X-Git-Url: http://ncurses.scripts.mit.edu/?p=ncurses.git;a=blobdiff_plain;f=ANNOUNCE;h=0684b3dc41d7e5df96990f73f9201f4b40b7d747;hp=513234e33caa431aec05182c38be2c74dd34ffb6;hb=HEAD;hpb=a8987e73ec254703634802b4f7ee30d3a485524d diff --git a/ANNOUNCE b/ANNOUNCE index 513234e3..45b1a0ea 100644 --- a/ANNOUNCE +++ b/ANNOUNCE @@ -1,308 +1,426 @@ + Announcing ncurses 6.4 - Announcing ncurses 5.4 +Overview 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. + 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. 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 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! + considered 4.4BSD curses obsolete, and encouraged the keepers of unix + releases such as BSD/OS, FreeBSD and NetBSD to switch over to ncurses. + + Since 1995, ncurses has been ported to many systems: + * It is used in almost every system based on the Linux kernel (aside + from some embedded applications). + * It is used as the system curses library on OpenBSD, FreeBSD and + MacOS. + * It is used in environments such as Cygwin and MinGW. The first of + these was EMX on OS/2 Warp. + * It is used (though usually not as the system curses) on all of the + vendor unix systems, e.g., AIX, HP-UX, IRIX64, SCO, Solaris, + Tru64. + * It should work readily on any ANSI/POSIX-conforming unix. 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/gnu/ncurses/ . - It is also available at [2]ftp://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ . - - Release Notes - - This release is designed to be upward compatible from ncurses 5.0 and - 5.3; very few applications will require recompilation, depending on - the platform. These are the highlights from the change-log since - ncurses 5.3 release. - - Interface changes: - * add the remaining functions for X/Open curses wide-character - support. - + pecho_wchar() - + slk_wset() - These are only available if the library is configured using the - --enable-widec option. - * write getyx() and related 2-return macros in terms of getcury(), - getcurx(), etc. - * simplify ifdef for bool declaration in curses.h - * modify ifdef's in curses.h that disabled use of __attribute__() - for g++, since recent versions implement the cases which ncurses - uses. - * add key_defined() function, to tell which keycode a string is - bound to. - - New features and improvements: - * library - + implement logic in lib_mouse.c to handle position reports - which are generated when XFree86 xterm is initialized with - private modes 1002 or 1003. These are returned to the - application as the REPORT_MOUSE_POSITION mask, which was not - implemented. - + modify soft-key initialization to use A_REVERSE if A_STANDOUT - would not be shown when colors are used, i.e., if ncv#1 is - set in the terminfo as is done in "screen". - + add configure option for FreeBSD sysmouse, --with-sysmouse, - and implement library support for that. - * programs: - + tack: - o allow it to run from fallback terminfo data. - o reset colors after each color test, correct a place - where exit_standout_mode was used instead of - exit_attribute_mode. - o improve bce test by making it set colors other than - black on white. - + tic: - o handle a case where an entry has no description, and - capabilities begin on the same line as the entry name. - o allow a terminfo entry with a leading 2-character name. - o improved warnings when suppressing items to fit in - termcap's 1023-byte limit. - o add check for multiple "tc=" clauses in a termcap. - o correct logic for resolving "use=" clauses allow infocmp - and tic to show cancelled capabilities. - o check for incomplete line-drawing character mapping. - o check for missing/empty/illegal terminfo name. - + tput: - o modify tput to use the same parameter analysis as - tparm() does, to provide for user-defined strings, e.g., - for xterm title, a corresponding capability might be - title=\E]2;%p1%s^G, - + tset: - o use the system's default values for CKILL and other - default control characters. - o correct interchanged defaults for kill and interrupt - characters, which caused it to report unnecessarily. - - Major bug fixes: - * prevent recursion in wgetch() via wgetnstr() if the connection - cannot be switched between cooked/raw modes because it is not a - TTY. - * correct a case in _nc_remove_string(), used by define_key(), to - avoid infinite loop if the given string happens to be a substring - of other strings which are assigned to keys. - * modify logic of acsc to use the original character if no mapping - is defined, rather than a null. - * several improvements for handling multi-cell display of wide - characters. - + modify setcchar() to allow converting control characters to - complex characters. - + correct handling of multibyte characters in waddch_literal() - which force wrapping because they are started too late on the - line. - + modify setcchar() to allow for wchar_t input strings that - have more than one spacing character. - * other fixes for wide-character support: - + rewrote lib_acs.c to allow PutAttrChar() to decide how to - render alternate-characters, i.e., to work with Linux console - and UTF-8 locale. - + implement a workaround so that line-drawing works with - screen's crippled UTF-8 support (tested with 3.9.13). This - only works with the wide-character support (--enable-widec); - the normal library will simply suppress line-drawing when - running in a UTF-8 locale in screen. - + corrections to lib_get_wstr.c: - o null-terminate buffer passed to setcchar(), which - occasionally failed. - o map special characters such as erase- and - kill-characters into key-codes so those will work as - expected even if they are not mentioned in the terminfo. - * modify setupterm() to check if the terminfo and terminal-modes - have already been read. This ensures that it does not reinvoke - def_prog_mode() when an application calls more than one function, - such as tgetent() and initscr(). - * fix form_driver() cases for REQ_CLR_EOF, REQ_CLR_EOL, - REQ_DEL_CHAR, REQ_DEL_PREV and REQ_NEW_LINE, which did not ensure - the cursor was at the editing position before making - modifications. - * correct keybound(), which reported definitions in the wrong table, - i.e., the list of definitions which are disabled by keyok(). - * fixes related to safe_sprintf.c: - + correct an allocation size in safe_sprintf.c for the "*" - format code. - + correct safe_sprintf.c to not return a null pointer if the - format happens to be an empty string. - + make return value from _nc_printf_string() consistent. - Before, depending on whether --enable-safe-sprintf was used, - it might not be cached for reallocating. - * other low-level improvements to the optimization code include: - + if the output is a socket or other non-tty device, use 1 - millisecond for the cost in mvcur; previously it was 9 - milliseconds because the baudrate was not known. - + modify lib_getch.c to avoid recursion via wgetnstr() when the - input is not a tty and consequently mode-changes do not work. - + fix several places in tack/pad.c which tested and used the - parameter- and parameterless strings inconsistently. - + change several tputs() calls in scrolling code to use putp(), - to enable padding which may be needed for some terminals. - + improve mvcur() by checking if it is safe to move when video - attributes are set (msgr), and if not, reset/restore - attributes within that function rather than doing it - separately in the GoTo() function in tty_update.c. - + use tputs() rather than putp() in a few cases in tty_update.c - since the corresponding delays are proportional to the number - of lines affected: repeat_char, clr_eos, - change_scroll_region. - * correct line/column reference in adjust_window(), needed to make - special windows such as curscr track properly when resizing. - * fix a potential recursion between napms() and _nc_timed_wait() - * rewrote lib_insch.c, combining it with lib_insstr.c so both handle - tab and other control characters consistently. - * do not try to open gpm mouse driver if standard output is not a - tty; the gpm library does not make this check. - - Portability: - * configure script: - + new options: - - --with-abi-version option. - addresses platforms where packagers have diverged - from ncurses ABI numbering. - - --with-manpage-format=catonly - addresses behavior of BSDI, allow install of - man+cat files on NetBSD, whose behavior has - diverged by requiring both to be present. - - --with-manpage-aliases - extends "--with-manpage-aliases" to provide the - option of generating ".so" files rather than - symbolic links for manpage aliases. - - --with-rel-version - workaround to force libtool on Darwin generate the - "same" library names as with the "--with-shared" - option. The Darwin ld program does not work well - with a zero as the minor-version value. - - --with-trace - simplifies defining TRACE to incorporate trace() in - libraries. - - + fixes/improvements for cross-compiling: - o allow BUILD_CC and related configure script variables to - be overridden from the environment. - o use AC_CHECK_TOOL to get proper values for AR and LD for - cross compiling. - o use $cross_compiling variable in configure script rather - than comparing $host_alias and $target alias, since - "host" is traditionally misused in autoconf to refer to - the target platform. - o modify run_tic.in to avoid using wrong shared libraries - when cross-compiling. - + fixes for Mac OS X: - o fix a redefinition of $RANLIB in the configure script - when libtool is used. - o modify MKlib_gen.sh to avoid passing "#" tokens through - the C preprocessor. This works around Mac OS X's - preprocessor, which insists on adding a blank on each - side of the token. - + workarounds for broken tools: - o add configure check for wchar_t and wint_t types, rather - than rely on preprocessor definitions. Also work around - for gcc fixinclude bug which creates a shadow copy of - curses.h if it sees these symbols apparently typedef'd. - o modify configure script to omit -Winline for gcc 3.3, - since that feature is broken. - o several script fixes to work around the ironically named - POSIXLY_CORRECT feature of GNU sed 4.0. - o modify configure script to avoid using "head -1", which - does not work if POSIXLY_CORRECT (sic) is set. - o update configure script to reflect fix for - AC_PROG_GCC_TRADITIONAL, which is broken in autoconf - 2.5x for Mac OS X 10.2.3. - o repair check for missing C++ compiler, which is broken - in autoconf 2.5x by hardcoding it to g++. - + corrected ifdef's relating to configure check for wchar_t, - etc. - + remove configure script check to allow -Wconversion for older - versions of gcc - + modify configure script to accommodate libtool 1.5, as well - as add an parameter to the "--with-libtool" option which can - specify the pathname of libtool. - + change several sed scripts to avoid using "\+" since it is - not a BRE (basic regular expression). One instance caused - terminfo.5 to be misformatted on FreeBSD. - + use '%' as sed substitute delimiter in run_tic script to - avoid problems with pathname delimiters such as ':' and '@'. - + add -D_XOPEN_SOURCE=500 if needed when configuring with - "--enable-widec", to get mbstate_t declaration on HPUX 11.11. - * library: - + adjust include-options in CF_ETIP_DEFINES to avoid missing - ncurses_dll.h, fixing special definitions that may be needed - for etip.h. - + modify CF_LIB_SUFFIX for Itanium releases of HP-UX, which use - a ".so" suffix. - + improve ifdef's to guard against redefinition of wchar_t and - wint_t in curses.h. - + remove an #undef for KEY_EVENT from curses.tail used in the - experimental NCURSES_WGETCH_EVENTS feature. The #undef - confuses Debian dpkg's build script. - - 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 - documented). - * Full support for SVr4 curses features including keyboard mapping, - color, forms-drawing with ACS characters, and automatic - recognition of keypad and function keys. - * An emulation of the SVr4 panels library, supporting a stack of - windows with backing store, is included. - * An emulation of the SVr4 menus library, supporting a uniform but - flexible interface for menu programming, is included. - * An emulation of the SVr4 form library, supporting data collection - through on-screen forms, is included. - * Binary terminfo entries generated by the ncurses tic(1) - implementation are bit-for-bit-compatible with the entry format - SVr4 curses uses. - * 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. + * captoinfo, a termcap conversion tool + * clear, utility for clearing the screen + * infocmp, the terminfo decompiler + * tabs, set tabs on a terminal + * tic, the terminfo compiler + * toe, list (table of) terminfo entries + * tput, utility for retrieving terminal capabilities in shell + scripts + * tset, to initialize the terminal + + Full manual pages are provided for the library and tools. + + The ncurses distribution is available at ncurses' homepage: + + https://invisible-island.net/archives/ncurses/ or + https://invisible-mirror.net/archives/ncurses/ . + + It is also available at the GNU distribution site + + https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/ncurses/ . + +Release Notes + + These notes are for ncurses 6.4, released December 31, 2022. + + This release is designed to be source-compatible with ncurses 5.0 + through 6.3; providing extensions to the application binary interface + (ABI). Although the source can still be configured to support the + ncurses 5 ABI, the reason for the release is to reflect improvements + to the ncurses 6 ABI and the supporting utility programs. + + There are, of course, numerous other improvements, listed in this + announcement. + + The most important bug-fixes/improvements dealt with robustness + issues. The release notes also mention some other bug-fixes, but are + focused on new features and improvements to existing features since + ncurses 6.3 release. + + Library improvements + + New features + + There are no new features in this release. + + Other improvements + + These are improvements to existing features: + * modify delscreen to more effectively delete all windows on the + given screen. + * modify wnoutrefresh to call pnoutrefresh if its parameter is a + pad, rather than treating it as an error, and modify new_panel to + permit its window-parameter to be a pad + * modify curses_trace() to show the trace-mask as symbols, e.g., + TRACE_ORDINARY, DEBUG_LEVEL(3). + * improve checks for valid mouse events when an intermediate mouse + state is not part of the mousemask specified by the caller + * allow extended-color number in opts parameter of wattr_on. + * improve _tracecchar_t2 formatting of base+combining character. + * trim out some unwanted linker options from ncurses*config and .pc + files seen in Fedora 36+. + * improve shell-scripts with shellcheck + * improve use of "trap" in shell scripts, using a script. + * modify make-tar.sh scripts to make timestamps more predictable. + + These are corrections to existing features: + * modify misc/gen-pkgconfig.in to allow for the case where the + library directory does not yet exist, since this is processed + before doing an install + * set trailing null on string passed from winsnstr to wins_nwstr. + * modify waddch_literal to allow for double-width base character + when merging a combining character + + Program improvements + + Several improvements were made to the utility programs: + + infocmp + + + rewrite canonical_name function of infocmp to ensure buffer + size + + improve readability of long parameterized expressions with + the infocmp "-f" option by allowing split before a "%p" + marker. + + modify verbose-option of infocmp, tic, toe to enable + debug-tracing if that is configured. + + tabs + limit tab-stop values to max-columns + + tic + add consistency check in tic for u6/u7/u8/u9 and NQ + capabilities. + + tput + corrected use of original tty-modes in init/reset subcommands + + Examples + + Along with the library and utilities, improvements were made to the + ncurses-examples. Most of this activity aimed at improving the + test-packages: + * add minimal -h (usage) and -V (version) getopt logic to all + ncurses-examples programs. + * fix an error in "@" command in test/ncurses.c F-menu + * add curses_trace to ifdef's for START_TRACE in test/test.priv.h + * improve pthread-configuration for test/worm.c + * add setlocale call to several test-programs. + * workaround in test/picsmap.c for use of floating point for rgb + values by ImageMagick 6.9.11, which appears to use the wrong upper + limit. + * use static libraries for AdaCurses test-package for Mageia, since + no gprbuild package is available. + * install Ada95 sample programs in libexecdir, adding a wrapper + script to invoke those. + * install ncurses-examples programs in libexecdir, adding a wrapper + script to invoke those. + + There are other new demo/test programs and reusable examples: + + test/combine + demonstrate combining characters + + test/test_delwin + demonstrate deleting a window + + test/test_mouse + observe mouse events in the raw terminal or parsed ncurses + modes + + test/test_unget_wch + demonstrate the unget_wch and unget functions + + Terminal database + + There are several new terminal descriptions: + * mosh + * mosh-256color + * teken-16color + * teken-sc + * teken-vt + * xgterm + + There are many changes to existing terminal descriptions. Some were + updates to several descriptions: + * make description-fields distinct + * fix errata in description fields + * add/use several building-blocks: + + aixterm+sl + + ansi+cpr + + apollo+vt132 + + decid+cpr + + ncr260vp+sl + + wyse+sl + + x10term+sl + + xterm+acs + + xterm+alt47 + + while others affected specific descriptions. These were retested, to + take into account changes by their developers: + * kitty + * teken + + while these are specific fixes based on reviewing documentation, user + reports, or warnings from tic: + + att610+cvis0 + amended note as per documentation for att610, att620, att730 + + kon, kon2, jfbterm + revise to undo "linux2.6" change to smacs/rmacs/enacs + + st-0.6 + add dim, ecma+strikeout + + foot+base + add xterm+sl-alt + + dec+sl + correct dsl in dec+sl + + mintty and tmux + correct setal in mintty/tmux entries, add to vte-2018 + + nsterm + modify nsterm to use xterm+alt1049 + + putty + modify putty to use xterm+alt1049 + + vte-2018 + add blink and setal + + A few entries use extensions (user-defined terminal capabilities): + * use ansi+enq and decid+cpr in cases where the terminal probably + supported the u6-u9 extension + * remove u6-u9 from teken-2018 + * use NQ to flag entries where the terminal does not support query + and response + * add/use bracketed+paste to help identify terminals supporting this + xterm feature + * modify samples for xterm mouse 1002/1003 modes to use 1006 mode, + and also provide for focus in/out responses + * xterm patch #371 supports DEC-compatible status-line. add dec+sl + to xterm-new, per xterm #371, add xterm-p371, add xterm-p370, for + use in older terminals, and set "xterm-new" to "xterm-p370" (to + ease adoption). + + Documentation + + As usual, this release + * improves documentation by describing new features, + * attempts to improve the description of features which users have + found confusing + * fills in overlooked descriptions of features which were described + in the NEWS file but treated sketchily in manual pages. + + In addition to providing background information to explain these + features and show how they evolved, there are corrections, + clarifications, etc.: + * Corrections: + + remove a stray '/' from description of %g in terminfo(5). + + correct/improve font-formatting in curs_getch.3x, as well as + other manual pages. + * New/improved history and portability sections: + + add portability notes for delscreen and delwin in manual. + + improve curs_slk.3x discussion of extensions and portability + * Other improvements: + + improve curs_bkgd.3x, explaining that bkgdset can affect + results for bkgd + + add note on portable memory-leak checking in curs_memleaks.3x + + expanded description in resizeterm.3x + + add section on releasing memory to curs_termcap.3x and + curs_terminfo.3x manpages. + + add clarification of the scope of dynamic variables in + terminfo(5). + + improve formatting of ncurses-intro.html and hackguide.html + + improve curs_clear.3x links to other pages + + update ncurses-howto, making documentation fixes along with + corrections to example programs. + + use newer version 1.36 of gnathtml for generating Ada html + files. + + update external links in Ada95.html + + There are no new manual pages (all of the manual page updates are to + existing pages). + + Interesting bug-fixes + + While there were many bugs fixed during development of ncurses 6.4, + only a few (the reason for this release) were both important and + interesting. Most of the bug-fixes were for local issues which did not + affect compatibility across releases. Since those are detailed in the + NEWS file no elaboration is needed here. + + The interesting bugs were those dealing with memory leaks and buffer + overflows. Although the utilities are designed for text files (which + they do properly), some choose to test them with non-text files. + * Text files contain no embedded nulls. Also, they end with a + newline. Feeding tic non-text files exposed a few cases where the + program did not check for those issues. As a result, further + processing of the input found limit-checks whose assumptions were + invalid. + * Fixing the limit-checks (first) found a problem with tic managing + the list of strings in a terminal description. In merging two + terminal descriptions (i.e., the "use=" feature), tic was not + allocating a complete copy. A quick repair for that introduced a + memory leak. + * The checks for non-text files are improved (i.e., embedded nulls + in the input file will cause tic to reject it rather than + attempting to process it). + * The string allocations in tic are likewise improved. + + Configuration changes + + Major changes + + There are no major changes. No new options were added. Several + improvements were made to configure checks. + + Configuration options + + There are a few new/modified configure options: + + --with-abi-version + add ABI 7 defaults to configure script. + + --with-caps + add warning in configure script if file specified for + "--with-caps" does not exist. + + --with-manpage-format + bzip2 and xz compression are now supported + + --with-xterm-kbs + add check/warning in configure script if option + "--with-xterm-kbs" is missing or inconsistent + + Portability + + Many of the portability changes are implemented via the configure + script: + * amend configure option's auto-search to account for systems where + none of the directories known to pkg-config exist + * corrected regex needed for older pkg-config used in Solaris 10 + * improve handling of --with-pkg-config-libdir option, allowing for + the case where either $PKG_CONFIG_LIBDIR or the option value has a + colon-separated list of directories + * if the --with-pkg-config-libdir option is not given, use + ${libdir}/pkgconfig as a default + * improve search-path check for pkg-config, e.g., for Debian testing + which installs pkg-config with architecture-prefixes. + * build-fix for cross-compiling to MingW, conditionally add -lssp + * improve configure check for getttynam + * fixes to build with dietlibc: + + add configure check for fpathconf + + add configure check for math sine/cosine, needed in + test/tclock, and eliminate pow() from test/hanoi + + use wcsnlen as an alternative to wmemchr if it is not found + * modify configure macro CF_BUILD_CC to check if the build-compiler + works, rather than that it is different from the cross-compiler, + e.g., to accommodate a compiler which can be used for either + purpose with different flags + * modify configure/scripts to work around interference by GNU grep + 3.8 + + Here are some of the other portability fixes: + * change man_db.renames to template, to handle ncurses*-config + script with the --extra-suffix configure option. + * update CF_XOPEN_SOURCE macro, adding variants "gnueabi" and + "gnueabihf" to get _DEFAULT_SOURCE special case, as well as adding + GNU libc suffixes for "abi64", "abin32", "x32" to distinguish it + from other libc flavors. + * work around musl's nonstandard use of feature test macros by + adding a definition for NCURSES_WIDECHAR to the generated ".pc" + and *-config files. + * use "command -v" rather than "type" in Ada95/gen/Makefile.in to + fix a portability issue. + _________________________________________________________________ + +Features of ncurses + + The ncurses package is fully upward-compatible with SVr4 (System V + Release 4) curses: + * All of the SVr4 calls have been implemented (and are documented). + * ncurses 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. + * ncurses provides these SVr4 add-on libraries (not part of X/Open + Curses): + + the panels library, supporting a stack of windows with + backing store. + + the menus library, supporting a uniform but flexible + interface for menu programming. + + the form library, supporting data collection through + on-screen forms. + * ncurses's terminal database is fully compatible with that used by + SVr4 curses. + + ncurses supports user-defined capabilities which it can see, + but which are hidden from SVr4 curses applications using the + same terminal database. + + It can be optionally configured to match the format used in + related systems such as AIX and Tru64. + + Alternatively, ncurses can be configured to use hashed + databases rather than the directory of files used by SVr4 + curses. + * The ncurses 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 - level features, but not all EXTENDED features). Most - EXTENDED-level features not directly concerned with wide-character - support are implemented, including many function calls not - supported under SVr4 curses (but portability of all calls is - documented so you can use the SVr4 subset only). + 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). * Unlike SVr3 curses, ncurses can write to the rightmost-bottommost corner of the screen if your terminal has an insert-character capability. * Ada95 and C++ bindings. - * Support for mouse event reporting with X Window xterm and OS/2 - console windows. + * Support for mouse event reporting with X Window xterm and FreeBSD + and OS/2 console windows. * Extended mouse support via Alessandro Rubini's gpm package. - * The function wresize() allows you to resize windows, preserving + * The function wresize allows you to resize windows, preserving their data. - * The function use_default_colors() allows you to use the terminal's + * The function use_default_colors allows you to use the terminal's default colors for the default color pair, achieving the effect of transparent colors. - * The functions keyok() and define_key() 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. - * Support for 16-color terminals, such as aixterm and XFree86 xterm. + * The functions keyok and define_key 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. + * Support for direct-color terminals, such as modern xterm. + * Support for 256-color terminals, such as modern xterm. + * Support for 16-color terminals, such as aixterm and modern xterm. * Better cursor-movement optimization. The package now features a cursor-local-movement computation more efficient than either BSD's or System V's. @@ -310,7 +428,7 @@ 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. + powerful than the 4.4BSD curses quickch routine. * 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 @@ -323,10 +441,10 @@ 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). - * The tic(1)/captoinfo utility provided with ncurses has the ability - to translate many termcaps from the XENIX, IBM and AT&T extension + * The tic/captoinfo utility provided with ncurses has the ability to + translate many termcaps from the XENIX, IBM and AT&T extension sets. - * A BSD-like tset(1) utility is provided. + * A BSD-like tset utility is provided. * 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 @@ -341,153 +459,215 @@ 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. - * A script (capconvert) 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. - * 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. * The table-of-entries utility toe makes it easy for users to see exactly what terminal types are available on the system. * The library meets the XSI requirement that every macro entry point - have a corresponding function which may be linked (and will be + has a corresponding function which may be linked (and will be prototype-checked) if the macro definition is disabled with #undef. - * An HTML "Introduction to Programming with NCURSES" document - provides a narrative introduction to the curses programming - interface. + * Extensive documentation is provided (see the Additional Reading + section of the ncurses FAQ for online documentation). + +Applications using ncurses - State of the Package + The ncurses distribution includes a selection of test programs + (including a few games). These are available separately as + ncurses-examples - 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 library has been tested with a wide variety of + applications including: - The ncurses code has been tested with a wide variety of applications - including (versions starting with those noted): + aptitude + FrontEnd to Apt, the debian package manager + + https://wiki.debian.org/Aptitude cdk Curses Development Kit - [3]http://invisible-island.net/cdk/ - [4]http://www.vexus.ca/products/CDK/ + + https://invisible-island.net/cdk/ ded directory-editor - [5]http://invisible-island.net/ded/ + + https://invisible-island.net/ded/ dialog the underlying application used in Slackware's setup, and the - basis for similar applications on GNU/Linux. - [6]http://invisible-island.net/dialog/ + basis for similar install/configure applications on many + systems. + + https://invisible-island.net/dialog/ lynx - the character-screen WWW browser - [7]http://lynx.isc.org/release/ + the text WWW browser - Midnight Commander - file manager - [8]http://www.ibiblio.org/mc/ + https://lynx.invisible-island.net/ mutt mail utility - [9]http://www.mutt.org/ + + http://www.mutt.org/ ncftp file-transfer utility - [10]http://www.ncftp.com/ + + https://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/ + New vi uses ncurses. + + https://sites.google.com/a/bostic.com/keithbostic/vi - pinfo - Lynx-like info browser. - [12]http://dione.ids.pl/~pborys/software/pinfo/ + ranger + A console file manager with VI key bindings in Python. + + https://ranger.github.io/ tin - newsreader, supporting color, MIME [13]http://www.tin.org/ + newsreader, supporting color, MIME + + http://www.tin.org/ + + vifm + File manager with vi like keybindings - vh-1.6 - Volks-Hypertext browser for the Jargon File - [14]http://www.debian.org/Packages/unstable/text/vh.html + https://vifm.info/ as well as some that use ncurses for the terminfo support alone: minicom - terminal emulator - [15]http://www.netsonic.fi/~walker/minicom.html + terminal emulator for serial modem connections + + https://alioth.debian.org/projects/minicom/ + + mosh + a replacement for ssh. + + https://mosh.org/ + + tack + terminfo action checker + + https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/tack.html + + tmux + terminal multiplexor + + https://github.com/tmux/tmux/wiki vile - vi-like-emacs - [16]http://invisible-island.net/vile/ + vi-like-emacs may be built to use the terminfo, termcap or + curses interfaces. - The ncurses distribution includes a selection of test programs - (including a few games). + https://invisible-island.net/vile/ + + and finally, those which use only the termcap interface: + + emacs + text editor + + https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/ + + less + The most commonly used pager (a program that displays text + files). + + http://www.greenwoodsoftware.com/less/ + + screen + terminal multiplexor + + https://www.gnu.org/software/screen/ + + vim + text editor + + https://www.vim.org/ -Who's Who and What's What +Development activities - 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 [17]Thomas Dickey. Thomas Dickey acts as the maintainer for the - Free Software Foundation, which holds the copyright on ncurses. - Contact the current maintainers at [18]bug-ncurses@gnu.org. + Zeyd Ben-Halim started ncurses from a previous package pcurses, + written by Pavel Curtis. Eric S. Raymond continued development. + Juergen Pfeifer wrote most of the form and menu libraries. - To join the ncurses mailing list, please write email to - bug-ncurses-request@gnu.org containing the line: - subscribe @ + Ongoing development work is done by Thomas E. Dickey. Thomas E. Dickey + has acted as the maintainer for the Free Software Foundation, which + held a copyright on ncurses for releases 4.2 through 6.1. Following + the release of ncurses 6.1, effective as of release 6.2, copyright for + ncurses reverted to Thomas E. Dickey (see the ncurses FAQ for + additional information). + + Contact the current maintainers at + + 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 [19]ftp://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ . + Beta versions of ncurses are made available at + + https://invisible-island.net/archives/ncurses/current/ and + https://invisible-mirror.net/archives/ncurses/current/ . + + Patches to the current release are made available at + + https://invisible-island.net/archives/ncurses/6.3/ and + https://invisible-mirror.net/archives/ncurses/6.3/ . + + There is an archive of the mailing list here: -Future Plans + http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-ncurses (also https) - * Extended-level XPG4 conformance, with internationalization - support. - * Ports to more systems, including DOS and Windows. +Related resources - We need people to help with these projects. If you are interested in - working on them, please join the ncurses list. + The release notes make scattered references to these pages, which may + be interesting by themselves: + * ncurses licensing + * Symbol versioning in ncurses + * Comments on ncurses versus slang (S-Lang) + * Comments on OpenBSD + * tack - terminfo action checker + * tctest - termcap library checker + * Terminal Database -Other Related Resources +Other resources The distribution provides a newer version of the terminfo-format - terminal description file maintained by [20]Eric Raymond . Unlike the + terminal description file once maintained by Eric Raymond . Unlike the older version, the termcap and terminfo data are provided in the same - file. + file, which also provides several user-definable extensions beyond the + X/Open specification. You can find lots of information on terminal-related topics not - covered in the terminfo file at [21]Richard Shuford's archive . - -References - - 1. ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/ncurses/ - 2. ftp://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ - 3. http://invisible-island.net/cdk/ - 4. http://www.vexus.ca/products/CDK/ - 5. http://invisible-island.net/ded/ - 6. http://invisible-island.net/dialog/ - 7. http://lynx.isc.org/release/ - 8. http://www.ibiblio.org/mc/ - 9. http://www.mutt.org/ - 10. http://www.ncftp.com/ - 11. http://www.bostic.com/vi/ - 12. http://dione.ids.pl/~pborys/software/pinfo/ - 13. http://www.tin.org/ - 14. http://www.debian.org/Packages/unstable/text/vh.html - 15. http://www.netsonic.fi/~walker/minicom.html - 16. http://invisible-island.net/vile/ - 17. mailto:dickey@invisible-island.net - 18. mailto:bug-ncurses@gnu.org - 19. ftp://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ - 20. http://www.catb.org/~esr/terminfo/ - 21. http://www.cs.utk.edu/~shuford/terminal_index.html + covered in the terminfo file at Richard Shuford's archive . The + collection of computer manuals at bitsavers.org has also been useful. + + * Overview + * Release Notes + + Library improvements + o New features + o Other improvements + + Program improvements + o Utilities + o Examples + + Terminal database + + Documentation + + Interesting bug-fixes + + Configuration changes + o Major changes + o Configuration options + + Portability + * Features of ncurses + * Applications using ncurses + * Development activities + * Related resources + * Other resources