vid_puts() not implemented.
148 Page 206 (vline_set): Xref to page 105.
149 Page 214 (wunctrl): Not implemented.
150 Page 216 (curses.h): cchar_t, wint_t, wchar_t references.
151 Page 220 (curses.h): KEY_CODE_YES
153 Basically, the macro superstructure is there but the core is absent. We
154 need better multi-locale support guarantees from the OS to finish this.
155 If you are working on internationalization support, please contact us so
160 Only 16 of the 55 files in the library depend on the terminfo format.
161 It should be possible to further kernelize the package, then rewrite
162 a small number of core files to produce a functionally-compatible
163 port that would do updates to a memory-mapped screen area. The first
164 result of this would be a DOS port.
168 It would be nice if ncurses could recognize when it was running under X and
169 maintain its own window. With this feature, all ncurses programs would
170 automatically become X programs. The challenge is to handle resize events
173 4. Unused capabilities
175 The currently unused capabilities fall naturally into several groups:
177 A. Status-line capabilities:
179 Booleans: has_status_line, status_line_esc_ok.
180 Numerics: width_status_line.
181 Strings: dis_status_line, from_status_line, to_status_line.
183 System V Release 1 curses made no use of these at all. SVr4's use, if
184 any, is unknown. From the AT&T termcap file it looks like curses, in general,
185 shouldn't use them; terminal variants with status lines have their line count
186 decremented by 1, suggesting that curses is supposed to leave the status line
189 B. Printer capabilities:
191 Boolean: col_addr_glitch, cr_cancels_micro_mode, has_print_wheel,
192 row_addr_glitch, semi_auto_right_margin, cpi_changes_res,
194 Numeric: buffer_capacity, dot_horz_spacing, dot_vert_spacing,
195 max_micro_address, max_micro_jump, micro_col_size,
196 micro_line_size, number_of_pins, output_res_char,
197 output_res_line, output_res_horz_inch, print_rate,
198 wide_char_size, bit_image_entwining, bit_image_type.
199 String: down_half_line, form_feed, up_half_line, set_left_margin,
200 set_right_margin, clear_margins, change_char_pitch
201 ... set_page_length (all the SVr4 printer caps),
203 Curses doesn't use these.
205 C. Printer-control capabilities:
207 Boolean: prtr_silent.
208 Strings: print_screen, prtr_on, prtr_off, prtr_non.
210 Curses doesn't use these.
214 Strings: hangup, dial_phone, quick_dial, tone, pulse, flash_hook,
215 fixed_pause, wait_tone.
217 Curses doesn't use these.
219 E. Window and virtual-terminal capabilities:
221 Numerics: maximum_windows, virtual_terminal.
222 Strings: req_for_input, create_window, goto_window, set_window.
224 These seem to be fossils from some AT&T experiments on character-based
225 window systems that never escaped the lab. The virtual_terminal cap had
226 something to do with building terminal emulations into tty line disciplines.
228 F. Unused VDT capabilities:
230 Booleans: erase_overstrike, has_meta_key, insert_null_glitch,
231 move_insert, dest_tabs_magic_smso, transparent_underline,
232 needs_xon_xoff, hard_cursor.
233 Numerics: lines_of_memory, buttons.
234 Strings: pkey_key, pkey_local, pkey_xmit, underline_char,
235 enter_xon_mode, exit_xon_mode, xon_character, xoff_character,
236 display_clock, remove_clock, user[0-5], display_pc_char,
237 enter_scancode_mode, exit_scancode_mode, pc_term_options,
238 scancode_escape, alt_scancode_esc.
240 These are the potentially important ones for ncurses. Notes:
242 i) ncurses doesn't need move_insert; it never uses cup/hpa/vpa while
245 ii) We probably don't care about dest_tabs_magic_smso; only
246 Telerays used it and they're all long obsolete.