- Announcing ncurses 4.1
-
- The ncurses (new curses) library is a freeware emulation of System V
- Release 4.0 curses. It uses terminfo format, supports pads and color
- and multiple highlights and forms characters and function-key mapping,
- and has all the other SYSV-curses enhancements over BSD curses.
-
- In mid-June 1995, the maintainer of 4.4BSD curses declared that he
- considered 4.4BSD curses obsolete, and is encouraging the keepers of
- Unix releases such as BSD/OS, freeBSD and netBSD to switch over to
+ Announcing ncurses 5.3
+
+ The ncurses (new curses) library is a free software emulation of
+ curses in System V Release 4.0, and more. It uses terminfo format,
+ supports pads and color and multiple highlights and forms characters
+ and function-key mapping, and has all the other SYSV-curses
+ enhancements over BSD curses.
+
+ In mid-June 1995, the maintainer of 4.4BSD curses declared that he
+ considered 4.4BSD curses obsolete, and is encouraging the keepers of
+ Unix releases such as BSD/OS, freeBSD and netBSD to switch over to
ncurses.
-
- The ncurses code was developed under Linux. It should port easily to
- any ANSI/POSIX-conforming UNIX. It has even been ported to OS/2 Warp!
-
+
+ The ncurses code was developed under GNU/Linux. It has been in use for
+ some time with OpenBSD as the system curses library, and on FreeBSD
+ and NetBSD as an external package. It should port easily to any
+ ANSI/POSIX-conforming UNIX. It has even been ported to OS/2 Warp!
+
The distribution includes the library and support utilities, including
- a terminfo compiler tic(1), a decompiler infocmp(1), clear(1),
- tput(1), tset(1), and a termcap conversion tool captoinfo(1). Full
+ a terminfo compiler tic(1), a decompiler infocmp(1), clear(1),
+ tput(1), tset(1), and a termcap conversion tool captoinfo(1). Full
manual pages are provided for the library and tools.
-
- The ncurses distribution is available via anonymous FTP at:
- [1]ftp://ftp.clark.net/pub/dickey/ncurses. and
- [2]ftp://ftp.netcom.com/pub/zm/zmbenhal/ncurses. It is also carried on
- the GNU distribution site at [3]ftp://prep.ai.mit.edu/pub/gnu.
-
- Features of ncurses
-
- The ncurses package is fully compatible with SVr4 curses:
-
- * All 257 of the SVr4 calls have been implemented (and are
+
+ The ncurses distribution is available via anonymous FTP at the GNU
+ distribution site [1]ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/ncurses.
+ It is also available at [2]ftp://invisible-island.net/ncurses.
+
+ Release Notes
+
+ This release is designed to be upward compatible from ncurses 5.0 and
+ 5.2; very few applications will require recompilation, depending on
+ the platform. These are the highlights from the change-log since
+ ncurses 5.2 release.
+
+ Interface changes:
+ * change type for bool used in headers to NCURSES_BOOL, which
+ usually is the same as the compiler's definition for bool.
+ * add all but two functions for X/Open curses wide-character
+ support. These are only available if the library is configured
+ using the --enable-widec option. Missing functions are
+ + pecho_wchar()
+ + slk_wset()
+ * add environment variable $NCURSES_ASSUMED_COLORS to modify the
+ assume_default_colors() extension.
+
+ New features and improvements:
+ * Improved support for termcap applications:
+ + add logic to dump_entry.c to remove function-key definitions
+ that do not fit into the 1023-byte limit for generated
+ termcaps. This makes hds200 fit.
+ + modify tgetent() to check if exit_attribute_mode resets the
+ alternate character set, and if so, attempt to adjust the
+ copy of the termcap "me" string which it will return to
+ eliminate that part. In particular, 'screen' would lose track
+ of line-drawing characters.
+ + add check/fix to comp_parse.c to suppress warning about
+ missing acsc string. This happens in configurations where raw
+ termcap information is processed; tic already does this and
+ other checks.
+ + add tic -A option to suppress capabilities which are
+ commented out when translating to termcap.
+ + modify logic in lib_baudrate.c for ospeed, for FreeBSD to
+ make it work properly for termcap applications (patch by
+ Andrey A Chernov).
+ * add a call to _nc_keypad() in keypad() to accommodate applications
+ such as nvi, which use curses for output but not for input (fixes
+ Debian #131263, cf: 20011215).
+ * correct logic for COLORFGBG environment variable: if rxvt is
+ compiled with xpm support, the variable has three fields, making
+ it slightly incompatible with itself. In either case, the
+ background color is the last field.
+
+ Major bug fixes:
+ * rewrote limit-checks in wscrl() and associated
+ _nc_scroll_window(), to ensure that if the parameter of wscrl() is
+ larger than the size of the scrolling region, then the scrolling
+ region will be cleared.
+ * modify tset to restore original I/O modes if an error is
+ encountered. Also modify to use buffered stderr consistently
+ rather than mixing with write().
+ * move calls to def_shell_mode() and def_prog_mode() before loop
+ with callbacks in lib_set_term.c, since the c++ demo otherwise
+ initialized the tty modes before saving them.
+ * modified wresize() to ensure that a failed realloc will not
+ corrupt the window structure, and to make subwindows fit within
+ the resized window.
+ * altered resizeterm() to avoid having it fail when a child window
+ cannot be resized because it would be larger than its parent.
+ * correct/improve logic to produce an exit status for errors in
+ tput, which did not exit with an error when told to put a string
+ not in the current terminfo entry.
+ * modify behavior of can_clear_with() so that if an application is
+ running in a non-bce terminals with default colors enabled, it
+ returns true, allowing the user to select/paste text without
+ picking up extraneous trailing blanks.
+ * add a check in relative_move() to guard against buffer overflow in
+ the overwrite logic.
+ * add some limit/pointer checks to -S option of tputs.
+ * modify mvcur() to avoid emitting newline characters when nonl()
+ mode is set. Normally this is not a problem since the actual
+ terminal mode is set to suppress nl/crlf translations, however it
+ is useful to allow the caller to manipulate the terminal mode to
+ avoid staircasing effects after spawning a process which writes
+ messages (for lynx 2.8.4).
+
+ Portability:
+ * configure script:
+ + modify check in --disable-overwrite option so that it is used
+ by default unless the --prefix/$prefix value is not /usr, in
+ attempt to work around packagers who do not read the INSTALL
+ notes.
+ + correct a typo in configure --enable-colorfgbg option, and
+ move it to the experimental section (cf: 20011208).
+ + modify configure script to allow building with termcap only,
+ or with fallbacks only. In this case, we do not build tic and
+ toe.
+ + modify run_tic.sh to check if the build is a cross-compile.
+ In that case, do not use the build's tic to install the
+ terminfo database.
+ + modify c++/Makefile.in to accommodate archive programs that
+ are different for C++ than for C, and add cases for vendor's
+ C++ compilers on Solaris and IRIX.
+ + add several configure script options to aid with
+ cross-compiling: --with-build-cc, --with-build-cflags,
+ --with-build-ldflags, and --with-build-libs.
+ + add experimental --with-caps=XXX option to customize to
+ similar terminfo database formats such as AIX 4.x
+ + add configure option --with-ospeed to assist packagers in
+ transition to 5.3 change to ospeed type.
+ * library:
+ + implement a simple vsscanf() fallback function which uses the
+ %n conversion to help parse the input data.
+ + various fixes to build/work with different implementations of
+ vsscanf().
+ + add/use macro to suppress sign-extension of char type on
+ platforms where this is a problem in ctype macros, e.g.,
+ Solaris.
+ + finish changes needed to build dll's on cygwin.
+ + add #undef's before possible redefinition of ERR and OK in
+ curses.h
+ * programs:
+ + modify ifdef's in write_entry.c to allow use of symbolic
+ links on platforms with no hard links, e.g., BeOS.
+ + modify _nc_write_entry() to allow for the possibility that
+ linking aliases on a filesystem that ignores case would not
+ succeed because the source and destination differ only by
+ case, e.g., NCR260VT300WPP0 on cygwin.
+ + modify logic in tic, toe, tput and tset which checks for
+ basename of argv[0] to work properly on systems such as OS/2
+ which have case-independent filenames and/or program
+ suffixes, e.g., ".ext".
+
+ 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
+ * 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 System V Release 4 panels library, supporting
- a stack of windows with backing store, is included.
- * An emulation of the System V Release 4 menus library, supporting a
- uniform but flexible interface for menu programming, is included.
- * An emulation of the System V Release 4 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
+ * 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
+ for use with less capable curses/terminfo versions such as the
HP/UX and AIX ports.
-
+
The ncurses package also has many useful extensions over SVr4:
-
- * The API is 8-bit clean and base-level conformant with the X/OPEN
- curses specification, XSI Curses (that is, it implements all BASE
- level features, but not all EXTENDED features). Most
+ * 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
+ support are implemented, including many function calls not
+ supported under SVr4 curses (but portability of all calls is
documented so you can use the SVr4 subset only).
- * Unlike SVr4 curses, ncurses can write to the rightmost-bottommost
- corner of the screen if your terminal has an insert-character
+ * Unlike SVr3 curses, ncurses can write to the rightmost-bottommost
+ corner of the screen if your terminal has an insert-character
capability.
- * (PC-clone boxes only) Support for access to the IBM PC ROM
- characters 0-32 through the highlight A_ALTCHARSET.
- * Support for mouse event reporting under xterm.
- * The function wresize() allows you to resize windows, preserving
+ * Ada95 and C++ bindings.
+ * Support for mouse event reporting with X Window xterm and OS/2
+ console windows.
+ * Extended mouse support via Alessandro Rubini's gpm package.
+ * The function wresize() allows you to resize windows, preserving
their data.
- * Better cursor-movement optimization. The package now features a
+ * The function use_default_colors() allows you to use the terminal's
+ default colors for the default color pair, achieving the effect of
+ transparent colors.
+ * The functions keyok() and define_key() allow you to better control
+ the use of function keys, e.g., disabling the ncurses KEY_MOUSE,
+ or by defining more than one control sequence to map to a given
+ key code.
+ * Support for 16-color terminals, such as aixterm and XFree86 xterm.
+ * Better cursor-movement optimization. The package now features a
cursor-local-movement computation more efficient than either BSD's
or System V's.
- * Super hardware scrolling support. The screen-update code
- incorporates a novel, simple, and cheap algorithm that enables it
- to make optimal use of hardware scrolling, line-insertion, and
- line-deletion for screen-line movements. This algorithm is more
+ * Super hardware scrolling support. The screen-update code
+ incorporates a novel, simple, and cheap algorithm that enables it
+ to make optimal use of hardware scrolling, line-insertion, and
+ line-deletion for screen-line movements. This algorithm is more
powerful than the 4.4BSD curses quickch() routine.
- * Real support for terminals with the magic-cookie glitch. The
- screen-update code will refrain from drawing a highlight if the
- magic- cookie unattributed spaces required just before the
- beginning and after the end would step on a non-space character.
- It will automatically shift highlight boundaries when doing so
- would make it possible to draw the highlight without changing the
+ * Real support for terminals with the magic-cookie glitch. The
+ screen-update code will refrain from drawing a highlight if the
+ magic- cookie unattributed spaces required just before the
+ beginning and after the end would step on a non-space character.
+ It will automatically shift highlight boundaries when doing so
+ would make it possible to draw the highlight without changing the
visual appearance of the screen.
- * It is possible to generate the library with a list of pre-loaded
- fallback entries linked to it so that it can serve those terminal
- types even when no terminfo tree or termcap file is accessible
- (this may be useful for support of screen-oriented programs that
+ * It is possible to generate the library with a list of pre-loaded
+ fallback entries linked to it so that it can serve those terminal
+ types even when no terminfo tree or termcap file is accessible
+ (this may be useful for support of screen-oriented programs that
must run in single-user mode).
* The tic(1)/captoinfo utility provided with ncurses has the ability
- to translate many termcaps from the XENIX, IBM and AT&T extension
+ to translate many termcaps from the XENIX, IBM and AT&T extension
sets.
* A BSD-like tset(1) utility is provided.
* The ncurses library and utilities will automatically read terminfo
- entries from $HOME/.terminfo if it exists, and compile to that
- directory if it exists and the user has no write access to the
- system directory. This feature makes it easier for users to have
- personal terminfo entries without giving up access to the system
+ entries from $HOME/.terminfo if it exists, and compile to that
+ directory if it exists and the user has no write access to the
+ system directory. This feature makes it easier for users to have
+ personal terminfo entries without giving up access to the system
terminfo directory.
- * You may specify a path of directories to search for compiled
- descriptions with the environment variable TERMINFO_DIRS (this
- generalizes the feature provided by TERMINFO under stock System
+ * You may specify a path of directories to search for compiled
+ descriptions with the environment variable TERMINFO_DIRS (this
+ generalizes the feature provided by TERMINFO under stock System
V.)
- * In terminfo source files, use capabilities may refer not just to
+ * In terminfo source files, use capabilities may refer not just to
other entries in the same source file (as in System V) but also to
- compiled entries in either the system terminfo directory or the
+ compiled entries in either the system terminfo directory or the
user's $HOME/.terminfo directory.
- * A script (capconvert) is provided to help BSD users transition
- from termcap to terminfo. It gathers the information in a TERMCAP
- environment variable and/or a ~/.termcap local entries file and
- converts it to an equivalent local terminfo tree under
+ * A script (capconvert) is provided to help BSD users transition
+ from termcap to terminfo. It gathers the information in a TERMCAP
+ environment variable and/or a ~/.termcap local entries file and
+ converts it to an equivalent local terminfo tree under
$HOME/.terminfo.
- * Automatic fallback to the /etc/termcap file can be compiled in
- when it is not possible to build a terminfo tree. This feature is
- neither fast nor cheap, you don't want to use it unless you have
+ * Automatic fallback to the /etc/termcap file can be compiled in
+ when it is not possible to build a terminfo tree. This feature is
+ neither fast nor cheap, you don't want to use it unless you have
to, but it's there.
- * The table-of-entries utility toe makes it easy for users to see
+ * The table-of-entries utility toe makes it easy for users to see
exactly what terminal types are available on the system.
* The library meets the XSI requirement that every macro entry point
- have a corresponding function which may be linked (and will be
- prototype-checked) if the macro definition is disabled with
+ have a corresponding function which may be linked (and will be
+ prototype-checked) if the macro definition is disabled with
#undef.
- * An HTML "Introduction to Programming with NCURSES" document
- provides a narrative introduction to the curses programming
+ * An HTML "Introduction to Programming with NCURSES" document
+ provides a narrative introduction to the curses programming
interface.
-
+
State of the Package
-
+
Numerous bugs present in earlier versions have been fixed; the library
- is far more reliable than it used to be. Bounds checking in many
- `dangerous' entry points has been improved. The code is now type-safe
- according to gcc -Wall. The library has been checked for malloc leaks
+ is far more reliable than it used to be. Bounds checking in many
+ `dangerous' entry points has been improved. The code is now type-safe
+ according to gcc -Wall. The library has been checked for malloc leaks
and arena corruption by the Purify memory-allocation tester.
-
- The ncurses code has been tested with a wide variety of applications
- including:
-
+
+ The ncurses code has been tested with a wide variety of applications
+ including (versions starting with those noted):
+
+ cdk
+ Curses Development Kit
+ [3]http://invisible-island.net/cdk.
+ [4]http://www.vexus.ca/CDK.html
+
ded
- directory-editor [4]ftp://ftp.clark.net/pub/dickey/ded.
-
+ directory-editor
+ [5]http://invisible-island.net/ded.
+
dialog
- the underlying application used in Slackware's setup, and the
- basis for similar applications on Linux.
-
- lynx-2.7
+ the underlying application used in Slackware's setup, and the
+ basis for similar applications on GNU/Linux.
+ [6]http://invisible-island.net/dialog.
+
+ lynx
the character-screen WWW browser
-
- ncftp 2.0
+ [7]http://lynx.isc.org/release.
+
+ Midnight Commander
+ file manager
+ [8]www.gnome.org/mc/.
+
+ mutt
+ mail utility
+ [9]http://www.mutt.org.
+
+ ncftp
file-transfer utility
-
+ [10]http://www.ncftp.com.
+
nvi
New vi versions 1.50 are able to use ncurses versions 1.9.7 and
later.
-
+ [11]http://www.bostic.com/vi/.
+
+ tin
+ newsreader, supporting color, MIME
+ [12]http://www.tin.org.
+
taper
tape archive utility
-
+ [13]http://members.iinet.net.au/~yusuf/taper/.
+
vh-1.6
Volks-Hypertext browser for the Jargon File
-
+ [14]http://www.bg.debian.org/Packages/unstable/text/vh.html.
+
as well as some that use ncurses for the terminfo support alone:
-
- minicom-1.75
+
+ minicom
terminal emulator
-
- tin-unoff
- tin (unofficial) newsreader, supporting color, MIME
- [5]ftp://ftp.akk.uni-karlsruhe.de/pub/news/clients/tin-unoff.
-
+ [15]http://www.pp.clinet.fi/~walker/minicom.html.
+
vile
- vi-like-emacs [6]ftp://ftp.clark.net/pub/dickey/vile.
-
- The ncurses distribution includes a selection of test programs
+ vi-like-emacs
+ [16]http://invisible-island.net/vile.
+
+ The ncurses distribution includes a selection of test programs
(including a few games).
-
+
Who's Who and What's What
- The original maintainer of ncurses is [7]Zeyd Ben-Halim.
- Unfortunately, he can only work on the package part time. As a result,
- since 1.8.1, much of the enhancement work and documentation has been
- done by [8]Eric S. Raymond. The current primary maintainers are
- [9]Thomas Dickey and [10]Juergen Pfeifer.
-
- There is an ncurses mailing list. It is a majordomo list; to join,
- write to ncurses-request@mailgate.bsdi.com with a message containing
- the line:
+ The original developers of ncurses are [17]Zeyd Ben-Halim and [18]Eric
+ S. Raymond. Ongoing work is being done by [19]Thomas Dickey and
+ [20]Jürgen Pfeifer. [21]Thomas Dickey acts as the maintainer for the
+ Free Software Foundation, which holds the copyright on ncurses.
+ Contact the current maintainers at [22]bug-ncurses@gnu.org.
+ To join the ncurses mailing list, please write email to
+ bug-ncurses-request@gnu.org containing the line:
subscribe <name>@<host.domain>
This list is open to anyone interested in helping with the development
and testing of this package.
-
- Beta versions of ncurses and patches to the current release are made
- available at [11]ftp://ftp.clark.net/pub/dickey/ncurses.
-
+
+ Beta versions of ncurses and patches to the current release are made
+ available at [23]ftp://invisible-island.net/ncurses.
+
Future Plans
- * Extended mouse support via Alessandro Rubini's gpm package.
- * Extended-level XPG4 conformance, with internationalization
+ * Extended-level XPG4 conformance, with internationalization
support.
* Ports to more systems, including DOS and Windows.
-
- We need people to help with these projects. If you are interested in
+
+ We need people to help with these projects. If you are interested in
working on them, please join the ncurses list.
-
-The terminfo/termcap Database
-
- The distribution includes and uses a copy of the terminfo-format
- terminal description file maintained by Eric Raymond. You can download
- either the [12]termcap or [13]terminfo versions of the terminal-type
- database from Eric's ncurses page,
- [14]http://www.ccil.org/~esr/ncurses.html.
-
+
Other Related Resources
- You can find lots of information on terminal-related topics not
- covered in the terminfo file at [15]Richard Shuford's archive.
+ The distribution includes and uses a version of the terminfo-format
+ terminal description file maintained by Eric Raymond.
+ [24]http://earthspace.net/~esr/terminfo.
+
+ You can find lots of information on terminal-related topics not
+ covered in the terminfo file at [25]Richard Shuford's archive.
References
- 1. ftp://ftp.clark.net/pub/dickey/ncurses
- 2. ftp://ftp.netcom.com/pub/zm/zmbenhal/ncurses
- 3. ftp://prep.ai.mit.edu/pub/gnu
- 4. ftp://ftp.clark.net/pub/dickey/ded
- 5. ftp://ftp.akk.uni-karlsruhe.de/pub/news/clients/tin-unoff
- 6. ftp://ftp.clark.net/pub/dickey/vile
- 7. mailto:zmbenhal@netcom.com
- 8. http://www.ccil.org/~esr/home.html
- 9. mailto:dickey@clark.net
- 10. mailto:Juergen.Pfeifer@T-Online.de
- 11. ftp://ftp.clark.net/pub/dickey/ncurses
- 12. http://www.ccil.org/~esr/terminfo/termtypes.tc.gz
- 13. http://www.ccil.org/~esr/terminfo/termtypes.ti.gz
- 14. http://www.ccil.org/~esr/ncurses.html
- 15. http://www.cs.utk.edu/~shuford/terminal_index.html
+ 1. ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/ncurses
+ 2. ftp://invisible-island.net/ncurses
+ 3. http://invisible-island.net/cdk/cdk.html
+ 4. http://www.vexus.ca/CDK.html
+ 5. http://invisible-island.net/ded/ded.html
+ 6. http://invisible-island.net/dialog/dialog.html
+ 7. http://lynx.isc.org/release/
+ 8. file://localhost/usr/build/ncurses/ncurses-5.2-20021012/doc/html/www.gnome.org/mc/
+ 9. http://www.mutt.org/
+ 10. http://www.ncftp.com/
+ 11. http://www.bostic.com/vi/
+ 12. http://www.tin.org/
+ 13. http://members.iinet.net.au/~yusuf/taper/
+ 14. http://www.bg.debian.org/Packages/unstable/text/vh.html
+ 15. http://www.pp.clinet.fi/~walker/minicom.html
+ 16. http://invisible-island.net/vile/vile.html
+ 17. mailto:zmbenhal@netcom.com
+ 18. http://www.ccil.org/~esr/home.html
+ 19. mailto:dickey@herndon4.his.com
+ 20. http://www.familiepfeifer.de/Contact.aspx?Lang=en
+ 21. mailto:dickey@herndon4.his.com
+ 22. mailto:bug-ncurses@gnu.org
+ 23. ftp://invisible-island.net/ncurses
+ 24. http://earthspace.net/~esr/terminfo
+ 25. http://www.cs.utk.edu/~shuford/terminal_index.html
projects / ncurses.git / blobdiff