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36 <title>Announcing ncurses @VERSION@</title>
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59 <h1 class="no-header">Announcing ncurses @VERSION@</h1>
61 <h2><a name="h2-overview" id="h2-overview">Overview</a></h2>
63 <p>The <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> (new curses)
64 library is a free software emulation of curses in System V
65 Release 4.0 (SVr4), and more. It uses terminfo format, supports
66 pads and color and multiple highlights and forms characters and
67 function-key mapping, and has all the other SVr4-curses
68 enhancements over BSD curses. SVr4 curses became the basis of
71 <p>In mid-June 1995, the maintainer of 4.4BSD curses declared
72 that he considered 4.4BSD curses obsolete, and encouraged the
73 keepers of <span class="main-name">unix</span> releases such as
74 BSD/OS, FreeBSD and NetBSD to switch over to <span class=
75 "main-name">ncurses</span>.</p>
77 <p>Since 1995, <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> has been
78 ported to many systems:</p>
81 <li>It is used in almost every system based on the Linux kernel
82 (aside from some embedded applications).</li>
84 <li>It is used as the system curses library on OpenBSD, FreeBSD
87 <li>It is used in environments such as Cygwin and MinGW. The
88 first of these was EMX on OS/2 Warp.</li>
90 <li>It is used (though usually not as the <em>system</em>
91 curses) on all of the vendor <span class=
92 "main-name">unix</span> systems, e.g., AIX, HP-UX, IRIX64, SCO,
95 <li>It should work readily on any ANSI/POSIX-conforming
96 <span class="main-name">unix</span>.</li>
99 <p>The distribution includes the library and support utilities,
103 <li><a href="@HOMEPAGE@/man/captoinfo.1m.html"><span class=
104 "part-name">captoinfo</span></a>, a termcap conversion
107 <li><a href="@HOMEPAGE@/man/clear.1.html"><span class=
108 "part-name">clear</span></a>, utility for clearing the
111 <li><a href="@HOMEPAGE@/man/infocmp.1m.html"><span class=
112 "part-name">infocmp</span></a>, the terminfo decompiler</li>
114 <li><a href="@HOMEPAGE@/man/tabs.1.html"><span class=
115 "part-name">tabs</span></a>, set tabs on a terminal</li>
117 <li><a href="@HOMEPAGE@/man/tic.1m.html"><span class=
118 "part-name">tic</span></a>, the terminfo compiler</li>
120 <li><a href="@HOMEPAGE@/man/toe.1m.html"><span class=
121 "part-name">toe</span></a>, list (table of) terminfo
124 <li><a href="@HOMEPAGE@/man/tput.1.html"><span class=
125 "part-name">tput</span></a>, utility for retrieving terminal
126 capabilities in shell scripts</li>
128 <li><a href="@HOMEPAGE@/man/tset.1.html"><span class=
129 "part-name">tset</span></a>, to initialize the terminal</li>
132 <p>Full manual pages are provided for the library and tools.</p>
134 <p>The <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> distribution is
135 available at <span class="main-name">ncurses</span>' <a href=
136 "@HOMEPAGE@/">homepage</a>:</p>
140 "https://invisible-island.net/archives/ncurses/">https://invisible-island.net/archives/ncurses/</a>
143 "https://invisible-mirror.net/archives/ncurses/">https://invisible-mirror.net/archives/ncurses/</a> .</p>
146 <p>It is also available at the GNU distribution site</p>
150 "https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/ncurses/">https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/ncurses/</a> .</p>
153 <h2><a name="h2-release-notes" id="h2-release-notes">Release
156 <p>These notes are for <span class="main-name">ncurses</span>
157 @VERSION@, released <strong>December 31, 2022</strong>.</p>
159 <p>This release is designed to be source-compatible with
160 <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> 5.0 through 6.3; providing
161 extensions to the application binary interface (ABI). Although
162 the source can still be configured to support the <span class=
163 "main-name">ncurses</span> 5 ABI, the reason for the release is
164 to reflect improvements to the <span class=
165 "main-name">ncurses</span> 6 ABI and the supporting utility
168 <p>There are, of course, numerous other improvements, listed in
169 this announcement.</p>
171 <p>The most <a href="#h3-bug-fixes">important
172 bug-fixes/improvements</a> dealt with robustness issues. The
173 release notes also mention some other bug-fixes, but are focused
174 on new features and improvements to existing features since
175 <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> 6.3 release.</p>
177 <h3><a name="h3-library" id="h3-library">Library improvements</a></h3>
179 <h4><a name="h4-new-library" id="h4-new-library">New features</a></h4>
181 <p>There are no new features in this release.</p>
183 <h4><a name="h4-fixes-library" id="h4-fixes-library">Other
184 improvements</a></h4>
186 <p>These are improvements to existing features:</p>
190 <p>modify <tt>delscreen</tt> to more effectively delete all
191 windows on the given screen.</p>
195 <p>modify <tt>wnoutrefresh</tt> to call <tt>pnoutrefresh</tt>
196 if its parameter is a pad, rather than treating it as an
197 error, and modify new_panel to permit its window-parameter to
202 <p>modify curses_trace() to show the trace-mask as symbols,
203 e.g., <tt>TRACE_ORDINARY</tt>, <tt>DEBUG_LEVEL(3)</tt>.</p>
207 <p>improve checks for valid mouse events when an intermediate
208 mouse state is not part of the mousemask specified by the
213 <p>allow extended-color number in <em>opts</em> parameter of
214 <tt>wattr_on</tt>.</p>
218 <p>improve <tt>_tracecchar_t2</tt> formatting of
219 base+combining character.</p>
223 <p>trim out some unwanted linker options from ncurses*config
224 and .pc files seen in Fedora 36+.</p>
228 <p>improve shell-scripts with <em>shellcheck</em></p>
232 <p>improve use of "trap" in shell scripts, using a
237 <p>modify <tt>make-tar.sh</tt> scripts to make timestamps
238 more predictable.</p>
242 <p>These are corrections to existing features:</p>
246 <p>modify <tt>misc/gen-pkgconfig.in</tt> to allow for the
247 case where the library directory does not yet exist, since
248 this is processed before doing an install</p>
252 <p>set trailing null on string passed from <tt>winsnstr</tt>
253 to <tt>wins_nwstr</tt>.</p>
257 <p>modify <tt>waddch_literal</tt> to allow for double-width
258 base character when merging a combining character</p>
262 <h3><a name="h3-programs" id="h3-programs">Program
263 improvements</a></h3>
265 <p id="h4-utilities">Several improvements were made to the
266 utility programs:</p>
269 <dt><span class="part-name"><a href=
270 "@HOMEPAGE@/man/infocmp.1m.html">infocmp</a></span>
275 <li>rewrite <tt>canonical_name</tt> function of
276 <tt>infocmp</tt> to ensure buffer size</li>
278 <li>improve readability of long parameterized expressions
279 with the infocmp “<tt>-f</tt>” option by
280 allowing split before a “<tt>%p</tt>”
283 <li>modify verbose-option of <tt>infocmp</tt>,
284 <tt>tic</tt>, <tt>toe</tt> to enable debug-tracing if that
289 <dt><span class="part-name"><a href=
290 "@HOMEPAGE@/man/tabs.1.html">tabs</a></span>
293 <dd>limit tab-stop values to max-columns</dd>
295 <dt><span class="part-name"><a href=
296 "@HOMEPAGE@/man/tic.1m.html">tic</a></span>
299 <dd>add consistency check in tic for u6/u7/u8/u9 and NQ
302 <dt><span class="part-name"><a href=
303 "@HOMEPAGE@/man/tput.1.html">tput</a></span>
306 <dd>corrected use of original tty-modes in <em>init/reset</em>
310 <h4><a name="h4-examples" id="h4-examples">Examples</a></h4>
312 <p>Along with the library and utilities, improvements were made
314 "@HOMEPAGE@/ncurses-examples.html">ncurses-examples</a>. Most of
315 this activity aimed at improving the test-packages:</p>
319 <p>add minimal <tt>-h</tt> (usage) and <tt>-V</tt> (version)
320 getopt logic to all ncurses-examples programs.</p>
324 <p>fix an error in "@" command in <tt>test/ncurses.c</tt>
329 <p>add curses_trace to ifdef's for <tt>START_TRACE</tt> in
330 <tt>test/test.priv.h</tt></p>
334 <p>improve pthread-configuration for test/worm.c</p>
338 <p>add <tt>setlocale</tt> call to several test-programs.</p>
342 <p>workaround in <tt>test/picsmap.c</tt> for use of floating
343 point for rgb values by ImageMagick 6.9.11, which appears to
344 use the wrong upper limit.</p>
348 <p>use static libraries for AdaCurses test-package for
349 Mageia, since no gprbuild package is available.</p>
353 <p>install Ada95 sample programs in libexecdir, adding a
354 wrapper script to invoke those.</p>
358 <p>install ncurses-examples programs in libexecdir, adding a
359 wrapper script to invoke those.</p>
363 <p>There are other new demo/test programs and reusable
367 <dt><span class="part-name"><em>test/combine</em></span>
370 <dd>demonstrate combining characters</dd>
372 <dt><span class="part-name"><em>test/test_delwin</em></span>
375 <dd>demonstrate deleting a window</dd>
377 <dt><span class="part-name"><em>test/test_mouse</em></span>
380 <dd>observe mouse events in the raw terminal or parsed ncurses
383 <dt><span class="part-name"><em>test/test_unget_wch</em></span>
386 <dd>demonstrate the unget_wch and unget functions</dd>
389 <h3><a name="h3-database" id="h3-database">Terminal database</a></h3>
391 <p>There are several new terminal descriptions:</p>
395 "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-mosh">mosh</a></tt>
399 "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-mosh-256color">mosh-256color</a></tt>
403 "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-teken-16color">teken-16color</a></tt>
407 "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-teken-sc">teken-sc</a></tt>
411 "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-teken-vt">teken-vt</a></tt>
415 "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-xgterm">xgterm</a></tt>
419 <p>There are many changes to existing terminal descriptions. Some
420 were updates to several descriptions:</p>
424 <p>make description-fields distinct</p>
428 <p>fix errata in description fields</p>
432 <p>add/use several building-blocks:</p>
436 "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-aixterm_sl"><tt>aixterm+sl</tt></a></li>
439 "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-ansi_cpr"><tt>ansi+cpr</tt></a></li>
442 "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-apollo_vt132"><tt>apollo+vt132</tt></a></li>
445 "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-decid_cpr"><tt>decid+cpr</tt></a></li>
448 "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-ncr260vp_sl"><tt>ncr260vp+sl</tt></a></li>
451 "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-wyse_sl"><tt>wyse+sl</tt></a></li>
454 "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-x10term_sl"><tt>x10term+sl</tt></a></li>
457 "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-xterm_acs"><tt>xterm+acs</tt></a></li>
460 "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-xterm_alt47"><tt>xterm+alt47</tt></a></li>
465 <p>while others affected specific descriptions. These were
466 retested, to take into account changes by their developers:</p>
471 "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-kitty">kitty</a></tt>
477 "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-teken">teken</a></tt>
482 <p>while these are specific fixes based on reviewing
483 documentation, user reports, or warnings from <span class=
484 "part-name">tic</span>:</p>
488 "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-att610_cvis0">att610+cvis0</a>
491 <dd>amended note as per documentation for att610, att620,
494 <dt><a href="@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-kon">kon</a>,
497 <dd>revise to undo "linux2.6" change to smacs/rmacs/enacs</dd>
500 "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-st-0_6">st-0.6</a>
503 <dd>add dim, ecma+strikeout</dd>
506 "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-foot_base">foot+base</a>
509 <dd>add xterm+sl-alt</dd>
512 "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-dec_sl">dec+sl</a>
515 <dd>correct dsl in dec+sl</dd>
518 "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-mintty">mintty</a> and
521 <dd>correct setal in mintty/tmux entries, add to vte-2018</dd>
524 "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-nsterm">nsterm</a>
527 <dd>modify nsterm to use xterm+alt1049</dd>
529 <dt><a href="@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-putty">putty</a>
532 <dd>modify putty to use xterm+alt1049</dd>
535 "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-vte-2018">vte-2018</a>
538 <dd>add blink and setal</dd>
541 <p>A few entries use extensions (user-defined terminal
546 <p>use <tt>ansi+enq</tt> and <tt>decid+cpr</tt> in cases
547 where the terminal probably supported the u6-u9 extension</p>
551 <p>remove u6-u9 from teken-2018</p>
555 <p>use <tt>NQ</tt> to flag entries where the terminal does
556 not support query and response</p>
561 "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-bracketed_paste"><tt>bracketed+paste</tt></a>
562 to help identify terminals supporting this xterm feature</p>
566 <p>modify samples for xterm mouse 1002/1003 modes to use 1006
567 mode, and also provide for focus in/out responses</p>
571 <p>xterm patch #371 supports DEC-compatible status-line. add
572 <tt>dec+sl</tt> to xterm-new, per xterm #371, add <a href=
573 "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-xterm-p371"><tt>xterm-p371</tt></a>,
575 "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-xterm-p370"><tt>xterm-p370</tt></a>,
576 for use in older terminals, and set “xterm-new”
577 to “xterm-p370” (to ease adoption).</p>
581 <h3><a name="h3-documentation" id=
582 "h3-documentation">Documentation</a></h3>
584 <p>As usual, this release</p>
588 <p>improves documentation by describing new features,</p>
592 <p>attempts to improve the description of features which
593 users have found confusing</p>
597 <p>fills in overlooked descriptions of features which were
598 described in the <a href="@HOMEPAGE@/NEWS.html">NEWS</a> file
599 but treated sketchily in manual pages.</p>
603 <p>In addition to providing background information to explain
604 these features and show how they evolved, there are corrections,
605 clarifications, etc.:</p>
613 <p>remove a stray '/' from description of <tt>%g</tt> in
615 "@HOMEPAGE@/man/terminfo.5.html#h3-Parameterized-Strings">
620 <p>correct/improve font-formatting in <a href=
621 "@HOMEPAGE@/man/curs_getch.3x.html">curs_getch.3x</a>, as
622 well as other manual pages.</p>
628 <p>New/improved history and portability sections:</p>
632 <p>add portability notes for <a href=
633 "@HOMEPAGE@/man/curs_initscr.3x.html#h2-PORTABILITY">delscreen</a>
635 "@HOMEPAGE@/man/curs_window.3x.html#h2-PORTABILITY">delwin</a>
641 "@HOMEPAGE@/man/curs_slk.3x.html#h2-EXTENSIONS">curs_slk.3x</a>
642 discussion of extensions and portability</p>
648 <p>Other improvements:</p>
653 "@HOMEPAGE@/man/curs_bkgd.3x.html">curs_bkgd.3x</a>,
654 explaining that <tt>bkgdset</tt> can affect results for
659 <p>add note on portable memory-leak checking in <a href=
660 "@HOMEPAGE@/man/curs_memleaks.3x.html#h2-PORTABILITY">curs_memleaks.3x</a></p>
664 <p>expanded description in <a href=
665 "@HOMEPAGE@/man/resizeterm.3x.html">resizeterm.3x</a></p>
669 <p>add section on releasing memory to <a href=
670 "@HOMEPAGE@/man/curs_termcap.3x.html#h3-Releasing-Memory">
671 curs_termcap.3x</a> and <a href=
672 "@HOMEPAGE@/man/curs_terminfo.3x.html#h3-Releasing-Memory">
673 curs_terminfo.3x</a> manpages.</p>
677 <p>add clarification of the scope of dynamic variables in
679 "@HOMEPAGE@/man/terminfo.5.html">terminfo(5)</a>.</p>
683 <p>improve formatting of <a href=
684 "@HOMEPAGE@/ncurses-intro.html">ncurses-intro.html</a>
686 "@HOMEPAGE@/hackguide.html">hackguide.html</a></p>
691 "@HOMEPAGE@/man/curs_clear.3x.html">curs_clear.3x</a>
692 links to other pages</p>
697 "@HOMEPAGE@/howto/NCURSES-Programming-HOWTO.html">ncurses-howto</a>,
698 making documentation fixes along with corrections to
699 example programs.</p>
703 <p>use newer version 1.36 of gnathtml for generating Ada
708 <p>update external links in <a href=
709 "@HOMEPAGE@/Ada95.html">Ada95.html</a></p>
715 <p>There are no new manual pages (all of the manual page updates
716 are to existing pages).</p>
718 <h3><a name="h3-bug-fixes" id="h3-bug-fixes">Interesting
721 <p>While there were many bugs fixed during development of ncurses
722 6.4, only a few (the reason for this release) were both important
723 and interesting. Most of the bug-fixes were for local issues
724 which did not affect compatibility across releases. Since those
725 are detailed in the <a href=
726 "@HOMEPAGE@/NEWS.html#t20221231">NEWS</a> file no elaboration is
729 <p>The interesting bugs were those dealing with memory leaks and
730 buffer overflows. Although the utilities are designed for
731 <em>text</em> files (which they do properly), some choose to test
732 them with <strong>non-</strong><em>text</em> files.</p>
736 <p>Text files contain no embedded nulls. Also, they end with
737 a newline. Feeding <strong>tic</strong> non-text files
738 exposed a few cases where the program did not check for those
739 issues. As a result, further processing of the input found
740 limit-checks whose assumptions were invalid.</p>
744 <p>Fixing the limit-checks (first) found a problem with
745 <strong>tic</strong> managing the list of strings in a
746 terminal description. In merging two terminal descriptions
747 (i.e., the “use=” feature), <strong>tic</strong>
748 was not allocating a complete copy. A quick repair for that
749 introduced a memory leak.</p>
753 <p>The checks for non-text files are improved (i.e., embedded
754 nulls in the input file will cause <strong>tic</strong> to
755 reject it rather than attempting to process it).</p>
759 <p>The string allocations in <strong>tic</strong> are
760 likewise improved.</p>
764 <h3><a name="h3-config-config" id=
765 "h3-config-config">Configuration changes</a></h3>
767 <h4><a name="h4-config-major" id="h4-config-major">Major
770 <p>There are no major changes. No new options were added. Several
771 improvements were made to configure checks.</p>
773 <h4><a name="h4-config-options" id=
774 "h4-config-options">Configuration options</a></h4>
776 <p>There are a few new/modified configure options:</p>
779 <dt><tt>--with-abi-version</tt>
783 <p>add ABI 7 defaults to configure script.</p>
786 <dt><tt>--with-caps</tt>
790 <p>add warning in configure script if file specified for
791 “<tt>--with-caps</tt>” does not exist.</p>
794 <dt><tt>--with-manpage-format</tt>
798 <p>bzip2 and xz compression are now supported</p>
801 <dt><tt>--with-xterm-kbs</tt>
805 <p>add check/warning in configure script if option
806 “<tt>--with-xterm-kbs</tt>” is missing or
811 <h3><a name="h3-portability" id="h3-portability">Portability</a></h3>
813 <p>Many of the portability changes are implemented via the
814 configure script:</p>
818 <p>amend configure option's auto-search to account for
819 systems where none of the directories known to
820 <em>pkg-config</em> exist</p>
824 <p>corrected regex needed for older <em>pkg-config</em> used
829 <p>improve handling of <tt>--with-pkg-config-libdir</tt>
830 option, allowing for the case where either
831 <tt>$PKG_CONFIG_LIBDIR</tt> or the option value has a
832 colon-separated list of directories</p>
836 <p>if the <tt>--with-pkg-config-libdir</tt> option is not
837 given, use <tt>${libdir}/pkgconfig</tt> as a default</p>
841 <p>improve search-path check for <em>pkg-config</em>, e.g.,
842 for Debian testing which installs <em>pkg-config</em> with
843 architecture-prefixes.</p>
847 <p>build-fix for cross-compiling to MingW, conditionally add
852 <p>improve configure check for <tt>getttynam</tt></p>
856 <p>fixes to build with <em>dietlibc</em>:</p>
859 <li>add configure check for <tt>fpathconf</tt></li>
861 <li>add configure check for math sine/cosine, needed in
862 test/tclock, and eliminate <tt>pow()</tt> from
865 <li>use <tt>wcsnlen</tt> as an alternative to
866 <tt>wmemchr</tt> if it is not found</li>
871 <p>modify configure macro <tt>CF_BUILD_CC</tt> to check if
872 the build-compiler works, rather than that it is different
873 from the cross-compiler, e.g., to accommodate a compiler
874 which can be used for either purpose with different flags</p>
878 <p>modify configure/scripts to work around interference by
883 <p>Here are some of the other portability fixes:</p>
887 <p>change <tt>man_db.renames</tt> to template, to handle
888 <em>ncurses*-config</em> script with the
889 <tt>--extra-suffix</tt> configure option.</p>
893 <p>update <tt>CF_XOPEN_SOURCE</tt> macro, adding variants
894 “gnueabi" and “gnueabihf" to get
895 <tt>_DEFAULT_SOURCE</tt> special case, as well as adding GNU
896 libc suffixes for “abi64”, “abin32”,
897 “x32” to distinguish it from other libc
902 <p>work around <em>musl</em>'s nonstandard use of feature
903 test macros by adding a definition for
904 <tt>NCURSES_WIDECHAR</tt> to the generated “.pc”
905 and <em><tt>*-config</tt></em> files.</p>
909 <p>use “<tt>command -v</tt>” rather than
910 “<tt>type</tt>” in <tt>Ada95/gen/Makefile.in</tt>
911 to fix a portability issue.</p>
917 <h2><a name="h2-features" id="h2-features">Features of
918 <span class="main-name">ncurses</span></a></h2>
920 <p>The <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> package is fully
921 upward-compatible with SVr4 (System V Release 4) curses:</p>
925 <p>All of the SVr4 calls have been implemented (and are
930 <p><span class="main-name">ncurses</span> supports the features of
931 SVr4 curses including keyboard mapping, color, form drawing with
932 ACS characters, and automatic recognition of keypad and function
937 <p><span class="main-name">ncurses</span> provides work-alike
938 replacements of SVr4 supplemental libraries based on curses, but
939 which were not specified by X/Open Curses:</p>
943 <p>the panel library, supporting a stack of windows with
948 <p>the menu library, supporting a uniform but flexible
949 interface for menu programming</p>
953 <p>the form library, supporting data collection through
960 <p><span class="main-name">ncurses</span>'s terminal database
961 is fully compatible with that used by SVr4 curses.</p>
965 <p><span class="main-name">ncurses</span> supports
966 user-defined capabilities that it can see, but which are
967 hidden from SVr4 curses applications using the
968 <em>same</em> terminal database.</p>
972 <p>It can be optionally configured to match the format
973 used in related systems such as AIX and Tru64.</p>
977 <p>Alternatively, <span class="main-name">ncurses</span>
978 can be configured to use hashed databases rather than the
979 directory of files used by SVr4 curses.</p>
985 <p>The <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> utilities have
986 options to allow you to filter terminfo entries for use with
987 less capable <em>curses</em>/<em>terminfo</em> versions such
988 as the HP-UX and AIX ports.</p>
992 <p>The <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> package also has
993 many useful extensions over SVr4:</p>
997 <p>The API is 8-bit clean and base-level conformant with the
998 X/OPEN curses specification, XSI curses (that is, it
999 implements all <em>BASE</em> level features, and most
1000 <em>EXTENDED</em> features). It includes many function calls
1001 not supported under SVr4 curses (but portability of all calls
1002 is documented so you can use the SVr4 subset only).</p>
1006 <p>Unlike SVr3 curses, <span class="main-name">ncurses</span>
1007 can write to the rightmost-bottommost corner of the screen if
1008 your terminal has an insert-character capability.</p>
1012 <p>Ada95 and C++ bindings.</p>
1016 <p>Support for mouse event reporting with X Window xterm and
1017 FreeBSD and OS/2 console windows.</p>
1021 <p>Extended mouse support via Alessandro Rubini's gpm
1026 <p>The function <code>wresize</code> allows you to resize
1027 windows, preserving their data.</p>
1031 <p>The function <code>use_default_colors</code> allows you to
1032 use the terminal's default colors for the default color pair,
1033 achieving the effect of transparent colors.</p>
1037 <p>The functions <code>keyok</code> and
1038 <code>define_key</code> allow you to better control the use
1039 of function keys, e.g., disabling the <span class=
1040 "main-name">ncurses</span> KEY_MOUSE, or by defining more
1041 than one control sequence to map to a given key code.</p>
1045 <p>Support for direct-color terminals, such as modern
1050 <p>Support for 256-color terminals, such as modern xterm.</p>
1054 <p>Support for 16-color terminals, such as <em>aixterm</em>
1055 and <em>modern xterm</em>.</p>
1059 <p>Better cursor-movement optimization. The package now
1060 features a cursor-local-movement computation more efficient
1061 than either BSD's or System V's.</p>
1065 <p>Super hardware scrolling support. The screen-update code
1066 incorporates a novel, simple, and cheap algorithm that
1067 enables it to make optimal use of hardware scrolling,
1068 line-insertion, and line-deletion for screen-line movements.
1069 This algorithm is more powerful than the 4.4BSD curses
1070 <code>quickch</code> routine.</p>
1074 <p>Real support for terminals with the magic-cookie glitch.
1075 The screen-update code will refrain from drawing a highlight
1076 if the magic- cookie unattributed spaces required just before
1077 the beginning and after the end would step on a non-space
1078 character. It will automatically shift highlight boundaries
1079 when doing so would make it possible to draw the highlight
1080 without changing the visual appearance of the screen.</p>
1084 <p>It is possible to generate the library with a list of
1085 pre-loaded fallback entries linked to it so that it can serve
1086 those terminal types even when no terminfo tree or termcap
1087 file is accessible (this may be useful for support of
1088 screen-oriented programs that must run in single-user
1093 <p>The <a href="@HOMEPAGE@/man/tic.1m.html"><span class=
1094 "part-name">tic</span></a>/<a href=
1095 "@HOMEPAGE@/man/captoinfo.1m.html">captoinfo</a> utility
1096 provided with <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> has the
1097 ability to translate many termcaps from the XENIX, IBM and
1098 AT&T extension sets.</p>
1102 <p>A BSD-like <a href=
1103 "@HOMEPAGE@/man/tset.1.html"><span class=
1104 "part-name">tset</span></a> utility is provided.</p>
1108 <p>The <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> library and
1109 utilities will automatically read terminfo entries from
1110 $HOME/.terminfo if it exists, and compile to that directory
1111 if it exists and the user has no write access to the system
1112 directory. This feature makes it easier for users to have
1113 personal terminfo entries without giving up access to the
1114 system terminfo directory.</p>
1118 <p>You may specify a path of directories to search for
1119 compiled descriptions with the environment variable
1120 TERMINFO_DIRS (this generalizes the feature provided by
1121 TERMINFO under stock System V.)</p>
1125 <p>In terminfo source files, use capabilities may refer not
1126 just to other entries in the same source file (as in System
1127 V) but also to compiled entries in either the system terminfo
1128 directory or the user's $HOME/.terminfo directory.</p>
1132 <p>The table-of-entries utility <a href=
1133 "@HOMEPAGE@/man/toe.1m.html"><span class=
1134 "part-name">toe</span></a> makes it easy for users to see
1135 exactly what terminal types are available on the system.</p>
1139 <p>The library meets the X/Open Curses requirement that every
1140 function declared in a header file has a macro equivalent.
1141 If the macro definition is disabled with <code>#undef</code>,
1142 the function may be linked (and its calls will be checked
1143 against the prototype).</p>
1147 <p>Extensive documentation is provided (see the <em><a href=
1148 "@HOMEPAGE@/ncurses.faq.html#additional_reading">Additional
1149 Reading</a></em> section of the <em><a href=
1150 "@HOMEPAGE@/ncurses.faq.html"><span class=
1151 "main-name">ncurses</span> FAQ</a></em> for online
1156 <h2><a name="h2-who-uses" id="h2-who-uses">Applications using
1157 <span class="main-name">ncurses</span></a></h2>
1159 <p>The <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> distribution
1160 includes a selection of test programs (including a few games).
1161 These are available separately as <a href=
1162 "@HOMEPAGE@/ncurses-examples.html">ncurses-examples</a></p>
1164 <p>The ncurses library has been tested with a wide variety of
1165 applications including:</p>
1169 <dt><span class="part-name">aptitude</span>
1173 <p>FrontEnd to Apt, the debian package manager</p>
1176 "https://wiki.debian.org/Aptitude">https://wiki.debian.org/Aptitude</a></p>
1179 <dt><span class="part-name">cdk</span>
1183 <p>Curses Development Kit</p>
1185 <p><a href="@WEBSITE@/cdk/">@WEBSITE@/cdk/</a><br>
1189 <dt><span class="part-name">ded</span>
1193 <p>directory-editor</p>
1195 <p><a href="@WEBSITE@/ded/">@WEBSITE@/ded/</a></p>
1198 <dt><span class="part-name">dialog</span>
1202 <p>the underlying application used in Slackware's setup,
1203 and the basis for similar install/configure applications on
1206 <p><a href="@WEBSITE@/dialog/">@WEBSITE@/dialog/</a></p>
1209 <dt><span class="part-name">lynx</span>
1213 <p>the text WWW browser</p>
1216 "https://lynx.invisible-island.net/">https://lynx.invisible-island.net/</a></p>
1219 <dt><span class="part-name">mutt</span>
1225 <p><a href="http://www.mutt.org/">http://www.mutt.org/</a></p>
1228 <dt><span class="part-name">ncftp</span>
1232 <p>file-transfer utility</p>
1235 "https://www.ncftp.com/">https://www.ncftp.com/</a></p>
1238 <dt><span class="part-name">nvi</span>
1242 <p>New vi uses ncurses.</p>
1245 "https://sites.google.com/a/bostic.com/keithbostic/vi">https://sites.google.com/a/bostic.com/keithbostic/vi</a><br>
1250 <dt><span class="part-name">ranger</span>
1254 <p>A console file manager with VI key bindings in
1255 <em>Python</em>.</p>
1258 "https://ranger.github.io/">https://ranger.github.io/</a></p>
1261 <dt><span class="part-name">tin</span>
1265 <p>newsreader, supporting color, MIME</p>
1267 <p><a href="http://www.tin.org/">http://www.tin.org/</a></p>
1270 <dt><span class="part-name">vifm</span>
1274 <p>File manager with vi like keybindings</p>
1276 <p><a href="https://vifm.info/">https://vifm.info/</a></p>
1281 <p>as well as some that use <span class=
1282 "main-name">ncurses</span> for the terminfo support alone:</p>
1286 <dt><span class="part-name">minicom</span>
1290 <p>terminal emulator for serial modem connections</p>
1293 "https://alioth.debian.org/projects/minicom/">https://alioth.debian.org/projects/minicom/</a></p>
1296 <dt><span class="part-name">mosh</span>
1300 <p>a replacement for <code>ssh</code>.</p>
1302 <p><a href="https://mosh.org/">https://mosh.org/</a></p>
1305 <dt><span class="part-name">tack</span>
1309 <p>terminfo action checker</p>
1311 <p><a href="@HOMEPAGE@/tack.html">@HOMEPAGE@/tack.html</a></p>
1314 <dt><span class="part-name">tmux</span>
1318 <p>terminal multiplexor</p>
1321 "https://github.com/tmux/tmux/wiki">https://github.com/tmux/tmux/wiki</a></p>
1324 <dt><span class="part-name">vile</span>
1328 <p><em>vi-like-emacs</em> may be built to use the terminfo,
1329 termcap or curses interfaces.</p>
1331 <p><a href="@WEBSITE@/vile/">@WEBSITE@/vile/</a></p>
1336 <p>and finally, those which use only the termcap interface:</p>
1340 <dt><span class="part-name">emacs</span>
1347 "https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/">https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/</a></p>
1350 <dt><span class="part-name">less</span>
1354 <p>The most commonly used <em>pager</em> (a program that
1355 displays text files).</p>
1358 "http://www.greenwoodsoftware.com/less/">http://www.greenwoodsoftware.com/less/</a></p>
1361 <dt><span class="part-name">screen</span>
1365 <p>terminal multiplexor</p>
1368 "https://www.gnu.org/software/screen/">https://www.gnu.org/software/screen/</a></p>
1371 <dt><span class="part-name">vim</span>
1377 <p><a href="https://www.vim.org/">https://www.vim.org/</a></p>
1382 <h2><a name="h2-development" id="h2-development">Development
1385 <p>Zeyd Ben-Halim started <span class="main-name">ncurses</span>
1386 from a previous package pcurses, written by Pavel Curtis. Eric S.
1387 Raymond continued development. Jürgen Pfeifer wrote most of
1388 the form and menu libraries.</p>
1390 <p>Ongoing development work is done by <a href=
1391 "mailto:dickey@invisible-island.net">Thomas E. Dickey</a>. Thomas
1392 E. Dickey has acted as the maintainer for the Free Software
1393 Foundation, which held a <a href=
1394 "@HOMEPAGE@/ncurses-license.html">copyright on ncurses</a> for
1395 releases 4.2 through 6.1. Following the release of ncurses 6.1,
1396 effective as of release 6.2, copyright for ncurses reverted to
1397 Thomas E. Dickey (see the <a href=
1398 "@HOMEPAGE@/ncurses.faq.html#relicensed">ncurses FAQ</a> for
1399 additional information).</p>
1401 <p>Contact the current maintainers at</p>
1404 <a href="mailto:bug-ncurses@gnu.org">bug-ncurses@gnu.org</a>
1407 <p>To join the ncurses mailing list, please write email to</p>
1411 "mailto:bug-ncurses-request@gnu.org">bug-ncurses-request@gnu.org</a>
1413 containing the line:
1415 <p><code>subscribe</code>
1416 <em><name>@<host.domain></em></p>
1419 <p>This list is open to anyone interested in helping with the
1420 development and testing of this package.</p>
1422 <p>Beta versions of <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> are
1423 made available at</p>
1427 "https://invisible-island.net/archives/ncurses/current/">https://invisible-island.net/archives/ncurses/current/</a>
1430 "https://invisible-mirror.net/archives/ncurses/current/">https://invisible-mirror.net/archives/ncurses/current/</a> .</p>
1433 <p>Patches to the current release are made available at</p>
1437 "https://invisible-island.net/archives/ncurses/6.3/">https://invisible-island.net/archives/ncurses/6.3/</a>
1440 "https://invisible-mirror.net/archives/ncurses/6.3/">https://invisible-mirror.net/archives/ncurses/6.3/</a> .</p>
1443 <p>There is an archive of the mailing list here:</p>
1447 "http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-ncurses">http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-ncurses</a>
1449 "https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-ncurses">https</a>)</p>
1452 <h2><a name="h2-this-stuff" id="h2-this-stuff">Related
1455 <p>The release notes make scattered references to these pages,
1456 which may be interesting by themselves:</p>
1459 <li><a href="@HOMEPAGE@/ncurses-license.html"><span class=
1460 "main-name">ncurses</span> licensing</a></li>
1462 <li><a href="@HOMEPAGE@/ncurses-mapsyms.html">Symbol versioning
1463 in <span class="main-name">ncurses</span></a></li>
1465 <li><a href="@HOMEPAGE@/ncurses-slang.html">Comments on
1466 <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> versus <span class=
1467 "main-name">slang</span> (S-Lang)</a></li>
1469 <li><a href="@HOMEPAGE@/ncurses-openbsd.html">Comments on
1470 <span class="main-name">OpenBSD</span></a></li>
1472 <li><a href="@HOMEPAGE@/tack.html">tack – terminfo action
1475 <li><a href="@HOMEPAGE@/tctest.html">tctest – termcap
1476 library checker</a></li>
1479 "@HOMEPAGE@/ncurses.html#download_database">Terminal
1483 <h2><a name="h2-other-stuff" id="h2-other-stuff">Other
1486 <p>The distribution provides a newer version of the
1487 terminfo-format terminal description file once maintained by
1488 <a href="http://www.catb.org/~esr/terminfo/">Eric
1489 Raymond</a> . Unlike the older version, the termcap and
1490 terminfo data are provided in the same file, which also provides
1491 several user-definable extensions beyond the X/Open
1494 <p>You can find lots of information on terminal-related topics
1495 not covered in the terminfo file at <a href=
1496 "http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.cs.utk.edu/~shuford/terminal">
1497 Richard Shuford's archive</a> . The collection of computer
1499 "http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/">bitsavers.org</a> has also been
1504 <li><a href="#h2-overview">Overview</a></li>
1507 <a href="#h2-release-notes">Release Notes</a>
1510 <a href="#h3-library">Library improvements</a>
1512 <li><a href="#h4-new-library">New features</a></li>
1514 <li><a href="#h4-fixes-library">Other
1515 improvements</a></li>
1520 <a href="#h3-programs">Program improvements</a>
1522 <li><a href="#h4-utilities">Utilities</a></li>
1524 <li><a href="#h4-examples">Examples</a></li>
1528 <li><a href="#h3-database">Terminal database</a></li>
1530 <li><a href="#h3-documentation">Documentation</a></li>
1532 <li><a href="#h3-bug-fixes">Interesting bug-fixes</a></li>
1535 <a href="#h3-config-config">Configuration changes</a>
1537 <li><a href="#h4-config-major">Major changes</a></li>
1539 <li><a href="#h4-config-options">Configuration
1544 <li><a href="#h3-portability">Portability</a></li>
1548 <li><a href="#h2-features">Features of <span class=
1549 "main-name">ncurses</span></a></li>
1551 <li><a href="#h2-who-uses">Applications using <span class=
1552 "main-name">ncurses</span></a></li>
1554 <li><a href="#h2-development">Development activities</a></li>
1556 <li><a href="#h2-this-stuff">Related resources</a></li>
1558 <li><a href="#h2-other-stuff">Other resources</a></li>