-
- Announcing ncurses 5.4
+ Announcing ncurses 5.8
The ncurses (new curses) library is a free software emulation of
curses in System V Release 4.0, and more. It uses terminfo format,
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.
+ 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 has been in use for
some time with OpenBSD as the system curses library, and on FreeBSD
Release Notes
- This release is designed to be upward compatible from ncurses 5.0 and
- 5.3; very few applications will require recompilation, depending on
- the platform. These are the highlights from the change-log since
- ncurses 5.3 release.
+ This release is designed to be upward compatible from ncurses 5.0
+ through 5.7; very few applications will require recompilation,
+ depending on the platform. These are the highlights from the
+ change-log since ncurses 5.7 release.
+
+Interface changes
+
+ * turn on _XOPEN_CURSES definition in curses.h.
+ * change _nc_has_mouse to has_mouse, reflect its use in C++ and
+ Ada95.
+ * add is_pad and is_subwin functions for opaque access to the WINDOW
+ structure.
+ * add tiparm, based on review of X/Open Curses Issue 7.
+
+New features and improvements
+
+ Library Improvements
+
+ * add a terminal driver for Windows console, which supports a MinGW
+ port to Windows.
+ * add extended functions which specify the SCREEN pointer for
+ several curses functions which use the global SP.
+ * improve the NCURSES_NO_UTF8_ACS feature by adding a check for an
+ extended terminfo capability U8.
+ * improve performance of tigetstr, etc., by using hashing code from
+ tic.
+ * add WACS_xxx definitions to wide-character configuration for
+ thick- and double-lines.
+ * modify init_pair to allow caller to create extra color pairs
+ beyond the color_pairs limit, which use default colors.
+
+ Improvements to Programs
+
+ * add tabs program.
+ * modify tic's -I/-C dump to reformat acsc strings into canonical
+ form (sorted, unique mapping).
+ * add checks in tic for inconsistent cursor-movement controls, and
+ for inconsistent printer-controls.
+ * add special case to _nc_infotocap (used by tic and infocmp) to
+ recognize the setaf/setab strings from xterm+256color and
+ xterm+88color, and provide a reduced version which works with
+ termcap.
+
+ Terminal Database
+
+ * added entries:
+ + bterm terminfo entry, based on bogl 0.1.18
+ + cons25-debian entry
+ + eterm-color entry
+ + linux-16color
+ + mlterm+256color entry, for mlterm 3.0.0
+ + several screen-bce.xxx entries
+ + screen.Eterm terminfo entry
+ + vwmterm entry
+ + xterm-utf8 entry as a demo of the U8 feature
+ * updated/improved entries:
+ + use extended capabilities:
+ o add U8 feature to denote entries for terminal emulators
+ which do not support VT100 SI/SO when processing UTF-8
+ encoding
+ o add XT capability to entries for terminals that support
+ both xterm-style mouse- and title-controls, for screen
+ which special-cases TERM beginning with xterm or rxvt
+ + improvements based on new checks in tic:
+ +
+ o fill in no-parameter forms of cursor-movement where a
+ parameterized form is available
+ o fill in missing cursor controls where the form of the
+ controls is ANSI
+ o add parameterized cursor-controls to linux-basic
+ o modify nsterm, xnuppc and tek4115 to make sgr/sgr0
+ consistent
+ o change several terminfo entries to make consistent use
+ of ANSI clear-all-tabs
+ + extend ansi.sys pfkey capability from kf1-kf10 to kf1-kf48,
+ moving function key definitions from emx-base for
+ consistency.
+ + correct missing final 'p' in pfkey capability of
+ ansi.sys-old.
+ + rename atari and st52 terminfo entries to atari-old,
+ st52-old, use newer entries from FreeMiNT.
+ + repurpose gnome terminfo entries as vte, retaining gnome
+ variants for compatibility, but generally deprecating those
+ since the VTE library is what actually defines the behavior
+ of "gnome", etc., since 2003.
+ + improve interix smso terminfo capability by using reverse
+ rather than bold.
+ + correct initc capability of linux-c-nc end-of-range, make
+ similar change for dg+ccc and dgunix+ccc.
+ + update minix terminfo entry.
+ + updated nsterm* entries.
+ + remove unnecessary kcan assignment to ^C from putty.
+ + suppress ncv in screen and konsole-base entries, allowing
+ underline.
+ + change ncv and op capabilities in sun-color terminfo entry to
+ match Sun's entry for this.
+ + fix typo in rmso for tek4106 entry.
+ + improve acsc string for vt52, show arrow keys.
+ + add hard-reset for rs2 to wsvt25 to help ensure that reset
+ ends the alternate character set.
+ + add ccc and initc capabilities to xterm-16color.
+
+Major bug fixes
+
+ * ncurses library
+ + wide character support
+ o modify length returned by getcchar to count the trailing
+ null which is documented in X/Open.
+ o fix an infinite recursion when adding a legacy-coding
+ 8-bit value using insch.
+ o improve a workaround in adding wide-characters, when a
+ control character is found. The library uses unctrl to
+ obtain a printable version of the control character, but
+ was not passing color or video attributes.
+ o modify waddch_literal, updating line-pointer after a
+ multicolumn character is found to not fit on the current
+ row, and wrapping is done. Since the line-pointer was
+ not updated, the wrapped multicolumn character was
+ written to the beginning of the current row.
+ o fixes in wins_nwstr and related functions to ensure that
+ special characters, i.e., control characters are handled
+ properly with the wide-character configuration.
+ o correct internal _nc_insert_ch to use _nc_insert_wch
+ when inserting wide characters, since the wins_wch
+ function that it used did not update the cursor
+ position.
+ + mouse
+ o add check if Gpm_Open returns a -2, e.g., for "xterm".
+ This is normally suppressed but can be overridden using
+ $NCURSES_GPM_TERMS. Ensure that Gpm_Close is called in
+ this case.
+ o add check in mouse-driver to disable connection if GPM
+ returns a zero, indicating that the connection is
+ closed.
+ o modify getmouse to act as its documentation implied,
+ returning on each call the preceding event until none
+ are left. When no more events remain, it will return
+ ERR.
+ + miscellaneous
+ o improve handling of color-pairs embedded in attributes
+ for the extended-colors configuration.
+ o add check for failure to open hashed-database needed for
+ db4.6.
+ o modify use of $CC environment variable which is defined
+ by X/Open as a curses feature, to ignore it if it is not
+ a single character.
+ o modify declaration of cur_term when broken-linker is
+ used, but enable-reentrant is not, to match pre-5.7.
+ o correct limit-checks in derwin.
+ o remove old check in mvderwin which prevented moving a
+ derived window whose origin happened to coincide with
+ its parent's origin.
+ o correct limit-checks in newwin, to ensure that windows
+ have nonzero size.
+ o modify set_curterm to make broken-linker configuration
+ work with changes from 20090228.
+ o modify wgetch to ensure it checks SIGWINCH when it gets
+ an error in non-blocking mode.
+ o correct limit-check in wredrawln, accounting for
+ begy/begx values.
+ o fix a null-pointer check in _nc_format_slks in
+ lib_slk.c, from 20070704 changes.
+ o correct translation of "^" in _nc_infotocap, used to
+ transform terminfo to termcap strings.
+ o modify _nc_wgetch to check for a -1 in the fifo, e.g.,
+ after a SIGWINCH, and discard that value, to avoid
+ confusing application.
+ * other libraries
+ + correct transfer of multicolumn characters in multirow
+ field_buffer, which stopped at the end of the first row due
+ to filling of unused entries in a cchar_t array with nulls.
+ + correct buffer-size after internal resizing of wide-character
+ set_field_buffer, broken in 20081018 changes.
+ + correct layout of working window used to extract data in
+ wide-character configured by set_field_buffer
+
+Portability
- Interface changes:
- * add the remaining functions for X/Open curses wide-character
- support.
- + pecho_wchar()
- + slk_wset()
- These are only available if the library is configured using the
- --enable-widec option.
- * write getyx() and related 2-return macros in terms of getcury(),
- getcurx(), etc.
- * simplify ifdef for bool declaration in curses.h
- * modify ifdef's in curses.h that disabled use of __attribute__()
- for g++, since recent versions implement the cases which ncurses
- uses.
- * add key_defined() function, to tell which keycode a string is
- bound to.
-
- New features and improvements:
- * library
- + implement logic in lib_mouse.c to handle position reports
- which are generated when XFree86 xterm is initialized with
- private modes 1002 or 1003. These are returned to the
- application as the REPORT_MOUSE_POSITION mask, which was not
- implemented.
- + modify soft-key initialization to use A_REVERSE if A_STANDOUT
- would not be shown when colors are used, i.e., if ncv#1 is
- set in the terminfo as is done in "screen".
- + add configure option for FreeBSD sysmouse, --with-sysmouse,
- and implement library support for that.
- * programs:
- + tack:
- o allow it to run from fallback terminfo data.
- o reset colors after each color test, correct a place
- where exit_standout_mode was used instead of
- exit_attribute_mode.
- o improve bce test by making it set colors other than
- black on white.
- + tic:
- o handle a case where an entry has no description, and
- capabilities begin on the same line as the entry name.
- o allow a terminfo entry with a leading 2-character name.
- o improved warnings when suppressing items to fit in
- termcap's 1023-byte limit.
- o add check for multiple "tc=" clauses in a termcap.
- o correct logic for resolving "use=" clauses allow infocmp
- and tic to show cancelled capabilities.
- o check for incomplete line-drawing character mapping.
- o check for missing/empty/illegal terminfo name.
- + tput:
- o modify tput to use the same parameter analysis as
- tparm() does, to provide for user-defined strings, e.g.,
- for xterm title, a corresponding capability might be
- title=\E]2;%p1%s^G,
- + tset:
- o use the system's default values for CKILL and other
- default control characters.
- o correct interchanged defaults for kill and interrupt
- characters, which caused it to report unnecessarily.
-
- Major bug fixes:
- * prevent recursion in wgetch() via wgetnstr() if the connection
- cannot be switched between cooked/raw modes because it is not a
- TTY.
- * correct a case in _nc_remove_string(), used by define_key(), to
- avoid infinite loop if the given string happens to be a substring
- of other strings which are assigned to keys.
- * modify logic of acsc to use the original character if no mapping
- is defined, rather than a null.
- * several improvements for handling multi-cell display of wide
- characters.
- + modify setcchar() to allow converting control characters to
- complex characters.
- + correct handling of multibyte characters in waddch_literal()
- which force wrapping because they are started too late on the
- line.
- + modify setcchar() to allow for wchar_t input strings that
- have more than one spacing character.
- * other fixes for wide-character support:
- + rewrote lib_acs.c to allow PutAttrChar() to decide how to
- render alternate-characters, i.e., to work with Linux console
- and UTF-8 locale.
- + implement a workaround so that line-drawing works with
- screen's crippled UTF-8 support (tested with 3.9.13). This
- only works with the wide-character support (--enable-widec);
- the normal library will simply suppress line-drawing when
- running in a UTF-8 locale in screen.
- + corrections to lib_get_wstr.c:
- o null-terminate buffer passed to setcchar(), which
- occasionally failed.
- o map special characters such as erase- and
- kill-characters into key-codes so those will work as
- expected even if they are not mentioned in the terminfo.
- * modify setupterm() to check if the terminfo and terminal-modes
- have already been read. This ensures that it does not reinvoke
- def_prog_mode() when an application calls more than one function,
- such as tgetent() and initscr().
- * fix form_driver() cases for REQ_CLR_EOF, REQ_CLR_EOL,
- REQ_DEL_CHAR, REQ_DEL_PREV and REQ_NEW_LINE, which did not ensure
- the cursor was at the editing position before making
- modifications.
- * correct keybound(), which reported definitions in the wrong table,
- i.e., the list of definitions which are disabled by keyok().
- * fixes related to safe_sprintf.c:
- + correct an allocation size in safe_sprintf.c for the "*"
- format code.
- + correct safe_sprintf.c to not return a null pointer if the
- format happens to be an empty string.
- + make return value from _nc_printf_string() consistent.
- Before, depending on whether --enable-safe-sprintf was used,
- it might not be cached for reallocating.
- * other low-level improvements to the optimization code include:
- + if the output is a socket or other non-tty device, use 1
- millisecond for the cost in mvcur; previously it was 9
- milliseconds because the baudrate was not known.
- + modify lib_getch.c to avoid recursion via wgetnstr() when the
- input is not a tty and consequently mode-changes do not work.
- + fix several places in tack/pad.c which tested and used the
- parameter- and parameterless strings inconsistently.
- + change several tputs() calls in scrolling code to use putp(),
- to enable padding which may be needed for some terminals.
- + improve mvcur() by checking if it is safe to move when video
- attributes are set (msgr), and if not, reset/restore
- attributes within that function rather than doing it
- separately in the GoTo() function in tty_update.c.
- + use tputs() rather than putp() in a few cases in tty_update.c
- since the corresponding delays are proportional to the number
- of lines affected: repeat_char, clr_eos,
- change_scroll_region.
- * correct line/column reference in adjust_window(), needed to make
- special windows such as curscr track properly when resizing.
- * fix a potential recursion between napms() and _nc_timed_wait()
- * rewrote lib_insch.c, combining it with lib_insstr.c so both handle
- tab and other control characters consistently.
- * do not try to open gpm mouse driver if standard output is not a
- tty; the gpm library does not make this check.
-
- Portability:
* configure script:
+ new options:
- --with-abi-version option.
- addresses platforms where packagers have diverged
- from ncurses ABI numbering.
-
- --with-manpage-format=catonly
- addresses behavior of BSDI, allow install of
- man+cat files on NetBSD, whose behavior has
- diverged by requiring both to be present.
-
- --with-manpage-aliases
- extends "--with-manpage-aliases" to provide the
- option of generating ".so" files rather than
- symbolic links for manpage aliases.
-
- --with-rel-version
- workaround to force libtool on Darwin generate the
- "same" library names as with the "--with-shared"
- option. The Darwin ld program does not work well
- with a zero as the minor-version value.
-
- --with-trace
- simplifies defining TRACE to incorporate trace() in
- libraries.
-
- + fixes/improvements for cross-compiling:
- o allow BUILD_CC and related configure script variables to
- be overridden from the environment.
- o use AC_CHECK_TOOL to get proper values for AR and LD for
- cross compiling.
- o use $cross_compiling variable in configure script rather
- than comparing $host_alias and $target alias, since
- "host" is traditionally misused in autoconf to refer to
- the target platform.
- o modify run_tic.in to avoid using wrong shared libraries
- when cross-compiling.
- + fixes for Mac OS X:
- o fix a redefinition of $RANLIB in the configure script
- when libtool is used.
- o modify MKlib_gen.sh to avoid passing "#" tokens through
- the C preprocessor. This works around Mac OS X's
- preprocessor, which insists on adding a blank on each
- side of the token.
- + workarounds for broken tools:
- o add configure check for wchar_t and wint_t types, rather
- than rely on preprocessor definitions. Also work around
- for gcc fixinclude bug which creates a shadow copy of
- curses.h if it sees these symbols apparently typedef'd.
- o modify configure script to omit -Winline for gcc 3.3,
- since that feature is broken.
- o several script fixes to work around the ironically named
- POSIXLY_CORRECT feature of GNU sed 4.0.
- o modify configure script to avoid using "head -1", which
- does not work if POSIXLY_CORRECT (sic) is set.
- o update configure script to reflect fix for
- AC_PROG_GCC_TRADITIONAL, which is broken in autoconf
- 2.5x for Mac OS X 10.2.3.
- o repair check for missing C++ compiler, which is broken
- in autoconf 2.5x by hardcoding it to g++.
- + corrected ifdef's relating to configure check for wchar_t,
- etc.
- + remove configure script check to allow -Wconversion for older
- versions of gcc
- + modify configure script to accommodate libtool 1.5, as well
- as add an parameter to the "--with-libtool" option which can
- specify the pathname of libtool.
- + change several sed scripts to avoid using "\+" since it is
- not a BRE (basic regular expression). One instance caused
- terminfo.5 to be misformatted on FreeBSD.
- + use '%' as sed substitute delimiter in run_tic script to
- avoid problems with pathname delimiters such as ':' and '@'.
- + add -D_XOPEN_SOURCE=500 if needed when configuring with
- "--enable-widec", to get mbstate_t declaration on HPUX 11.11.
- * library:
- + adjust include-options in CF_ETIP_DEFINES to avoid missing
- ncurses_dll.h, fixing special definitions that may be needed
- for etip.h.
- + modify CF_LIB_SUFFIX for Itanium releases of HP-UX, which use
- a ".so" suffix.
- + improve ifdef's to guard against redefinition of wchar_t and
- wint_t in curses.h.
- + remove an #undef for KEY_EVENT from curses.tail used in the
- experimental NCURSES_WGETCH_EVENTS feature. The #undef
- confuses Debian dpkg's build script.
+ --disable-libtool-version
+ use the "-version-number" feature which was added
+ in libtool 1.5. The default value for the option
+ uses the newer feature, which makes libraries
+ generated using libtool compatible with the
+ standard builds of ncurses.
+
+ --disable-rpath-hack
+ disable a feature which adds rpath options for
+ libraries in unusual places.
+
+ --enable-interop
+ integrate changes for generic/interop support to
+ form-library.
+
+ --enable-pc-files
+ generate ".pc" files for each of the libraries, and
+ install them in pkg-config's library directory.
+
+ --enable-pthreads-eintr
+ control whether to allow EINTR to interrupt a read
+ operation in wgetch. This applies only to the
+ pthread configuration
+
+ --enable-sp-funcs
+ compile-in support for extended functions which
+ accept a SCREEN pointer, reducing the need for
+ juggling the global SP value with set_term and
+ delscreen.
+
+ --enable-term-driver
+ compile with terminal-driver. That is used in the
+ MinGW port, and (being somewhat more complicated)
+ is an experimental alternative to the conventional
+ termlib internals. Currently, it requires the
+ sp-funcs feature to be enabled.
+
+ --with-ncurses-wrap-prefix
+ allows setting the prefix for functions used to
+ wrap global variables to something other than
+ "_nc_".
+
+ --with-pkg-config=[DIR]
+ check for pkg-config, optionally specifying its
+ path.
+
+ --without-manpages
+ tells the configure script to suppress the install
+ of ncurses' manpages.
+
+ --without-tests
+ suppress building test programs.
+
+ + improved options:
+ o correct logic for --with-database, which was coded as an
+ enable-type switch.
+ o omit the opaque-functions from lib_gen.o when
+ --disable-ext-funcs is used.
+ * packaging:
+ + *-config scripts:
+ o modify adacurses-config to look for ".ali" files in the
+ adalib directory.
+ o correct install for the Ada95 tree, which omitted
+ libAdaCurses.a used in adacurses-config.
+ o change install for adacurses-config to provide
+ additional flavors such as adacursesw-config, for
+ ncursesw.
+ o modify scripts to generate ncurses*-config and pc-files
+ to add dependency for tinfo library.
+ o use ncurses*-config scripts if available for
+ test/configure.
+ o correct name for termlib in ncurses*-config, e.g., if it
+ is renamed to provide a single file for ncurses/ncursesw
+ libraries.
+ o generate manpages for the *-config scripts, adapted from
+ help2man.
+ o modify install-rule for manpages so that *-config
+ manpages will install when building with --srcdir.
+ o build-fixes for OpenSolaris aka Solaris 11, for
+ wide-character configuration as well as for rpath
+ feature in *-config scripts.
+ o use $includedir symbol in misc/ncurses-config.in, add
+ --includedir option.
+ o improve install-rules for pc-files.
+ o create the pkg-config library directory if needed.
+ o fix typo "==" where "=" is needed in ncurses-config.in
+ and gen-pkgconfig.in files.
+ o modify gen-pkgconfig.in to eliminate a dependency on
+ rpath when deciding whether to add $LIBS to --libs
+ output; that should be shown for the ncurses and tinfo
+ libraries without taking rpath into account.
+ o modify handling of $PKG_CONFIG_LIBDIR to use only the
+ first item in a possibly colon-separated list.
+ + other packaging issues
+ o add make-tar.sh scripts to Ada95 and test subdirectories
+ to help with making those separately distributable.
+ o add Ada95/configure script, to use in tar-file created
+ by Ada95/make-tar.sh.
+ o remove tar-copy.sh and related configure/Makefile
+ chunks, since the Ada95 binding is now installed using
+ rules in Ada95/src.
+ * cross-compiling:
+ + improve configure checks for location of tic and infocmp
+ programs used for installing database and for generating
+ fallback data, e.g., for cross-compiling.
+ + modify #define's for build-compiler to suppress cchar_t
+ symbol from compile of make_hash and make_keys, improving
+ cross-compilation of ncursesw.
+ + simplify include-dependencies of make_hash and make_keys, to
+ reduce the need for setting BUILD_CPPFLAGS in cross-compiling
+ when the build- and target-machines differ.
+ + correct cross-compiling configure check for CF_MKSTEMP macro,
+ by adding a check cache variable set by AC_CHECK_FUNC.
+ * library dependencies:
+ + revise wadd_wch and wecho_wchar to eliminate dependency on
+ unctrl.
+ + adjust configure script so that "t" is not added to library
+ suffix when weak-symbols are used, allowing the pthread
+ configuration to more closely match the non-thread naming.
+ * building the Ada95 tree:
+ + changes to use gnatmake project files in the Ada95 tree.
+ + add/use configure check to turn on project rules for
+ Ada95/src.
+ + old gnatmake (3.15) does not produce libraries using
+ project-file; work around by adding script to generate
+ alternate makefile.
+ + add configure --with-ada-sharedlib option, for the test_make
+ rule.
+ + move Ada95-related logic into aclocal.m4, since additional
+ checks will be needed to distinguish old/new implementations
+ of gnat.
+ + add test_make / test_clean / test_install rules in Ada95/src
+ + change install-path for adainclude directory to
+ /usr/share/ada (was /usr/lib/ada).
+ * other configure/build issues:
+ + make CCHARW_MAX value configurable, noting that changing this
+ would change the size of cchar_t, and would be
+ ABI-incompatible.
+ + improve comparison of program-names when checking for linked
+ flavors such as "reset" by ignoring the executable suffix.
+ + drop mkdirs.sh, use "mkdir -p".
+ + drop misc/ncu-indent and misc/jpf-indent; they are provided
+ by an external package [3]cindent.
+ + change makefiles to use $ARFLAGS rather than $AR_OPTS,
+ provide a configure check to detect whether a "-" is needed
+ before "ar" options.
+ + modify CF_DISABLE_LEAKS configure macro so that the
+ --enable-leaks option is not the same as --disable-leaks.
+ + improve configure script macros CF_HEADER_PATH and
+ CF_LIBRARY_PATH by adding CFLAGS, CPPFLAGS and LDFLAGS, LIBS
+ values to the search-lists.
+ + improve configure macros CF_GCC_VERSION and CF_GCC_WARNINGS
+ to work with gcc 4.x's c89 alias, which gives warning
+ messages for cases where older versions would produce an
+ error.
+ + modify CF_WITH_LIBTOOL configure check to allow unreleased
+ libtool version numbers (e.g. which include alphabetic chars,
+ as well as digits, after the final '.').
+ + improve use of symbolic links in makefiles by using "-f"
+ option if it is supported, to eliminate temporary removal of
+ the target
+ + add a configure-time check to pick a suitable value for
+ CC_SHARED_OPTS for Solaris.
+ + add -shared option to MK_SHARED_LIB when -Bsharable is used,
+ for *BSD's, without which "main" might be one of the shared
+ library's dependencies.
+ + modify configure script to allow building shared libraries
+ with gcc on AIX 5 or 6.
+ + suppress configure check for static/dynamic linker flags for
+ gcc on Solaris 10, since gcc is confused by absence of static
+ libc, and does not switch back to dynamic mode before
+ finishing the libraries.
+ + suppress configure check for static/dynamic linker flags for
+ gcc on Darwin.
+ + modify misc/run_tic.in to create parent directory, in case
+ this is a new install of hashed database.
+ + modify configure check for tic program, used for fallbacks,
+ to a warning if not found. This makes it simpler to use
+ additonal scripts to bootstrap the fallbacks code using tic
+ from the build tree.
+ * test programs:
+ + add test/demo_terminfo, for comparison with demo_termcap.
+ + improve test/ncurses.c 'F' test, show combining characters in
+ color.
+ + fix logic for 'V' in test/ncurses.c tests f/F.
+ + improve test/ncurses.c 'a test to put mouse droppings in the
+ proper window.
+ + modify ncurses 'F' test to demo wborder_set with colored
+ lines.
+ + modify ncurses 'f' test to demo wborder with colored lines.
+ + improve test/ncurses.c 'a' test, using unctrl more
+ consistently to display meta-characters.
+ + correct use of key_name in test/ncurses.c 'A' test, which
+ only displays wide-characters, not key-codes since 20070612.
+ + add test/clip_printw.c to illustrate how to use printw
+ without wrapping.
+ + modify test-programs, e.g,. test/view.c, to address subtle
+ differences between Tru64/Solaris and HPUX/AIX getcchar
+ return values.
+ + add some test programs (and make these use the same special
+ keys by sharing linedata.h functions): test/test_addstr.c
+ test/test_addwstr.c test/test_addchstr.c
+ test/test_add_wchstr.c
+ + add test/xterm-256color.dat
+ + modify test programs to allow them to be built with NetBSD
+ curses.
+ + fixes for test programs to build/work on HPUX and AIX, etc.
Features of Ncurses
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).
+ 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.
+ * 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.
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.
+ 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
cdk
Curses Development Kit
- [3]http://invisible-island.net/cdk/
- [4]http://www.vexus.ca/products/CDK/
+ [4]http://invisible-island.net/cdk/
+ [5]http://www.vexus.ca/products/CDK/
ded
directory-editor
- [5]http://invisible-island.net/ded/
+ [6]http://invisible-island.net/ded/
dialog
the underlying application used in Slackware's setup, and the
basis for similar applications on GNU/Linux.
- [6]http://invisible-island.net/dialog/
+ [7]http://invisible-island.net/dialog/
lynx
the character-screen WWW browser
- [7]http://lynx.isc.org/release/
+ [8]http://lynx.isc.org/release/
Midnight Commander
file manager
- [8]http://www.ibiblio.org/mc/
+ [9]http://www.midnight-commander.org/
mutt
mail utility
- [9]http://www.mutt.org/
+ [10]http://www.mutt.org/
ncftp
file-transfer utility
- [10]http://www.ncftp.com/
+ [11]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/
+ [12]https://sites.google.com/a/bostic.com/keithbostic/nvi
pinfo
Lynx-like info browser.
- [12]http://dione.ids.pl/~pborys/software/pinfo/
+ [13]https://alioth.debian.org/projects/pinfo/
tin
- newsreader, supporting color, MIME [13]http://www.tin.org/
-
- vh-1.6
- Volks-Hypertext browser for the Jargon File
- [14]http://www.debian.org/Packages/unstable/text/vh.html
+ newsreader, supporting color, MIME [14]http://www.tin.org/
as well as some that use ncurses for the terminfo support alone:
minicom
terminal emulator
- [15]http://www.netsonic.fi/~walker/minicom.html
+ [15]http://alioth.debian.org/projects/minicom/
vile
vi-like-emacs
Who's Who and What's What
Zeyd Ben-Halim started it from a previous package pcurses, written by
- Pavel Curtis. Eric S. Raymond continued development. Jürgen Pfeifer
+ Pavel Curtis. Eric S. Raymond continued development. Juergen Pfeifer
wrote most of the form and menu libraries. Ongoing work is being done
by [17]Thomas Dickey. Thomas Dickey acts as the maintainer for the
Free Software Foundation, which holds the copyright on ncurses.
Other Related Resources
The distribution provides a newer version of the terminfo-format
- terminal description file maintained by [20]Eric Raymond . Unlike the
- older version, the termcap and terminfo data are provided in the same
- file.
+ terminal description file once maintained by [20]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 [21]Richard Shuford's archive .
1. ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/ncurses/
2. ftp://invisible-island.net/ncurses/
- 3. http://invisible-island.net/cdk/
- 4. http://www.vexus.ca/products/CDK/
- 5. http://invisible-island.net/ded/
- 6. http://invisible-island.net/dialog/
- 7. http://lynx.isc.org/release/
- 8. http://www.ibiblio.org/mc/
- 9. http://www.mutt.org/
- 10. http://www.ncftp.com/
- 11. http://www.bostic.com/vi/
- 12. http://dione.ids.pl/~pborys/software/pinfo/
- 13. http://www.tin.org/
- 14. http://www.debian.org/Packages/unstable/text/vh.html
- 15. http://www.netsonic.fi/~walker/minicom.html
+ 3. http://invisible-island.net/cindent/cindent.html
+ 4. http://invisible-island.net/cdk/
+ 5. http://www.vexus.ca/products/CDK/
+ 6. http://invisible-island.net/ded/
+ 7. http://invisible-island.net/dialog/
+ 8. http://lynx.isc.org/release/
+ 9. http://www.midnight-commander.org/
+ 10. http://www.mutt.org/
+ 11. http://www.ncftp.com/
+ 12. https://sites.google.com/a/bostic.com/keithbostic/nvi
+ 13. https://alioth.debian.org/projects/pinfo/
+ 14. http://www.tin.org/
+ 15. http://alioth.debian.org/projects/minicom/
16. http://invisible-island.net/vile/
17. mailto:dickey@invisible-island.net
18. mailto:bug-ncurses@gnu.org
19. ftp://invisible-island.net/ncurses/
20. http://www.catb.org/~esr/terminfo/
- 21. http://www.cs.utk.edu/~shuford/terminal_index.html
+ 21. http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.cs.utk.edu/~shuford/terminal
projects / ncurses.git / blobdiff