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27 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
28 -- $Id: TO-DO,v 1.48 2006/10/28 19:49:16 tom Exp $
29 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
31 SHORT-TERM TO-DO ITEMS:
35 + libtool does not work with GNAT.
37 + The screen optimization has been tested only in an ad hoc manner. We should
38 develop a good set of regression tests to cover lib_doupdate.c and
41 + Magic cookie support (for nonzero xmc values) does not work, since the logic
42 does not take into account refresh. Also, the initial optimize does not
43 adjust the current location when a cookie is emitted.
45 + Scrolling optimization has holes: for example, it forces repaints of the
46 screen between calls to refresh().
48 + SVr4 uses slightly different rules for determining when softkeys are shown.
49 For example, they are initially displayed (before the ncurses 'e' test
50 activates them), and a touchwin can apparently also force them to be
53 + The code departs from perfect 8-bit cleanness in one respect; you cannot
54 specify a character \200 as part of a capability string, because the
55 terminfo library interprets \200 as a request to embed NUL (\000) at that
56 point. This is a legacy terminfo property we can't mess with.
58 + The window classes defined in the c++ subdirectory need documentation. Some
59 C++ programmer could earn a lot of good karma by doing this...
61 + The resizeterm() function does not handle ripped-off lines such as that done
62 for the slk_XXX functions.
64 + vid_attr() should support the set_a_attributes (sgr1) string, but does not.
65 There appear to be no terminals that require that functionality.
67 Portability (or lack thereof):
69 + Users of older System V UNIXes (but not Solaris, and probably not SVr4) may
70 trip over a known problem with the signal-handling code which causes abrupt
71 termination of ncurses applications following resume from a ^Z suspend (this
72 problem was first seen running lynx). You will not see this problem if you
73 are running Linux or one of the 4.4BSD derivatives like FreeBSD, NetBSD, or
74 BSDI. For details, see the analysis in the header comment of
75 ncurses/tty/lib_tstp.c .
77 + In theory, vwprintw and vwscanf are supposed to use the older varargs.h
78 interface for handling variadic argument lists. Linux doesn't have
79 varargs.h, it has the newer X/Open-standard stdargs.h equivalent. So these
80 functions use stdargs instead. This is unlikely to be a problem unless
81 you're building ncurses on a System V old enough to only have varargs.h.
82 (Solaris 2.5.1 uses the stdarg.h binding as well).
84 + If you're using a BSD earlier than 4.4BSD, or a Linux old enough not to have
85 a native vsscanf(3) in its library, vwscanw() will not work. You lose. (It
86 should work on any System V, however). If you want to fix this, add an
87 implementation to ncurses/vsscanf.c.
89 + The C++ binding fails to build with a few C++ compilers, mainly with
90 configure script problems with vsscanf().
92 + terminfo.5 does not format with the SunOS (and most other platform's) tbl
93 utility because it relies on a diversion for each table entry. Get the
98 + The code for the HP color model using set_color_pair is untested.
100 + The code for handling soft labels on a terminal type with built-in support
101 for them (num_labels > 0, label_height, label_width, label_format, label_off,
102 label_on, plab_norm, lab_f*) has not been tested. The label_format and
103 lab_f* capabilities aren't presently used.
105 LONGER-TERM TO-DO ITEMS:
107 1. Extended COSE conformance
109 There is an XPG4 standard recently released which describes a superset
110 of the SVr4 API. The library is BASE conformant with this standard.
111 We would like to make ncurses fully conformant at the EXTENDED level
112 supporting internationalization.
116 Only a few of the files in the library depend on the terminfo format.
117 It should be possible to further kernelize the package, then rewrite
118 a small number of core files to produce a functionally-compatible
119 port that would do updates to a memory-mapped screen area. The first
120 result of this would be a DOS port.
124 It would be nice if ncurses could recognize when it was running under X and
125 maintain its own window. With this feature, all ncurses programs would
126 automatically become X programs. The challenge is to handle resize events
129 4. Unused capabilities
131 The currently unused capabilities fall naturally into several groups:
133 A. Status-line capabilities:
135 Booleans: has_status_line, status_line_esc_ok.
136 Numerics: width_status_line.
137 Strings: dis_status_line, from_status_line, to_status_line.
139 System V Release 1 curses made no use of these at all. SVr4's use, if
140 any, is unknown. From the AT&T termcap file it looks like curses, in general,
141 shouldn't use them; terminal variants with status lines have their line count
142 decremented by 1, suggesting that curses is supposed to leave the status line
145 B. Printer capabilities:
147 Boolean: col_addr_glitch, cr_cancels_micro_mode, has_print_wheel,
148 row_addr_glitch, semi_auto_right_margin, cpi_changes_res,
150 Numeric: buffer_capacity, dot_horz_spacing, dot_vert_spacing,
151 max_micro_address, max_micro_jump, micro_col_size,
152 micro_line_size, number_of_pins, output_res_char,
153 output_res_line, output_res_horz_inch, print_rate,
154 wide_char_size, bit_image_entwining, bit_image_type.
155 String: down_half_line, form_feed, up_half_line, set_left_margin,
156 set_right_margin, clear_margins, change_char_pitch
157 ... set_page_length (all the SVr4 printer caps),
159 Curses doesn't use these.
161 C. Printer-control capabilities:
163 Boolean: prtr_silent.
164 Strings: print_screen, prtr_on, prtr_off, prtr_non.
166 Curses doesn't use these.
170 Strings: hangup, dial_phone, quick_dial, tone, pulse, flash_hook,
171 fixed_pause, wait_tone.
173 Curses doesn't use these.
175 E. Window and virtual-terminal capabilities:
177 Numerics: maximum_windows, virtual_terminal.
178 Strings: req_for_input, create_window, goto_window, set_window.
180 These seem to be fossils from some AT&T experiments on character-based
181 window systems that never escaped the lab. The virtual_terminal cap had
182 something to do with building terminal emulations into tty line disciplines.
184 F. Unused VDT capabilities:
186 Booleans: erase_overstrike, has_meta_key, insert_null_glitch,
187 move_insert, dest_tabs_magic_smso, transparent_underline,
188 needs_xon_xoff, hard_cursor.
189 Numerics: lines_of_memory, buttons.
190 Strings: pkey_key, pkey_local, pkey_xmit, underline_char,
191 enter_xon_mode, exit_xon_mode, xon_character, xoff_character,
192 display_clock, remove_clock, user[0-5], display_pc_char,
193 enter_scancode_mode, exit_scancode_mode, pc_term_options,
194 scancode_escape, alt_scancode_esc.
196 These are the potentially important ones for ncurses. Notes:
198 i) ncurses doesn't need move_insert; it never uses cup/hpa/vpa while
201 ii) We probably don't care about dest_tabs_magic_smso; only
202 Telerays used it and they're all long obsolete.