--- $Id: INSTALL,v 1.38 2000/07/08 22:46:08 tom Exp $
+-- $Id: INSTALL,v 1.46 2000/10/14 17:57:02 Johnny.C.Lam Exp $
---------------------------------------------------------------------
How to install Ncurses/Terminfo on your system
---------------------------------------------------------------------
If you are running over the Andrew File System see the note below on
USING NCURSES WITH AFS.
+If you are cross-compiling, see the note below on BUILDING NCURSES WITH A
+CROSS-COMPILER.
+
If you want to build the Ada95 binding, go to the Ada95 directory and
follow the instructions there. The Ada95 binding is not covered below.
libncurses_p.a (profile)
+ libncurses.la (libtool)
+
If you do not specify any models, the normal and debug libraries will be
configured. Typing `configure' with no arguments is equivalent to:
and SunOS with gcc, but more work needs to be done to make shared libraries
work on other systems.
+ If you have libtool installed, you can type
+
+ ./configure --with-libtool
+
+ to generate the appropriate static and/or shared libraries for your
+ platform using libtool.
+
You can make curses and terminfo fall back to an existing file of termcap
definitions by configuring with --enable-termcap. If you do this, the
library will search /etc/termcap before the terminfo database, and will
The terminfo(5) manual page must be preprocessed with tbl(1) before
being formatted by nroff(1). Modern man(1) implementations tend to do
this by default, but you may want to look at your version's manual page
- to be sure.
+ to be sure. You may also install the manual pages after preprocessing
+ with tbl(1) by specifying the configure option --with-manpage-tbl.
If the system already has a curses library that you need to keep using
for some bizarre binary-compatibility reason, you'll need to distinguish
The other options are specific to this package. We list them in alphabetic
order.
+ --disable-assumed-color
+ With ncurses 5.1, we introduced a new function, assume_default_colors()
+ which allows applications to specify what the default foreground and
+ background color are assumed to be. Most color applications use
+ full-screen color; but a few do not color the background. While the
+ assumed values can be overridden by invoking assume_default_colors(),
+ you may find it useful to set the assumed values to the pre-5.1
+ convention, using this configure option.
+
--disable-big-core
Assume machine has little memory. The configure script attempts to
determine if your machine has enough memory (about 6Mb) to compile the
that are not specified by XSI. See ncurses/modules for the exact
list of library modules that would be suppressed.
+ --disable-hashmap
+ Compile without hashmap scrolling-optimization code. This algorithm is
+ the default.
+
--disable-leaks
For testing, compile-in code that frees memory that normally would not
be freed, to simplify analysis of memory-leaks.
rather than the include directory. This makes it simpler to avoid
compile-time conflicts with other versions of curses.h
+ --disable-root-environ
+ Compile with environment restriction, so certain environment variables
+ are not available when running as root, or via a setuid/setgid
+ application. These are (for example $TERMINFO) those that allow the
+ search path for the terminfo or termcap entry to be customized.
+
--disable-scroll-hints
Compile without scroll-hints code. This option is ignored when
hashmap scrolling is configured, which is the default.
may not be accurate, or that your stty settings have disabled the use
of tabs.
- --enable-hashmap
- Compile with hashmap scrolling-optimization code. This is the default,
- replacing an older scrolling-hints algorithm.
-
--enable-no-padding
Compile-in support for the $NCURSES_NO_PADDING environment variable,
which allows you to suppress the effect of non-mandatory padding in
extended functions.
--enable-rpath
- Use rpath option when generating shared libraries. This applies mainly
- to systems using the GNU linker (read the manpage).
+ Use rpath option when generating shared libraries, and with some
+ restrictions when linking the corresponding programs. This applies
+ mainly to systems using the GNU linker (read the manpage).
--enable-safe-sprintf
Compile with experimental safe-sprintf code. You may consider using
--with-ada-objects=DIR
Tell where to install the Ada objects (default: PREFIX/lib/ada/adalib)
+ --with-database=XXX
+ Specify the terminfo source file to install. Usually you will wish
+ to install ncurses' default (misc/terminfo.src). Certain systems
+ have special requirements, e.g, OS/2 EMX has a customized terminfo
+ source file.
+
--with-dbmalloc
For testing, compile and link with Conor Cahill's dbmalloc library.
Generate debug-libraries (default). These are named by adding "_g"
to the root, e.g., libncurses_g.a
+ --with-default-terminfo-dir=XXX
+ Specify the default terminfo database directory. This is normally
+ DATADIR/terminfo, e.g., /usr/share/terminfo.
+
--with-develop
Enable experimental/development options. This does not count those
that change the interface, such as --enable-widec.
NOTE: a few systems build shared libraries with fixed pathnames; this
option probably will not work for those configurations.
+ --with-libtool
+ Generate libraries with libtool. If this option is selected, then
+ it overrides all other library model specifications.
+
--with-manpage-format=XXX
Tell the configure script how you would like to install man-pages. The
option value must be one of these: gzip, compress, BSDI, normal,
this on systems that do not support symbolic links will result in
copying the man-page for each alias.
+ --with-manpage-tbl
+ Tell the configure script that you with to preprocess the manpages
+ by running them through tbl to generate tables understandable by
+ nroff.
+
--with-normal
Generate normal (i.e., static) libraries (default).
script.
--with-terminfo-dirs=XXX
- Specify a search-list of terminfo directories which will be compiled into
- the ncurses library (default: DATADIR/terminfo)
+ Specify a search-list of terminfo directories which will be compiled
+ into the ncurses library (default: DATADIR/terminfo)
--with-termlib
When building the ncurses library, organize this as two parts: the
Suppress the configure script's check for Ada95, do not build the
Ada95 binding and related demo.
+ --without-curses-h
+ Don't install the ncurses header with the name "curses.h". Rather,
+ install as "ncurses.h" and modify the installed headers and manpages
+ accordingly.
+
--without-cxx
XSI curses declares "bool" as part of the interface. C++ also declares
"bool". Neither specifies the size and type of booleans, but both
are slow to update this library. Current distributions of gpm can
be configured properly using the --without-curses option.
+BUILDING NCURSES WITH A CROSS-COMPILER
+ Ncurses can be built with a cross-compiler. Some parts must be built
+ with the host's compiler since they are used for building programs
+ (e.g., ncurses/make_hash and ncurses/make_keys) that generate tables
+ that are compiled into the ncurses library. You should set the
+ BUILD_CC environment variable to your host's compiler, and run the
+ configure script configuring for the cross-compiler.
+
+ Note that all of the generated source-files which are part of ncurses
+ will be made if you use
+
+ make sources
+
+ This would be useful in porting to an environment which has little
+ support for the tools used to generate the sources, e.g., sed, awk and
+ Bourne-shell.
+
BUGS:
Send any feedback to the ncurses mailing list at
bug-ncurses@gnu.org. To subscribe send mail to
bug-ncurses-request@gnu.org with body that reads:
subscribe ncurses <your-email-address-here>
- The Hacker's Guide in the misc directory includes some guidelines
+ The Hacker's Guide in the doc directory includes some guidelines
on how to report bugs in ways that will get them fixed most quickly.