+ Announcing ncurses 5.6
- Announcing ncurses 5.0
-
- 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
+ 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.
-
- In mid-June 1995, the maintainer of 4.4BSD curses declared that he
- 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!
-
+
+ In mid-June 1995, the maintainer of 4.4BSD curses declared that he
+ 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!
+
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
+ 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/pub/gnu/ncurses. It is also
- available at [2]ftp://ftp.clark.net/pub/dickey/ncurses.
-
+
+ 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
-
- We decided to release ncurses as a new whole number release (5.0)
- because it incorporates several interface changes, including some that
- would invalidate existing shared libraries. These are the highlights
- from the change-log since ncurses 4.2 release.
-
+
+ This release is designed to be upward compatible from ncurses 5.0
+ through 5.5; very few applications will require recompilation,
+ depending on the platform. These are the highlights from the
+ change-log since ncurses 5.5 release.
+
Interface changes:
- * The principal source of changes to the interface comes from the
- release of X/Open Curses in 1997. Earlier versions of ncurses (4.0
- and before) were based on a draft version of the specification.
- The release version adds parameters to some functions to support
- the evolving internationalization of curses. These summarize the
- impact:
- + modified several prototypes to correspond with 1997 version
- of X/Open Curses (affects ABI since developers have used
- attr_get).
- + corrected prototypes for slk_* functions, using chtype rather
- than attr_t.
- + the slk_attr_{set,off,on} functions need an additional void*
- parameter according to XSI.
- + correct macros for wattr_set, wattr_get, separate wattrset
- macro from these to preserve behavior that allows attributes
- to be combined with color pair numbers.
- + reviewed/updated curses.h, term.h against X/Open Curses Issue
- 4 Version 2. This includes making some parameters
- NCURSES_CONST rather than const, e.g., in termcap.h.
- + reviewed/corrected macros in curses.h as per XSI document.
- + add set_a_attributes and set_pglen_inch to terminfo
- structure, as per XSI and Solaris 2.5.
- * The newest version of the X/Open Curses is implemented on Solaris
- and other vendor's systems. It adds new features to the terminfo
- descriptions:
- + implement tparm %l format.
- + implement tparm printf-style width and precision for %s, %d,
- %x, %o as per XSI.
- * We made additional changes to reduce impact by future interface
- changes:
- + rename key_names[] array to _nc_key_names since it is not
- part of the curses interface.
- + move macro winch to a function, to hide details of struct
- ldat
- * modify configure script to embed ABI in shared libraries for HP-UX
- 10.x (detailed request by Tim Mooney).
- * modify configuration of shared libraries on Digital Unix so that
- versioning is embedded in the library, rather than implied by
- links (patch by Tim Mooney).
-
- New features:
- * enable sigwinch handler by default.
- * turn on hashmap scrolling code by default
- * improved support for termcap applications
- + modify tput to accept termcap names as an alternative to
- terminfo names.
- + provide support for termcap PC variable by copying it from
- terminfo data and using it as the padding character in tputs.
- + provide support for termcap ospeed variable by copying it
- from the internal cur_term member, and using ospeed as the
- baudrate reference for the delay_output and tputs functions.
- + change name-comparisons in lib_termcap to compare no more
- than 2 characters.
- + add configure option --enable-tcap-names, which essentially
- allows users to define new capabilities as in termcap.
- * add mouse support to ncurses menus.
- * add mouse and dll support for OS/2 EMX
- * modify terminfo parsing to accept octal and hexadecimal constants
- * add configure option --enable-no-padding, to allow environment
- variable $NCURSES_NO_PADDING to eliminate non-mandatory padding,
- thereby making terminal emulators (e.g., for vt100) a little more
- efficient.
- * modify lib_color.c to eliminate dependency on orig_colors and
- orig_pair, since SVr4 curses does not require these either, but
- uses them when they are available.
- * add -f option to infocmp and tic, which formats the terminfo
- if/then/else/endif so that they are readable (with newlines and
- tabs).
- * modify tic to compile into %'char' form in preference to
- %{number}, since that is a little more efficient.
-
+ * generate linkable stubs for some macros:
+ getbegx, getbegy, getcurx, getcury, getmaxx, getmaxy, getparx,
+ getpary, getpary,
+ and (for libncursesw)
+ wgetbkgrnd
+
+ New features and improvements:
+ * library
+ + support hashed databases for the terminal descriptions. This
+ uses the Berkeley database, has been tested for several
+ versions on different platforms.
+ + add use_legacy_coding() function to support lynx's
+ font-switching feature.
+ + add extension nofilter(), to cancel a prior filter() call.
+ + add/install a package config script, e.g., ncurses5-config or
+ ncursesw5-config, according to configuration options.
+ + provide ifdef for NCURSES_NOMACROS which suppresses most
+ macro definitions from curses.h, i.e., where a macro is
+ defined to override a function to improve performance.
+ + make ifdef's consistent in curses.h for the extended colors
+ so the header file can be used for the normal curses library.
+ The header file installed for extended colors is a variation
+ of the wide-character configuration.
+ + improve tgetstr() by making the return value point into the
+ user's buffer, if provided.
+ + add ifdef's allowing ncurses to be built with tparm() using
+ either varargs (the existing status), or using a
+ fixed-parameter list (to match X/Open).
+ + widen the test for xterm kmous a little to allow for other
+ strings than "\E[M", e.g., for xterm-sco functionality in
+ xterm.
+ + modify wgetnstr() to return KEY_RESIZE if a sigwinch occurs.
+ + move prototypes for wide-character trace functions from
+ curses.tail to curses.wide to avoid accidental reference to
+ those if _XOPEN_SOURCE_EXTENDED is defined without ensuring
+ that <wchar.h> is included.
+ + change the way shared libraries (other than libtool) are
+ installed. Rather than copying the build-tree's libraries,
+ link the shared objects into the install directory. This
+ makes the --with-rpath option work except with $(DESTDIR).
+ + several improvements for rendering in hpterm. These are only
+ available if the library is configured using
+ --enable-xmc-glitch.
+ + Add NCURSES_NO_HARD_TABS and NCURSES_NO_MAGIC_COOKIE
+ environment variables to allow runtime suppression of the
+ related hard-tabs and xmc-glitch features.
+ * programs:
+ + add new test programs: chgat.c, demo_altkeys.c, echochar.c,
+ foldkeys.c, movewindow.c, redraw.c, (noting that existing
+ test programs also were modified to test additional
+ features).
+ + modify tack to test extended capability function-key strings.
+ + modify toe to access termcap data, e.g., via cgetent()
+ functions, or as a text file if those are not available.
+ + improve infocmp/tic -f option formatting.
+ + add toe -a option, to show all databases. This uses new
+ private interfaces in the ncurses library for iterating
+ through the list of databases.
+ + modify MKfallback.sh to use tic -x when constructing fallback
+ tables to allow extended capabilities to be retrieved from a
+ fallback entry.
+ * terminal database
+ + add terminfo entries for xfce terminal (xfce) and multi gnome
+ terminal (mgt)
+ + add nsterm-16color entry
+ + updated mlterm terminfo entry
+ + add kon, kon2 and jfbterm terminfo entry
+ + remove invis capability from klone+sgr, mainly used by linux
+ entry, since it does not really do this
+ + add ka2, kb1, kb3, kc2 to vt220-keypad as an extension
+ + add shifted up/down arrow codes to xterm-new as kind/kri
+ strings
+ + add hpterm-color terminfo entry
+ + add 256color variants of terminfo entries for programs which
+ are reported to implement this feature
+ + correct order of use-clauses in rxvt-basic entry which made
+ codes for f1-f4 vt100-style rather than vt220-style.
+
Major bug fixes:
- * modify lib_tstp.c to block SIGTTOU when handling SIGTSTP, fixes a
- problem where ncurses applications which were run via a shell
- script would hang when given a ^Z. Also, check if the terminal's
- process group is consistent, i.e., a shell has not taken ownership
- of it, before deciding to save the current terminal settings in
- the SIGTSTP handler.
- * suppress sc/rc capabilities from terminal description if they
- appear in smcup/rmcup. This affects only scrolling optimization,
- to fix a problem reported by several people with xterm's alternate
- screen, though the problem is more general.
- * modify relative_move and tputs to avoid an interaction with the
- BSD-style padding. The relative_move function could produce a
- string to replace on the screen which began with a numeric
- character, which was then interpreted by tputs as padding.
- * modify setupterm so that cancelled strings are treated the same as
- absent strings, cancelled and absent booleans false (does not
- affect tic, infocmp).
- * modify lib_vidattr.c to allow for terminal types (e.g.,
- xterm-color) which may reset all attributes in the 'op'
- capability, so that colors are set before turning on bold and
- other attributes, but still after turning attributes off.
- * use 'access()' to check if ncurses library should be permitted to
- open or modify files with fopen/open/link/unlink/remove calls, in
- case the calling application is running in setuid mode.
- * correction to doupdate, for case where terminal does not support
- insert/delete character. The logic did not check that there was a
- difference in alignment of changes to old/new screens before
- repainting the whole non-blank portion of the line. Modified to
- fall through into logic that reduces by the portion which does not
- differ.
-
+ * correct a typo in configure --with-bool option for the case where
+ --without-cxx is used.
+ * move assignment from environment variable ESCDELAY from initscr()
+ down to newterm() so the environment variable affects timeouts for
+ terminals opened with newterm() as well.
+ * modify werase to clear multicolumn characters that extend into a
+ derived window.
+ * modify wchgat() to mark updated cells as changed so a refresh will
+ repaint those cells.
+ * correct logic in wadd_wch() and wecho_wch(), which did not guard
+ against passing the multi-column attribute into a call on
+ waddch(), e.g., using data returned by win_wch()
+ * fix redrawing of windows other than stdscr using wredrawln() by
+ touching the corresponding rows in curscr.
+ * reduce memory leaks in repeated calls to tgetent() by remembering
+ the last TERMINAL* value allocated to hold the corresponding data
+ and freeing that if the tgetent() result buffer is the same as the
+ previous call.
+ * modify read_termtype() so the term_names data is always allocated
+ as part of the str_table, a better fix for a memory leak.
+ * fix wins_nwstr(), which did not handle single-column non-8bit
+ codes.
+ * modify wbkgrnd() to avoid clearing the A_CHARTEXT attribute bits
+ since those record the state of multicolumn characters.
+ * improve SIGWINCH handling by postponing its effect during
+ newterm(), etc., when allocating screens.
+ * remove 970913 feature for copying subwindows as they are moved in
+ mvwin().
+ * add checks in waddchnstr() and wadd_wchnstr() to stop copying when
+ a null character is found.
+ * add some checks to ensure current position is within scrolling
+ region before scrolling on a new line.
+ * add a workaround to ACS mapping to allow applications such as
+ test/blue.c to use the "PC ROM" characters by masking them with
+ A_ALTCHARSET. This worked up til 5.5, but was lost in the revision
+ of legacy coding.
+
+ Portability:
+ * configure script:
+ + new options:
+
+ --with-hashed-db
+ Use Berkeley hashed database for storing terminfo
+ data rather than storing each compiled entry in a
+ separate binary file within a directory tree.
+
+ --without-dlsym
+ Do not use dlsym() to load GPM dynamically.
+
+ --with-valgrind
+ Simplify building for testing with valgrind.
+
+ --enable-wgetch-events
+ Compile with experimental wgetch-events code.
+
+ --enable-signed-char
+ Store booleans in "signed char" rather than "char".
+
+ + improved options:
+
+ --disable-largefile
+ make the option work both ways.
+
+ --with-gpm
+ The option now accepts a parameter, i.e., the name
+ of the dynamic GPM library to load via dlopen()
+
+ --disable-symlinks
+ The option now allows one to disable symlink() in
+ tic even when link() does not work.
+
+ * other configure/build issues:
+ + remove special case for Darwin in CF_XOPEN_SOURCE configure
+ macro.
+ + add configure check to ensure that SIGWINCH is defined on
+ platforms such as OS X which exclude that when _XOPEN_SOURCE,
+ etc., are defined
+ + use ld's -search_paths_first option on Darwin to work around
+ odd search rules on that platform.
+ + improve ifdef's for _POSIX_VDISABLE in tset to work with Mac
+ OS X.
+ + modify configure script to ensure that if the C compiler is
+ used rather than the loader in making shared libraries, the
+ $(CFLAGS) variable is also used.
+ + use ${CC} rather than ${LD} in shared library rules for
+ IRIX64, Solaris to help ensure that initialization sections
+ are provided for extra linkage requirements, e.g., of C++
+ applications.
+ + improve some shared-library configure scripting for Linux,
+ FreeBSD and NetBSD to make --with-shlib-version work.
+ + split up dependency of names.c and codes.c in
+ ncurses/Makefile to work with parallel make.
+ + modify MKlib_gen.sh to change preprocessor-expanded _Bool
+ back to bool.
+ + modify progs/Makefile.in to make tput init work properly with
+ cygwin, i.e., do not pass a .exe in the reference string used
+ in check_aliases.
+ * library:
+ + ignore wide-acs line-drawing characters that wcwidth() claims
+ are not one-column. This is a workaround for Solaris' broken
+ locale support.
+ + reduce name-pollution in term.h by removing #define's for
+ HAVE_xxx symbols.
+ + fix #ifdef in c++/internal.h for QNX 6.1
+ * test programs:
+ + modify test/configure script to allow building test programs
+ with PDCurses/X11.
+ + modified test programs to allow some to work with NetBSD
+ curses. Several do not because NetBSD curses implements a
+ subset of X/Open curses, and also lacks much of SVr4
+ additions. But it is enough for comparison.
+ + improved test/configure to build test/ncurses on HPUX 11
+ using the vendor curses.
+ + change configure script to produce test/Makefile from data
+ file.
+
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
+ * 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
+ * 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
+ * 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
+ * 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
+ * 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
+ * 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
+ 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).
- * Unlike SVr3 curses, ncurses can write to the rightmost-bottommost
- corner of the screen if your terminal has an insert-character
+ * 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, 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
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
+ 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.
- * Better cursor-movement optimization. The package now features a
+ * 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.
- * Super hardware scrolling support. The screen-update code
- 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
+ * Super hardware scrolling support. The screen-update code
+ 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.
- * 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
- beginning and after the end would step on a non-space character.
- It will automatically shift highlight boundaries when doing so
- would make it possible to draw the highlight without changing the
+ * 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
+ beginning and after the end would step on a non-space character.
+ It will automatically shift highlight boundaries when doing so
+ would make it possible to draw the highlight without changing the
visual appearance of the screen.
- * It is possible to generate the library with a list of pre-loaded
- fallback entries linked to it so that it can serve those terminal
- types even when no terminfo tree or termcap file is accessible
- (this may be useful for support of screen-oriented programs that
+ * It is possible to generate the library with a list of pre-loaded
+ fallback entries linked to it so that it can serve those terminal
+ 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
+ to translate many termcaps from the XENIX, IBM and AT&T extension
sets.
* A BSD-like tset(1) 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
- system directory. This feature makes it easier for users to have
- personal terminfo entries without giving up access to the system
+ entries from $HOME/.terminfo if it exists, and compile to that
+ directory if it exists and the user has no write access to the
+ system directory. This feature makes it easier for users to have
+ personal terminfo entries without giving up access to the system
terminfo directory.
- * You may specify a path of directories to search for compiled
- descriptions with the environment variable TERMINFO_DIRS (this
- generalizes the feature provided by TERMINFO under stock System
+ * You may specify a path of directories to search for compiled
+ descriptions with the environment variable TERMINFO_DIRS (this
+ generalizes the feature provided by TERMINFO under stock System
V.)
- * In terminfo source files, use capabilities may refer not just to
+ * In terminfo source files, use capabilities may refer not just to
other entries in the same source file (as in System V) but also to
- compiled entries in either the system terminfo directory or the
+ 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
+ * 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
+ * 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
+ * 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
- prototype-checked) if the macro definition is disabled with
+ have 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
+ * An HTML "Introduction to Programming with NCURSES" document
+ provides a narrative introduction to the curses programming
interface.
-
+
State of the Package
-
+
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
+ 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 code has been tested with a wide variety of applications
+
+ The ncurses code has been tested with a wide variety of applications
including (versions starting with those noted):
-
+
cdk
- Curses Development Kit [3]Curses Development Kit
- [4]ftp://ftp.clark.net/pub/dickey/cdk.
-
+ Curses Development Kit
+ [3]http://invisible-island.net/cdk/
+ [4]http://www.vexus.ca/products/CDK/
+
ded
- directory-editor [5]ftp://ftp.clark.net/pub/dickey/ded.
-
+ directory-editor
+ [5]http://invisible-island.net/ded/
+
dialog
- the underlying application used in Slackware's setup, and the
+ the underlying application used in Slackware's setup, and the
basis for similar applications on GNU/Linux.
-
+ [6]http://invisible-island.net/dialog/
+
lynx
the character-screen WWW browser
-
- Midnight Commander 4.1
+ [7]http://lynx.isc.org/release/
+
+ Midnight Commander
file manager
-
+ [8]http://www.ibiblio.org/mc/
+
mutt
mail utility
-
+ [9]http://www.mutt.org/
+
ncftp
file-transfer utility
-
+ [10]http://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/
+
+ pinfo
+ Lynx-like info browser.
+ [12]http://dione.ids.pl/~pborys/software/pinfo/
+
tin
- newsreader, supporting color, MIME
- [6]ftp://ftp.akk.uni-karlsruhe.de/pub/news/clients/tin-unoff.
-
- taper
- tape archive utility
-
+ newsreader, supporting color, MIME [13]http://www.tin.org/
+
vh-1.6
Volks-Hypertext browser for the Jargon File
-
+ [14]http://www.debian.org/Packages/unstable/text/vh.html
+
as well as some that use ncurses for the terminfo support alone:
-
+
minicom
terminal emulator
-
+ [15]http://alioth.debian.org/projects/minicom/
+
vile
- vi-like-emacs [7]ftp://ftp.clark.net/pub/dickey/vile.
-
- The ncurses distribution includes a selection of test programs
+ vi-like-emacs
+ [16]http://invisible-island.net/vile/
+
+ The ncurses distribution includes a selection of test programs
(including a few games).
-
+
Who's Who and What's What
- The original developers of ncurses are [8]Zeyd Ben-Halim and [9]Eric
- S. Raymond. Ongoing work is being done by [10]Thomas Dickey and
- [11]Jürgen Pfeifer. [12]Thomas Dickey acts as the maintainer for the
- Free Software Foundation, which holds the copyright on ncurses.
- Contact the current maintainers at [13]bug-ncurses@gnu.org.
-
- To join the ncurses mailing list, please write email to
+ Zeyd Ben-Halim started it from a previous package pcurses, written by
+ Pavel Curtis. Eric S. Raymond continued development. Juergen 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.
+
+ To join the ncurses mailing list, please write email to
bug-ncurses-request@gnu.org containing the line:
subscribe <name>@<host.domain>
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 [14]ftp://ftp.clark.net/pub/dickey/ncurses.
-
+
+ Beta versions of ncurses and patches to the current release are made
+ available at [19]ftp://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ .
+
Future Plans
- * Extended-level XPG4 conformance, with internationalization
+ * Extended-level XPG4 conformance, with internationalization
support.
* Ports to more systems, including DOS and Windows.
-
- We need people to help with these projects. If you are interested in
+
+ We need people to help with these projects. If you are interested in
working 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.
- [15]http://earthspace.net/~esr/terminfo.
-
- You can find lots of information on terminal-related topics not
- covered in the terminfo file at [16]Richard Shuford's archive.
+ The distribution provides a newer version of the terminfo-format
+ terminal description file once maintained by [20]Eric Raymond . Unlike
+ the older version, the termcap and terminfo data are provided 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 [21]Richard Shuford's archive .
References
- 1. ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/ncurses
- 2. ftp://ftp.clark.net/pub/dickey/ncurses
- 3. http://www.vexus.ca/CDK.html
- 4. ftp://ftp.clark.net/pub/dickey/cdk
- 5. ftp://ftp.clark.net/pub/dickey/ded
- 6. ftp://ftp.akk.uni-karlsruhe.de/pub/news/clients/tin-unoff
- 7. ftp://ftp.clark.net/pub/dickey/vile
- 8. mailto:zmbenhal@netcom.com
- 9. http://www.ccil.org/~esr/home.html
- 10. mailto:dickey@clark.net
- 11. mailto:juergen.pfeifer@gmx.net
- 12. mailto:dickey@clark.net
- 13. mailto:bug-ncurses@gnu.org
- 14. ftp://ftp.clark.net/pub/dickey/ncurses
- 15. http://earthspace.net/~esr/terminfo
- 16. http://www.cs.utk.edu/~shuford/terminal_index.html
+ 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://alioth.debian.org/projects/minicom/
+ 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