+ Announcing ncurses 5.9
- Announcing ncurses 5.1
-
- The ncurses (new curses) library is a free software emulation of
- curses in System V Release 4.0, and more. It uses terminfo format,
- supports pads and color and multiple highlights and forms characters
- and function-key mapping, and has all the other SYSV-curses
+ The ncurses (new curses) library is a free software emulation of
+ curses in System V Release 4.0, and more. It uses terminfo format,
+ supports pads and color and multiple highlights and forms characters
+ and function-key mapping, and has all the other SYSV-curses
enhancements over BSD curses.
- In mid-June 1995, the maintainer of 4.4BSD curses declared that he
- considered 4.4BSD curses obsolete, and is encouraging the keepers of
- Unix releases such as BSD/OS, freeBSD and netBSD to switch over to
- ncurses.
+ In mid-June 1995, the maintainer of 4.4BSD curses declared that he
+ considered 4.4BSD curses obsolete, and encouraged the keepers of Unix
+ releases such as BSD/OS, FreeBSD and NetBSD to switch over to ncurses.
- The ncurses code was developed under GNU/Linux. It should port easily
- to any ANSI/POSIX-conforming UNIX. It has even been ported to OS/2
- Warp!
+ The ncurses code was developed under GNU/Linux. It has been in use for
+ some time with OpenBSD as the system curses library, and on FreeBSD
+ and NetBSD as an external package. It should port easily to any
+ ANSI/POSIX-conforming UNIX. It has even been ported to OS/2 Warp!
The distribution includes the library and support utilities, including
- a terminfo compiler tic(1), a decompiler infocmp(1), clear(1),
- tput(1), tset(1), and a termcap conversion tool captoinfo(1). Full
+ a terminfo compiler tic(1), a decompiler infocmp(1), clear(1),
+ tput(1), tset(1), and a termcap conversion tool captoinfo(1). Full
manual pages are provided for the library and tools.
- The ncurses distribution is available via anonymous FTP at the GNU
- distribution site [1]ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/ncurses.
- It is also available at [2]ftp://dickey.his.com/ncurses.
+ The ncurses distribution is available via anonymous FTP at the GNU
+ distribution site [1]ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/ncurses/ .
+ It is also available at [2]ftp://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ .
Release Notes
- This release is designed to be upward compatible from ncurses 5.0;
- very few applications will require recompilation, depending on the
- platform. These are the highlights from the change-log since ncurses
- 5.0 release.
-
- Interface changes:
- * made the extended terminal capabilities
- (configure --enable-tcap-names) a standard feature (though the
- configure script can disable it, it is built by default).
- * removed the trace() function and related trace support from the
- production library. This is the only interface change that may
- cause problems with existing applications linked to shared
- libraries, since not all platforms use the minor version number.
- * explicitly initialized to zero several data items which were
- implicitly initialized, e.g., cur_term. If not explicitly
- initialized, their storage type is C (common), and causes problems
- linking on some platforms.
- * modified curses.h.in, undef'ing some symbols to avoid conflict
- with C++ STL.
-
- New features:
- * added a new extension, assume_default_colors() to provide better
- control over the use of default colors. This is the principal
- visible difference between ncurses 5.1 and preceding versions. The
- new extension allows an application to specify what colors pair 0
- uses.
- NOTE: Pair 0 defaults to white on black unless you have invoked
- use_default_colors() or set it via assume_default_colors(). An
- application that calls start_colors() without setting the
- background color will consistently have a black background no
- matter what color your terminal's background actually is.
- * made several fixes to the terminfo-to-termcap conversion, and have
- been using the generated termcaps without further hand-tuning.
- This builds on the extension use_extended_names() by adding
- "obsolete" termcap strings to terminfo.src
- + modified tic so that if extended names (i.e.,
- configure --enable-tcap-names) are active, then tic -x will
- also write "obsolete" capabilities that are present in the
- terminfo source.
- + added screen's AX capability (for ECMA SGR 39 and 49) to
- applicable terminfo entries, use presence of this as a check
- for a small improvement in setting default colors.
- + add -a option to tic and infocmp, which retains commented-out
- capabilities during source translation/comparison, e.g.,
- captoinfo and infotocap.
- * implemented limited support for UTF-8, useful with XFree86 xterm:
- + if the configure --enable-widec option is given, append 'w'
- to names of the generated libraries (e.g., libncursesw.so) to
- avoid conflict with existing ncurses libraries.
- + add a simple UTF-8 output driver to the experimental
- wide-character support. If any of the environment variables
- LC_ALL, LC_CTYPE or LANG contain the string "UTF-8", this
- driver will be used to translate the output to UTF-8.
- + modified view.c to make a rudimentary viewer of UTF-8 text.
- * modify raw() and noraw() to clear/restore IEXTEN flag which
- affects stty lnext on systems such as FreeBSD
- * reordered tests during mouse initialization to allow for gpm to
- run in xterm, or for xterm to be used under OS/2 EMX. Also dropped
- test for $DISPLAY in favor of the terminfo capability kmous=\E[M
- or if $TERM environment variable contains "xterm".
- * added configure option --with-manpage-symlinks, which provides for
- fully indexing manpage entries by making symbolic links for the
- aliases.
- * changed unctrl() to render C1 characters (128-159) as ~@, ~A, etc.
- * add experimental configure option --enable-colorfgbg to check for
- $COLORTERM variable as set by rxvt/aterm/Eterm.
- * made the infocmp -F option less verbose.
- * dropped support for gnat 3.10 (gnat 3.12 is current).
-
- Major bug fixes:
- * modified infocmp -e, -E options to ensure that generated
- fallback.c type for Booleans agrees with term.h
- * documented a special case of incompatiblity between ncurses 4.2
- and 5.0, added a section for this in INSTALL.
- * corrected tests for file-descriptors in OS/2 EMX mouse support. A
- negative value could be used by FD_SET, causing the select() call
- to wait indefinitely.
- * made 'tput flash' work properly for xterm by flushing output in
- delay_output() when using napms(), and modifying xterm's terminfo
- to specify no padding character. Otherwise, xterm's reported baud
- rate could mislead ncurses into producing too few padding
- characters.
- * modified lib_addch.c to allow repeated update to the lower-right
- corner, rather than displaying only the first character written
- until the cursor is moved. Recent versions of SVr4 curses can
- update the lower-right corner, and behave this way.
- * modified echo() behavior of getch() to match Solaris curses for
- carriage return and backspace (reported by Neil Zanella).
- * corrected offsets used for subwindows in wresize()
- * modified configure script so AC_MSG_ERROR is temporarily defined
- to a warning in AC_PROG_CXX to make it recover from a missing C++
- compiler without requiring user to add --without-cxx option
- * corrected logic in lib_twait.c as used by lib_mouse.c for GPM
- mouse support when poll() is used rather than select().
- * made several fixes for buffer overflows, unchecked recursion,
- improvements in performance, etc. See the NEWS file for details.
+ This release is designed to be upward compatible from ncurses 5.0
+ through 5.8; very few applications will require recompilation,
+ depending on the platform. These are the highlights from the
+ change-log since ncurses 5.8 release.
+
+ This is a bug-fix release, correcting a small number of urgent
+ problems in the ncurses library from the 5.8 release.
+
+ It also improves the Ada95 binding:
+ * fixes a longstanding portability problem with its use of the
+ [3]set_field_type function. Because that function uses
+ variable-length argument lists, its interface with gnat does not
+ work with certain platforms.
+ * improves configurability and portability, particularly when built
+ separately from the main ncurses tree. The 5.8 release introduced
+ scripts which can be used to construct separate tarballs for the
+ Ada95 and ncurses examples.
+ Those were a proof of concept. For the 5.9 release, those scripts
+ are augmented with rpm- and dpkg-scripts used in test builds
+ against a variety of gnat- and system ncurses versions as old as
+ gnat 3.15 and ncurses 5.4 (see snapshots and systems tested
+ [4]here.
+ * additional improvements were made for portability of the ncurses
+ examples, adding rpm- and dpkg-scripts for test-builds. See
+ [5]this page for snapshots and other information.
Features of Ncurses
The ncurses package is fully compatible with SVr4 (System V Release 4)
curses:
- * All 257 of the SVr4 calls have been implemented (and are
+ * All 257 of the SVr4 calls have been implemented (and are
documented).
- * Full support for SVr4 curses features including keyboard mapping,
- color, forms-drawing with ACS characters, and automatic
+ * Full support for SVr4 curses features including keyboard mapping,
+ color, forms-drawing with ACS characters, and automatic
recognition of keypad and function keys.
- * An emulation of the SVr4 panels library, supporting a stack of
+ * An emulation of the SVr4 panels library, supporting a stack of
windows with backing store, is included.
- * An emulation of the SVr4 menus library, supporting a uniform but
+ * An emulation of the SVr4 menus library, supporting a uniform but
flexible interface for menu programming, is included.
- * An emulation of the SVr4 form library, supporting data collection
+ * An emulation of the SVr4 form library, supporting data collection
through on-screen forms, is included.
- * Binary terminfo entries generated by the ncurses tic(1)
- implementation are bit-for-bit-compatible with the entry format
+ * Binary terminfo entries generated by the ncurses tic(1)
+ implementation are bit-for-bit-compatible with the entry format
SVr4 curses uses.
* The utilities have options to allow you to filter terminfo entries
- for use with less capable curses/terminfo versions such as the
+ for use with less capable curses/terminfo versions such as 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, but not all EXTENDED features). Most
- EXTENDED-level features not directly concerned with wide-character
- support are implemented, including many function calls not
- supported under SVr4 curses (but portability of all 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
+ * 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).
+ * Unlike SVr3 curses, ncurses can write to the rightmost-bottommost
+ corner of the screen if your terminal has an insert-character
capability.
* Ada95 and C++ bindings.
- * Support for mouse event reporting with X Window xterm and OS/2
- console windows.
+ * Support for mouse event reporting with X Window xterm and FreeBSD
+ and OS/2 console windows.
* Extended mouse support via Alessandro Rubini's gpm package.
- * The function wresize() allows you to resize windows, preserving
+ * The function wresize allows you to resize windows, preserving
their data.
- * The function use_default_colors() allows you to use the terminal's
+ * The function use_default_colors allows you to use the terminal's
default colors for the default color pair, achieving the effect of
transparent colors.
- * The functions keyok() and define_key() allow you to better control
- the use of function keys, e.g., disabling the ncurses KEY_MOUSE,
- or by defining more than one control sequence to map to a given
- key code.
- * Support for 16-color terminals, such as aixterm and XFree86 xterm.
- * Better cursor-movement optimization. The package now features a
+ * The functions keyok and define_key allow you to better control the
+ use of function keys, e.g., disabling the ncurses KEY_MOUSE, or by
+ defining more than one control sequence to map to a given key
+ code.
+ * Support for 256-color terminals, such as modern xterm, when
+ configured using the --enable-ext-colors option.
+ * Support for 16-color terminals, such as aixterm and modern xterm.
+ * Better cursor-movement optimization. The package now features a
cursor-local-movement computation more efficient than either BSD's
or System V's.
- * Super hardware scrolling support. The screen-update code
- incorporates a novel, simple, and cheap algorithm that enables it
- to make optimal use of hardware scrolling, line-insertion, and
- line-deletion for screen-line movements. This algorithm is more
- powerful than the 4.4BSD curses quickch() routine.
- * Real support for terminals with the magic-cookie glitch. The
- screen-update code will refrain from drawing a highlight if the
- magic- cookie unattributed spaces required just before the
- beginning and after the end would step on a non-space character.
- It will automatically shift highlight boundaries when doing so
- would make it possible to draw the highlight without changing the
+ * Super hardware scrolling support. The screen-update code
+ incorporates a novel, simple, and cheap algorithm that enables it
+ to make optimal use of hardware scrolling, line-insertion, and
+ line-deletion for screen-line movements. This algorithm is more
+ powerful than the 4.4BSD curses quickch routine.
+ * Real support for terminals with the magic-cookie glitch. The
+ screen-update code will refrain from drawing a highlight if the
+ magic- cookie unattributed spaces required just before the
+ beginning and after the end would step on a non-space character.
+ It will automatically shift highlight boundaries when doing so
+ would make it possible to draw the highlight without changing the
visual appearance of the screen.
- * It is possible to generate the library with a list of pre-loaded
- fallback entries linked to it so that it can serve those terminal
- types even when no terminfo tree or termcap file is accessible
- (this may be useful for support of screen-oriented programs that
+ * It is possible to generate the library with a list of pre-loaded
+ fallback entries linked to it so that it can serve those terminal
+ types even when no terminfo tree or termcap file is accessible
+ (this may be useful for support of screen-oriented programs that
must run in single-user mode).
* The tic(1)/captoinfo utility provided with ncurses has the ability
- to translate many termcaps from the XENIX, IBM and AT&T extension
+ to translate many termcaps from the XENIX, IBM and AT&T extension
sets.
* A BSD-like tset(1) utility is provided.
* The ncurses library and utilities will automatically read terminfo
- entries from $HOME/.terminfo if it exists, and compile to that
- directory if it exists and the user has no write access to the
- system directory. This feature makes it easier for users to have
- personal terminfo entries without giving up access to the system
+ entries from $HOME/.terminfo if it exists, and compile to that
+ directory if it exists and the user has no write access to the
+ system directory. This feature makes it easier for users to have
+ personal terminfo entries without giving up access to the system
terminfo directory.
- * You may specify a path of directories to search for compiled
- descriptions with the environment variable TERMINFO_DIRS (this
- generalizes the feature provided by TERMINFO under stock System
+ * You may specify a path of directories to search for compiled
+ descriptions with the environment variable TERMINFO_DIRS (this
+ generalizes the feature provided by TERMINFO under stock System
V.)
- * In terminfo source files, use capabilities may refer not just to
+ * In terminfo source files, use capabilities may refer not just to
other entries in the same source file (as in System V) but also to
- compiled entries in either the system terminfo directory or the
+ compiled entries in either the system terminfo directory or the
user's $HOME/.terminfo directory.
- * A script (capconvert) is provided to help BSD users transition
- from termcap to terminfo. It gathers the information in a TERMCAP
- environment variable and/or a ~/.termcap local entries file and
- converts it to an equivalent local terminfo tree under
+ * A script (capconvert) is provided to help BSD users transition
+ from termcap to terminfo. It gathers the information in a TERMCAP
+ environment variable and/or a ~/.termcap local entries file and
+ converts it to an equivalent local terminfo tree under
$HOME/.terminfo.
- * Automatic fallback to the /etc/termcap file can be compiled in
- when it is not possible to build a terminfo tree. This feature is
- neither fast nor cheap, you don't want to use it unless you have
+ * Automatic fallback to the /etc/termcap file can be compiled in
+ when it is not possible to build a terminfo tree. This feature is
+ neither fast nor cheap, you don't want to use it unless you have
to, but it's there.
- * The table-of-entries utility toe makes it easy for users to see
+ * 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
- have a corresponding function which may be linked (and will be
- prototype-checked) if the macro definition is disabled with
+ have a corresponding function which may be linked (and will be
+ prototype-checked) if the macro definition is disabled with
#undef.
- * An HTML "Introduction to Programming with NCURSES" document
- provides a narrative introduction to the curses programming
+ * An HTML "Introduction to Programming with NCURSES" document
+ provides a narrative introduction to the curses programming
interface.
State of the Package
Numerous bugs present in earlier versions have been fixed; the library
- is far more reliable than it used to be. Bounds checking in many
- `dangerous' entry points has been improved. The code is now type-safe
- according to gcc -Wall. The library has been checked for malloc leaks
+ is far more reliable than it used to be. Bounds checking in many
+ `dangerous' entry points has been improved. The code is now type-safe
+ according to gcc -Wall. The library has been checked for malloc leaks
and arena corruption by the Purify memory-allocation tester.
- The ncurses code has been tested with a wide variety of applications
+ The ncurses code has been tested with a wide variety of applications
including (versions starting with those noted):
cdk
Curses Development Kit
- [3]http://www.vexus.ca/CDK.html
- [4]http://dickey.his.com/cdk.
+ [6]http://invisible-island.net/cdk/
+ [7]http://www.vexus.ca/products/CDK/
ded
directory-editor
- [5]http://dickey.his.com/ded.
+ [8]http://invisible-island.net/ded/
dialog
- the underlying application used in Slackware's setup, and the
+ the underlying application used in Slackware's setup, and the
basis for similar applications on GNU/Linux.
- [6]http://dickey.his.com/dialog.
+ [9]http://invisible-island.net/dialog/
lynx
the character-screen WWW browser
- [7]http://lynx.isc.org/release.
+ [10]http://lynx.isc.org/release/
- Midnight Commander 4.1
+ Midnight Commander
file manager
- [8]www.gnome.org/mc/.
+ [11]http://www.midnight-commander.org/
mutt
mail utility
- [9]http://www.mutt.org.
+ [12]http://www.mutt.org/
ncftp
file-transfer utility
- [10]http://www.ncftp.com.
+ [13]http://www.ncftp.com/
nvi
New vi versions 1.50 are able to use ncurses versions 1.9.7 and
later.
- [11]http://www.bostic.com/vi/.
-
- tin
- newsreader, supporting color, MIME
- [12]http://www.tin.org.
+ [14]https://sites.google.com/a/bostic.com/keithbostic/nvi
- taper
- tape archive utility
- [13]http://members.iinet.net.au/~yusuf/taper/.
+ pinfo
+ Lynx-like info browser.
+ [15]https://alioth.debian.org/projects/pinfo/
- vh-1.6
- Volks-Hypertext browser for the Jargon File
- [14]http://www.bg.debian.org/Packages/unstable/text/vh.html.
+ tin
+ newsreader, supporting color, MIME [16]http://www.tin.org/
as well as some that use ncurses for the terminfo support alone:
minicom
terminal emulator
- [15]http://www.pp.clinet.fi/~walker/minicom.html.
+ [17]http://alioth.debian.org/projects/minicom/
vile
vi-like-emacs
- [16]http://dickey.his.com/vile.
+ [18]http://invisible-island.net/vile/
- The ncurses distribution includes a selection of test programs
+ The ncurses distribution includes a selection of test programs
(including a few games).
Who's Who and What's What
- The original developers of ncurses are [17]Zeyd Ben-Halim and [18]Eric
- S. Raymond. Ongoing work is being done by [19]Thomas Dickey and
- [20]Jürgen Pfeifer. [21]Thomas Dickey acts as the maintainer for the
- Free Software Foundation, which holds the copyright on ncurses.
- Contact the current maintainers at [22]bug-ncurses@gnu.org.
+ Zeyd Ben-Halim started it from a previous package pcurses, written by
+ Pavel Curtis. Eric S. Raymond continued development. Juergen Pfeifer
+ wrote most of the form and menu libraries. Ongoing work is being done
+ by [19]Thomas Dickey. Thomas Dickey acts as the maintainer for the
+ Free Software Foundation, which holds the copyright on ncurses.
+ Contact the current maintainers at [20]bug-ncurses@gnu.org.
- To join the ncurses mailing list, please write email to
+ To join the ncurses mailing list, please write email to
bug-ncurses-request@gnu.org containing the line:
subscribe <name>@<host.domain>
This list is open to anyone interested in helping with the development
and testing of this package.
- Beta versions of ncurses and patches to the current release are made
- available at [23]ftp://dickey.his.com/ncurses.
+ Beta versions of ncurses and patches to the current release are made
+ available at [21]ftp://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ .
Future Plans
- * Extended-level XPG4 conformance, with internationalization
+ * Extended-level XPG4 conformance, with internationalization
support.
* Ports to more systems, including DOS and Windows.
- We need people to help with these projects. If you are interested in
+ We need people to help with these projects. If you are interested in
working on them, please join the ncurses list.
Other Related Resources
- The distribution includes and uses a version of the terminfo-format
- terminal description file maintained by Eric Raymond.
- [24]http://earthspace.net/~esr/terminfo.
+ The distribution provides a newer version of the terminfo-format
+ terminal description file once maintained by [22]Eric Raymond . Unlike
+ the older version, the termcap and terminfo data are provided in the
+ same file, and provides several user-definable extensions beyond the
+ X/Open specification.
- You can find lots of information on terminal-related topics not
- covered in the terminfo file at [25]Richard Shuford's archive.
+ You can find lots of information on terminal-related topics not
+ covered in the terminfo file at [23]Richard Shuford's archive .
References
- 1. ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/ncurses
- 2. ftp://dickey.his.com/ncurses
- 3. http://www.vexus.ca/CDK.html
- 4. http://dickey.his.com/cdk/cdk.html
- 5. http://dickey.his.com/ded/ded.html
- 6. http://dickey.his.com/dialog/dialog.html
- 7. http://lynx.isc.org/release/
- 8. file://localhost/usr/build/ncurses/ncurses-5.1-20000704/doc/html/www.gnome.org/mc/
- 9. http://www.mutt.org/
- 10. http://www.ncftp.com/
- 11. http://www.bostic.com/vi/
- 12. http://www.tin.org/
- 13. http://members.iinet.net.au/~yusuf/taper/
- 14. http://www.bg.debian.org/Packages/unstable/text/vh.html
- 15. http://www.pp.clinet.fi/~walker/minicom.html
- 16. http://dickey.his.com/vile/vile.html
- 17. mailto:zmbenhal@netcom.com
- 18. http://www.ccil.org/~esr/home.html
- 19. mailto:dickey@herndon4.his.com
- 20. mailto:juergen.pfeifer@gmx.net
- 21. mailto:dickey@herndon4.his.com
- 22. mailto:bug-ncurses@gnu.org
- 23. ftp://dickey.his.com/ncurses
- 24. http://earthspace.net/~esr/terminfo
- 25. http://www.cs.utk.edu/~shuford/terminal_index.html
+ 1. ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/ncurses/
+ 2. ftp://invisible-island.net/ncurses/
+ 3. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/form_fieldtype.3x
+ 4. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses-Ada95.html
+ 5. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses-examples.html
+ 6. http://invisible-island.net/cdk/
+ 7. http://www.vexus.ca/products/CDK/
+ 8. http://invisible-island.net/ded/
+ 9. http://invisible-island.net/dialog/
+ 10. http://lynx.isc.org/release/
+ 11. http://www.midnight-commander.org/
+ 12. http://www.mutt.org/
+ 13. http://www.ncftp.com/
+ 14. https://sites.google.com/a/bostic.com/keithbostic/nvi
+ 15. https://alioth.debian.org/projects/pinfo/
+ 16. http://www.tin.org/
+ 17. http://alioth.debian.org/projects/minicom/
+ 18. http://invisible-island.net/vile/
+ 19. mailto:dickey@invisible-island.net
+ 20. mailto:bug-ncurses@gnu.org
+ 21. ftp://invisible-island.net/ncurses/
+ 22. http://www.catb.org/~esr/terminfo/
+ 23. http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.cs.utk.edu/~shuford/terminal
projects / ncurses.git / blobdiff