--- $Id: INSTALL,v 1.38 2000/07/08 22:46:08 tom Exp $
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+-- Copyright (c) 1998-2016,2017 Free Software Foundation, Inc. --
+-- --
+-- Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a --
+-- copy of this software and associated documentation files (the --
+-- "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including --
+-- without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, --
+-- distribute, distribute with modifications, sublicense, and/or sell copies --
+-- of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished --
+-- to do so, subject to the following conditions: --
+-- --
+-- The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included --
+-- in all copies or substantial portions of the Software. --
+-- --
+-- THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS --
+-- OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF --
+-- MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN --
+-- NO EVENT SHALL THE ABOVE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, --
+-- DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR --
+-- OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE --
+-- USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE. --
+-- --
+-- Except as contained in this notice, the name(s) of the above copyright --
+-- holders shall not be used in advertising or otherwise to promote the --
+-- sale, use or other dealings in this Software without prior written --
+-- authorization. --
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+-- $Id: INSTALL,v 1.198 2017/07/27 08:34:34 tom Exp $
---------------------------------------------------------------------
How to install Ncurses/Terminfo on your system
---------------------------------------------------------------------
including `c++', `form', `man', `menu', 'misc', `ncurses', `panel', `progs',
and `test'. See the README file for a roadmap to the package.
-If you are a Linux or FreeBSD or NetBSD distribution integrator or packager,
-please read and act on the section titled IF YOU ARE A SYSTEM INTEGRATOR
-below.
+If you are a distribution integrator or packager, please read and act on the
+section titled IF YOU ARE A SYSTEM INTEGRATOR below.
If you are converting from BSD curses and do not have root access, be sure
to read the BSD CONVERSION NOTES section below.
-If you are using a version of XFree86 xterm older than 3.1.2F, see the section
-on RECENT XTERM VERSIONS below.
-
-If you are trying to build GNU Emacs using ncurses for terminal support,
-read the USING NCURSES WITH EMACS section below.
-
If you are trying to build applications using gpm with ncurses,
read the USING NCURSES WITH GPM section below.
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.
-If you are using anything but (a) Linux, or (b) one of the 4.4BSD-based
-i386 Unixes, go read the Portability section in the TO-DO file before you
-do anything else.
-
REQUIREMENTS:
------------
-You will need the following in order to build and install ncurses under UNIX:
+You will need the following to build and install ncurses under UNIX:
- * ANSI C compiler (gcc is recommended)
+ * ANSI C compiler (gcc, for instance)
* sh (bash will do)
* awk (mawk or gawk will do)
* sed
with it.
The --prefix option to configure changes the root directory for installing
- ncurses. The default is in subdirectories of /usr/local. Use
- --prefix=/usr to replace your default curses distribution. This is the
- default for Linux and BSD/OS users.
+ ncurses. The default is normally in subdirectories of /usr/local, except
+ for systems where ncurses is normally installed as a system library (see
+ "IF YOU ARE A SYSTEM INTEGRATOR"). Use --prefix=/usr to replace your
+ default curses distribution.
The package gets installed beneath the --prefix directory as follows:
In $(prefix)/bin: tic, infocmp, captoinfo, tset,
- reset, clear, tput, toe
+ reset, clear, tput, toe, tabs
In $(prefix)/lib: libncurses*.* libcurses.a
In $(prefix)/share/terminfo: compiled terminal descriptions
In $(prefix)/include: C header files
Under $(prefix)/man: the manual pages
- Note however that the configure script attempts to locate previous
- installation of ncurses, and will set the default prefix according to where
- it finds the ncurses headers.
+ Note that the configure script attempts to locate previous installation of
+ ncurses, and will set the default prefix according to where it finds the
+ ncurses headers.
+
+ Do not use commands such as
+
+ make install prefix=XXX
+
+ to change the prefix after configuration, since the prefix value is used
+ for some absolute pathnames such as TERMINFO. Instead do this
+
+ make install DESTDIR=XXX
+
+ See also the discussion of --with-install-prefix.
2. Type `./configure' in the top-level directory of the distribution to
configure ncurses for your operating system and create the Makefiles.
libncurses_p.a (profile)
+ libncurses.la (libtool)
+
+ If you configure using the --enable-widec option, a "w" is appended to the
+ library names (e.g., libncursesw.a), and the resulting libraries support
+ wide-characters, e.g., via a UTF-8 locale. The corresponding header files
+ are compatible with the non-wide-character configuration; wide-character
+ features are provided by ifdef's in the header files. The wide-character
+ library interfaces are not binary-compatible with the non-wide-character
+ version. Building and running the wide-character code relies on a fairly
+ recent implementation of libiconv. We have built this configuration on
+ various systems using libiconv, sometimes requiring libutf8.
+
+ If you configure using the --with-pthread option, a "t" is appended to
+ the library names (e.g., libncursest.a, libncursestw.a).
+
If you do not specify any models, the normal and debug libraries will be
configured. Typing `configure' with no arguments is equivalent to:
./configure --with-shared --without-normal --without-debug
Rules for generating shared libraries are highly dependent upon the choice
- of host system and compiler. We've been testing shared libraries on Linux
- and SunOS with gcc, but more work needs to be done to make shared libraries
+ of host system and compiler. We've been testing shared libraries on
+ several systems, 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
NOTE: You must have installed the terminfo database, or set the
environment variable $TERMINFO to point to a SVr4-compatible terminfo
database before running the test programs. Not all vendors' terminfo
- databases are SVr4-compatible, but most seem to be. Exceptions include
- DEC's Digital Unix (formerly known as OSF/1).
+ databases are SVr4-compatible, but most seem to be.
+
+ It is possible to configure ncurses to use other terminfo database formats.
+ A few are provided as examples in the include-directory (see --with-caps).
+
+ If you run the test programs WITHOUT installing terminfo, ncurses may
+ read the termcap file and cache that in $HOME/.terminfo, which will
+ thereafter be used instead of the terminfo database. See the comments
+ on "--enable-getcap-cache", to see why this is a Bad Thing.
The ncurses program is designed specifically to test the ncurses library.
You can use it to verify that the screen highlights work correctly, that
############################################################################
# CAVEAT EMPTOR: `install.data' run as root will NUKE any existing #
# terminfo database. If you have any custom or unusual entries SAVE them #
- # before you install ncurses. I have a file called terminfo.custom for #
- # this purpose. Don't forget to run tic on the file once you're done. #
+ # before you install ncurses. #
############################################################################
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
- between it and ncurses. If ncurses is installed outside the standard
- directories (/usr/include and /usr/lib) then all your users will need
- to use the -I option to compile programs and -L to link them.
+ you'll need to distinguish between it and ncurses. See the discussion of
+ --disable-overwrite. If ncurses is installed outside the standard
+ directories (/usr/include and /usr/lib) then all your users will need to
+ use the -I option to compile programs and -L to link them.
- If you have BSD curses installed in your system and you accidentally
+ If you have another curses installed in your system and you accidentally
compile using its curses.h you'll end up with a large number of
- undefined symbols at link time. _waddbytes is one of them.
+ undefined symbols at link time.
IF YOU DO NOT HAVE ROOT: Change directory to the `progs' subdirectory
and run the `capconvert' script. This script will deduce various things
which may be supported by C++. IF YOU USE THIS OPTION, BE ADVISED THAT
YOU MAY NOT BE ABLE TO COMPILE (OR RUN) NCURSES APPLICATIONS WITH C++.
-7. If you're running an older Linux, you must either (a) tell Linux that the
- console terminal type is `linux' or (b) make a link to or copy of the
- linux entry in the appropriate place under your terminfo directory, named
- `console'. All 1.3 and many 1.2 distributions (including Yggdrasil and
- Red Hat) already have the console type set to `linux'.
-
- The way to change the wired-in console type depends on the configuration
- of your system. This may involve editing /etc/inittab, /etc/ttytype,
- /etc/profile and other such files.
-
- Warning: this is not for the fainthearted, if you mess up your console
- getty entries you can make your system unusable! However, if you are
- a distribution maker, this is the right thing to do (see the note for
- integrators near the end of this file).
-
- The easier way is to link or copy l/linux to c/console under your terminfo
- directory. Note: this will go away next time you do `make install.data'
- and you'll have to redo it. There is no need to have entries for all
- possible screen sizes, ncurses will figure out the size automatically.
-
SUMMARY OF CONFIGURE OPTIONS:
----------------------------
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
return deceptive results, so you may have to override the configure
script. Or you may be building tic for a smaller machine.
+ --disable-big-strings
+ Disable compile-time optimization of predefined tables which puts
+ all of their strings into a very long string, to reduce relocation
+ overhead.
+
--disable-database
Use only built-in data. The ncurses libraries normally read terminfo
and termcap data from disk. You can configure ncurses to have a
built-in database, aka "fallback" entries. Embedded applications may
- have no need for an external database.
+ have no need for an external database. Some, but not all of the
+ programs are useful in this configuration, e.g., reset and tput versus
+ infocmp and tic.
+
+ --disable-db-install
+ Do not install the terminal database. This is used to omit features
+ for packages, as done with --without-progs.
--disable-ext-funcs
Disable function-extensions. Configure ncurses without the functions
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-home-terminfo
+ The $HOME/.terminfo directory is normally added to ncurses' search
+ list for reading/writing terminfo entries, since that directory is
+ more likely writable than the system terminfo database. Use this
+ option to disable the feature altogether.
+
+ --disable-largefile
+ Disable compiler flags needed to use large-file interfaces.
+
+ --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.
+
+ --disable-libtool-version
+ when using --with-libtool, control how the major/minor version numbers
+ are used for constructing the library name.
+
+ The default uses the -version-number feature of libtool, which makes
+ the library names compatible (though not identical) with the standard
+ build using --with-shared.
+
+ Use --disable-libtool-version to use the libtool -version-info feature.
+ This corresponds to the setting used before patch 20100515.
+
+ Starting with patch 20141115, using this option causes the configure
+ script to apply the top-level VERSION file to the ABI version used
+ for libtool.
+
--disable-leaks
For testing, compile-in code that frees memory that normally would not
be freed, to simplify analysis of memory-leaks.
+ Any implementation of curses must not free the memory associated with
+ a screen, since (even after calling endwin()), it must be available
+ for use in the next call to refresh(). There are also chunks of
+ memory held for performance reasons. That makes it hard to analyze
+ curses applications for memory leaks. To work around this, build a
+ debugging version of the ncurses library which frees those chunks
+ which it can, and provides the _nc_free_and_exit() function to free
+ the remainder and then exit. The ncurses utility and test programs
+ use this feature, e.g., via the ExitProgram() macro.
+
+ Because this lies outside of the library's intended usage, it is not
+ normally considered part of the ABI. If there were some (as yet
+ unplanned) extension which frees memory in a manner that would let the
+ library resume and reallocate memory, then that would not use a "_nc_"
+ prefix.
+
+ --disable-lp64
+ The header files will ignore use of the _LP64 symbol to make chtype
+ and mmask_t types 32 bits (they may be long on 64-bit hosts, for
+ compatibility with older releases).
+
+ NOTE: this is potentially an ABI change, depending on existing
+ packages. The default for this option is "disabled" for ncurses
+ ABI 5, and "enabled" for ABI 6.
+
--disable-macros
For testing, use functions rather than macros. The program will run
- more slowly, but it is simpler to debug. This makes a header file
- "nomacros.h". See also the --enable-expanded option.
+ more slowly, but it is simpler to debug. This defines NCURSES_NOMACROS
+ at build time. See also the --enable-expanded option.
--disable-overwrite
If you are installing ncurses on a system which contains another
rather than the include directory. This makes it simpler to avoid
compile-time conflicts with other versions of curses.h
+ Putting the header files into a subdirectory assumes that applications
+ will follow the (standard) practice of including the headers with
+ reference to the subdirectory name. For instance, the normal ncurses
+ header would be included using
+
+ #include <ncurses/curses.h>
+ #include <ncurses/term.h>
+
+ while the ncursesw headers would be found this way:
+
+ #include <ncursesw/curses.h>
+ #include <ncursesw/term.h>
+
+ In either case (with or without the --disable-overwrite option),
+ almost all applications are designed to include a related set of
+ curses header files from the same directory.
+
+ Manipulating the --includedir configure option to put header files
+ directly in a subdirectory of the normal include-directory defeats
+ this, and breaks builds of portable applications. Likewise, putting
+ some headers in /usr/include, and others in a subdirectory is a good
+ way to break builds.
+
+ When configured with --disable-overwrite, the installed header files'
+ embedded #include's are adjusted to use the same style of includes
+ noted above. In particular, the unctrl.h header is included from
+ curses.h, which means that a makefile which tells the compiler to
+ include directly from the subdirectory will fail to compile correctly.
+ Without some special effort, it will either fail to compile at all,
+ or the compiler may find a different unctrl.h file.
+
+ --disable-relink
+ If --enable-rpath is given, the generated makefiles normally will
+ rebuild the libraries during install. Use this option to simply
+ copy whatever the linked produced.
+
+ This option is ignored if --enable-rpath is not given.
+
+ --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-rpath-hack
+ Normally the configure script helps link libraries found in unusual
+ places by adding an rpath option to the link command. If you are
+ building packages, this feature may be redundant. Use this option
+ to suppress the feature.
+
--disable-scroll-hints
Compile without scroll-hints code. This option is ignored when
hashmap scrolling is configured, which is the default.
- --enable-add-ons=DIR...
- This is used to check if this package is a glibc add-on. This is used
- only by the glibc makefiles.
+ --disable-tic-depends
+ When building shared libraries, normally the tic library is linked to
+ depend upon the ncurses library (or equivalently, on the tinfo-library
+ if the --with-termlib option was given). The tic- and tinfo-library
+ ABIs do not depend on the --enable-widec option. Some packagers have
+ used this to reduce the number of library files which are packaged by
+ using only one copy of those libraries. To make this work properly,
+ the tic library must be built without an explicit dependency on the
+ underlying library (ncurses vs ncursesw, tinfo vs tinfow). Use this
+ configure option to do that.
+ For example
+ configure --with-ticlib --with-shared --disable-tic-depends
+
+ --disable-tparm-varargs
+ Portable programs should call tparm() using the fixed-length parameter
+ list documented in X/Open. ncurses provides varargs support for this
+ function. Use --disable-tparm-varargs to disable this support.
+
+ --disable-wattr-macros
+ The 6.0 ABI adds support for extended colors and for extended mouse.
+ The former is a noticeable problem when developers inadvertantly
+ compile using the ncurses6 header files and link with an ncurses5
+ library, because the wattr* macros use a new field in the WINDOW
+ structure. These macros are used in several applications.
+
+ Since ncurses provides an actual function for each of these macros,
+ suppressing them from the curses.h header allows the ncurses5 libraries
+ to be used in most applications.
+
+ NOTE: The extended colors also are used in the cchar_t structure, but
+ fewer applications use that.
+
+ NOTE: This workaround does not help with mismatches in the ncurses
+ mouse version. The extended mouse feature uses one less fewer bit for
+ each button, so that only the first button will work as expected with
+ a mismatch between header and library. Again, most applications will
+ work, since most use only the first button.
--enable-assertions
For testing, compile-in assertion code. This is used only for a few
changes several data references to functions to work around this
problem.
- NOTE: With ncurses 5.1, this may not be necessary, since we are
+ NOTE: With ncurses 5.1, this may not be necessary, since we are
told that some linkers interpret uninitialized global data as a
different type of reference which behaves as described above. We have
explicitly initialized all of the global data to work around the
warning. There will still be warnings due to subtle inconsistencies
in the interface, but at a lower level.
- NOTE: configuring ncurses with this option may detract from the
+ NOTE: configuring ncurses with this option may detract from the
portability of your applications by encouraging you to use const in
places where the XSI curses interface would not allow them. Similar
issues arise when porting to SVr4 curses, which uses const in even
For testing, generate functions for certain macros to make them visible
as such to the debugger. See also the --disable-macros option.
+ --enable-ext-colors
+ Extend the cchar_t structure to allow more than 16 colors to be
+ encoded. This applies only to the wide-character (--enable-widec)
+ configuration.
+
+ NOTE: using this option will make libraries which are not binary-
+ compatible with libncursesw 5.4. None of the interfaces change, but
+ applications which have an array of cchar_t's must be recompiled.
+
+ --enable-ext-mouse
+ 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.
+
+ NOTE: using this option will make libraries which are not binary-
+ compatible with libncursesw 5.4. None of the interfaces change, but
+ applications which have mouse mask mmask_t's must be recompiled.
+
+ --enable-ext-putwin
+ Modify 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-getcap
Use the 4.4BSD getcap code if available, or a bundled version of it to
fetch termcap entries. Entries read in this way cannot use (make
cross-references to) the terminfo tree, but it is faster than reading
/etc/termcap.
+ If configured for one of the *BSD systems, this automatically uses
+ the hashed database system produced using cap_mkdb or similar tools.
+ In that case, there is no advantage in using the --enable-getcap-cache
+ option.
+
+ See also the --with-hashed-db option.
+
--enable-getcap-cache
Cache translated termcaps under the directory $HOME/.terminfo
- NOTE: this sounds good - it makes ncurses run faster the second time.
+ NOTE: this sounds good - it makes ncurses run faster the second time.
But look where the data comes from - an /etc/termcap containing lots of
entries that are not up to date. If you configure with this option and
forget to install the terminfo database before running an ncurses
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-interop
+ Compile-in experimental interop bindings. These provide generic types
+ for the form-library.
+
+ --enable-mixed-case
+ Controls whether the filesystem on which the terminfo database resides
+ supports mixed-case filenames (normal for UNIX, but not on other
+ systems). If you do not specify this option, the configure script
+ checks the current filesystem.
--enable-no-padding
Compile-in support for the $NCURSES_NO_PADDING environment variable,
terminfo entries. This is the default, unless you have disabled the
extended functions.
+ --enable-opaque-curses
+ --enable-opaque-form
+ --enable-opaque-menu
+ --enable-opaque-panel
+ Define symbol in curses.h which controls whether some library
+ structures are treated as "opaque". The --enable-opaque-curses option
+ is overridden by the --enable-reentrant option.
+
+ --enable-pc-files
+ If pkg-config is found (see --with-pkg-config), generate ".pc" files
+ for each of the libraries, and install them in pkg-config's library
+ directory.
+
+ --enable-pthreads-eintr
+ add logic in threaded configuration to ensure that a read(2) system
+ call can be interrupted for SIGWINCH.
+
+ --enable-reentrant
+ Compile configuration which improves reentrant use of the library by
+ reducing global and static variables. This option is also set if
+ --with-pthread is used.
+
+ Enabling this option adds a "t" to the library names, except for the
+ special case when --enable-weak-symbols is also used.
+
--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 originally
+ (in 1997) applied mainly to systems using the GNU linker (read the
+ manpage).
+
+ More recently it is useful for systems that require special treatment
+ shared libraries in "unusual" locations. The "system" libraries reside
+ in directories which are on the loader's default search-path. While
+ you may be able to use workarounds such as the $LD_LIBRARY_PATH
+ environment variable, they do not work with setuid applications since
+ the LD_LIBRARY_PATH variable would be unset in that situation.
+
+ This option does not apply to --with-libtool, since libtool makes
+ extra assumptions about rpath.
--enable-safe-sprintf
Compile with experimental safe-sprintf code. You may consider using
changes. This option is the default, unless you have disabled the
extended functions.
+ --enable-signed-char
+ The term.h header declares a Booleans[] array typed "char". But it
+ stores signed values there and "char" is not necessarily signed.
+ Some packagers choose to alter the type of Booleans[] though this
+ is not strictly compatible. This option allows one to implement this
+ alteration without patching the source code.
+
+ --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-string-hacks
+ Controls whether strlcat and strlcpy may be used. The same issue
+ applies to OpenBSD's warnings about snprintf, noting that this function
+ is weakly standardized.
+
+ Aside from stifling these warnings, there is no functional improvement
+ in ncurses.
+
--enable-symlinks
If your system supports symbolic links, make tic use symbolic links
rather than hard links to save diskspace when writing aliases in the
capabilities as user-defined strings. This option is the default,
unless you have disabled the extended functions.
+ --enable-term-driver
+ Enable experimental terminal-driver. This is currently used for the
+ MinGW port, by providing a way to substitute the low-level terminfo
+ library with different terminal drivers.
+
--enable-termcap
Compile in support for reading terminal descriptions from termcap if no
match is found in the terminfo database. See also the --enable-getcap
and --enable-getcap-cache options.
+ Termcap support requires run-time parsing rather than loading
+ predigested data. If you have specified --with-ticlib, then you
+ cannot have termcap support since run-time parsing is done in the
+ tic library, which is intentionally not part of normal linkage
+ dependencies.
+
--enable-warnings
Turn on GCC compiler warnings. There should be only a few.
+ --enable-weak-symbols
+ If the --with-pthread option is set, check if the compiler supports
+ weak-symbols. If it does, then name the thread-capable library without
+ the "t" (libncurses rather than libncursest), and provide for
+ dynamically loading the pthreads entrypoints at runtime. This allows
+ one to reduce the number of library files for ncurses.
+
+ --enable-wgetch-events
+ Compile with experimental wgetch-events code. See ncurses/README.IZ
+
--enable-widec
- Compile with experimental wide-character code. This makes a different
- version of the libraries (e.g., libncursesw.so), which stores
- characters in 16-bits. We provide a simple UTF-8 driver and test
- program to use this feature with terminals that can display UTF-8.
+ Compile with wide-character code. This makes a different version of
+ the libraries (e.g., libncursesw.so), which stores characters as
+ wide-characters,
NOTE: applications compiled with this configuration are not compatible
with those built for 8-bit characters. You cannot simply make a
symbolic link to equate libncurses.so with libncursesw.so
+ NOTE: the Ada95 binding may be built against either version of the the
+ ncurses library, but you must decide which: the binding installs the
+ same set of files for either version. Currently (2002/6/22) it does
+ not use the extended features from the wide-character code, so it is
+ probably better to not install the binding for that configuration.
+
--enable-xmc-glitch
Compile-in support experimental xmc (magic cookie) code.
+ --with-abi-version=NUM
+ Override the ABI version, which is used in shared library filenames.
+ Normally this is the same as the release version; some ports have
+ special requirements for compatibility.
+
+ This option does not affect linking with libtool, which uses the
+ release major/minor numbers.
+
--with-ada-compiler=CMD
Specify the Ada95 compiler command (default "gnatmake")
--with-ada-include=DIR
- Tell where to install the Ada includes (default:
+ Tell where to install the Ada includes (default:
PREFIX/lib/ada/adainclude)
--with-ada-objects=DIR
Tell where to install the Ada objects (default: PREFIX/lib/ada/adalib)
+ --with-ada-sharedlib
+ Build a shared library for Ada95 binding, if the compiler permits.
+
+ NOTE: You must also set the --with-shared option on some platforms
+ for a successful build. You need not use this option when you set
+ --with-shared, unless you want to use the Ada shared library.
+
+ --with-bool=TYPE
+ If --without-cxx is specified, override the type used for the "bool"
+ declared in curses.h (normally the type is automatically chosen to
+ correspond with that in <stdbool.h>, or defaults to platform-specific
+ sizes).
+
+ --with-build-cpp=XXX
+ This option is provided by the same macro used for $BUILD_CC, etc.,
+ but is not directly used by ncurses.
+
+ --with-build-cc=XXX
+ If cross-compiling, specify a host C compiler, which is needed to
+ compile a few utilities which generate source modules for ncurses.
+ If you do not give this option, the configure script checks if the
+ $BUILD_CC variable is set, and otherwise defaults to gcc or cc.
+
+ --with-build-cflags=XXX
+ If cross-compiling, specify the host C compiler-flags. You might need
+ to do this if the target compiler has unusual flags which confuse the
+ host compiler.
+
+ You can also set the environment variable $BUILD_CFLAGS rather than
+ use this option.
+
+ --with-build-cppflags=XXX
+ If cross-compiling, specify the host C preprocessor-flags. You might
+ need to do this if the target compiler has unusual flags which confuse
+ the host compiler.
+
+ You can also set the environment variable $BUILD_CPPFLAGS rather than
+ use this option.
+
+ --with-build-ldflags=XXX
+ If cross-compiling, specify the host linker-flags. You might need to
+ do this if the target linker has unusual flags which confuse the host
+ compiler.
+
+ You can also set the environment variable $BUILD_LDFLAGS rather than
+ use this option.
+
+ --with-build-libs=XXX
+ If cross-compiling, the host libraries. You might need to do this if
+ the target environment requires unusual libraries.
+
+ You can also set the environment variable $BUILD_LIBS rather than
+ use this option.
+
+ --with-caps=XXX
+ Specify an alternate terminfo capabilities file, which makes the
+ configure script look for "include/Caps.XXX". A few systems, e.g.,
+ AIX 4.x use the same overall file-format as ncurses for terminfo
+ data, but use different alignments within the tables to support
+ legacy applications. For those systems, you can configure ncurses
+ to use a terminfo database which is compatible with the native
+ applications.
+
+ --with-ccharw-max=XXX
+ Override the size of the wide-character array in cchar_t structures.
+ Changing this will alter the binary interface. This defaults to 5.
+
+ --with-chtype=TYPE
+ Override type of chtype, which stores the video attributes and (if
+ --enable-widec is not given) a character. Prior to ncurses 5.5, this
+ was always unsigned long, but with ncurses 5.5, it may be unsigned.
+ Use this option if you need to preserve compatibility with 64-bit
+ executables, e.g., by setting "--with-chtype=long" (the configure
+ script supplies "unsigned").
+
+ --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-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.
+ This also sets the --disable-leaks option.
--with-debug
Generate debug-libraries (default). These are named by adding "_g"
to the root, e.g., libncurses_g.a
- --with-develop
- Enable experimental/development options. This does not count those
- that change the interface, such as --enable-widec.
+ --with-default-terminfo-dir=XXX
+ Specify the default terminfo database directory. This is normally
+ DATADIR/terminfo, e.g., /usr/share/terminfo.
--with-dmalloc
For testing, compile and link with Gray Watson's dmalloc library.
+ This also sets the --disable-leaks option.
+
+ --with-export-syms[=XXX]
+ Limit exported symbols using libtool. The configure script
+ automatically chooses an appropriate ".sym" file, which lists the
+ symbols which are part of the ABI.
+
+ --with-extra-suffix[=XXX]
+ Add the given suffix to header- and library-names to simplify
+ installing incompatible ncurses libraries, e.g., those using a
+ different ABI. The renaming affects the name of the
+ include-subdirectory if --disable-overwrite is given.
--with-fallbacks=XXX
Specify a list of fallback terminal descriptions which will be
--with-gpm
use Alessandro Rubini's GPM library to provide mouse support on the
- Linux console.
+ Linux console. Prior to ncurses 5.5, this introduced a dependency on
+ the GPM library.
+
+ Currently ncurses uses the dlsym() function to bind to the library at
+ runtime, so it is only necessary that the library be present when
+ ncurses is built, to obtain the filename (or soname) used in the
+ corresponding dlopen() call. If you give a value for this option,
+ e.g.,
+
+ --with-gpm=$HOME/tmp/test-gpm.so
+
+ that overrides the configure check for the soname.
+
+ See also --without-dlsym
+
+ --with-hashed-db[=XXX]
+ Use a hashed database for storing terminfo data rather than storing
+ each compiled entry in a separate binary file within a directory
+ tree.
+
+ In particular, this uses the Berkeley database 1.8.5 interface, as
+ provided by that and its successors db 2, 3, and 4. The actual
+ interface is slightly different in the successor versions of the
+ Berkeley database. The database should have been configured using
+ "--enable-compat185".
+
+ If you use this option for configuring ncurses, tic will only be able
+ to write entries in the hashed database. infocmp can still read
+ entries from a directory tree as well as reading entries from the
+ hashed database. To do this, infocmp determines whether the $TERMINFO
+ variable points to a directory or a file, and reads the directory-tree
+ or hashed database respectively.
+
+ You cannot have a directory containing both hashed-database and
+ filesystem-based terminfo entries.
+
+ Use the parameter value to give the install-prefix used for the
+ database, e.g.,
+ --with-hashed-db=/usr/local/BigBase
+ to find the corresponding include- and lib-directories under the
+ given directory. Alternatively, you can specify a directory leaf
+ name, e.g.,
+ --with-hashed-db=db4
+ to make the configure script look for files in a subdirectory such as
+ /usr/include/db4/db.h
+ /usr/lib/db4/libdb.so
+
+ See also the --enable-getcap option.
--with-install-prefix=XXX
Allows you to specify an alternate location for installing ncurses
after building it. The value you specify is prepended to the "real"
- install location. This simplifies making binary packages.
+ install location. This simplifies making binary packages. The
+ makefile variable DESTDIR is set by this option. It is also possible
+ to use
+ make install DESTDIR=XXX
+ since the makefiles pass that variable to subordinate makes.
- NOTE: a few systems build shared libraries with fixed pathnames; this
+ NOTE: a few systems build shared libraries with fixed pathnames; this
option probably will not work for those configurations.
+ --with-lib-prefix=XXX
+ OS/2 EMX used a different naming convention from most Unix-like
+ platforms. It required that the "lib" part of a library name was
+ omitted. Newer EMX as part of eComStation does not follow that
+ convention. Use this option to override the configure script's
+ assumptions about the library-prefix. If this option is omitted, it
+ uses the original OS/2 EMX convention for that platform. Use
+ "--with-lib-prefix=lib" for the newer EMX in eComStation. Use
+ "--without-lib-prefix" to suppress it for other odd platforms.
+
+ --with-libtool[=XXX]
+ Generate libraries with libtool. If this option is selected, then it
+ overrides all other library model specifications. Note that libtool
+ must already be installed, uses makefile rules dependent on GNU make,
+ and does not promise to follow the version numbering convention of
+ other shared libraries on your system. However, if the --with-shared
+ option does not succeed, you may get better results with this option.
+
+ If a parameter value is given, it must be the full pathname of the
+ particular version of libtool, e.g.,
+ /usr/bin/libtool-1.2.3
+
+ It is possible to rebuild the configure script to use the automake
+ macros for libtool, e.g., AC_PROG_LIBTOOL. See the comments in
+ aclocal.m4 for CF_PROG_LIBTOOL, and ensure that you build configure
+ using the appropriate patch for autoconf from
+ http://invisible-island.net/autoconf/
+
+ --with-libtool-opts=XXX
+ Specify additional libtool options.
+
+ --with-manpage-aliases
+ Tell the configure script you wish to create entries in the
+ man-directory for aliases to manpages which list them, e.g., the
+ functions in the panel manpage. This is the default. You can disable
+ it if your man program does this. You can also disable
+ --with-manpage-symlinks to install files containing a ".so" command
+ rather than symbolic links.
+
--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,
--with-manpage-renames=XXX
Tell the configure script that you wish to rename the manpages while
- installing. Currently the only distribution which does this is
- the Linux Debian. The option value specifies the name of a file
- that lists the renamed files, e.g., $srcdir/man/man_db.renames
+ installing. Currently the only distribution which does this is Debian.
+ The option value specifies the name of a file that lists the renamed
+ files, e.g., $srcdir/man/man_db.renames
--with-manpage-symlinks
Tell the configure script that you wish to make symbolic links in the
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 wish to preprocess the manpages
+ by running them through tbl to generate tables understandable by
+ nroff.
+
+ --with-mmask-t=TYPE
+ Override type of mmask_t, which stores the mouse mask. Prior to
+ ncurses 5.5, this was always unsigned long, but with ncurses 5.5, it
+ may be unsigned. Use this option if you need to preserve compatibility
+ with 64-bit executables.
+
--with-normal
Generate normal (i.e., static) libraries (default).
+ Note: on Linux, the configure script will attempt to use the GPM
+ library via the dlsym() function call. Use --without-dlsym to disable
+ this feature, or --without-gpm, depending on whether you wish to use
+ GPM.
+
+ --with-ospeed=TYPE
+ Override type of ospeed variable, which is part of the termcap
+ compatibility interface. In termcap, this is a 'short', which works
+ for a wide range of baudrates because ospeed is not the actual speed
+ but the encoded value, e.g., B9600 would be a small number such as 13.
+ However the encoding scheme originally allowed for values "only" up to
+ 38400bd. A newer set of definitions past 38400bd is not encoded as
+ compactly, and is not guaranteed to fit into a short (see the function
+ cfgetospeed(), which returns a speed_t for this reason). In practice,
+ applications that required knowledge of the ospeed variable, i.e.,
+ those using termcap, do not use the higher speeds. Your application
+ (or system, in general) may or may not.
+
+ --with-pc-suffix=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.
+
+ --with-pkg-config=[DIR]
+ Check for pkg-config, optionally specifying its path.
+
+ --with-pkg-config-libdir=[DIR]
+ If pkg-config was found, override the automatic check for its library
+ path.
+
--with-profile
Generate profile-libraries These are named by adding "_p" to the root,
e.g., libncurses_p.a
+ --with-pthread
+ Link with POSIX threads, set --enable-reentrant. The use_window() and
+ use_screen() functions will use mutex's, allowing rudimentary support
+ for multithreaded applications.
+
--with-rcs-ids
Compile-in RCS identifiers. Most of the C files have an identifier.
+ --with-rel-version=NUM
+ Override the release version, which may be used in shared library
+ filenames. This consists of a major and minor version number separated
+ by ".". Normally the major version number is the same as the ABI
+ version; some ports have special requirements for compatibility.
+
--with-shared
Generate shared-libraries. The names given depend on the system for
which you are building, typically using a ".so" suffix, along with
symbolic links that refer to the release version.
-
- NOTE: Unless you override the configure script by setting the $CFLAGS
+
+ NOTE: Unless you override the configure script by setting the $CFLAGS
environment variable, these will not be built with the -g debugging
option.
+ NOTE: For some configurations, e.g., installing a new version of
+ ncurses shared libraries on a machine which already has ncurses
+ shared libraries, you may encounter problems with the linker.
+ For example, it may prevent you from running the build tree's
+ copy of tic (for installing the terminfo database) because it
+ loads the system's copy of the ncurses shared libraries.
+
+ In that case, using the misc/shlib script may be helpful, since it
+ sets $LD_LIBRARY_PATH to point to the build tree, e.g.,
+
+ ./misc/shlib make install
+
+ Alternatively, for most platforms, the linker accepts a list of
+ directories which will be searched for libraries at run-time. The
+ configure script allows you to modify this list using the
+ RPATH_LIST environment variable. It is a colon-separated list of
+ directories (default: the "libdir" set via the configure script).
+ If you set that to put "../lib" first in the list, the linker will
+ look first at the build-directory, and avoid conflict with libraries
+ already installed. One drawback to this approach is that libraries
+ can be accidentally searched in any "../lib" directory.
+
+ NOTE: If you use the --with-ada-sharedlib option, you should also
+ set this option, to ensure that C-language modules needed for the
+ Ada binding use appropriate compiler options.
+
--with-shlib-version=XXX
Specify whether to use the release or ABI version for shared libraries.
This is normally chosen automatically based on the type of system
which you are building on. We use it for testing the configure script.
+ --with-sysmouse
+ use FreeBSD sysmouse interface provide mouse support on the console.
+
--with-system-type=XXX
For testing, override the derived host system-type which is used to
decide things such as the linker commands used to build shared
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)
+
+ This is a colon-separated list, like the TERMINFO_DIRS environment
+ variable.
- --with-termlib
+ --with-termlib[=XXX]
When building the ncurses library, organize this as two parts: the
curses library (libncurses) and the low-level terminfo library
(libtinfo). This is done to accommodate applications that use only
the latter. The terminfo library is about half the size of the total.
+ If an option value is given, that overrides the name of the terminfo
+ library. For instance, if the wide-character version is built, the
+ terminfo library would be named libtinfow. But the libtinfow interface
+ is upward compatible from libtinfo, so it would be possible to overlay
+ libtinfo.so with a "wide" version of libtinfow.so by renaming it with
+ this option.
+
+ --with-termpath=XXX
+ Specify a search-list of termcap files which will be compiled into the
+ ncurses library (default: /etc/termcap:/usr/share/misc/termcap)
+
+ --with-ticlib[=XXX]
+ When building the ncurses library, build a separate library for
+ the modules that are used only by the utility programs. Normally
+ those would be bundled with the termlib or ncurses libraries.
+
+ If an option value is given, that overrides the name of the tic
+ library. As in termlib, there is no ABI difference between the
+ "wide" libticw.so and libtic.so
+
+ NOTE: Overriding the name of the tic library may be useful if you are
+ also using the --with-termlib option to rename libtinfo. If you are
+ not doing that, renaming the tic library can result in conflicting
+ library dependencies for tic and other programs built with the tic
+ library.
+
+ --with-tparm-arg[=XXX]
+ Override the type used for tparm() arguments, which normally is a
+ "long". However the function must assume that its arguments can hold a
+ pointer to char's which is not always workable for 64-bit platforms. A
+ better choice would be intptr_t, which was not available at the time
+ tparm's interface was defined.
+
+ If the option is not given, this defaults to "long".
+
+ --with-trace
+ Configure the trace() function as part of the all models of the ncurses
+ library. Normally it is part of the debug (libncurses_g) library only.
+
+ --with-versioned-syms[=XXX]
+ The Solaris, GNU and reportedly some other linkers (ld) accept a
+ "--version-script" option which tells the linker to annotate the
+ resulting objects with version identifiers.
+
+ Use "objdump -T" on a library to see the annotations.
+
+ The configure script attempts to automatically apply a suitable ".map"
+ file to provide this information for Linux. Solaris mapfiles differ:
+
+ a) comments are not accepted
+ b) wildcards are not accepted, except for a special case of "_*".
+ c) each symbol listed in the map file must exist in the library
+
+ The Solaris limitations conflict with the development goal of providing
+ a small set of ".map" files as examples, which cover the most common
+ configurations. Because that coverage is done by merging together
+ several builds, some symbols will be listed in the the ".map" files
+ that do not happen to be present in one configuration or another.
+
+ The sample ".map" (and ".sym") files are generated using a set of
+ scripts which build several configurations for each release version,
+ checking to see which of the "_nc_" symbols can be made local. In
+ addition to the ncurses libraries and programs, the symbols used
+ by the "tack" program before version 1.08 are made global.
+
+ These sample ".map" files will not cover all possible combinations.
+ In some cases, e.g., when using the --with-weak-symbols option, you
+ may prefer to use a different ".map" file by setting this option's
+ value.
+
+ --with-xterm-kbs=XXX
+ Configure xterm's terminfo entries to use either BS (^H, i.e., ASCII
+ backspace) or DEL (^?, or 127). XXX can be BS (or bs, 8) or DEL
+ (or del, 127).
+
+ During installation, the makefile and scripts modifies the "xterm+kbs"
+ terminfo entry to use this setting.
+
+ --with-valgrind
+ For testing, compile with debug option.
+ This also sets the --disable-leaks option.
+
+ --with-wrap-prefix=XXX
+ When using the --enable-reentrant option, ncurses redefines variables
+ that would be global in curses, e.g., LINES, as a macro that calls a
+ "wrapping" function which fetches the data from the current SCREEN
+ structure. Normally that function is named by prepending "_nc_" to the
+ variable's name. The function is technically private (since portable
+ applications would not refer directly to it). But according to one
+ line of reasoning, it is not the same type of "private" as functions
+ which applications should not call even via a macro. This configure
+ option lets you choose the prefix for these wrapped variables.
+
--without-ada
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.
+
+ Likewise, do not install an alias "curses" for the ncurses manpage.
+
--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
Suppress the configure script's check for C++, do not build the
C++ binding and related demo.
+ --without-develop
+ Disable development options. This does not include those that change
+ the interface, such as --enable-widec.
+
+ --without-dlsym
+ Do not use dlsym() to load GPM dynamically.
+
+ --without-manpages
+ Tell the configure script to suppress the install of ncurses' manpages.
+
--without-progs
Tell the configure script to suppress the build of ncurses' application
programs (e.g., tic). The test applications will still be built if you
type "make", though not if you simply do "make install".
+ --without-tests
+ Tell the configure script to suppress the build of ncurses' test
+ programs.
+
+ --without-xterm-new
+ Tell the configure script to use "xterm-old" for the entry used in
+ the terminfo database. This will work with variations such as
+ X11R5 and X11R6 xterm.
+
COMPATIBILITY WITH OLDER VERSIONS OF NCURSES:
--------------------------------------------
- Because ncurses implements the X/Open Curses Specification, its interface
- is fairly stable. That does not mean the interface does not change.
- Changes are made to the documented interfaces when we find differences
- between ncurses and X/Open or implementations which they certify (such as
- Solaris). We add extensions to those interfaces to solve problems not
- addressed by the original curses design, but those must not conflict with
- the X/Open documentation.
+ Because ncurses implements X/Open Curses, its interface is fairly stable.
+ That does not mean the interface does not change. Changes are made to the
+ documented interfaces when we find differences between ncurses and X/Open
+ or implementations which largely correspond to X/Open (such as Solaris).
+ We add extensions to those interfaces to solve problems not addressed by
+ the original curses design, but those must not conflict with the X/Open
+ documentation.
Here are some of the major interface changes, and related problems which
you may encounter when building a system with different versions of
ncurses:
+ 6.0 (Aug 08, 2015)
+ Interface changes:
+
+ + The 6.0 ABI modifies the defaults for these configure options:
+ --enable-const
+ --enable-ext-colors
+ --enable-ext-mouse
+ --enable-ext-putwin
+ --enable-interop
+ --enable-lp64
+ --enable-sp-funcs
+ --with-chtype=uint32_t
+ --with-mmask_t=uint32_t
+ --with-tparm-arg=intptr_t
+
+ + ncurses supports symbol versioning. If you use this feature, about
+ half of the "_nc_" private symbols are changed to local symbols.
+
+ + a few applications may need to explicitly flush the standard output
+ when switching between printf's and (curses) printw.
+
+ Added extensions:
+
+ + use_tioctl is an improvement over use_env
+
+ + added wgetdelay to support the NCURSES_OPAQUE feature.
+
+ Added internal functions (other than "_sp" variants):
+ _nc_init_termtype
+ _nc_mvcur
+ _nc_putchar
+ _nc_setenv_num
+ _nc_trace_mmask_t
+
+ Removed internal functions:
+ none
+
+ Modified internal functions:
+ _nc_do_color - change parameters from short/bool to int
+ _nc_keypad - change parameter from bool to int
+ _nc_setupscreen - change parameter from bool to int
+ _nc_signal_handler - change parameter from bool to int
+
+ 5.9 (Apr 04, 2011)
+ 5.8 (Feb 26, 2011)
+ Interface changes:
+
+ + add an alternate library configuration, i.e., "terminal driver" to
+ support port to Windows, built with MinGW. There are two drivers
+ (terminfo and Windows console). The terminfo driver works on other
+ platforms.
+
+ + add a new set of functions which accept a SCREEN* parameter, in
+ contrast with the original set which use the global value "sp".
+ By default, these names end with "_sp", and are otherwise
+ functionally identical with the originals.
+
+ In addition to the "_sp" functions, there are a few new functions
+ associated with this feature: ceiling_panel, ground_panel,
+ new_prescr.
+
+ If the library is not built with the sp-funcs extension, there
+ are no related interface changes.
+
+ + add tiparm function based on review of X/Open Curses Issue 7.
+
+ + change internal _nc_has_mouse function to public has_mouse function
+
+ Added extensions:
+
+ + add a few more functions to support the NCURSES_OPAQUE feature:
+ get_escdelay, is_pad, is_subwin
+
+ Added internal functions (other than "_sp" variants):
+ _nc_curscr_of
+ _nc_format_slks
+ _nc_get_alias_table
+ _nc_get_hash_info
+ _nc_insert_wch
+ _nc_newscr_of
+ _nc_outc_wrapper
+ _nc_retrace_char
+ _nc_retrace_int_attr_t
+ _nc_retrace_mmask_t
+ _nc_setup_tinfo
+ _nc_stdscr_of
+ _nc_tinfo_cmdch
+
+ Removed internal functions:
+ _nc_makenew (some configurations replace by _nc_makenew_sp)
+
+ Modified internal functions:
+ _nc_UpdateAttrs
+ _nc_get_hash_table
+ _nc_has_mouse
+ _nc_insert_ch
+ _nc_wgetch
+
+ 5.7 (November 2, 2008)
+ Interface changes:
+
+ + generate linkable stubs for some macros:
+ getattrs
+
+ + Add new library configuration for tic-library (the non-curses portion
+ of the ncurses library used for the tic program as well as some
+ others such as tack. There is no API change, but makefiles would be
+ changed to use the tic-library built separately.
+
+ tack, distributed separately from ncurses, uses some of the internal
+ _nc_XXX functions, which are declared in the tic.h header file.
+
+ The reason for providing this separate library is that none of the
+ functions in it are suitable for threaded applications.
+
+ + Add new library configuration (ncursest, ncurseswt) which provides
+ rudimentary support for POSIX threads. This introduces opaque
+ access functions to the WINDOW structure and adds a parameter to
+ several internal functions.
+
+ + move most internal variables (except tic-library) into data blocks
+ _nc_globals and _nc_prescreen to simplify analysis. Those were
+ globally accessible, but since they were not part of the documented
+ API, there is no ABI change.
+
+ + changed static tables of strings to be indices into long strings, to
+ improve startup performance. This changes parameter lists for some
+ of the internal functions.
+
+ Added extensions:
+
+ + add NCURSES_OPAQUE definition in curses.h to control whether internal
+ details of the WINDOW structure are visible to an application. This
+ is always defined when the threaded library is built, and is optional
+ otherwise. New functions for this: is_cleared, is_idcok, is_idlok,
+ is_immedok, is_keypad, is_leaveok, is_nodelay, is_notimeout,
+ is_scrollok, is_syncok, wgetparent and wgetscrreg.
+
+ + the threaded library (ncursest) also disallows direct updating of
+ global curses-level variables, providing functions (via macros) for
+ obtaining their value. A few of those variables can be modified by
+ the application, using new functions: set_escdelay, set_tabsize
+
+ + added functions use_window() and use_screen() which wrap a mutex
+ (if threading is configured) around a call to a user-supplied
+ function.
+
+ Added internal functions:
+ _nc_get_alias_table
+ _nc_get_screensize
+ _nc_keyname
+ _nc_screen_of
+ _nc_set_no_padding
+ _nc_tracechar
+ _nc_tracemouse
+ _nc_unctrl
+ _nc_ungetch
+
+ These are used for leak-testing, and are stubs for
+ ABI compatibility when ncurses is not configured for that
+ using the --disable-leaks configure script option:
+
+ _nc_free_and_exit
+ _nc_leaks_tinfo
+
+ Removed internal functions:
+ none
+
+ Modified internal functions:
+ _nc_fifo_dump
+ _nc_find_entry
+ _nc_handle_sigwinch
+ _nc_init_keytry
+ _nc_keypad
+ _nc_locale_breaks_acs
+ _nc_timed_wait
+ _nc_update_screensize
+
+ Use new typedef TRIES to replace "struct tries":
+
+ _nc_add_to_try
+ _nc_expand_try
+ _nc_remove_key
+ _nc_remove_string
+ _nc_trace_tries
+
+ 5.6 (December 17, 2006)
+ Interface changes:
+
+ + generate linkable stubs for some macros:
+
+ getbegx, getbegy, getcurx, getcury, getmaxx, getmaxy, getparx,
+ getpary, getpary,
+
+ and (for libncursesw)
+
+ wgetbkgrnd
+
+ Added extensions:
+ nofilter()
+ use_legacy_coding()
+
+ Added internal functions:
+ _nc_first_db
+ _nc_get_source
+ _nc_handle_sigwinch
+ _nc_is_abs_path
+ _nc_is_dir_path
+ _nc_is_file_path
+ _nc_keep_tic_dir
+ _nc_keep_tic_dir
+ _nc_last_db
+ _nc_next_db
+ _nc_read_termtype
+ _nc_tic_dir
+
+ Also (if using the hashed database configuration):
+
+ _nc_db_close
+ _nc_db_first
+ _nc_db_get
+ _nc_db_have_data
+ _nc_db_have_index
+ _nc_db_next
+ _nc_db_open
+ _nc_db_put
+
+ otherwise
+
+ _nc_hashed_db
+
+ Removed internal functions:
+ none
+
+ Modified internal functions:
+ _nc_add_to_try
+ _nc_do_color
+ _nc_expand_try
+ _nc_remove_key
+ _nc_setupscreen
+
+ 5.5 (October 10, 2005)
+ Interface changes:
+
+ + terminfo installs "xterm-new" as "xterm" entry rather than
+ "xterm-old" (aka xterm-r6).
+
+ + terminfo data is installed using the tic -x option (few systems
+ still use ncurses 4.2).
+
+ + modify C++ binding to work with newer C++ compilers by providing
+ initializers and using modern casts. Old-style header names are
+ still used in this release to allow compiling with not-so-old
+ compilers.
+
+ + form and menu libraries now work with wide-character data.
+ Applications which bypassed the form library and manipulated the
+ FIELD.buf data directly will not work properly with libformw, since
+ that no longer points to an array of char. The set_field_buffer()
+ and field_buffer() functions translate to/from the actual field
+ data.
+
+ + change SP->_current_attr to a pointer, adjust ifdef's to ensure that
+ libtinfo.so and libtinfow.so have the same ABI. The reason for this
+ is that the corresponding data which belongs to the upper-level
+ ncurses library has a different size in each model.
+
+ + winnstr() now returns multibyte character strings for the
+ wide-character configuration.
+
+ + assume_default_colors() no longer requires that use_default_colors()
+ be called first.
+
+ + data_ahead() now works with wide-characters.
+
+ + slk_set() and slk_wset() now accept and store multibyte or
+ multicolumn characters.
+
+ + start_color() now returns OK if colors have already been started.
+ start_color() also returns ERR if it cannot allocate memory.
+
+ + pair_content() now returns -1 for consistency with init_pair() if it
+ corresponds to the default-color.
+
+ + unctrl() now returns null if its parameter does not correspond
+ to an unsigned char.
+
+ Added extensions:
+ Experimental mouse version 2 supports wheel mice with buttons
+ 4 and 5. This requires ABI 6 because it modifies the encoding
+ of mouse events.
+
+ Experimental extended colors allows encoding of 256 foreground
+ and background colors, e.g., with the xterm-256color or
+ xterm-88color terminfo entries. This requires ABI 6 because
+ it changes the size of cchar_t.
+
+ Added internal functions:
+ _nc_check_termtype2
+ _nc_resolve_uses2
+ _nc_retrace_cptr
+ _nc_retrace_cvoid_ptr
+ _nc_retrace_void_ptr
+ _nc_setup_term
+
+ Removed internal functions:
+ none
+
+ Modified internal functions:
+ _nc_insert_ch
+ _nc_save_str
+ _nc_trans_string
+
+ 5.4 (February 8, 2004)
+ Interface changes:
+
+ + add the remaining functions for X/Open curses wide-character support.
+ These are only available if the library is configured using the
+ --enable-widec option.
+ pecho_wchar()
+ slk_wset()
+
+ + write getyx() and related 2-return macros in terms of getcury(),
+ getcurx(), etc.
+
+ + simplify ifdef for bool declaration in curses.h
+
+ + modify ifdef's in curses.h that disabled use of __attribute__() for
+ g++, since recent versions implement the cases which ncurses uses.
+
+ + change some interfaces to use const:
+ define_key()
+ mvprintw()
+ mvwprintw()
+ printw()
+ vw_printw()
+ winsnstr()
+ wprintw()
+
+ Added extensions:
+ key_defined()
+
+ Added internal functions:
+ _nc_get_locale()
+ _nc_insert_ch()
+ _nc_is_charable() wide
+ _nc_locale_breaks_acs()
+ _nc_pathlast()
+ _nc_to_char() wide
+ _nc_to_widechar() wide
+ _nc_tparm_analyze()
+ _nc_trace_bufcat() debug
+ _nc_unicode_locale()
+
+ Removed internal functions:
+ _nc_outstr()
+ _nc_sigaction()
+
+ Modified internal functions:
+ _nc_remove_string()
+ _nc_retrace_chtype()
+
+ 5.3 (October 12, 2002)
+ 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.
+
+ Added extensions:
+ is_term_resized()
+ resize_term()
+
+ Added internal functions:
+ _nc_altcharset_name() debug
+ _nc_reset_colors()
+ _nc_retrace_bool() debug
+ _nc_retrace_unsigned() debug
+ _nc_rootname()
+ _nc_trace_ttymode() debug
+ _nc_varargs() debug
+ _nc_visbufn() debug
+ _nc_wgetch()
+
+ Removed internal functions:
+ _nc_background()
+
+ Modified internal functions:
+ _nc_freeall() debug
+
+ 5.2 (October 21, 2000)
+ Interface changes:
+
+ + revert termcap ospeed variable to 'short' (see discussion of the
+ --with-ospeed configure option).
+
5.1 (July 8, 2000)
Interface changes:
4.0 (December 24, 1996)
- We bumped to version 4.0 because the newly released dynamic loader
- (ld.so.1.8.5) on Linux did not load shared libraries whose ABI and REL
+ We bumped to version 4.0 because the newly released Linux dynamic
+ loader (ld.so.1.8.5) did not load shared libraries whose ABI and REL
versions were inconsistent. At that point, ncurses ABI was 3.4 and the
REL was 1.9.9g, so we made them consistent.
IF YOU ARE A SYSTEM INTEGRATOR:
------------------------------
- Beginning with 1.9.9, the ncurses distribution includes both a tset
- utility and /usr/share/tabset directory. If you are installing ncurses,
- it is no longer either necessary or desirable to install tset-jv.
-
Configuration and Installation:
- Configure with --prefix=/usr to make the install productions put
- libraries and headers in the correct locations (overwriting any
- previous curses libraries and headers). This will put the terminfo
- hierarchy under /usr/share/terminfo; you may want to override this with
- --datadir=/usr/share/misc; terminfo and tabset are installed under the
- data directory.
-
- Please configure the ncurses library in a pure-terminfo mode; that
- is, with the --disable-termcap option. This will make the ncurses
- library smaller and faster. The ncurses library includes a termcap
- emulation that queries the terminfo database, so even applications
- that use raw termcap to query terminal characteristics will win
- (providing you recompile and relink them!).
-
- If you must configure with termcap fallback enabled, you may also
- wish to use the --enable-getcap option. This option speeds up
- termcap-based startups, at the expense of not allowing personal
- termcap entries to reference the terminfo tree. See the code in
- ncurses/tinfo/read_termcap.c for details.
+ On platforms where ncurses is assumed to be installed in /usr/lib,
+ the configure script uses "/usr" as a default. These include any
+ that use the Linux kernel, as well as these special cases:
+
+ FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, Cygwin, MinGW
+
+ For other platforms, the default is "/usr/local". See the discussion
+ of the "--disable-overwrite" option.
+
+ The location of the terminfo is set indirectly by the "--datadir"
+ configure option, e.g., /usr/share/terminfo, given a datadir of
+ /usr/share. You may want to override this if you are installing
+ ncurses libraries in nonstandard locations, but wish to share the
+ terminfo database.
+
+ Normally the ncurses library is configured in a pure-terminfo mode;
+ that is, with the --disable-termcap option. This makes the ncurses
+ library smaller and faster. The ncurses library includes a termcap
+ emulation that queries the terminfo database, so even applications that
+ use raw termcap to query terminal characteristics will win (providing
+ you recompile and relink them!).
+
+ If you must configure with termcap fallback enabled, you may also wish
+ to use the --enable-getcap option. This speeds up termcap-based
+ startups, at the expense of not allowing personal termcap entries to
+ reference the terminfo tree. See comments in
+ ncurses/tinfo/read_termcap.c for further details.
Note that if you have $TERMCAP set, ncurses will use that value
to locate termcap data. In particular, running from xterm will
Naming the Console Terminal
- In various Linuxes (and possibly elsewhere) there has been a practice
- of designating the system console driver type as `console'. Please
- do not do this any more! It complicates peoples' lives, because it
- can mean that several different terminfo entries from different
- operating systems all logically want to be called `console'.
+ In various systems there has been a practice of designating the system
+ console driver type as `console'. Please do not do this! It
+ complicates peoples' lives, because it can mean that several different
+ terminfo entries from different operating systems all logically want to
+ be called `console'.
Please pick a name unique to your console driver and set that up
in the /etc/inittab table or local equivalent. Send the entry to the
bsdos -- BSD/OS
If you are responsible for integrating ncurses for one of these
- distribution, please either use the recommended name or get back
+ distributions, please either use the recommended name or get back
to us explaining why you don't want to, so we can work out nomenclature
that will make users' lives easier rather than harder.
---------------------
The terminfo database file included with this distribution assumes you
- are running an XFree86 xterm based on X11R6 (i.e., xterm-r6). The
- earlier X11R5 entry (xterm-r5) is provided as well.
-
- If you are running XFree86 version 3.2 (actually 3.1.2F and up), you
- should consider using the xterm-xf86-v32 (or later, the most recent
- version is always named "xterm-xfree86") entry, which adds ANSI color
- and the VT220 capabilities which have been added in XFree86. If you
- are running a mixed network, however, where this terminal description
- may be used on an older xterm, you may have problems, since
- applications that assume these capabilities will produce incorrect
- output on the older xterm (e.g., highlighting is not cleared).
+ are running a modern xterm based on XFree86 (i.e., xterm-new). The
+ earlier X11R6 entry (xterm-r6) and X11R5 entry (xterm-r5) is provided
+ as well. See the --without-xterm-new configure script option if you
+ are unable to update your system.
CONFIGURING FALLBACK ENTRIES:
In order to support operation of ncurses programs before the terminfo
tree is accessible (that is, in single-user mode or at OS installation
time) the ncurses library can be compiled to include an array of
- pre-fetched fallback entries.
+ pre-fetched fallback entries. This must be done on a machine which
+ has ncurses' infocmp and terminfo database installed (as well as
+ ncurses' tic and infocmp programs).
These entries are checked by setupterm() only when the conventional
fetches from the terminfo tree and the termcap fallback (if configured)
shadow modifications to the on-disk entry for the same type, when that
entry is accessible.
- By default, there are no entries on the fallback list. After you
- have built the ncurses suite for the first time, you can change
- the list (the process needs infocmp(1)). To do so, use the script
- MKfallback.sh. A configure script option --with-fallbacks does this
- (it accepts a comma-separated list of the names you wish, and does
- not require a rebuild).
+ By default, there are no entries on the fallback list. After you have
+ built the ncurses suite for the first time, you can change the list
+ (the process needs infocmp(1)). To do so, use the script
+ ncurses/tinfo/MKfallback.sh. The configure script option
+ --with-fallbacks does this (it accepts a comma-separated list of the
+ names you wish, and does not require a rebuild).
If you wanted (say) to have linux, vt100, and xterm fallbacks, you
- would use the commands
+ might use the commands
cd ncurses;
- MKfallback.sh linux vt100 xterm >fallback.c
+ tinfo/MKfallback.sh \
+ $TERMINFO \
+ ../misc/terminfo.src \
+ `which tic` \
+ linux vt100 xterm >fallback.c
+
+ The first three parameters of the script are normally supplied by
+ the configured makefiles via the "--with-fallbacks" option. They
+ are
+
+ 1) the location of the terminfo database
+ 2) the source for the terminfo entries
+ 3) the location of the tic program, used to create a terminfo
+ database.
Then just rebuild and reinstall the library as you would normally.
You can restore the default empty fallback list with
- MKfallback.sh >fallback.c
+ tinfo/MKfallback.sh \
+ $TERMINFO \
+ ../misc/terminfo.src \
+ `which tic` \
+ >fallback.c
The overhead for an empty fallback list is one trivial stub function.
Any non-empty fallback list is const-ed and therefore lives in sharable
They have to do with the ncurses library, which uses terminfo rather
than termcap for describing terminal characteristics.
-Though the ncurses library is terminfo-based, it will interpret your
+Though the ncurses library is terminfo-based, it can interpret your
TERMCAP variable (if present), any local termcap files you reference
-through it, and the system termcap file. However, in order to avoid
-slowing down your application startup, it will only do this once per
-terminal type!
+through it, and the system termcap file. However, to avoid slowing
+down your application startup, it does this only once per terminal type!
The first time you load a given terminal type from your termcap
database, the library initialization code will automatically write it
can't hard-link across them. The --enable-symlinks option copes
with this by making tic use symbolic links.
-USING NCURSES WITH EMACS:
- GNU Emacs has its own termcap support. By default, it uses a mixture
- of those functions and code linked from the host system's libraries.
- You need to foil this and shut out the GNU termcap library entirely.
-
- In order to do this, hack the Linux config file (s/linux.h) to contain
- a #define TERMINFO and set the symbol LIBS_TERMCAP to "-lncurses".
-
- We have submitted such a change for the 19.30 release, so it may
- already be applied in your sources -- check for the #define TERMINFO.
-
USING NCURSES WITH GPM:
Ncurses 4.1 and up can be configured to use GPM (General Purpose Mouse)
- which is used on Linux console. Be aware that GPM is commonly
+ which is used with Linux console. Be aware that GPM is commonly
installed as a shared library which contains a wrapper for the curses
wgetch() function (libcurses.o). Some integrators have simplified
- linking applications by combining all or part of libcurses.so (the BSD
- curses) into the libgpm.so file, producing symbol conflicts with
- ncurses (specifically the wgetch function). You may be able to work
- around this problem by linking as follows:
+ linking applications by combining all or part of libcurses.so into the
+ libgpm.so file, producing symbol conflicts with ncurses (specifically
+ the wgetch function). This was originally the BSD curses, but
+ generally whatever curses library exists on the system.
+
+ You may be able to work around this problem by linking as follows:
cc -o foo foo.o -lncurses -lgpm -lncurses
but the linker may not cooperate, producing mysterious errors.
- A patched version of gpm is available:
+ See the FAQ, as well as the discussion under the --with-gpm option:
+
+ http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses.faq.html#using_gpm_lib
+
+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. The essential thing to do
+ is set the BUILD_CC environment variable to your host's compiler, and
+ run the configure script configuring for the cross-compiler.
- dickey.his.com:/ncurses/gpm-1.10-970125.tar.gz
+ The configure options --with-build-cc, etc., are provided to make this
+ simpler. Since make_hash and make_keys use only ANSI C features, it
+ is normally not necessary to provide the other options such as
+ --with-build-libs, but they are provided for completeness.
- This patch is incorporated in gpm 1.12; however some integrators
- are slow to update this library. Current distributions of gpm can
- be configured properly using the --without-curses option.
+ 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.
+
+ When ncurses has been successfully cross-compiled, you may want to use
+ "make install" (with a suitable target directory) to construct an
+ install tree. Note that in this case (as with the --with-fallbacks
+ option), ncurses uses the development platform's tic to do the
+ "make install.data" portion.
+
+ The system's tic program is used to install the terminal database,
+ even for cross-compiles. For best results, the tic program should
+ be from the most current version of ncurses.
BUGS:
Send any feedback to the ncurses mailing list at
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.
+
+-- vile:txtmode
projects / ncurses.git / blobdiff