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7 <TITLE>Announcing ncurses @VERSION@</TITLE>
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13 <H1>Announcing ncurses @VERSION@</H1>
15 The ncurses (new curses) library is a free software emulation of
16 curses in System V Release 4.0, and more. It uses terminfo format,
17 supports pads and color
18 and multiple highlights and forms characters and function-key mapping,
19 and has all the other SYSV-curses enhancements over BSD curses.<P>
21 In mid-June 1995, the maintainer of 4.4BSD curses declared that he
22 considered 4.4BSD curses obsolete, and encouraged the keepers of
23 Unix releases such as BSD/OS, FreeBSD and NetBSD to switch over to
26 The ncurses code was developed under GNU/Linux.
27 It has been in use for some time with OpenBSD as the system curses library,
28 and on FreeBSD and NetBSD as an external package.
29 It should port easily to any ANSI/POSIX-conforming UNIX.
30 It has even been ported to OS/2 Warp!<P>
32 The distribution includes the library and support utilities, including a
33 terminfo compiler tic(1), a decompiler infocmp(1), clear(1), tput(1), tset(1),
34 and a termcap conversion tool captoinfo(1). Full manual pages are provided for
35 the library and tools.<P>
37 The ncurses distribution is available via anonymous FTP at
38 the GNU distribution site
39 <A HREF="ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/ncurses/">ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/ncurses/</A> .
40 <br>It is also available at
41 <A HREF="ftp://invisible-island.net/ncurses/">ftp://invisible-island.net/ncurses/</A> .
43 <H1>Release Notes</H1>
45 This release is designed to be upward compatible from ncurses 5.0 through 5.4;
46 very few applications will require recompilation, depending on the platform.
47 These are the highlights from the change-log since ncurses 5.4 release.
51 <li>terminfo installs "xterm-new" as "xterm" entry rather than
52 "xterm-old" (aka xterm-r6).
54 <li>terminfo data is installed using the tic -x option (few systems
55 still use ncurses 4.2).
57 <li>modify C++ binding to work with newer C++ compilers by providing
58 initializers and using modern casts. Old-style header names are
59 still used in this release to allow compiling with not-so-old
62 <li>modify parameter type in c++ binding for insch() and mvwinsch() to
63 be consistent with underlying ncurses library (was char, is chtype).
65 <li>change NCursesWindow::err_handler() to a virtual function.
67 <li>form and menu libraries now work with wide-character data.
68 Applications which bypassed the form library and manipulated the
69 FIELD.buf data directly will not work properly with libformw,
70 since that no longer points to an array of char. The
71 set_field_buffer() and field_buffer() functions translate to/from
72 the actual field data.
75 <li>add symbol to curses.h which can be used to suppress include of
78 #define NCURSES_ENABLE_STDBOOL_H 0
79 #include <curses.h>
82 <li>change SP->_current_attr to a pointer, adjust ifdef's to ensure
83 that libtinfo.so and libtinfow.so have the same ABI. The reason
84 for this is that the corresponding data which belongs to the
85 upper-level ncurses library has a different size in each model.
87 <li>winnstr() now returns multibyte character strings for the
88 wide-character configuration.
90 <li>assume_default_colors() no longer requires that
91 use_default_colors() be called first.
93 <li>data_ahead() now works with wide-characters.
95 <li>slk_set() and slk_wset() now accept and store multibyte or
96 multicolumn characters.
98 <li>start_color() now returns OK if colors have
100 start_color() also returns ERR if it cannot allocate memory.
102 <li>pair_content() now returns -1 for consistency with init_pair()
103 if it corresponds to the default-color.
105 <li>unctrl() now returns null if its parameter does not correspond
109 New features and improvements:
113 <li>environment variable NCURSES_NO_UTF8_ACS supports
114 miscellaneous terminal emulators which ignore alternate
115 character set escape sequences when in UTF-8 mode.
117 <li>modify initialization of key lookup table so that if an extended
118 capability (tic -x) string is defined, and its name begins with 'k',
119 ncurses will automatically treat it as a key.
121 <li>change GPM initialization, using dl library to load it
122 dynamically at runtime.
124 <li>form, menu and panel libraries support debug-tracing.
128 <li>add NCURSES-Programming-HOWTO.html by Pradeep Padala
129 (see http://tldp.org/HOWTO/NCURSES-Programming-HOWTO/).
135 <li>The -i option now matches 8-bit controls against its table
136 entries, e.g., so it can analyze the xterm-8bit entry.
138 <li>add "-x" option to infocmp like tic's "-x", for use in "-F"
139 comparisons. This modifies infocmp to only report extended
140 capabilities if the -x option is given, making this more
141 consistent with tic. Some scripts may break, since infocmp
142 previous gave this information without an option.
150 <li>modify termcap-parsing to retain 2-character aliases at the
151 beginning of an entry if the "-x" option is used in tic.
153 <li>filter out long extended names when translating to termcap
154 format. Only two characters are permissible for termcap
157 <li>correct translation of "%%" in terminfo format to termcap,
158 e.g., using "tic -C".
160 <li>modify the "-c -v" options to ignore delays when comparing
161 strings. Also modify it to ignore a canceled sgr string,
162 e.g., for terminals which cannot properly combine attributes
163 in one control sequence.
165 <li>add a check for improperly ended strings, i.e., where a
166 following line begins in column 1.
168 <li>add a check in tic for terminfo entries having an sgr0 but no
169 sgr string. This confuses Tru64 and HPUX curses when combined
170 with color, e.g., making them leave line-drawing characters in
173 <li>add check (with debug configuration) that provides about the
174 runtime changes that would be made to sgr0 for termcap
183 <li>add -c and -w options to allow user to suppress ncurses'
184 resizing of the terminal emulator window in the special case
185 where it is not able to detect the true size.
193 <li>improve logic in tgetent() which adjusts the termcap "me" string
194 to work with ISO-2022 string used in xterm-new.
195 This is a feature that was incompletely implemented in ncurses 5.3.
196 ncurses attempts to provide termcap clients with the portion of
197 the sgr0 (termcap "me") string that does not reset line-drawing.
199 <li>cells in the WINDOW which are continuations of a multicolumn
200 character are encoded differently, making repainting more
203 <li>amend change to setupterm() in ncurses 5.4 (20030405) which would
204 reuse the value of cur_term if the same output was selected. This
205 now reuses it only when setupterm() is called from tgetent(),
206 which has no notion of separate SCREENs. Note that tgetent() must
207 be called after initscr() or newterm() to use this feature.
209 <li>make setcchar() now works when its wchar_t* parameter is
210 pointing to a string which contains more data than can be converted.
212 <li>win_wchnstr() now works for more than one cell.
214 <li>resizeterm() now processes all levels of window hierarchy.
216 <li>disable GPM mouse support when $TERM happens to be prefixed with
217 "xterm". Gpm_Open() would otherwise assert that it can deal with
218 mouse events in this case.
220 <li>add SP->_screen_acs_map[], used to ensure that mapping of missing
221 line-drawing characters is handled properly. For example, ACS_DARROW
222 is absent from xterm-new, and it was coincidentally displayed the
229 <li>configure script:
233 <dt>--enable-largefile
234 <dd>set compiler and linker flags to use largefile support.
236 <dt>--enable-ext-colors
237 <dd>Allow encoding of 256 foreground
238 and background colors, e.g., with the xterm-256color or
239 xterm-88color terminfo entries.
240 This requires ABI 6 because it changes the size of cchar_t.
242 <dt>--enable-ext-mouse
243 <dd>This defines NCURSES_MOUSE_VERSION 2, and modifies the encoding of
244 mouse events to support wheel mice, which may transmit buttons
245 4 and 5. This works with xterm and similar terminal
247 This requires ABI 6 because it changes the encoding of
251 <dd>overriding of the non-LP64 model's use of chtype
254 <dd>overriding of the non-LP64 model's use of mmask_t
256 <dt>--without-xterm-new
257 <dd>Installs "xterm-old" as the "xterm" entry of the terminfo
262 <li>The --with-termlib option now accepts a value which sets
263 the name of the terminfo library. This would allow a packager to
264 build libtinfow.so renamed to coincide with libtinfo.so
266 <li>fixes/improvements for cross-compiling:
269 <li>suppress $suffix in misc/run_tic.sh when cross-compiling.
270 This allows cross-compiles to use the host's tic program to
271 handle the "make install.data" step.
273 <li>correct BUILD_CPPFLAGS substitution in ncurses/Makefile.in, to allow
274 cross-compiling from a separate directory tree.
283 <li>add ifdef's for _LP64 in curses.h to avoid using wasteful
284 64-bits for chtype and mmask_t, but add configure option
285 --disable-lp64 in case anyone used that configuration.
287 <li>modify C++ binding to use some C internal functions to make it
288 compile properly on Solaris (and other platforms).
290 <li>remove check in newwin() that prevents allocating windows that
291 extend beyond the screen (Solaris does this).
293 <li>check for <code>nl_langinfo(CODESET)</code>, use it if available.
294 This replaces ad hoc tests of environment variables to
295 check if the terminal is setup for UTF-8 encoding.
296 Applications which do not call <code>setlocale()</code>
297 should be corrected, to make them work properly with
300 <strong>In particular, applications which assume (and
301 do not call <code>setlocale()</code>) that
302 Latin-1 codes are printable will no longer work in
303 a UTF-8 locale since the ad hoc check of environment
304 variables to see if the locale was UTF-8 is not used
305 when <code>nl_langinfo(CODESET)</code> is available.</strong>
307 <li>use setlocale() to query the program's current locale rather
308 than using getenv(). This supports applications which rely
309 upon legacy treatment of 8-bit characters when the locale is
315 <H1>Features of Ncurses</H1>
317 The ncurses package is fully compatible with SVr4 (System V Release 4) curses:
320 <LI>All 257 of the SVr4 calls have been implemented (and are documented).
321 <LI>Full support for SVr4 curses features including keyboard mapping, color,
322 forms-drawing with ACS characters, and automatic recognition of keypad
324 <LI>An emulation of the SVr4 panels library, supporting
325 a stack of windows with backing store, is included.
326 <LI>An emulation of the SVr4 menus library, supporting
327 a uniform but flexible interface for menu programming, is included.
328 <LI>An emulation of the SVr4 form library, supporting
329 data collection through on-screen forms, is included.
330 <LI>Binary terminfo entries generated by the ncurses tic(1) implementation
331 are bit-for-bit-compatible with the entry format SVr4 curses uses.
332 <LI>The utilities have options to allow you to filter terminfo
333 entries for use with less capable <STRONG>curses</STRONG>/<STRONG>terminfo</STRONG>
334 versions such as the HP/UX and AIX ports.</UL>
336 The ncurses package also has many useful extensions over SVr4:
339 <LI>The API is 8-bit clean and base-level conformant with the X/OPEN curses
340 specification, XSI curses (that is, it implements all BASE level features,
341 but not all EXTENDED features). Most EXTENDED-level features not directly
342 concerned with wide-character support are implemented, including many
343 function calls not supported under SVr4 curses (but portability of all
344 calls is documented so you can use the SVr4 subset only).
345 <LI>Unlike SVr3 curses, ncurses can write to the rightmost-bottommost corner
346 of the screen if your terminal has an insert-character capability.
347 <LI>Ada95 and C++ bindings.
348 <LI>Support for mouse event reporting with X Window xterm and OS/2 console windows.
349 <LI>Extended mouse support via Alessandro Rubini's gpm package.
350 <LI>The function <CODE>wresize()</CODE> allows you to resize windows, preserving
352 <LI>The function <CODE>use_default_colors()</CODE> allows you to
353 use the terminal's default colors for the default color pair,
354 achieving the effect of transparent colors.
355 <LI>The functions <CODE>keyok()</CODE>
356 and <CODE>define_key()</CODE> allow
357 you to better control the use of function keys,
358 e.g., disabling the ncurses KEY_MOUSE,
359 or by defining more than one control sequence to map to a given key code.
360 <LI>Support for 16-color terminals, such as aixterm and XFree86 xterm.
361 <LI>Better cursor-movement optimization. The package now features a
362 cursor-local-movement computation more efficient than either BSD's
364 <LI>Super hardware scrolling support. The screen-update code incorporates
365 a novel, simple, and cheap algorithm that enables it to make optimal
366 use of hardware scrolling, line-insertion, and line-deletion
367 for screen-line movements. This algorithm is more powerful than
368 the 4.4BSD curses quickch() routine.
369 <LI>Real support for terminals with the magic-cookie glitch. The
370 screen-update code will refrain from drawing a highlight if the magic-
371 cookie unattributed spaces required just before the beginning and
372 after the end would step on a non-space character. It will
373 automatically shift highlight boundaries when doing so would make it
374 possible to draw the highlight without changing the visual appearance
376 <LI>It is possible to generate the library with a list of pre-loaded
377 fallback entries linked to it so that it can serve those terminal types even
378 when no terminfo tree or termcap file is accessible (this may be useful
379 for support of screen-oriented programs that must run in single-user mode).
380 <LI>The tic(1)/captoinfo utility provided with ncurses has the
381 ability to translate many termcaps from the XENIX, IBM and
382 AT&T extension sets.
383 <LI>A BSD-like tset(1) utility is provided.
384 <LI>The ncurses library and utilities will automatically read terminfo
385 entries from $HOME/.terminfo if it exists, and compile to that directory
386 if it exists and the user has no write access to the system directory.
387 This feature makes it easier for users to have personal terminfo entries
388 without giving up access to the system terminfo directory.
389 <LI>You may specify a path of directories to search for compiled
390 descriptions with the environment variable TERMINFO_DIRS (this
391 generalizes the feature provided by TERMINFO under stock System V.)
392 <LI>In terminfo source files, use capabilities may refer not just to
393 other entries in the same source file (as in System V) but also to
394 compiled entries in either the system terminfo directory or the user's
395 $HOME/.terminfo directory.
396 <LI>A script (<STRONG>capconvert</STRONG>) is provided to help BSD users
397 transition from termcap to terminfo. It gathers the information in a
398 TERMCAP environment variable and/or a ~/.termcap local entries file
399 and converts it to an equivalent local terminfo tree under $HOME/.terminfo.
400 <LI>Automatic fallback to the /etc/termcap file can be compiled in
401 when it is not possible to build a terminfo tree. This feature is neither
402 fast nor cheap, you don't want to use it unless you have to,
404 <LI>The table-of-entries utility <STRONG>toe</STRONG> makes it easy for users to
405 see exactly what terminal types are available on the system.
406 <LI>The library meets the XSI requirement that every macro entry
407 point have a corresponding function which may be linked (and will be
408 prototype-checked) if the macro definition is disabled with
410 <LI>An HTML "Introduction to Programming with NCURSES" document provides
411 a narrative introduction to the curses programming interface.
414 <H1>State of the Package</H1>
416 Numerous bugs present in earlier versions have been fixed; the
417 library is far more reliable than it used to be. Bounds checking in many
418 `dangerous' entry points has been improved. The code is now type-safe
419 according to gcc -Wall. The library has been checked for malloc leaks and
420 arena corruption by the Purify memory-allocation tester.<P>
422 The ncurses code has been tested with a wide variety of applications
423 including (versions starting with those noted):
426 <DD> Curses Development Kit
428 <A HREF="http://invisible-island.net/cdk/">http://invisible-island.net/cdk/</A>
430 <A HREF="http://www.vexus.ca/products/CDK/">http://www.vexus.ca/products/CDK/</a>
432 <DD> directory-editor
434 <A HREF="http://invisible-island.net/ded/">http://invisible-island.net/ded/</A>
436 <DD> the underlying application used in Slackware's setup, and the basis
437 for similar applications on GNU/Linux.
439 <A HREF="http://invisible-island.net/dialog/">http://invisible-island.net/dialog/</A>
441 <DD> the character-screen WWW browser
443 <A HREF="http://lynx.isc.org/release/">http://lynx.isc.org/release/</A>
444 <DT> Midnight Commander
447 <A HREF="http://www.ibiblio.org/mc/">http://www.ibiblio.org/mc/</A>
451 <A HREF="http://www.mutt.org/">http://www.mutt.org/</A>
453 <DD> file-transfer utility
455 <A HREF="http://www.ncftp.com/">http://www.ncftp.com/</A>
457 <DD> New vi versions 1.50 are able to use ncurses versions 1.9.7 and later.
459 <A HREF="http://www.bostic.com/vi/">http://www.bostic.com/vi/</A>
462 <DD> Lynx-like info browser.
463 <A HREF="http://dione.ids.pl/~pborys/software/pinfo/">http://dione.ids.pl/~pborys/software/pinfo/</A>
465 <DD> newsreader, supporting color, MIME
466 <A HREF="http://www.tin.org/">http://www.tin.org/</A>
468 <DD> Volks-Hypertext browser for the Jargon File
470 <A HREF="http://www.debian.org/Packages/unstable/text/vh.html">http://www.debian.org/Packages/unstable/text/vh.html</A>
472 as well as some that use ncurses for the terminfo support alone:
475 <DD> terminal emulator
477 <A HREF="http://www.netsonic.fi/~walker/minicom.html">http://www.netsonic.fi/~walker/minicom.html</A>
481 <A HREF="http://invisible-island.net/vile/">http://invisible-island.net/vile/</A>
485 The ncurses distribution includes a selection of test programs (including
488 <H2>Who's Who and What's What</H2>
491 started it from a previous package pcurses, written by Pavel Curtis.
493 continued development.
494 Jürgen Pfeifer wrote most of the form and menu libraries.
495 Ongoing work is being done by
496 <A HREF="mailto:dickey@invisible-island.net">Thomas Dickey</A>.
498 acts as the maintainer for the Free Software Foundation,
499 which holds the copyright on ncurses.
500 Contact the current maintainers at
501 <A HREF="mailto:bug-ncurses@gnu.org">bug-ncurses@gnu.org</A>.
504 To join the ncurses mailing list, please write email to
505 <CODE>bug-ncurses-request@gnu.org</CODE> containing the line:
507 subscribe <name>@<host.domain>
510 This list is open to anyone interested in helping with the development and
511 testing of this package.<P>
513 Beta versions of ncurses and patches to the current release are made available at
514 <A HREF="ftp://invisible-island.net/ncurses/">ftp://invisible-island.net/ncurses/</A> .
516 <H2>Future Plans</H2>
518 <LI>Extended-level XPG4 conformance, with internationalization support.
519 <LI>Ports to more systems, including DOS and Windows.
521 We need people to help with these projects. If you are interested in working
522 on them, please join the ncurses list.
524 <H2>Other Related Resources</H2>
526 The distribution provides a newer version of the terminfo-format
527 terminal description file maintained by
528 <A HREF="http://www.catb.org/~esr/terminfo/">Eric Raymond</A> .
529 Unlike the older version, the termcap and terminfo data are provided
532 You can find lots of information on terminal-related topics
533 not covered in the terminfo file at
534 <A HREF="http://www.cs.utk.edu/~shuford/terminal_index.html">Richard Shuford's
539 # The following sets edit modes for GNU EMACS
542 # case-fold-search:nil