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36 <title>Announcing ncurses 6.4</title>
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59 <h1 class="no-header">Announcing ncurses 6.4</h1>
61 <h2><a name="h2-overview" id="h2-overview">Overview</a></h2>
63 <p>The <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> (new curses)
64 library is a free software emulation of curses in System V
65 Release 4.0 (SVr4), and more. It uses terminfo format, supports
66 pads and color and multiple highlights and forms characters and
67 function-key mapping, and has all the other SVr4-curses
68 enhancements over BSD curses. SVr4 curses became the basis of
71 <p>In mid-June 1995, the maintainer of 4.4BSD curses declared
72 that he considered 4.4BSD curses obsolete, and encouraged the
73 keepers of <span class="main-name">unix</span> releases such as
74 BSD/OS, FreeBSD and NetBSD to switch over to <span class=
75 "main-name">ncurses</span>.</p>
77 <p>Since 1995, <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> has been
78 ported to many systems:</p>
81 <li>It is used in almost every system based on the Linux kernel
82 (aside from some embedded applications).</li>
84 <li>It is used as the system curses library on OpenBSD, FreeBSD
87 <li>It is used in environments such as Cygwin and MinGW. The
88 first of these was EMX on OS/2 Warp.</li>
90 <li>It is used (though usually not as the <em>system</em>
91 curses) on all of the vendor <span class=
92 "main-name">unix</span> systems, e.g., AIX, HP-UX, IRIX64, SCO,
95 <li>It should work readily on any ANSI/POSIX-conforming
96 <span class="main-name">unix</span>.</li>
99 <p>The distribution includes the library and support utilities,
103 <li><a href="https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/captoinfo.1m.html"><span class=
104 "part-name">captoinfo</span></a>, a termcap conversion
107 <li><a href="https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/clear.1.html"><span class=
108 "part-name">clear</span></a>, utility for clearing the
111 <li><a href="https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/infocmp.1m.html"><span class=
112 "part-name">infocmp</span></a>, the terminfo decompiler</li>
114 <li><a href="https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/tabs.1.html"><span class=
115 "part-name">tabs</span></a>, set tabs on a terminal</li>
117 <li><a href="https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/tic.1m.html"><span class=
118 "part-name">tic</span></a>, the terminfo compiler</li>
120 <li><a href="https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/toe.1m.html"><span class=
121 "part-name">toe</span></a>, list (table of) terminfo
124 <li><a href="https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/tput.1.html"><span class=
125 "part-name">tput</span></a>, utility for retrieving terminal
126 capabilities in shell scripts</li>
128 <li><a href="https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/tset.1.html"><span class=
129 "part-name">tset</span></a>, to initialize the terminal</li>
132 <p>Full manual pages are provided for the library and tools.</p>
134 <p>The <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> distribution is
135 available at <span class="main-name">ncurses</span>' <a href=
136 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/">homepage</a>:</p>
140 "https://invisible-island.net/archives/ncurses/">https://invisible-island.net/archives/ncurses/</a>
143 "https://invisible-mirror.net/archives/ncurses/">https://invisible-mirror.net/archives/ncurses/</a> .</p>
146 <p>It is also available at the GNU distribution site</p>
150 "https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/ncurses/">https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/ncurses/</a> .</p>
153 <h2><a name="h2-release-notes" id="h2-release-notes">Release
156 <p>These notes are for <span class="main-name">ncurses</span>
157 6.4, released <strong>December 31, 2022</strong>.</p>
159 <p>This release is designed to be source-compatible with
160 <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> 5.0 through 6.3; providing
161 extensions to the application binary interface (ABI). Although
162 the source can still be configured to support the <span class=
163 "main-name">ncurses</span> 5 ABI, the reason for the release is
164 to reflect improvements to the <span class=
165 "main-name">ncurses</span> 6 ABI and the supporting utility
168 <p>There are, of course, numerous other improvements, listed in
169 this announcement.</p>
171 <p>The most <a href="#h3-bug-fixes">important
172 bug-fixes/improvements</a> dealt with robustness issues. The
173 release notes also mention some other bug-fixes, but are focused
174 on new features and improvements to existing features since
175 <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> 6.3 release.</p>
177 <h3><a name="h3-library" id="h3-library">Library improvements</a></h3>
179 <h4><a name="h4-new-library" id="h4-new-library">New features</a></h4>
181 <p>There are no new features in this release.</p>
183 <h4><a name="h4-fixes-library" id="h4-fixes-library">Other
184 improvements</a></h4>
186 <p>These are improvements to existing features:</p>
190 <p>modify <tt>delscreen</tt> to more effectively delete all
191 windows on the given screen.</p>
195 <p>modify <tt>wnoutrefresh</tt> to call <tt>pnoutrefresh</tt>
196 if its parameter is a pad, rather than treating it as an
197 error, and modify new_panel to permit its window-parameter to
202 <p>modify curses_trace() to show the trace-mask as symbols,
203 e.g., <tt>TRACE_ORDINARY</tt>, <tt>DEBUG_LEVEL(3)</tt>.</p>
207 <p>improve checks for valid mouse events when an intermediate
208 mouse state is not part of the mousemask specified by the
213 <p>allow extended-color number in <em>opts</em> parameter of
214 <tt>wattr_on</tt>.</p>
218 <p>improve <tt>_tracecchar_t2</tt> formatting of
219 base+combining character.</p>
223 <p>trim out some unwanted linker options from ncurses*config
224 and .pc files seen in Fedora 36+.</p>
228 <p>improve shell-scripts with <em>shellcheck</em></p>
232 <p>improve use of "trap" in shell scripts, using a
237 <p>modify <tt>make-tar.sh</tt> scripts to make timestamps
238 more predictable.</p>
242 <p>These are corrections to existing features:</p>
246 <p>modify <tt>misc/gen-pkgconfig.in</tt> to allow for the
247 case where the library directory does not yet exist, since
248 this is processed before doing an install</p>
252 <p>set trailing null on string passed from <tt>winsnstr</tt>
253 to <tt>wins_nwstr</tt>.</p>
257 <p>modify <tt>waddch_literal</tt> to allow for double-width
258 base character when merging a combining character</p>
262 <h3><a name="h3-programs" id="h3-programs">Program
263 improvements</a></h3>
265 <p id="h4-utilities">Several improvements were made to the
266 utility programs:</p>
269 <dt><span class="part-name"><a href=
270 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/infocmp.1m.html">infocmp</a></span>
275 <li>rewrite <tt>canonical_name</tt> function of
276 <tt>infocmp</tt> to ensure buffer size</li>
278 <li>improve readability of long parameterized expressions
279 with the infocmp “<tt>-f</tt>” option by
280 allowing split before a “<tt>%p</tt>”
283 <li>modify verbose-option of <tt>infocmp</tt>,
284 <tt>tic</tt>, <tt>toe</tt> to enable debug-tracing if that
289 <dt><span class="part-name"><a href=
290 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/tabs.1.html">tabs</a></span>
293 <dd>limit tab-stop values to max-columns</dd>
295 <dt><span class="part-name"><a href=
296 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/tic.1m.html">tic</a></span>
299 <dd>add consistency check in tic for u6/u7/u8/u9 and NQ
302 <dt><span class="part-name"><a href=
303 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/tput.1.html">tput</a></span>
306 <dd>corrected use of original tty-modes in <em>init/reset</em>
310 <h4><a name="h4-examples" id="h4-examples">Examples</a></h4>
312 <p>Along with the library and utilities, improvements were made
314 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses-examples.html">ncurses-examples</a>. Most of
315 this activity aimed at improving the test-packages:</p>
319 <p>add minimal <tt>-h</tt> (usage) and <tt>-V</tt> (version)
320 getopt logic to all ncurses-examples programs.</p>
324 <p>fix an error in "@" command in <tt>test/ncurses.c</tt>
329 <p>add curses_trace to ifdef's for <tt>START_TRACE</tt> in
330 <tt>test/test.priv.h</tt></p>
334 <p>improve pthread-configuration for test/worm.c</p>
338 <p>add <tt>setlocale</tt> call to several test-programs.</p>
342 <p>workaround in <tt>test/picsmap.c</tt> for use of floating
343 point for rgb values by ImageMagick 6.9.11, which appears to
344 use the wrong upper limit.</p>
348 <p>use static libraries for AdaCurses test-package for
349 Mageia, since no gprbuild package is available.</p>
353 <p>install Ada95 sample programs in libexecdir, adding a
354 wrapper script to invoke those.</p>
358 <p>install ncurses-examples programs in libexecdir, adding a
359 wrapper script to invoke those.</p>
363 <p>There are other new demo/test programs and reusable
367 <dt><span class="part-name"><em>test/combine</em></span>
370 <dd>demonstrate combining characters</dd>
372 <dt><span class="part-name"><em>test/test_delwin</em></span>
375 <dd>demonstrate deleting a window</dd>
377 <dt><span class="part-name"><em>test/test_mouse</em></span>
380 <dd>observe mouse events in the raw terminal or parsed ncurses
383 <dt><span class="part-name"><em>test/test_unget_wch</em></span>
386 <dd>demonstrate the unget_wch and unget functions</dd>
389 <h3><a name="h3-database" id="h3-database">Terminal database</a></h3>
391 <p>There are several new terminal descriptions:</p>
395 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-mosh">mosh</a></tt>
399 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-mosh-256color">mosh-256color</a></tt>
403 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-teken-16color">teken-16color</a></tt>
407 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-teken-sc">teken-sc</a></tt>
411 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-teken-vt">teken-vt</a></tt>
415 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-xgterm">xgterm</a></tt>
419 <p>There are many changes to existing terminal descriptions. Some
420 were updates to several descriptions:</p>
424 <p>make description-fields distinct</p>
428 <p>fix errata in description fields</p>
432 <p>add/use several building-blocks:</p>
436 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-aixterm_sl"><tt>aixterm+sl</tt></a></li>
439 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-ansi_cpr"><tt>ansi+cpr</tt></a></li>
442 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-apollo_vt132"><tt>apollo+vt132</tt></a></li>
445 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-decid_cpr"><tt>decid+cpr</tt></a></li>
448 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-ncr260vp_sl"><tt>ncr260vp+sl</tt></a></li>
451 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-wyse_sl"><tt>wyse+sl</tt></a></li>
454 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-x10term_sl"><tt>x10term+sl</tt></a></li>
457 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-xterm_acs"><tt>xterm+acs</tt></a></li>
460 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-xterm_alt47"><tt>xterm+alt47</tt></a></li>
465 <p>while others affected specific descriptions. These were
466 retested, to take into account changes by their developers:</p>
471 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-kitty">kitty</a></tt>
477 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-teken">teken</a></tt>
482 <p>while these are specific fixes based on reviewing
483 documentation, user reports, or warnings from <span class=
484 "part-name">tic</span>:</p>
488 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-att610_cvis0">att610+cvis0</a>
491 <dd>amended note as per documentation for att610, att620,
494 <dt><a href="https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-kon">kon</a>,
497 <dd>revise to undo "linux2.6" change to smacs/rmacs/enacs</dd>
500 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-st-0_6">st-0.6</a>
503 <dd>add dim, ecma+strikeout</dd>
506 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-foot_base">foot+base</a>
509 <dd>add xterm+sl-alt</dd>
512 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-dec_sl">dec+sl</a>
515 <dd>correct dsl in dec+sl</dd>
518 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-mintty">mintty</a> and
521 <dd>correct setal in mintty/tmux entries, add to vte-2018</dd>
524 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-nsterm">nsterm</a>
527 <dd>modify nsterm to use xterm+alt1049</dd>
529 <dt><a href="https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-putty">putty</a>
532 <dd>modify putty to use xterm+alt1049</dd>
535 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-vte-2018">vte-2018</a>
538 <dd>add blink and setal</dd>
541 <p>A few entries use extensions (user-defined terminal
546 <p>use <tt>ansi+enq</tt> and <tt>decid+cpr</tt> in cases
547 where the terminal probably supported the u6-u9 extension</p>
551 <p>remove u6-u9 from teken-2018</p>
555 <p>use <tt>NQ</tt> to flag entries where the terminal does
556 not support query and response</p>
561 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-bracketed_paste"><tt>bracketed+paste</tt></a>
562 to help identify terminals supporting this xterm feature</p>
566 <p>modify samples for xterm mouse 1002/1003 modes to use 1006
567 mode, and also provide for focus in/out responses</p>
571 <p>xterm patch #371 supports DEC-compatible status-line. add
572 <tt>dec+sl</tt> to xterm-new, per xterm #371, add <a href=
573 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-xterm-p371"><tt>xterm-p371</tt></a>,
575 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-xterm-p370"><tt>xterm-p370</tt></a>,
576 for use in older terminals, and set “xterm-new”
577 to “xterm-p370” (to ease adoption).</p>
581 <h3><a name="h3-documentation" id=
582 "h3-documentation">Documentation</a></h3>
584 <p>As usual, this release</p>
588 <p>improves documentation by describing new features,</p>
592 <p>attempts to improve the description of features which
593 users have found confusing</p>
597 <p>fills in overlooked descriptions of features which were
598 described in the <a href="https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/NEWS.html">NEWS</a> file
599 but treated sketchily in manual pages.</p>
603 <p>In addition to providing background information to explain
604 these features and show how they evolved, there are corrections,
605 clarifications, etc.:</p>
613 <p>remove a stray '/' from description of <tt>%g</tt> in
615 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/terminfo.5.html#h3-Parameterized-Strings">
620 <p>correct/improve font-formatting in <a href=
621 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_getch.3x.html">curs_getch.3x</a>, as
622 well as other manual pages.</p>
628 <p>New/improved history and portability sections:</p>
632 <p>add portability notes for <a href=
633 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_initscr.3x.html#h2-PORTABILITY">delscreen</a>
635 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_window.3x.html#h2-PORTABILITY">delwin</a>
641 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_slk.3x.html#h2-EXTENSIONS">curs_slk.3x</a>
642 discussion of extensions and portability</p>
648 <p>Other improvements:</p>
653 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_bkgd.3x.html">curs_bkgd.3x</a>,
654 explaining that <tt>bkgdset</tt> can affect results for
659 <p>add note on portable memory-leak checking in <a href=
660 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_memleaks.3x.html#h2-PORTABILITY">curs_memleaks.3x</a></p>
664 <p>expanded description in <a href=
665 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/resizeterm.3x.html">resizeterm.3x</a></p>
669 <p>add section on releasing memory to <a href=
670 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_termcap.3x.html#h3-Releasing-Memory">
671 curs_termcap.3x</a> and <a href=
672 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_terminfo.3x.html#h3-Releasing-Memory">
673 curs_terminfo.3x</a> manpages.</p>
677 <p>add clarification of the scope of dynamic variables in
679 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/terminfo.5.html">terminfo(5)</a>.</p>
683 <p>improve formatting of <a href=
684 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses-intro.html">ncurses-intro.html</a>
686 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/hackguide.html">hackguide.html</a></p>
691 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_clear.3x.html">curs_clear.3x</a>
692 links to other pages</p>
697 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/howto/NCURSES-Programming-HOWTO.html">ncurses-howto</a>,
698 making documentation fixes along with corrections to
699 example programs.</p>
703 <p>use newer version 1.36 of gnathtml for generating Ada
708 <p>update external links in <a href=
709 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/Ada95.html">Ada95.html</a></p>
715 <p>There are no new manual pages (all of the manual page updates
716 are to existing pages).</p>
718 <h3><a name="h3-bug-fixes" id="h3-bug-fixes">Interesting
721 <p>While there were many bugs fixed during development of ncurses
722 6.4, only a few (the reason for this release) were both important
723 and interesting. Most of the bug-fixes were for local issues
724 which did not affect compatibility across releases. Since those
725 are detailed in the <a href=
726 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/NEWS.html#t20221231">NEWS</a> file no elaboration is
729 <p>The interesting bugs were those dealing with memory leaks and
730 buffer overflows. Although the utilities are designed for
731 <em>text</em> files (which they do properly), some choose to test
732 them with <strong>non-</strong><em>text</em> files.</p>
736 <p>Text files contain no embedded nulls. Also, they end with
737 a newline. Feeding <strong>tic</strong> non-text files
738 exposed a few cases where the program did not check for those
739 issues. As a result, further processing of the input found
740 limit-checks whose assumptions were invalid.</p>
744 <p>Fixing the limit-checks (first) found a problem with
745 <strong>tic</strong> managing the list of strings in a
746 terminal description. In merging two terminal descriptions
747 (i.e., the “use=” feature), <strong>tic</strong>
748 was not allocating a complete copy. A quick repair for that
749 introduced a memory leak.</p>
753 <p>The checks for non-text files are improved (i.e., embedded
754 nulls in the input file will cause <strong>tic</strong> to
755 reject it rather than attempting to process it).</p>
759 <p>The string allocations in <strong>tic</strong> are
760 likewise improved.</p>
764 <h3><a name="h3-config-config" id=
765 "h3-config-config">Configuration changes</a></h3>
767 <h4><a name="h4-config-major" id="h4-config-major">Major
770 <p>There are no major changes. No new options were added. Several
771 improvements were made to configure checks.</p>
773 <h4><a name="h4-config-options" id=
774 "h4-config-options">Configuration options</a></h4>
776 <p>There are a few new/modified configure options:</p>
779 <dt><tt>--with-abi-version</tt>
783 <p>add ABI 7 defaults to configure script.</p>
786 <dt><tt>--with-caps</tt>
790 <p>add warning in configure script if file specified for
791 “<tt>--with-caps</tt>” does not exist.</p>
794 <dt><tt>--with-manpage-format</tt>
798 <p>bzip2 and xz compression are now supported</p>
801 <dt><tt>--with-xterm-kbs</tt>
805 <p>add check/warning in configure script if option
806 “<tt>--with-xterm-kbs</tt>” is missing or
811 <h3><a name="h3-portability" id="h3-portability">Portability</a></h3>
813 <p>Many of the portability changes are implemented via the
814 configure script:</p>
818 <p>amend configure option's auto-search to account for
819 systems where none of the directories known to
820 <em>pkg-config</em> exist</p>
824 <p>corrected regex needed for older <em>pkg-config</em> used
829 <p>improve handling of <tt>--with-pkg-config-libdir</tt>
830 option, allowing for the case where either
831 <tt>$PKG_CONFIG_LIBDIR</tt> or the option value has a
832 colon-separated list of directories</p>
836 <p>if the <tt>--with-pkg-config-libdir</tt> option is not
837 given, use <tt>${libdir}/pkgconfig</tt> as a default</p>
841 <p>improve search-path check for <em>pkg-config</em>, e.g.,
842 for Debian testing which installs <em>pkg-config</em> with
843 architecture-prefixes.</p>
847 <p>build-fix for cross-compiling to MingW, conditionally add
852 <p>improve configure check for <tt>getttynam</tt></p>
856 <p>fixes to build with <em>dietlibc</em>:</p>
859 <li>add configure check for <tt>fpathconf</tt></li>
861 <li>add configure check for math sine/cosine, needed in
862 test/tclock, and eliminate <tt>pow()</tt> from
865 <li>use <tt>wcsnlen</tt> as an alternative to
866 <tt>wmemchr</tt> if it is not found</li>
871 <p>modify configure macro <tt>CF_BUILD_CC</tt> to check if
872 the build-compiler works, rather than that it is different
873 from the cross-compiler, e.g., to accommodate a compiler
874 which can be used for either purpose with different flags</p>
878 <p>modify configure/scripts to work around interference by
883 <p>Here are some of the other portability fixes:</p>
887 <p>change <tt>man_db.renames</tt> to template, to handle
888 <em>ncurses*-config</em> script with the
889 <tt>--extra-suffix</tt> configure option.</p>
893 <p>update <tt>CF_XOPEN_SOURCE</tt> macro, adding variants
894 “gnueabi" and “gnueabihf" to get
895 <tt>_DEFAULT_SOURCE</tt> special case, as well as adding GNU
896 libc suffixes for “abi64”, “abin32”,
897 “x32” to distinguish it from other libc
902 <p>work around <em>musl</em>'s nonstandard use of feature
903 test macros by adding a definition for
904 <tt>NCURSES_WIDECHAR</tt> to the generated “.pc”
905 and <em><tt>*-config</tt></em> files.</p>
909 <p>use “<tt>command -v</tt>” rather than
910 “<tt>type</tt>” in <tt>Ada95/gen/Makefile.in</tt>
911 to fix a portability issue.</p>
917 <h2><a name="h2-features" id="h2-features">Features of
918 <span class="main-name">ncurses</span></a></h2>
920 <p>The <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> package is fully
921 upward-compatible with SVr4 (System V Release 4) curses:</p>
925 <p>All of the SVr4 calls have been implemented (and are
930 <p><span class="main-name">ncurses</span> supports all of the
931 for SVr4 curses features including keyboard mapping, color,
932 forms-drawing with ACS characters, and automatic recognition
933 of keypad and function keys.</p>
937 <p><span class="main-name">ncurses</span> provides these SVr4
938 add-on libraries (not part of X/Open Curses):</p>
942 <p>the panels library, supporting a stack of windows with
947 <p>the menus library, supporting a uniform but flexible
948 interface for menu programming.</p>
952 <p>the form library, supporting data collection through
959 <p><span class="main-name">ncurses</span>'s terminal database
960 is fully compatible with that used by SVr4 curses.</p>
964 <p><span class="main-name">ncurses</span> supports
965 user-defined capabilities which it can see, but which are
966 hidden from SVr4 curses applications using the
967 <em>same</em> terminal database.</p>
971 <p>It can be optionally configured to match the format
972 used in related systems such as AIX and Tru64.</p>
976 <p>Alternatively, <span class="main-name">ncurses</span>
977 can be configured to use hashed databases rather than the
978 directory of files used by SVr4 curses.</p>
984 <p>The <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> utilities have
985 options to allow you to filter terminfo entries for use with
986 less capable <em>curses</em>/<em>terminfo</em> versions such
987 as the HP-UX and AIX ports.</p>
991 <p>The <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> package also has
992 many useful extensions over SVr4:</p>
996 <p>The API is 8-bit clean and base-level conformant with the
997 X/OPEN curses specification, XSI curses (that is, it
998 implements all <em>BASE</em> level features, and most
999 <em>EXTENDED</em> features). It includes many function calls
1000 not supported under SVr4 curses (but portability of all calls
1001 is documented so you can use the SVr4 subset only).</p>
1005 <p>Unlike SVr3 curses, <span class="main-name">ncurses</span>
1006 can write to the rightmost-bottommost corner of the screen if
1007 your terminal has an insert-character capability.</p>
1011 <p>Ada95 and C++ bindings.</p>
1015 <p>Support for mouse event reporting with X Window xterm and
1016 FreeBSD and OS/2 console windows.</p>
1020 <p>Extended mouse support via Alessandro Rubini's gpm
1025 <p>The function <code>wresize</code> allows you to resize
1026 windows, preserving their data.</p>
1030 <p>The function <code>use_default_colors</code> allows you to
1031 use the terminal's default colors for the default color pair,
1032 achieving the effect of transparent colors.</p>
1036 <p>The functions <code>keyok</code> and
1037 <code>define_key</code> allow you to better control the use
1038 of function keys, e.g., disabling the <span class=
1039 "main-name">ncurses</span> KEY_MOUSE, or by defining more
1040 than one control sequence to map to a given key code.</p>
1044 <p>Support for direct-color terminals, such as modern
1049 <p>Support for 256-color terminals, such as modern xterm.</p>
1053 <p>Support for 16-color terminals, such as <em>aixterm</em>
1054 and <em>modern xterm</em>.</p>
1058 <p>Better cursor-movement optimization. The package now
1059 features a cursor-local-movement computation more efficient
1060 than either BSD's or System V's.</p>
1064 <p>Super hardware scrolling support. The screen-update code
1065 incorporates a novel, simple, and cheap algorithm that
1066 enables it to make optimal use of hardware scrolling,
1067 line-insertion, and line-deletion for screen-line movements.
1068 This algorithm is more powerful than the 4.4BSD curses
1069 <code>quickch</code> routine.</p>
1073 <p>Real support for terminals with the magic-cookie glitch.
1074 The screen-update code will refrain from drawing a highlight
1075 if the magic- cookie unattributed spaces required just before
1076 the beginning and after the end would step on a non-space
1077 character. It will automatically shift highlight boundaries
1078 when doing so would make it possible to draw the highlight
1079 without changing the visual appearance of the screen.</p>
1083 <p>It is possible to generate the library with a list of
1084 pre-loaded fallback entries linked to it so that it can serve
1085 those terminal types even when no terminfo tree or termcap
1086 file is accessible (this may be useful for support of
1087 screen-oriented programs that must run in single-user
1092 <p>The <a href="https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/tic.1m.html"><span class=
1093 "part-name">tic</span></a>/<a href=
1094 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/captoinfo.1m.html">captoinfo</a> utility
1095 provided with <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> has the
1096 ability to translate many termcaps from the XENIX, IBM and
1097 AT&T extension sets.</p>
1101 <p>A BSD-like <a href=
1102 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/tset.1.html"><span class=
1103 "part-name">tset</span></a> utility is provided.</p>
1107 <p>The <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> library and
1108 utilities will automatically read terminfo entries from
1109 $HOME/.terminfo if it exists, and compile to that directory
1110 if it exists and the user has no write access to the system
1111 directory. This feature makes it easier for users to have
1112 personal terminfo entries without giving up access to the
1113 system terminfo directory.</p>
1117 <p>You may specify a path of directories to search for
1118 compiled descriptions with the environment variable
1119 TERMINFO_DIRS (this generalizes the feature provided by
1120 TERMINFO under stock System V.)</p>
1124 <p>In terminfo source files, use capabilities may refer not
1125 just to other entries in the same source file (as in System
1126 V) but also to compiled entries in either the system terminfo
1127 directory or the user's $HOME/.terminfo directory.</p>
1131 <p>The table-of-entries utility <a href=
1132 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/toe.1m.html"><span class=
1133 "part-name">toe</span></a> makes it easy for users to see
1134 exactly what terminal types are available on the system.</p>
1138 <p>The library meets the XSI requirement that every macro
1139 entry point has a corresponding function which may be linked
1140 (and will be prototype-checked) if the macro definition is
1141 disabled with <code>#undef</code>.</p>
1145 <p>Extensive documentation is provided (see the <em><a href=
1146 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses.faq.html#additional_reading">Additional
1147 Reading</a></em> section of the <em><a href=
1148 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses.faq.html"><span class=
1149 "main-name">ncurses</span> FAQ</a></em> for online
1154 <h2><a name="h2-who-uses" id="h2-who-uses">Applications using
1155 <span class="main-name">ncurses</span></a></h2>
1157 <p>The <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> distribution
1158 includes a selection of test programs (including a few games).
1159 These are available separately as <a href=
1160 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses-examples.html">ncurses-examples</a></p>
1162 <p>The ncurses library has been tested with a wide variety of
1163 applications including:</p>
1167 <dt><span class="part-name">aptitude</span>
1171 <p>FrontEnd to Apt, the debian package manager</p>
1174 "https://wiki.debian.org/Aptitude">https://wiki.debian.org/Aptitude</a></p>
1177 <dt><span class="part-name">cdk</span>
1181 <p>Curses Development Kit</p>
1183 <p><a href="https://invisible-island.net/cdk/">https://invisible-island.net/cdk/</a><br>
1187 <dt><span class="part-name">ded</span>
1191 <p>directory-editor</p>
1193 <p><a href="https://invisible-island.net/ded/">https://invisible-island.net/ded/</a></p>
1196 <dt><span class="part-name">dialog</span>
1200 <p>the underlying application used in Slackware's setup,
1201 and the basis for similar install/configure applications on
1204 <p><a href="https://invisible-island.net/dialog/">https://invisible-island.net/dialog/</a></p>
1207 <dt><span class="part-name">lynx</span>
1211 <p>the text WWW browser</p>
1214 "https://lynx.invisible-island.net/">https://lynx.invisible-island.net/</a></p>
1217 <dt><span class="part-name">mutt</span>
1223 <p><a href="http://www.mutt.org/">http://www.mutt.org/</a></p>
1226 <dt><span class="part-name">ncftp</span>
1230 <p>file-transfer utility</p>
1233 "https://www.ncftp.com/">https://www.ncftp.com/</a></p>
1236 <dt><span class="part-name">nvi</span>
1240 <p>New vi uses ncurses.</p>
1243 "https://sites.google.com/a/bostic.com/keithbostic/vi">https://sites.google.com/a/bostic.com/keithbostic/vi</a><br>
1248 <dt><span class="part-name">ranger</span>
1252 <p>A console file manager with VI key bindings in
1253 <em>Python</em>.</p>
1256 "https://ranger.github.io/">https://ranger.github.io/</a></p>
1259 <dt><span class="part-name">tin</span>
1263 <p>newsreader, supporting color, MIME</p>
1265 <p><a href="http://www.tin.org/">http://www.tin.org/</a></p>
1268 <dt><span class="part-name">vifm</span>
1272 <p>File manager with vi like keybindings</p>
1274 <p><a href="https://vifm.info/">https://vifm.info/</a></p>
1279 <p>as well as some that use <span class=
1280 "main-name">ncurses</span> for the terminfo support alone:</p>
1284 <dt><span class="part-name">minicom</span>
1288 <p>terminal emulator for serial modem connections</p>
1291 "https://alioth.debian.org/projects/minicom/">https://alioth.debian.org/projects/minicom/</a></p>
1294 <dt><span class="part-name">mosh</span>
1298 <p>a replacement for <code>ssh</code>.</p>
1300 <p><a href="https://mosh.org/">https://mosh.org/</a></p>
1303 <dt><span class="part-name">tack</span>
1307 <p>terminfo action checker</p>
1309 <p><a href="https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/tack.html">https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/tack.html</a></p>
1312 <dt><span class="part-name">tmux</span>
1316 <p>terminal multiplexor</p>
1319 "https://github.com/tmux/tmux/wiki">https://github.com/tmux/tmux/wiki</a></p>
1322 <dt><span class="part-name">vile</span>
1326 <p><em>vi-like-emacs</em> may be built to use the terminfo,
1327 termcap or curses interfaces.</p>
1329 <p><a href="https://invisible-island.net/vile/">https://invisible-island.net/vile/</a></p>
1334 <p>and finally, those which use only the termcap interface:</p>
1338 <dt><span class="part-name">emacs</span>
1345 "https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/">https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/</a></p>
1348 <dt><span class="part-name">less</span>
1352 <p>The most commonly used <em>pager</em> (a program that
1353 displays text files).</p>
1356 "http://www.greenwoodsoftware.com/less/">http://www.greenwoodsoftware.com/less/</a></p>
1359 <dt><span class="part-name">screen</span>
1363 <p>terminal multiplexor</p>
1366 "https://www.gnu.org/software/screen/">https://www.gnu.org/software/screen/</a></p>
1369 <dt><span class="part-name">vim</span>
1375 <p><a href="https://www.vim.org/">https://www.vim.org/</a></p>
1380 <h2><a name="h2-development" id="h2-development">Development
1383 <p>Zeyd Ben-Halim started <span class="main-name">ncurses</span>
1384 from a previous package pcurses, written by Pavel Curtis. Eric S.
1385 Raymond continued development. Jürgen Pfeifer wrote most of
1386 the form and menu libraries.</p>
1388 <p>Ongoing development work is done by <a href=
1389 "mailto:dickey@invisible-island.net">Thomas E. Dickey</a>. Thomas
1390 E. Dickey has acted as the maintainer for the Free Software
1391 Foundation, which held a <a href=
1392 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses-license.html">copyright on ncurses</a> for
1393 releases 4.2 through 6.1. Following the release of ncurses 6.1,
1394 effective as of release 6.2, copyright for ncurses reverted to
1395 Thomas E. Dickey (see the <a href=
1396 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses.faq.html#relicensed">ncurses FAQ</a> for
1397 additional information).</p>
1399 <p>Contact the current maintainers at</p>
1402 <a href="mailto:bug-ncurses@gnu.org">bug-ncurses@gnu.org</a>
1405 <p>To join the ncurses mailing list, please write email to</p>
1409 "mailto:bug-ncurses-request@gnu.org">bug-ncurses-request@gnu.org</a>
1411 containing the line:
1413 <p><code>subscribe</code>
1414 <em><name>@<host.domain></em></p>
1417 <p>This list is open to anyone interested in helping with the
1418 development and testing of this package.</p>
1420 <p>Beta versions of <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> are
1421 made available at</p>
1425 "https://invisible-island.net/archives/ncurses/current/">https://invisible-island.net/archives/ncurses/current/</a>
1428 "https://invisible-mirror.net/archives/ncurses/current/">https://invisible-mirror.net/archives/ncurses/current/</a> .</p>
1431 <p>Patches to the current release are made available at</p>
1435 "https://invisible-island.net/archives/ncurses/6.3/">https://invisible-island.net/archives/ncurses/6.3/</a>
1438 "https://invisible-mirror.net/archives/ncurses/6.3/">https://invisible-mirror.net/archives/ncurses/6.3/</a> .</p>
1441 <p>There is an archive of the mailing list here:</p>
1445 "http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-ncurses">http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-ncurses</a>
1447 "https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-ncurses">https</a>)</p>
1450 <h2><a name="h2-this-stuff" id="h2-this-stuff">Related
1453 <p>The release notes make scattered references to these pages,
1454 which may be interesting by themselves:</p>
1457 <li><a href="https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses-license.html"><span class=
1458 "main-name">ncurses</span> licensing</a></li>
1460 <li><a href="https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses-mapsyms.html">Symbol versioning
1461 in <span class="main-name">ncurses</span></a></li>
1463 <li><a href="https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses-slang.html">Comments on
1464 <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> versus <span class=
1465 "main-name">slang</span> (S-Lang)</a></li>
1467 <li><a href="https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses-openbsd.html">Comments on
1468 <span class="main-name">OpenBSD</span></a></li>
1470 <li><a href="https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/tack.html">tack – terminfo action
1473 <li><a href="https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/tctest.html">tctest – termcap
1474 library checker</a></li>
1477 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses.html#download_database">Terminal
1481 <h2><a name="h2-other-stuff" id="h2-other-stuff">Other
1484 <p>The distribution provides a newer version of the
1485 terminfo-format terminal description file once maintained by
1486 <a href="http://www.catb.org/~esr/terminfo/">Eric
1487 Raymond</a> . Unlike the older version, the termcap and
1488 terminfo data are provided in the same file, which also provides
1489 several user-definable extensions beyond the X/Open
1492 <p>You can find lots of information on terminal-related topics
1493 not covered in the terminfo file at <a href=
1494 "http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.cs.utk.edu/~shuford/terminal">
1495 Richard Shuford's archive</a> . The collection of computer
1497 "http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/">bitsavers.org</a> has also been
1502 <li><a href="#h2-overview">Overview</a></li>
1505 <a href="#h2-release-notes">Release Notes</a>
1508 <a href="#h3-library">Library improvements</a>
1510 <li><a href="#h4-new-library">New features</a></li>
1512 <li><a href="#h4-fixes-library">Other
1513 improvements</a></li>
1518 <a href="#h3-programs">Program improvements</a>
1520 <li><a href="#h4-utilities">Utilities</a></li>
1522 <li><a href="#h4-examples">Examples</a></li>
1526 <li><a href="#h3-database">Terminal database</a></li>
1528 <li><a href="#h3-documentation">Documentation</a></li>
1530 <li><a href="#h3-bug-fixes">Interesting bug-fixes</a></li>
1533 <a href="#h3-config-config">Configuration changes</a>
1535 <li><a href="#h4-config-major">Major changes</a></li>
1537 <li><a href="#h4-config-options">Configuration
1542 <li><a href="#h3-portability">Portability</a></li>
1546 <li><a href="#h2-features">Features of <span class=
1547 "main-name">ncurses</span></a></li>
1549 <li><a href="#h2-who-uses">Applications using <span class=
1550 "main-name">ncurses</span></a></li>
1552 <li><a href="#h2-development">Development activities</a></li>
1554 <li><a href="#h2-this-stuff">Related resources</a></li>
1556 <li><a href="#h2-other-stuff">Other resources</a></li>