-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--- Copyright (c) 1998-2006,2008 Free Software Foundation, Inc. --
+-- Copyright (c) 1998-2010,2011 Free Software Foundation, Inc. --
-- --
-- Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a --
-- copy of this software and associated documentation files (the --
-- sale, use or other dealings in this Software without prior written --
-- authorization. --
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--- $Id: INSTALL,v 1.127 2008/07/05 20:17:23 tom Exp $
+-- $Id: INSTALL,v 1.157 2011/07/24 13:43:43 tom Exp $
---------------------------------------------------------------------
How to install Ncurses/Terminfo on your system
---------------------------------------------------------------------
including `c++', `form', `man', `menu', 'misc', `ncurses', `panel', `progs',
and `test'. See the README file for a roadmap to the package.
-If you are a Linux or FreeBSD or NetBSD distribution integrator or packager,
-please read and act on the section titled IF YOU ARE A SYSTEM INTEGRATOR
-below.
+If you are a distribution integrator or packager, please read and act on the
+section titled IF YOU ARE A SYSTEM INTEGRATOR below.
If you are converting from BSD curses and do not have root access, be sure
to read the BSD CONVERSION NOTES section below.
If you want to build the Ada95 binding, go to the Ada95 directory and
follow the instructions there. The Ada95 binding is not covered below.
-If you are using anything but (a) Linux, or (b) one of the 4.4BSD-based
-i386 Unixes, go read the Portability section in the TO-DO file before you
-do anything else.
-
REQUIREMENTS:
------------
The --prefix option to configure changes the root directory for installing
ncurses. The default is normally in subdirectories of /usr/local, except
- for systems where ncurses is normally installed as a system library, e.g.,
- Linux, the various BSD systems and Cygwin. Use --prefix=/usr to replace
- your default curses distribution.
+ for systems where ncurses is normally installed as a system library (see
+ "IF YOU ARE A SYSTEM INTEGRATOR"). Use --prefix=/usr to replace your
+ default curses distribution.
The package gets installed beneath the --prefix directory as follows:
In $(prefix)/bin: tic, infocmp, captoinfo, tset,
- reset, clear, tput, toe
+ reset, clear, tput, toe, tabs
In $(prefix)/lib: libncurses*.* libcurses.a
In $(prefix)/share/terminfo: compiled terminal descriptions
In $(prefix)/include: C header files
Do not use commands such as
- make install prefix=XXX
+ make install prefix=XXX
to change the prefix after configuration, since the prefix value is used
for some absolute pathnames such as TERMINFO. Instead do this
- make install DESTDIR=XXX
+ make install DESTDIR=XXX
See also the discussion of --with-install-prefix.
library interfaces are not binary-compatible with the non-wide-character
version. Building and running the wide-character code relies on a fairly
recent implementation of libiconv. We have built this configuration on
- Linux using libiconv, sometimes requiring libutf8.
+ various systems using libiconv, sometimes requiring libutf8.
If you configure using the --with-pthread option, a "t" is appended to
the library names (e.g., libncursest.a, libncursestw.a).
./configure --with-shared --without-normal --without-debug
Rules for generating shared libraries are highly dependent upon the choice
- of host system and compiler. We've been testing shared libraries on Linux
- and SunOS with gcc, but more work needs to be done to make shared libraries
+ of host system and compiler. We've been testing shared libraries on
+ several systems, but more work needs to be done to make shared libraries
work on other systems.
If you have libtool installed, you can type
--disable-largefile
Disable compiler flags needed to use large-file interfaces.
+ --disable-libtool-version
+ when using --with-libtool, control how the major/minor version numbers
+ are used for constructing the library name.
+
+ The default uses the -version-number feature of libtool, which makes
+ the library names compatible (though not identical) with the standard
+ build using --with-shared.
+
+ Use --disable-libtool-version to use the libtool -version-info feature.
+ This corresponds to the setting used before patch 20100515.
+
--disable-leaks
For testing, compile-in code that frees memory that normally would not
be freed, to simplify analysis of memory-leaks.
application. These are (for example $TERMINFO) those that allow the
search path for the terminfo or termcap entry to be customized.
+ --disable-rpath-hack
+ Normally the configure script helps link libraries found in unusual
+ places by adding an rpath option to the link command. If you are
+ building packages, this feature may be redundant. Use this option
+ to suppress the feature.
+
--disable-scroll-hints
Compile without scroll-hints code. This option is ignored when
hashmap scrolling is configured, which is the default.
+ --disable-tic-depends
+ When building shared libraries, normally the tic library is linked to
+ depend upon the ncurses library (and in turn, on the term-library if
+ the --with-termlib option was given). The tic- and term-libraries
+ ABI does not depend on the --enable-widec option. Some packagers have
+ used this to reduce the number of library files which are packaged
+ by using only one copy of those libraries. To make this work properly,
+ the tic library must be built without an explicit dependency on the
+ ncurses (or ncursesw) library. Use this configure option to do that.
+ For example
+ configure --with-ticlib --with-shared --disable-tic-depends
+
--disable-tparm-varargs
Portable programs should call tparm() using the fixed-length parameter
list documented in X/Open. ncurses provides varargs support for this
changes several data references to functions to work around this
problem.
- NOTE: With ncurses 5.1, this may not be necessary, since we are
+ NOTE: With ncurses 5.1, this may not be necessary, since we are
told that some linkers interpret uninitialized global data as a
different type of reference which behaves as described above. We have
explicitly initialized all of the global data to work around the
warning. There will still be warnings due to subtle inconsistencies
in the interface, but at a lower level.
- NOTE: configuring ncurses with this option may detract from the
+ NOTE: configuring ncurses with this option may detract from the
portability of your applications by encouraging you to use const in
places where the XSI curses interface would not allow them. Similar
issues arise when porting to SVr4 curses, which uses const in even
encoded. This applies only to the wide-character (--enable-widec)
configuration.
- NOTE: using this option will make libraries which are not binary-
+ NOTE: using this option will make libraries which are not binary-
compatible with libncursesw 5.4. None of the interfaces change, but
applications which have an array of cchar_t's must be recompiled.
That allows one to use ncurses with a wheel mouse with xterm or
similar X terminal emulators.
- NOTE: using this option will make libraries which are not binary-
+ NOTE: using this option will make libraries which are not binary-
compatible with libncursesw 5.4. None of the interfaces change, but
applications which have mouse mask mmask_t's must be recompiled.
--enable-getcap-cache
Cache translated termcaps under the directory $HOME/.terminfo
- NOTE: this sounds good - it makes ncurses run faster the second time.
+ NOTE: this sounds good - it makes ncurses run faster the second time.
But look where the data comes from - an /etc/termcap containing lots of
entries that are not up to date. If you configure with this option and
forget to install the terminfo database before running an ncurses
may not be accurate, or that your stty settings have disabled the use
of tabs.
+ --enable-interop
+ Compile-in experimental interop bindings. These provide generic types
+ for the form-library.
+
--enable-mixed-case
Controls whether the filesystem on which the terminfo database resides
supports mixed-case filenames (normal for UNIX, but not on other
terminfo entries. This is the default, unless you have disabled the
extended functions.
+ --enable-pc-files
+ If pkg-config is found (see --with-pkg-config), generate ".pc" files
+ for each of the libraries, and install them in pkg-config's library
+ directory.
+
+ --enable-pthreads-eintr
+ add logic in threaded configuration to ensure that a read(2) system
+ call can be interrupted for SIGWINCH.
+
--enable-reentrant
Compile experimental configuration which improves reentrant use of the
library by reducing global and static variables. This option is also
is not strictly compatible. This option allows one to implement this
alteration without patching the source code.
+ --enable-sp-funcs
+ Compile-in support for extended functions which accept a SCREEN pointer,
+ reducing the need for juggling the global SP value with set_term() and
+ delscreen().
+
--enable-symlinks
If your system supports symbolic links, make tic use symbolic links
rather than hard links to save diskspace when writing aliases in the
capabilities as user-defined strings. This option is the default,
unless you have disabled the extended functions.
+ --enable-term-driver
+ Enable experimental terminal-driver. This is currently used for the
+ MinGW port, by providing a way to substitute the low-level terminfo
+ library with different terminal drivers.
+
--enable-termcap
Compile in support for reading terminal descriptions from termcap if no
match is found in the terminfo database. See also the --enable-getcap
and --enable-getcap-cache options.
+ Termcap support requires run-time parsing rather than loading
+ predigested data. If you have specified --with-ticlib, then you
+ cannot have termcap support since run-time parsing is done in the
+ tic library, which is intentionally not part of normal linkage
+ dependencies.
+
--enable-warnings
Turn on GCC compiler warnings. There should be only a few.
+ --enable-weak-symbols
+ If the --with-pthread option is set, check if the compiler supports
+ weak-symbols. If it does, then name the thread-capable library without
+ the "t" (libncurses rather than libncursest), and provide for
+ dynamically loading the pthreads entrypoints at runtime. This allows
+ one to reduce the number of library files for ncurses.
+
--enable-wgetch-events
Compile with experimental wgetch-events code. See ncurses/README.IZ
Normally this is the same as the release version; some ports have
special requirements for compatibility.
+ This option does not affect linking with libtool, which uses the
+ release major/minor numbers.
+
--with-ada-compiler=CMD
Specify the Ada95 compiler command (default "gnatmake")
--with-ada-objects=DIR
Tell where to install the Ada objects (default: PREFIX/lib/ada/adalib)
+ --with-ada-sharedlib
+ Build a shared library for Ada95 binding, if the compiler permits.
+
+ NOTE: You must also set the --with-shared option on some platforms
+ for a successful build. You need not use this option when you set
+ --with-shared, unless you want to use the Ada shared library.
+
--with-bool=TYPE
If --without-cxx is specified, override the type used for the "bool"
declared in curses.h (normally the type is automatically chosen to
correspond with that in <stdbool.h>, or defaults to platform-specific
sizes).
+ --with-build-cpp=XXX
+ This option is provided by the same macro used for $BUILD_CC, etc.,
+ but is not directly used by ncurses.
+
--with-build-cc=XXX
If cross-compiling, specify a host C compiler, which is needed to
compile a few utilities which generate source modules for ncurses.
to use a terminfo database which is compatible with the native
applications.
+ --with-ccharw-max=XXX
+ Override the size of the wide-character array in cchar_t structures.
+ Changing this will alter the binary interface. This defaults to 5.
+
--with-chtype=TYPE
Override type of chtype, which stores the video attributes and (if
--enable-widec is not given) a character. Prior to ncurses 5.5, this
was always unsigned long, but with ncurses 5.5, it may be unsigned.
Use this option if you need to preserve compatibility with 64-bit
- executables.
+ executables, e.g., by setting "--with-chtype=long" (the configure
+ script supplies "unsigned").
--with-database=XXX
Specify the terminfo source file to install. Usually you will wish
use Alessandro Rubini's GPM library to provide mouse support on the
Linux console. Prior to ncurses 5.5, this introduced a dependency on
the GPM library.
-
+
Currently ncurses uses the dlsym() function to bind to the library at
runtime, so it is only necessary that the library be present when
ncurses is built, to obtain the filename (or soname) used in the
Use a hashed database for storing terminfo data rather than storing
each compiled entry in a separate binary file within a directory
tree.
-
+
In particular, this uses the Berkeley database 1.8.5 interface, as
provided by that and its successors db 2, 3, and 4. The actual
interface is slightly different in the successor versions of the
make install DESTDIR=XXX
since the makefiles pass that variable to subordinate makes.
- NOTE: a few systems build shared libraries with fixed pathnames; this
+ NOTE: a few systems build shared libraries with fixed pathnames; this
option probably will not work for those configurations.
--with-libtool[=XXX]
--with-manpage-renames=XXX
Tell the configure script that you wish to rename the manpages while
- installing. Currently the only distribution which does this is
- the Linux Debian. The option value specifies the name of a file
- that lists the renamed files, e.g., $srcdir/man/man_db.renames
+ installing. Currently the only distribution which does this is Debian.
+ The option value specifies the name of a file that lists the renamed
+ files, e.g., $srcdir/man/man_db.renames
--with-manpage-symlinks
Tell the configure script that you wish to make symbolic links in the
those using termcap, do not use the higher speeds. Your application
(or system, in general) may or may not.
+ --with-pkg-config=[DIR]
+ Check for pkg-config, optionally specifying its path.
+
--with-profile
Generate profile-libraries These are named by adding "_p" to the root,
e.g., libncurses_p.a
which you are building, typically using a ".so" suffix, along with
symbolic links that refer to the release version.
- NOTE: Unless you override the configure script by setting the $CFLAGS
+ NOTE: Unless you override the configure script by setting the $CFLAGS
environment variable, these will not be built with the -g debugging
option.
loads the system's copy of the ncurses shared libraries. In that
case, using the misc/shlib script may be helpful, since it sets
$LD_LIBRARY_PATH to point to the build tree, e.g.,
- ./misc/shlib make install
+ ./misc/shlib make install
+
+ NOTE: If you use the --with-ada-sharedlib option, you should also
+ set this option, to ensure that C-language modules needed for the
+ Ada binding use appropriate compiler options.
--with-shlib-version=XXX
Specify whether to use the release or ABI version for shared libraries.
library. As in termlib, there is no ABI difference between the
"wide" libticw.so and libtic.so
+ NOTE: Overriding the name of the tic library may be useful if you are
+ also using the --with-termlib option to rename libtinfo. If you are
+ not doing that, renaming the tic library can result in conflicting
+ library dependencies for tic and other programs built with the tic
+ library.
+
--with-trace
Configure the trace() function as part of the all models of the ncurses
library. Normally it is part of the debug (libncurses_g) library only.
For testing, compile with debug option.
This also sets the --disable-leaks option.
+ --with-wrap-prefix=XXX
+ When using the --enable-reentrant option, ncurses redefines variables
+ that would be global in curses, e.g., LINES, as a macro that calls a
+ "wrapping" function which fetches the data from the current SCREEN
+ structure. Normally that function is named by prepending "_nc_" to the
+ variable's name. The function is technically private (since portable
+ applications would not refer directly to it). But according to one
+ line of reasoning, it is not the same type of "private" as functions
+ which applications should not call even via a macro. This configure
+ option lets you choose the prefix for these wrapped variables.
+
--without-ada
Suppress the configure script's check for Ada95, do not build the
Ada95 binding and related demo.
--without-dlsym
Do not use dlsym() to load GPM dynamically.
+ --without-manpages
+ Tell the configure script to suppress the install of ncurses' manpages.
+
--without-progs
Tell the configure script to suppress the build of ncurses' application
programs (e.g., tic). The test applications will still be built if you
type "make", though not if you simply do "make install".
+ --without-tests
+ Tell the configure script to suppress the build of ncurses' test
+ programs.
+
--without-xterm-new
Tell the configure script to use "xterm-old" for the entry used in
the terminfo database. This will work with variations such as
you may encounter when building a system with different versions of
ncurses:
+ 5.8 (Feb 26, 2011)
+ Interface changes:
+
+ + add an alternate library configuration, i.e., "terminal driver" to
+ support port to Windows, built with MinGW. There are two drivers
+ (terminfo and Windows console). The terminfo driver works on other
+ platforms.
+
+ + add a new set of functions which accept a SCREEN* parameter, in
+ contrast with the original set which use the global value "sp".
+ By default, these names end with "_sp", and are otherwise
+ functionally identical with the originals.
+
+ In addition to the "_sp" functions, there are a few new functions
+ associated with this feature: ceiling_panel, ground_panel,
+ new_prescr.
+
+ If the library is not built with the sp-funcs extension, there
+ are no related interface changes.
+
+ + add tiparm function based on review of X/Open Curses Issue 7.
+
+ + change internal _nc_has_mouse function to public has_mouse function
+
+ Added extensions:
+
+ + add a few more functions to support the NCURSES_OPAQUE feature:
+ get_escdelay, is_pad, is_subwin
+
+ Added internal functions (other than "_sp" variants):
+ _nc_curscr_of
+ _nc_format_slks
+ _nc_get_alias_table
+ _nc_get_hash_info
+ _nc_insert_wch
+ _nc_newscr_of
+ _nc_outc_wrapper
+ _nc_retrace_char
+ _nc_retrace_int_attr_t
+ _nc_retrace_mmask_t
+ _nc_setup_tinfo
+ _nc_stdscr_of
+ _nc_tinfo_cmdch
+
+ Removed internal functions:
+ _nc_makenew (some configurations replace by _nc_makenew_sp)
+
+ Modified internal functions:
+ _nc_UpdateAttrs
+ _nc_get_hash_table
+ _nc_has_mouse
+ _nc_insert_ch
+ _nc_wgetch
+
+ 5.7 (November 2, 2008)
+ Interface changes:
+
+ + generate linkable stubs for some macros:
+ getattrs
+
+ + Add new library configuration for tic-library (the non-curses portion
+ of the ncurses library used for the tic program as well as some
+ others such as tack. There is no API change, but makefiles would be
+ changed to use the tic-library built separately.
+
+ tack, distributed separately from ncurses, uses some of the internal
+ _nc_XXX functions, which are declared in the tic.h header file.
+
+ The reason for providing this separate library is that none of the
+ functions in it are suitable for threaded applications.
+
+ + Add new library configuration (ncursest, ncurseswt) which provides
+ rudimentary support for POSIX threads. This introduces opaque
+ access functions to the WINDOW structure and adds a parameter to
+ several internal functions.
+
+ + move most internal variables (except tic-library) into data blocks
+ _nc_globals and _nc_prescreen to simplify analysis. Those were
+ globally accessible, but since they were not part of the documented
+ API, there is no ABI change.
+
+ + changed static tables of strings to be indices into long strings, to
+ improve startup performance. This changes parameter lists for some
+ of the internal functions.
+
+ Added extensions:
+
+ + add NCURSES_OPAQUE definition in curses.h to control whether internal
+ details of the WINDOW structure are visible to an application. This
+ is always defined when the threaded library is built, and is optional
+ otherwise. New functions for this: is_cleared, is_idcok, is_idlok,
+ is_immedok, is_keypad, is_leaveok, is_nodelay, is_notimeout,
+ is_scrollok, is_syncok, wgetparent and wgetscrreg.
+
+ + the threaded library (ncursest) also disallows direct updating of
+ global curses-level variables, providing functions (via macros) for
+ obtaining their value. A few of those variables can be modified by
+ the application, using new functions: set_escdelay, set_tabsize
+
+ + added functions use_window() and use_screen() which wrap a mutex
+ (if threading is configured) around a call to a user-supplied
+ function.
+
+ Added internal functions:
+ _nc_get_alias_table
+ _nc_get_screensize
+ _nc_keyname
+ _nc_screen_of
+ _nc_set_no_padding
+ _nc_tracechar
+ _nc_tracemouse
+ _nc_unctrl
+ _nc_ungetch
+
+ These are used for leak-testing, and are stubs for
+ ABI compatibility when ncurses is not configured for that
+ using the --disable-leaks configure script option:
+
+ _nc_free_and_exit
+ _nc_leaks_tinfo
+
+ Removed internal functions:
+ none
+
+ Modified internal functions:
+ _nc_fifo_dump
+ _nc_find_entry
+ _nc_handle_sigwinch
+ _nc_init_keytry
+ _nc_keypad
+ _nc_locale_breaks_acs
+ _nc_timed_wait
+ _nc_update_screensize
+
+ Use new typedef TRIES to replace "struct tries":
+
+ _nc_add_to_try
+ _nc_expand_try
+ _nc_remove_key
+ _nc_remove_string
+ _nc_trace_tries
+
5.6 (December 17, 2006)
Interface changes:
still used in this release to allow compiling with not-so-old
compilers.
- + form and menu libraries now work with wide-character data.
+ + form and menu libraries now work with wide-character data.
Applications which bypassed the form library and manipulated the
FIELD.buf data directly will not work properly with libformw, since
that no longer points to an array of char. The set_field_buffer()
4.0 (December 24, 1996)
- We bumped to version 4.0 because the newly released dynamic loader
- (ld.so.1.8.5) on Linux did not load shared libraries whose ABI and REL
+ We bumped to version 4.0 because the newly released Linux dynamic
+ loader (ld.so.1.8.5) did not load shared libraries whose ABI and REL
versions were inconsistent. At that point, ncurses ABI was 3.4 and the
REL was 1.9.9g, so we made them consistent.
Configuration and Installation:
- On platforms where ncurses is assumed to be installed in /usr/lib,
+ On platforms where ncurses is assumed to be installed in /usr/lib,
the configure script uses "/usr" as a default:
- Linux, FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, Cygwin
+ GNU/Linux, FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, Cygwin
For other platforms, the default is "/usr/local". See the discussion
of the "--disable-overwrite" option.
bsdos -- BSD/OS
If you are responsible for integrating ncurses for one of these
- distribution, please either use the recommended name or get back
+ distributions, please either use the recommended name or get back
to us explaining why you don't want to, so we can work out nomenclature
that will make users' lives easier rather than harder.
tree is accessible (that is, in single-user mode or at OS installation
time) the ncurses library can be compiled to include an array of
pre-fetched fallback entries. This must be done on a machine which
- has ncurses' infocmp and terminfo database installed.
+ has ncurses' infocmp and terminfo database installed (as well as
+ ncurses' tic and infocmp programs).
These entries are checked by setupterm() only when the conventional
fetches from the terminfo tree and the termcap fallback (if configured)
By default, there are no entries on the fallback list. After you have
built the ncurses suite for the first time, you can change the list
(the process needs infocmp(1)). To do so, use the script
- ncurses/tinfo/MKfallback.sh. A configure script option
+ ncurses/tinfo/MKfallback.sh. The configure script option
--with-fallbacks does this (it accepts a comma-separated list of the
names you wish, and does not require a rebuild).
If you wanted (say) to have linux, vt100, and xterm fallbacks, you
- would use the commands
+ might use the commands
cd ncurses;
- tinfo/MKfallback.sh linux vt100 xterm >fallback.c
+ tinfo/MKfallback.sh \
+ $TERMINFO \
+ ../misc/terminfo.src \
+ `which tic` \
+ linux vt100 xterm >fallback.c
+
+ The first three parameters of the script are normally supplied by
+ the configured makefiles via the "--with-fallbacks" option. They
+ are
+
+ 1) the location of the terminfo database
+ 2) the source for the terminfo entries
+ 3) the location of the tic program, used to create a terminfo
+ database.
Then just rebuild and reinstall the library as you would normally.
You can restore the default empty fallback list with
- tinfo/MKfallback.sh >fallback.c
+ tinfo/MKfallback.sh \
+ $TERMINFO \
+ ../misc/terminfo.src \
+ `which tic` \
+ >fallback.c
The overhead for an empty fallback list is one trivial stub function.
Any non-empty fallback list is const-ed and therefore lives in sharable
with this by making tic use symbolic links.
USING NCURSES WITH GPM:
- Ncurses 4.1 and up can be configured to use GPM (General Purpose
- Mouse) which is used on Linux console. Be aware that GPM is commonly
+ Ncurses 4.1 and up can be configured to use GPM (General Purpose Mouse)
+ which is used with Linux console. Be aware that GPM is commonly
installed as a shared library which contains a wrapper for the curses
wgetch() function (libcurses.o). Some integrators have simplified
linking applications by combining all or part of libcurses.so into the
option), ncurses uses the development platform's tic to do the
"make install.data" portion.
+ The system's tic program is used to install the terminal database,
+ even for cross-compiles. For best results, the tic program should
+ be from the most current version of ncurses.
+
BUGS:
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