X-Git-Url: https://ncurses.scripts.mit.edu/?a=blobdiff_plain;f=ANNOUNCE;h=7b5f4efa69ae44ea29f14dc42e07bdc41dd5ca87;hb=refs%2Ftags%2Fv5.2;hp=4707838fba99e43ceae6c99ee42e62d8a320b00e;hpb=0eb88fc5281804773e2a0c7a488a4452463535ce;p=ncurses.git diff --git a/ANNOUNCE b/ANNOUNCE index 4707838f..7b5f4efa 100644 --- a/ANNOUNCE +++ b/ANNOUNCE @@ -1,143 +1,253 @@ - Announcing ncurses 5.0 - + Announcing ncurses 5.2 + 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! - + 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 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. - + distribution site [1]ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/ncurses. + It is also available at [2]ftp://dickey.his.com/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 and + 5.1; very few applications will require recompilation, depending on + the platform. These are the highlights from the change-log since + ncurses 5.1 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. - + * change type of ospeed variable back to short to match its use in + legacy applications. It was altered after ncurses 4.2 to speed_t + to repair a type mismatch which was introduced after 1.9.4 in + 1995. The principal users of termcap continued to use short, which + is not the same size. + NOTE: A few applications will have to be recompiled (about 1% of + the programs in a typical Linux distribution, 10% of the programs + that use ncurses). These are easy to identify with nm or strings. + * remove a private function _nc_can_clear_with(), which was built + with the configure --enable-expanded option but not used. + * add several private functions (prefixed with "_nc_") for tracing + chtype values in the debug library, and for better access and + buffer limit checking. + + New features and improvements: + * rewrote tgoto() to make it better support existing termcap + applications which use hardcoded strings rather than obtain all of + their information from the termcap file. If the string does not + appear to be a terminfo string (i.e., does not refer to a "%p" + parameter, or terminfo-style padding), and termcap support is + configured, tgoto() will interpret it as termcap. Otherwise, as + before, it will use tparm(). + * to ensure that the tgoto() changes work properly, added checks to + tic which report capabilities that do not reference the expected + number of parameters. + * new configure script options: + + option --disable-root-environ adds runtime checks which tell + ncurses to disregard $TERMINFO and similar environment + variables if the current user is root, or running + setuid/setgid. + + option --disable-assumed-color allows you to use the pre-5.1 + convention of default colors used for color-pair 0 to be + configured (see assume_default_colors()). + + implement configure script options that transform installed + program names, e.g., --program-prefix, including the manpage + names and cross references. + + option --with-database allows you to specify a different + terminfo source-file to install. On OS/2 EMX, the default is + misc/emx.src, otherwise misc/terminfo.src + + option --with-default-terminfo-dir allows you to specify the + default terminfo database directory. + + option --with-libtool allows you to build with libtool. + NOTE: libtool uses a different notation for numbering shared + library versions from the existing ncurses configuration. + + option --with-manpage-tbl causes the manpages to be + preprocessed by tbl(1) prior to installation, + + option --without-curses-h causes the installation process to + install curses.h as ncurses.h and make appropriate changes to + headers and manpages. + * modified configure script options: + + change symbol used by the --install-prefix configure option + from INSTALL_PREFIX to DESTDIR (the latter has become common + usage although the name is misleading). + + modify ld -rpath options (e.g., Linux, and Solaris) to use an + absolute pathname for the build tree's lib directory, + avoiding confusion with directories relative to the current + one with the installed programs. + + modified misc/run_tic.in to use tic -o, to eliminate + dependency on $TERMINFO variable for installs. + * terminfo database: + + updated xterm terminfo entries to match XFree86 xterm patch + #146. + + added amiga-vnc, Matrix Orbital, and QNX qansi to + misc/terminfo.src. + + added os2 entry to misc/emx.src. + + add S0 and E0 extensions to screen's terminfo entry since + otherwise the FreeBSD port makes it pass termcap equivalents + to tgoto, which would be misinterpreted by older versions of + ncurses. + * improvements to program usability: + + modify programs to use curses_version() string to report the + version of ncurses with which they are compiled rather than + the NCURSES_VERSION string. The function returns the patch + level in addition to the major and minor version numbers. + + modify tput program so it can be renamed or invoked via a + link as 'reset' or 'init', producing the same effect as + tput reset or tput init. + + add error checking to infocmp's -v and -m options to ensure + that the option value is indeed a number. + * improved performance: + + replace a lookup table in lib_vidattr.c used to decode + no_color_video with a logic expression which is faster. + 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 manlinks.sed script introduced in ncurses 5.1 to avoid + using ERE "\+", which is not understood by standard versions of + sed. This happens to work with GNU sed, but is not portable, and + was the initial motivation for this release. + * remove "hpux10.*" case from CF_SHARED_OPTS configure script macro. + This differed from the "hpux*" case by using reversed symbolic + links, which made the 5.1 version not match the configuration of + 5.0 shared libraries. + * guard against corrupt terminfo data: + + modify tparm() to disallow arithmetic on strings, analyze the + varargs list to read strings as strings and numbers as + numbers. + + modify tparm()'s internal function spop() to treat a null + pointer as an empty string. + + modify parse_format() in lib_tparm.c to ignore precision if + it is longer than 10000. + + rewrote limit checks in lib_mvcur.c using new functions + _nc_safe_strcat(), etc. Made other related changes to check + lengths used for strcat() and strcpy(). + * corrections to screen optimization: + + added special case in lib_vidattr.c to reset underline and + standout for devices that have no sgr0 defined. + + change handling of non_dest_scroll_region in tty_update.c to + clear text after it is shifted in rather than before shifting + out. Also correct row computation. + + modify rs2 capability in xterm-r6 and similar entries where + cursor save/restore bracketed the sequence for resetting + video attributes. The cursor restore would undo that. + * UTF-8 support: + + when checking LC_ALL, LC_CTYPE, and LANG environment + variables for UTF-8 locale, ignore those which are set to an + empty value, as per SUSV2. + + encode 0xFFFD in UTF-8 with 3 bytes, not 2. + + modify _nc_utf8_outch() to avoid sign-extension when checking + for out-of-range value. + * other library fixes: + + added checks for an empty $HOME environment variable, to + avoid retrieving terminfo descriptions from ./.terminfo . + + change functions _nc_parse_entry() and postprocess_termcap() + to avoid using strtok(), because it is non-reentrant. + + initialize fds[] array to 0's in _nc_timed_wait(); apparently + poll() only sets the revents members of that array when there + is activity corresponding to the related file. + + add a check for null pointer in Make_Enum_Type(). + + fix a heap problem with the c++ binding. + + correct missing includes for in several places, + including the C++ binding. This is not noted by gcc unless we + use the -fno-builtin option. + * several fixes for tic: + + add a check for empty buffers returned by fgets() in + comp_scan.c next_char() function, in case tic is run on a + non-text file (fixes a core dump). + + modify tic to verify that its inputs are really files, in + case someone tries to read a directory (or /dev/zero). + + correct an uninitialized parameter to open_tempfile() in + tic.c which made "tic -I" give an ambiguous error message + about tmpnam. + + correct logic in adjust_cancels(), which did not check both + alternatives when reclassifying an extended name between + boolean, number and string, causing an infinite loop in tic. + * using new checks in tic for parameter counts in capability + strings, found/fixed several errors both in the terminfo database + and in the include/Caps file. + + modified several terminfo capability strings, including the + definitions for setaf, setab, in include/Caps to indicate + that the entries are parameterized. This information is used + to tell which strings are translated when converting to + termcap. This fixes a problem where the generated termcap + would contain a spurious "%p1" for the terminfo "%p1%d". + + correct parameter counts in include/Caps for dclk as well as + some printer-specific capabilities: csnm, defc, scs, scsd, + smgtp, smglp. + * various fixes for install scripts used to support configure + --srcdir and --with-install-prefix. + * correct several mismatches between manpage filename and ".TH" + directives, renaming dft_fgbg.3x to default_colors.3x and + menu_attribs.3x to menu_attributes.3x. + + Portability: + * configure script: + + newer config.guess, config.sub, including changes to support + OS/2 EMX. The configure script for OS/2 EMX still relies on a + patch since there is no (working) support for that platform + in the main autoconf distribution. + + make configure script checks on variables $GCC and $GXX + consistently compare against 'yes' rather than test if they + are nonnull, since either may be set to the corresponding + name of the C or C++ compiler. + + change configure script to use AC_CANONICAL_SYSTEM rather + than AC_CANONICAL_HOST, which means that configure --target + will set a default program-prefix. + + modify the check for big-core to force a couple of memory + accesses, which may work as needed for older/less-capable + machines (if not, there's still the explicit configure + option). + + modify configure test for tcgetattr() to allow for old + implementations, e.g., on BeOS, which only defined it as a + macro. + + add configure check for filesystems (such as OS/2 EMX) which + do not distinguish between upper/lowercase filenames, use + this to fix tags rules in makefiles. + + add MKncurses_def.sh to generate fallback definitions for + ncurses_cfg.h, to quiet gcc -Wundef warnings, modified + ifdef's in code to consistently use "#if" rather than + "#ifdef". + + change most remaining unquoted parameters of test in + configure script to use quotes, for instance fixing a problem + in the --disable-database option. + + modify scripts so that "make install.data" works on OS/2 EMX. + + modify scripts and makefiles so the Ada95 directory builds on + OS/2 EMX. + * library: + + replaced case-statement in _nc_tracebits() for CSIZE with a + table to simplify working around implementations that define + random combinations of the related macros to zero. + + improved OS/2 mouse support by retrying as a 2-button mouse + if code fails to set up a 3-button mouse. + + added private entrypoint _nc_basename(), used to consolidate + related code in progs, as well as accommodating OS/2 EMX + pathnames. + + alter definition of NCURSES_CONST to make it non-empty. + + redefine 'TEXT' in menu.h for AMIGA, since it is reported to + have an (unspecified) symbol conflict. + * programs: + + modified progs/tset.c and tack/sysdep.c to build with sgttyb + interface if neither termio or termios is available. Tested + this with FreeBSD 2.1.5 (which does have termios - but the + sgttyb does work). + 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 @@ -157,7 +267,7 @@ * The utilities have options to allow you to filter terminfo entries 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 @@ -239,117 +349,138 @@ * 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 and arena corruption by the Purify memory-allocation tester. - + 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://www.vexus.ca/CDK.html + [4]http://dickey.his.com/cdk. + ded - directory-editor [5]ftp://ftp.clark.net/pub/dickey/ded. - + directory-editor + [5]http://dickey.his.com/ded. + dialog the underlying application used in Slackware's setup, and the basis for similar applications on GNU/Linux. - + [6]http://dickey.his.com/dialog. + lynx the character-screen WWW browser - + [7]http://lynx.isc.org/release. + Midnight Commander 4.1 file manager - + [8]www.gnome.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/. + tin newsreader, supporting color, MIME - [6]ftp://ftp.akk.uni-karlsruhe.de/pub/news/clients/tin-unoff. - + [12]http://www.tin.org. + taper tape archive utility - + [13]http://members.iinet.net.au/~yusuf/taper/. + vh-1.6 Volks-Hypertext browser for the Jargon File - + [14]http://www.bg.debian.org/Packages/unstable/text/vh.html. + as well as some that use ncurses for the terminfo support alone: - + minicom terminal emulator - + [15]http://www.pp.clinet.fi/~walker/minicom.html. + vile - vi-like-emacs [7]ftp://ftp.clark.net/pub/dickey/vile. - + vi-like-emacs + [16]http://dickey.his.com/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 + The original developers of ncurses are [17]Zeyd Ben-Halim and [18]Eric + S. Raymond. Ongoing work is being done by [19]Thomas Dickey and + [20]Jürgen Pfeifer. [21]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. - + Contact the current maintainers at [22]bug-ncurses@gnu.org. + To join the ncurses mailing list, please write email to bug-ncurses-request@gnu.org containing the line: subscribe @ 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. - + available at [23]ftp://dickey.his.com/ncurses. + Future Plans * 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 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. - + [24]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. + covered in the terminfo file at [25]Richard Shuford's archive. References 1. ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/ncurses - 2. ftp://ftp.clark.net/pub/dickey/ncurses + 2. ftp://dickey.his.com/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 + 4. http://dickey.his.com/cdk/cdk.html + 5. http://dickey.his.com/ded/ded.html + 6. http://dickey.his.com/dialog/dialog.html + 7. http://lynx.isc.org/release/ + 8. file://localhost/usr/build/ncurses/ncurses-5.2-20001021/doc/html/www.gnome.org/mc/ + 9. http://www.mutt.org/ + 10. http://www.ncftp.com/ + 11. http://www.bostic.com/vi/ + 12. http://www.tin.org/ + 13. http://members.iinet.net.au/~yusuf/taper/ + 14. http://www.bg.debian.org/Packages/unstable/text/vh.html + 15. http://www.pp.clinet.fi/~walker/minicom.html + 16. http://dickey.his.com/vile/vile.html + 17. mailto:zmbenhal@netcom.com + 18. http://www.ccil.org/~esr/home.html + 19. mailto:dickey@herndon4.his.com + 20. mailto:juergen.pfeifer@gmx.net + 21. mailto:dickey@herndon4.his.com + 22. mailto:bug-ncurses@gnu.org + 23. ftp://dickey.his.com/ncurses + 24. http://earthspace.net/~esr/terminfo + 25. http://www.cs.utk.edu/~shuford/terminal_index.html