The ncurses (new curses) library is a free software emulation of
curses in System V Release 4.0, and more. It uses terminfo format,
@@ -42,186 +69,170 @@ the GNU distribution site
Release Notes
-This release is designed to be upward compatible from ncurses 5.0 through 5.4;
+This release is designed to be upward compatible from ncurses 5.0 through 5.6;
very few applications will require recompilation, depending on the platform.
-These are the highlights from the change-log since ncurses 5.4 release.
+These are the highlights from the change-log since ncurses 5.6 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.,
-
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.
+
generate linkable stubs for some macros:
+
+ getattrs
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.
+
+
new flavor of the ncurses library provides rudimentary
+ support for POSIX threads. Several functions are
+ reentrant, but most require either a window-level or
+ screen-level mutex.
+ (This is API-compatible,
+ but not ABI-compatible with the normal library).
-
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.
+
add NCURSES_OPAQUE symbol to curses.h, will
+ use to make structs opaque in selected configurations.
-
change GPM initialization, using dl library to load it
- dynamically at runtime.
+
add NCURSES_EXT_FUNCS and
+ NCURSES_EXT_COLORS symbols to curses.h to make
+ it simpler to tell if the extended functions and/or colors
+ are declared.
-
form, menu and panel libraries support debug-tracing.
+
add wresize() to C++ binding
-
+
eliminate fixed-buffer vsprintf() calls in C++ binding.
-
add NCURSES-Programming-HOWTO.html by Pradeep Padala
- (see http://tldp.org/HOWTO/NCURSES-Programming-HOWTO/).
+
add several functions to C++ binding which wrap C functions
+ that pass a WINDOW* parameter.
-
programs:
+
adapt mouse-handling code from menu library in form-library
-
infocmp:
-
-
The -i option now matches 8-bit controls against its table
- entries, e.g., so it can analyze the xterm-8bit entry.
+
improve tracing for form library, showing created forms,
+ fields, etc.
-
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.
+
make $NCURSES_NO_PADDING feature work for termcap interface .
-
+
add check to trace-file open, if the given name is a
+ directory, add ".log" to the name and try again.
-
tic:
+
several new manpages: curs_legacy.3x, curs_memleaks.3x,
+ curs_opaque.3x and curs_threads.3x
+
-
-
-
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.
+
programs:
+
+
modified three test-programs to demonstrate the threading
+ support in this version: ditto, rain, worm.
+
+
several new test-programs: demo_panels, dots_mvcur,
+ inch_wide, inchs, key_name, key_names, savescreen,
+ savescreen.sh test_arrays, test_get_wstr, test_getstr,
+ test_instr, test_inwstr and test_opaque.
+
+
add adacurses-config to the Ada95 install.
+
+
modify tic -f option to format spaces as
+ \s to prevent them from being lost when that
+ is read back in unformatted strings.
+
+
The tack program is now distributed separately
+ from ncurses.
+
+
+
terminal database
+
+
added entries:
+
+
Eterm-256color,
+ Eterm-88color and
+ rxvt-88color
+
aterm
+
konsole-256color
+
mrxvt
+
screen.mlterm
+
screen.rxvt
+
teraterm4.59 is now the primary primary
+ teraterm entry, renamed original to
+ teraterm2.3
+
9term terminal
+
Newbury Data entries
+
+
updated/improved entries:
+
+
gnome to version 2.22.3
+
h19, z100
+
konsole to version 1.6.6
+
mlterm, mlterm+pcfkeys
+
xterm, and building-blocks for function-keys
+ to xterm patch #230.
+
+
+
+Major bug fixes:
+
+
add logic to tic for cancelling strings in user-defined
+ capabilities
+ (this is needed for
+ current konsole terminfo entry).
-
add a check for improperly ended strings, i.e., where a
- following line begins in column 1.
+
modify mk-1st.awk so the generated makefile rules for
+ linking or installing shared libraries do not first remove the
+ library, in case it is in use, e.g., libncurses.so by
+ /bin/sh.
-
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.
+
correct check for notimeout() in wgetch().
-
add check (with debug configuration) that provides about the
- runtime changes that would be made to sgr0 for termcap
- applications.
+
fix a sign-extension bug in infocmp's repair_acsc() function.
-
+
change winnstr() to stop at the end of the line.
-
tset:
+
make Ada95 demo_panels() example work.
-
+
fix for adding a non-spacing character at the beginning of a line.
-
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.
+
fill in extended-color pair to make colors work
+ for wide-characters using extended-colors.
-
+
improve refresh of window on top of multi-column characters,
+ taking into account split characters on left/right window
+ boundaries.
-
-Major bug fixes:
-
+
modify win_wchnstr() to ensure that only a base cell
+ is returned for each multi-column character.
-
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.
+
improve waddch() and winsch() handling of
+ EILSEQ from mbrtowc() by using unctrl()
+ to display illegal bytes rather than trying to append further bytes
+ to make up a valid sequence.
-
cells in the WINDOW which are continuations of a multicolumn
- character are encoded differently, making repainting more
- reliable.
+
restore curs_set() state after
+ endwin()/refresh()
-
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.
+
modify keyname() to use "^X" form only if
+ meta() has been called, or if keyname()
+ is called without initializing curses, e.g., via
+ initscr() or newterm().
-
make setcchar() now works when its wchar_t* parameter is
- pointing to a string which contains more data than can be converted.
+
modify unctrl() to check codes in 128-255 range versus
+ isprint().
+ If they are not printable, and locale was set, use a "M-" or "~"
+ sequence.
-
win_wchnstr() now works for more than one cell.
+
improve resizeterm() by moving ripped-off lines, and
+ repainting the soft-keys.
-
resizeterm() now processes all levels of window hierarchy.
+
modify form library to accept control characters such as newline
+ in set_field_buffer(), which is compatible with Solaris.
-
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.
+
use NCURSES_MOUSE_MASK() in definition of
+ BUTTON_RELEASE(), etc., to make those work properly
+ with the --enable-ext-mouse configuration
-
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.
+
correct some functions in Ada95 binding which were using return
+ value from C where none was returned.
+
reviewed/fixed issues reported by Coverity and Klocwork tools.
Portability:
@@ -230,86 +241,117 @@ Portability:
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.
+
--disable-big-strings
+
control whether static string tables are generated as single
+ large strings (to improve startup performance), or as array
+ of individual strings.
+
+
--disable-relink
+
control whether shared libraries are relinked (during install)
+ when rpath is enabled.
+
+
--disable-tic-depends
+
make explicit whether tic library depends on ncurses/ncursesw
+ library.
+
+
--enable-mixed-case
+
override the configure script's check if the filesystem
+ supports mixed-case filenames.
+ This allows one to control how the terminal database
+ maps to the filesystem.
+ For filesystems that do not support mixed-case, the library
+ uses generate 2-character (hexadecimal) codes for the
+ lower-level of the filesystem terminfo database
+
+
--enable-reentrant
+
builds a different flavor of the ncurses library (ncursest)
+ which improves reentrant use of the
+ library by reducing global and static variables
+ (see the "--with-pthread" option for the threaded support).
+
+
--enable-weak-symbols
+
use weak-symbols for linking to the POSIX thread library,
+ and use the same soname for the ncurses shared library
+ as the normal library (caveat: the ABI is for the threaded
+ library, which makes global data accessed via functions).
+
+
--with-pthread
+
build with the POSIX thread library (tested with AIX,
+ Linux, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, HPUX, IRIX64, Solaris, Tru64).
+
+
--with-ticlib
+
build/install the tic-support functions in a separate library
-
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:
-
-
-
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.
-
-
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.
-
-
+
improved options:
+
+
+
--enable-ext-colors
+
requires the wide-character configuration.
+
+
--with-chtype
+
ignore option value "unsigned" is always added to
+ the type in curses.h; do the same for --with-mmask-t.
+
+
--with-dmalloc
+
build-fix for redefinition of strndup.
+
+
--with-hashed-db
+
accepts a parameter which is the install-prefix of a given
+ Berkeley Database.
+
+
--with-hashed-db
+
the $LIBS environment variable overrides the search for the db
+ library.
+
+
--without-hashed-db
+
assumed when "--disable-database" is used.
+
+
+
+
+
+
other configure/build issues:
+
+
build-fixes for LynxOS
+
modify shared-library rules to allow FreeBSD 3.x to use rpath.
+
build-fix for FreeBSD "contemporary" TTY interface.
+
build-fixes for AIX with libtool.
+
build-fixes for Darwin and libtool.
+
modify BeOS-specific ifdef's to build on Haiku.
+
corrected gcc options for building shared libraries on Solaris
+ and IRIX64.
+
change shared-library configuration for OpenBSD, make rpath work.
+
build-fixes for using libutf8, e.g., on OpenBSD 3.7
+
add "-e" option in ncurses/Makefile.in when generating source-files
+ to force earlier exit if the build environment fails unexpectedly.
+
add support for shared libraries for QNX.
+
change delimiter in MKlib_gen.sh from '%' to '@', to
+ avoid substitution by IBM xlc to '#' as part of its extensions to
+ digraphs.
+
+
+
library:
+
+
rewrite wrapper for wcrtomb(), making it work on
+ Solaris. This is used in the form library to determine the length
+ of the buffer needed by field_buffer.
+
add/use configure script macro CF_SIG_ATOMIC_T, use the corresponding
+ type for data manipulated by signal handlers.
+
set locale in misc/ncurses-config.in since it uses a range
+
disable GPM mouse support when $TERM does not happen to contain
+ "linux", since Gpm_Open() no longer limits its assertion to terminals
+ that it might handle, e.g., within "screen" in xterm.
+
reset mouse file-descriptor when unloading GPM library.
+
+
+
test programs:
+
+
update test programs to build/work with various UNIX curses for
+ comparisons.
+
Features of Ncurses
@@ -338,14 +380,15 @@ 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
+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
their data.
@@ -357,7 +400,9 @@ 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.
+
Support for 256-color terminals, such as modern xterm, when configured
+using the --enable-ext-colors option.
+
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.
@@ -460,21 +505,18 @@ for similar applications on GNU/Linux.
vi-like-emacs
@@ -524,10 +566,11 @@ on them, please join the ncurses list.
Other Related Resources
The distribution provides a newer version of the terminfo-format
-terminal description file maintained by
+terminal description file once maintained by
Eric Raymond .
Unlike the older version, the termcap and terminfo data are provided
-in the same file.
+in the same file, and 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
@@ -535,11 +578,3 @@ not covered in the terminfo file at
archive .
-