+
+ 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 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:
+ * 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 and improvements:
+ * 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:
+ o allow it to run from fallback terminfo data.
+ o reset colors after each color test, correct a place
+ where exit_standout_mode was used instead of
+ exit_attribute_mode.
+ o improve bce test by making it set colors other than
+ black on white.
+ + tic:
+ o handle a case where an entry has no description, and
+ capabilities begin on the same line as the entry name.
+ o allow a terminfo entry with a leading 2-character name.
+ o improved warnings when suppressing items to fit in
+ termcap's 1023-byte limit.
+ o add check for multiple "tc=" clauses in a termcap.
+ o correct logic for resolving "use=" clauses allow infocmp
+ and tic to show cancelled capabilities.
+ o check for incomplete line-drawing character mapping.
+ o check for missing/empty/illegal terminfo name.
+ + tput:
+ o 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:
+ o use the system's default values for CKILL and other
+ default control characters.
+ o correct interchanged defaults for kill and interrupt
+ characters, which caused it to report unnecessarily.
+
+ Major bug fixes:
+ * 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:
+ o null-terminate buffer passed to setcchar(), which
+ occasionally failed.
+ o 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.
+
+ 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:
+ o allow BUILD_CC and related configure script variables to
+ be overridden from the environment.
+ o use AC_CHECK_TOOL to get proper values for AR and LD for
+ cross compiling.
+ o 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.
+ o modify run_tic.in to avoid using wrong shared libraries
+ when cross-compiling.
+ + fixes for Mac OS X:
+ o fix a redefinition of $RANLIB in the configure script
+ when libtool is used.
+ o 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:
+ o 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.
+ o modify configure script to omit -Winline for gcc 3.3,
+ since that feature is broken.
+ o several script fixes to work around the ironically named
+ POSIXLY_CORRECT feature of GNU sed 4.0.
+ o modify configure script to avoid using "head -1", which
+ does not work if POSIXLY_CORRECT (sic) is set.
+ o 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.
+ o 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
+