The ncurses (new curses) library is a free software emulation of
curses in System V Release 4.0, and more. It uses terminfo format,
@@ -22,8 +23,11 @@ considered 4.4BSD curses obsolete, and is encouraging the keepers of
Unix releases such as BSD/OS, freeBSD and netBSD to switch over to
ncurses.
-The ncurses code was developed under GNU/Linux. It should port easily to
-any ANSI/POSIX-conforming UNIX. It has even been ported to OS/2 Warp!
+The 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!
The distribution includes the library and support utilities, including a
terminfo compiler tic(1), a decompiler infocmp(1), clear(1), tput(1), tset(1),
@@ -32,142 +36,304 @@ the library and tools.
-This release is designed to be upward compatible from ncurses 5.0; very few
-applications will require recompilation, depending on the platform.
-These are the highlights from the change-log since ncurses 5.0 release.
+This release is designed to be upward compatible from ncurses 5.0 and 5.3;
+very few applications will require recompilation, depending on the platform.
+These are the highlights from the change-log since ncurses 5.3 release.
Interface changes:
-
made the extended terminal capabilities
- (configure --enable-tcap-names)
- a standard feature (though the configure script can disable it,
- it is built by default).
-
-
removed the trace() function and related trace support
- from the production library. This is the only interface change that
- may cause problems with existing applications linked to shared
- libraries, since not all platforms use the minor version number.
-
-
explicitly initialized to zero several data items which were
- implicitly initialized, e.g., cur_term. If not explicitly
- initialized, their storage type is C (common), and causes problems
- linking on some platforms.
-
-
modified curses.h.in, undef'ing some symbols to avoid conflict with
- C++ STL.
+
add the remaining functions for X/Open curses wide-character
+ support.
+
+
pecho_wchar()
+
slk_wset()
+
+ These are only available if the library is configured using the
+ --enable-widec option.
+
+
write getyx() and related 2-return macros in terms of
+ getcury(),
+ getcurx(), etc.
+
+
simplify ifdef for bool declaration in curses.h
+
+
modify ifdef's in curses.h that disabled use of
+ __attribute__() for g++, since recent versions
+ implement the cases which ncurses uses.
+
+
add key_defined() function, to tell which keycode a
+ string is bound to.
-New features:
+New features and improvements:
-
added a new extension, assume_default_colors() to
- provide better control over the use of default colors. This is
- the principal visible difference between ncurses 5.1 and preceding
- versions. The new extension allows an application to specify what
- colors pair 0 uses.
-
- NOTE: Pair 0 defaults to white on black unless
- you have invoked use_default_colors() or set it via
- assume_default_colors(). An application that calls
- start_colors() without setting the background color
- will consistently have a black background no matter what color your
- terminal's background actually is.
-
-
made several fixes to the terminfo-to-termcap conversion, and
- have been using the generated termcaps without further hand-tuning.
- This builds on the extension use_extended_names() by
- adding "obsolete" termcap strings to terminfo.src
-
-
modified tic so that if extended names (i.e.,
- configure --enable-tcap-names) are active, then tic -x
- will also write "obsolete" capabilities that are present in the
- terminfo source.
-
-
added screen's AX capability (for ECMA SGR 39 and 49) to applicable
- terminfo entries, use presence of this as a check for a small
- improvement in setting default colors.
-
-
add -a option to tic and infocmp, which retains commented-out
- capabilities during source translation/comparison, e.g., captoinfo
- and infotocap.
-
-
-
implemented limited support for UTF-8, useful with XFree86 xterm:
-
-
if the configure --enable-widec option is
- given, append 'w' to names of the generated libraries (e.g.,
- libncursesw.so) to avoid conflict with existing ncurses libraries.
-
add a simple UTF-8 output driver to the experimental
- wide-character support. If any of the environment variables
- LC_ALL, LC_CTYPE or LANG contain the string "UTF-8", this driver
- will be used to translate the output to UTF-8.
-
modified view.c to make a rudimentary viewer of UTF-8 text.
-
-
-
modify raw() and noraw() to clear/restore
- IEXTEN flag which affects stty lnext on systems such as FreeBSD
-
-
reordered tests during mouse initialization to allow for gpm to run
- in xterm, or for xterm to be used under OS/2 EMX. Also dropped test
- for $DISPLAY in favor of the terminfo capability
- kmous=\E[M or
- if $TERM environment variable contains "xterm".
-
-
added configure option --with-manpage-symlinks, which
- provides for fully indexing manpage entries by making symbolic links
- for the aliases.
-
-
changed unctrl() to render C1 characters (128-159) as
- ~@, ~A, etc.
-
-
add experimental configure option --enable-colorfgbg to check for
- $COLORTERM variable as set by rxvt/aterm/Eterm.
-
-
made the infocmp -F option less verbose.
-
-
dropped support for gnat 3.10 (gnat 3.12 is current).
-
+
library
+
+
implement logic in lib_mouse.c to handle position reports which
+ are generated when XFree86 xterm is initialized with private
+ modes 1002 or 1003. These are returned to the application as the
+ REPORT_MOUSE_POSITION mask, which was not implemented.
+
modify soft-key initialization to use A_REVERSE if A_STANDOUT
+ would not be shown when colors are used, i.e., if ncv#1 is set in
+ the terminfo as is done in "screen".
+
add configure option for FreeBSD sysmouse, --with-sysmouse, and
+ implement library support for that.
+
+
+
programs:
+
+
+
tack:
+
+
+
allow it to run from fallback terminfo data.
+
reset colors after each color test, correct a place
+ where exit_standout_mode was used instead of
+ exit_attribute_mode.
+
improve bce test by making it set colors other
+ than black on white.
+
+
+
tic:
+
+
+
handle a case where an entry has no
+ description, and capabilities begin on the same line as the entry
+ name.
+
allow a terminfo entry with a leading 2-character name.
+
improved warnings when suppressing items to fit in termcap's
+ 1023-byte limit.
+
add check for multiple "tc=" clauses in a termcap.
+
correct logic for resolving "use=" clauses
+ allow infocmp and tic to show cancelled capabilities.
+
check for incomplete line-drawing character mapping.
+
check for missing/empty/illegal terminfo name.
+
+
+
tput:
+
+
modify tput to use the same parameter analysis as tparm() does,
+ to provide for user-defined strings, e.g., for xterm title, a
+ corresponding capability might be
+ title=\E]2;%p1%s^G,
+
+
+
tset:
+
+
+
use the system's default values for CKILL and other default
+ control characters.
+
correct interchanged defaults for kill and interrupt
+ characters, which caused it to report unnecessarily.
+
+
+
Major bug fixes:
-
modified infocmp -e, -E options to ensure that generated fallback.c
- type for Booleans agrees with term.h
-
-
documented a special case of incompatiblity between ncurses 4.2 and
- 5.0, added a section for this in INSTALL.
-
-
corrected tests for file-descriptors in OS/2 EMX mouse support. A
- negative value could be used by FD_SET, causing the select() call to
- wait indefinitely.
-
-
made 'tput flash' work properly for xterm by flushing output in
- delay_output() when using napms(), and modifying xterm's terminfo to
- specify no padding character. Otherwise, xterm's reported baud rate
- could mislead ncurses into producing too few padding characters.
-
-
modified lib_addch.c to allow repeated update to the lower-right
- corner, rather than displaying only the first character written until
- the cursor is moved. Recent versions of SVr4 curses can update the
- lower-right corner, and behave this way.
-
-
modified echo() behavior of getch() to match Solaris curses for
- carriage return and backspace (reported by Neil Zanella).
-
-
corrected offsets used for subwindows in wresize()
-
-
modified configure script so AC_MSG_ERROR is temporarily defined to
- a warning in AC_PROG_CXX to make it recover from a missing C++
- compiler without requiring user to add --without-cxx option
-
-
corrected logic in lib_twait.c as used by lib_mouse.c for GPM mouse
- support when poll() is used rather than select().
+
prevent recursion in wgetch() via wgetnstr() if the connection
+ cannot be switched between cooked/raw modes because it is not a TTY.
+
+
correct a case in _nc_remove_string(), used by
+ define_key(), to avoid infinite loop if the given string
+ happens to be a substring of other strings which are assigned to keys.
+
+
modify logic of acsc to use the original character if no mapping is
+ defined, rather than a null.
+
+
several improvements for handling multi-cell display of wide
+ characters.
+
+
modify setcchar() to allow converting control characters to complex
+ characters.
+
correct handling of multibyte characters in waddch_literal() which
+ force wrapping because they are started too late on the line.
+
modify setcchar() to allow for wchar_t input strings that have
+ more than one spacing character.
+
+
+
other fixes for wide-character support:
+
+
rewrote lib_acs.c to allow PutAttrChar() to decide how to render
+ alternate-characters, i.e., to work with Linux console and UTF-8
+ locale.
+
implement a workaround so that line-drawing works with screen's
+ crippled UTF-8 support (tested with 3.9.13). This only works with
+ the wide-character support (--enable-widec); the normal library
+ will simply suppress line-drawing when running in a UTF-8 locale in
+ screen.
+
corrections to lib_get_wstr.c:
+
+
null-terminate buffer passed to setcchar(), which occasionally
+ failed.
+
map special characters such as erase- and kill-characters into
+ key-codes so those will work as expected even if they are not
+ mentioned in the terminfo.
+
+
+
+
modify setupterm() to check if the terminfo and
+ terminal-modes have already been read. This ensures that it does not
+ reinvoke def_prog_mode() when an application calls more
+ than one function, such as tgetent() and
+ initscr().
+
+
fix form_driver() cases for REQ_CLR_EOF, REQ_CLR_EOL, REQ_DEL_CHAR,
+ REQ_DEL_PREV and REQ_NEW_LINE, which did not ensure the cursor was at
+ the editing position before making modifications.
+
+
correct keybound(), which reported definitions in the
+ wrong table, i.e., the list of definitions which are disabled by
+ keyok().
+
+
fixes related to safe_sprintf.c:
+
+
correct an allocation size in safe_sprintf.c for the "*" format
+ code.
+
correct safe_sprintf.c to not return a null pointer if the format
+ happens to be an empty string.
+
make return value from _nc_printf_string() consistent. Before,
+ depending on whether --enable-safe-sprintf was used, it might not
+ be cached for reallocating.
+
+
+
other low-level improvements to the optimization code include:
+
+
if the output is a socket or other non-tty device, use 1
+ millisecond
+ for the cost in mvcur; previously it was 9 milliseconds because the
+ baudrate was not known.
+
modify lib_getch.c to avoid recursion via wgetnstr() when the
+ input
+ is not a tty and consequently mode-changes do not work.
+
fix several places in tack/pad.c which tested and used the
+ parameter- and parameterless strings inconsistently.
+
change several tputs() calls in scrolling code to use putp(), to
+ enable padding which may be needed for some terminals.
+
improve mvcur() by checking if it is safe to move when video
+ attributes are set (msgr), and if not, reset/restore attributes
+ within that function rather than doing it separately in the GoTo()
+ function in tty_update.c.
+
use tputs() rather than putp() in a few cases in tty_update.c
+ since the corresponding delays are proportional to the number of
+ lines affected: repeat_char, clr_eos, change_scroll_region.
+
+
+
correct line/column reference in adjust_window(), needed to make
+ special windows such as curscr track properly when resizing.
+
+
fix a potential recursion between napms() and _nc_timed_wait()
+
+
rewrote lib_insch.c, combining it with lib_insstr.c so both handle
+ tab and other control characters consistently.
+
+
do not try to open gpm mouse driver if standard output is not a
+ tty; the gpm library does not make this check.
+
-
made several fixes for buffer overflows, unchecked recursion,
- improvements in performance, etc. See the NEWS file for details.
+Portability:
+
+
configure script:
+
+
new options:
+
+
--with-abi-version option.
+
addresses platforms where packagers have diverged from
+ ncurses ABI numbering.
+
--with-manpage-format=catonly
+
addresses
+ behavior of BSDI, allow install of man+cat files on NetBSD,
+ whose behavior has diverged by requiring both to be present.
+
--with-manpage-aliases
+
extends
+ "--with-manpage-aliases" to provide the option of generating
+ ".so" files rather than symbolic links for manpage aliases.
+
--with-rel-version
+
workaround to force
+ libtool on Darwin generate the "same" library names as with
+ the "--with-shared" option. The Darwin ld program does not
+ work well with a zero as the minor-version value.
+
--with-trace
+
simplifies defining TRACE to incorporate trace() in libraries.
+
+
+
fixes/improvements for cross-compiling:
+
+
+
allow BUILD_CC and related configure script variables to be
+ overridden from the environment.
+
use AC_CHECK_TOOL to get proper values for AR and LD for cross
+ compiling.
+
use $cross_compiling variable in configure script
+ rather than comparing $host_alias and
+ $target alias, since "host" is traditionally misused
+ in autoconf to refer to the target platform.
+
modify run_tic.in to avoid using wrong shared libraries when
+ cross-compiling.
+
+
+
fixes for Mac OS X:
+
+
fix a redefinition of $RANLIB in the configure
+ script when libtool is used.
+
modify MKlib_gen.sh to avoid passing "#" tokens through the C
+ preprocessor. This works around Mac OS X's preprocessor, which
+ insists on adding a blank on each side of the token.
+
+
+
workarounds for broken tools:
+
+
add configure check for wchar_t and wint_t types, rather than
+ rely on preprocessor definitions. Also work around for gcc
+ fixinclude bug which creates a shadow copy of
+ curses.h if it sees these symbols apparently typedef'd.
+
modify configure script to omit -Winline for gcc 3.3, since
+ that feature is broken.
+
several script fixes to work around the ironically named
+ POSIXLY_CORRECT feature of GNU sed 4.0.
+
modify configure script to avoid using "head -1", which does
+ not work if POSIXLY_CORRECT (sic) is set.
+
update configure script to reflect fix for
+ AC_PROG_GCC_TRADITIONAL, which is broken in autoconf 2.5x for Mac
+ OS X 10.2.3.
+
repair check for missing C++ compiler, which is broken in
+ autoconf 2.5x by hardcoding it to g++.
+
+
+
corrected ifdef's relating to configure check for wchar_t, etc.
+
remove configure script check to allow -Wconversion for older
+ versions of gcc
+
modify configure script to accommodate libtool 1.5, as well as
+ add an parameter to the "--with-libtool" option which can specify
+ the pathname of libtool.
+
change several sed scripts to avoid using "\+" since it is not a
+ BRE (basic regular expression). One instance caused terminfo.5 to
+ be misformatted on FreeBSD.
+
use '%' as sed substitute delimiter in run_tic script to avoid
+ problems with pathname delimiters such as ':' and '@'.
+
add -D_XOPEN_SOURCE=500 if needed when configuring with
+ "--enable-widec", to get mbstate_t declaration on HPUX
+ 11.11.
+
+
+
library:
+
+
adjust include-options in CF_ETIP_DEFINES to avoid missing
+ ncurses_dll.h, fixing special definitions that may be needed for
+ etip.h.
+
modify CF_LIB_SUFFIX for Itanium releases of HP-UX, which use a
+ ".so" suffix.
+
improve ifdef's to guard against redefinition of wchar_t and wint_t
+ in curses.h.
+
remove an #undef for KEY_EVENT from curses.tail used in the
+ experimental NCURSES_WGETCH_EVENTS feature. The #undef confuses
+ Debian dpkg's build script.
+
Features of Ncurses
@@ -283,61 +449,60 @@ including (versions starting with those noted):
-The original developers of ncurses are Zeyd Ben-Halim and
-Eric S. Raymond.
+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
-Thomas Dickey
-and
-Jürgen Pfeifer.
-Thomas Dickey
-acts as the maintainer for the Free Software Foundation, which holds the
-copyright on ncurses.
+Thomas Dickey.
+Thomas Dickey
+acts as the maintainer for the Free Software Foundation,
+which holds the copyright on ncurses.
Contact the current maintainers at
bug-ncurses@gnu.org.
@@ -370,7 +535,7 @@ This list is open to anyone interested in helping with the development and
testing of this package.
@@ -382,14 +547,16 @@ on them, please join the ncurses list.
Other Related Resources
-The distribution includes and uses a version of the terminfo-format
-terminal description file maintained by Eric Raymond.
-http://earthspace.net/~esr/terminfo.
+The distribution provides a newer version of the terminfo-format
+terminal description file maintained by
+Eric Raymond .
+Unlike the older version, the termcap and terminfo data are provided
+in the same file.
You can find lots of information on terminal-related topics
not covered in the terminfo file at
Richard Shuford's
-archive.
+archive .