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7 <TITLE>Announcing ncurses @VERSION@</TITLE>
8 <link rev=made href="mailto:bug-ncurses@gnu.org">
12 <H1>Announcing ncurses @VERSION@</H1>
14 The ncurses (new curses) library is a free software emulation of
15 curses in System V Release 4.0, and more. It uses terminfo format,
16 supports pads and color
17 and multiple highlights and forms characters and function-key mapping,
18 and has all the other SYSV-curses enhancements over BSD curses.<P>
20 In mid-June 1995, the maintainer of 4.4BSD curses declared that he
21 considered 4.4BSD curses obsolete, and is encouraging the keepers of
22 Unix releases such as BSD/OS, freeBSD and netBSD to switch over to
25 The ncurses code was developed under GNU/Linux. It should port easily to
26 any ANSI/POSIX-conforming UNIX. It has even been ported to OS/2 Warp!<P>
28 The distribution includes the library and support utilities, including a
29 terminfo compiler tic(1), a decompiler infocmp(1), clear(1), tput(1), tset(1),
30 and a termcap conversion tool captoinfo(1). Full manual pages are provided for
31 the library and tools.<P>
33 The ncurses distribution is available via anonymous FTP at
34 the GNU distribution site
35 <A HREF="ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/ncurses">ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/ncurses</A>.
36 It is also available at
37 <A HREF="ftp://ftp.clark.net/pub/dickey/ncurses">ftp://ftp.clark.net/pub/dickey/ncurses</A>.
39 <H1>Release Notes</H1>
41 We decided to release ncurses as a new whole number release (5.0) because it
42 incorporates several interface changes, including some that would invalidate
43 existing shared libraries. These are the highlights from the change-log
44 since ncurses 4.2 release.
48 <li>The principal source of changes to the interface comes from the
49 release of X/Open Curses in 1997. Earlier versions of ncurses (4.0
50 and before) were based on a draft version of the specification. The
51 release version adds parameters to some functions to support the
52 evolving internationalization of curses. These summarize the impact:
54 <li>modified several prototypes to correspond with 1997 version of
55 X/Open Curses (affects ABI since developers have used attr_get).
57 <li>corrected prototypes for slk_* functions, using chtype rather than
60 <li>the slk_attr_{set,off,on} functions need an additional void*
61 parameter according to XSI.
63 <li>correct macros for wattr_set, wattr_get, separate wattrset macro from
64 these to preserve behavior that allows attributes to be combined with
67 <li>reviewed/updated curses.h, term.h against X/Open Curses Issue 4
68 Version 2. This includes making some parameters NCURSES_CONST
69 rather than const, e.g., in termcap.h.
71 <li>reviewed/corrected macros in curses.h as per XSI document.
73 <li>add set_a_attributes and set_pglen_inch to terminfo structure, as per
76 <li>The newest version of the X/Open Curses is implemented on Solaris
77 and other vendor's systems. It adds new features to the terminfo
80 <li>implement tparm %l format.
82 <li>implement tparm printf-style width and precision for %s, %d, %x, %o
85 <li>We made additional changes to reduce impact by future interface
88 <li>rename key_names[] array to _nc_key_names since it is not part of
91 <li>move macro winch to a function, to hide details of struct ldat
93 <li>modify configure script to embed ABI in shared libraries for HP-UX
94 10.x (detailed request by Tim Mooney).
96 <li>modify configuration of shared libraries on Digital Unix so that
97 versioning is embedded in the library, rather than implied by
98 links (patch by Tim Mooney).
102 <li>enable sigwinch handler by default.
104 <li>turn on hashmap scrolling code by default
106 <li>improved support for termcap applications
108 <li>modify tput to accept termcap names as an alternative to terminfo
111 <li>provide support for termcap PC variable by copying it from terminfo
112 data and using it as the padding character in tputs.
114 <li>provide support for termcap ospeed variable by copying it from the
115 internal cur_term member, and using ospeed as the baudrate
116 reference for the delay_output and tputs functions.
118 <li>change name-comparisons in lib_termcap to compare no more than 2
121 <li>add configure option --enable-tcap-names, which essentially
122 allows users to define new capabilities as in termcap.
124 <li>add mouse support to ncurses menus.
126 <li>add mouse and dll support for OS/2 EMX
128 <li>modify terminfo parsing to accept octal and hexadecimal constants
130 <li>add configure option --enable-no-padding, to allow environment
131 variable $NCURSES_NO_PADDING to eliminate non-mandatory padding,
132 thereby making terminal emulators (e.g., for vt100) a little more
135 <li>modify lib_color.c to eliminate dependency on orig_colors and
136 orig_pair, since SVr4 curses does not require these either, but
137 uses them when they are available.
139 <li>add -f option to infocmp and tic, which formats the terminfo
140 if/then/else/endif so that they are readable (with newlines and
143 <li>modify tic to compile into %'char' form in preference to %{number},
144 since that is a little more efficient.
148 <li>modify lib_tstp.c to block SIGTTOU when handling SIGTSTP, fixes a
149 problem where ncurses applications which were run via a shell script
150 would hang when given a ^Z. Also, check if the terminal's process
151 group is consistent, i.e., a shell has not taken ownership of it,
152 before deciding to save the current terminal settings in the SIGTSTP
155 <li>suppress sc/rc capabilities from terminal description if they appear
156 in smcup/rmcup. This affects only scrolling optimization, to fix a
157 problem reported by several people with xterm's alternate screen,
158 though the problem is more general.
160 <li>modify relative_move and tputs to avoid an interaction with the
161 BSD-style padding. The relative_move function could produce a string
162 to replace on the screen which began with a numeric character, which
163 was then interpreted by tputs as padding.
165 <li>modify setupterm so that cancelled strings are treated the same as
166 absent strings, cancelled and absent booleans false (does not affect
169 <li>modify lib_vidattr.c to allow for terminal types (e.g., xterm-color)
170 which may reset all attributes in the 'op' capability, so that colors
171 are set before turning on bold and other attributes, but still after
172 turning attributes off.
174 <li>use 'access()' to check if ncurses library should be permitted to
175 open or modify files with fopen/open/link/unlink/remove calls, in
176 case the calling application is running in setuid mode.
178 <li>correction to doupdate, for case where terminal does not support
179 insert/delete character. The logic did not check that there was a
180 difference in alignment of changes to old/new screens before
181 repainting the whole non-blank portion of the line. Modified to fall
182 through into logic that reduces by the portion which does not differ.
185 <H1>Features of Ncurses</H1>
187 The ncurses package is fully compatible with SVr4 (System V Release 4) curses:
190 <LI>All 257 of the SVr4 calls have been implemented (and are documented).
191 <LI>Full support for SVr4 curses features including keyboard mapping, color,
192 forms-drawing with ACS characters, and automatic recognition of keypad
194 <LI>An emulation of the SVr4 panels library, supporting
195 a stack of windows with backing store, is included.
196 <LI>An emulation of the SVr4 menus library, supporting
197 a uniform but flexible interface for menu programming, is included.
198 <LI>An emulation of the SVr4 form library, supporting
199 data collection through on-screen forms, is included.
200 <LI>Binary terminfo entries generated by the ncurses tic(1) implementation
201 are bit-for-bit-compatible with the entry format SVr4 curses uses.
202 <LI>The utilities have options to allow you to filter terminfo
203 entries for use with less capable <STRONG>curses</STRONG>/<STRONG>terminfo</STRONG>
204 versions such as the HP/UX and AIX ports.</UL>
206 The ncurses package also has many useful extensions over SVr4:
209 <LI>The API is 8-bit clean and base-level conformant with the X/OPEN curses
210 specification, XSI curses (that is, it implements all BASE level features,
211 but not all EXTENDED features). Most EXTENDED-level features not directly
212 concerned with wide-character support are implemented, including many
213 function calls not supported under SVr4 curses (but portability of all
214 calls is documented so you can use the SVr4 subset only).
215 <LI>Unlike SVr3 curses, ncurses can write to the rightmost-bottommost corner
216 of the screen if your terminal has an insert-character capability.
217 <LI>Ada95 and C++ bindings.
218 <LI>Support for mouse event reporting with X Window xterm and OS/2 console windows.
219 <LI>Extended mouse support via Alessandro Rubini's gpm package.
220 <LI>The function <CODE>wresize()</CODE> allows you to resize windows, preserving
222 <LI>The function <CODE>use_default_colors()</CODE> allows you to
223 use the terminal's default colors for the default color pair,
224 achieving the effect of transparent colors.
225 <LI>The functions <CODE>keyok()</CODE>
226 and <CODE>define_key()</CODE> allow
227 you to better control the use of function keys,
228 e.g., disabling the ncurses KEY_MOUSE,
229 or by defining more than one control sequence to map to a given key code.
230 <LI>Support for 16-color terminals, such as aixterm and XFree86 xterm.
231 <LI>Better cursor-movement optimization. The package now features a
232 cursor-local-movement computation more efficient than either BSD's
234 <LI>Super hardware scrolling support. The screen-update code incorporates
235 a novel, simple, and cheap algorithm that enables it to make optimal
236 use of hardware scrolling, line-insertion, and line-deletion
237 for screen-line movements. This algorithm is more powerful than
238 the 4.4BSD curses quickch() routine.
239 <LI>Real support for terminals with the magic-cookie glitch. The
240 screen-update code will refrain from drawing a highlight if the magic-
241 cookie unattributed spaces required just before the beginning and
242 after the end would step on a non-space character. It will
243 automatically shift highlight boundaries when doing so would make it
244 possible to draw the highlight without changing the visual appearance
246 <LI>It is possible to generate the library with a list of pre-loaded
247 fallback entries linked to it so that it can serve those terminal types even
248 when no terminfo tree or termcap file is accessible (this may be useful
249 for support of screen-oriented programs that must run in single-user mode).
250 <LI>The tic(1)/captoinfo utility provided with ncurses has the
251 ability to translate many termcaps from the XENIX, IBM and
252 AT&T extension sets.
253 <LI>A BSD-like tset(1) utility is provided.
254 <LI>The ncurses library and utilities will automatically read terminfo
255 entries from $HOME/.terminfo if it exists, and compile to that directory
256 if it exists and the user has no write access to the system directory.
257 This feature makes it easier for users to have personal terminfo entries
258 without giving up access to the system terminfo directory.
259 <LI>You may specify a path of directories to search for compiled
260 descriptions with the environment variable TERMINFO_DIRS (this
261 generalizes the feature provided by TERMINFO under stock System V.)
262 <LI>In terminfo source files, use capabilities may refer not just to
263 other entries in the same source file (as in System V) but also to
264 compiled entries in either the system terminfo directory or the user's
265 $HOME/.terminfo directory.
266 <LI>A script (<STRONG>capconvert</STRONG>) is provided to help BSD users
267 transition from termcap to terminfo. It gathers the information in a
268 TERMCAP environment variable and/or a ~/.termcap local entries file
269 and converts it to an equivalent local terminfo tree under $HOME/.terminfo.
270 <LI>Automatic fallback to the /etc/termcap file can be compiled in
271 when it is not possible to build a terminfo tree. This feature is neither
272 fast nor cheap, you don't want to use it unless you have to,
274 <LI>The table-of-entries utility <STRONG>toe</STRONG> makes it easy for users to
275 see exactly what terminal types are available on the system.
276 <LI>The library meets the XSI requirement that every macro entry
277 point have a corresponding function which may be linked (and will be
278 prototype-checked) if the macro definition is disabled with
280 <LI>An HTML "Introduction to Programming with NCURSES" document provides
281 a narrative introduction to the curses programming interface.
284 <H1>State of the Package</H1>
286 Numerous bugs present in earlier versions have been fixed; the
287 library is far more reliable than it used to be. Bounds checking in many
288 `dangerous' entry points has been improved. The code is now type-safe
289 according to gcc -Wall. The library has been checked for malloc leaks and
290 arena corruption by the Purify memory-allocation tester.<P>
292 The ncurses code has been tested with a wide variety of applications
293 including (versions starting with those noted):
296 <DD> Curses Development Kit
297 <A HREF="http://www.vexus.ca/CDK.html">Curses Development Kit</a>
298 <A HREF="ftp://ftp.clark.net/pub/dickey/cdk">ftp://ftp.clark.net/pub/dickey/cdk</A>.
300 <DD> directory-editor
301 <A HREF="ftp://ftp.clark.net/pub/dickey/ded">ftp://ftp.clark.net/pub/dickey/ded</A>.
303 <DD> the underlying application used in Slackware's setup, and the basis
304 for similar applications on GNU/Linux.
306 <DD> the character-screen WWW browser
307 <DT> Midnight Commander 4.1
312 <DD> file-transfer utility
314 <DD> New vi versions 1.50 are able to use ncurses versions 1.9.7 and later.
316 <DD> newsreader, supporting color, MIME
317 <A HREF="ftp://ftp.akk.uni-karlsruhe.de/pub/news/clients/tin-unoff">ftp://ftp.akk.uni-karlsruhe.de/pub/news/clients/tin-unoff</A>.
319 <DD> tape archive utility
321 <DD> Volks-Hypertext browser for the Jargon File
323 as well as some that use ncurses for the terminfo support alone:
326 <DD> terminal emulator
329 <A HREF="ftp://ftp.clark.net/pub/dickey/vile">ftp://ftp.clark.net/pub/dickey/vile</A>.
333 The ncurses distribution includes a selection of test programs (including
336 <H2>Who's Who and What's What</H2>
338 The original developers of ncurses are <A
339 HREF="mailto:zmbenhal@netcom.com">Zeyd Ben-Halim</A> and
340 <A HREF="http://www.ccil.org/~esr/home.html">Eric S. Raymond</A>.
341 Ongoing work is being done by
342 <A HREF="mailto:dickey@clark.net">Thomas Dickey</A>
344 <A HREF="mailto:juergen.pfeifer@gmx.net">Jürgen Pfeifer</A>.
345 <A HREF="mailto:dickey@clark.net">Thomas Dickey</A>
346 acts as the maintainer for the Free Software Foundation, which holds the
347 copyright on ncurses.
348 Contact the current maintainers at
349 <A HREF="mailto:bug-ncurses@gnu.org">bug-ncurses@gnu.org</A>.
352 To join the ncurses mailing list, please write email to
353 <CODE>bug-ncurses-request@gnu.org</CODE> containing the line:
355 subscribe <name>@<host.domain>
358 This list is open to anyone interested in helping with the development and
359 testing of this package.<P>
361 Beta versions of ncurses and patches to the current release are made available at
362 <A HREF="ftp://ftp.clark.net/pub/dickey/ncurses">ftp://ftp.clark.net/pub/dickey/ncurses</A>.
364 <H2>Future Plans</H2>
366 <LI>Extended-level XPG4 conformance, with internationalization support.
367 <LI>Ports to more systems, including DOS and Windows.
369 We need people to help with these projects. If you are interested in working
370 on them, please join the ncurses list.
372 <H2>Other Related Resources</H2>
374 The distribution includes and uses a version of the terminfo-format
375 terminal description file maintained by Eric Raymond.
376 <A HREF="http://earthspace.net/~esr/terminfo">http://earthspace.net/~esr/terminfo</A>.<P>
378 You can find lots of information on terminal-related topics
379 not covered in the terminfo file at
380 <A HREF="http://www.cs.utk.edu/~shuford/terminal_index.html">Richard Shuford's
385 # The following sets edit modes for GNU EMACS
388 # case-fold-search:nil