- Announcing ncurses 5.8
+ Announcing ncurses 6.0
+
+Overview
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.
+ curses in System V Release 4.0 (SVr4), 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 SVr4-curses
+ enhancements over BSD curses. SVr4 curses is better known today as
+ X/Open Curses.
In mid-June 1995, the maintainer of 4.4BSD curses declared that he
- considered 4.4BSD curses obsolete, and encouraged the keepers of Unix
+ 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
- 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!
+ Since 1995, ncurses has been ported to many systems:
+ * It is used in almost every system based on the Linux kernel (aside
+ from some embedded applications).
+ * It is used as the system curses library on OpenBSD, FreeBSD and
+ OSX.
+ * It is used in environments such as Cygwin and MinGW. The first of
+ these was EMX on OS/2 Warp.
+ * It is used (though usually not as the system curses) on all of the
+ vendor unix systems, e.g., AIX, HP-UX, IRIX64, SCO, Solaris,
+ Tru64.
+ * It should work readily on any ANSI/POSIX-conforming unix.
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
- manual pages are provided for the library and tools.
+ * [1]captoinfo, a termcap conversion tool
+ * [2]clear, utility for clearing the screen
+ * [3]infocmp, the terminfo decompiler
+ * [4]tabs, set tabs on a terminal
+ * [5]tic, the terminfo compiler
+ * [6]toe, list (table of) terminfo entries
+ * [7]tput, utility for retrieving terminal capabilities in shell
+ scripts
+ * [8]tset, to initialize the terminal
+
+ 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/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
- 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
-
- * configure script:
- + new options:
-
- --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
+ distribution site
+
+ [9]ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/ncurses/ .
+
+ It is also available at
+
+ [10]ftp://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ .
+
+Release Notes
+
+ These notes are for ncurses 6.0, released August 8, 2015.
+
+ This release is designed to be source-compatible with ncurses 5.0
+ through 5.9; providing a new application binary interface (ABI).
+ Although the source can still be configured to support the ncurses 5
+ ABI, the intent of the release is to provide extensions which are
+ generally useful, but binary-incompatible with ncurses 5:
+ * Extend the cchar_t structure to allow more than 16 colors to be
+ encoded.
+ * Modify the encoding of mouse state to make room for a 5th mouse
+ button. That allows one to use ncurses with a wheel mouse with
+ xterm or similar X terminal emulators.
+
+ There are, of course, numerous other improvements, including
+ * fixes made based on the Clang and Coverity static analyzers.
+ * memory leak fixes using Valgrind
+
+ The release notes mention some bug-fixes, but are focused on new
+ features and improvements to existing features log since ncurses 5.9
+ release.
+
+ While the intent of the release is to provide a new stable ABI, there
+ are other development activities which are summarized below.
+ * The original release plan, e.g., for "5.10" was to improve the
+ MinGW port. Ultimately that was completed (wide-character support,
+ mouse, etc), but was deferred to focus on termcap support and
+ performance issues. Also, pinpointing the problems with Console2
+ took a while.
+ * A review of termcap compatibility in 2011 led to several minor
+ fixes in the library and improvements to utilities. To do this
+ properly, a review of the various extent termcap implementations
+ was needed.
+ The [11]termcap library checker (tctest) (not part of ncurses) was
+ one result. A followup review of performance using
+ [12]ncurses-examples in 2014 led to additional improvements.
+ * Output buffering provided a further, but worthwhile distraction. A
+ bug report in 2012 regarding the use of signal handlers in
+ ncurses) pointed out [13]a problem with the use of unsafe
+ functions for handling SIGTSTP. Other signals could be addressed
+ with workarounds; repairing SIGTSTP required a different approach.
+ The solution required changing internal behavior of the library:
+ how it handles output buffering.
+ Now ncurses buffers its own output, independently of the standard
+ output. A few applications relied upon the library's direct reuse
+ of the standard output buffering; however that is unspecified
+ behavior and has never been a recommended practice. Identifying
+ these applications as well as refining the change to permit
+ low-level applications to work consistently took time.
+ * Since the introduction of the experimental support for 256 colors
+ early in [14]2005 (released in [15]ncurses 5.5), there has been
+ increased user interest. Almost all packagers continue providing
+ the ncurses ABI 5 which cannot support 256 colors.
+ * Symbol versioning, or the lack of it in ncurses, is the main
+ reason why packagers would be reluctant to add a new ncurses ABI.
+ This release provides the new ABI along with script-generated
+ lists of versioned symbols which can be used for both ABI 5 and 6
+ (with distinct names to keep the two separate). This took time to
+ development, as reported in [16]Symbol versioning in ncurses.
+
+ Library improvements
+
+ Output buffering
+
+ X/Open curses provides more than one initialization function:
+ * [17]initscr (the simplest) accepts no parameters.
+ * [18]newterm accepts parameters for the stream input and output
+ * [19]setupterm (the low-level function) accepts a parameter for the
+ file descriptor of the output.
+
+ They are documented in X/Open as if initscr calls newterm using stdout
+ for output stream, and in turn newterm calls setupterm using
+ fileno(stdout) for the file descriptor. As long as an implementation
+ acts as if it does this, it conforms. In practice, implementations do
+ what is implied. This creates a problem: the low-level setupterm
+ function's file descriptor is unbuffered, while newterm implies
+ buffered output. X/Open Curses says that all output is done through
+ the file descriptor, and does not say how the output stream is
+ actually used.
+
+ Initially, ncurses used the file descriptor (obtained from the output
+ stream passed to newterm) for changing the terminal modes, and relied
+ upon the output parameter of newterm for buffered output. Later (to
+ avoid using unsafe buffered I/O in signal handlers), ncurses was
+ modified to use the file descriptor (unbuffered output) when cleaning
+ up on receipt of a signal. Otherwise (when not handling a signal), it
+ continued to use the buffered output.
+
+ That approach worked reasonably well and as a side effect, using the
+ same buffered output as an application might use for printf meant that
+ no flushing was needed when switching between normal- and
+ screen-modes.
+
+ There were a couple of problems:
+ * to get good performance, curses (not only ncurses, but SVr4 curses
+ in general) set an output buffer using setbuf or similar function.
+ There is no standard (or portable) way to turn that output buffer
+ off, and revert to line-buffering. The [20]NCURSES_NO_SETBUF
+ environment variable did make it optional.
+ * to handle SIGTSTP (the "stop" signal), ncurses relied upon unsafe
+ functions. That is, due to the complexity of the feature, it
+ relied upon reusing existing functions which should not have been
+ called via the signal handler.
+
+ Conveniently, solving the second problem (by making ncurses do its own
+ output buffering) also fixed the first one. But there were special
+ cases to resolve: [21]low-level functions such as mvcur, putp, vidattr
+ explicitly use the standard output. Those functions were reused
+ internally, and required modification to distinguish whether they were
+ used by the high-level or low-level interfaces.
+
+ Finally, there may still be a few programs which should be modified to
+ improve their portability, e.g., adding an
+
+fflush(stdout);
+
+ when switching from "[22]shell" mode to "[23]program" (curses) mode.
+ Those are fairly rare because most programmers have learned not to mix
+ printf and [24]printw.
+
+ Symbol versioning
+
+ This release introduces symbol-versioning to ncurses because without
+ it, the change of ABI would be less successful. A lengthy discussion
+ will be presented in [25]Symbol versioning in ncurses. These notes
+ summarize what has changed, and what can be done with the new release.
+
+ Symbol-versioning allows the developers of a library to mark each
+ public symbol (both data and functions) with an identifier denoting
+ the library name and the version for which it was built. By doing
+ this, users of the library have a way to help ensure that applications
+ do not accidentally load an incompatible library. In addition, private
+ symbols can be hidden entirely.
+
+ This release provides sample files for the four principal
+ configurations of ncurses libraries: ncurses, ncursesw, ncursest and
+ ncursestw. Each sample is given in two forms:
+
+ ".map"
+ These list all public symbols, together with version names.
+
+ ".sym"
+ These list all public symbols, without version names.
+
+ The sample files are generated by scripts which take into account a
+ few special cases such as [26]tack to omit many of the ncurses private
+ symbols (beginning with "_nc_"). Here are counts of globals versus
+ locals:
+
+ Config Symbols Globals Locals "_nc_"
+ ncurses 976 796 180 332
+ ncursesw 1089 905 184 343
+ ncursest 979 804 175 358
+ ncursestw 1098 914 184 372
+
+ Although only four sample configurations are presented, each is formed
+ by merging symbols from several combinations of configure-script
+ options, taking into account advice from downstream packagers. Because
+ they are formed by merging, the sample files may list a symbol which
+ is not in a given package. That is expected. The samples have been
+ tested and are working with systems (such as Fedora, FreeBSD and
+ Debian) which fully support this feature. There are other systems
+ which do not support the feature, and a few (such as Solaris) which
+ provide incomplete support.
+
+ The version-naming convention used allows these sample files to build
+ distinct libraries for ABI 5 and 6. Version names consist of
+ * configuration name, e.g., "NCURSESW" for the wide-character
+ libraries
+ * ABI version (if not 5)
+ * library name for two special cases which have the same interface
+ across configurations: "TINFO" and "TIC"
+ * release version
+ * patch date (for the release version)
+
+ For example, running nm -D on the libraries in the ncurses6 test
+ package shows these symbol-versions:
+
+0000000000000000 A NCURSES6_TIC_5.0.19991023
+0000000000000000 A NCURSES6_TIC_5.1.20000708
+0000000000000000 A NCURSES6_TIC_5.5.20051010
+0000000000000000 A NCURSES6_TIC_5.7.20081102
+0000000000000000 A NCURSES6_TIC_5.9.20150530
+0000000000000000 A NCURSES6_TINFO_5.0.19991023
+0000000000000000 A NCURSES6_TINFO_5.1.20000708
+0000000000000000 A NCURSES6_TINFO_5.2.20001021
+0000000000000000 A NCURSES6_TINFO_5.3.20021019
+0000000000000000 A NCURSES6_TINFO_5.4.20040208
+0000000000000000 A NCURSES6_TINFO_5.5.20051010
+0000000000000000 A NCURSES6_TINFO_5.6.20061217
+0000000000000000 A NCURSES6_TINFO_5.7.20081102
+0000000000000000 A NCURSES6_TINFO_5.8.20110226
+0000000000000000 A NCURSES6_TINFO_5.9.20150530
+0000000000000000 A NCURSESW6_5.1.20000708
+0000000000000000 A NCURSESW6_5.3.20021019
+0000000000000000 A NCURSESW6_5.4.20040208
+0000000000000000 A NCURSESW6_5.5.20051010
+0000000000000000 A NCURSESW6_5.6.20061217
+0000000000000000 A NCURSESW6_5.7.20081102
+0000000000000000 A NCURSESW6_5.8.20110226
+0000000000000000 A NCURSESW6_5.9.20150530
+
+ As a special case, this release (which makes the final change for ABI
+ 5) is marked with release version 5.9 and patch date 20150530.
+
+ Miscellaneous
+
+ The new release has several improvements for performance and building.
+ For instance:
+ * several files in ncurses- and progs-directories were modified to
+ allow const data used in internal tables to be put by the linker
+ into the readonly text segment.
+ * various improvements were made to building the Ada95 binding, both
+ in simplifying the generated files as well as improving the way it
+ uses gnatmake
+
+ There are also new features in the libraries:
+ * added [27]use_tioctl function
+ * added [28]wgetdelay to retrieve _delay member of WINDOW if it
+ happens to be opaque, e.g., in the pthread configuration.
+ * added [29]A_ITALIC extension.
+ * added form library extension [30]O_DYNAMIC_JUSTIFY option which
+ can be used to override the different treatment of justification
+ for static versus dynamic fields .
+ * rewrote [31]putwin and [32]getwin, making an extended version
+ which is capable of reading screen-dumps between the wide/normal
+ ncurses configurations. These are text files, except for a magic
+ code at the beginning:
+
+0 string \210\210 Screen-dump (ncurses)
+
+ * several changes to mouse support include:
+ + added decoder for xterm SGR 1006 mouse mode.
+ + added experimental support for "%u" format to terminfo.
+ + improved behavior of wheel-mice for xterm protocol: noting
+ that there are only button-presses for buttons "4" and "5",
+ so there is no need to wait to combine events into
+ double-clicks .
+
+ There are a few new configure options dealing with library
+ customization:
+ * add "--enable-ext-putwin" configure option to turn on the extended
+ putwin/getwin. By default, this is enabled for ABI 6 and disabled
+ with ABI 5.
+ * add "--enable-string-hacks" option to control whether strlcat and
+ strlcpy may be used. Because ncurses already does the requisite
+ buffer-limit checks, this feature is mainly of interest to quiet
+ compiler-warnings on a few systems.
+ * add configure option "--with-tparm-arg" to allow [33]tparm's
+ parameters to be something more likely to be the same size as a
+ pointer, e.g., intptr_t (again, the default is set for ABI 6).
+
+ Program improvements
+
+ Utilities
+
+ Most of the termcap-related changes based on development of [34]tctest
+ (termcap library checker) are implemented in the tic and infocmp
+ programs rather than affecting the library. As noted in the
+ [35]discussion of tctest, ncurses's ability to translate between
+ terminfo and termcap formats has been improved at different times, but
+ subject to feedback from "real" termcap users. There are very few of
+ those. Nowadays, virtually all termcap users are using ncurses (or
+ NetBSD, with its own terminfo library) and their programs are actually
+ using terminfo rather than termcap data.
+
+ Still, there are a few. A comment about the translation of the ASCII
+ NUL character prompted a review:
+ * Both terminfo and termcap store string capabilities as
+ NUL-terminated strings.
+ * In terminfo, a \0 in a terminal description is stored as \200.
+ * There are no (known) terminals which would behave differently when
+ sent \0 or \200.
+ * When translating to terminfo format (or displaying a printable
+ version of an entry using infocmp), ncurses shows \200 as \0.
+ * It has done this since 1998 (quoting from the NEWS file):
+
+[36]980103
+...
+ + modify _nc_tic_expand() to generate \0 rather than \200.
+...
+ + correct translation of terminfo "^@", to \200, like \0.
+
+ * However, the _nc_tic_expand function (which optionally produces
+ terminfo or termcap format) did not address this special case for
+ termcap. Even the later 4.4BSD [37]cgetstr interprets a \0
+ literally, ending that string (rather than using the terminfo
+ improvement).
+
+ As a result of the review, several improvements were made to ncurses
+ translation to/from termcap format -- and improving the checks made in
+ tic for consistency of entries. Most of these are not of general
+ interest, except for two new command-line options for tic and infocmp:
+ * the "-0" option generates termcap/terminfo source on a single
+ line.
+ * the "-K" option provides stricter BSD-compatibility for termcap
+ output.
+
+ Other user-visible improvements and new features include:
+ * added "-D" option to tic and infocmp, to show the database
+ locations that it could use.
+ * added "-s" option to toe, to sort its output.
+ * extended "-c" and "-n" options of infocmp to allow comparing more
+ than two entries.
+ * modified toe's report when "-a" and "-s" options are combined, to
+ add a column showing which entries belong to a given database.
+ * modified the clear program to take into account the "E3" extended
+ capability to clear the terminal's scrollback buffer.
+
+ Examples
+
+ Along with the library and utilities, many improvements were made to
+ the [38]ncurses-examples. Some were made to allow building (and
+ comparison-testing) against NetBSD curses and PDCurses. Both lack some
+ of the X/Open Curses features, necessitating customization. But this
+ activity was useful because it showed some remaining performance
+ issues (which have been resolved in this release).
+
+ These changes were made to verify compatibility or compare performance
+ of ncurses:
+ * made workarounds for compiling test-programs with NetBSD curses,
+ though it lacks some common functions such as [39]use_env.
+ * added dots_termcap test-program
+ * added dots_curses test-program, for comparison with the low-level
+ examples.
+ * added test_setupterm test-proram to demonstrate normal/error
+ returns from the setupterm and restartterm functions.
+ * added "-d", "-e" and "-q" options to the demo_terminfo and
+ demo_termcap test-programs.
+ * added "-y" option to demo_termcap and test/demo_terminfo
+ test-programs to demonstrate behavior with/without extended
+ capabilities.
+ * modified demo_termcap and demo_terminfo test-programs to make
+ their options more directly comparable, and add "-i" option to
+ specify a terminal description filename to parse for names to
+ lookup.
+ * rewrote the tests for [40]mvderwin and test for recursive
+ [41]mvwin in the movewindow test-program.
+
+ These changes were made to help with the MinGW port:
+ * added test-screens to the ncurses test-program to show
+ 256-characters at a time, to help with MinGW port.
+ * modified the view test-program to load UTF-8 when built with MinGW
+ by using regular win32 API because the MinGW functions mblen and
+ mbtowc do not work.
+ * added "-s" option to the view test-program to allow it to start in
+ single-step mode, reducing size of trace files when it is used for
+ debugging MinGW changes.
+
+ These changes were made to verify new extensions in ncurses:
+ * added [42]form_driver_w entrypoint to wide-character forms
+ library, as well as form_driver_w test-program.
+ * modified ncurses test-program's b/B tests to display lines only
+ for the attributes which a given terminal supports, to make room
+ for an italics test.
+ * modified ncurses test-program, adding "-E" and "-T" options to
+ demonstrate use_env versus use_tioctl.
+ * modified ncurses test-program's c/C tests to cycle through subsets
+ of the total number of colors, to better illustrate
+ 8/16/88/256-colors by providing directly comparable screens.
+ * modified the ncurses test-program to also show position reports in
+ 'a' test.
+
+ These changes were made to make the examples more useful:
+ * added scripts for building dpkg and rpm test-packages
+ * modified the hanoi test-program to show the minimum number of
+ moves possible for the given number of tiles.
+ * modified the knight test-program to show the number of choices
+ possible for each position in automove option, e.g., to allow user
+ to follow Warnsdorff's rule to solve the puzzle.
+
+ Terminal database
+
+ This release provides improvements to tic's "-c" checking option,
+ which was used for example to
+ * make sgr in several entries agree with other caps.
+ * correct padding in some entries where earlier versions had
+ miscounted the number of octal digits.
+
+ There are several new terminal descriptions:
+ * [43]mlterm is now aliased to mlterm3
+ * [44]nsterm is now derived from nsterm-256color
+ * [45]putty-sco
+ * [46]teken is FreeBSD's "xterm" console.
+ * [47]terminator
+ * [48]terminology
+ * [49]tmux is derived from screen.
+ * several screen.XXX entries support the respective variations for
+ 256 colors.
+ * [50]simpleterm is now 0.5
+ * [51]vte is aliased to vte-2012
+ * [52]vt520ansi
+
+ A few entries use extensions (user-defined terminal capabilities):
+ * E3, used in linux, putty and xterm-basic is tested in the
+ [53]clear program to erase a terminal's scrollback.
+ * TS is used in the [54]xterm+sl building block to help deprecate
+ the misuse of tsl for xterm's title-string.
+ * XT is used in some terminfo entries to improve usefulness for
+ other applications than screen, which would like to pretend that
+ xterm's title is a status-line.
+ * xm is used in examples [55]xterm-1005 and [56]xterm-1006 to
+ illustrate a way to make mouse handling more general
+
+ A few terminals support italics and/or dim capabilities. In
+ particular, screen does not. Documented that, and accommodated the
+ terminals where this feature works with the A_ITALIC extension.
+ * konsole, mlterm3 (italics)
+ * nsterm (dim)
+ * screen (dim)
+ * vte (dim, italics)
+ * xterm (dim, italics)
+
+ Documentation
+
+ As usual, this release
+ * improves documentation by describing new features,
+ * attempts to improve the description of features which users have
+ found confusing
+ * fills in overlooked descriptions of features which were described
+ in the [57]NEWS file but treated sketchily in manual pages.
+
+ In addition, the mechanism for producing HTML versions of the
+ documentation has been improved:
+ * use an improved version of [58]man2html to generate html manpages.
+ * regenerated [59]NCURSES-Programming-HOWTO.html to fix some of the
+ broken html emitted by docbook.
+
+ Interesting bug-fixes
+
+ * Ada95 binding:
+ + modify makefile rules to ensure that the PIC option is not
+ used when building a static library
+ + make Ada95 build-fix for big-endian architectures such as
+ sparc. This undoes one of the fixes from [60]20110319, which
+ added an "Unused" member to representation clauses, replacing
+ that with pragmas to suppress warnings about unused bits.
+ * Color and attributes:
+ + parenthesize parameter of COLOR_PAIR and PAIR_NUMBER in
+ curses.h in case it happens to be a comma-expression.
+ + improve [61]20021221 workaround for broken acs, handling a
+ case where that ACS_xxx character is not in the acsc string
+ but there is a known wide-character which can be used.
+ + modify [62]init_pair to accept -1's for color value after
+ [63]assume_default_colors has been called.
+ + add a check in [64]start_color to limit color-pairs to 256
+ when extended colors are not supported.
+ * Resizing the screen:
+ + propagate error-returns from wresize, i.e., the internal
+ increase_size and decrease_size functions through
+ [65]resize_term.
+ + add check for zero/negative dimensions for resizeterm and
+ resize_term.
+ + modify resizeterm to always push a KEY_RESIZE onto the fifo,
+ even if screensize is unchanged. Modify library to push a
+ KEY_RESIZE if there was a SIGWINCH, even if it does not call
+ resizeterm). These changes eliminate the case where a
+ SIGWINCH is received, but ERR is returned from wgetch or
+ wgetnstr because the screen dimensions did not change.
+ * Low-level interfaces
+ + fix an old bug in the termcap emulation; "%i" was ignored in
+ tparm because the parameters to be incremented were already
+ on the internal stack.
+ + change "%l" behavior in tparm to push the string length onto
+ the stack rather than saving the formatted length into the
+ output buffer.
+ + modify name-comparison for tgetstr, etc., to accommodate
+ legacy applications as well as to improve compatbility with
+ BSD 4.2 termcap implementations (see note for [66]980725).
+ * High-level interfaces
+ + modify internal recursion in wgetch which handles cooked mode
+ to check if the call to wgetnstr returned an error. This can
+ happen when both nocbreak and nodelay are set, for instance
+ (see note for [67]960418).
+ + add a check in internal function waddch_nosync to ensure that
+ tab characters are treated as control characters; some broken
+ locales claim they are printable.
+ + modify menu library to ensure that a menu's top-row is
+ adjusted as needed to ensure that the current item is on the
+ screen
+ + fix special case where double-width character overwrites a
+ single- width character in the first column.
+
+ Configuration changes
+
+ Major changes
+
+ The ncurses 6.0 configure script makes changes to the default value of
+ several configure options, depending on the --with-abi-version option
+ (i.e., whether its value is "5" or "6"):
+
+ --enable-const
+ Feature introduced in [68]970405 supports the use of const
+ where X/Open Curses should have, but did not. NetBSD curses
+ does something similar with const.
+
+ --enable-ext-colors
+ Extends the cchar_t structure to allow more than 16 colors to
+ be encoded. This applies only to the wide-character
+ (--enable-widec) configuration.
+
+ --enable-ext-mouse
+ Modifies the encoding of mouse state to make room for a 5th
+ mouse button. That allows one to use ncurses with a wheel mouse
+ with xterm or similar X terminal emulators.
+
+ --enable-ext-putwin
+ Modifies the file-format written by putwin to use printable
+ text rather than binary files, allowing getwin to read screen
+ dumps written by differently-configured ncurses libraries. The
+ extended getwin can still read binary screen dumps from the
+ same configuration of ncurses. This does not change the ABI
+ (the binary interface seen by calling applications).
+
+ --enable-interop
+ Modifies the FIELDTYPE structure used for the form library to
+ make it more generic.
+
+ --enable-lp64
+ Allows an application to define _LP64 to declare chtype and
+ mmask_t as simply "unsigned" rather than the configured types
+ using the --with-chtype and --with-mmask_t options.
+
+ --enable-sp-funcs
+ Compile-in support for extended functions which accept a SCREEN
+ pointer, reducing the need for juggling the global SP value
+ with [69]set_term and [70]delscreen.
+
+ --with-chtype=uint32_t
+ Makes chtype explicitly a 32-bit unsigned value.
+
+ --with-mmask_t=uint32_t
+ Makes mmask_t explicitly a 32-bit unsigned value.
+
+ --with-tparm-arg=intptr_t
+ X/Open Curses declares [71]tparm using long for each of the
+ parameters aside from the formatting string, presuming that
+ long and char* are the same size. This configure option uses
+ intptr_t which provides a better guarantee of the sizes.
+
+ The configure script no longer checks for antique compilers; c89 is
+ assumed as a minimum. There are a few features from later revisions
+ which are used when available. The configure script makes checks to
+ turn on useful warnings from clang, gcc and icc. You should be able to
+ build ncurses 6.0 with any of the current (or not so current) C
+ compilers available in 2015.
+
+ The configure script, by the way, makes changes which do not work with
+ systems whose /bin/sh is non-POSIX. This mainly affects Solaris (the
+ other vendor unix systems have followed the POSIX guidelines for the
+ past twenty years). If you must build on Solaris, its [72]xpg4
+ binaries suffice, e.g.,
+
+ #!/bin/sh
+ WHAT=`hostname|sed -e 's/\..*//'`
+ OUT=configure.out
+ cat >>$OUT <<EOF/
+ ** `date`
+ ** node: $WHAT
+ ** user: `id`
+ ** conf: $*
+ EOF/
+
+ SHELL=/bin/sh
+ if test -f /usr/xpg4/bin/sh
+ then
+ CONFIG_SHELL=/usr/xpg4/bin/sh
+ export CONFIG_SHELL
+ SHELL=$CONFIG_SHELL
+ fi
+
+ rm -f config.status config.cache
+ TOP=$HOME/$WHAT
+ $SHELL ./configure --verbose \
+ --disable-echo \
+ --disable-overwrite \
+ --enable-warnings \
+ --with-warnings \
+ --prefix=$TOP $* 2>&1 | tee -a $OUT
+
+ Other major changes to the configure script include:
+ * ABI 6 is now the default, intending that the existing ABI 5 should
+ build as before using the "--with-abi-version=5" option.
+ * added --with-extra-suffix option to help with installing
+ nonconflicting ncurses6 packages, e.g., avoiding header- and
+ library-conflicts.
+ NOTE: as a side-effect, this renames
+
+ adacurses-config to adacurses5-config and
+ adacursesw-config to adacursesw5-config
+ * the configure script looks for gnatgcc if the Ada95 binding is
+ built, in preference to the default gcc/cc. The script also
+ ensures that the Ada95 binding is built with the level of
+ optimization as the C libraries.
+ * the configure script captures define's related to -D_XOPEN_SOURCE
+ from the configure check and adds those to the *-config and *.pc
+ files, to simplify use for the wide-character libraries.
+
+ Configuration options
+
+ There are several new (or extended) configure options:
+
+ --disable-db-install
+ Do not install the terminal database. This is used to omit
+ features for packages, as done with --without-progs. The option
+ simplifies building cross-compile support packages.
+
+ --disable-gnat-projects
+ This option is used for regression testing
+
+ --disable-lib-suffixes
+ Suppress the "w", "t" or "tw" suffixes which normally would be
+ added to the library names for the --enable-widec and
+ --with-pthread options.
+
+ --with-cxx-shared
+ When --with-shared is set, build libncurses++ as a shared
+ library. This implicitly relies upon building with gcc/g++,
+ since other compiler suites may have differences in the way
+ shared libraries are built. libtool by the way has similar
+ limitations.
+
+ --with-hashed-db
+ Extended this configure option to simplify building with
+ different versions of Berkeley database using FreeBSD ports.
+
+ --with-pc-suffix
+ If ".pc" files are installed, optionally add a suffix to the
+ files and corresponding package names to separate unusual
+ configurations. If no option value is given (or if it is
+ "none"), no suffix is added. This option is used in the test
+ package for ncurses6.
+
+ --with-xterm-kbs
+ Configure xterm's terminfo entries to use either BS (^H, i.e.,
+ ASCII backspace) or DEL (^?, or 127).
+
+ Portability
+
+ MinGW
+
+ Most of the portability-related work since [73]ncurses 5.9 extended
+ and improved the MinGW port introduced in [74]ncurses 5.8.
+
+ The MinGW port can be readily cross-compiled:
+ * modified configure script to allow creating dll's for MinGW when
+ cross-compiling.
+ * enforced Windows-style path-separator if cross-compiling,
+ * added scripts for test-builds of cross-compiled packages for
+ ncurses6 to MinGW.
+ * added pc-files to the MinGW cross-compiling test-packages.
+ * added script for building test-packages of binaries cross-compiled
+ to MinGW using NSIS.
+ * added nc_mingw.h to installed headers for MinGW port; this is
+ needed for cross-compiling [75]ncurses-examples.
+ * added test-packages for cross-compiling ncurses-examples using the
+ MinGW test-packages.
+
+ The MinGW-specific Windows driver accounts for several changes:
+ * wide-character display is made usable by replacing MinGW's
+ non-working wcrtomb and wctomb functions.
+ * implemented some display features: [76]beep, [77]flash,
+ [78]curs_set.
+ * the driver handles repainting on endwin/refresh combination.
+ * modified treatment of TERM variable for MinGW port to allow
+ explicit use of the Windows console driver by checking if $TERM is
+ set to "#win32console" or an abbreviation of that.
+ * the Windows driver also matches the special TERM value "unknown"
+ * the driver now returns characters for special keys, (like ansi.sys
+ does), when keypad mode is off, rather than returning nothing at
+ all.
+ * the driver checks a new environment variable [79]NCURSES_CONSOLE2
+ to optionally work around a deficiency in Console2 (and its
+ descendent ConsoleZ) which hang when an application creates a
+ console buffer.
+
+ Finally, there are other improvements:
+ * MinGW is one of the configurations where ncurses installs by
+ default into /usr
+ * configuration for cross-compiling uses AC_CHECK_TOOLS in
+ preference to AC_PATH_PROGS when searching for ncurses*-config,
+ e.g., in Ada95/configure and test/configure.
+ * extend Windows support to work with MSYS2;
+ + this works with a scenario where there is an ANSI-escape
+ handler such as ansicon running in the console window.
+ + wrap isatty calls with a macro, provide a corresponding set
+ of support routines to address differences between MinGW and
+ MSYS2.
+ * ensure WINVER is defined in makefiles rather than using headers.
+ * add check for the gnatprep "-T" option.
+ * work around a bug introduced by [80]gcc 4.8.1 in MinGW which
+ breaks "trace" feature.
+ * add a driver-name method to each of the drivers.
+
+ Other ports
+
+ These changes affect certain platforms (ports):
+ * the configure script knows how to build shared libraries with
+ DragonFlyBSD and Interix.
+ * support for AIX shared libraries is improved, tested with AIX 5.3,
+ 6.1 and 7.1 with both gcc 4.2.4 and cc:
+ + the shared-library suffix for AIX 5 and 6 is now ".so"
+ + the -brtl option is used with AIX 5-7; it is needed to link
+ with the shared libraries.
+ * the configure --enable-pc-files option takes into account the
+ [81]PKG_CONFIG_PATH variable.
+ * the configure option --with-pkg-config-libdir provides control
+ over the actual directory into which pc-files are installed.
+ * the build scripts add explicit -ltinfo, etc., to the generated
+ ".pc" file when ld option "--as-needed" is used, or when ncurses
+ and tinfo are installed without using rpath.
+ * the configure script disallows conflicting options
+ "--with-termlib" and "--enable-term-driver".
+ * the check for missing c++ compiler to work when no error is
+ reported, and no variables set is improved (see note for
+ [82]20021206).
+ * the misc/gen_edit.sh script selects a "linux" entry which works
+ with the current kernel rather than assuming it is always
+ "linux3.0"
+ * the test/configure script makes it simpler to override names of
+ curses-related libraries, to help with linking with pdcurses in
+ MinGW environment.
+ * the configure-script/ifdef's allow the BSD OLD_TTY feature to be
+ suppressed if the type of ospeed is configured using the option
+ --with-ospeed to not be a short. By default, it is a short for
+ termcap-compatibility.
+ * the MKlib_gen.sh script works around a recent change in gcc 5
+ (released [83]mid-2015) which essentially emits multiple #line
+ statements for the same position in a file.
+ * the configure script works with Minix3.2 (see [84]note on
+ portability)
+ * OS/2 redux:
+ + the configure script supports OS/2 kLIBC.
+ + the --with-lib-prefix option allows configuring for old/new
+ flavors of OS/2 EMX.
+ * improved configure-script checks for _XOPEN_SOURCE:
+ + the definition works starting with Solaris 10.
+ + the definition is suppressed for IRIX64, since its header
+ files have a conflict versus _SGI_SOURCE.
+ _________________________________________________________________
+
+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.
+ + the form library, supporting data collection through
+ 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,
+ but which are hidden from SVr4 curses applications using the
+ same terminal database.
+ + It can be optionally configured to match the format used in
+ related systems such as AIX and Tru64.
+ + Alternatively, ncurses can be configured to use hashed
+ databases rather than the directory of files used by SVr4
curses.
- + fixes for test programs to build/work on HPUX and AIX, etc.
-
- 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
- documented).
- * 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
- windows with backing store, is included.
- * 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
- 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
- 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
- HP/UX and AIX ports.
+ * The ncurses utilities have options to allow you to filter terminfo
+ entries 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
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 256-color terminals, such as modern xterm.
* 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
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
- sets.
- * A BSD-like tset(1) utility is provided.
+ * The [85]tic/[86]captoinfo utility provided with ncurses has the
+ ability to translate many termcaps from the XENIX, IBM and AT&T
+ extension sets.
+ * A BSD-like [87]tset 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
other entries in the same source file (as in System V) but also to
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
- $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
- to, but it's there.
- * The table-of-entries utility toe makes it easy for users to see
- exactly what terminal types are available on the system.
+ * The table-of-entries utility [88]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
#undef.
- * An HTML "Introduction to Programming with NCURSES" document
- provides a narrative introduction to the curses programming
- interface.
+ * Extensive documentation is provided (see the [89]Additional
+ Reading section of the [90]ncurses FAQ for online documentation).
- State of the Package
+Applications using ncurses
- 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
- and arena corruption by the Purify memory-allocation tester.
+ The ncurses distribution includes a selection of test programs
+ (including a few games). These are available separately as
+ [91]ncurses-examples
- The ncurses code has been tested with a wide variety of applications
- including (versions starting with those noted):
+ The ncurses library has been tested with a wide variety of
+ applications including:
cdk
Curses Development Kit
- [4]http://invisible-island.net/cdk/
- [5]http://www.vexus.ca/products/CDK/
+
+ [92]http://invisible-island.net/cdk/
ded
directory-editor
- [6]http://invisible-island.net/ded/
+
+ [93]http://invisible-island.net/ded/
dialog
the underlying application used in Slackware's setup, and the
- basis for similar applications on GNU/Linux.
- [7]http://invisible-island.net/dialog/
+ basis for similar install/configure applications on many
+ systems.
+
+ [94]http://invisible-island.net/dialog/
lynx
- the character-screen WWW browser
- [8]http://lynx.isc.org/release/
+ the text WWW browser
+
+ [95]http://lynx.isc.org/
Midnight Commander
file manager
- [9]http://www.midnight-commander.org/
+
+ [96]http://www.midnight-commander.org/
mutt
mail utility
- [10]http://www.mutt.org/
+
+ [97]http://www.mutt.org/
ncftp
file-transfer utility
- [11]http://www.ncftp.com/
+
+ [98]http://www.ncftp.com/
nvi
- New vi versions 1.50 are able to use ncurses versions 1.9.7 and
- later.
- [12]https://sites.google.com/a/bostic.com/keithbostic/nvi
+ New vi uses ncurses.
- pinfo
- Lynx-like info browser.
- [13]https://alioth.debian.org/projects/pinfo/
+ [99]https://sites.google.com/a/bostic.com/keithbostic/nvi
tin
- newsreader, supporting color, MIME [14]http://www.tin.org/
+ newsreader, supporting color, MIME
+
+ [100]http://www.tin.org/
as well as some that use ncurses for the terminfo support alone:
minicom
- terminal emulator
- [15]http://alioth.debian.org/projects/minicom/
+ terminal emulator for serial modem connections
+
+ [101]http://alioth.debian.org/projects/minicom/
+
+ mosh
+ a replacement for ssh.
+
+ [102]https://mosh.mit.edu/
+
+ tack
+ terminfo action checker
+
+ [103]http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/tack.html
+
+ tmux
+ terminal multiplexor
+
+ [104]http://tmux.github.io/
vile
- vi-like-emacs
- [16]http://invisible-island.net/vile/
+ vi-like-emacs may be built to use the terminfo, termcap or
+ curses interfaces.
- The ncurses distribution includes a selection of test programs
- (including a few games).
+ [105]http://invisible-island.net/vile/
+
+ and finally, those which use only the termcap interface:
+
+ emacs
+ text editor
+
+ [106]http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/
+
+ screen
+ terminal multiplexor
+
+ [107]http://www.gnu.org/software/screen/
+
+ vim
+ text editor
-Who's Who and What's What
+ [108]http://www.vim.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 [17]Thomas Dickey. Thomas Dickey acts as the maintainer for the
- Free Software Foundation, which holds the copyright on ncurses.
- Contact the current maintainers at [18]bug-ncurses@gnu.org.
+Development activities
- To join the ncurses mailing list, please write email to
- bug-ncurses-request@gnu.org containing the line:
- subscribe <name>@<host.domain>
+ Zeyd Ben-Halim started ncurses 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
+ development work is done by [109]Thomas Dickey. Thomas Dickey also
+ acts as the maintainer for the Free Software Foundation, which holds
+ the [110]copyright on ncurses.
+
+ Contact the current maintainers at
+
+ [111]bug-ncurses@gnu.org
+
+ To join the ncurses mailing list, please write email to
+
+ [112]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 [19]ftp://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ .
+ available at
+
+ [113]ftp://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ .
+
+ There is an archive of the mailing list here:
-Future Plans
+ [114]http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-ncurses (also
+ [115]https)
- * Extended-level XPG4 conformance, with internationalization
- support.
- * Ports to more systems, including DOS and Windows.
+Related resources
- We need people to help with these projects. If you are interested in
- working on them, please join the ncurses list.
+ The release notes make scattered references to these pages, which may
+ be interesting by themselves:
+ * [116]man2html
+ * [117]ncurses licensing
+ * [118]Symbol versioning in ncurses
+ * [119]The MinGW port of ncurses
+ * [120]tack - terminfo action checker
+ * [121]tar versus portability
+ * [122]tctest - termcap library checker
+ * [123]Terminal Database
-Other Related Resources
+Other resources
The distribution provides a newer version of the terminfo-format
- 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.
+ terminal description file once maintained by [124]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 .
+ covered in the terminfo file at [125]Richard Shuford's archive .
+
+ * [126]Overview
+ * [127]Release Notes
+ + [128]Library improvements
+ o [129]Output buffering
+ o [130]Symbol versioning
+ o [131]Miscellaneous
+ + [132]Program improvements
+ o [133]Utilities
+ o [134]Examples
+ + [135]Terminal database
+ + [136]Documentation
+ + [137]Interesting bug-fixes
+ + [138]Configuration changes
+ o [139]Major changes
+ o [140]Configuration options
+ + [141]Portability
+ o [142]MinGW
+ o [143]Other ports
+ * [144]Features of ncurses
+ * [145]Applications using ncurses
+ * [146]Development activities
+ * [147]Related resources
+ * [148]Other resources
References
- 1. ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/ncurses/
- 2. ftp://invisible-island.net/ncurses/
- 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://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.cs.utk.edu/~shuford/terminal
+ 1. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/captoinfo.1m.html
+ 2. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/clear.1.html
+ 3. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/infocmp.1m.html
+ 4. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/tabs.1.html
+ 5. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/tic.1m.html
+ 6. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/toe.1m.html
+ 7. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/tput.1.html
+ 8. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/tset.1.html
+ 9. ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/ncurses/
+ 10. ftp://invisible-island.net/ncurses/
+ 11. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/tctest.html
+ 12. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses-examples.html
+ 13. http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-ncurses/2012-07/msg00029.html
+ 14. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/NEWS.html#t20050101
+ 15. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/announce-5.5.html
+ 16. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses-mapsyms.html
+ 17. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_initscr.3x.html#h3-initscr
+ 18. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_initscr.3x.html#h3-newterm
+ 19. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_terminfo.3x.html#h3-Initialization
+ 20. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/ncurses.3x.html#h3-NCURSES_NO_SETBUF
+ 21. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_terminfo.3x.html
+ 22. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_kernel.3x.html#h3-reset_prog_mode_-reset_shell_mode
+ 23. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_kernel.3x.html#h3-reset_prog_mode_-reset_shell_mode
+ 24. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_printw.3x.html
+ 25. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses-mapsyms.html
+ 26. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/tack.html
+ 27. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_util.3x.html#h3-use_tioctl
+ 28. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_opaque.3x.html
+ 29. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_attr.3x.html#h2-PORTABILITY
+ 30. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/form_field_opts.3x.html
+ 31. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_util.3x.html#h3-putwin_getwin
+ 32. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_util.3x.html#h3-putwin_getwin
+ 33. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_terminfo.3x.html#h3-Formatting-Output
+ 34. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/tctest.html
+ 35. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/tctest.html#my-better-translation
+ 36. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/NEWS.html#t980103
+ 37. https://svnweb.freebsd.org/base/head/lib/libc/gen/getcap.c?revision=244092&view=markup#l784
+ 38. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses-examples.html
+ 39. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_util.3x.html#h3-use_env
+ 40. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_window.3x.html#h3-derwin
+ 41. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_window.3x.html#h3-mvwin
+ 42. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/form_driver.3x.html#h3-form_driver_w
+ 43. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#toc-_M_L_T_E_R_M
+ 44. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-nsterm
+ 45. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-putty-sco
+ 46. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-teken
+ 47. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#toc-_T_E_R_M_I_N_A_T_O_R
+ 48. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#toc-_T_E_R_M_I_N_O_L_O_G_Y
+ 49. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-tmux
+ 50. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#toc-_S_I_M_P_L_E_T_E_R_M
+ 51. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-vte
+ 52. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-vt520ansi
+ 53. http://aerie.jexium-island.net/ncurses/man/clear.1.html
+ 54. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-xterm_sl
+ 55. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-xterm-1005
+ 56. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-xterm-1006
+ 57. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/NEWS.html
+ 58. http://invisible-island.net/scripts/man2html.html
+ 59. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/NCURSES-Programming-HOWTO.html
+ 60. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/NEWS.html#t20110319
+ 61. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/NEWS.html#t20021221
+ 62. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_color.3x.html#h3-Routine-Descriptions
+ 63. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/default_colors.3x.html
+ 64. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_color.3x.html#h3-Routine-Descriptions
+ 65. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/resizeterm.3x.html
+ 66. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/NEWS.html#t980725
+ 67. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/NEWS.html#t960418
+ 68. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/NEWS.html#t970405
+ 69. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_initscr.3x.html#h3-set_term
+ 70. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_initscr.3x.html#h3-delscreen
+ 71. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_terminfo.3x.html#h3-Formatting-Output
+ 72. http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E19253-01/html/817-0552/fhkpy.html
+ 73. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/announce-5.9.html
+ 74. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/announce-5.8.html
+ 75. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses-examples.html
+ 76. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_beep.3x.html
+ 77. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_beep.3x.html
+ 78. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_kernel.3x.html#h3-curs_set
+ 79. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/ncurses.3x.html#h3-NCURSES_CONSOLE2
+ 80. http://stackoverflow.com/questions/20877689/gcc-4-8-1-minggw-d-option-does-not-work-as-usual
+ 81. http://linux.die.net/man/1/pkg-config
+ 82. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/NEWS.html#t20021206
+ 83. https://gcc.gnu.org/gcc-5/
+ 84. http://invisible-island.net/autoconf/portability-test.html
+ 85. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/tic.1m.html
+ 86. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/captoinfo.1m.html
+ 87. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/tset.1.html
+ 88. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/toe.1m.html
+ 89. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses.faq.html#additional_reading
+ 90. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses.faq.html
+ 91. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses-examples.html
+ 92. http://invisible-island.net/cdk/
+ 93. http://invisible-island.net/ded/
+ 94. http://invisible-island.net/dialog/
+ 95. http://lynx.isc.org/
+ 96. http://www.midnight-commander.org/
+ 97. http://www.mutt.org/
+ 98. http://www.ncftp.com/
+ 99. https://sites.google.com/a/bostic.com/keithbostic/nvi
+ 100. http://www.tin.org/
+ 101. http://alioth.debian.org/projects/minicom/
+ 102. https://mosh.mit.edu/
+ 103. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/tack.html
+ 104. http://tmux.github.io/
+ 105. http://invisible-island.net/vile/
+ 106. http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/
+ 107. http://www.gnu.org/software/screen/
+ 108. http://www.vim.org/
+ 109. mailto:dickey@invisible-island.net
+ 110. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses-license.html
+ 111. mailto:bug-ncurses@gnu.org
+ 112. mailto:bug-ncurses-request@gnu.org
+ 113. ftp://invisible-island.net/ncurses/
+ 114. http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-ncurses
+ 115. https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-ncurses
+ 116. http://invisible-island.net/scripts/man2html.html
+ 117. http://invisible-island.nethttp://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses-license.html
+ 118. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses-mapsyms.html
+ 119. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses-mingw.html
+ 120. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/tack.html
+ 121. http://invisible-island.net/autoconf/portability-tar.html
+ 122. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/tctest.html
+ 123. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses.html#download_database
+ 124. http://www.catb.org/~esr/terminfo/
+ 125. http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.cs.utk.edu/~shuford/terminal
+ 126. file:///usr/build/ncurses/ncurses-6.0-20150808/doc/html/announce.html#h2-overview
+ 127. file:///usr/build/ncurses/ncurses-6.0-20150808/doc/html/announce.html#h2-release-notes
+ 128. file:///usr/build/ncurses/ncurses-6.0-20150808/doc/html/announce.html#h3-library
+ 129. file:///usr/build/ncurses/ncurses-6.0-20150808/doc/html/announce.html#h3-lib-setbuf
+ 130. file:///usr/build/ncurses/ncurses-6.0-20150808/doc/html/announce.html#h3-lib-versioning
+ 131. file:///usr/build/ncurses/ncurses-6.0-20150808/doc/html/announce.html#h3-lib-other
+ 132. file:///usr/build/ncurses/ncurses-6.0-20150808/doc/html/announce.html#h3-programs
+ 133. file:///usr/build/ncurses/ncurses-6.0-20150808/doc/html/announce.html#h4-utilities
+ 134. file:///usr/build/ncurses/ncurses-6.0-20150808/doc/html/announce.html#h4-examples
+ 135. file:///usr/build/ncurses/ncurses-6.0-20150808/doc/html/announce.html#h3-database
+ 136. file:///usr/build/ncurses/ncurses-6.0-20150808/doc/html/announce.html#h3-documentation
+ 137. file:///usr/build/ncurses/ncurses-6.0-20150808/doc/html/announce.html#h3-bug-fixes
+ 138. file:///usr/build/ncurses/ncurses-6.0-20150808/doc/html/announce.html#h3-config-config
+ 139. file:///usr/build/ncurses/ncurses-6.0-20150808/doc/html/announce.html#h4-config-major
+ 140. file:///usr/build/ncurses/ncurses-6.0-20150808/doc/html/announce.html#h4-config-options
+ 141. file:///usr/build/ncurses/ncurses-6.0-20150808/doc/html/announce.html#h3-portability
+ 142. file:///usr/build/ncurses/ncurses-6.0-20150808/doc/html/announce.html#h4-port-mingw
+ 143. file:///usr/build/ncurses/ncurses-6.0-20150808/doc/html/announce.html#h4-port-systems
+ 144. file:///usr/build/ncurses/ncurses-6.0-20150808/doc/html/announce.html#h2-features
+ 145. file:///usr/build/ncurses/ncurses-6.0-20150808/doc/html/announce.html#h2-who-uses
+ 146. file:///usr/build/ncurses/ncurses-6.0-20150808/doc/html/announce.html#h2-development
+ 147. file:///usr/build/ncurses/ncurses-6.0-20150808/doc/html/announce.html#h2-this-stuff
+ 148. file:///usr/build/ncurses/ncurses-6.0-20150808/doc/html/announce.html#h2-other-stuff
projects / ncurses.git / blobdiff