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-<TITLE>Announcing ncurses @VERSION@</TITLE>
-<link rev=made href="mailto:bug-ncurses@gnu.org">
-<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
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-
-<H1>Announcing ncurses @VERSION@</H1>
-
-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.<P>
-
-In mid-June 1995, the maintainer of 4.4BSD curses declared that he
-considered 4.4BSD curses obsolete, and encouraged the keepers of
-Unix releases such as BSD/OS, FreeBSD and NetBSD to switch over to
-ncurses.<P>
-
-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!<P>
-
-The distribution includes the library and support utilities, including a
-terminfo compiler tic(1), a decompiler infocmp(1), clear(1), tput(1), tset(1),
-and a termcap conversion tool captoinfo(1). Full manual pages are provided for
-the library and tools.<P>
-
-The ncurses distribution is available via anonymous FTP at
-the GNU distribution site
-<A HREF="ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/ncurses/">ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/ncurses/</A> .
-<br>It is also available at
-<A HREF="ftp://invisible-island.net/ncurses/">ftp://invisible-island.net/ncurses/</A> .
-
-<H1>Release Notes</H1>
-
-This release is designed to be upward compatible from ncurses 5.0 through 5.6;
-very few applications will require recompilation, depending on the platform.
-These are the highlights from the change-log since ncurses 5.6 release.
-<p>
-Interface changes:
-<ul>
- <li>generate linkable stubs for some macros:
- <br>
- getattrs
-
-</ul>
-New features and improvements:
-<ul>
- <li>library
- <ul>
- <li>new flavor of the ncurses library provides rudimentary
- support for POSIX threads. Several functions are
- reentrant, but most require either a window-level or
- screen-level mutex.<br>
- (This is <em>API</em>-compatible,
- but not <em>ABI</em>-compatible with the normal library).
-
- <li>add <code>NCURSES_OPAQUE</code> symbol to curses.h, will
- use to make structs opaque in selected configurations.
-
- <li>add <code>NCURSES_EXT_FUNCS</code> and
- <code>NCURSES_EXT_COLORS</code> symbols to curses.h to make
- it simpler to tell if the extended functions and/or colors
- are declared.
-
- <li>add wresize() to C++ binding
-
- <li>eliminate fixed-buffer vsprintf() calls in C++ binding.
-
- <li>add several functions to C++ binding which wrap C functions
- that pass a WINDOW* parameter.
-
- <li>adapt mouse-handling code from menu library in form-library
-
- <li>improve tracing for form library, showing created forms,
- fields, etc.
-
- <li>make $NCURSES_NO_PADDING feature work for termcap interface .
-
- <li>add check to trace-file open, if the given name is a
- directory, add ".log" to the name and try again.
-
- <li>several new manpages: curs_legacy.3x, curs_memleaks.3x,
- curs_opaque.3x and curs_threads.3x
- </ul>
-
- <li>programs:
- <ul>
- <li>modified three test-programs to demonstrate the threading
- support in this version: ditto, rain, worm.
-
- <li>several new test-programs: demo_panels, dots_mvcur,
- inch_wide, inchs, key_name, key_names, savescreen,
- savescreen.sh test_arrays, test_get_wstr, test_getstr,
- test_instr, test_inwstr and test_opaque.
-
- <li>add <code>adacurses-config</code> to the Ada95 install.
-
- <li>modify tic <code>-f</code> option to format spaces as
- <code>\s</code> to prevent them from being lost when that
- is read back in unformatted strings.
-
- <li>The <code>tack</code> program is now distributed separately
- from ncurses.
- </ul>
-
- <li>terminal database
- <ul>
- <li>added entries:
- <ul>
- <li><code>Eterm-256color</code>,
- <code>Eterm-88color</code> and
- <code>rxvt-88color</code>
- <li><code>aterm</code>
- <li><code>konsole-256color</code>
- <li><code>mrxvt</code>
- <li><code>screen.mlterm</code>
- <li><code>screen.rxvt</code>
- <li><code>teraterm4.59</code> is now the primary primary
- teraterm entry, renamed original to
- <code>teraterm2.3</code>
- <li><code>9term</code> terminal
- <li>Newbury Data entries
- </ul>
- <li>updated/improved entries:
- <ul>
- <li><code>gnome</code> to version 2.22.3
- <li><code>h19</code>, <code>z100</code>
- <li><code>konsole</code> to version 1.6.6
- <li><code>mlterm</code>, <code>mlterm+pcfkeys</code>
- <li><code>xterm</code>, and building-blocks for function-keys
- to <a href="http://invisible-island.net/xterm/xterm.log.html#xterm_230">xterm patch #230</a>.
- </ul>
- </ul>
-</ul>
-Major bug fixes:
-<ul>
- <li>add logic to tic for cancelling strings in user-defined
- capabilities
- (this is <em>needed</em> for
- current <code>konsole</code> terminfo entry).
-
- <li>modify <code>mk-1st.awk</code> so the generated makefile rules for
- linking or installing shared libraries do not first remove the
- library, in case it is in use, e.g., <code>libncurses.so</code> by
- <code>/bin/sh</code>.
-
- <li>correct check for notimeout() in wgetch().
-
- <li>fix a sign-extension bug in infocmp's repair_acsc() function.
-
- <li>change winnstr() to stop at the end of the line.
-
- <li>make Ada95 demo_panels() example work.
-
- <li>fix for adding a non-spacing character at the beginning of a line.
-
- <li>fill in extended-color pair to make colors work
- for wide-characters using extended-colors.
-
- <li>improve refresh of window on top of multi-column characters,
- taking into account split characters on left/right window
- boundaries.
-
- <li>modify <code>win_wchnstr()</code> to ensure that only a base cell
- is returned for each multi-column character.
-
- <li>improve <code>waddch()</code> and <code>winsch()</code> handling of
- EILSEQ from <code>mbrtowc()</code> by using <code>unctrl()</code>
- to display illegal bytes rather than trying to append further bytes
- to make up a valid sequence.
-
- <li>restore <code>curs_set()</code> state after
- <code>endwin()</code>/<code>refresh()</code>
-
- <li>modify <code>keyname()</code> to use "^X" form only if
- <code>meta()</code> has been called, or if <code>keyname()</code>
- is called without initializing curses, e.g., via
- <code>initscr()</code> or <code>newterm()</code>.
-
- <li>modify <code>unctrl()</code> to check codes in 128-255 range versus
- <code>isprint()</code>.
- If they are not printable, and locale was set, use a "M-" or "~"
- sequence.
-
- <li>improve <code>resizeterm()</code> by moving ripped-off lines, and
- repainting the soft-keys.
-
- <li>modify form library to accept control characters such as newline
- in set_field_buffer(), which is compatible with Solaris.
-
- <li>use <code>NCURSES_MOUSE_MASK()</code> in definition of
- <code>BUTTON_RELEASE()</code>, etc., to make those work properly
- with the <code>--enable-ext-mouse</code> configuration
-
- <li>correct some functions in Ada95 binding which were using return
- value from C where none was returned.
-
- <li>reviewed/fixed issues reported by Coverity and Klocwork tools.
-</ul>
-
-Portability:
-<ul>
- <li>configure script:
- <ul>
- <li>new options:
- <dl>
-
- <dt>--disable-big-strings
- <dd>control whether static string tables are generated as single
- large strings (to improve startup performance), or as array
- of individual strings.
-
- <dt>--disable-relink
- <dd>control whether shared libraries are relinked (during install)
- when rpath is enabled.
-
- <dt>--disable-tic-depends
- <dd>make explicit whether tic library depends on ncurses/ncursesw
- library.
-
- <dt>--enable-mixed-case
- <dd>override the configure script's check if the filesystem
- supports mixed-case filenames.
- This allows one to control how the terminal database
- maps to the filesystem.
- For filesystems that do not support mixed-case, the library
- uses generate 2-character (hexadecimal) codes for the
- lower-level of the filesystem terminfo database
-
- <dt>--enable-reentrant
- <dd>builds a different flavor of the ncurses library (ncursest)
- which improves reentrant use of the
- library by reducing global and static variables
- (see the "--with-pthread" option for the threaded support).
-
- <dt>--enable-weak-symbols
- <dd>use weak-symbols for linking to the POSIX thread library,
- and use the same soname for the ncurses shared library
- as the normal library (caveat: the ABI is for the threaded
- library, which makes global data accessed via functions).
-
- <dt>--with-pthread
- <dd>build with the POSIX thread library (tested with AIX,
- Linux, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, HPUX, IRIX64, Solaris, Tru64).
-
- <dt>--with-ticlib
- <dd>build/install the tic-support functions in a separate library
-
- </dl>
-
- <li>improved options:
- <dl>
-
- <dt>--enable-ext-colors
- <dd>requires the wide-character configuration.
-
- <dt>--with-chtype
- <dd>ignore option value "unsigned" is always added to
- the type in curses.h; do the same for --with-mmask-t.
-
- <dt>--with-dmalloc
- <dd>build-fix for redefinition of <code>strndup</code>.
-
- <dt>--with-hashed-db
- <dd>accepts a parameter which is the install-prefix of a given
- Berkeley Database.
-
- <dt>--with-hashed-db
- <dd>the $LIBS environment variable overrides the search for the db
- library.
-
- <dt>--without-hashed-db
- <dd>assumed when "--disable-database" is used.
-
- </dl>
-
- </ul>
-
- <li>other configure/build issues:
- <ul>
- <li>build-fixes for LynxOS
- <li>modify shared-library rules to allow FreeBSD 3.x to use rpath.
- <li>build-fix for FreeBSD "contemporary" TTY interface.
- <li>build-fixes for AIX with libtool.
- <li>build-fixes for Darwin and libtool.
- <li>modify BeOS-specific ifdef's to build on Haiku.
- <li>corrected gcc options for building shared libraries on Solaris
- and IRIX64.
- <li>change shared-library configuration for OpenBSD, make rpath work.
- <li>build-fixes for using libutf8, e.g., on OpenBSD 3.7
- <li>add "-e" option in ncurses/Makefile.in when generating source-files
- to force earlier exit if the build environment fails unexpectedly.
- <li>add support for shared libraries for QNX.
- <li>change delimiter in <code>MKlib_gen.sh</code> from '%' to '@', to
- avoid substitution by IBM xlc to '#' as part of its extensions to
- digraphs.
- </ul>
-
- <li>library:
- <ul>
- <li>rewrite wrapper for <code>wcrtomb()</code>, making it work on
- Solaris. This is used in the form library to determine the length
- of the buffer needed by <code>field_buffer</code>.
- <li>add/use configure script macro CF_SIG_ATOMIC_T, use the corresponding
- type for data manipulated by signal handlers.
- <li>set locale in misc/ncurses-config.in since it uses a range
- <li>disable GPM mouse support when $TERM does not happen to contain
- "linux", since Gpm_Open() no longer limits its assertion to terminals
- that it might handle, e.g., within "screen" in xterm.
- <li>reset mouse file-descriptor when unloading GPM library.
- </ul>
-
- <li>test programs:
- <ul>
- <li>update test programs to build/work with various UNIX curses for
- comparisons.
- </ul>
-</ul>
-
-<H1>Features of Ncurses</H1>
-
-The ncurses package is fully compatible with SVr4 (System V Release 4) curses:
-
-<UL>
-<LI>All 257 of the SVr4 calls have been implemented (and are documented).
-<LI>Full support for SVr4 curses features including keyboard mapping, color,
-forms-drawing with ACS characters, and automatic recognition of keypad
-and function keys.
-<LI>An emulation of the SVr4 panels library, supporting
-a stack of windows with backing store, is included.
-<LI>An emulation of the SVr4 menus library, supporting
-a uniform but flexible interface for menu programming, is included.
-<LI>An emulation of the SVr4 form library, supporting
-data collection through on-screen forms, is included.
-<LI>Binary terminfo entries generated by the ncurses tic(1) implementation
-are bit-for-bit-compatible with the entry format SVr4 curses uses.
-<LI>The utilities have options to allow you to filter terminfo
-entries for use with less capable <STRONG>curses</STRONG>/<STRONG>terminfo</STRONG>
-versions such as the HP/UX and AIX ports.</UL>
-
-The ncurses package also has many useful extensions over SVr4:
-
-<UL>
-<LI>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,
-and most EXTENDED features).
-It includes many function calls not supported under SVr4 curses
-(but portability of all
-calls is documented so you can use the SVr4 subset only).
-<LI>Unlike SVr3 curses, ncurses can write to the rightmost-bottommost corner
-of the screen if your terminal has an insert-character capability.
-<LI>Ada95 and C++ bindings.
-<LI>Support for mouse event reporting with X Window xterm
-and FreeBSD and OS/2 console windows.
-<LI>Extended mouse support via Alessandro Rubini's gpm package.
-<LI>The function <CODE>wresize()</CODE> allows you to resize windows, preserving
-their data.
-<LI>The function <CODE>use_default_colors()</CODE> allows you to
-use the terminal's default colors for the default color pair,
-achieving the effect of transparent colors.
-<LI>The functions <CODE>keyok()</CODE>
-and <CODE>define_key()</CODE> 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.
-<LI>Support for 256-color terminals, such as modern xterm, when configured
-using the <code>--enable-ext-colors</code> option.
-<LI>Support for 16-color terminals, such as aixterm and modern xterm.
-<LI>Better cursor-movement optimization. The package now features a
-cursor-local-movement computation more efficient than either BSD's
-or System V's.
-<LI>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.
-<LI>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.
-<LI>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).
-<LI>The tic(1)/captoinfo utility provided with ncurses has the
-ability to translate many termcaps from the XENIX, IBM and
-AT&T extension sets.
-<LI>A BSD-like tset(1) utility is provided.
-<LI>The ncurses library and utilities will automatically read terminfo
-entries from $HOME/.terminfo if it exists, and compile to that directory
-if it exists and the user has no write access to the system directory.
-This feature makes it easier for users to have personal terminfo entries
-without giving up access to the system terminfo directory.
-<LI>You may specify a path of directories to search for compiled
-descriptions with the environment variable TERMINFO_DIRS (this
-generalizes the feature provided by TERMINFO under stock System V.)
-<LI>In terminfo source files, use capabilities may refer not just to
-other entries in the same source file (as in System V) but also to
-compiled entries in either the system terminfo directory or the user's
-$HOME/.terminfo directory.
-<LI>A script (<STRONG>capconvert</STRONG>) 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.
-<LI>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.
-<LI>The table-of-entries utility <STRONG>toe</STRONG> makes it easy for users to
-see exactly what terminal types are available on the system.
-<LI>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
-<CODE>#undef</CODE>.
-<LI>An HTML "Introduction to Programming with NCURSES" document provides
-a narrative introduction to the curses programming interface.
-</UL>
-
-<H1>State of the Package</H1>
-
-Numerous bugs present in earlier versions have been fixed; the
-library is far more reliable than it used to be. Bounds checking in many
-`dangerous' entry points has been improved. The code is now type-safe
-according to gcc -Wall. The library has been checked for malloc leaks and
-arena corruption by the Purify memory-allocation tester.<P>
-
-The ncurses code has been tested with a wide variety of applications
-including (versions starting with those noted):
-<DL>
-<DT> cdk
-<DD> Curses Development Kit
-<br>
-<A HREF="http://invisible-island.net/cdk/">http://invisible-island.net/cdk/</A>
-<br>
-<A HREF="http://www.vexus.ca/products/CDK/">http://www.vexus.ca/products/CDK/</a>
-<DT> ded
-<DD> directory-editor
-<br>
-<A HREF="http://invisible-island.net/ded/">http://invisible-island.net/ded/</A>
-<DT> dialog
-<DD> the underlying application used in Slackware's setup, and the basis
-for similar applications on GNU/Linux.
-<br>
-<A HREF="http://invisible-island.net/dialog/">http://invisible-island.net/dialog/</A>
-<DT> lynx
-<DD> the character-screen WWW browser
-<br>
-<A HREF="http://lynx.isc.org/release/">http://lynx.isc.org/release/</A>
-<DT> Midnight Commander
-<DD> file manager
-<br>
-<A HREF="http://www.ibiblio.org/mc/">http://www.ibiblio.org/mc/</A>
-<DT> mutt
-<DD> mail utility
-<br>
-<A HREF="http://www.mutt.org/">http://www.mutt.org/</A>
-<DT> ncftp
-<DD> file-transfer utility
-<br>
-<A HREF="http://www.ncftp.com/">http://www.ncftp.com/</A>
-<DT> nvi
-<DD> New vi versions 1.50 are able to use ncurses versions 1.9.7 and later.
-<br>
-<A HREF="http://www.bostic.com/vi/">http://www.bostic.com/vi/</A>
-<br>
-<DT> pinfo
-<DD> Lynx-like info browser.
-<A HREF="https://alioth.debian.org/projects/pinfo/">https://alioth.debian.org/projects/pinfo/</A>
-<DT> tin
-<DD> newsreader, supporting color, MIME
-<A HREF="http://www.tin.org/">http://www.tin.org/</A>
-</DL>
-as well as some that use ncurses for the terminfo support alone:
-<DL>
-<DT> minicom
-<DD> terminal emulator
-<br>
-<A HREF="http://alioth.debian.org/projects/minicom/">
-http://alioth.debian.org/projects/minicom/</A>
-<DT> vile
-<DD> vi-like-emacs
-<br>
-<A HREF="http://invisible-island.net/vile/">http://invisible-island.net/vile/</A>
-</DL>
-<P>
-
-The ncurses distribution includes a selection of test programs (including
-a few games).
-
-<H2>Who's Who and What's What</H2>
-
-Zeyd Ben-Halim
-started it from a previous package pcurses, written by Pavel Curtis.
-Eric S. Raymond
-continued development.
-Jürgen Pfeifer wrote most of the form and menu libraries.
-Ongoing work is being done by
-<A HREF="mailto:dickey@invisible-island.net">Thomas Dickey</A>.
-Thomas Dickey
-acts as the maintainer for the Free Software Foundation,
-which holds the copyright on ncurses.
-Contact the current maintainers at
-<A HREF="mailto:bug-ncurses@gnu.org">bug-ncurses@gnu.org</A>.
-<P>
-
-To join the ncurses mailing list, please write email to
-<CODE>bug-ncurses-request@gnu.org</CODE> containing the line:
-<PRE>
- subscribe <name>@<host.domain>
-</PRE>
-
-This list is open to anyone interested in helping with the development and
-testing of this package.<P>
-
-Beta versions of ncurses and patches to the current release are made available at
-<A HREF="ftp://invisible-island.net/ncurses/">ftp://invisible-island.net/ncurses/</A> .
-
-<H2>Future Plans</H2>
-<UL>
-<LI>Extended-level XPG4 conformance, with internationalization support.
-<LI>Ports to more systems, including DOS and Windows.
-</UL>
-We need people to help with these projects. If you are interested in working
-on them, please join the ncurses list.
-
-<H2>Other Related Resources</H2>
-
-The distribution provides a newer version of the terminfo-format
-terminal description file once maintained by
-<A HREF="http://www.catb.org/~esr/terminfo/">Eric Raymond</A> .
-Unlike the older version, the termcap and terminfo data are provided
-in the same file, and provides several user-definable extensions
-beyond the X/Open specification.<P>
-
-You can find lots of information on terminal-related topics
-not covered in the terminfo file at
-<A HREF="http://www.cs.utk.edu/~shuford/terminal_index.html">Richard Shuford's
-archive</A> .
-</BODY>
-</HTML>
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+
+<html>
+<head>
+ <meta name="generator" content=
+ "HTML Tidy for Linux (vers 25 March 2009), see www.w3.org">
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+ <title>Announcing ncurses @VERSION@</title>
+ <link rev="made" href="mailto:bug-ncurses@gnu.org">
+ <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content=
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+
+<body>
+ <h1 class="no-header">Announcing ncurses @VERSION@</h1>
+
+ <h2><a name="h2-overview" id="h2-overview">Overview</a></h2>
+
+ <p>The <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> (new curses)
+ library is a free software emulation of curses in System V
+ Release 4.0 (SVr4), and more. It uses terminfo format, supports
+ pads and color and multiple highlights and forms characters and
+ function-key mapping, and has all the other SVr4-curses
+ enhancements over BSD curses. SVr4 curses became the basis of
+ X/Open Curses.</p>
+
+ <p>In mid-June 1995, the maintainer of 4.4BSD curses declared
+ that he considered 4.4BSD curses obsolete, and encouraged the
+ keepers of <span class="main-name">unix</span> releases such as
+ BSD/OS, FreeBSD and NetBSD to switch over to <span class=
+ "main-name">ncurses</span>.</p>
+
+ <p>Since 1995, <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> has been
+ ported to many systems:</p>
+
+ <ul>
+ <li>It is used in almost every system based on the Linux kernel
+ (aside from some embedded applications).</li>
+
+ <li>It is used as the system curses library on OpenBSD, FreeBSD
+ and OSX.</li>
+
+ <li>It is used in environments such as Cygwin and MinGW. The
+ first of these was EMX on OS/2 Warp.</li>
+
+ <li>It is used (though usually not as the <em>system</em>
+ curses) on all of the vendor <span class=
+ "main-name">unix</span> systems, e.g., AIX, HP-UX, IRIX64, SCO,
+ Solaris, Tru64.</li>
+
+ <li>It should work readily on any ANSI/POSIX-conforming
+ <span class="main-name">unix</span>.</li>
+ </ul>
+
+ <p>The distribution includes the library and support utilities,
+ including</p>
+
+ <ul>
+ <li><a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/captoinfo.1m.html"><span class="part-name">
+ captoinfo</span></a>, a termcap conversion tool</li>
+
+ <li><a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/clear.1.html"><span class="part-name">
+ clear</span></a>, utility for clearing the screen</li>
+
+ <li><a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/infocmp.1m.html"><span class="part-name">
+ infocmp</span></a>, the terminfo decompiler</li>
+
+ <li><a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/tabs.1.html"><span class="part-name">
+ tabs</span></a>, set tabs on a terminal</li>
+
+ <li><a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/tic.1m.html"><span class="part-name">
+ tic</span></a>, the terminfo compiler</li>
+
+ <li><a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/toe.1m.html"><span class="part-name">
+ toe</span></a>, list (table of) terminfo entries</li>
+
+ <li><a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/tput.1.html"><span class="part-name">
+ tput</span></a>, utility for retrieving terminal capabilities
+ in shell scripts</li>
+
+ <li><a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/tset.1.html"><span class="part-name">
+ tset</span></a>, to initialize the terminal</li>
+ </ul>
+
+ <p>Full manual pages are provided for the library and tools.</p>
+
+ <p>The <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> distribution is
+ available at <span class="main-name">ncurses</span>' <a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/">homepage</a>:</p>
+
+ <blockquote>
+ <p><a href=
+ "ftp://ftp.invisible-island.net/ncurses/">ftp://ftp.invisible-island.net/ncurses/</a>
+ or<br>
+ <a href=
+ "https://invisible-mirror.net/archives/ncurses/">https://invisible-mirror.net/archives/ncurses/</a> .</p>
+ </blockquote>
+
+ <p>It is also available via anonymous FTP at the GNU distribution
+ site</p>
+
+ <blockquote>
+ <p><a href=
+ "ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/ncurses/">ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/ncurses/</a> .</p>
+ </blockquote>
+
+ <h2><a name="h2-release-notes" id="h2-release-notes">Release
+ Notes</a></h2>
+
+ <p>These notes are for <span class="main-name">ncurses</span>
+ @VERSION@, released <strong>January 27, 2018</strong>.</p>
+
+ <p>This release is designed to be source-compatible with
+ <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> 5.0 through 6.0; providing
+ extensions to the application binary interface (ABI). Although
+ the source can still be configured to support the <span class=
+ "main-name">ncurses</span> 5 ABI, the intent of the release is to
+ provide extensions to the <span class="main-name">ncurses</span>
+ <strong>6</strong> ABI:</p>
+
+ <ul>
+ <li>
+ <p>improve integration of <span class="part-name">tput</span>
+ and <span class="part-name">tset</span></p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>provide support for extended numeric capabilities.</p>
+ </li>
+ </ul>
+
+ <p>There are, of course, numerous other improvements, listed in
+ this announcement.</p>
+
+ <p>The release notes also mention some bug-fixes, but are focused
+ on new features and improvements to existing features since
+ <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> 6.0 release.</p>
+
+ <h3><a name="h3-library" id="h3-library">Library
+ improvements</a></h3>
+
+ <h4><a name="h4-new-library" id="h4-new-library">New
+ features</a></h4>
+
+ <p>The improved integration of <span class=
+ "part-name">tput</span> and <span class="part-name">tset</span>
+ made only small changes to the libraries. However, supporting
+ extended numeric capabilities required a few changes:</p>
+
+ <ul>
+ <li>
+ <p>The <code>TERMINAL</code> structure in
+ <code><term.h></code> is now opaque. Doing that allowed
+ making the structure larger, to hold the extended numeric
+ data.</p>
+
+ <p>A few applications required changes during development of
+ <span class="main-name">ncurses 6.1</span> because those
+ applications misused the members of that structure, e.g.,
+ directly modifying it rather than using <a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_kernel.3x.html#h3-def_prog_mode_-def_shell_mode">
+ def_prog_mode</a>.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>Having made <code>TERMINAL</code> opaque (and because none
+ of the library functions use anything except a pointer to
+ <code>TERMINAL</code>), it was possible to increase the size
+ of the structure, adding to the end.</p>
+
+ <p>Existing applications which were linked to the
+ <span class="part-name">ncurses 6.0</span> high-level
+ (<em>ncurses</em>, <em>ncursesw</em>) and low-level
+ (<em>tinfo</em>, <em>tinfo</em>) libraries should not require
+ re-linking since the binary interface did not change, nor did
+ the structure offsets with <code>TERMINAL</code> change.</p>
+
+ <p>A few applications use the inner <code>TERMTYPE</code>
+ structure's offsets to refer to terminfo capabilities within
+ that structure. Again, those do not require modification
+ because their offsets within <code>TERMINAL</code> did not
+ change.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>When configured for wide-characters, i.e.,
+ “ncursesw” the <code>TERMINAL</code> structure is
+ extended.</p>
+
+ <p>The new data in <code>TERMINAL</code> holds the same
+ information as <code>TERMTYPE</code>, but with larger numbers
+ (“int” versus “short”). It is named
+ <code>TERMTYPE2</code>.</p>
+
+ <p>The library uses this structure internally in preference
+ to <code>TERMTYPE</code>, referring to <code>TERMTYPE</code>
+ only to initialize it for applications that use the
+ capabilities defined in <code><term.h></code></p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>When configured for 8-bit (narrow) characters, the
+ <code>TERMTYPE2</code> structure is not used.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>The updated application binary interface is 6.1.20171230
+ (used for new <a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses-mapsyms.html">versioned
+ symbols</a>), although the interface changes were developed
+ several months previously.</li>
+ </ul>
+
+ <p>The motivation for making this extension came from noticing
+ that <a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/tctest.html#bsd42-numeric-caps">
+ termcap applications</a> could (though not <a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses-slang.html#cause_numbers">
+ realistically</a>) use larger numbers than would fit in 16-bits,
+ and the fact that the number of color pairs for a 256-color xterm
+ could not be expressed in terminfo (i.e., 32767 versus 65536).
+ Also, a few terminals support direct-colors, which could use the
+ extension.</p>
+
+ <p>Generally speaking, applications that use internal details of
+ a library are unsupported. There was exactly one exception for
+ <span class="main-name">ncurses</span>: the <span class=
+ "main-name">tack</span> program <em>used</em> the internal
+ details of <code>TERMINAL</code>, because it provides an
+ ncurses-specific feature for interactively modifying a terminfo
+ description and writing the updated description to a text-file.
+ It was possible to not only separate <span class=
+ "main-name">tack</span> from these <a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/tack.html#portable">internal
+ details of <span class="main-name">ncurses</span></a>, but to
+ generalize it so that the program works with Unix curses
+ (omitting the ncurses-specific feature). That was released as
+ <a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/tack/CHANGES.html#index-t20170726">
+ <span class="main-name">tack</span> 1.08</a> in July
+ 2017.</p>
+
+ <p>While making changes to <span class="main-name">tack</span> to
+ eliminate its dependency upon <span class=
+ "main-name">ncurses</span> internals, the publicly-visible
+ details of those internals were reviewed, and some symbols were
+ moved to private header files, while others were marked
+ explicitly as <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> internals.
+ Future releases of <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> may
+ eliminate some of those symbols (such as those used by
+ <span class="main-name">tack</span> 1.07) because they are
+ neither part of the API or the ABI.</p>
+
+ <p>Using the <code>TERMTYPE2</code> extended numeric
+ capabilities, it is possible to support both color pair values
+ and color values past 32767. Taking compatibility into account,
+ developers readily understand that neither function signatures
+ nor structure offsets change. Also, existing functions have to
+ operate with the extended numbers. Most of that work is internal
+ to the library. For the external interfaces, a hybrid approach
+ was used:</p>
+
+ <ul>
+ <li>
+ <p>X/Open Curses defined function prototypes such as
+ <code>wattr_set</code> with an unused parameter, for
+ “future” use. After 25 years, the future is here:
+ <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> uses the parameter to
+ augment color pair values as described in the <a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_attr.3x.html#h2-EXTENSIONS">
+ manual page</a>.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>Other functions such as those defining color pairs did not
+ have a corresponding <em>reserved</em> parameter. For those,
+ <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> defines extended
+ versions such as <code>init_extended_pair</code> (versus
+ <code>init_pair</code>), <code>init_extended_color</code>
+ (versus <code>init_color</code>).</p>
+ </li>
+ </ul>
+
+ <p>Additionally, to improve performance other changes (and
+ extensions) are provided in this release:</p>
+
+ <ul>
+ <li>
+ <p>Several new functions simplify management of large sets of
+ color pairs: <code>reset_color_pairs</code>,
+ <code>alloc_pair</code>, <code>find_pair</code> and
+ <code>free_pair</code>.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>New "RGB" extension capability for direct-color support is
+ used to improve performance of
+ <code>color_content</code>.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>The internal <code>colorpair_t</code> is now a struct,
+ eliminating an internal 8-bit limit on colors</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>Allocation for <code>SCREEN</code>'s color-pair table
+ starts small, grows on demand up to the limit given in the
+ terminal description.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p><code>setcchar</code> and <code>getcchar</code> now treat
+ a negative color-pair as an error.</p>
+ </li>
+ </ul>
+
+ <h4><a name="h4-fixes-library" id="h4-fixes-library">Other
+ improvements</a></h4>
+
+ <p>These are new or revised features:</p>
+
+ <ul>
+ <li>
+ <p>modify <code>c++/etip.h.in</code> to accommodate
+ deprecation of throw and throws in c++17</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>add new function <code>unfocus_current_field</code></p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>add option to preserve leading whitespace in form
+ fields</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>add a macro for <code>is_linetouched</code> and adjust the
+ function's return value to make it possible for most
+ applications to check for an error-return.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>add build-time utility <code>report_offsets</code> to help
+ show when the various configurations of tinfo library are
+ compatible or not.</p>
+ </li>
+ </ul>
+
+ <p>These were done to limit or ultimately deprecate features:</p>
+
+ <ul>
+ <li>
+ <p>drop two symbols obsoleted in 2004:
+ <code>_nc_check_termtype</code>, and
+ <code>_nc_resolve_uses</code></p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>move <code>_nc_tracebits</code>, <code>_tracedump</code>
+ and <code>_tracemouse</code> to <code>curses.priv.h</code>,
+ since they are not part of the suggested ABI6.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>mark some structs in form/menu/panel libraries as
+ potentially opaque without modifying API/ABI.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>ifdef'd header-file definition of <code>mouse_trafo</code>
+ with <code>NCURSES_NOMACROS</code></p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>remove initialization-check for calling <code>napms</code>
+ in the term-driver configuration; none is needed.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>modify <code>trace</code> to avoid overwriting existing
+ file</p>
+ </li>
+ </ul>
+
+ <p>These are improvements to existing features:</p>
+
+ <ul>
+ <li>
+ <p>modify <code>make_hash</code> to allow building with
+ address-sanitizer, assuming that <code>--disable-leaks</code>
+ is configured.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>move <code>SCREEN</code> field for <code>use_tioctl</code>
+ data before the ncursesw fields, and limit that to the
+ sp-funcs configuration to improve termlib compatibility</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>modify db-iterator:</p>
+
+ <ul>
+ <li>
+ <p>ignore zero-length files in db-iterator; these are
+ useful for instance to suppress
+ <code>$HOME/.terminfo</code> when not wanted.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>modify <code>update_getenv</code> to ensure that
+ environment variables which are not initially set will be
+ checked later if an application happens to set them</p>
+ </li>
+ </ul>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>modify <code>_nc_outc_wrapper</code> to use the standard
+ output if the screen was not initialized, rather than
+ returning an error.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>improve checks for low-level terminfo functions when the
+ terminal has not been initialized.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>modify <code>set_curterm</code> to update
+ <code>ttytype[]</code> data used by longname/p></p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>modify <code>_nc_get_screensize</code> to allow for
+ <code>use_env</code> and <code>use_tioctl</code> state to be
+ per-screen when sp-funcs are configured, better matching the
+ behavior when using the term-driver configuration.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>remove an early-return from <code>_nc_do_color,</code>
+ which can interfere with data needed by <code>bkgd</code>
+ when <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> is configured
+ with extended colors</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>incorporate <code>A_COLOR</code> mask into
+ <code>COLOR_PAIR</code>, in case user application provides an
+ out-of-range pair number</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>modify logic for <code>endwin</code>-state to be able to
+ detect the case where the screen was never initialized, using
+ that to trigger a flush of <span class=
+ "main-name">ncurses'</span> buffer for <code>mvcur</code>,
+ e.g., in the sample program <span class=
+ "part-name">dots_mvcur</span> for the term-driver
+ configuration.</p>
+ </li>
+ </ul>
+
+ <p>These are corrections to existing features:</p>
+
+ <ul>
+ <li>
+ <p>fixes for writing extended color pairs in
+ <code>putwin</code>.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>modify no-leaks code for <code>lib_cur_term.c</code> to
+ account for the <code>tgetent</code> cache.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>amend handling of the <code>repeat_char</code> capability
+ in <code>EmitRange</code> to avoid scope creep: translate the
+ character to the alternate character set when the alternate
+ character set is enabled, and do not use
+ <code>repeat_char</code> for characters past 255.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>improve wide-character implementation of
+ <code>myADDNSTR</code> in <code>frm_driver.c</code>, which
+ was inconsistent with the normal implementation.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>modify <code>winnstr</code> and <code>winchnstr</code> to
+ return error if the output pointer is null, as well as adding
+ a null pointer check of the window pointer for better
+ compatibility with other implementations.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>modify <code>setupterm</code> to save original tty-modes
+ so that <code>erasechar</code> works as expected. Also modify
+ <code>_nc_setupscreen</code> to avoid redundant calls to get
+ original tty-modes.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>modify <code>wattr_set</code> and <code>wattr_get</code>
+ to return <code>ERR</code> if <em>win</em>-parameter is null,
+ as documented.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>correct order of initialization for traces in
+ <code>use_env</code> and <code>use_tioctl</code> versus first
+ <code>_tracef</code> calls.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>correct parameters for <code>copywin</code> call in
+ <code>_nc_Synchronize_Attributes</code></p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>flush the standard output in <code>_nc_flush</code> for
+ the case where <code>SP</code> is zero, e.g., when called via
+ <code>putp</code>. This fixes a scenario where
+ “tput flash” did not work after changes in
+ 20130112.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>amend internal use of <code>tputs</code> to consistently
+ use the number of lines affected, e.g., for insert/delete
+ character operations. While merging terminfo source early in
+ 1995, several descriptions used the
+ “<code>*</code>” proportional delay for these
+ operations, prompting a change in <code>doupdate</code>.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>correct return-value of extended <code>putwin</code>.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>double-width multibyte characters were not counted
+ properly in <code>winsnstr</code> and
+ <code>wins_nwstr</code>.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>amend fix for <code>_nc_ripoffline</code> from 20091031 to
+ make <code>test/ditto.c</code> work in threaded
+ configuration.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>modify <code>_nc_viscbuf2</code> and
+ <code>_tracecchar_t2</code> to trace wide-characters as a
+ whole rather than their multibyte equivalents.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>minor fix in <code>wadd_wchnstr</code> to ensure that each
+ cell has nonzero width.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>move <code>PUTC_INIT</code> calls next to
+ <code>wcrtomb</code> calls, to avoid carry-over of error
+ status when processing Unicode values which are not
+ mapped.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>add missing assignment in <code>lib_getch.c</code> to make
+ <code>notimeout</code> work</p>
+ </li>
+ </ul>
+
+ <h3><a name="h3-programs" id="h3-programs">Program
+ improvements</a></h3>
+
+ <p>While reviewing user feedback, it became apparent that the
+ differences between <a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/tset.1.html#h3-reset---reinitialization">
+ <span class="part-name">reset</span></a> (an alias for
+ <span class="part-name">tset</span>) and “<span class=
+ "part-name">tput reset</span>” were confusing:</p>
+
+ <ul>
+ <li>one (<a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/tset.1.html">tset</a>)
+ updated the terminal modes, but used only part of the terminfo
+ capabilities for initialization, while</li>
+
+ <li>the other (<a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/tput.1.html"><span class="part-name">tput</span></a>)
+ used all of the terminal capabilities while neglecting the
+ terminal modes.</li>
+ </ul>
+
+ <p>On further investigation, it turned out that the differences
+ were largely an accident due to the way those programs had
+ evolved.</p>
+
+ <p>This release eliminates the unnecessary differences, using the
+ same approach for <span class="part-name">tput</span>'s
+ <em>init</em> (initialization), <em>reset</em> and <em>clear</em>
+ operations as the separate <a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/tset.1.html#h3-reset---reinitialization">
+ reset</a> and <a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/clear.1.html"><span class="part-name">
+ clear</span></a> programs. Doing this does not change the
+ command-line options; existing scripts are unaffected.</p>
+
+ <p>These are the user-visible changes for the three programs
+ (<span class="part-name">tput</span>, <span class=
+ "part-name">tset</span> and <span class=
+ "part-name">clear</span>):</p>
+
+ <ul>
+ <li>
+ <p>add the terminal-mode parts of “<span class=
+ "part-name">reset</span>” (aka <span class=
+ "part-name">tset</span>) to the “<code>tput
+ reset</code>” command, making the two almost the same
+ except for window-size.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>improve <span class="part-name">tput</span>'s check for
+ being called as “init” or “reset” to
+ allow for transformed names.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>add “clear” as a possible link/alias to
+ <span class="part-name">tput</span>.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>amend changes for <span class="part-name">tput</span> to
+ reset tty modes to “sane” if the program is run
+ as “reset”, like <span class=
+ "part-name">tset</span>. Likewise, ensure that <span class=
+ "part-name">tset</span> sends either reset- or
+ init-strings.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>add <code>-x</code> option to <span class=
+ "part-name">clear</span>/<span class="part-name">tput</span>
+ to make the <code>E3</code> extension optional</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>add functionality of
+ “<code>tset -w</code>” to <span class=
+ "part-name">tput</span>, like the
+ “<code>-c</code>” feature this is not optional in
+ <span class="part-name">tput</span>.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>add options <code>-T</code> and <code>-V</code> to
+ <span class="part-name">clear</span> command for
+ compatibility with <span class="part-name">tput</span>.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>drop long-obsolete “<code>-n</code>” option
+ from <span class="part-name">tset</span>.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>modify <span class="part-name">tset</span>'s assignment to
+ <code>TERM</code> in its output to reflect the name by which
+ the terminal description is found, rather than the primary
+ name. That was an unnecessary part from the initial
+ conversion of <span class="part-name">tset</span> from
+ termcap to terminfo. The termcap library in 4.3BSD did this
+ to avoid using the short 2-character name</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>remove a restriction in <span class=
+ "part-name">tput</span>'s support for termcap names which
+ omitted capabilities normally not shown in termcap
+ translations</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>add usage message to <span class="part-name">clear</span>
+ command</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>improve usage messages for <span class=
+ "part-name">tset</span> and <span class=
+ "part-name">tput</span>.</p>
+ </li>
+ </ul>
+
+ <p>Other user-visible improvements and new features include:</p>
+
+ <ul>
+ <li>
+ <p>modify <span class="part-name">tic</span>/<span class=
+ "part-name">infocmp</span> display of numeric values to use
+ hexadecimal when they are "close" to a power of two, making
+ the result more readable.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>add “<code>-W</code>” option to <span class=
+ "part-name">tic</span>/<span class="part-name">infocmp</span>
+ to force long strings to wrap.</p>
+
+ <ul>
+ <li>
+ <p>This is in addition to the
+ “<code>-w</code>” option which attempts to
+ fit capabilities into a given line-length.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>If “<code>-f</code>” option splits line,
+ do not further split it with
+ “<code>-W</code>”.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>Begin a new line when adding
+ “<code>use=</code>” after a wrapped line.</p>
+ </li>
+ </ul>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>add “<code>-q</code>” option to <span class=
+ "part-name">infocmp</span> to suppress the
+ “<code>Reconstructed from</code>” comment from
+ the header, and a corresponding option to <span class=
+ "part-name">tic</span> to suppress all comments from the
+ “<code>tic -I</code>” output.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>Sorted options in usage message for <span class=
+ "part-name">infocmp</span>, to make it simpler to see unused
+ letters.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>Updated usage message for <span class=
+ "part-name">tic</span>, adding “<code>-0</code>”
+ option.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>add <span class="part-name">infocmp</span>/<span class=
+ "part-name">tic</span> “<code>-Q</code>” option,
+ which allows one to dump the compiled form of the terminal
+ entry, in hexadecimal or base64:</p>
+
+ <ul>
+ <li>A “<code>b64:</code>” prefix in the
+ <code>TERMINFO</code> variable tells the terminfo reader to
+ use base64 according to RFC-3548 as well as RFC-4648
+ url/filename-safe format.</li>
+
+ <li>A “<code>hex:</code>” prefix tells the
+ terminfo reader to accept hexadecimal data as generated by
+ “<code>infocmp -0qQ1</code>”.</li>
+ </ul>
+ </li>
+ </ul>
+
+ <p>Other less-visible improvements and new features include:</p>
+
+ <ul>
+ <li>
+ <p>modify utility headers such as <code>tic.h</code> to make
+ it clearer which are externals that are used by <span class=
+ "main-name">tack</span>.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>add “<code>reset</code>” to list of programs
+ whose names might change in manpages due to
+ program-transformation configure options.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>modify “<code>-T</code>” option of
+ <span class="part-name">clear</span> and <span class=
+ "part-name">tput</span> to call <code>use_tioctl</code> to
+ obtain the operating system's notion of the screensize if
+ possible.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>add check in <span class="part-name">tput</span> for
+ init/reset operands to ensure those use a terminal.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>modify programs <span class="part-name">clear</span>,
+ <span class="part-name">tabs</span>, <span class=
+ "part-name">tput</span> and <span class=
+ "part-name">tset</span> to pass the actual tty file
+ descriptor to setupterm rather than the standard output or
+ error, making padding work.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>change <span class="part-name">tset</span>'s
+ initialization to allow it to get settings from the standard
+ input as well as <code>/dev/tty</code>, to be more effective
+ when output or error are redirected.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>amend check in <span class="part-name">tput</span>,
+ <span class="part-name">tabs</span> and <span class=
+ "part-name">clear</span> to allow those to use the
+ database-only features in <span class="part-name">cron</span>
+ if a “<code>-T</code>” option gives a suitable
+ terminal name.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>improve error message from <span class=
+ "part-name">tset</span>/<span class="part-name">reset</span>
+ when both stderr/stdout are redirected to a file or pipe.</p>
+ </li>
+ </ul>
+
+ <p>Several of the less apparent features deal with translation of
+ terminfo to termcap (and the reverse), with corresponding checks
+ by <span class="part-name">tic</span>:</p>
+
+ <ul>
+ <li>
+ <p>modify check in <code>fmt_entry</code> to handle a
+ cancelled reset string. Make similar fixes in other parts of
+ <code>dump_entry.c</code> and <code>tput.c</code></p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>correct read of terminfo entry in which all strings are
+ absent or explicitly cancelled. Before this fix, the result
+ was that all were treated as only absent.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>modify <span class="part-name">infocmp</span> to suppress
+ mixture of absent/cancelled capabilities that would only show
+ as “<code>NULL, NULL</code>”, unless the
+ “<code>-q</code>” option is used, e.g., to show
+ “<code>-, @</code>” or “<code>@,
+ -</code>”.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>correct a warning from <span class="part-name">tic</span>
+ about keys which are the same, to skip over missing/cancelled
+ values.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>add check in <span class="part-name">tic</span> for use of
+ bold, etc., video attributes in the color capabilities,
+ accounting whether the feature is listed in
+ <code>ncv</code>.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>add check in <span class="part-name">tic</span> for
+ unnecessary use of “<code>2</code>” to denote a
+ shifted special key.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>improve check in <span class="part-name">tic</span> for
+ delays by also warning about beep/flash when a delay is not
+ embedded, or if those use the VT100 reverse video escape
+ without using a delay.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>improve checks in <code>trim_sgr0</code>, comp_parse.c and
+ parse_entry.c, for cancelled string capabilities.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>add check in <span class="part-name">tic</span> for some
+ syntax errors of delays, as well as use of proportional
+ delays for non-line capabilities.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>add check in <span class="part-name">tic</span> for
+ conflict between <code>ritm</code>, <code>rmso</code>,
+ <code>rmul</code> versus <code>sgr0</code>.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>add check in <code>_nc_parse_entry</code> for invalid
+ entry name, setting the name to
+ “<code>invalid</code>” to avoid problems storing
+ entries.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>improve <code>_nc_tparm_analyze</code>, using that to
+ extend the checks made by <span class="part-name">tic</span>
+ for reporting inconsistencies between the expected number of
+ parameters for a capability and the actual.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>remove <span class="part-name">tic</span> warning about
+ “<code>^?</code>” in string capabilities, which
+ was marked as an extension; however all Unix implementations
+ support this and X/Open Curses does not address it. On the
+ other hand, <a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/tctest.html#bsd42-ctl-question">
+ BSD termcap</a> did not support this feature (until the
+ <a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/tctest.html#freebsd-ctl-question">
+ mid-1990s</a>).</p>
+
+ <p>in <code>_nc_infotocap</code>, added a check to ensure
+ that terminfo “<code>^?</code>” is not written to
+ termcap.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>modify <code>sscanf</code> calls in
+ <code>_nc_infotocap</code> for patterns
+ “<code>%{number}%+%c</code>” and
+ “<code>%'char'%+%c</code>” to check that the
+ final character is really “<code>c</code>”,
+ avoiding a case in icl6404 which cannot be converted to
+ termcap.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>in <code>_nc_tic_expand</code> and
+ <code>_nc_infotocap</code>, improved string-length check when
+ deciding whether to use “<code>^X</code>” or
+ “<code>\xxx</code>” format for control
+ characters, to make the output of <span class=
+ "part-name">tic</span>/<span class="part-name">infocmp</span>
+ more predictable.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>limited termcap “<code>%d</code>” width to 2
+ digits on input, and use “<code>%2</code>” in
+ preference to “<code>%02</code>” on output.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>correct terminfo/termcap conversion of
+ “<code>%02</code>” and
+ “<code>%03</code>” into
+ “<code>%2</code>” and
+ “<code>%3</code>”; the result repeated the last
+ character.</p>
+ </li>
+ </ul>
+
+ <h4><a name="h4-examples" id="h4-examples">Examples</a></h4>
+
+ <p>Along with the library and utilities, many improvements were
+ made to the <a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses-examples.html">ncurses-examples</a>.</p>
+
+ <p>These changes were made to demonstrate new extensions in
+ <span class="main-name">ncurses</span>:</p>
+
+ <ul>
+ <li>
+ <p>add <span class="part-name">demo_new_pair</span> program,
+ to demonstrate <a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/new_pair.3x.html#h3-alloc_pair">
+ <code>alloc_pair</code></a>, <a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/new_pair.3x.html#h3-find_pair">
+ <code>find_pair</code></a> and <a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/new_pair.3x.html#h3-free_pair">
+ <code>free_pair</code></a> functions.</p>
+
+ <p>This program iterates over the possible color
+ combinations, allocating or initializing color pairs. For
+ best results, choose screen-width dividing evenly into the
+ number of colors. e.g.,</p>
+
+ <blockquote>
+ <table summary="sample layouts for demo_new_pair">
+ <tr>
+ <td><code>32x64,32x128</code> </td>
+
+ <td>256 colors</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+ <td><code>24x44,24x88</code></td>
+
+ <td>88 colors</td>
+ </tr>
+
+ <tr>
+ <td><code>32x64,24x128</code></td>
+
+ <td>16 colors</td>
+ </tr>
+ </table>
+ </blockquote>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>add <span class="part-name">extended_color</span> program,
+ like the older <span class="part-name">color_set</span>
+ program, but using the extended color functions, with and
+ without the SP-functions interface.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>add <span class="part-name">picsmap</span> program to fill
+ in some testing issues not met by <span class=
+ "part-name">dots</span>, using this as the third example in a
+ comparison of the <a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses-slang.html#compare_picsmap">
+ ncurses versus slang</a> libraries.</p>
+
+ <p>The program can directly read X bitmap and pixmap files,
+ displaying a picture. It can read other image files using
+ <span class="part-name">ImageMagick</span>'s <span class=
+ "part-name">convert</span> program to translate the image
+ into text.</p>
+
+ <p>For 16-, 88- and 256-color terminal descriptions,
+ <span class="part-name">picsmap</span> can load a palette
+ file which tells it which color palette entries to use. For
+ direct-colors, the terminal descriptions use the
+ <code>RGB</code> extension capability.</p>
+ </li>
+ </ul>
+
+ <p>There are other new example programs and a few scripts:</p>
+
+ <ul>
+ <li>
+ <p>add <span class="part-name">dots_xcurses</span> program to
+ illustrate a different approach used for extended colors
+ which can be contrasted with <span class=
+ "part-name">dots_curses</span>.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>add <span class="part-name">list_keys</span> program show
+ function keys for one or more terminal descriptions. It uses
+ <span class="main-name">ncurses'</span>s convention of
+ modifiers for special keys, based on xterm.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>add <span class="part-name">padview</span> program, to
+ compare pads with direct updates in the <span class=
+ "part-name">view</span> program.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>add <span class="part-name">sp_tinfo</span> program to
+ exercise the SP-functions extension of the low-level terminfo
+ library.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>add test-programs for <code>termattrs</code> and
+ <code>term_attrs</code> functions.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>add <span class="part-name">test_sgr</span> program to
+ exercise all combinations of the sgr capability.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>add <span class="part-name">tput-colorcube</span> demo
+ script, imitating xterm's 88- and 256-color scripts using
+ <span class="part-name">tput</span>.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>add <span class="part-name">tput-initc</span> script to
+ demonstrate how <span class="part-name">tput</span> may be
+ used to initialize a color palette from a data file.</p>
+ </li>
+ </ul>
+
+ <p>A variety of improvements were made to existing programs, both
+ new features as well as options added to make the set of programs
+ more consistent.</p>
+
+ <p>The <span class="part-name">ncurses</span> program is the
+ largest; a proportionately large number of changes were made to
+ it:</p>
+
+ <ul>
+ <li>
+ <p>modify a/A screens to make exiting on an escape character
+ depend on the start of keypad and timeout modes, to allow
+ better testing of function-keys.</p>
+
+ <p>add “<code>t</code>” toggle for
+ <code>notimeout</code> function.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>modify layout of b/B screens to allow for additional
+ annotation on the right margin; some terminals with partial
+ support did not display well.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>modify c/C screens to allow for extended color pairs.</p>
+
+ <p>add z/Z <em>zoom</em> feature to make extended color pairs
+ easier to test.</p>
+
+ <p>modify test-screens to take advantage of wide screens,
+ reducing the number of lines used for 88- and 256-colors.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>modify “<code>d</code>” edit-color screen to
+ optionally read xterm color palette directly from terminal,
+ as well as handling <code>KEY_RESIZE</code> and
+ screen-repainting with control/L and control/R.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>add examples to “<code>F</code>” screen for
+ <code>WACS_D_PLUS</code> and <code>WACS_T_PLUS</code>.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>improve “<code>g</code>” screen, correcting
+ ifdef which made the legend not reflect changes to keypad-
+ and scroll-modes. Added check for return-value of
+ <code>putwin</code>.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>make “<code>s</code>” test easier to
+ understand which subtests are available</p>
+
+ <p>add a corresponding “<code>S</code>”
+ wide-character overlap test-screen.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>add “<code>v</code>” screen to show
+ <code>baudrate</code> and other values.</p>
+ </li>
+ </ul>
+
+ <p>These changes were made to the other examples:</p>
+
+ <ul>
+ <li>
+ <p>modify <span class="part-name">blue</span> program to use
+ Unicode values for card-glyphs when available, as well as
+ improving the check for CP437 and CP850.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>improve <span class="part-name">demo_menus</span> program,
+ allowing mouse-click on the menu-headers to switch the active
+ menu. This requires a new extension option
+ <code>O_MOUSE_MENU</code> to tell the menu driver to put
+ mouse events which do not apply to the active menu back into
+ the queue so that the application can handle the event.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>correct logic in <span class=
+ "part-name">demo_terminfo</span> program for
+ “<code>-f</code>” option</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>modify <span class="part-name">ditto</span> program to
+ allow <code>$XTERM_PROG</code> environment variable to
+ override "xterm" as the name of the program to run in the
+ threaded configuration.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>add several options to the “<em>dots</em>”
+ test-programs.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>modify <span class="part-name">filter</span> program:</p>
+
+ <ul>
+ <li>illustrate an alternative to <code>getnstr</code>, that
+ polls for input while updating a clock on the right margin
+ as well as responding to window size-changes.</li>
+
+ <li>adapt logic used in <a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/dialog/"><span class=
+ "main-name">dialog</span></a> <a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/dialog/manpage/dialog.html#h3-Common-Options">
+ “<code>--keep-tite</code>” option</a> for
+ <span class="part-name">filter</span> program as the "-a"
+ option. When set, <span class="part-name">filter</span>
+ attempts to suppress the alternate screen.</li>
+ </ul>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>modify <span class="part-name">knight</span> program to
+ provide the "slow" solution for small screens using
+ “<code>R</code>”, noting that Warnsdorf's method
+ is easily done with “<code>a</code>”.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>modify the <span class="part-name">savescreen</span>
+ program to add test patterns that exercise 88-, 256-, etc.,
+ colors.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>add options to <span class="part-name">test_arrays</span>,
+ for selecting termcap vs terminfo, etc.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>modify the <span class="part-name">view</span>
+ program:</p>
+
+ <ul>
+ <li>expand tabs using the ncurses library rather than in
+ the test-program.</li>
+
+ <li>eliminate the “<code>-n</code>” option by
+ simply reading the whole file.</li>
+
+ <li>implement page up/down commands.</li>
+
+ <li>remove the very old <code>SIGWINCH</code> example; just
+ use <code>KEY_RESIZE</code>.</li>
+ </ul>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>improve animation in <span class="part-name">xmas</span>
+ program by adding a time-delay in <code>blinkit</code>.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>modify several test-programs which call
+ <code>use_default_colors</code> to consistently do this only
+ if the “<code>-d</code>” option is given.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>modify the install-rule for ncurses-examples to put the
+ data files in the data directory, e.g.,
+ <code>/usr/share/ncurses-examples</code>.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>modify several test programs to use new
+ <code>popup_msgs</code> function, adapted from the
+ help-screen used in the <code>edit_field</code> program.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>modify test data for xterm palettes to use the newer
+ color4/color12 values.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>improve the <span class="part-name">tracemunch</span>
+ script:</p>
+
+ <ul>
+ <li>show screenXX pointers and thread identifiers as
+ names.</li>
+
+ <li>chang address-parameters of <code>add_wch</code>,
+ <code>color_content</code> and <code>pair_content</code> to
+ dummy parameters.</li>
+ </ul>
+ </li>
+ </ul>
+
+ <h3><a name="h3-database" id="h3-database">Terminal
+ database</a></h3>
+
+ <p>There are several new terminal descriptions:</p>
+
+ <blockquote>
+ <p><code>dumb-emacs-ansi</code>, <code>dvtm</code>,
+ <code>dvtm-256color</code>, <code>fbterm</code>,
+ <code>iterm2</code>, <code>linux-m1</code> <em>minitel
+ entries</em>, <code>putty-noapp</code>, <code>viewdata</code>,
+ and <code>vt100+4bsd</code> <em>building-block</em>.</p>
+
+ <p><code>xterm+noalt</code>, <code>xterm+titlestack</code>,
+ <code>xterm+alt1049</code>, <code>xterm+alt+title</code>
+ <em>building blocks</em> and <code>xterm+direct</code>,
+ <code>xterm+indirect</code>, <code>xterm-direct</code>. from
+ <a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/xterm/xterm.log.html#xterm_331">xterm
+ patch #331</a>.</p>
+
+ <p>several other “<code>-direct</code>”
+ descriptions to address the differences of other terminal
+ emulators versus <code>xterm-direct</code>.</p>
+ </blockquote>
+
+ <p>There are many changes to existing terminal descriptions. Some
+ were updates to several descriptions:</p>
+
+ <ul>
+ <li>use <code>xterm+sm+1006</code> in several terminal
+ descriptions which were validated as supporting the extended
+ mouse feature for their respective terminal emulators.</li>
+
+ <li>corrected <em>sgr</em>/<em>sgr0</em> strings in a few cases
+ reported by <span class="part-name">tic</span>, making those
+ correspond to the non-<em>sgr</em> settings where they differ,
+ but otherwise use ECMA-48 consistently.</li>
+
+ <li>add 0.1sec mandatory delay to <em>flash</em> capabilities
+ using the VT100 reverse-video control</li>
+ </ul>
+
+ <p>while others affected specific descriptions. These were
+ retested, to take into account new/undocumented changes by their
+ developers:</p>
+
+ <blockquote>
+ <p><code>iterm</code>, <code>minitel</code>, <code>st</code>,
+ <code>viewdata</code>, <code>nsterm</code></p>
+ </blockquote>
+
+ <p>while these are specific fixes based on user reports, or
+ warnings from <span class="part-name">tic</span>:</p>
+
+ <dl>
+ <dt><a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#toc-_A_N_S_I__S_Y_S__I_S_O_6429__E_C_M_A-48__Capabilities">
+ <code>ansi</code> <em>building blocks</em></a></dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <ul>
+ <li>restored <em>rmir</em>/<em>smir</em> in
+ <code>ansi+idc</code> to better match original
+ <code>ansiterm+idc</code>, add alias
+ <code>ansiterm</code></li>
+ </ul>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt><a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-icl6404">
+ <code>icl6402</code></a></dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <ul>
+ <li>corrected missing comma-separator between string
+ capabilities in <code>icl6402</code> and
+ <code>m2-nam</code></li>
+ </ul>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt><a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-interix">
+ <code>interix</code></a></dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <ul>
+ <li>updated using <span class="main-name">tack</span> and
+ SFU with Windows 7 Ultimate.</li>
+
+ <li>used <code>^?</code> for <em>kdch1</em></li>
+ </ul>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt><a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#toc-_Linux_consoles">
+ <code>linux</code></a></dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <ul>
+ <li>made <code>linux3.0</code> entry the default
+ <strong><code>linux</code></strong> entry</li>
+
+ <li>modify <code>linux2.6</code> entry to improve
+ line-drawing so that the <code>linux3.0</code> entry can be
+ used in non-UTF-8 mode</li>
+
+ <li>omitted selection of ISO-8859-1 for G0 in enacs
+ capability from linux2.6 entry, to avoid conflict with the
+ user-defined mapping. The reset feature uses ISO-8859-1 in
+ any case.</li>
+
+ <li>modify <em>flash</em> capability for <code>linux</code>
+ and <code>wyse</code> entries to put the delay between the
+ reverse/normal escapes rather than after</li>
+
+ <li>modify <code>linux-16color</code> to not mask dim,
+ standout or reverse with the <em>ncv</em> capability</li>
+ </ul>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt><a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#toc-_Open_B_S_D_consoles">
+ <code>pccon</code> <em>entries</em></a></dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <ul>
+ <li>fixed some inconsistencies in the
+ <code><em>pccon*</em></code> entries</li>
+
+ <li>add bold to <code>pccon+sgr+acs</code> and
+ <code>pccon-base</code></li>
+
+ <li>add keys f12-f124 to <code>pccon+keys</code></li>
+ </ul>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt><a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#toc-_Tmux">
+ <code>tmux</code></a></dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <ul>
+ <li>corrected <em>sgr</em> string, which used
+ <code>screen</code>'s "standout" code rather than the
+ standard code.</li>
+
+ <li>add settings corresponding to <code>xterm-keys</code>
+ option to reflect upcoming change to make that option
+ <em>"on"</em> by default</li>
+
+ <li>uncanceled <em>Ms</em></li>
+ </ul>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt><a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#toc-_D_E_C__V_T100_and_compatibles">
+ <code>vt100</code></a></dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <ul>
+ <li>modify <code>vt100</code> <em>rs2</em> string to reset
+ vt52 mode and scrolling regions</li>
+
+ <li>corrected <em>rs2</em> string for
+ <code>vt100-nam</code></li>
+
+ <li>made minor fixes for <code>vt100+4bsd</code>, e.g.,
+ delay in <em>sgr</em> for consistency</li>
+ </ul>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt><a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#toc-_G_N_O_M_E__V_T_E_">
+ <code>vte</code></a></dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <ul>
+ <li>moved SGR 24 and 27 from <code>vte-2014</code> to
+ <code>vte-2012</code></li>
+
+ <li>add a few capabilities fixed in recent <em>VTE</em>
+ development</li>
+ </ul>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt><a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#toc-_X_T_E_R_M">
+ <code>xterm</code></a></dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <ul>
+ <li>add <em>rep</em> to <code>xterm-new</code>, available
+ since <a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/xterm/xterm.log.html#xterm_32">
+ late 1996</a>.</li>
+
+ <li>modify <code>xterm+256color</code> and
+ <code>xterm+256setaf</code> to use correct number of color
+ pairs.</li>
+
+ <li>modify <em>rs1</em> for <code>xterm-16color</code>,
+ <code>xterm-88color</code> and <code>xterm-256color</code>
+ to reset palette using <em>oc</em> string as in
+ <code>linux</code> entry.</li>
+
+ <li>add <em>rs1</em> capability to
+ <code>xterm-256color</code></li>
+
+ <li>add <em>oc</em> capability to
+ <code>xterm+256color</code>, allowing palette reset for
+ <span class="main-name">xterm</span></li>
+
+ <li>add <em>op</em> to <code>xterm+256setaf</code></li>
+
+ <li>modify <code>xterm-r5</code>, <code>xterm-r6</code> and
+ <code>xterm-xf86-v32</code> to use <code>xterm+kbs</code>
+ to match <a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/xterm/xterm.log.html#xterm_272">
+ xterm #272</a>, reflecting packager's changes</li>
+
+ <li>used ANSI reply for <em>u8</em> in
+ <code>xterm-new</code>, to reflect vt220-style responses
+ that could be returned.</li>
+
+ <li>made <code>xterm-pcolor</code> <em>sgr</em> consistent
+ with other capabilities</li>
+ </ul>
+ </dd>
+ </dl>
+
+ <p>A few entries use extensions (user-defined terminal
+ capabilities):</p>
+
+ <ul>
+ <li>add <em>rmxx</em>/<em>smxx</em> ECMA-48 strikeout extension
+ to <code>tmux</code> and <code>xterm-basic</code></li>
+
+ <li>used <em>RGB</em> capability in new <em>*-direct</em>
+ entries to denote direct-color feature.</li>
+ </ul>
+
+ <h3><a name="h3-documentation" id=
+ "h3-documentation">Documentation</a></h3>
+
+ <p>As usual, this release</p>
+
+ <ul>
+ <li>
+ <p>improves documentation by describing new features,</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>attempts to improve the description of features which
+ users have found confusing</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>fills in overlooked descriptions of features which were
+ described in the <a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/NEWS.html">NEWS</a>
+ file but treated sketchily in manual pages.</p>
+ </li>
+ </ul>
+
+ <p>In particular,</p>
+
+ <ul>
+ <li>
+ <p>Since the underlying features for <a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/clear.1.html#h2-HISTORY">
+ <span class="part-name">tset</span></a>, <a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/clear.1.html#h2-HISTORY">
+ <span class="part-name">tput</span></a>, and <a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/clear.1.html#h2-HISTORY">
+ <span class="part-name">clear</span></a> have been better
+ integrated, the documentation now includes information on how
+ those tools evolved.</p>
+
+ <p>In addition to explaining the improved integration of the
+ tools, the manual pages made it easier to see how the tools
+ are similar and how they are different.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>The <code>addch</code> manual page has additional
+ information on <a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_addch.3x.html#h2-PORTABILITY">
+ portability</a> and differences from other
+ implementations.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>The discussion of color-pairs in the <em>attributes</em>
+ manual page is improved in its <a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_attr.3x.html#h2-HISTORY">
+ history section</a>.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>The documentation of the <code>chtype</code>,
+ <code>cchar_t</code> types and the attribute values which can
+ be stored in those types, in particular the <a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_attr.3x.html#h2-HISTORY">
+ history</a> and <a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_attr.3x.html#h2-PORTABILITY">
+ portability</a> sections of the <em>attributes</em> manual
+ page, has been improved.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>improve discussion of <a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_mouse.3x.html#h2-PORTABILITY">
+ portability</a> in the <em>mouse</em> manual.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>The <em>pad</em> manual page has a section on the <a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_pad.3x.html#h2-PORTABILITY">
+ origin and portability</a> of pads.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>Differences between SVr4 and X/Open Curses soft-keys are
+ discussed in a new section on <a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_slk.3x.html#h2-PORTABILITY">
+ portability</a>.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>There are updated/improved notes on portability in the
+ <a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/resizeterm.3x.html#h2-PORTABILITY">
+ resizeterm</a> and <a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/wresize.3x.html#h2-PORTABILITY">
+ wresize</a> manual pages.</p>
+ </li>
+ </ul>
+
+ <p>In addition to providing background information to explain
+ these features and show how they evolved, there are corrections,
+ clarifications, etc.:</p>
+
+ <ul>
+ <li>
+ <p>add note in the <a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_addch.3x.html#h3-ACS-Symbols">
+ <em>addch</em></a> manual about line-drawing when it depends
+ upon UTF-8.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>improve discussion of line-drawing characters in the
+ <a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_add_wch.3x.html">
+ <em>add_wch</em></a> manual.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>explain in <a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/clear.1.html#h2-DESCRIPTION">
+ <span class="part-name">clear</span></a>'s manual page that
+ it writes to the standard output.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>improve description of <a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_initscr.3x.html#h3-endwin">
+ <em>endwin</em></a>.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>improve discussion of field validation in the <a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/form_driver.3x.html">
+ <em>form driver</em></a> manual page.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>clarify the use of <code>wint_t</code> vs
+ <code>wchar_t</code> in <a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_get_wstr.3x.html#h2-RETURN-VALUE">
+ <em>get_wstr</em></a> manual page.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>clarify in the <a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_getch.3x.html#h3-Predefined-key-codes">
+ <em>getch</em></a> manual that the keypad mode affects an
+ application's ability to read <code>KEY_MOUSE</code> codes,
+ but does not affect <code>KEY_RESIZE</code>.</p>
+
+ <p>trim some obsolete/incorrect wording about
+ <code>EINTR</code> from the <em>getch</em> manual page</p>
+
+ <p>improve manual pages for <a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_getch.3x.html#h3-Keypad-Mode">
+ <em>getch</em></a> and <a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_get_wch.3x.html#h2-DESCRIPTION">
+ <em>get_wch</em></a> to point out that they might return
+ user-defined values which have no predefined names in
+ <code><curses.h></code></p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>improve description of the <code>-R</code> option in the
+ <a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/infocmp.1m.html"><span class="part-name">
+ infocmp</span></a> manual page</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>clarify in the <a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/resizeterm.3x.html#h2-NOTES">
+ <em>resizeterm</em></a> manual page how
+ <code>KEY_RESIZE</code> is pushed onto the input stream.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>document return value of <a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_extend.3x#h2-RETURN-VALUE">
+ <code>use_extended_names</code></a></p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>document differences in <a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_variables.3x.html#h2-PORTABILITY">
+ <code>ESCDELAY</code></a> versus AIX's implementation in the
+ <em>variables</em> manual page.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>The <code>_nc_free_tinfo</code> function is now documented
+ in the <a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_memleaks.3x.html">
+ <em>memory-leaks</em></a> manual page, because it could be
+ used in <span class="main-name">tack</span> for memory-leak
+ checking.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>add a note to the <a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/tic.1m.html"><span class="part-name">
+ tic</span></a> manual page about -W versus -f options.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>improve <em>terminfo manual</em> description of <a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/terminfo.5.html#h3-Terminfo-Capabilities-Syntax">
+ terminfo syntax</a>.</p>
+
+ <p>improve terminfo manual page discussion of <a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/terminfo.5.html#h3-Line-Graphics">
+ control- and graphics- characters</a>.</p>
+
+ <p>improve <a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/terminfo.5.html#h3-Color-Handling">
+ color-handling</a> section in terminfo manual page</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>clarify description in <a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/tput.1.html#h2-PORTABILITY">
+ <span class="part-name">tput</span></a> manual page regarding
+ support for termcap names</p>
+
+ <p>update <a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/tput.1.html#h3-Aliases">
+ <span class="part-name">tput</span></a> manual page to
+ reflect changes to manipulate terminal modes by sharing
+ functions with <span class="part-name">tset</span>.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>clarify in manual pages that the optional verbose option
+ level of <a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/tic.1m.html#h2-OPTIONS">
+ <span class="part-name">tic</span></a> and <a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/infocmp.1m.html#h3-Other-Options">
+ <span class="part-name">infocmp</span></a> is available only
+ when <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> is configured for
+ tracing.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>improve manual page description of <a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/tset.1.html"><em>tset/reset</em></a>
+ versus window-size.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>improve description of <a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_termcap.3x.html#h3-FORMATTING-CAPABILITIES">
+ <em>tgoto</em></a> parameters</p>
+ </li>
+ </ul>
+
+ <p>There are new manual pages:</p>
+
+ <ul>
+ <li><a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/user_caps.5.html"><em>
+ user_caps</em></a> documents the terminfo extensions used by
+ <span class="main-name">ncurses</span>.</li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p><a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/scr_dump.5.html"><em>
+ scr_dump</em></a> documents the screen-dump format.</p>
+ </li>
+ </ul>
+
+ <p>Some of the improvements are more subtle, relating to the way
+ the information is presented:</p>
+
+ <ul>
+ <li>
+ <p>Made minor fixes to manpage <em>NAME/SYNOPSIS</em>
+ sections to consistently use rule that either all functions
+ which are prototyped in <em>SYNOPSIS</em> are listed in the
+ <em>NAME</em> section, or the manual-page name is the sole
+ item listed in the <em>NAME</em> section. The latter is used
+ to reduce clutter, e.g., for the top-level library manual
+ pages as well as for certain feature-pages such as <a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_sp_funcs.3x.html">
+ <em>SP-funcs</em></a> and <a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_threads.3x.html">
+ <em>threading</em></a>.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>improve manual pages for utilities with respect to POSIX
+ versus X/Open Curses.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>improve organization of the <a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_attr.3x.html"><em>
+ attributes</em></a> and <a href=
+ "/ncurses/man/curs_color.3x.html"><em>color</em></a> manual
+ pages.</p>
+ </li>
+ </ul>
+
+ <h3><a name="h3-bug-fixes" id="h3-bug-fixes">Interesting
+ bug-fixes</a></h3>
+
+ <ul>
+ <li>
+ <p>modify <span class="part-name">toe</span> to not exit if
+ unable to read a terminal description, e.g., if there is a
+ permission problem.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>correct 20100515 change for weak signals versus
+ sigprocmask</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>work around Ada tool-breakage in Debian 9 and later by
+ invoking <code>gprconfig</code> to specify the C compiler to be
+ used by <code>gnatmake</code>, and conditionally suppressing
+ <code>Library_Options</code> line for static libraries.</li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>There were, as well, several bug-fixes to handle illegal
+ input for <span class="part-name">tic</span>. Because those
+ did not correspond to useful terminal descriptions, most
+ users are unaffected.</p>
+ </li>
+ </ul>
+
+ <h3><a name="h3-config-config" id=
+ "h3-config-config">Configuration changes</a></h3>
+
+ <h4><a name="h4-config-major" id="h4-config-major">Major
+ changes</a></h4>
+
+ <p>This release provides a new binary format for terminal
+ descriptions that use extended numeric capabilities. Applications
+ built with the wide-character <em>ncursesw</em> library can use
+ these extended numbers.</p>
+
+ <ul>
+ <li>
+ <p>This includes utilities such as <span class=
+ "part-name">tic</span> and <span class=
+ "part-name">infocmp</span>, because (as noted in <a href=
+ "#h4-new-library"><em>New features</em></a>), the feature
+ relies upon an extension to the low-level <em>tinfo</em>
+ library.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>A few software packagers use a configuration option of
+ <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> which allows the
+ low-level <em>tinfo</em> library to be shared between the
+ high-level <em>ncurses</em> and <em>ncursesw</em> libraries.
+ This new feature was designed to work in that configuration
+ as well.</p>
+ </li>
+ </ul>
+
+ <p>Other applications (i.e., using the 8-bit <em>ncurses</em>
+ library) which read the extended terminal descriptions see those
+ numeric capabilities set to the maximum value for a signed 16-bit
+ number.</p>
+
+ <p>Older versions of <span class="main-name">ncurses</span>'
+ <span class="part-name">tic</span> accept out-of-range numeric
+ capabilities, storing those as the maximum value for a signed
+ 16-bit number. Other implementations of curses (mentioned in the
+ discussion of <a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses-slang.html#compare_picsmap">
+ <span class="part-name">picsmap</span></a>) give zero for these
+ out-of-range capabilities.</p>
+
+ <h4><a name="h4-config-options" id=
+ "h4-config-options">Configuration options</a></h4>
+
+ <p>These changes provide support for <span class=
+ "main-name">tack</span> 1.08, released in <a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/tack/CHANGES.html#index-t20170726">
+ July 2017</a>:</p>
+
+ <ul>
+ <li>
+ <p>add <code>--without-tack</code> configure option to refine
+ <code>--with-progs</code> configure option. Normally
+ <span class="main-name">tack</span> is built outside the
+ <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> tree, but a few
+ packagers combine it during the build. If
+ <code>term_entry.h</code> is installed, there is no advantage
+ to in-tree builds.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>adjust configure-script to define
+ <code>HAVE_CURSES_DATA_BOOLNAMES</code> symbol needed for
+ <span class="main-name">tack</span> 1.08 when built in-tree.
+ Rather than relying upon internal "_nc_" functions,
+ <span class="main-name">tack</span> now uses the boolean,
+ number and string capability name-arrays provided by
+ <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> and SVr4 Unix curses.
+ It still uses <code>term_entry.h</code> for the definitions
+ of the extended capability arrays.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>add dependency upon ncurses_cfg.h to <span class=
+ "part-name">tic</span>'s header-files; any program using
+ <span class="part-name">tic</span>-library will have to
+ supply this file. Legacy <span class="main-name">tack</span>
+ versions supply this file; ongoing <span class=
+ "main-name">tack</span> development has dropped the
+ dependency upon <span class="part-name">tic</span>-library
+ and new releases will not be affected.</p>
+ </li>
+ </ul>
+
+ <p>Other changes to the configure-script and generated files
+ include</p>
+
+ <ul>
+ <li>
+ <p>add configure options to disable checks for form, menu and
+ panel libraries so that ncurses-examples can be built with
+ non-SVr4 curses implementations.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>add configure option <code>--enable-opaque-curses</code>
+ for <em>ncurses</em> library and similar options for the
+ other libraries.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>add configure option <code>--disable-wattr-macros</code>
+ for use in cases where one wants to use the same headers for
+ ncurses5/ncurses6 development, by suppressing the
+ <em>wattr*</em> macros which differ due to the introduction
+ of extended colors</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>modify configure macro for shared-library rules to use
+ <code>-Wl,-rpath</code> rather than <code>-rpath</code> to
+ work around a bug in <span class="part-name">scons</span></p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>improve ncurses-examples' configure script to define as
+ needed <code>NCURSES_WIDECHAR</code> for platforms where
+ <code>_XOPEN_SOURCE_EXTENDED</code> does not work. Also
+ modified the test program to ensure that if building with
+ <span class="main-name">ncurses</span>, that the
+ <code>cchar_t</code> type is checked, since that is normally
+ (since <a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/NEWS.html#t20111030">20111030</a>)
+ ifdef'd depending on this test.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>modify configure script to handle the case where
+ <span class="part-name">tic</span>-library is renamed, but
+ the <code>--with-debug</code> option is used by itself
+ without normal or shared libraries</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>modify editing script which generates resulting.map to
+ work with the clang configuration on recent FreeBSD, which
+ gives an error on an empty "local" section.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>improve configure check for setting the
+ <code>WILDCARD_SYMS</code> variable; on ppc64 the variable is
+ in the <strong><em>Data</em></strong> section rather than
+ <strong><em>Text</em></strong>.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>correct result of configure option
+ <code>--without-fallbacks</code>, which caused FALLBACK_LIST
+ to be set to "no"</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>modify <code>--with-pkg-config-libdir</code> option to
+ make it possible to install “.pc” files even if
+ <span class="part-name">pkg-config</span> is not found. Limit
+ this change, to suppress the actual install if it is not
+ overridden to a valid directory at install time.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>disallow “no” as a possible value for
+ <code>--with-shlib-version</code> option, overlooked in
+ cleanup-changes for <a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/NEWS.html#t20000708">20000708</a>.</p>
+ </li>
+ </ul>
+
+ <h3><a name="h3-portability" id=
+ "h3-portability">Portability</a></h3>
+
+ <p>Many of the portability changes are implemented via the
+ configure script:</p>
+
+ <ul>
+ <li>
+ <p>improve configure script's <code>CF_CC_ENV_FLAGS</code>
+ macro to allow for compiler wrappers such as <span class=
+ "part-name">ccache</span>. This change moves only the
+ preprocessor, optimization and warning flags to
+ <code>CPPFLAGS</code> and <code>CFLAGS</code>, leaving the
+ residue in <code>CC</code>. That happens to work for
+ <span class="part-name">gcc</span>'s various
+ “model” options, but may require tuning for other
+ compilers.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>modify ncurses-examples' configure script to use
+ <span class="part-name">pkg-config</span> for the extra
+ form/menu/panel libraries, to be more consistent with the
+ handling of the curses/ncurses library.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>add configuration checks to build with <a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses-netbsd.html">NetBSD
+ curses</a>, which for example lacks <a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_util.3x.html#h3-use_env">
+ <code>use_env</code></a>.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>change ncurses-examples to use <code>attr_t</code> vs
+ <code>chtype</code> to follow X/Open documentation more
+ closely since Solaris xpg4-curses uses different values for
+ <code>WA_<em>xxx</em></code> vs <code>A_<em>xxx</em></code>
+ that rely on attr_t being an unsigned short. Tru64 aka OSF1,
+ HPUX, AIX did as <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> does,
+ equating the two sets.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>modify several test programs to reflect that <span class=
+ "main-name">ncurses</span> honors existing signal handlers in
+ initscr, while other implementations do not.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>add configure check for <code>openpty</code> to
+ ncurses-examples' configure script, for <span class=
+ "part-name">ditto</span>.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>improve check for working <code>poll</code> function by
+ using <code>posix_openpt</code> as a fallback in case there
+ is no valid terminal on the standard input</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>modify ncurses-examples' configure script to check for
+ <span class="part-name">pthread</span> dependency of
+ <em>ncursest</em> or <em>ncursestw</em> library when building
+ the <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> examples, e.g., in
+ case weak symbols are used.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>add checks in ncurses-examples' configure script for some
+ functions neither in 4.3BSD curses, nor based on X/Open
+ Curses:</p>
+
+ <ul>
+ <li>
+ <p>modify a loop limit in firework.c to work around
+ absense of limit checks in some libraries.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>fill the last row of a window with
+ “<code>?</code>” in firstlast if waddch does
+ not return <code>ERR</code> on the lower-right
+ corner.</p>
+ </li>
+ </ul>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>build-fixes for the Portland Group (PGI) compilers</p>
+
+ <ul>
+ <li>
+ <p>accept whitespace in <span class=
+ "part-name">sed</span> expression for generating
+ expanded.c</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>modify configure check that g++ compiler warnings are
+ not used.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>add configure check for -fPIC option needed for shared
+ libraries.</p>
+ </li>
+ </ul>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>modify configure script for clang as used on FreeBSD, to
+ work around clang's differences in exit codes vs gcc.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>fixes for configure/build using clang on OSX</p>
+
+ <ul>
+ <li>
+ <p>do not redefine “inline” in
+ <code>ncurses_cfg.h</code>; this was originally to solve
+ a problem with gcc/g++, but is aggravated by clang's
+ misuse of symbols to pretend it is gcc.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>add braces to configure script to prevent unwanted
+ addition of “<code>-lstdc++</code>” option to
+ the <code>CXXLIBS</code> symbol.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>improve/update test-program used for checking
+ existence of stdc++ library.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>if <code>$CXXLIBS</code> is set, the linkage test uses
+ that in addition to <code>$LIBS</code>.</p>
+ </li>
+ </ul>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>fixes for OS/2:</p>
+
+ <ul>
+ <li>
+ <p>use button instead of <code>kbuf[0]</code> in
+ EMX-specific part of <code>lib_mouse.c</code></p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>support building with <span class=
+ "part-name">libtool</span> on OS/2</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>use stdc++ library with OS/2 kLIBC</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>clear configure script's <code>cf_XOPEN_SOURCE</code>
+ for OS/2, to work with its header files</p>
+ </li>
+ </ul>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>add “newer” baudrate symbols to the <a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_termattrs.3x.html#h3-baudrate">
+ <code>baudrate</code></a> function in the ncurses library as
+ well as to a corresponding table in <span class=
+ "part-name">tset</span>.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>modify ncurses-examples <span class=
+ "part-name">savescreen</span> to work with AIX and HPUX.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>define <code>WIN32_LEAN_AND_MEAN</code> for MinGW port,
+ making builds faster.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>add a configure check for <em>wcwidth</em> versus the
+ <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> line-drawing
+ characters, to use in special-casing systems such as Solaris.
+ Solaris, however, requires a special case that maps Unicode
+ line-drawing characters into the acsc string for non-Unicode
+ locales. Solaris also has a misconfigured wcwidth which marks
+ all of the line drawing characters as double-width.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>string-hacks (non-standard):</p>
+
+ <ul>
+ <li>
+ <p>fix configure script to record when
+ <code>strlcat</code> is found on OpenBSD.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>add <code>--enable-string-hacks</code> option to
+ ncurses-examples' configure script.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>completed string-hacks for <em>sprintf</em>, etc.,
+ including the ncurses-examples programs.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>make <code>--enable-string-hacks</code> option work
+ with Debian by checking for the "bsd" library and its
+ associated "<bsd/string.h>" header.</p>
+ </li>
+ </ul>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>workaround for Debian's antique/unmaintained version of
+ mawk:</p>
+
+ <ul>
+ <li>
+ <p>see Debian #65617, which was fixed in <span class=
+ "main-name">mawk</span>'s upstream releases in <a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/mawk/CHANGES.html#t20090727">
+ 2009</a>.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>related fixes when building link_test.</p>
+ </li>
+ </ul>
+ </li>
+ </ul>
+ <hr>
+
+ <h2><a name="h2-features" id="h2-features">Features of
+ <span class="main-name">ncurses</span></a></h2>
+
+ <p>The <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> package is fully
+ upward-compatible with SVr4 (System V Release 4) curses:</p>
+
+ <ul>
+ <li>
+ <p>All of the SVr4 calls have been implemented (and are
+ documented).</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p><span class="main-name">ncurses</span> supports all of the
+ for SVr4 curses features including keyboard mapping, color,
+ forms-drawing with ACS characters, and automatic recognition
+ of keypad and function keys.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p><span class="main-name">ncurses</span> provides these SVr4
+ add-on libraries (not part of X/Open Curses):</p>
+
+ <ul>
+ <li>
+ <p>the panels library, supporting a stack of windows with
+ backing store.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>the menus library, supporting a uniform but flexible
+ interface for menu programming.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>the form library, supporting data collection through
+ on-screen forms.</p>
+ </li>
+ </ul>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p><span class="main-name">ncurses</span>'s terminal database
+ is fully compatible with that used by SVr4 curses.</p>
+
+ <ul>
+ <li>
+ <p><span class="main-name">ncurses</span> supports
+ user-defined capabilities which it can see, but which are
+ hidden from SVr4 curses applications using the
+ <em>same</em> terminal database.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>It can be optionally configured to match the format
+ used in related systems such as AIX and Tru64.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>Alternatively, <span class="main-name">ncurses</span>
+ can be configured to use hashed databases rather than the
+ directory of files used by SVr4 curses.</p>
+ </li>
+ </ul>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>The <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> utilities have
+ options to allow you to filter terminfo entries for use with
+ less capable <em>curses</em>/<em>terminfo</em> versions such
+ as the HP/UX and AIX ports.</p>
+ </li>
+ </ul>
+
+ <p>The <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> package also has
+ many useful extensions over SVr4:</p>
+
+ <ul>
+ <li>
+ <p>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, and most EXTENDED
+ features). It includes many function calls not supported
+ under SVr4 curses (but portability of all calls is documented
+ so you can use the SVr4 subset only).</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>Unlike SVr3 curses, <span class="main-name">ncurses</span>
+ can write to the rightmost-bottommost corner of the screen if
+ your terminal has an insert-character capability.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>Ada95 and C++ bindings.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>Support for mouse event reporting with X Window xterm and
+ FreeBSD and OS/2 console windows.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>Extended mouse support via Alessandro Rubini's gpm
+ package.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>The function <code>wresize</code> allows you to resize
+ windows, preserving their data.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>The function <code>use_default_colors</code> allows you to
+ use the terminal's default colors for the default color pair,
+ achieving the effect of transparent colors.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>The functions <code>keyok</code> and
+ <code>define_key</code> allow you to better control the use
+ of function keys, e.g., disabling the <span class=
+ "main-name">ncurses</span> KEY_MOUSE, or by defining more
+ than one control sequence to map to a given key code.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>Support for 256-color terminals, such as modern xterm.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>Support for 16-color terminals, such as <em>aixterm</em>
+ and <em>modern xterm</em>.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>Better cursor-movement optimization. The package now
+ features a cursor-local-movement computation more efficient
+ than either BSD's or System V's.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>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
+ <code>quickch</code> routine.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>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.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>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).</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>The <a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/tic.1m.html"><span class="part-name">
+ tic</span></a>/<a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/captoinfo.1m.html">captoinfo</a>
+ utility provided with <span class="main-name">ncurses</span>
+ has the ability to translate many termcaps from the XENIX,
+ IBM and AT&T extension sets.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>A BSD-like <a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/tset.1.html"><span class="part-name">
+ tset</span></a> utility is provided.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>The <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> 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 terminfo directory.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>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.)</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>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 user's $HOME/.terminfo directory.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>The table-of-entries utility <a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/toe.1m.html"><span class="part-name">
+ toe</span></a> makes it easy for users to see exactly what
+ terminal types are available on the system.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>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 <code>#undef</code>.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>Extensive documentation is provided (see the <em><a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses.faq.html#additional_reading">
+ Additional Reading</a></em> section of the <em><a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses.faq.html"><span class="main-name">
+ ncurses</span> FAQ</a></em> for online documentation).</p>
+ </li>
+ </ul>
+
+ <h2><a name="h2-who-uses" id="h2-who-uses">Applications using
+ <span class="main-name">ncurses</span></a></h2>
+
+ <p>The <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> distribution
+ includes a selection of test programs (including a few games).
+ These are available separately as <a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses-examples.html">ncurses-examples</a></p>
+
+ <p>The ncurses library has been tested with a wide variety of
+ applications including:</p>
+
+ <blockquote>
+ <dl>
+ <dt><span class="part-name">aptitude</span></dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>FrontEnd to Apt, the debian package manager</p>
+
+ <p><a href=
+ "https://wiki.debian.org/Aptitude">https://wiki.debian.org/Aptitude</a></p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt><span class="part-name">cdk</span></dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Curses Development Kit</p>
+
+ <p><a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/cdk/">https://invisible-island.net/cdk/</a><br>
+ </p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt><span class="part-name">ded</span></dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>directory-editor</p>
+
+ <p><a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ded/">https://invisible-island.net/ded/</a></p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt><span class="part-name">dialog</span></dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>the underlying application used in Slackware's setup,
+ and the basis for similar install/configure applications on
+ many systems.</p>
+
+ <p><a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/dialog/">https://invisible-island.net/dialog/</a></p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt><span class="part-name">lynx</span></dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>the text WWW browser</p>
+
+ <p><a href=
+ "https://lynx.invisible-island.net/">https://lynx.invisible-island.net/</a></p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt><span class="part-name">mutt</span></dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>mail utility</p>
+
+ <p><a href=
+ "http://www.mutt.org/">http://www.mutt.org/</a></p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt><span class="part-name">ncftp</span></dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>file-transfer utility</p>
+
+ <p><a href=
+ "https://www.ncftp.com/">https://www.ncftp.com/</a></p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt><span class="part-name">nvi</span></dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>New vi uses ncurses.</p>
+
+ <p><a href=
+ "https://sites.google.com/a/bostic.com/keithbostic/vi">https://sites.google.com/a/bostic.com/keithbostic/vi</a><br>
+ </p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt><span class="part-name">ranger</span></dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>A console file manager with VI key bindings in
+ <em>Python</em>.</p>
+
+ <p><a href=
+ "https://ranger.github.io/">https://ranger.github.io/</a></p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt><span class="part-name">tin</span></dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>newsreader, supporting color, MIME</p>
+
+ <p><a href=
+ "http://www.tin.org/">http://www.tin.org/</a></p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt><span class="part-name">vifm</span></dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>File manager with vi like keybindings</p>
+
+ <p><a href="https://vifm.info/">https://vifm.info/</a></p>
+ </dd>
+ </dl>
+ </blockquote>
+
+ <p>as well as some that use <span class=
+ "main-name">ncurses</span> for the terminfo support alone:</p>
+
+ <blockquote>
+ <dl>
+ <dt><span class="part-name">minicom</span></dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>terminal emulator for serial modem connections</p>
+
+ <p><a href=
+ "https://alioth.debian.org/projects/minicom/">https://alioth.debian.org/projects/minicom/</a></p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt><span class="part-name">mosh</span></dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>a replacement for <code>ssh</code>.</p>
+
+ <p><a href=
+ "https://mosh.mit.edu/">https://mosh.mit.edu/</a></p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt><span class="part-name">tack</span></dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>terminfo action checker</p>
+
+ <p><a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/tack.html">https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/tack.html</a></p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt><span class="part-name">tmux</span></dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>terminal multiplexor</p>
+
+ <p><a href=
+ "https://github.com/tmux/tmux/wiki">https://github.com/tmux/tmux/wiki</a></p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt><span class="part-name">vile</span></dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>vi-like-emacs may be built to use the terminfo, termcap
+ or curses interfaces.</p>
+
+ <p><a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/vile/">https://invisible-island.net/vile/</a></p>
+ </dd>
+ </dl>
+ </blockquote>
+
+ <p>and finally, those which use only the termcap interface:</p>
+
+ <blockquote>
+ <dl>
+ <dt><span class="part-name">emacs</span></dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>text editor</p>
+
+ <p><a href=
+ "https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/">https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/</a></p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt><span class="part-name">less</span></dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>The most commonly used <em>pager</em> (a program that
+ displays text files).</p>
+
+ <p><a href=
+ "http://www.greenwoodsoftware.com/less/">http://www.greenwoodsoftware.com/less/</a></p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt><span class="part-name">screen</span></dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>terminal multiplexor</p>
+
+ <p><a href=
+ "https://www.gnu.org/software/screen/">https://www.gnu.org/software/screen/</a></p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt><span class="part-name">vim</span></dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>text editor</p>
+
+ <p><a href=
+ "https://www.vim.org/">https://www.vim.org/</a></p>
+ </dd>
+ </dl>
+ </blockquote>
+
+ <h2><a name="h2-development" id="h2-development">Development
+ activities</a></h2>
+
+ <p>Zeyd Ben-Halim started <span class="main-name">ncurses</span>
+ from a previous package pcurses, written by Pavel Curtis. Eric S.
+ Raymond continued development. Jürgen Pfeifer wrote most of
+ the form and menu libraries. Ongoing development work is done by
+ <a href="mailto:dickey@invisible-island.net">Thomas Dickey</a>.
+ Thomas Dickey also acts as the maintainer for the Free Software
+ Foundation, which holds the <a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses-license.html">copyright
+ on ncurses</a>.</p>
+
+ <p>Contact the current maintainers at</p>
+
+ <blockquote>
+ <a href="mailto:bug-ncurses@gnu.org">bug-ncurses@gnu.org</a>
+ </blockquote>
+
+ <p>To join the ncurses mailing list, please write email to</p>
+
+ <blockquote>
+ <a href=
+ "mailto:bug-ncurses-request@gnu.org">bug-ncurses-request@gnu.org</a>
+ </blockquote>containing the line:
+
+ <blockquote>
+ <p><code>subscribe</code>
+ <em><name>@<host.domain></em></p>
+ </blockquote>
+
+ <p>This list is open to anyone interested in helping with the
+ development and testing of this package.</p>
+
+ <p>Beta versions of <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> and
+ patches to the current release are made available at</p>
+
+ <blockquote>
+ <p><a href=
+ "ftp://ftp.invisible-island.net/ncurses/">ftp://ftp.invisible-island.net/ncurses/</a>
+ and<br>
+ <a href=
+ "https://invisible-mirror.net/archives/ncurses/">https://invisible-mirror.net/archives/ncurses/</a> .</p>
+ </blockquote>
+
+ <p>There is an archive of the mailing list here:</p>
+
+ <blockquote>
+ <p><a href=
+ "http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-ncurses">http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-ncurses</a>
+ (also <a href=
+ "https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-ncurses">https</a>)</p>
+ </blockquote>
+
+ <h2><a name="h2-this-stuff" id="h2-this-stuff">Related
+ resources</a></h2>
+
+ <p>The release notes make scattered references to these pages,
+ which may be interesting by themselves:</p>
+
+ <ul>
+ <li><a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses-license.html"><span class="main-name">
+ ncurses</span> licensing</a></li>
+
+ <li><a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses-mapsyms.html">Symbol
+ versioning in <span class="main-name">ncurses</span></a></li>
+
+ <li><a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses-slang.html">Comments
+ on <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> versus <span class=
+ "main-name">slang</span> (S-Lang)</a></li>
+
+ <li><a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/tack.html">tack –
+ terminfo action checker</a></li>
+
+ <li><a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/tctest.html">tctest
+ – termcap library checker</a></li>
+
+ <li><a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses.html#download_database">
+ Terminal Database</a></li>
+ </ul>
+
+ <h2><a name="h2-other-stuff" id="h2-other-stuff">Other
+ resources</a></h2>
+
+ <p>The distribution provides a newer version of the
+ terminfo-format terminal description file once maintained by
+ <a href="http://www.catb.org/~esr/terminfo/">Eric
+ Raymond</a> . Unlike the older version, the termcap and
+ terminfo data are provided in the same file, which also provides
+ several user-definable extensions beyond the X/Open
+ specification.</p>
+
+ <p>You can find lots of information on terminal-related topics
+ not covered in the terminfo file at <a href=
+ "http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.cs.utk.edu/~shuford/terminal">
+ Richard Shuford's archive</a> .</p>
+
+ <div class="nav">
+ <ul>
+ <li><a href="#h2-overview">Overview</a></li>
+
+ <li>
+ <a href="#h2-release-notes">Release Notes</a>
+
+ <ul>
+ <li>
+ <a href="#h3-library">Library improvements</a>
+
+ <ul>
+ <li><a href="#h4-new-library">New features</a></li>
+
+ <li><a href="#h4-fixes-library">Other
+ improvements</a></li>
+ </ul>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <a href="#h3-programs">Program improvements</a>
+
+ <ul>
+ <li><a href="#h4-utilities">Utilities</a></li>
+
+ <li><a href="#h4-examples">Examples</a></li>
+ </ul>
+ </li>
+
+ <li><a href="#h3-database">Terminal database</a></li>
+
+ <li><a href="#h3-documentation">Documentation</a></li>
+
+ <li><a href="#h3-bug-fixes">Interesting
+ bug-fixes</a></li>
+
+ <li>
+ <a href="#h3-config-config">Configuration changes</a>
+
+ <ul>
+ <li><a href="#h4-config-major">Major changes</a></li>
+
+ <li><a href="#h4-config-options">Configuration
+ options</a></li>
+ </ul>
+ </li>
+
+ <li><a href="#h3-portability">Portability</a></li>
+ </ul>
+ </li>
+
+ <li><a href="#h2-features">Features of <span class=
+ "main-name">ncurses</span></a></li>
+
+ <li><a href="#h2-who-uses">Applications using <span class=
+ "main-name">ncurses</span></a></li>
+
+ <li><a href="#h2-development">Development activities</a></li>
+
+ <li><a href="#h2-this-stuff">Related resources</a></li>
+
+ <li><a href="#h2-other-stuff">Other resources</a></li>
+ </ul>
+ </div>
+</body>
+</html>
projects / ncurses.git / blobdiff