X-Git-Url: http://ncurses.scripts.mit.edu/?p=ncurses.git;a=blobdiff_plain;f=ANNOUNCE;h=e0603d622394c8420f71cd0465476b18b41749df;hp=5a2a139850d892ffa8efa3b34501cbf10710a5f0;hb=HEAD;hpb=55ccd2b959766810cf7db8d1c4462f338ce0afc8 diff --git a/ANNOUNCE b/ANNOUNCE index 5a2a1398..45b1a0ea 100644 --- a/ANNOUNCE +++ b/ANNOUNCE @@ -1,266 +1,426 @@ - Announcing ncurses 5.5 + Announcing ncurses 6.4 + +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 encouraged the keepers of Unix + considered 4.4BSD curses obsolete, and encouraged 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! + 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 - through 5.4; very few applications will require recompilation, - depending on the platform. These are the highlights from the - change-log since ncurses 5.4 release. - - Interface changes: - * terminfo installs "xterm-new" as "xterm" entry rather than - "xterm-old" (aka xterm-r6). - * terminfo data is installed using the tic -x option (few systems - still use ncurses 4.2). - * modify C++ binding to work with newer C++ compilers by providing - initializers and using modern casts. Old-style header names are - still used in this release to allow compiling with not-so-old - compilers. - * modify parameter type in c++ binding for insch() and mvwinsch() to - be consistent with underlying ncurses library (was char, is - chtype). - * change NCursesWindow::err_handler() to a virtual function. - * form and menu libraries now work with wide-character data. - Applications which bypassed the form library and manipulated the - FIELD.buf data directly will not work properly with libformw, - since that no longer points to an array of char. The - set_field_buffer() and field_buffer() functions translate to/from - the actual field data. - * add symbol to curses.h which can be used to suppress include of - stdbool.h, e.g., - #define NCURSES_ENABLE_STDBOOL_H 0 - #include - - * change SP->_current_attr to a pointer, adjust ifdef's to ensure - that libtinfo.so and libtinfow.so have the same ABI. The reason - for this is that the corresponding data which belongs to the - upper-level ncurses library has a different size in each model. - * winnstr() now returns multibyte character strings for the - wide-character configuration. - * assume_default_colors() no longer requires that - use_default_colors() be called first. - * data_ahead() now works with wide-characters. - * slk_set() and slk_wset() now accept and store multibyte or - multicolumn characters. - * start_color() now returns OK if colors have already been started. - start_color() also returns ERR if it cannot allocate memory. - * pair_content() now returns -1 for consistency with init_pair() if - it corresponds to the default-color. - * unctrl() now returns null if its parameter does not correspond to - an unsigned char. - - New features and improvements: - * library - + environment variable NCURSES_NO_UTF8_ACS supports - miscellaneous terminal emulators which ignore alternate - character set escape sequences when in UTF-8 mode. - + modify initialization of key lookup table so that if an - extended capability (tic -x) string is defined, and its name - begins with 'k', ncurses will automatically treat it as a - key. - + change GPM initialization, using dl library to load it - dynamically at runtime. - + form, menu and panel libraries support debug-tracing. - * add NCURSES-Programming-HOWTO.html by Pradeep Padala (see - http://tldp.org/HOWTO/NCURSES-Programming-HOWTO/). - * programs: - * infocmp: - + The -i option now matches 8-bit controls against its table - entries, e.g., so it can analyze the xterm-8bit entry. - + add "-x" option to infocmp like tic's "-x", for use in "-F" - comparisons. This modifies infocmp to only report extended - capabilities if the -x option is given, making this more - consistent with tic. Some scripts may break, since infocmp - previous gave this information without an option. - * tic: - + modify termcap-parsing to retain 2-character aliases at the - beginning of an entry if the "-x" option is used in tic. - + filter out long extended names when translating to termcap - format. Only two characters are permissible for termcap - capability names. - + correct translation of "%%" in terminfo format to termcap, - e.g., using "tic -C". - + modify the "-c -v" options to ignore delays when comparing - strings. Also modify it to ignore a canceled sgr string, - e.g., for terminals which cannot properly combine attributes - in one control sequence. - + add a check for improperly ended strings, i.e., where a - following line begins in column 1. - + add a check in tic for terminfo entries having an sgr0 but no - sgr string. This confuses Tru64 and HPUX curses when combined - with color, e.g., making them leave line-drawing characters - in odd places. - + add check (with debug configuration) that provides about the - runtime changes that would be made to sgr0 for termcap - applications. - * tset: - + add -c and -w options to allow user to suppress ncurses' - resizing of the terminal emulator window in the special case - where it is not able to detect the true size. - - Major bug fixes: - * improve logic in tgetent() which adjusts the termcap "me" string - to work with ISO-2022 string used in xterm-new. This is a feature - that was incompletely implemented in ncurses 5.3. ncurses attempts - to provide termcap clients with the portion of the sgr0 (termcap - "me") string that does not reset line-drawing. - * cells in the WINDOW which are continuations of a multicolumn - character are encoded differently, making repainting more - reliable. - * amend change to setupterm() in ncurses 5.4 (20030405) which would - reuse the value of cur_term if the same output was selected. This - now reuses it only when setupterm() is called from tgetent(), - which has no notion of separate SCREENs. Note that tgetent() must - be called after initscr() or newterm() to use this feature. - * make setcchar() now works when its wchar_t* parameter is pointing - to a string which contains more data than can be converted. - * win_wchnstr() now works for more than one cell. - * resizeterm() now processes all levels of window hierarchy. - * disable GPM mouse support when $TERM happens to be prefixed with - "xterm". Gpm_Open() would otherwise assert that it can deal with - mouse events in this case. - * add SP->_screen_acs_map[], used to ensure that mapping of missing - line-drawing characters is handled properly. For example, - ACS_DARROW is absent from xterm-new, and it was coincidentally - displayed the same as ACS_BTEE. - - Portability: - * configure script: - + new options: - - --enable-largefile - set compiler and linker flags to use largefile - support. - - --enable-ext-colors - Allow encoding of 256 foreground and background - colors, e.g., with the xterm-256color or - xterm-88color terminfo entries. This requires ABI 6 - because it changes the size of cchar_t. - - --enable-ext-mouse - This defines NCURSES_MOUSE_VERSION 2, and modifies - the encoding of mouse events to support wheel mice, - which may transmit buttons 4 and 5. This works with - xterm and similar terminal emulators. This requires - ABI 6 because it changes the encoding of mouse - events. - - --with-chtype - overriding of the non-LP64 model's use of chtype - - --with-mmask-t - overriding of the non-LP64 model's use of mmask_t - - --without-xterm-new - Installs "xterm-old" as the "xterm" entry of the - terminfo database. - - + The --with-termlib option now accepts a value which sets the - name of the terminfo library. This would allow a packager to - build libtinfow.so renamed to coincide with libtinfo.so - + fixes/improvements for cross-compiling: - o suppress $suffix in misc/run_tic.sh when - cross-compiling. This allows cross-compiles to use the - host's tic program to handle the "make install.data" - step. - o correct BUILD_CPPFLAGS substitution in - ncurses/Makefile.in, to allow cross-compiling from a - separate directory tree. - * library: - + add ifdef's for _LP64 in curses.h to avoid using wasteful - 64-bits for chtype and mmask_t, but add configure option - --disable-lp64 in case anyone used that configuration. - + modify C++ binding to use some C internal functions to make - it compile properly on Solaris (and other platforms). - + remove check in newwin() that prevents allocating windows - that extend beyond the screen (Solaris does this). - + check for nl_langinfo(CODESET), use it if available. This - replaces ad hoc tests of environment variables to check if - the terminal is setup for UTF-8 encoding. Applications which - do not call setlocale() should be corrected, to make them - work properly with UTF-8 encoding. - In particular, applications which assume (and do not call - setlocale()) that Latin-1 codes are printable will no longer - work in a UTF-8 locale since the ad hoc check of environment - variables to see if the locale was UTF-8 is not used when - nl_langinfo(CODESET) is available. - + use setlocale() to query the program's current locale rather - than using getenv(). This supports applications which rely - upon legacy treatment of 8-bit characters when the locale is - not initialized. - - 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. @@ -268,7 +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 @@ -281,10 +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 @@ -299,153 +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