- Announcing ncurses 6.4
+ Announcing ncurses 6.5
Overview
Release Notes
- These notes are for ncurses 6.4, released December 31, 2022.
+ These notes are for ncurses 6.5, released April 27, 2024.
This release is designed to be source-compatible with ncurses 5.0
- through 6.3; providing extensions to the application binary interface
+ through 6.4; providing extensions to the application binary interface
(ABI). Although the source can still be configured to support the
ncurses 5 ABI, the reason for the release is to reflect improvements
to the ncurses 6 ABI and the supporting utility programs.
The most important bug-fixes/improvements dealt with robustness
issues. The release notes also mention some other bug-fixes, but are
focused on new features and improvements to existing features since
- ncurses 6.3 release.
+ ncurses 6.4 release.
Library improvements
New features
- There are no new features in this release.
+ These are new features:
+ * The low-level terminfo and termcap interfaces are used both by the
+ higher-level curses library, as well as by many applications.
+ The functions which convert parameterized terminal capability
+ strings for output to the terminal (tiparm and tparm) analyze the
+ capability string to determine which parameters are strings (i.e.,
+ addresses), versus numbers (not addresses).
+ The library's analysis of a capability string may differ from the
+ calling application's design if environment variables are used to
+ point to an invalid terminal database. This is a longstanding
+ problem with all implementations of terminfo, dating from the
+ early 1980s.
+ Two new functions address this problem: by providing a function
+ which allows the calling application to tell ncurses how many
+ string-parameters to expect:
+ + tiscan_s helps applications check formatting capabilities
+ that would be passed to tiparm_s.
+ + tiparm_s provides applications a way to tell ncurses what the
+ expected parameters are for a capability.
+ * The ncurses library supports a compile-time feature (enabled with
+ the configure --enable-check-size option) which simplifies
+ initialization with terminals which do not negotiate window
+ (screen) size. This is done in setupterm, by providing for using
+ ANSI cursor-position report (in user6/user7 terminfo capabilities)
+ to obtain the screen size if neither environment variables or
+ ioctl is used.
+ The ncurses test-program with options "-E -T" demonstrates this
+ feature.
+ * add functions to query tty-flags in SCREEN
+
+ This release drops compatibility with obsolete versions of tack, e.g.,
+ pre-1.08
Other improvements
These are improvements to existing features:
- * modify delscreen to more effectively delete all windows on the
- given screen.
- * modify wnoutrefresh to call pnoutrefresh if its parameter is a
- pad, rather than treating it as an error, and modify new_panel to
- permit its window-parameter to be a pad
- * modify curses_trace() to show the trace-mask as symbols, e.g.,
- TRACE_ORDINARY, DEBUG_LEVEL(3).
- * improve checks for valid mouse events when an intermediate mouse
- state is not part of the mousemask specified by the caller
- * allow extended-color number in opts parameter of wattr_on.
- * improve _tracecchar_t2 formatting of base+combining character.
- * trim out some unwanted linker options from ncurses*config and .pc
- files seen in Fedora 36+.
- * improve shell-scripts with shellcheck
- * improve use of "trap" in shell scripts, using a script.
- * modify make-tar.sh scripts to make timestamps more predictable.
+ * In addition to the new, safer function tiparm_s, ncurses adds
+ checks to make the older tiparm, tparm and tgoto functions safer:
+ + the terminfo functions tiparm and tparm ensure that the
+ capability string comes from the terminal description which
+ ncurses loads, rather than from random data which the
+ application happens to have.
+ + the tgoto function disallows capabilities which its analysis
+ shows will attempt to use string parameters.
+ + ncurses uses internal functions which correspond to tiparm,
+ and tgoto which ensure that the capability strings which are
+ passed to these functions come from the loaded terminal
+ description.
+ * improve check in lib_tparm.c, ensuring that a char* fits into a
+ TPARM_ARG
+ * modify _nc_syserr_abort to use _nc_env_access, rather than only
+ checking root uid
+ * improve thread lock in lib_trace.c
+ * modify flushinp to use file descriptors in SCREEN, rather than
+ from TERMINAL, and check if they are for a terminal, like SVr4
+ * modify mcprint to use file descriptor in SCREEN, for consistency
+ * modify internal function _nc_read_file_entry to show relevant
+ filename in warnings
+ * improve checks in internal function convert_string for corrupt
+ terminfo entry
+ * review/improve handling of out-of-memory conditions
+ * limit delays to 30 seconds, i.e., padding delays in terminfo, as
+ well as napms and delay_output functions
+ * fix reallocation loop for vsnprintf in _nc_sprintf_string by
+ copying the va_list variable
+ * modify delscreen to limit the windows which it creates to just
+ those associated with the screen
+ * modify endwin to return an error if it is called again without an
+ intervening screen update
+ * modify wenclose to handle pads
+ * eliminate use of PATH_MAX in lib_trace.c
+ * provide for any CCHARW_MAX greater than 1
These are corrections to existing features:
- * modify misc/gen-pkgconfig.in to allow for the case where the
- library directory does not yet exist, since this is processed
- before doing an install
- * set trailing null on string passed from winsnstr to wins_nwstr.
- * modify waddch_literal to allow for double-width base character
- when merging a combining character
+ * correct loop termination condition in waddnstr and waddnwstr
+ * improve parsing in internal function _nc_msec_cost, allowing a
+ single decimal point
+ * amend parameter check for entire string versus specific length in
+ winsnstr and wins_nwstr to match Solaris; make similar correction
+ to wins_nwstr
+ * correct internal function wadd_wch_literal when adding a
+ non-spacing character to a double-width character
+ * correct definition of Charable macro for non-wide ncurses library
+ .
Program improvements
- Several improvements were made to the utility programs:
+ Several improvements were made to the utility programs. Some were done
+ to make the infocmp option "-u" option help refactor the terminal
+ database.
infocmp
- + rewrite canonical_name function of infocmp to ensure buffer
- size
- + improve readability of long parameterized expressions with
- the infocmp "-f" option by allowing split before a "%p"
- marker.
- + modify verbose-option of infocmp, tic, toe to enable
- debug-tracing if that is configured.
-
- tabs
- limit tab-stop values to max-columns
+ + add limit checks for processing extended capabilities with
+ the "-u" option
+ + correct initial alignment of extended capabilities, so that
+ the "-u" option can be used for more than two terminal types
+ + modify "-u" option to not report cancels for strings which
+ were already cancelled in a use'd chunk.
+ + correct an assignment "-u" for detecting if a boolean is
+ unset in a base entry and set in a use'd chunk, i.e., if it
+ was cancelled.
tic
- add consistency check in tic for u6/u7/u8/u9 and NQ
- capabilities.
- tput
- corrected use of original tty-modes in init/reset subcommands
+ + correct limit-check when dumping tc/use clause via "-I"
+ + check return value of _nc_save_str, in special case where
+ extended capabilities are processed but the terminal
+ description was not initialized
+ + modify check for multiply defined aliases to report problems
+ within the current runtime rather than for conflicts with
+ pre-existing terminal descriptions.
+ + disallow using $TERMINFO or $HOME/.terminfo when "-o" option
+ is used
+
+ tput and tset
+
+ + add "-v" option to tput, to show warnings
+ + modify reset command to avoid altering clocal if the terminal
+ uses a modem
+ + modify reset feature to avoid 1-second sleep if running in a
+ pseudo-terminal
Examples
Along with the library and utilities, improvements were made to the
- ncurses-examples. Most of this activity aimed at improving the
- test-packages:
- * add minimal -h (usage) and -V (version) getopt logic to all
- ncurses-examples programs.
- * fix an error in "@" command in test/ncurses.c F-menu
- * add curses_trace to ifdef's for START_TRACE in test/test.priv.h
- * improve pthread-configuration for test/worm.c
- * add setlocale call to several test-programs.
- * workaround in test/picsmap.c for use of floating point for rgb
- values by ImageMagick 6.9.11, which appears to use the wrong upper
- limit.
- * use static libraries for AdaCurses test-package for Mageia, since
- no gprbuild package is available.
- * install Ada95 sample programs in libexecdir, adding a wrapper
- script to invoke those.
- * install ncurses-examples programs in libexecdir, adding a wrapper
- script to invoke those.
-
- There are other new demo/test programs and reusable examples:
-
- test/combine
- demonstrate combining characters
-
- test/test_delwin
- demonstrate deleting a window
-
- test/test_mouse
- observe mouse events in the raw terminal or parsed ncurses
- modes
-
- test/test_unget_wch
- demonstrate the unget_wch and unget functions
+ ncurses-examples:
+ * modify test_tparm to account for extended capabilities
+ * corrected mouse mask in test/testcurs.c
+ * modify test/clip_printw.c to optionally test non-wrapped updates
+ * modify test/test_mouse.c to use curses api for raw/noraw
+ * modify test/clip_printw.c to optionally test non-wrapped updates
+
+ There is one new demo/test programs:
+
+ test/test_endwin.c
+ This program shows the return-status from endwin with different
+ combinations of endwin (repeated), initscr, newterm.
Terminal database
There are several new terminal descriptions:
- * mosh
- * mosh-256color
- * teken-16color
- * teken-sc
- * teken-vt
- * xgterm
+ * ansi+apparrows
+ * contour
+ * linux+kbs for terminals which imitate xterm's behavior with Linux
+ * rio, rio-direct
+ * mostlike
+ * ms-vt100-16color, winconsole
+ * vt100+noapp, vt100+noapp+pc, xterm+app+pc, xterm+decedit from
+ xterm #389
+ * putty+cursor to reflect amending of modified cursor-keys in 2021
+ * wezterm
There are many changes to existing terminal descriptions. Some were
- updates to several descriptions:
- * make description-fields distinct
- * fix errata in description fields
- * add/use several building-blocks:
- + aixterm+sl
- + ansi+cpr
- + apollo+vt132
- + decid+cpr
- + ncr260vp+sl
- + wyse+sl
- + x10term+sl
- + xterm+acs
- + xterm+alt47
-
- while others affected specific descriptions. These were retested, to
- take into account changes by their developers:
- * kitty
- * teken
-
- while these are specific fixes based on reviewing documentation, user
- reports, or warnings from tic:
-
- att610+cvis0
- amended note as per documentation for att610, att620, att730
-
- kon, kon2, jfbterm
- revise to undo "linux2.6" change to smacs/rmacs/enacs
-
- st-0.6
- add dim, ecma+strikeout
-
- foot+base
- add xterm+sl-alt
-
- dec+sl
- correct dsl in dec+sl
-
- mintty and tmux
- correct setal in mintty/tmux entries, add to vte-2018
-
- nsterm
- modify nsterm to use xterm+alt1049
-
- putty
- modify putty to use xterm+alt1049
-
- vte-2018
- add blink and setal
-
- A few entries use extensions (user-defined terminal capabilities):
- * use ansi+enq and decid+cpr in cases where the terminal probably
- supported the u6-u9 extension
- * remove u6-u9 from teken-2018
- * use NQ to flag entries where the terminal does not support query
- and response
- * add/use bracketed+paste to help identify terminals supporting this
- xterm feature
- * modify samples for xterm mouse 1002/1003 modes to use 1006 mode,
- and also provide for focus in/out responses
- * xterm patch #371 supports DEC-compatible status-line. add dec+sl
- to xterm-new, per xterm #371, add xterm-p371, add xterm-p370, for
- use in older terminals, and set "xterm-new" to "xterm-p370" (to
- ease adoption).
+ updates to several descriptions, using the infocmp "-u" option in a
+ script to determine which building-block entries could be used to
+ replace multiple capability settings (and trim redundant information).
+
+ Other changes include:
+ * document XF, kxIN and kxOUT
+ * add note on sun regarding wscons/cmdtool/shelltool
+ * remove DECCOLM+DECSCLM from foot
+ * add xterm+focus to foot+base
+ * add ecma+strikeout to putty
+ * use CSI 3J in vte-2017
+ * use oldxterm+sm+1006 in vte-2014
+ * modify xgterm to work around line-drawing bug
+ * add xterm focus mode 1004 to xterm+focus as fe/fd capabilities,
+ like vim.
+ * add xterm+focus to alacritty+common
+ * add XR/xr, to work with vim, and use RV/rv to denote DA2 and its
+ response
+ * add XF flag to xterm+focus so that termcap applications can be
+ aware of terminals which may support focus in/out
+ * use xterm+focus in xterm-p370 and tmux
+ * remove xterm+sm+1006 from tmux
+ * NetBSD-related fixes for x68k and wsvt25
Documentation
features and show how they evolved, there are corrections,
clarifications, etc.:
* Corrections:
- + remove a stray '/' from description of %g in terminfo(5).
- + correct/improve font-formatting in curs_getch.3x, as well as
- other manual pages.
+ + add assignment in CF_MAN_PAGES to fill in value for
+ TERMINFO_DIRS in ncurses, terminfo and tic manpages.
+ + clarify interaction of -R option versus -C, -I and -r in
+ infocmp manpage.
+ + correct manpage description of panel_hidden.
+ + improve manpage description for addch versus unctrl format
+ used for non-printable characters.
+ + improve manpages discussing file descriptors in low-level
+ functions.
+ + improve description of search rules for terminal descriptions
+ in terminfo manpage.
+ + modify dist.mk to avoid passing developer's comments in
+ manpages into the generated html documentation.
+ + modify test-package "ncurses6-doc" to use manpage-aliases,
+ which in turn required a change to the configure script to
+ factor in the extra-suffix option when deriving alias names.
* New/improved history and portability sections:
- + add portability notes for delscreen and delwin in manual.
- + improve curs_slk.3x discussion of extensions and portability
+ + add information about "ttycap", termcap's forerunner, to
+ tset.1
+ + document limitations of tparm, and error-returns in
+ curs_terminfo.3x
+ + document limitations of tgoto, and error-returns in
+ curs_termcap.3x
* Other improvements:
- + improve curs_bkgd.3x, explaining that bkgdset can affect
- results for bkgd
- + add note on portable memory-leak checking in curs_memleaks.3x
- + expanded description in resizeterm.3x
- + add section on releasing memory to curs_termcap.3x and
- curs_terminfo.3x manpages.
- + add clarification of the scope of dynamic variables in
- terminfo(5).
- + improve formatting of ncurses-intro.html and hackguide.html
- + improve curs_clear.3x links to other pages
- + update ncurses-howto, making documentation fixes along with
- corrections to example programs.
- + use newer version 1.36 of gnathtml for generating Ada html
- files.
- + update external links in Ada95.html
+ + This release has many changes to improve the formatting and
+ style of the manpages.
+ + Manpages now use consistent section-naming, page headers and
+ footers (including the modification date for each page).
+ + Table layout has been revised.
There are no new manual pages (all of the manual page updates are to
existing pages).
Interesting bug-fixes
- While there were many bugs fixed during development of ncurses 6.4,
- only a few (the reason for this release) were both important and
- interesting. Most of the bug-fixes were for local issues which did not
- affect compatibility across releases. Since those are detailed in the
- NEWS file no elaboration is needed here.
-
- The interesting bugs were those dealing with memory leaks and buffer
- overflows. Although the utilities are designed for text files (which
- they do properly), some choose to test them with non-text files.
- * Text files contain no embedded nulls. Also, they end with a
- newline. Feeding tic non-text files exposed a few cases where the
- program did not check for those issues. As a result, further
- processing of the input found limit-checks whose assumptions were
- invalid.
- * Fixing the limit-checks (first) found a problem with tic managing
- the list of strings in a terminal description. In merging two
- terminal descriptions (i.e., the "use=" feature), tic was not
- allocating a complete copy. A quick repair for that introduced a
- memory leak.
- * The checks for non-text files are improved (i.e., embedded nulls
- in the input file will cause tic to reject it rather than
- attempting to process it).
- * The string allocations in tic are likewise improved.
+ The changes to tparm, tgoto which improve the design of the low-level
+ interfaces are interesting, but are not bug-fixes per se.
Configuration changes
Major changes
- There are no major changes. No new options were added. Several
- improvements were made to configure checks.
+ These are the major changes (aside from introducing tiparm_s):
+ * use wide-character (ncursesw) by default
+ * use opaque typedefs by default
+
+ However, most of the work on configure scripts was done to reduce
+ warnings within the configure script:
+ * intrusive warnings from GNU grep regarding fgrep and egrep
+ * fatal errors in compile-checks, arising from recent "Modern C"
+ efforts by some developers which caused longstanding configure
+ checks to fail.
+ After repairing the configure script, none of that activity
+ affected ncurses because stricter warnings are used routinely in
+ development.
+
+ Other improvements made to configure checks include
+ * use string-hacks in alloc_entry.c, alloc_type.c and hardscroll.c,
+ overlooked due to compiler changes in recent OpenBSD releases
+ * revise progs.priv.h to provide for NC_ISATTY reuse
+ * configure check for MB_LEN_MAX provides warning as needed
+ * trim a space after some "-R" options, fixing builds for
+ applications built using clang and ncurses on Solaris
+ * work around misconfiguration of MacPorts gcc13, which exposes
+ invalid definition of MB_LEN_MAX in gcc's fallback copy of
+ limits.h
+ * modified experimental Windows driver works with xterm mouse
+ protocol
Configuration options
- There are a few new/modified configure options:
+ There are a few new configure options:
+
+ --disable-setuid-environ
+ Compile with environment restriction, so certain environment
+ variables are not available when running via a setuid/setgid
+ application. These are (for example $TERMINFO) those that allow
+ the search path for the terminfo or termcap entry to be
+ customized.
+
+ A setuid/setgid application inherits its environment variables
+ from the current user, in contrast to sudo which may limit the
+ environment variables that ncurses uses.
+
+ --enable-check-size
+ Compile-in feature to detect screensize for terminals which do
+ not advertise their screensize, e.g., serial terminals.
+
+ --with-abi-altered=NUM
+ Override the displayed (rather than compiled-in) ABI. Only
+ packagers who have created configurations where the ABI differs
+ from ncurses should be interested in this option.
+
+ --with-strip-program=XXX
+ When stripping executables during install, use the specified
+ program rather than "strip" overriding program chosen by the
+ install program for stripping executables.
- --with-abi-version
- add ABI 7 defaults to configure script.
+ These configure options are modified:
- --with-caps
- add warning in configure script if file specified for
- "--with-caps" does not exist.
+ --with-pkg-config-libdir[=DIR]
+ The optional DIR parameter can now be "auto" to automatically
+ use pkg-config's library directory.
- --with-manpage-format
- bzip2 and xz compression are now supported
+ The default is $(libdir).
- --with-xterm-kbs
- add check/warning in configure script if option
- "--with-xterm-kbs" is missing or inconsistent
+ --with-xterm-kbs[=XXX]
+ The default is "auto" which tells the configure script to
+ choose BS or DEL according to platform defaults.
Portability
Many of the portability changes are implemented via the configure
script:
- * amend configure option's auto-search to account for systems where
- none of the directories known to pkg-config exist
- * corrected regex needed for older pkg-config used in Solaris 10
- * improve handling of --with-pkg-config-libdir option, allowing for
- the case where either $PKG_CONFIG_LIBDIR or the option value has a
- colon-separated list of directories
- * if the --with-pkg-config-libdir option is not given, use
- ${libdir}/pkgconfig as a default
- * improve search-path check for pkg-config, e.g., for Debian testing
- which installs pkg-config with architecture-prefixes.
- * build-fix for cross-compiling to MingW, conditionally add -lssp
- * improve configure check for getttynam
- * fixes to build with dietlibc:
- + add configure check for fpathconf
- + add configure check for math sine/cosine, needed in
- test/tclock, and eliminate pow() from test/hanoi
- + use wcsnlen as an alternative to wmemchr if it is not found
- * modify configure macro CF_BUILD_CC to check if the build-compiler
- works, rather than that it is different from the cross-compiler,
- e.g., to accommodate a compiler which can be used for either
- purpose with different flags
- * modify configure/scripts to work around interference by GNU grep
- 3.8
+ * add/use configure check for clock_gettime, to supersede
+ gettimeofday.
+ * modify configure script check for pkg-config library directory to
+ take into account an older version 0.15.0 which used
+ PKG_CONFIG_PATH but not PKG_CONFIG_LIBDIR
+ * allow for MinGW32-/64-bit configurations to use _DEFAULT_SOURCE
+ * modify CF_XOPEN_SOURCE macro's amend default case to avoid
+ undefining _XOPEN_SOURCE if _POSIX_C_SOURCE is defined
+ * updated configure script macro CF_XOPEN_SOURCE, for uClibc-ng
+ * modify version-check for gcc/g++, now works for msys2
+ * build-fixes related to configure-options and/or platform:
+ + fix for --enable-fvisibility
+ + fix for unusual values of --with-rel-version
+ + fix for unusual values of --with-abi-version
+ + fix for --disable-tcap-names
+ + fix for termcap in nc_access.h
+ * other configure-script improvements:
+ + recent msys2 headers work with _DEFAULT_SOURCE; amend check
+ + use $ac_includes_default in most cases where stdlib.h should
+ work
+ + use #error consistently vs "make an error"
+ + add configure macro for gettimeofday vs inline check
Here are some of the other portability fixes:
- * change man_db.renames to template, to handle ncurses*-config
- script with the --extra-suffix configure option.
- * update CF_XOPEN_SOURCE macro, adding variants "gnueabi" and
- "gnueabihf" to get _DEFAULT_SOURCE special case, as well as adding
- GNU libc suffixes for "abi64", "abin32", "x32" to distinguish it
- from other libc flavors.
- * work around musl's nonstandard use of feature test macros by
- adding a definition for NCURSES_WIDECHAR to the generated ".pc"
- and *-config files.
- * use "command -v" rather than "type" in Ada95/gen/Makefile.in to
- fix a portability issue.
+ * modify configure scripts/makefiles to omit KEY_RESIZE if the
+ corresponding SIGWINCH feature is disabled
+ * increase MB_CUR_MAX to 16, matching glibc's MB_LEN_MAX
+ * add BSD erase2 to characters handled by tset/reset
+ * use getauxval when available, to improve setuid/setgid checks
+ * set dwShareMode in calls to CreateConsoleScreenBuffer
+ * use CreateFile with "CONIN$", "CONOUT$" rather than GetStdHandle
+ to obtain a handle on the actual console, avoiding redirection in
+ the MinGW/Win32 configurations
+ * modify MinGW driver to return KEY_BACKSPACE when an unmodified
+ VK_BACK virtual key is entered
+ * modify MinGW configuration to provide for running in MSYS/MSYS2
+ shells, assuming ConPTY support
_________________________________________________________________
Features of ncurses
The ncurses package is fully upward-compatible with SVr4 (System V
Release 4) curses:
* All of the SVr4 calls have been implemented (and are documented).
- * ncurses supports all of the for SVr4 curses features including
- keyboard mapping, color, forms-drawing with ACS characters, and
- automatic recognition of keypad and function keys.
- * ncurses provides these SVr4 add-on libraries (not part of X/Open
- Curses):
- + the panels library, supporting a stack of windows with
- backing store.
- + the menus library, supporting a uniform but flexible
- interface for menu programming.
+ * ncurses supports the features of SVr4 curses including keyboard
+ mapping, color, form drawing with ACS characters, and automatic
+ recognition of keypad and function keys.
+ * ncurses provides work-alike replacements of SVr4 supplemental
+ libraries based on curses, but which were not specified by X/Open
+ Curses:
+ + the panel library, supporting a stack of windows with backing
+ store
+ + the menu library, supporting a uniform but flexible interface
+ for menu programming
+ the form library, supporting data collection through
- on-screen forms.
+ on-screen forms
* ncurses's terminal database is fully compatible with that used by
SVr4 curses.
- + ncurses supports user-defined capabilities which it can see,
+ + ncurses supports user-defined capabilities that it can see,
but which are hidden from SVr4 curses applications using the
same terminal database.
+ It can be optionally configured to match the format used in
the HP-UX and AIX ports.
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, 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).
+ * 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, and almost all 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.
user's $HOME/.terminfo directory.
* The table-of-entries utility toe makes it easy for users to see
exactly what terminal types are available on the system.
- * The library meets the XSI requirement that every macro entry point
- has a corresponding function which may be linked (and will be
- prototype-checked) if the macro definition is disabled with
- #undef.
+ * X/Open Curses permits most functions it specifies to be made
+ available as macros as well. ncurses does this
+ + to improve performance, e.g., for operations composed of
+ simpler functions such as cursor movement following by adding
+ text to the screen,
+ + to simplify the implementation by reusing functions which use
+ common parameters, e.g., the standard screen stdscr, and
+ + to provide functions that return values via their parameters
+ Except for the last case, ncurses provides a non-macro
+ implementation of the function. If the macro definition is
+ disabled with #undef, or by defining NCURSES_NOMACROS the function
+ may be linked (and its calls will be checked against the
+ prototype).
* Extensive documentation is provided (see the Additional Reading
section of the ncurses FAQ for online documentation).
nvi
New vi uses ncurses.
- https://sites.google.com/a/bostic.com/keithbostic/vi
+ https://sites.google.com/a/bostic.com/keithbostic/the-berkeley-
+ vi-editor-home-page
ranger
A console file manager with VI key bindings in Python.
minicom
terminal emulator for serial modem connections
- https://alioth.debian.org/projects/minicom/
+ https://salsa.debian.org/minicom-team/minicom
mosh
a replacement for ssh.
Patches to the current release are made available at
- https://invisible-island.net/archives/ncurses/6.3/ and
- https://invisible-mirror.net/archives/ncurses/6.3/ .
+ https://invisible-island.net/archives/ncurses/6.4/ and
+ https://invisible-mirror.net/archives/ncurses/6.4/ .
There is an archive of the mailing list here:
- http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-ncurses (also https)
+ https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-ncurses .
Related resources
terminal description file once maintained by Eric Raymond . Unlike the
older version, the termcap and terminfo data are provided in the same
file, which also provides several user-definable extensions beyond the
- X/Open specification.
+ X/Open Curses specification.
You can find lots of information on terminal-related topics not
- covered in the terminfo file at Richard Shuford's archive . The
- collection of computer manuals at bitsavers.org has also been useful.
+ covered in the terminfo file in Richard Shuford's archive (original).
+ The collection of computer manuals at bitsavers.org has also been
+ useful.
* Overview
* Release Notes
projects / ncurses.git / blobdiff