X-Git-Url: http://ncurses.scripts.mit.edu/?p=ncurses.git;a=blobdiff_plain;f=ANNOUNCE;h=0684b3dc41d7e5df96990f73f9201f4b40b7d747;hp=858c7f2fb3cbca9f3cf2023749859fe7560fa1b6;hb=HEAD;hpb=02f02dcd4464143580e783ae32c822d8eb8cdcbf diff --git a/ANNOUNCE b/ANNOUNCE index 858c7f2f..6abf551c 100644 --- a/ANNOUNCE +++ b/ANNOUNCE @@ -1,4 +1,4 @@ - Announcing ncurses 6.0 + Announcing ncurses 6.5 Overview @@ -6,8 +6,8 @@ Overview 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 is better known today as - X/Open 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 encouraged the keepers of unix @@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ Overview * 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 - OSX. + 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 @@ -26,440 +26,226 @@ Overview * It should work readily on any ANSI/POSIX-conforming unix. The distribution includes the library and support utilities, including - * [1]captoinfo, a termcap conversion tool - * [2]clear, utility for clearing the screen - * [3]infocmp, the terminfo decompiler - * [4]tabs, set tabs on a terminal - * [5]tic, the terminfo compiler - * [6]toe, list (table of) terminfo entries - * [7]tput, utility for retrieving terminal capabilities in shell + * 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 - * [8]tset, to initialize the terminal + * tset, to initialize the terminal Full manual pages are provided for the library and tools. - The ncurses distribution is available via anonymous FTP at the GNU - distribution site + The ncurses distribution is available at ncurses' homepage: - [9]ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/ncurses/ . + https://invisible-island.net/archives/ncurses/ or + https://invisible-mirror.net/archives/ncurses/ . - It is also available at + It is also available at the GNU distribution site - [10]ftp://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ . + https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/ncurses/ . Release Notes - These notes are for ncurses 6.0, released August 8, 2015. + These notes are for ncurses 6.5, released April 27, 2024. This release is designed to be source-compatible with ncurses 5.0 - through 5.9; providing a new application binary interface (ABI). - Although the source can still be configured to support the ncurses 5 - ABI, the intent of the release is to provide extensions which are - generally useful, but binary-incompatible with ncurses 5: - * Extend the cchar_t structure to allow more than 16 colors to be - encoded. - * Modify the encoding of mouse state to make room for a 5th mouse - button. That allows one to use ncurses with a wheel mouse with - xterm or similar X terminal emulators. - - There are, of course, numerous other improvements, including - * fixes made based on the Clang and Coverity static analyzers. - * memory leak fixes using Valgrind - - The release notes mention some bug-fixes, but are focused on new - features and improvements to existing features log since ncurses 5.9 - release. - - While the intent of the release is to provide a new stable ABI, there - are other development activities which are summarized below. - * The original release plan, e.g., for "5.10" was to improve the - MinGW port. Ultimately that was completed (wide-character support, - mouse, etc), but was deferred to focus on termcap support and - performance issues. Also, pinpointing the problems with Console2 - took a while. - * A review of termcap compatibility in 2011 led to several minor - fixes in the library and improvements to utilities. To do this - properly, a review of the various extent termcap implementations - was needed. - The [11]termcap library checker (tctest) (not part of ncurses) was - one result. A followup review of performance using - [12]ncurses-examples in 2014 led to additional improvements. - * Output buffering provided a further, but worthwhile distraction. A - bug report in 2012 regarding the use of signal handlers in - ncurses) pointed out [13]a problem with the use of unsafe - functions for handling SIGTSTP. Other signals could be addressed - with workarounds; repairing SIGTSTP required a different approach. - The solution required changing internal behavior of the library: - how it handles output buffering. - Now ncurses buffers its own output, independently of the standard - output. A few applications relied upon the library's direct reuse - of the standard output buffering; however that is unspecified - behavior and has never been a recommended practice. Identifying - these applications as well as refining the change to permit - low-level applications to work consistently took time. - * Since the introduction of the experimental support for 256 colors - early in [14]2005 (released in [15]ncurses 5.5), there has been - increased user interest. Almost all packagers continue providing - the ncurses ABI 5 which cannot support 256 colors. - * Symbol versioning, or the lack of it in ncurses, is the main - reason why packagers would be reluctant to add a new ncurses ABI. - This release provides the new ABI along with script-generated - lists of versioned symbols which can be used for both ABI 5 and 6 - (with distinct names to keep the two separate). This took time to - development, as reported in [16]Symbol versioning in ncurses. + through 6.4; 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 6.4 release. Library improvements - Output buffering - - X/Open curses provides more than one initialization function: - * [17]initscr (the simplest) accepts no parameters. - * [18]newterm accepts parameters for the stream input and output - * [19]setupterm (the low-level function) accepts a parameter for the - file descriptor of the output. - - They are documented in X/Open as if initscr calls newterm using stdout - for output stream, and in turn newterm calls setupterm using - fileno(stdout) for the file descriptor. As long as an implementation - acts as if it does this, it conforms. In practice, implementations do - what is implied. This creates a problem: the low-level setupterm - function's file descriptor is unbuffered, while newterm implies - buffered output. X/Open Curses says that all output is done through - the file descriptor, and does not say how the output stream is - actually used. - - Initially, ncurses used the file descriptor (obtained from the output - stream passed to newterm) for changing the terminal modes, and relied - upon the output parameter of newterm for buffered output. Later (to - avoid using unsafe buffered I/O in signal handlers), ncurses was - modified to use the file descriptor (unbuffered output) when cleaning - up on receipt of a signal. Otherwise (when not handling a signal), it - continued to use the buffered output. - - That approach worked reasonably well and as a side effect, using the - same buffered output as an application might use for printf meant that - no flushing was needed when switching between normal- and - screen-modes. - - There were a couple of problems: - * to get good performance, curses (not only ncurses, but SVr4 curses - in general) set an output buffer using setbuf or similar function. - There is no standard (or portable) way to turn that output buffer - off, and revert to line-buffering. The [20]NCURSES_NO_SETBUF - environment variable did make it optional. - * to handle SIGTSTP (the "stop" signal), ncurses relied upon unsafe - functions. That is, due to the complexity of the feature, it - relied upon reusing existing functions which should not have been - called via the signal handler. - - Conveniently, solving the second problem (by making ncurses do its own - output buffering) also fixed the first one. But there were special - cases to resolve: [21]low-level functions such as mvcur, putp, vidattr - explicitly use the standard output. Those functions were reused - internally, and required modification to distinguish whether they were - used by the high-level or low-level interfaces. - - Finally, there may still be a few programs which should be modified to - improve their portability, e.g., adding an - -fflush(stdout); - - when switching from "[22]shell" mode to "[23]program" (curses) mode. - Those are fairly rare because most programmers have learned not to mix - printf and [24]printw. - - Symbol versioning - - This release introduces symbol-versioning to ncurses because without - it, the change of ABI would be less successful. A lengthy discussion - will be presented in [25]Symbol versioning in ncurses. These notes - summarize what has changed, and what can be done with the new release. - - Symbol-versioning allows the developers of a library to mark each - public symbol (both data and functions) with an identifier denoting - the library name and the version for which it was built. By doing - this, users of the library have a way to help ensure that applications - do not accidentally load an incompatible library. In addition, private - symbols can be hidden entirely. - - This release provides sample files for the four principal - configurations of ncurses libraries: ncurses, ncursesw, ncursest and - ncursestw. Each sample is given in two forms: - - ".map" - These list all public symbols, together with version names. - - ".sym" - These list all public symbols, without version names. - - The sample files are generated by scripts which take into account a - few special cases such as [26]tack to omit many of the ncurses private - symbols (beginning with "_nc_"). Here are counts of globals versus - locals: - - Config Symbols Globals Locals "_nc_" - ncurses 976 796 180 332 - ncursesw 1089 905 184 343 - ncursest 979 804 175 358 - ncursestw 1098 914 184 372 - - Although only four sample configurations are presented, each is formed - by merging symbols from several combinations of configure-script - options, taking into account advice from downstream packagers. Because - they are formed by merging, the sample files may list a symbol which - is not in a given package. That is expected. The samples have been - tested and are working with systems (such as Fedora, FreeBSD and - Debian) which fully support this feature. There are other systems - which do not support the feature, and a few (such as Solaris) which - provide incomplete support. - - The version-naming convention used allows these sample files to build - distinct libraries for ABI 5 and 6. Version names consist of - * configuration name, e.g., "NCURSESW" for the wide-character - libraries - * ABI version (if not 5) - * library name for two special cases which have the same interface - across configurations: "TINFO" and "TIC" - * release version - * patch date (for the release version) - - For example, running nm -D on the libraries in the ncurses6 test - package shows these symbol-versions: - -0000000000000000 A NCURSES6_TIC_5.0.19991023 -0000000000000000 A NCURSES6_TIC_5.1.20000708 -0000000000000000 A NCURSES6_TIC_5.5.20051010 -0000000000000000 A NCURSES6_TIC_5.7.20081102 -0000000000000000 A NCURSES6_TIC_5.9.20150530 -0000000000000000 A NCURSES6_TINFO_5.0.19991023 -0000000000000000 A NCURSES6_TINFO_5.1.20000708 -0000000000000000 A NCURSES6_TINFO_5.2.20001021 -0000000000000000 A NCURSES6_TINFO_5.3.20021019 -0000000000000000 A NCURSES6_TINFO_5.4.20040208 -0000000000000000 A NCURSES6_TINFO_5.5.20051010 -0000000000000000 A NCURSES6_TINFO_5.6.20061217 -0000000000000000 A NCURSES6_TINFO_5.7.20081102 -0000000000000000 A NCURSES6_TINFO_5.8.20110226 -0000000000000000 A NCURSES6_TINFO_5.9.20150530 -0000000000000000 A NCURSESW6_5.1.20000708 -0000000000000000 A NCURSESW6_5.3.20021019 -0000000000000000 A NCURSESW6_5.4.20040208 -0000000000000000 A NCURSESW6_5.5.20051010 -0000000000000000 A NCURSESW6_5.6.20061217 -0000000000000000 A NCURSESW6_5.7.20081102 -0000000000000000 A NCURSESW6_5.8.20110226 -0000000000000000 A NCURSESW6_5.9.20150530 - - As a special case, this release (which makes the final change for ABI - 5) is marked with release version 5.9 and patch date 20150530. - - Miscellaneous - - The new release has several improvements for performance and building. - For instance: - * several files in ncurses- and progs-directories were modified to - allow const data used in internal tables to be put by the linker - into the readonly text segment. - * various improvements were made to building the Ada95 binding, both - in simplifying the generated files as well as improving the way it - uses gnatmake - - There are also new features in the libraries: - * added [27]use_tioctl function - * added [28]wgetdelay to retrieve _delay member of WINDOW if it - happens to be opaque, e.g., in the pthread configuration. - * added [29]A_ITALIC extension. - * added form library extension [30]O_DYNAMIC_JUSTIFY option which - can be used to override the different treatment of justification - for static versus dynamic fields . - * rewrote [31]putwin and [32]getwin, making an extended version - which is capable of reading screen-dumps between the wide/normal - ncurses configurations. These are text files, except for a magic - code at the beginning: - -0 string \210\210 Screen-dump (ncurses) - - * several changes to mouse support include: - + added decoder for xterm SGR 1006 mouse mode. - + added experimental support for "%u" format to terminfo. - + improved behavior of wheel-mice for xterm protocol: noting - that there are only button-presses for buttons "4" and "5", - so there is no need to wait to combine events into - double-clicks . - - There are a few new configure options dealing with library - customization: - * add "--enable-ext-putwin" configure option to turn on the extended - putwin/getwin. By default, this is enabled for ABI 6 and disabled - with ABI 5. - * add "--enable-string-hacks" option to control whether strlcat and - strlcpy may be used. Because ncurses already does the requisite - buffer-limit checks, this feature is mainly of interest to quiet - compiler-warnings on a few systems. - * add configure option "--with-tparm-arg" to allow [33]tparm's - parameters to be something more likely to be the same size as a - pointer, e.g., intptr_t (again, the default is set for ABI 6). + New features + + These are new features: + * The low-level terminfo and termcap interfaces are used both by the + higher-level curses library, as well as by many applications. + The functions which convert parameterized terminal capability + strings for output to the terminal (tiparm and tparm) analyze the + capability string to determine which parameters are strings (i.e., + addresses), versus numbers (not addresses). + The library's analysis of a capability string may differ from the + calling application's design if environment variables are used to + point to an invalid terminal database. This is a longstanding + problem with all implementations of terminfo, dating from the + early 1980s. + Two new functions address this problem: by providing a function + which allows the calling application to tell ncurses how many + string-parameters to expect: + + tiscan_s helps applications check formatting capabilities + that would be passed to tiparm_s. + + tiparm_s provides applications a way to tell ncurses what the + expected parameters are for a capability. + * The ncurses library supports a compile-time feature (enabled with + the configure --enable-check-size option) which simplifies + initialization with terminals which do not negotiate window + (screen) size. This is done in setupterm, by providing for using + ANSI cursor-position report (in user6/user7 terminfo capabilities) + to obtain the screen size if neither environment variables or + ioctl is used. + The ncurses test-program with options "-E -T" demonstrates this + feature. + * add functions to query tty-flags in SCREEN + + This release drops compatibility with obsolete versions of tack, e.g., + pre-1.08 + + Other improvements + + These are improvements to existing features: + * In addition to the new, safer function tiparm_s, ncurses adds + checks to make the older tiparm, tparm and tgoto functions safer: + + the terminfo functions tiparm and tparm ensure that the + capability string comes from the terminal description which + ncurses loads, rather than from random data which the + application happens to have. + + the tgoto function disallows capabilities which its analysis + shows will attempt to use string parameters. + + ncurses uses internal functions which correspond to tiparm, + and tgoto which ensure that the capability strings which are + passed to these functions come from the loaded terminal + description. + * improve check in lib_tparm.c, ensuring that a char* fits into a + TPARM_ARG + * modify _nc_syserr_abort to use _nc_env_access, rather than only + checking root uid + * improve thread lock in lib_trace.c + * modify flushinp to use file descriptors in SCREEN, rather than + from TERMINAL, and check if they are for a terminal, like SVr4 + * modify mcprint to use file descriptor in SCREEN, for consistency + * modify internal function _nc_read_file_entry to show relevant + filename in warnings + * improve checks in internal function convert_string for corrupt + terminfo entry + * review/improve handling of out-of-memory conditions + * limit delays to 30 seconds, i.e., padding delays in terminfo, as + well as napms and delay_output functions + * fix reallocation loop for vsnprintf in _nc_sprintf_string by + copying the va_list variable + * modify delscreen to limit the windows which it creates to just + those associated with the screen + * modify endwin to return an error if it is called again without an + intervening screen update + * modify wenclose to handle pads + * eliminate use of PATH_MAX in lib_trace.c + * provide for any CCHARW_MAX greater than 1 + + These are corrections to existing features: + * correct loop termination condition in waddnstr and waddnwstr + * improve parsing in internal function _nc_msec_cost, allowing a + single decimal point + * amend parameter check for entire string versus specific length in + winsnstr and wins_nwstr to match Solaris; make similar correction + to wins_nwstr + * correct internal function wadd_wch_literal when adding a + non-spacing character to a double-width character + * correct definition of Charable macro for non-wide ncurses library + . Program improvements - Utilities - - Most of the termcap-related changes based on development of [34]tctest - (termcap library checker) are implemented in the tic and infocmp - programs rather than affecting the library. As noted in the - [35]discussion of tctest, ncurses's ability to translate between - terminfo and termcap formats has been improved at different times, but - subject to feedback from "real" termcap users. There are very few of - those. Nowadays, virtually all termcap users are using ncurses (or - NetBSD, with its own terminfo library) and their programs are actually - using terminfo rather than termcap data. - - Still, there are a few. A comment about the translation of the ASCII - NUL character prompted a review: - * Both terminfo and termcap store string capabilities as - NUL-terminated strings. - * In terminfo, a \0 in a terminal description is stored as \200. - * There are no (known) terminals which would behave differently when - sent \0 or \200. - * When translating to terminfo format (or displaying a printable - version of an entry using infocmp), ncurses shows \200 as \0. - * It has done this since 1998 (quoting from the NEWS file): - -[36]980103 -... - + modify _nc_tic_expand() to generate \0 rather than \200. -... - + correct translation of terminfo "^@", to \200, like \0. - - * However, the _nc_tic_expand function (which optionally produces - terminfo or termcap format) did not address this special case for - termcap. Even the later 4.4BSD [37]cgetstr interprets a \0 - literally, ending that string (rather than using the terminfo - improvement). - - As a result of the review, several improvements were made to ncurses - translation to/from termcap format -- and improving the checks made in - tic for consistency of entries. Most of these are not of general - interest, except for two new command-line options for tic and infocmp: - * the "-0" option generates termcap/terminfo source on a single - line. - * the "-K" option provides stricter BSD-compatibility for termcap - output. - - Other user-visible improvements and new features include: - * added "-D" option to tic and infocmp, to show the database - locations that it could use. - * added "-s" option to toe, to sort its output. - * extended "-c" and "-n" options of infocmp to allow comparing more - than two entries. - * modified toe's report when "-a" and "-s" options are combined, to - add a column showing which entries belong to a given database. - * modified the clear program to take into account the "E3" extended - capability to clear the terminal's scrollback buffer. + Several improvements were made to the utility programs. Some were done + to make the infocmp option "-u" option help refactor the terminal + database. + + infocmp + + + add limit checks for processing extended capabilities with + the "-u" option + + correct initial alignment of extended capabilities, so that + the "-u" option can be used for more than two terminal types + + modify "-u" option to not report cancels for strings which + were already cancelled in a use'd chunk. + + correct an assignment "-u" for detecting if a boolean is + unset in a base entry and set in a use'd chunk, i.e., if it + was cancelled. + + tic + + + correct limit-check when dumping tc/use clause via "-I" + + check return value of _nc_save_str, in special case where + extended capabilities are processed but the terminal + description was not initialized + + modify check for multiply defined aliases to report problems + within the current runtime rather than for conflicts with + pre-existing terminal descriptions. + + disallow using $TERMINFO or $HOME/.terminfo when "-o" option + is used + + tput and tset + + + add "-v" option to tput, to show warnings + + modify reset command to avoid altering clocal if the terminal + uses a modem + + modify reset feature to avoid 1-second sleep if running in a + pseudo-terminal Examples - Along with the library and utilities, many improvements were made to - the [38]ncurses-examples. Some were made to allow building (and - comparison-testing) against NetBSD curses and PDCurses. Both lack some - of the X/Open Curses features, necessitating customization. But this - activity was useful because it showed some remaining performance - issues (which have been resolved in this release). - - These changes were made to verify compatibility or compare performance - of ncurses: - * made workarounds for compiling test-programs with NetBSD curses, - though it lacks some common functions such as [39]use_env. - * added dots_termcap test-program - * added dots_curses test-program, for comparison with the low-level - examples. - * added test_setupterm test-proram to demonstrate normal/error - returns from the setupterm and restartterm functions. - * added "-d", "-e" and "-q" options to the demo_terminfo and - demo_termcap test-programs. - * added "-y" option to demo_termcap and test/demo_terminfo - test-programs to demonstrate behavior with/without extended - capabilities. - * modified demo_termcap and demo_terminfo test-programs to make - their options more directly comparable, and add "-i" option to - specify a terminal description filename to parse for names to - lookup. - * rewrote the tests for [40]mvderwin and test for recursive - [41]mvwin in the movewindow test-program. - - These changes were made to help with the MinGW port: - * added test-screens to the ncurses test-program to show - 256-characters at a time, to help with MinGW port. - * modified the view test-program to load UTF-8 when built with MinGW - by using regular win32 API because the MinGW functions mblen and - mbtowc do not work. - * added "-s" option to the view test-program to allow it to start in - single-step mode, reducing size of trace files when it is used for - debugging MinGW changes. - - These changes were made to verify new extensions in ncurses: - * added [42]form_driver_w entrypoint to wide-character forms - library, as well as form_driver_w test-program. - * modified ncurses test-program's b/B tests to display lines only - for the attributes which a given terminal supports, to make room - for an italics test. - * modified ncurses test-program, adding "-E" and "-T" options to - demonstrate use_env versus use_tioctl. - * modified ncurses test-program's c/C tests to cycle through subsets - of the total number of colors, to better illustrate - 8/16/88/256-colors by providing directly comparable screens. - * modified the ncurses test-program to also show position reports in - 'a' test. - - These changes were made to make the examples more useful: - * added scripts for building dpkg and rpm test-packages - * modified the hanoi test-program to show the minimum number of - moves possible for the given number of tiles. - * modified the knight test-program to show the number of choices - possible for each position in automove option, e.g., to allow user - to follow Warnsdorff's rule to solve the puzzle. + Along with the library and utilities, improvements were made to the + ncurses-examples: + * modify test_tparm to account for extended capabilities + * corrected mouse mask in test/testcurs.c + * modify test/clip_printw.c to optionally test non-wrapped updates + * modify test/test_mouse.c to use curses api for raw/noraw + * modify test/clip_printw.c to optionally test non-wrapped updates - Terminal database + There is one new demo/test programs: - This release provides improvements to tic's "-c" checking option, - which was used for example to - * make sgr in several entries agree with other caps. - * correct padding in some entries where earlier versions had - miscounted the number of octal digits. + test/test_endwin.c + This program shows the return-status from endwin with different + combinations of endwin (repeated), initscr, newterm. + + Terminal database There are several new terminal descriptions: - * [43]mlterm is now aliased to mlterm3 - * [44]nsterm is now derived from nsterm-256color - * [45]putty-sco - * [46]teken is FreeBSD's "xterm" console. - * [47]terminator - * [48]terminology - * [49]tmux is derived from screen. - * several screen.XXX entries support the respective variations for - 256 colors. - * [50]simpleterm is now 0.5 - * [51]vte is aliased to vte-2012 - * [52]vt520ansi - - A few entries use extensions (user-defined terminal capabilities): - * E3, used in linux, putty and xterm-basic is tested in the - [53]clear program to erase a terminal's scrollback. - * TS is used in the [54]xterm+sl building block to help deprecate - the misuse of tsl for xterm's title-string. - * XT is used in some terminfo entries to improve usefulness for - other applications than screen, which would like to pretend that - xterm's title is a status-line. - * xm is used in examples [55]xterm-1005 and [56]xterm-1006 to - illustrate a way to make mouse handling more general - - A few terminals support italics and/or dim capabilities. In - particular, screen does not. Documented that, and accommodated the - terminals where this feature works with the A_ITALIC extension. - * konsole, mlterm3 (italics) - * nsterm (dim) - * screen (dim) - * vte (dim, italics) - * xterm (dim, italics) + * ansi+apparrows + * contour + * linux+kbs for terminals which imitate xterm's behavior with Linux + * rio, rio-direct + * mostlike + * ms-vt100-16color, winconsole + * vt100+noapp, vt100+noapp+pc, xterm+app+pc, xterm+decedit from + xterm #389 + * putty+cursor to reflect amending of modified cursor-keys in 2021 + * wezterm + + There are many changes to existing terminal descriptions. Some were + updates to several descriptions, using the infocmp "-u" option in a + script to determine which building-block entries could be used to + replace multiple capability settings (and trim redundant information). + + Other changes include: + * document XF, kxIN and kxOUT + * add note on sun regarding wscons/cmdtool/shelltool + * remove DECCOLM+DECSCLM from foot + * add xterm+focus to foot+base + * add ecma+strikeout to putty + * use CSI 3J in vte-2017 + * use oldxterm+sm+1006 in vte-2014 + * modify xgterm to work around line-drawing bug + * add xterm focus mode 1004 to xterm+focus as fe/fd capabilities, + like vim. + * add xterm+focus to alacritty+common + * add XR/xr, to work with vim, and use RV/rv to denote DA2 and its + response + * add XF flag to xterm+focus so that termcap applications can be + aware of terminals which may support focus in/out + * use xterm+focus in xterm-p370 and tmux + * remove xterm+sm+1006 from tmux + * NetBSD-related fixes for x68k and wsvt25 Documentation @@ -468,325 +254,163 @@ fflush(stdout); * attempts to improve the description of features which users have found confusing * fills in overlooked descriptions of features which were described - in the [57]NEWS file but treated sketchily in manual pages. - - In addition, the mechanism for producing HTML versions of the - documentation has been improved: - * use an improved version of [58]man2html to generate html manpages. - * regenerated [59]NCURSES-Programming-HOWTO.html to fix some of the - broken html emitted by docbook. + 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: + + add assignment in CF_MAN_PAGES to fill in value for + TERMINFO_DIRS in ncurses, terminfo and tic manpages. + + clarify interaction of -R option versus -C, -I and -r in + infocmp manpage. + + correct manpage description of panel_hidden. + + improve manpage description for addch versus unctrl format + used for non-printable characters. + + improve manpages discussing file descriptors in low-level + functions. + + improve description of search rules for terminal descriptions + in terminfo manpage. + + modify dist.mk to avoid passing developer's comments in + manpages into the generated html documentation. + + modify test-package "ncurses6-doc" to use manpage-aliases, + which in turn required a change to the configure script to + factor in the extra-suffix option when deriving alias names. + * New/improved history and portability sections: + + add information about "ttycap", termcap's forerunner, to + tset.1 + + document limitations of tparm, and error-returns in + curs_terminfo.3x + + document limitations of tgoto, and error-returns in + curs_termcap.3x + * Other improvements: + + This release has many changes to improve the formatting and + style of the manpages. + + Manpages now use consistent section-naming, page headers and + footers (including the modification date for each page). + + Table layout has been revised. + + There are no new manual pages (all of the manual page updates are to + existing pages). Interesting bug-fixes - * Ada95 binding: - + modify makefile rules to ensure that the PIC option is not - used when building a static library - + make Ada95 build-fix for big-endian architectures such as - sparc. This undoes one of the fixes from [60]20110319, which - added an "Unused" member to representation clauses, replacing - that with pragmas to suppress warnings about unused bits. - * Color and attributes: - + parenthesize parameter of COLOR_PAIR and PAIR_NUMBER in - curses.h in case it happens to be a comma-expression. - + improve [61]20021221 workaround for broken acs, handling a - case where that ACS_xxx character is not in the acsc string - but there is a known wide-character which can be used. - + modify [62]init_pair to accept -1's for color value after - [63]assume_default_colors has been called. - + add a check in [64]start_color to limit color-pairs to 256 - when extended colors are not supported. - * Resizing the screen: - + propagate error-returns from wresize, i.e., the internal - increase_size and decrease_size functions through - [65]resize_term. - + add check for zero/negative dimensions for resizeterm and - resize_term. - + modify resizeterm to always push a KEY_RESIZE onto the fifo, - even if screensize is unchanged. Modify library to push a - KEY_RESIZE if there was a SIGWINCH, even if it does not call - resizeterm). These changes eliminate the case where a - SIGWINCH is received, but ERR is returned from wgetch or - wgetnstr because the screen dimensions did not change. - * Low-level interfaces - + fix an old bug in the termcap emulation; "%i" was ignored in - tparm because the parameters to be incremented were already - on the internal stack. - + change "%l" behavior in tparm to push the string length onto - the stack rather than saving the formatted length into the - output buffer. - + modify name-comparison for tgetstr, etc., to accommodate - legacy applications as well as to improve compatbility with - BSD 4.2 termcap implementations (see note for [66]980725). - * High-level interfaces - + modify internal recursion in wgetch which handles cooked mode - to check if the call to wgetnstr returned an error. This can - happen when both nocbreak and nodelay are set, for instance - (see note for [67]960418). - + add a check in internal function waddch_nosync to ensure that - tab characters are treated as control characters; some broken - locales claim they are printable. - + modify menu library to ensure that a menu's top-row is - adjusted as needed to ensure that the current item is on the - screen - + fix special case where double-width character overwrites a - single- width character in the first column. + The changes to tparm, tgoto which improve the design of the low-level + interfaces are interesting, but are not bug-fixes per se. Configuration changes Major changes - The ncurses 6.0 configure script makes changes to the default value of - several configure options, depending on the --with-abi-version option - (i.e., whether its value is "5" or "6"): - - --enable-const - Feature introduced in [68]970405 supports the use of const - where X/Open Curses should have, but did not. NetBSD curses - does something similar with const. - - --enable-ext-colors - Extends the cchar_t structure to allow more than 16 colors to - be encoded. This applies only to the wide-character - (--enable-widec) configuration. - - --enable-ext-mouse - Modifies the encoding of mouse state to make room for a 5th - mouse button. That allows one to use ncurses with a wheel mouse - with xterm or similar X terminal emulators. - - --enable-ext-putwin - Modifies the file-format written by putwin to use printable - text rather than binary files, allowing getwin to read screen - dumps written by differently-configured ncurses libraries. The - extended getwin can still read binary screen dumps from the - same configuration of ncurses. This does not change the ABI - (the binary interface seen by calling applications). - - --enable-interop - Modifies the FIELDTYPE structure used for the form library to - make it more generic. - - --enable-lp64 - Allows an application to define _LP64 to declare chtype and - mmask_t as simply "unsigned" rather than the configured types - using the --with-chtype and --with-mmask_t options. - - --enable-sp-funcs - Compile-in support for extended functions which accept a SCREEN - pointer, reducing the need for juggling the global SP value - with [69]set_term and [70]delscreen. - - --with-chtype=uint32_t - Makes chtype explicitly a 32-bit unsigned value. - - --with-mmask_t=uint32_t - Makes mmask_t explicitly a 32-bit unsigned value. - - --with-tparm-arg=intptr_t - X/Open Curses declares [71]tparm using long for each of the - parameters aside from the formatting string, presuming that - long and char* are the same size. This configure option uses - intptr_t which provides a better guarantee of the sizes. - - The configure script no longer checks for antique compilers; c89 is - assumed as a minimum. There are a few features from later revisions - which are used when available. The configure script makes checks to - turn on useful warnings from clang, gcc and icc. You should be able to - build ncurses 6.0 with any of the current (or not so current) C - compilers available in 2015. - - The configure script, by the way, makes changes which do not work with - systems whose /bin/sh is non-POSIX. This mainly affects Solaris (the - other vendor unix systems have followed the POSIX guidelines for the - past twenty years). If you must build on Solaris, its [72]xpg4 - binaries suffice, e.g., - - #!/bin/sh - WHAT=`hostname|sed -e 's/\..*//'` - OUT=configure.out - cat >>$OUT <&1 | tee -a $OUT - - Other major changes to the configure script include: - * ABI 6 is now the default, intending that the existing ABI 5 should - build as before using the "--with-abi-version=5" option. - * added --with-extra-suffix option to help with installing - nonconflicting ncurses6 packages, e.g., avoiding header- and - library-conflicts. - NOTE: as a side-effect, this renames - - adacurses-config to adacurses5-config and - adacursesw-config to adacursesw5-config - * the configure script looks for gnatgcc if the Ada95 binding is - built, in preference to the default gcc/cc. The script also - ensures that the Ada95 binding is built with the level of - optimization as the C libraries. - * the configure script captures define's related to -D_XOPEN_SOURCE - from the configure check and adds those to the *-config and *.pc - files, to simplify use for the wide-character libraries. + These are the major changes (aside from introducing tiparm_s): + * use wide-character (ncursesw) by default + * use opaque typedefs by default + + However, most of the work on configure scripts was done to reduce + warnings within the configure script: + * intrusive warnings from GNU grep regarding fgrep and egrep + * fatal errors in compile-checks, arising from recent "Modern C" + efforts by some developers which caused longstanding configure + checks to fail. + After repairing the configure script, none of that activity + affected ncurses because stricter warnings are used routinely in + development. + + Other improvements made to configure checks include + * use string-hacks in alloc_entry.c, alloc_type.c and hardscroll.c, + overlooked due to compiler changes in recent OpenBSD releases + * revise progs.priv.h to provide for NC_ISATTY reuse + * configure check for MB_LEN_MAX provides warning as needed + * trim a space after some "-R" options, fixing builds for + applications built using clang and ncurses on Solaris + * work around misconfiguration of MacPorts gcc13, which exposes + invalid definition of MB_LEN_MAX in gcc's fallback copy of + limits.h + * modified experimental Windows driver works with xterm mouse + protocol Configuration options - There are several new (or extended) configure options: + There are a few new configure options: - --disable-db-install - Do not install the terminal database. This is used to omit - features for packages, as done with --without-progs. The option - simplifies building cross-compile support packages. + --disable-setuid-environ + Compile with environment restriction, so certain environment + variables are not available when running via a setuid/setgid + application. These are (for example $TERMINFO) those that allow + the search path for the terminfo or termcap entry to be + customized. - --disable-gnat-projects - This option is used for regression testing + A setuid/setgid application inherits its environment variables + from the current user, in contrast to sudo which may limit the + environment variables that ncurses uses. - --disable-lib-suffixes - Suppress the "w", "t" or "tw" suffixes which normally would be - added to the library names for the --enable-widec and - --with-pthread options. + --enable-check-size + Compile-in feature to detect screensize for terminals which do + not advertise their screensize, e.g., serial terminals. - --with-cxx-shared - When --with-shared is set, build libncurses++ as a shared - library. This implicitly relies upon building with gcc/g++, - since other compiler suites may have differences in the way - shared libraries are built. libtool by the way has similar - limitations. + --with-abi-altered=NUM + Override the displayed (rather than compiled-in) ABI. Only + packagers who have created configurations where the ABI differs + from ncurses should be interested in this option. - --with-hashed-db - Extended this configure option to simplify building with - different versions of Berkeley database using FreeBSD ports. + --with-strip-program=XXX + When stripping executables during install, use the specified + program rather than "strip" overriding program chosen by the + install program for stripping executables. - --with-pc-suffix - If ".pc" files are installed, optionally add a suffix to the - files and corresponding package names to separate unusual - configurations. If no option value is given (or if it is - "none"), no suffix is added. This option is used in the test - package for ncurses6. + These configure options are modified: - --with-xterm-kbs - Configure xterm's terminfo entries to use either BS (^H, i.e., - ASCII backspace) or DEL (^?, or 127). + --with-pkg-config-libdir[=DIR] + The optional DIR parameter can now be "auto" to automatically + use pkg-config's library directory. + + The default is $(libdir). + + --with-xterm-kbs[=XXX] + The default is "auto" which tells the configure script to + choose BS or DEL according to platform defaults. Portability - MinGW - - Most of the portability-related work since [73]ncurses 5.9 extended - and improved the MinGW port introduced in [74]ncurses 5.8. - - The MinGW port can be readily cross-compiled: - * modified configure script to allow creating dll's for MinGW when - cross-compiling. - * enforced Windows-style path-separator if cross-compiling, - * added scripts for test-builds of cross-compiled packages for - ncurses6 to MinGW. - * added pc-files to the MinGW cross-compiling test-packages. - * added script for building test-packages of binaries cross-compiled - to MinGW using NSIS. - * added nc_mingw.h to installed headers for MinGW port; this is - needed for cross-compiling [75]ncurses-examples. - * added test-packages for cross-compiling ncurses-examples using the - MinGW test-packages. - - The MinGW-specific Windows driver accounts for several changes: - * wide-character display is made usable by replacing MinGW's - non-working wcrtomb and wctomb functions. - * implemented some display features: [76]beep, [77]flash, - [78]curs_set. - * the driver handles repainting on endwin/refresh combination. - * modified treatment of TERM variable for MinGW port to allow - explicit use of the Windows console driver by checking if $TERM is - set to "#win32console" or an abbreviation of that. - * the Windows driver also matches the special TERM value "unknown" - * the driver now returns characters for special keys, (like ansi.sys - does), when keypad mode is off, rather than returning nothing at - all. - * the driver checks a new environment variable [79]NCURSES_CONSOLE2 - to optionally work around a deficiency in Console2 (and its - descendent ConsoleZ) which hang when an application creates a - console buffer. - - Finally, there are other improvements: - * MinGW is one of the configurations where ncurses installs by - default into /usr - * configuration for cross-compiling uses AC_CHECK_TOOLS in - preference to AC_PATH_PROGS when searching for ncurses*-config, - e.g., in Ada95/configure and test/configure. - * extend Windows support to work with MSYS2; - + this works with a scenario where there is an ANSI-escape - handler such as ansicon running in the console window. - + wrap isatty calls with a macro, provide a corresponding set - of support routines to address differences between MinGW and - MSYS2. - * ensure WINVER is defined in makefiles rather than using headers. - * add check for the gnatprep "-T" option. - * work around a bug introduced by [80]gcc 4.8.1 in MinGW which - breaks "trace" feature. - * add a driver-name method to each of the drivers. - - Other ports - - These changes affect certain platforms (ports): - * the configure script knows how to build shared libraries with - DragonFlyBSD and Interix. - * support for AIX shared libraries is improved, tested with AIX 5.3, - 6.1 and 7.1 with both gcc 4.2.4 and cc: - + the shared-library suffix for AIX 5 and 6 is now ".so" - + the -brtl option is used with AIX 5-7; it is needed to link - with the shared libraries. - * the configure --enable-pc-files option takes into account the - [81]PKG_CONFIG_PATH variable. - * the configure option --with-pkg-config-libdir provides control - over the actual directory into which pc-files are installed. - * the build scripts add explicit -ltinfo, etc., to the generated - ".pc" file when ld option "--as-needed" is used, or when ncurses - and tinfo are installed without using rpath. - * the configure script disallows conflicting options - "--with-termlib" and "--enable-term-driver". - * the check for missing c++ compiler to work when no error is - reported, and no variables set is improved (see note for - [82]20021206). - * the misc/gen_edit.sh script selects a "linux" entry which works - with the current kernel rather than assuming it is always - "linux3.0" - * the test/configure script makes it simpler to override names of - curses-related libraries, to help with linking with pdcurses in - MinGW environment. - * the configure-script/ifdef's allow the BSD OLD_TTY feature to be - suppressed if the type of ospeed is configured using the option - --with-ospeed to not be a short. By default, it is a short for - termcap-compatibility. - * the MKlib_gen.sh script works around a recent change in gcc 5 - (released [83]mid-2015) which essentially emits multiple #line - statements for the same position in a file. - * the configure script works with Minix3.2 (see [84]note on - portability) - * OS/2 redux: - + the configure script supports OS/2 kLIBC. - + the --with-lib-prefix option allows configuring for old/new - flavors of OS/2 EMX. - * improved configure-script checks for _XOPEN_SOURCE: - + the definition works starting with Solaris 10. - + the definition is suppressed for IRIX64, since its header - files have a conflict versus _SGI_SOURCE. + Many of the portability changes are implemented via the configure + script: + * add/use configure check for clock_gettime, to supersede + gettimeofday. + * modify configure script check for pkg-config library directory to + take into account an older version 0.15.0 which used + PKG_CONFIG_PATH but not PKG_CONFIG_LIBDIR + * allow for MinGW32-/64-bit configurations to use _DEFAULT_SOURCE + * modify CF_XOPEN_SOURCE macro's amend default case to avoid + undefining _XOPEN_SOURCE if _POSIX_C_SOURCE is defined + * updated configure script macro CF_XOPEN_SOURCE, for uClibc-ng + * modify version-check for gcc/g++, now works for msys2 + * build-fixes related to configure-options and/or platform: + + fix for --enable-fvisibility + + fix for unusual values of --with-rel-version + + fix for unusual values of --with-abi-version + + fix for --disable-tcap-names + + fix for termcap in nc_access.h + * other configure-script improvements: + + recent msys2 headers work with _DEFAULT_SOURCE; amend check + + use $ac_includes_default in most cases where stdlib.h should + work + + use #error consistently vs "make an error" + + add configure macro for gettimeofday vs inline check + + Here are some of the other portability fixes: + * modify configure scripts/makefiles to omit KEY_RESIZE if the + corresponding SIGWINCH feature is disabled + * increase MB_CUR_MAX to 16, matching glibc's MB_LEN_MAX + * add BSD erase2 to characters handled by tset/reset + * use getauxval when available, to improve setuid/setgid checks + * set dwShareMode in calls to CreateConsoleScreenBuffer + * use CreateFile with "CONIN$", "CONOUT$" rather than GetStdHandle + to obtain a handle on the actual console, avoiding redirection in + the MinGW/Win32 configurations + * modify MinGW driver to return KEY_BACKSPACE when an unmodified + VK_BACK virtual key is entered + * modify MinGW configuration to provide for running in MSYS/MSYS2 + shells, assuming ConPTY support _________________________________________________________________ Features of ncurses @@ -794,20 +418,21 @@ 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. + * ncurses supports the features of SVr4 curses including keyboard + mapping, color, form drawing with ACS characters, and automatic + recognition of keypad and function keys. + * ncurses provides work-alike replacements of SVr4 supplemental + libraries based on curses, but which were not specified by X/Open + Curses: + + the panel library, supporting a stack of windows with backing + store + + the menu library, supporting a uniform but flexible interface + for menu programming + the form library, supporting data collection through - on-screen forms. + 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, + + ncurses supports user-defined capabilities that 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 @@ -817,14 +442,15 @@ Features of ncurses 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 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, 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). + * The API is 8-bit clean and base-level conformant with the X/Open + Curses specification, XSI curses (that is, it implements all BASE + level features, and almost all 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. @@ -841,6 +467,7 @@ Features of ncurses 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 @@ -863,10 +490,10 @@ Features of ncurses 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 [85]tic/[86]captoinfo utility provided with ncurses has the - ability to translate many termcaps from the XENIX, IBM and AT&T - extension sets. - * A BSD-like [87]tset utility is provided. + * 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 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 @@ -881,132 +508,162 @@ Features of ncurses 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. - * The table-of-entries utility [88]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 - prototype-checked) if the macro definition is disabled with - #undef. - * Extensive documentation is provided (see the [89]Additional - Reading section of the [90]ncurses FAQ for online documentation). + * The table-of-entries utility toe makes it easy for users to see + exactly what terminal types are available on the system. + * X/Open Curses permits most functions it specifies to be made + available as macros as well. ncurses does this + + to improve performance, e.g., for operations composed of + simpler functions such as cursor movement following by adding + text to the screen, + + to simplify the implementation by reusing functions which use + common parameters, e.g., the standard screen stdscr, and + + to provide functions that return values via their parameters + Except for the last case, ncurses provides a non-macro + implementation of the function. If the macro definition is + disabled with #undef, or by defining NCURSES_NOMACROS the function + may be linked (and its calls will be checked against the + prototype). + * Extensive documentation is provided (see the Additional Reading + section of the ncurses FAQ for online documentation). Applications using ncurses The ncurses distribution includes a selection of test programs (including a few games). These are available separately as - [91]ncurses-examples + ncurses-examples The ncurses library has been tested with a wide variety of applications including: + aptitude + FrontEnd to Apt, the debian package manager + + https://wiki.debian.org/Aptitude + cdk Curses Development Kit - [92]http://invisible-island.net/cdk/ + https://invisible-island.net/cdk/ ded directory-editor - [93]http://invisible-island.net/ded/ + https://invisible-island.net/ded/ dialog the underlying application used in Slackware's setup, and the basis for similar install/configure applications on many systems. - [94]http://invisible-island.net/dialog/ + https://invisible-island.net/dialog/ lynx the text WWW browser - [95]http://lynx.isc.org/ - - Midnight Commander - file manager - - [96]http://www.midnight-commander.org/ + https://lynx.invisible-island.net/ mutt mail utility - [97]http://www.mutt.org/ + http://www.mutt.org/ ncftp file-transfer utility - [98]http://www.ncftp.com/ + https://www.ncftp.com/ nvi New vi uses ncurses. - [99]https://sites.google.com/a/bostic.com/keithbostic/nvi + https://sites.google.com/a/bostic.com/keithbostic/the-berkeley- + vi-editor-home-page + + ranger + A console file manager with VI key bindings in Python. + + https://ranger.github.io/ tin newsreader, supporting color, MIME - [100]http://www.tin.org/ + http://www.tin.org/ + + vifm + File manager with vi like keybindings + + https://vifm.info/ as well as some that use ncurses for the terminfo support alone: minicom terminal emulator for serial modem connections - [101]http://alioth.debian.org/projects/minicom/ + https://salsa.debian.org/minicom-team/minicom mosh a replacement for ssh. - [102]https://mosh.mit.edu/ + https://mosh.org/ tack terminfo action checker - [103]http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/tack.html + https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/tack.html tmux terminal multiplexor - [104]http://tmux.github.io/ + https://github.com/tmux/tmux/wiki vile vi-like-emacs may be built to use the terminfo, termcap or curses interfaces. - [105]http://invisible-island.net/vile/ + https://invisible-island.net/vile/ and finally, those which use only the termcap interface: emacs text editor - [106]http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/ + 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 - [107]http://www.gnu.org/software/screen/ + https://www.gnu.org/software/screen/ vim text editor - [108]http://www.vim.org/ + https://www.vim.org/ Development activities 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. Ongoing - development work is done by [109]Thomas Dickey. Thomas Dickey also - acts as the maintainer for the Free Software Foundation, which holds - the [110]copyright on ncurses. + Juergen Pfeifer wrote most of the form and menu libraries. + + 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 - [111]bug-ncurses@gnu.org + bug-ncurses@gnu.org To join the ncurses mailing list, please write email to - [112]bug-ncurses-request@gnu.org + bug-ncurses-request@gnu.org containing the line: @@ -1015,211 +672,62 @@ Development activities 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 + 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 - [113]ftp://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ . + https://invisible-island.net/archives/ncurses/6.4/ and + https://invisible-mirror.net/archives/ncurses/6.4/ . There is an archive of the mailing list here: - [114]http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-ncurses (also - [115]https) + https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-ncurses . Related resources The release notes make scattered references to these pages, which may be interesting by themselves: - * [116]man2html - * [117]ncurses licensing - * [118]Symbol versioning in ncurses - * [119]The MinGW port of ncurses - * [120]tack - terminfo action checker - * [121]tar versus portability - * [122]tctest - termcap library checker - * [123]Terminal Database + * 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 resources The distribution provides a newer version of the terminfo-format - terminal description file once maintained by [124]Eric Raymond . - Unlike the older version, the termcap and terminfo data are provided - in the same file, and provides several user-definable extensions - beyond the X/Open specification. + terminal description file once maintained by Eric Raymond . Unlike the + older version, the termcap and terminfo data are provided in the same + file, which also provides several user-definable extensions beyond the + X/Open Curses specification. You can find lots of information on terminal-related topics not - covered in the terminfo file at [125]Richard Shuford's archive . - - * [126]Overview - * [127]Release Notes - + [128]Library improvements - o [129]Output buffering - o [130]Symbol versioning - o [131]Miscellaneous - + [132]Program improvements - o [133]Utilities - o [134]Examples - + [135]Terminal database - + [136]Documentation - + [137]Interesting bug-fixes - + [138]Configuration changes - o [139]Major changes - o [140]Configuration options - + [141]Portability - o [142]MinGW - o [143]Other ports - * [144]Features of ncurses - * [145]Applications using ncurses - * [146]Development activities - * [147]Related resources - * [148]Other resources - -References - - 1. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/captoinfo.1m.html - 2. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/clear.1.html - 3. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/infocmp.1m.html - 4. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/tabs.1.html - 5. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/tic.1m.html - 6. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/toe.1m.html - 7. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/tput.1.html - 8. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/tset.1.html - 9. ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/ncurses/ - 10. ftp://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ - 11. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/tctest.html - 12. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses-examples.html - 13. http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-ncurses/2012-07/msg00029.html - 14. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/NEWS.html#t20050101 - 15. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/announce-5.5.html - 16. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses-mapsyms.html - 17. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_initscr.3x.html#h3-initscr - 18. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_initscr.3x.html#h3-newterm - 19. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_terminfo.3x.html#h3-Initialization - 20. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/ncurses.3x.html#h3-NCURSES_NO_SETBUF - 21. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_terminfo.3x.html - 22. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_kernel.3x.html#h3-reset_prog_mode_-reset_shell_mode - 23. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_kernel.3x.html#h3-reset_prog_mode_-reset_shell_mode - 24. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_printw.3x.html - 25. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses-mapsyms.html - 26. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/tack.html - 27. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_util.3x.html#h3-use_tioctl - 28. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_opaque.3x.html - 29. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_attr.3x.html#h2-PORTABILITY - 30. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/form_field_opts.3x.html - 31. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_util.3x.html#h3-putwin_getwin - 32. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_util.3x.html#h3-putwin_getwin - 33. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_terminfo.3x.html#h3-Formatting-Output - 34. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/tctest.html - 35. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/tctest.html#my-better-translation - 36. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/NEWS.html#t980103 - 37. https://svnweb.freebsd.org/base/head/lib/libc/gen/getcap.c?revision=244092&view=markup#l784 - 38. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses-examples.html - 39. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_util.3x.html#h3-use_env - 40. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_window.3x.html#h3-derwin - 41. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_window.3x.html#h3-mvwin - 42. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/form_driver.3x.html#h3-form_driver_w - 43. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#toc-_M_L_T_E_R_M - 44. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-nsterm - 45. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-putty-sco - 46. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-teken - 47. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#toc-_T_E_R_M_I_N_A_T_O_R - 48. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#toc-_T_E_R_M_I_N_O_L_O_G_Y - 49. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-tmux - 50. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#toc-_S_I_M_P_L_E_T_E_R_M - 51. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-vte - 52. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-vt520ansi - 53. http://aerie.jexium-island.net/ncurses/man/clear.1.html - 54. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-xterm_sl - 55. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-xterm-1005 - 56. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-xterm-1006 - 57. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/NEWS.html - 58. http://invisible-island.net/scripts/man2html.html - 59. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/NCURSES-Programming-HOWTO.html - 60. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/NEWS.html#t20110319 - 61. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/NEWS.html#t20021221 - 62. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_color.3x.html#h3-Routine-Descriptions - 63. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/default_colors.3x.html - 64. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_color.3x.html#h3-Routine-Descriptions - 65. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/resizeterm.3x.html - 66. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/NEWS.html#t980725 - 67. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/NEWS.html#t960418 - 68. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/NEWS.html#t970405 - 69. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_initscr.3x.html#h3-set_term - 70. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_initscr.3x.html#h3-delscreen - 71. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_terminfo.3x.html#h3-Formatting-Output - 72. http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E19253-01/html/817-0552/fhkpy.html - 73. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/announce-5.9.html - 74. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/announce-5.8.html - 75. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses-examples.html - 76. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_beep.3x.html - 77. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_beep.3x.html - 78. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_kernel.3x.html#h3-curs_set - 79. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/ncurses.3x.html#h3-NCURSES_CONSOLE2 - 80. http://stackoverflow.com/questions/20877689/gcc-4-8-1-minggw-d-option-does-not-work-as-usual - 81. http://linux.die.net/man/1/pkg-config - 82. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/NEWS.html#t20021206 - 83. https://gcc.gnu.org/gcc-5/ - 84. http://invisible-island.net/autoconf/portability-test.html - 85. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/tic.1m.html - 86. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/captoinfo.1m.html - 87. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/tset.1.html - 88. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/toe.1m.html - 89. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses.faq.html#additional_reading - 90. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses.faq.html - 91. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses-examples.html - 92. http://invisible-island.net/cdk/ - 93. http://invisible-island.net/ded/ - 94. http://invisible-island.net/dialog/ - 95. http://lynx.isc.org/ - 96. http://www.midnight-commander.org/ - 97. http://www.mutt.org/ - 98. http://www.ncftp.com/ - 99. https://sites.google.com/a/bostic.com/keithbostic/nvi - 100. http://www.tin.org/ - 101. http://alioth.debian.org/projects/minicom/ - 102. https://mosh.mit.edu/ - 103. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/tack.html - 104. http://tmux.github.io/ - 105. http://invisible-island.net/vile/ - 106. http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/ - 107. http://www.gnu.org/software/screen/ - 108. http://www.vim.org/ - 109. mailto:dickey@invisible-island.net - 110. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses-license.html - 111. mailto:bug-ncurses@gnu.org - 112. mailto:bug-ncurses-request@gnu.org - 113. ftp://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ - 114. http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-ncurses - 115. https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-ncurses - 116. http://invisible-island.net/scripts/man2html.html - 117. http://invisible-island.nethttp://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses-license.html - 118. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses-mapsyms.html - 119. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses-mingw.html - 120. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/tack.html - 121. http://invisible-island.net/autoconf/portability-tar.html - 122. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/tctest.html - 123. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses.html#download_database - 124. http://www.catb.org/~esr/terminfo/ - 125. http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.cs.utk.edu/~shuford/terminal - 126. file:///usr/build/ncurses/ncurses-6.0-20150808/doc/html/announce.html#h2-overview - 127. file:///usr/build/ncurses/ncurses-6.0-20150808/doc/html/announce.html#h2-release-notes - 128. file:///usr/build/ncurses/ncurses-6.0-20150808/doc/html/announce.html#h3-library - 129. file:///usr/build/ncurses/ncurses-6.0-20150808/doc/html/announce.html#h3-lib-setbuf - 130. file:///usr/build/ncurses/ncurses-6.0-20150808/doc/html/announce.html#h3-lib-versioning - 131. file:///usr/build/ncurses/ncurses-6.0-20150808/doc/html/announce.html#h3-lib-other - 132. file:///usr/build/ncurses/ncurses-6.0-20150808/doc/html/announce.html#h3-programs - 133. file:///usr/build/ncurses/ncurses-6.0-20150808/doc/html/announce.html#h4-utilities - 134. file:///usr/build/ncurses/ncurses-6.0-20150808/doc/html/announce.html#h4-examples - 135. file:///usr/build/ncurses/ncurses-6.0-20150808/doc/html/announce.html#h3-database - 136. file:///usr/build/ncurses/ncurses-6.0-20150808/doc/html/announce.html#h3-documentation - 137. file:///usr/build/ncurses/ncurses-6.0-20150808/doc/html/announce.html#h3-bug-fixes - 138. file:///usr/build/ncurses/ncurses-6.0-20150808/doc/html/announce.html#h3-config-config - 139. file:///usr/build/ncurses/ncurses-6.0-20150808/doc/html/announce.html#h4-config-major - 140. file:///usr/build/ncurses/ncurses-6.0-20150808/doc/html/announce.html#h4-config-options - 141. file:///usr/build/ncurses/ncurses-6.0-20150808/doc/html/announce.html#h3-portability - 142. file:///usr/build/ncurses/ncurses-6.0-20150808/doc/html/announce.html#h4-port-mingw - 143. file:///usr/build/ncurses/ncurses-6.0-20150808/doc/html/announce.html#h4-port-systems - 144. file:///usr/build/ncurses/ncurses-6.0-20150808/doc/html/announce.html#h2-features - 145. file:///usr/build/ncurses/ncurses-6.0-20150808/doc/html/announce.html#h2-who-uses - 146. file:///usr/build/ncurses/ncurses-6.0-20150808/doc/html/announce.html#h2-development - 147. file:///usr/build/ncurses/ncurses-6.0-20150808/doc/html/announce.html#h2-this-stuff - 148. file:///usr/build/ncurses/ncurses-6.0-20150808/doc/html/announce.html#h2-other-stuff + covered in the terminfo file in Richard Shuford's archive (original). + 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