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+ * Copyright 2018-2023,2024 Thomas E. Dickey *
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-<H1 class="no-header">tic 1m</H1>
+<H1 class="no-header">tic 1m 2024-03-16 ncurses 6.4 User commands</H1>
<PRE>
-<STRONG><A HREF="tic.1m.html">tic(1m)</A></STRONG>
<STRONG><A HREF="tic.1m.html">tic(1m)</A></STRONG>
+<STRONG><A HREF="tic.1m.html">tic(1m)</A></STRONG>
User commands <STRONG><A HREF="tic.1m.html">tic(1m)</A></STRONG>
</PRE><H2><a name="h2-NAME">NAME</a></H2><PRE>
- <STRONG>tic</STRONG> - the <EM>terminfo</EM> entry-description compiler
+ <STRONG>tic</STRONG> - compile terminal descriptions for <EM>terminfo</EM> or <EM>termcap</EM>
</PRE><H2><a name="h2-SYNOPSIS">SYNOPSIS</a></H2><PRE>
- <STRONG>tic</STRONG> [<STRONG>-01CDGIKLNTUVWacfgqrstx</STRONG>] [<STRONG>-e</STRONG> <EM>names</EM>] [<STRONG>-o</STRONG> <EM>dir</EM>] [<STRONG>-Q</STRONG>[<EM>n</EM>]] [<STRONG>-R</STRONG> <EM>subset</EM>]
- [<STRONG>-v</STRONG>[<EM>n</EM>]] [<STRONG>-w</STRONG>[<EM>n</EM>]] <EM>file</EM>
+ <STRONG>tic</STRONG> [<STRONG>-01acCDfgGIKLNqrstTUVWx</STRONG>] [<STRONG>-e</STRONG> <EM>terminal-type-list</EM>] [<STRONG>-o</STRONG> <EM>dir</EM>] [<STRONG>-Q</STRONG>[<EM>n</EM>]]
+ [<STRONG>-R</STRONG> <EM>subset</EM>] [<STRONG>-v</STRONG>[<EM>n</EM>]] [<STRONG>-w</STRONG>[<EM>n</EM>]] <EM>file</EM>
</PRE><H2><a name="h2-DESCRIPTION">DESCRIPTION</a></H2><PRE>
- The <STRONG>tic</STRONG> command translates a <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> file from source format into com-
- piled format. The compiled format is necessary for use with the
+ The <STRONG>tic</STRONG> command translates a <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> file from source format into
+ compiled format. The compiled format is necessary for use with the
library routines in <STRONG><A HREF="ncurses.3x.html">ncurses(3x)</A></STRONG>.
As described in <STRONG><A HREF="term.5.html">term(5)</A></STRONG>, the database may be either a directory tree
entry). The <STRONG>tic</STRONG> command writes only one type of entry, depending on
how it was built:
- <STRONG>o</STRONG> For directory trees, the top-level directory, e.g., /usr/share/ter-
- minfo, specifies the location of the database.
+ <STRONG>o</STRONG> For directory trees, the top-level directory, e.g.,
+ /usr/share/terminfo, specifies the location of the database.
<STRONG>o</STRONG> For hashed databases, a filename is needed. If the given file is
not found by that name, but can be found by adding the suffix
The default name for the hashed database is the same as the default
directory name (only adding a ".db" suffix).
- In either case (directory or hashed database), <STRONG>tic</STRONG> will create the con-
- tainer if it does not exist. For a directory, this would be the "ter-
- minfo" leaf, versus a "terminfo.db" file.
+ In either case (directory or hashed database), <STRONG>tic</STRONG> will create the
+ container if it does not exist. For a directory, this would be the
+ "terminfo" leaf, versus a "terminfo.db" file.
The results are normally placed in the system terminfo database
<STRONG>/usr/share/terminfo</STRONG>. The compiled terminal description can be placed
in a different terminfo database. There are two ways to achieve this:
<STRONG>o</STRONG> First, you may override the system default either by using the <STRONG>-o</STRONG>
- option, or by setting the variable <STRONG>TERMINFO</STRONG> in your shell environ-
- ment to a valid database location.
+ option, or by setting the variable <EM>TERMINFO</EM> in your shell
+ environment to a valid database location.
- <STRONG>o</STRONG> Secondly, if <STRONG>tic</STRONG> cannot write in <EM>/usr/share/terminfo</EM> or the loca-
- tion specified using your TERMINFO variable, it looks for the
+ <STRONG>o</STRONG> Secondly, if <STRONG>tic</STRONG> cannot write in <EM>/usr/share/terminfo</EM> or the
+ location specified using your <EM>TERMINFO</EM> variable, it looks for the
directory <EM>$HOME/.terminfo</EM> (or hashed database <EM>$HOME/.terminfo.db)</EM>;
if that location exists, the entry is placed there.
- Libraries that read terminfo entries are expected to check in succes-
- sion
+ Libraries that read terminfo entries are expected to check in
+ succession
- <STRONG>o</STRONG> a location specified with the TERMINFO environment variable,
+ <STRONG>o</STRONG> a location specified with the <EM>TERMINFO</EM> environment variable,
<STRONG>o</STRONG> <EM>$HOME/.terminfo</EM>,
- <STRONG>o</STRONG> directories listed in the TERMINFO_DIRS environment variable,
+ <STRONG>o</STRONG> directories listed in the <EM>TERMINFO</EM><STRONG>_</STRONG><EM>DIRS</EM> environment variable,
- <STRONG>o</STRONG> a compiled-in list of directories (/usr/local/ncurses/share/ter-
- minfo:/usr/share/terminfo), and
+ <STRONG>o</STRONG> a compiled-in list of directories (/usr/share/terminfo), and
<STRONG>o</STRONG> the system terminfo database (<EM>/usr/share/terminfo</EM>).
+ The <EM>Fetching</EM> <EM>Compiled</EM> <EM>Descriptions</EM> section in the <STRONG><A HREF="terminfo.5.html">terminfo(5)</A></STRONG> manual
+ goes into further detail.
+
+
+</PRE><H3><a name="h3-Aliases">Aliases</a></H3><PRE>
+ This is the same program as infotocap and captoinfo; usually those are
+ linked to, or copied from this program:
+
+ <STRONG>o</STRONG> When invoked as infotocap, tic sets the <STRONG>-I</STRONG> option.
+
+ <STRONG>o</STRONG> When invoked as captoinfo, tic sets the <STRONG>-C</STRONG> option.
+
-</PRE><H
3><a name="h3-OPTIONS">OPTIONS</a></H3><PRE>
+</PRE><H
2><a name="h2-OPTIONS">OPTIONS</a></H2><PRE>
<STRONG>-0</STRONG> restricts the output to a single line
<STRONG>-1</STRONG> restricts the output to a single column
- <STRONG>-a</STRONG> tells <STRONG>tic</STRONG> to retain commented-out capabilities rather than dis-
- carding them. Capabilities are commented by prefixing them with
- a period. This sets the <STRONG>-x</STRONG> option, because it treats the com-
- mented-out entries as user-defined names. If the source is
- termcap, accept the 2-character names required by version 6.
+ <STRONG>-a</STRONG> tells <STRONG>tic</STRONG> to retain commented-out capabilities rather than
+ discarding them. Capabilities are commented by prefixing them
+ with a period. This sets the <STRONG>-x</STRONG> option, because it treats the
+ commented-out entries as user-defined names. If the source is
+ termcap, accept the 2-character names required by version 6.
Otherwise these are ignored.
- <STRONG>-C</STRONG> Force source translation to termcap format. Note: this differs
- from the <STRONG>-C</STRONG> option of <STRONG><A HREF="infocmp.1m.html">infocmp(1m)</A></STRONG> in that it does not merely
+ <STRONG>-C</STRONG> Force source translation to termcap format. Note: this differs
+ from the <STRONG>-C</STRONG> option of <STRONG><A HREF="infocmp.1m.html">infocmp(1m)</A></STRONG> in that it does not merely
translate capability names, but also translates terminfo strings
- to termcap format. Capabilities that are not translatable are
- left in the entry under their terminfo names but commented out
- with two preceding dots. The actual format used incorporates
- some improvements for escaped characters from terminfo format.
+ to termcap format. Capabilities that are not translatable are
+ left in the entry under their terminfo names but commented out
+ with two preceding dots. The actual format used incorporates
+ some improvements for escaped characters from terminfo format.
For a stricter BSD-compatible translation, add the <STRONG>-K</STRONG> option.
- If this is combined with <STRONG>-c</STRONG>, <STRONG>tic</STRONG> makes additional checks to
- report cases where the terminfo values do not have an exact
+ If this is combined with <STRONG>-c</STRONG>, <STRONG>tic</STRONG> makes additional checks to
+ report cases where the terminfo values do not have an exact
equivalent in termcap form. For example:
- <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG>sgr</STRONG> usually will not convert, because termcap lacks the
- ability to work with more than two parameters, and because
- termcap lacks many of the arithmetic/logical operators used
+ <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG>sgr</STRONG> usually will not convert, because termcap lacks the
+ ability to work with more than two parameters, and because
+ termcap lacks many of the arithmetic/logical operators used
in terminfo.
- <STRONG>o</STRONG> capabilities with more than one delay or with delays before
+ <STRONG>o</STRONG> capabilities with more than one delay or with delays before
the end of the string will not convert completely.
- <STRONG>-c</STRONG> tells <STRONG>tic</STRONG> to only check <EM>file</EM> for errors, including syntax prob-
- lems and bad use links. If you specify <STRONG>-C</STRONG> (<STRONG>-I</STRONG>) with this
- option, the code will print warnings about entries which, after
- use resolution, are more than 1023 (4096) bytes long. Due to a
+ <STRONG>-c</STRONG> tells <STRONG>tic</STRONG> to only check <EM>file</EM> for errors, including syntax
+ problems and bad use-links. If you specify <STRONG>-C</STRONG> (<STRONG>-I</STRONG>) with this
+ option, the code will print warnings about entries which, after
+ use resolution, are more than 1023 (4096) bytes long. Due to a
fixed buffer length in older termcap libraries, as well as buggy
- checking for the buffer length (and a documented limit in ter-
- minfo), these entries may cause core dumps with other implemen-
- tations.
+ checking for the buffer length (and a documented limit in
+ terminfo), these entries may cause core dumps with other
+ implementations.
- <STRONG>tic</STRONG> checks string capabilities to ensure that those with parame-
- ters will be valid expressions. It does this check only for the
- predefined string capabilities; those which are defined with the
- <STRONG>-x</STRONG> option are ignored.
+ <STRONG>tic</STRONG> checks string capabilities to ensure that those with
+ parameters will be valid expressions. It does this check only
+ for the predefined string capabilities; those which are defined
+ with the <STRONG>-x</STRONG> option are ignored.
- <STRONG>-D</STRONG> tells <STRONG>tic</STRONG> to print the database locations that it knows about,
+ <STRONG>-D</STRONG> tells <STRONG>tic</STRONG> to print the database locations that it knows about,
and exit. The first location shown is the one to which it would
- write compiled terminal descriptions. If <STRONG>tic</STRONG> is not able to
- find a writable database location according to the rules summa-
- rized above, it will print a diagnostic and exit with an error
- rather than printing a list of database locations.
-
- <STRONG>-e</STRONG> <EM>names</EM>
- Limit writes and translations to the following comma-separated
- list of terminals. If any name or alias of a terminal matches
- one of the names in the list, the entry will be written or
+ write compiled terminal descriptions. If <STRONG>tic</STRONG> is not able to
+ find a writable database location according to the rules
+ summarized above, it will print a diagnostic and exit with an
+ error rather than printing a list of database locations.
+
+ <STRONG>-e</STRONG> <EM>list</EM>
+ Limit writes and translations to the comma-separated <EM>list</EM> of
+ terminal types. If any name or alias of a terminal matches one
+ of the names in the list, the entry will be written or
translated as normal. Otherwise no output will be generated for
- it. The option value is interpreted as a file containing the
- list if it contains a '/'. (Note: depending on how tic was com-
- piled, this option may require <STRONG>-I</STRONG> or <STRONG>-C</STRONG>.)
+ it. The option value is interpreted as a file containing the
+ list if it contains a '/'. (Note: depending on how tic was
+ compiled, this option may require <STRONG>-I</STRONG> or <STRONG>-C</STRONG>.)
- <STRONG>-f</STRONG> Display complex terminfo strings which contain
+ <STRONG>-f</STRONG> Display complex terminfo strings which contain
if/then/else/endif expressions indented for readability.
- <STRONG>-G</STRONG> Display constant literals in decimal form rather than their
+ <STRONG>-G</STRONG> Display constant literals in decimal form rather than their
character equivalents.
- <STRONG>-g</STRONG> Display constant character literals in quoted form rather than
+ <STRONG>-g</STRONG> Display constant character literals in quoted form rather than
their decimal equivalents.
<STRONG>-I</STRONG> Force source translation to terminfo format.
- <STRONG>-K</STRONG> Suppress some longstanding ncurses extensions to termcap format,
+ <STRONG>-K</STRONG> Suppress some longstanding <EM>ncurses</EM> extensions to termcap format,
e.g., "\s" for space.
- <STRONG>-L</STRONG> Force source translation to terminfo format using the long C
+ <STRONG>-L</STRONG> Force source translation to terminfo format using the long C
variable names listed in <<STRONG>term.h</STRONG>>
<STRONG>-N</STRONG> Disable smart defaults. Normally, when translating from termcap
- to terminfo, the compiler makes a number of assumptions about
- the defaults of string capabilities <STRONG>reset1_string</STRONG>, <STRONG>car-</STRONG>
- <STRONG>riage_return</STRONG>, <STRONG>cursor_left</STRONG>, <STRONG>cursor_down</STRONG>, <STRONG>scroll_forward</STRONG>, <STRONG>tab</STRONG>,
+ to terminfo, the compiler makes a number of assumptions about
+ the defaults of string capabilities <STRONG>reset1_string</STRONG>,
+ <STRONG>carriage_return</STRONG>, <STRONG>cursor_left</STRONG>, <STRONG>cursor_down</STRONG>, <STRONG>scroll_forward</STRONG>, <STRONG>tab</STRONG>,
<STRONG>newline</STRONG>, <STRONG>key_backspace</STRONG>, <STRONG>key_left</STRONG>, and <STRONG>key_down</STRONG>, then attempts to
- use obsolete termcap capabilities to deduce correct values. It
+ use obsolete termcap capabilities to deduce correct values. It
also normally suppresses output of obsolete termcap capabilities
- such as <STRONG>bs</STRONG>. This option forces a more literal translation that
+ such as <STRONG>bs</STRONG>. This option forces a more literal translation that
also preserves the obsolete capabilities.
- <STRONG>-o</STRONG><EM>dir</EM> Write compiled entries to given database location. Overrides
- the TERMINFO environment variable.
+ <STRONG>-o</STRONG><EM>dir</EM> Write compiled entries to given database location. Overrides
+ the <EM>TERMINFO</EM> environment variable.
- <STRONG>-Q</STRONG><EM>n</EM> Rather than show source in terminfo (text) format, print the
- compiled (binary) format in hexadecimal or base64 form, depend-
- ing on the option's value:
+ <STRONG>-Q</STRONG><EM>n</EM> Rather than show source in terminfo (text) format, print the
+ compiled (binary) format in hexadecimal or base64 form,
+ depending on the option's value:
1 hexadecimal
source.
<STRONG>-R</STRONG><EM>subset</EM>
- Restrict output to a given subset. This option is for use with
- archaic versions of terminfo like those on SVr1, Ultrix, or
- HP/UX that do not support the full set of SVR4/XSI Curses ter-
- minfo; and outright broken ports like AIX 3.x that have their
- own extensions incompatible with SVr4/XSI. Available subsets
- are "SVr1", "Ultrix", "HP", "BSD" and "AIX"; see <STRONG><A HREF="terminfo.5.html">terminfo(5)</A></STRONG> for
- details.
-
- <STRONG>-r</STRONG> Force entry resolution (so there are no remaining tc capabili-
- ties) even when doing translation to termcap format. This may
- be needed if you are preparing a termcap file for a termcap
- library (such as GNU termcap through version 1.3 or BSD termcap
- through 4.3BSD) that does not handle multiple tc capabilities
- per entry.
-
- <STRONG>-s</STRONG> Summarize the compile by showing the database location into
- which entries are written, and the number of entries which are
+ Restrict output to a given subset. This option is for use with
+ archaic versions of terminfo like those on SVr1, Ultrix, or HP-
+ UX that do not support the full set of SVR4/XSI Curses terminfo;
+ and outright broken ports like AIX 3.x that have their own
+ extensions incompatible with SVr4/XSI.
+
+ Available subsets are
+ "SVr1", "Ultrix", "HP", "BSD", and "AIX"
+
+ See <STRONG><A HREF="terminfo.5.html">terminfo(5)</A></STRONG> for details.
+
+ <STRONG>-r</STRONG> Force entry resolution (so there are no remaining tc
+ capabilities) even when doing translation to termcap format.
+ This may be needed if you are preparing a termcap file for a
+ termcap library (such as GNU termcap through version 1.3 or BSD
+ termcap through 4.3BSD) that does not handle multiple tc
+ capabilities per entry.
+
+ <STRONG>-s</STRONG> Summarize the compile by showing the database location into
+ which entries are written, and the number of entries which are
compiled.
- <STRONG>-T</STRONG> eliminates size-restrictions on the generated text. This is
- mainly useful for testing and analysis, since the compiled
- descriptions are limited (e.g., 1023 for termcap, 4096 for ter-
- minfo).
+ <STRONG>-T</STRONG> eliminates size-restrictions on the generated text. This is
+ mainly useful for testing and analysis, since the compiled
+ descriptions are limited (e.g., 1023 for termcap, 4096 for
+ terminfo).
- <STRONG>-t</STRONG> tells <STRONG>tic</STRONG> to discard commented-out capabilities. Normally when
- translating from terminfo to termcap, untranslatable capabili-
- ties are commented-out.
+ <STRONG>-t</STRONG> tells <STRONG>tic</STRONG> to discard commented-out capabilities. Normally when
+ translating from terminfo to termcap, untranslatable
+ capabilities are commented-out.
- <STRONG>-U</STRONG> tells <STRONG>tic</STRONG> to not post-process the data after parsing the source
+ <STRONG>-U</STRONG> tells <STRONG>tic</STRONG> to not post-process the data after parsing the source
file. Normally, it infers data which is commonly missing in older
terminfo data, or in termcaps.
- <STRONG>-V</STRONG> reports the version of ncurses which was used in this program, and
+ <STRONG>-V</STRONG> reports the version of <EM>ncurses</EM> which was used in this program, and
exits.
<STRONG>-v</STRONG><EM>n</EM> specifies that (verbose) output be written to standard error trace
information showing <STRONG>tic</STRONG>'s progress.
- The optional parameter <EM>n</EM> is a number from 1 to 10, inclusive,
- indicating the desired level of detail of information. If ncurses
- is built without tracing support, the optional parameter is
- ignored. If <EM>n</EM> is omitted, the default level is 1. If <EM>n</EM> is speci-
- fied and greater than 1, the level of detail is increased.
+ The optional parameter <EM>n</EM> is a number from 1 to 9, inclusive,
+ indicating the desired level of detail of information.
+
+ <STRONG>o</STRONG> If <EM>ncurses</EM> is built without tracing support, the optional
+ parameter is ignored.
+
+ <STRONG>o</STRONG> If <EM>n</EM> is omitted, the default level is 1.
+
+ <STRONG>o</STRONG> If <EM>n</EM> is specified and greater than 1, the level of detail is
+ increased, and the output is written (with tracing
+ information) to the "trace" file.
The debug flag levels are as follows:
- 1 Names of files created and linked
+ 1 Names of files created and linked
- 2 Information related to the "use" facility
+ 2 Information related to the "use" facility
- 3 Statistics from the hashing algorithm
+ 3 Statistics from the hashing algorithm
- 5 String-table memory allocations
+ 4 Details of extended capabilities
- 7 Entries into the string-table
+ 5 (unused)
- 8 List of tokens encountered by scanner
+ 6 (unused)
- 9 All values computed in construction of the hash table
+ 7 Entries into the string-table
- If the debug level <EM>n</EM> is not given, it is taken to be one.
+ 8 List of tokens encountered by scanner
- <STRONG>-W</STRONG> By itself, the <STRONG>-w</STRONG> option will not force long strings to be
+ 9 All values computed in construction of the hash table
+
+ <STRONG>-W</STRONG> By itself, the <STRONG>-w</STRONG> option will not force long strings to be
wrapped. Use the <STRONG>-W</STRONG> option to do this.
- If you specify both <STRONG>-f</STRONG> and <STRONG>-W</STRONG> options, the latter is ignored when
+ If you specify both <STRONG>-f</STRONG> and <STRONG>-W</STRONG> options, the latter is ignored when
<STRONG>-f</STRONG> has already split the line.
<STRONG>-w</STRONG><EM>n</EM> specifies the width of the output. The parameter is optional. If
it is omitted, it defaults to 60.
- <STRONG>-x</STRONG> Treat unknown capabilities as user-defined. That is, if you sup-
- ply a capability name which <STRONG>tic</STRONG> does not recognize, it will infer
- its type (boolean, number or string) from the syntax and make an
- extended table entry for that. User-defined capability strings
- whose name begins with "k" are treated as function keys.
+ <STRONG>-x</STRONG> Treat unknown capabilities as user-defined (see <STRONG><A HREF="user_caps.5.html">user_caps(5)</A></STRONG>).
+ That is, if you supply a capability name which <STRONG>tic</STRONG> does not
+ recognize, it will infer its type (Boolean, number or string) from
+ the syntax and make an extended table entry for that. User-
+ defined capability strings whose name begins with "k" are treated
+ as function keys.
-</PRE><H3><a name="h3-P
ARAMETERS">PARAMETERS</a></H3><PRE>
+</PRE><H3><a name="h3-P
arameters">Parameters</a></H3><PRE>
<EM>file</EM> contains one or more <STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> terminal descriptions in source
format [see <STRONG><A HREF="terminfo.5.html">terminfo(5)</A></STRONG>]. Each description in the file
describes the capabilities of a particular terminal.
The <EM>file</EM> parameter may also be the path of a character-device.
-</PRE><H3><a name="h3-P
ROCESSING">PROCESSING</a></H3><PRE>
+</PRE><H3><a name="h3-P
rocessing">Processing</a></H3><PRE>
All but one of the capabilities recognized by <STRONG>tic</STRONG> are documented in
<STRONG><A HREF="terminfo.5.html">terminfo(5)</A></STRONG>. The exception is the <STRONG>use</STRONG> capability.
<STRONG>entry_name_1</STRONG> before <STRONG>use=</STRONG> for these capabilities to be canceled in
<STRONG>entry_name_1</STRONG>.
- Total compiled entries cannot exceed 4096 bytes. The name field cannot
- exceed 512 bytes. Terminal names exceeding the maximum alias length
- (32 characters on systems with long filenames, 14 characters otherwise)
- will be truncated to the maximum alias length and a warning message
- will be printed.
+ Total compiled entries cannot exceed 4096 bytes in the legacy storage
+ format, or 32768 using the extended number format. The name field
+ cannot exceed 512 bytes. Terminal names exceeding the maximum alias
+ length (32 characters on systems with long filenames, 14 characters
+ otherwise) will be truncated to the maximum alias length and a warning
+ message will be printed.
-</PRE><H2><a name="h2-COMPATIBILITY">COMPATIBILITY</a></H2><PRE>
- There is some evidence that historic <STRONG>tic</STRONG> implementations treated
- description fields with no whitespace in them as additional aliases or
- short names. This <STRONG>tic</STRONG> does not do that, but it does warn when descrip-
- tion fields may be treated that way and check them for dangerous char-
- acters.
+</PRE><H2><a name="h2-FILES">FILES</a></H2><PRE>
+ <EM>/usr/share/terminfo</EM>
+ compiled terminal description database
+
+
+</PRE><H2><a name="h2-NOTES">NOTES</a></H2><PRE>
+ There is some evidence that historic <STRONG>tic</STRONG> implementations treated
+ description fields with no whitespace in them as additional aliases or
+ short names. This <STRONG>tic</STRONG> does not do that, but it does warn when
+ description fields may be treated that way and check them for dangerous
+ characters.
</PRE><H2><a name="h2-EXTENSIONS">EXTENSIONS</a></H2><PRE>
- Unlike the SVr4 <STRONG>tic</STRONG> command, this implementation can actually compile
- termcap sources. In fact, entries in terminfo and termcap syntax can
- be mixed in a single source file. See <STRONG><A HREF="terminfo.5.html">terminfo(5)</A></STRONG> for the list of
+ Unlike the SVr4 <STRONG>tic</STRONG> command, this implementation can actually compile
+ termcap sources. In fact, entries in terminfo and termcap syntax can
+ be mixed in a single source file. See <STRONG><A HREF="terminfo.5.html">terminfo(5)</A></STRONG> for the list of
termcap names taken to be equivalent to terminfo names.
- The SVr4 manual pages are not clear on the resolution rules for <STRONG>use</STRONG>
- capabilities. This implementation of <STRONG>tic</STRONG> will find <STRONG>use</STRONG> targets any-
- where in the source file, or anywhere in the file tree rooted at <STRONG>TER-</STRONG>
- <STRONG>MINFO</STRONG> (if <STRONG>TERMINFO</STRONG> is defined), or in the user's <EM>$HOME/.terminfo</EM> data-
- base (if it exists), or (finally) anywhere in the system's file tree of
- compiled entries.
+ The SVr4 manual pages are not clear on the resolution rules for <STRONG>use</STRONG>
+ capabilities. This implementation of <STRONG>tic</STRONG> will find <STRONG>use</STRONG> targets
+ anywhere in the source file, or anywhere in the file tree rooted at
+ <EM>TERMINFO</EM> (if <EM>TERMINFO</EM> is defined), or in the user's <EM>$HOME/.terminfo</EM>
+ database (if it exists), or (finally) anywhere in the system's file
+ tree of compiled entries.
- The error messages from this <STRONG>tic</STRONG> have the same format as GNU C error
+ The error messages from this <STRONG>tic</STRONG> have the same format as GNU C error
messages, and can be parsed by GNU Emacs's compile facility.
- The <STRONG>-0</STRONG>, <STRONG>-1</STRONG>, <STRONG>-C</STRONG>, <STRONG>-G</STRONG>, <STRONG>-I</STRONG>, <STRONG>-N</STRONG>, <STRONG>-R</STRONG>, <STRONG>-T</STRONG>, <STRONG>-V</STRONG>, <STRONG>-a</STRONG>, <STRONG>-e</STRONG>, <STRONG>-f</STRONG>, <STRONG>-g</STRONG>, <STRONG>-o</STRONG>, <STRONG>-r</STRONG>, <STRONG>-s</STRONG>, <STRONG>-t</STRONG>
- and <STRONG>-x</STRONG> options are not supported under SVr4. The SVr4 <STRONG>-c</STRONG> mode does not
- report bad use links.
+ Aside from <STRONG>-c</STRONG> and <STRONG>-v</STRONG>, options are not portable:
+
+ <STRONG>o</STRONG> Most of tic's options are not supported by SVr4 <STRONG>tic</STRONG>:
+
+ <STRONG>-0</STRONG> <STRONG>-1</STRONG> <STRONG>-C</STRONG> <STRONG>-G</STRONG> <STRONG>-I</STRONG> <STRONG>-N</STRONG> <STRONG>-R</STRONG> <STRONG>-T</STRONG> <STRONG>-V</STRONG> <STRONG>-a</STRONG> <STRONG>-e</STRONG> <STRONG>-f</STRONG> <STRONG>-g</STRONG> <STRONG>-o</STRONG> <STRONG>-r</STRONG> <STRONG>-s</STRONG> <STRONG>-t</STRONG> <STRONG>-x</STRONG>
+
+ <STRONG>o</STRONG> The NetBSD <STRONG>tic</STRONG> supports a few of the <EM>ncurses</EM> options
+
+ <STRONG>-a</STRONG> <STRONG>-o</STRONG> <STRONG>-x</STRONG>
+
+ and adds <STRONG>-S</STRONG> (a feature which does the same thing as infocmp's <STRONG>-e</STRONG>
+ and <STRONG>-E</STRONG> options).
+
+ The SVr4 <STRONG>-c</STRONG> mode does not report bad "use=" links.
System V does not compile entries to or read entries from your
- <EM>$HOME/.terminfo</EM> database unless TERMINFO is explicitly set to it.
+ <EM>$HOME/.terminfo</EM> database unless <EM>TERMINFO</EM> is explicitly set to it.
-</PRE><H2><a name="h2-FILES">FILES</a></H2><PRE>
- <STRONG>/usr/share/terminfo/?/*</STRONG>
- Compiled terminal description database.
+</PRE><H2><a name="h2-PORTABILITY">PORTABILITY</a></H2><PRE>
+ X/Open Curses, Issue 7 (2009) provides a brief description of <STRONG>tic</STRONG>. It
+ lists one option: <STRONG>-c</STRONG>. The omission of <STRONG>-v</STRONG> is unexpected. The change
+ history states that the description is derived from Tru64. According
+ to its manual pages, that system also supported the <STRONG>-v</STRONG> option.
+ Shortly after Issue 7 was released, Tru64 was discontinued. As of
+ 2019, the surviving implementations of <STRONG>tic</STRONG> are SVr4 (AIX, HP-UX and
+ Solaris), <EM>ncurses</EM> and NetBSD curses. The SVr4 <STRONG>tic</STRONG> programs all support
+ the <STRONG>-v</STRONG> option. The NetBSD <STRONG>tic</STRONG> program follows X/Open's documentation,
+ omitting the <STRONG>-v</STRONG> option.
-</PRE><H2><a name="h2-SEE-ALSO">SEE ALSO</a></H2><PRE>
- <STRONG><A HREF="infocmp.1m.html">infocmp(1m)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG><A HREF="captoinfo.1m.html">captoinfo(1m)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG><A HREF="infotocap.1m.html">infotocap(1m)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG><A HREF="toe.1m.html">toe(1m)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG><A HREF="ncurses.3x.html">curses(3x)</A></STRONG>,
- <STRONG><A HREF="term.5.html">term(5)</A></STRONG>. <STRONG><A HREF="terminfo.5.html">terminfo(5)</A></STRONG>.
+ The X/Open rationale states that some implementations of <STRONG>tic</STRONG> read
+ terminal descriptions from the standard input if the <EM>file</EM> parameter is
+ omitted. None of these implementations do that. Further, it comments
+ that some may choose to read from "./terminfo.src" but that is
+ obsolescent behavior from SVr2, and is not (for example) a documented
+ feature of SVr3.
- This describes <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> version 6.0 (patch 20171007).
+</PRE><H2><a name="h2-HISTORY">HISTORY</a></H2><PRE>
+ System V Release 2 provided a <STRONG>tic</STRONG> utility. It accepted a single
+ option: <STRONG>-v</STRONG> (optionally followed by a number). According to Ross
+ Ridge's comment in <EM>mytinfo</EM>, this version of <STRONG>tic</STRONG> was unable to represent
+ cancelled capabilities.
-</PRE><H2><a name="h2-AUTHOR">AUTHOR</a></H2><PRE>
+ System V Release 3 provided a different <STRONG>tic</STRONG> utility, written by Pavel
+ Curtis, (originally named "compile" in <EM>pcurses</EM>). This added an option
+ <STRONG>-c</STRONG> to check the file for errors, with the caveat that errors in "use="
+ links would not be reported. System V Release 3 documented a few
+ warning messages which did not appear in <EM>pcurses</EM>. While the program
+ itself was changed little as development continued with System V
+ Release 4, the table of capabilities grew from 180 (<EM>pcurses</EM>) to 464
+ (Solaris).
+
+ In early development of <EM>ncurses</EM> (1993), Zeyd Ben-Halim used the table
+ from <EM>mytinfo</EM> to extend the <EM>pcurses</EM> table to 469 capabilities (456
+ matched SVr4, 8 were only in SVr4, 13 were not in SVr4). Of those 13,
+ 11 were ultimately discarded (perhaps to match the draft of X/Open
+ Curses). The exceptions were <STRONG>memory_lock_above</STRONG> and <STRONG>memory_unlock</STRONG> (see
+ <STRONG><A HREF="user_caps.5.html">user_caps(5)</A></STRONG>).
+
+ Eric Raymond incorporated parts of <EM>mytinfo</EM> into <EM>ncurses</EM> to implement
+ the termcap-to-terminfo source conversion, and extended that to begin
+ development of the corresponding terminfo-to-termcap source conversion,
+ Thomas Dickey completed that development over the course of several
+ years.
+
+ In 1999, Thomas Dickey added the <STRONG>-x</STRONG> option to support user-defined
+ capabilities.
+
+ In 2010, Roy Marples provided a <STRONG>tic</STRONG> program and terminfo library for
+ NetBSD. That implementation adapts several features from <EM>ncurses</EM>,
+ including <STRONG>tic</STRONG>'s <STRONG>-x</STRONG> option.
+
+ The <STRONG>-c</STRONG> option tells <STRONG>tic</STRONG> to check for problems in the terminfo source
+ file. Continued development provides additional checks:
+
+ <STRONG>o</STRONG> <EM>pcurses</EM> had 8 warnings
+
+ <STRONG>o</STRONG> <EM>ncurses</EM> in 1996 had 16 warnings
+
+ <STRONG>o</STRONG> Solaris (SVr4) curses has 28 warnings
+
+ <STRONG>o</STRONG> NetBSD tic in 2019 has 19 warnings.
+
+ <STRONG>o</STRONG> <EM>ncurses</EM> in 2019 has 96 warnings
+
+ The checking done in <EM>ncurses</EM>' <STRONG>tic</STRONG> helps with the conversion to termcap,
+ as well as pointing out errors and inconsistencies. It is also used to
+ ensure consistency with the user-defined capabilities. There are 527
+ distinct capabilities in <EM>ncurses</EM>' terminal database; 128 of those are
+ user-defined.
+
+
+</PRE><H2><a name="h2-AUTHORS">AUTHORS</a></H2><PRE>
Eric S. Raymond <esr@snark.thyrsus.com> and
Thomas E. Dickey <dickey@invisible-island.net>
+</PRE><H2><a name="h2-SEE-ALSO">SEE ALSO</a></H2><PRE>
+ <STRONG><A HREF="captoinfo.1m.html">captoinfo(1m)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG><A HREF="infocmp.1m.html">infocmp(1m)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG><A HREF="infotocap.1m.html">infotocap(1m)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG><A HREF="toe.1m.html">toe(1m)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG><A HREF="ncurses.3x.html">curses(3x)</A></STRONG>,
+ <STRONG><A HREF="term.5.html">term(5)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG><A HREF="terminfo.5.html">terminfo(5)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG><A HREF="user_caps.5.html">user_caps(5)</A></STRONG>
+
+
-
<STRONG><A HREF="tic.1m.html">tic(1m)</A></STRONG>
+
ncurses 6.4 2024-03-16 <STRONG><A HREF="tic.1m.html">tic(1m)</A></STRONG>
</PRE>
<div class="nav">
<ul>
<li><a href="#h2-SYNOPSIS">SYNOPSIS</a></li>
<li><a href="#h2-DESCRIPTION">DESCRIPTION</a>
<ul>
-<li><a href="#h3-OPTIONS">OPTIONS</a></li>
-<li><a href="#h3-PARAMETERS">PARAMETERS</a></li>
-<li><a href="#h3-PROCESSING">PROCESSING</a></li>
+<li><a href="#h3-Aliases">Aliases</a></li>
+</ul>
+</li>
+<li><a href="#h2-OPTIONS">OPTIONS</a>
+<ul>
+<li><a href="#h3-Parameters">Parameters</a></li>
+<li><a href="#h3-Processing">Processing</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
-<li><a href="#h2-COMPATIBILITY">COMPATIBILITY</a></li>
-<li><a href="#h2-EXTENSIONS">EXTENSIONS</a></li>
<li><a href="#h2-FILES">FILES</a></li>
+<li><a href="#h2-NOTES">NOTES</a></li>
+<li><a href="#h2-EXTENSIONS">EXTENSIONS</a></li>
+<li><a href="#h2-PORTABILITY">PORTABILITY</a></li>
+<li><a href="#h2-HISTORY">HISTORY</a></li>
+<li><a href="#h2-AUTHORS">AUTHORS</a></li>
<li><a href="#h2-SEE-ALSO">SEE ALSO</a></li>
-<li><a href="#h2-AUTHOR">AUTHOR</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
</BODY>
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