X-Git-Url: http://ncurses.scripts.mit.edu/?p=ncurses.git;a=blobdiff_plain;f=ANNOUNCE;fp=ANNOUNCE;h=5ef8f3c2f963c630fadb54c58d3fdbce3be2437e;hp=4707838fba99e43ceae6c99ee42e62d8a320b00e;hb=b1f61d9f3aa244512045a6b02e759825d7049d34;hpb=0eb88fc5281804773e2a0c7a488a4452463535ce diff --git a/ANNOUNCE b/ANNOUNCE index 4707838f..5ef8f3c2 100644 --- a/ANNOUNCE +++ b/ANNOUNCE @@ -1,143 +1,131 @@ - Announcing ncurses 5.0 - + Announcing ncurses 5.1 + The ncurses (new curses) library is a free software emulation of curses in System V Release 4.0, and more. It uses terminfo format, supports pads and color and multiple highlights and forms characters and function-key mapping, and has all the other SYSV-curses enhancements over BSD curses. - + In mid-June 1995, the maintainer of 4.4BSD curses declared that he considered 4.4BSD curses obsolete, and is encouraging the keepers of Unix releases such as BSD/OS, freeBSD and netBSD to switch over to ncurses. - + The ncurses code was developed under GNU/Linux. It should port easily to any ANSI/POSIX-conforming UNIX. It has even been ported to OS/2 Warp! - + The distribution includes the library and support utilities, including a terminfo compiler tic(1), a decompiler infocmp(1), clear(1), tput(1), tset(1), and a termcap conversion tool captoinfo(1). Full manual pages are provided for the library and tools. - + The ncurses distribution is available via anonymous FTP at the GNU - distribution site [1]ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/ncurses. It is also - available at [2]ftp://ftp.clark.net/pub/dickey/ncurses. - + distribution site [1]ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/ncurses. + It is also available at [2]ftp://dickey.his.com/ncurses. + Release Notes - - We decided to release ncurses as a new whole number release (5.0) - because it incorporates several interface changes, including some that - would invalidate existing shared libraries. These are the highlights - from the change-log since ncurses 4.2 release. - + + This release is designed to be upward compatible from ncurses 5.0; + very few applications will require recompilation, depending on the + platform. These are the highlights from the change-log since ncurses + 5.0 release. + Interface changes: - * The principal source of changes to the interface comes from the - release of X/Open Curses in 1997. Earlier versions of ncurses (4.0 - and before) were based on a draft version of the specification. - The release version adds parameters to some functions to support - the evolving internationalization of curses. These summarize the - impact: - + modified several prototypes to correspond with 1997 version - of X/Open Curses (affects ABI since developers have used - attr_get). - + corrected prototypes for slk_* functions, using chtype rather - than attr_t. - + the slk_attr_{set,off,on} functions need an additional void* - parameter according to XSI. - + correct macros for wattr_set, wattr_get, separate wattrset - macro from these to preserve behavior that allows attributes - to be combined with color pair numbers. - + reviewed/updated curses.h, term.h against X/Open Curses Issue - 4 Version 2. This includes making some parameters - NCURSES_CONST rather than const, e.g., in termcap.h. - + reviewed/corrected macros in curses.h as per XSI document. - + add set_a_attributes and set_pglen_inch to terminfo - structure, as per XSI and Solaris 2.5. - * The newest version of the X/Open Curses is implemented on Solaris - and other vendor's systems. It adds new features to the terminfo - descriptions: - + implement tparm %l format. - + implement tparm printf-style width and precision for %s, %d, - %x, %o as per XSI. - * We made additional changes to reduce impact by future interface - changes: - + rename key_names[] array to _nc_key_names since it is not - part of the curses interface. - + move macro winch to a function, to hide details of struct - ldat - * modify configure script to embed ABI in shared libraries for HP-UX - 10.x (detailed request by Tim Mooney). - * modify configuration of shared libraries on Digital Unix so that - versioning is embedded in the library, rather than implied by - links (patch by Tim Mooney). - + * made the extended terminal capabilities + (configure --enable-tcap-names) a standard feature (though the + configure script can disable it, it is built by default). + * removed the trace() function and related trace support from the + production library. This is the only interface change that may + cause problems with existing applications linked to shared + libraries, since not all platforms use the minor version number. + * explicitly initialized to zero several data items which were + implicitly initialized, e.g., cur_term. If not explicitly + initialized, their storage type is C (common), and causes problems + linking on some platforms. + * modified curses.h.in, undef'ing some symbols to avoid conflict + with C++ STL. + New features: - * enable sigwinch handler by default. - * turn on hashmap scrolling code by default - * improved support for termcap applications - + modify tput to accept termcap names as an alternative to - terminfo names. - + provide support for termcap PC variable by copying it from - terminfo data and using it as the padding character in tputs. - + provide support for termcap ospeed variable by copying it - from the internal cur_term member, and using ospeed as the - baudrate reference for the delay_output and tputs functions. - + change name-comparisons in lib_termcap to compare no more - than 2 characters. - + add configure option --enable-tcap-names, which essentially - allows users to define new capabilities as in termcap. - * add mouse support to ncurses menus. - * add mouse and dll support for OS/2 EMX - * modify terminfo parsing to accept octal and hexadecimal constants - * add configure option --enable-no-padding, to allow environment - variable $NCURSES_NO_PADDING to eliminate non-mandatory padding, - thereby making terminal emulators (e.g., for vt100) a little more - efficient. - * modify lib_color.c to eliminate dependency on orig_colors and - orig_pair, since SVr4 curses does not require these either, but - uses them when they are available. - * add -f option to infocmp and tic, which formats the terminfo - if/then/else/endif so that they are readable (with newlines and - tabs). - * modify tic to compile into %'char' form in preference to - %{number}, since that is a little more efficient. - + * added a new extension, assume_default_colors() to provide better + control over the use of default colors. This is the principal + visible difference between ncurses 5.1 and preceding versions. The + new extension allows an application to specify what colors pair 0 + uses. + NOTE: Pair 0 defaults to white on black unless you have invoked + use_default_colors() or set it via assume_default_colors(). An + application that calls start_colors() without setting the + background color will consistently have a black background no + matter what color your terminal's background actually is. + * made several fixes to the terminfo-to-termcap conversion, and have + been using the generated termcaps without further hand-tuning. + This builds on the extension use_extended_names() by adding + "obsolete" termcap strings to terminfo.src + + modified tic so that if extended names (i.e., + configure --enable-tcap-names) are active, then tic -x will + also write "obsolete" capabilities that are present in the + terminfo source. + + added screen's AX capability (for ECMA SGR 39 and 49) to + applicable terminfo entries, use presence of this as a check + for a small improvement in setting default colors. + + add -a option to tic and infocmp, which retains commented-out + capabilities during source translation/comparison, e.g., + captoinfo and infotocap. + * implemented limited support for UTF-8, useful with XFree86 xterm: + + if the configure --enable-widec option is given, append 'w' + to names of the generated libraries (e.g., libncursesw.so) to + avoid conflict with existing ncurses libraries. + + add a simple UTF-8 output driver to the experimental + wide-character support. If any of the environment variables + LC_ALL, LC_CTYPE or LANG contain the string "UTF-8", this + driver will be used to translate the output to UTF-8. + + modified view.c to make a rudimentary viewer of UTF-8 text. + * modify raw() and noraw() to clear/restore IEXTEN flag which + affects stty lnext on systems such as FreeBSD + * reordered tests during mouse initialization to allow for gpm to + run in xterm, or for xterm to be used under OS/2 EMX. Also dropped + test for $DISPLAY in favor of the terminfo capability kmous=\E[M + or if $TERM environment variable contains "xterm". + * added configure option --with-manpage-symlinks, which provides for + fully indexing manpage entries by making symbolic links for the + aliases. + * changed unctrl() to render C1 characters (128-159) as ~@, ~A, etc. + * add experimental configure option --enable-colorfgbg to check for + $COLORTERM variable as set by rxvt/aterm/Eterm. + * made the infocmp -F option less verbose. + * dropped support for gnat 3.10 (gnat 3.12 is current). + Major bug fixes: - * modify lib_tstp.c to block SIGTTOU when handling SIGTSTP, fixes a - problem where ncurses applications which were run via a shell - script would hang when given a ^Z. Also, check if the terminal's - process group is consistent, i.e., a shell has not taken ownership - of it, before deciding to save the current terminal settings in - the SIGTSTP handler. - * suppress sc/rc capabilities from terminal description if they - appear in smcup/rmcup. This affects only scrolling optimization, - to fix a problem reported by several people with xterm's alternate - screen, though the problem is more general. - * modify relative_move and tputs to avoid an interaction with the - BSD-style padding. The relative_move function could produce a - string to replace on the screen which began with a numeric - character, which was then interpreted by tputs as padding. - * modify setupterm so that cancelled strings are treated the same as - absent strings, cancelled and absent booleans false (does not - affect tic, infocmp). - * modify lib_vidattr.c to allow for terminal types (e.g., - xterm-color) which may reset all attributes in the 'op' - capability, so that colors are set before turning on bold and - other attributes, but still after turning attributes off. - * use 'access()' to check if ncurses library should be permitted to - open or modify files with fopen/open/link/unlink/remove calls, in - case the calling application is running in setuid mode. - * correction to doupdate, for case where terminal does not support - insert/delete character. The logic did not check that there was a - difference in alignment of changes to old/new screens before - repainting the whole non-blank portion of the line. Modified to - fall through into logic that reduces by the portion which does not - differ. - + * modified infocmp -e, -E options to ensure that generated + fallback.c type for Booleans agrees with term.h + * documented a special case of incompatiblity between ncurses 4.2 + and 5.0, added a section for this in INSTALL. + * corrected tests for file-descriptors in OS/2 EMX mouse support. A + negative value could be used by FD_SET, causing the select() call + to wait indefinitely. + * made 'tput flash' work properly for xterm by flushing output in + delay_output() when using napms(), and modifying xterm's terminfo + to specify no padding character. Otherwise, xterm's reported baud + rate could mislead ncurses into producing too few padding + characters. + * modified lib_addch.c to allow repeated update to the lower-right + corner, rather than displaying only the first character written + until the cursor is moved. Recent versions of SVr4 curses can + update the lower-right corner, and behave this way. + * modified echo() behavior of getch() to match Solaris curses for + carriage return and backspace (reported by Neil Zanella). + * corrected offsets used for subwindows in wresize() + * modified configure script so AC_MSG_ERROR is temporarily defined + to a warning in AC_PROG_CXX to make it recover from a missing C++ + compiler without requiring user to add --without-cxx option + * corrected logic in lib_twait.c as used by lib_mouse.c for GPM + mouse support when poll() is used rather than select(). + * made several fixes for buffer overflows, unchecked recursion, + improvements in performance, etc. See the NEWS file for details. + Features of Ncurses - + The ncurses package is fully compatible with SVr4 (System V Release 4) curses: * All 257 of the SVr4 calls have been implemented (and are @@ -157,7 +145,7 @@ * The utilities have options to allow you to filter terminfo entries for use with less capable curses/terminfo versions such as the HP/UX and AIX ports. - + The ncurses package also has many useful extensions over SVr4: * The API is 8-bit clean and base-level conformant with the X/OPEN curses specification, XSI curses (that is, it implements all BASE @@ -239,117 +227,138 @@ * An HTML "Introduction to Programming with NCURSES" document provides a narrative introduction to the curses programming interface. - + State of the Package - + Numerous bugs present in earlier versions have been fixed; the library is far more reliable than it used to be. Bounds checking in many `dangerous' entry points has been improved. The code is now type-safe according to gcc -Wall. The library has been checked for malloc leaks and arena corruption by the Purify memory-allocation tester. - + The ncurses code has been tested with a wide variety of applications including (versions starting with those noted): - + cdk - Curses Development Kit [3]Curses Development Kit - [4]ftp://ftp.clark.net/pub/dickey/cdk. - + Curses Development Kit + [3]http://www.vexus.ca/CDK.html + [4]http://dickey.his.com/cdk. + ded - directory-editor [5]ftp://ftp.clark.net/pub/dickey/ded. - + directory-editor + [5]http://dickey.his.com/ded. + dialog the underlying application used in Slackware's setup, and the basis for similar applications on GNU/Linux. - + [6]http://dickey.his.com/dialog. + lynx the character-screen WWW browser - + [7]http://lynx.isc.org/release. + Midnight Commander 4.1 file manager - + [8]www.gnome.org/mc/. + mutt mail utility - + [9]http://www.mutt.org. + ncftp file-transfer utility - + [10]http://www.ncftp.com. + nvi New vi versions 1.50 are able to use ncurses versions 1.9.7 and later. - + [11]http://www.bostic.com/vi/. + tin newsreader, supporting color, MIME - [6]ftp://ftp.akk.uni-karlsruhe.de/pub/news/clients/tin-unoff. - + [12]http://www.tin.org. + taper tape archive utility - + [13]http://members.iinet.net.au/~yusuf/taper/. + vh-1.6 Volks-Hypertext browser for the Jargon File - + [14]http://www.bg.debian.org/Packages/unstable/text/vh.html. + as well as some that use ncurses for the terminfo support alone: - + minicom terminal emulator - + [15]http://www.pp.clinet.fi/~walker/minicom.html. + vile - vi-like-emacs [7]ftp://ftp.clark.net/pub/dickey/vile. - + vi-like-emacs + [16]http://dickey.his.com/vile. + The ncurses distribution includes a selection of test programs (including a few games). - + Who's Who and What's What - The original developers of ncurses are [8]Zeyd Ben-Halim and [9]Eric - S. Raymond. Ongoing work is being done by [10]Thomas Dickey and - [11]Jürgen Pfeifer. [12]Thomas Dickey acts as the maintainer for the + The original developers of ncurses are [17]Zeyd Ben-Halim and [18]Eric + S. Raymond. Ongoing work is being done by [19]Thomas Dickey and + [20]Jürgen Pfeifer. [21]Thomas Dickey acts as the maintainer for the Free Software Foundation, which holds the copyright on ncurses. - Contact the current maintainers at [13]bug-ncurses@gnu.org. - + Contact the current maintainers at [22]bug-ncurses@gnu.org. + To join the ncurses mailing list, please write email to bug-ncurses-request@gnu.org containing the line: subscribe @ This list is open to anyone interested in helping with the development and testing of this package. - + Beta versions of ncurses and patches to the current release are made - available at [14]ftp://ftp.clark.net/pub/dickey/ncurses. - + available at [23]ftp://dickey.his.com/ncurses. + Future Plans * Extended-level XPG4 conformance, with internationalization support. * Ports to more systems, including DOS and Windows. - + We need people to help with these projects. If you are interested in working on them, please join the ncurses list. - + Other Related Resources The distribution includes and uses a version of the terminfo-format terminal description file maintained by Eric Raymond. - [15]http://earthspace.net/~esr/terminfo. - + [24]http://earthspace.net/~esr/terminfo. + You can find lots of information on terminal-related topics not - covered in the terminfo file at [16]Richard Shuford's archive. + covered in the terminfo file at [25]Richard Shuford's archive. References 1. ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/ncurses - 2. ftp://ftp.clark.net/pub/dickey/ncurses + 2. ftp://dickey.his.com/ncurses 3. http://www.vexus.ca/CDK.html - 4. ftp://ftp.clark.net/pub/dickey/cdk - 5. ftp://ftp.clark.net/pub/dickey/ded - 6. ftp://ftp.akk.uni-karlsruhe.de/pub/news/clients/tin-unoff - 7. ftp://ftp.clark.net/pub/dickey/vile - 8. mailto:zmbenhal@netcom.com - 9. http://www.ccil.org/~esr/home.html - 10. mailto:dickey@clark.net - 11. mailto:juergen.pfeifer@gmx.net - 12. mailto:dickey@clark.net - 13. mailto:bug-ncurses@gnu.org - 14. ftp://ftp.clark.net/pub/dickey/ncurses - 15. http://earthspace.net/~esr/terminfo - 16. http://www.cs.utk.edu/~shuford/terminal_index.html + 4. http://dickey.his.com/cdk/cdk.html + 5. http://dickey.his.com/ded/ded.html + 6. http://dickey.his.com/dialog/dialog.html + 7. http://lynx.isc.org/release/ + 8. file://localhost/usr/build/ncurses/ncurses-5.1-20000704/doc/html/www.gnome.org/mc/ + 9. http://www.mutt.org/ + 10. http://www.ncftp.com/ + 11. http://www.bostic.com/vi/ + 12. http://www.tin.org/ + 13. http://members.iinet.net.au/~yusuf/taper/ + 14. http://www.bg.debian.org/Packages/unstable/text/vh.html + 15. http://www.pp.clinet.fi/~walker/minicom.html + 16. http://dickey.his.com/vile/vile.html + 17. mailto:zmbenhal@netcom.com + 18. http://www.ccil.org/~esr/home.html + 19. mailto:dickey@herndon4.his.com + 20. mailto:juergen.pfeifer@gmx.net + 21. mailto:dickey@herndon4.his.com + 22. mailto:bug-ncurses@gnu.org + 23. ftp://dickey.his.com/ncurses + 24. http://earthspace.net/~esr/terminfo + 25. http://www.cs.utk.edu/~shuford/terminal_index.html