2 $Id: announce.html,v 1.61 2020/02/09 21:26:51 tom Exp $
3 ****************************************************************************
4 * Copyright 2018-2019,2020 Thomas E. Dickey *
6 * Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a *
7 * copy of this software and associated documentation files (the *
8 * "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including *
9 * without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, *
10 * distribute, distribute with modifications, sublicense, and/or sell *
11 * copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is *
12 * furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions: *
14 * The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included *
15 * in all copies or substantial portions of the Software. *
17 * THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS *
18 * OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF *
19 * MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. *
20 * IN NO EVENT SHALL THE ABOVE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, *
21 * DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR *
22 * OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR *
23 * THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE. *
25 * Except as contained in this notice, the name(s) of the above copyright *
26 * holders shall not be used in advertising or otherwise to promote the *
27 * sale, use or other dealings in this Software without prior written *
29 ****************************************************************************
31 <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN">
35 <meta name="generator" content=
36 "HTML Tidy for HTML5 for Linux version 5.2.0">
38 <title>Announcing ncurses 6.2</title>
39 <link rel="author" href="mailto:bug-ncurses@gnu.org">
40 <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content=
41 "text/html; charset=us-ascii">
42 <style type="text/css">
43 p,li { max-width:700px; }
44 dd { max-width:630px; }
47 font-variant: small-caps;
50 font-family: "Andale Mono", "Monotype.com", monospace;
55 font-family: "Andale Mono", "Monotype.com", monospace;
62 <h1 class="no-header">Announcing ncurses 6.2</h1>
64 <h2><a name="h2-overview" id="h2-overview">Overview</a></h2>
66 <p>The <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> (new curses)
67 library is a free software emulation of curses in System V
68 Release 4.0 (SVr4), and more. It uses terminfo format, supports
69 pads and color and multiple highlights and forms characters and
70 function-key mapping, and has all the other SVr4-curses
71 enhancements over BSD curses. SVr4 curses became the basis of
74 <p>In mid-June 1995, the maintainer of 4.4BSD curses declared
75 that he considered 4.4BSD curses obsolete, and encouraged the
76 keepers of <span class="main-name">unix</span> releases such as
77 BSD/OS, FreeBSD and NetBSD to switch over to <span class=
78 "main-name">ncurses</span>.</p>
80 <p>Since 1995, <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> has been
81 ported to many systems:</p>
84 <li>It is used in almost every system based on the Linux kernel
85 (aside from some embedded applications).</li>
87 <li>It is used as the system curses library on OpenBSD, FreeBSD
90 <li>It is used in environments such as Cygwin and MinGW. The
91 first of these was EMX on OS/2 Warp.</li>
93 <li>It is used (though usually not as the <em>system</em>
94 curses) on all of the vendor <span class=
95 "main-name">unix</span> systems, e.g., AIX, HP-UX, IRIX64, SCO,
98 <li>It should work readily on any ANSI/POSIX-conforming
99 <span class="main-name">unix</span>.</li>
102 <p>The distribution includes the library and support utilities,
107 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/captoinfo.1m.html"><span class="part-name">
108 captoinfo</span></a>, a termcap conversion tool</li>
111 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/clear.1.html"><span class="part-name">
112 clear</span></a>, utility for clearing the screen</li>
115 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/infocmp.1m.html"><span class="part-name">
116 infocmp</span></a>, the terminfo decompiler</li>
119 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/tabs.1.html"><span class="part-name">
120 tabs</span></a>, set tabs on a terminal</li>
123 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/tic.1m.html"><span class="part-name">
124 tic</span></a>, the terminfo compiler</li>
127 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/toe.1m.html"><span class="part-name">
128 toe</span></a>, list (table of) terminfo entries</li>
131 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/tput.1.html"><span class="part-name">
132 tput</span></a>, utility for retrieving terminal capabilities
133 in shell scripts</li>
136 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/tset.1.html"><span class="part-name">
137 tset</span></a>, to initialize the terminal</li>
140 <p>Full manual pages are provided for the library and tools.</p>
142 <p>The <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> distribution is
143 available at <span class="main-name">ncurses</span>' <a href=
144 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/">homepage</a>:</p>
148 "ftp://ftp.invisible-island.net/ncurses/">ftp://ftp.invisible-island.net/ncurses/</a>
151 "https://invisible-mirror.net/archives/ncurses/">https://invisible-mirror.net/archives/ncurses/</a> .</p>
154 <p>It is also available via anonymous FTP at the GNU distribution
159 "ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/ncurses/">ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/ncurses/</a> .</p>
162 <h2><a name="h2-release-notes" id="h2-release-notes">Release
165 <p>These notes are for <span class="main-name">ncurses</span>
166 6.2, released <strong>February 12, 2020</strong>.</p>
168 <p>This release is designed to be source-compatible with
169 <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> 5.0 through 6.1; providing
170 extensions to the application binary interface (ABI). Although
171 the source can still be configured to support the <span class=
172 "main-name">ncurses</span> 5 ABI, the reason for the release is
173 to reflect improvements to the <span class=
174 "main-name">ncurses</span> 6 ABI and the supporting utility
177 <p>There are, of course, numerous other improvements, listed in
178 this announcement.</p>
180 <p>The most <a href="#h3-bug-fixes">important
181 bug-fixes/improvements</a> dealt with user-defined capabilities
182 in terminal descriptions. The release notes also mention some
183 other bug-fixes, but are focused on new features and improvements
184 to existing features since <span class="main-name">ncurses</span>
187 <h3><a name="h3-library" id="h3-library">Library improvements</a></h3>
189 <h4><a name="h4-new-library" id="h4-new-library">New features</a></h4>
191 <p>There are several new features:</p>
196 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/form_field_opts.3x.html">
197 O_EDGE_INSERT_STAY</a> tells the form library to optionally
198 delay cursor movement on a field edge/boundary</p>
203 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/form_field_opts.3x.html">
204 O_INPUT_FIELD</a> extension to form library allows a dynamic
205 field to shrink if the new limit is smaller than the current
211 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_memleaks.3x.html">
212 exit_curses</a> and <a href=
213 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_memleaks.3x.html">
214 exit_terminfo</a> to replace internal symbols for
220 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_trace.3x.html#h3-Functions">
221 curses_trace</a>, to replace trace().</p>
225 <p>Additionally, to improve performance other changes (and
226 extensions) are provided in this release:</p>
230 <p>mouse decoding now handles shift/control/alt logic when
231 decoding xterm's 1006 mode</p>
235 <p>ncurses now defines a limit for <a href=
236 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_getstr.3x.html">
237 wgetnstr</a>, <a href=
238 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_get_wstr.3x.html">
239 wgetn_wstr</a> when length is negative or “too
243 <li>reordered loop-limit checks in <a href=
244 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_insstr.3x.html">winsnstr</a>
245 in case the string has no terminating null and only the number
246 of characters is used.</li>
249 <p>there is now no buffer-size limit when reading the
250 <a href="https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/ncurses.3x.html#h3-TERMCAP">
251 <tt>$TERMCAP</tt></a> variable.</p>
256 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/ncurses.3x.html#h3-TERMCAP">
257 <tt>$TERMCAP</tt></a> variable may be interpreted as a
258 fallback to a terminfo entry</p>
263 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_terminfo.3x.html#h3-Output-Functions">
264 <tt>mvcur</tt></a> now decides whether to use hard-tabs,
265 using <strong><tt>xt</tt></strong>,
266 <strong><tt>tbc</tt></strong> and
267 <strong><tt>hts</tt></strong> as clues.</p>
271 <p>extended colors are improved by modifying an internal call
273 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_terminfo.3x.html#h3-Output-Functions">
274 <tt>vid_puts</tt></a> to pass extended color pairs e.g., from
275 <tt>tty_update.c</tt> and <tt>lib_mvcur.c</tt></p>
279 <p id="getenv-fixes">the initialization functions now avoid
280 relying upon persistent data for the result from <a href=
281 "#getenv-check"><tt>getenv</tt></a></p>
285 <p>scrolling is improved:</p>
288 <li>a limit check in <tt>newline_forces_scroll</tt> handles
289 the case where the row is inside scroll-margins, but not at
293 <p>improved loop limits in <tt>_nc_scroll_window</tt>
294 handle a case where the scrolled data is a pad which is
295 taller than the window.</p>
301 <h4><a name="h4-fixes-library" id="h4-fixes-library">Other
302 improvements</a></h4>
304 <p>These are revised features:</p>
308 <p>used “<tt>const</tt>” in some prototypes
309 rather than <tt>NCURSES_CONST</tt> where X/Open Curses was
310 updated to do this, e.g., <tt>wscanw</tt>, <tt>newterm</tt>,
311 the terminfo interface. Also use “<tt>const</tt>”
312 for consistency in the termcap interface, which was withdrawn
313 by X/Open Curses in Issue 5 (2007). As of Issue 7, X/Open
314 Curses still lacks “<tt>const</tt>” for certain
315 return values, e.g., <a href=
316 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_util.3x.html#h3-keyname_key_name">
322 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_bkgd.3x.html#h3-bkgd">
323 <tt>wbkgd</tt></a> and <a href=
324 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_bkgrnd.3x.html#h3-bkgrnd">
325 <tt>wbkgrnd</tt></a> to improve compatibility with SVr4
326 curses, changing the way the window rendition is updated when
327 the background character is modified</p>
331 <p>improved terminfo write/read by modifying the fourth item
332 of the extended header to denote the number of valid strings
333 in the extended string table (see <a href=
334 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/term.5.html#h3-EXTENDED-STORAGE-FORMAT">
339 <p>modified the initialization checks for mouse so that the
341 "/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-xterm_sm_1006"><tt>xterm+sm+1006</tt></a>
342 block will work with terminal descriptions not mentioning
347 <p>These were done to limit or ultimately deprecate features:</p>
351 <p>deprecated <a href=
352 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/NEWS.html#t970831">safe-sprintf</a>,
353 since the <tt>vsnprintf</tt> function, which does what was
354 needed, was standardized long ago.</p>
359 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_printw.3x.html#h3-PORTABILITY">
360 <tt>vwprintw</tt></a> and <tt>vwscanw</tt> as deprecated;
361 recommend using <a href=
362 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_printw.3x.html">
363 <tt>vw_printw</tt></a> and <tt>vw_scanw</tt>,
368 <p>added deprecation warnings for internal functions called
369 by older versions of <a href=
370 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/tack.html">tack</a>.</p>
374 <p>removed unused <tt>_nc_import_termtype2</tt> function.</p>
378 <p>These are improvements to existing features:</p>
382 <p>check parameter of <a href=
383 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_threads.3x.html">
384 set_escdelay</a>, return ERR if negative.</p>
388 <p>check parameter of <a href=
389 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_threads.3x.html">
390 set_tabsize</a>, return ERR if not greater than zero</p>
394 <p>correct a status-check in _nc_read_tic_entry() so that if
395 reading a hex/b64 <a href=
396 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/ncurses.3x.html#h3-TERMINFO">
397 <tt>$TERMINFO</tt></a>, and the <a href=
398 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/ncurses.3x.html#h3-TERM">
399 <tt>$TERM</tt></a> does not match, fall-through to the
400 compiled-in search list.</p>
404 <p>amend check for <a href=
405 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/terminfo.5.html#h3-Predefined-Capabilities">
406 <tt>repeat_char</tt></a> to handle a case where setlocale()
407 was called after <a href=
408 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_initscr.3x.html">
409 <tt>initscr</tt></a></p>
413 <p>move macro for <a href=
414 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_touch.3x.html">
415 <tt>is_linetouched</tt></a> inside
416 <strong><tt>NCURSES_NOMACROS</tt></strong>
417 <em><tt>ifndef</tt></em>.</p>
421 <p>use <tt>_nc_copy_termtype2</tt> rather than direct
422 assignment in <a href=
423 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_terminfo.3x.html#h3-Initialization">
424 setupterm</a>, in case it is called repeatedly using fallback
425 terminfo descriptions</p>
429 <p>improve workaround for Solaris wcwidth versus line-drawing
434 <p>add checks in <a href=
435 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/resizeterm.3x.html">
436 <tt>repair_subwindows</tt></a> to keep the current position
437 and scroll-margins inside the resized subwindow.</p>
441 <p>correct a buffer-limit in <tt>write_entry.c</tt> for
442 systems that use caseless filenames.</p>
446 <p>improved build-time utility <em>report_offsets</em>:</p>
450 <p>add categories, e.g., "w" for wide-character, "t" for
451 threads to make the report more readable. Reorganized the
452 structures reported to make the categories more
457 <p>add <tt>NCURSES_GLOBALS</tt> and
458 <tt>NCURSES_PRESCREEN</tt> to report to show how similar
459 the different <em>libtinfo</em> configurations are.</p>
465 <p>modified some header files to ensure that those include
466 necessary files except for the previously-documented
471 <p>added some traces in initialization to show whether a
472 fallback entry is used.</p>
476 <p>made minor optimization to reduce calls to
477 _nc_reserve_pairs</p>
481 <p>These are corrections to existing features:</p>
485 <p>fix a special case in <tt>PutAttrChar</tt> where a cell is
486 marked as alternate-character set, but the terminal does not
487 actually support the given graphic character. This would
488 happen in an older terminal such as <em>vt52</em>, which
489 lacks most line-drawing capability.</p>
493 <p>corrected flag for "seq" method of db 1.8.5 interface,
494 needed by toe on some of the BSDs.</p>
498 <p>modify comparison in make_hash.c to correct a special case
499 in collision handling for Caps-hpux11</p>
503 <p>add extended_slk_color{,_sp} symbols to the appropriate
504 package/*.{map,sym} files</p>
508 <p>modify lib_setup to avoid calling pthread_self() without
509 first verifying that the address is valid, i.e., for weak
514 <p>add a couple of broken-linker symbols to the list of
515 versioned symbols to help with link-time optimization versus
520 <h3><a name="h3-programs" id="h3-programs">Program
521 improvements</a></h3>
523 <p>Several improvements were made to the utility programs:</p>
526 <dt><span class="part-name">clear</span>
531 <li>improved logic for clearing with the <em>E3</em>
532 extension, in case the terminal scrolls content onto its
533 saved-lines before actually clearing the display, by
534 clearing the saved-lines after clearing the display</li>
538 <dt><span class="part-name">infocmp</span>
543 <li>omit filtering of “<tt>OTxx</tt>” names
544 which are used for obsolete capabilities, when the output
545 is sorted by long-names. This change helps when making a
546 table of the short/long capability names.</li>
550 <dt><span class="part-name">tic</span>
555 <li>added check for consistent alternate character set
558 <li>added check for paired <tt>indn</tt>/<tt>rin</tt>.</li>
560 <li>added check for terminals with <tt>parm_dch</tt> vs
561 <tt>parm_ich</tt>.</li>
563 <li>added check for the case where
564 <tt>setf</tt>/<tt>setb</tt> are given using different
565 strings, but provide identical results to
566 <tt>setaf</tt>/<tt>setab</tt>.</li>
568 <li>corrected check for <tt>ich1</tt>.</li>
570 <li>changed a too-large terminal entry from a fatal error
575 <dt><span class="part-name">toe</span>
580 <li>ignores any hex/b64 <tt>$TERMINFO</tt> value in the
581 list of terminfo databases.</li>
585 <dt><span class="part-name">tset</span>
590 <li>replace check in <span class="part-name">reset</span>
591 command for obsolete “<tt>pt</tt>” capability
592 using <tt>tbc</tt> and <tt>hts</tt> capabilities as
595 <li>modify <span class="part-name">reset</span> to allow
596 for tabstops at intervals other than 8.</li>
598 <li>change <span class="part-name">reset</span>'s behavior
599 for margins to simply clear soft-margins if possible,
600 rather than clearing and then setting them according to the
601 terminal's width.</li>
605 <dt><span class="part-name">tput</span>
610 <li>add “<tt>x</tt>” to <tt>getopt</tt> string
611 so that “<tt>tput -x clear</tt>”
617 <p>Several changes were made to the generated ncurses*config
618 scripts and the analogous “<tt>.pc</tt>” files to
619 reduce differences between the configurations they report:</p>
623 <p>modified the ncurse*-config and pc-files to more closely
624 match for the <tt>-I</tt> and <tt>-l</tt> options.</p>
628 <p>filtered out linker-specs from the <tt>--libs</tt>
633 <p>amended the ncurses*-config and pc-files to take into
634 account the rpath hack which differed between those
639 <p>modified generated ncurses*config and ncurses.pc,
640 ncursesw.pc, etc., to list helper libraries such as gpm for
645 <h4><a name="h4-examples" id="h4-examples">Examples</a></h4>
647 <p>Along with the library and utilities, improvements were made
649 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses-examples.html">ncurses-examples</a>.
650 Most of this activity aimed at improving the test-packages. A few
651 changes are more generally useful, e.g., for the main ncurses
652 test-program, and for analyzing traces using the
653 <em>tracemunch</em> script:</p>
657 <p>improve recovery from error when reading command-character
658 in <tt>test/ncurses.c</tt>, showing the relevant error
659 message and not exiting on EINTR.</p>
663 <p>improve <em>tracemunch</em>, by keeping track of
664 <tt>TERMINAL*</tt> values, and if tracing was first turned on
665 after initialization, attempt to show distinct screen, window
666 and terminal names anyway.</p>
670 <p>modify <em>tracemunch</em> to accept filename parameters
671 in addition to use as a pipe/filter.</p>
675 <p>update <em>tracemunch</em> to work with <em>perl
676 5.26.2</em>, which changed the rules for escaping regular
681 <p>add some checks in <em>tracemunch</em> for undefined
686 <p>modify <tt>TurnOn</tt>/<tt>TurnOff</tt> macros (in
687 lib_vidattr.c and lib_vid_attr.c) to avoid expansion of
688 “<tt>CUR</tt>” in trace.</p>
692 <p>There are other new demo/test programs and reusable
696 <dt><span class="part-name">color_content</span>
699 <dd>Demonstrate the <tt>color_content</tt> and
700 <tt>extended_color_content</tt> functions.</dd>
702 <dt><span class="part-name">demo_tabs</span>
705 <dd>A simple demo of tabs in curses.</dd>
707 <dt><span class="part-name">dump_window</span>
710 <dd>A portable curses screen-dump, used to compare ncurses
711 screen contents with Solaris.</dd>
713 <dt><span class="part-name">pair_content</span>
716 <dd>Demonstrate the <tt>pair_content</tt> and
717 <tt>extended_pair_content</tt> functions.</dd>
719 <dt><span class="part-name">report_hashing</span>
722 <dd>Check hash-tables used for terminfo and termcap names.</dd>
724 <dt><span class="part-name">parse_rgb</span>
727 <dd>Sample implementation of the ncurses RGB extension from
729 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/user_caps.5.html">user_caps.5</a>,
730 used in <em>picsmap</em> and <em>savescreen</em> programs.</dd>
733 <p>A variety of improvements were made to existing programs, both
734 new features as well as options added to make the set of programs
739 <p>add “<tt>-l</tt>” option to test/background,
740 to dump screen contents in a form that lets different curses
741 implementations be compared.</p>
745 <p>add “<tt>@</tt>” command to test/ncurses
746 F-test, to allow rapid jump to different character pages.</p>
750 <p>added enum, regex examples to test/demo_forms</p>
754 <p>amend Scaled256() macro in test/picsmap.c to cover the
755 full range 0..1000</p>
759 <p>corrected pathname used in Ada95 sample programs for
760 <tt>explain.txt</tt>, to work with test-packages, and used an
761 awk script to split the resulting pathname when it would be
762 too long for a single line.</p>
766 <p>ignore interrupted system-call in test/ncurses's
767 command-line, e.g., if the terminal were resized.</p>
771 <p>improved ifdef's for <tt>TABSIZE</tt> variable, to help
772 with AIX/HPUX ports.</p>
776 <h3><a name="h3-database" id="h3-database">Terminal database</a></h3>
778 <p>There are several new terminal descriptions:</p>
780 <blockquote style="word-break:keep-all">
781 <p><tt>alacritty</tt>, <tt>domterm</tt>, <tt>kitty</tt>,
782 <tt>mintty</tt>, <tt>mintty-direct</tt>, <tt>ms-terminal</tt>,
783 <tt>n7900</tt>, <tt>nsterm-build309</tt>,
784 <tt>nsterm-direct</tt>, <tt>screen5</tt>, <tt>ti703</tt>,
785 <tt>ti707</tt>, <tt>ti703-w</tt>, <tt>ti707-w</tt>
786 <tt>vscode</tt>, <tt>vscode-direct</tt>, <tt>xterm-mono</tt>,
787 <tt>xterm.js</tt></p>
790 <p>There are many changes to existing terminal descriptions. Some
791 were updates to several descriptions:</p>
795 "/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-ansi_rep"><tt>ansi+rep</tt></a>
796 in a dozen places</li>
798 <li>add rs1 to konsole, mlterm</li>
800 <li>improve several flash capabilities with trailing mandatory
803 <li>drop <tt>ich1</tt> from <tt>rxvt-basic</tt>, <tt>Eterm</tt>
804 and <tt>mlterm</tt> to improve compatibility with old
805 non-curses programs</li>
808 "/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-xterm_keypad"><tt>xterm+keypad</tt></a>
809 in <tt>xterm-new</tt></li>
812 "/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-xterm_sl-twm"><tt>xterm+sl-twm</tt></a>
813 for consistency, nine places</li>
815 <li>improve <em>xm</em> example in <a href=
816 "/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-xterm_x11mouse">xterm+x11mouse</a>
818 "/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-xterm_sm_1006">xterm+sm_1006</a>.</li>
821 <p>while others affected specific descriptions. These were
822 retested, to take into account changes by their developers:</p>
825 <p><tt>terminator</tt>, <tt>st</tt></p>
828 <p>while these are specific fixes based on reviewing
829 documentation, user reports, or warnings from <span class=
830 "part-name">tic</span>:</p>
834 "/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-adds200">adds200</a>:</dt>
843 "/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-gnome-256color">gnome-256color</a>
848 <li>base entry on "gnome", not "vte", for consistency</li>
853 "/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-interix">interix</a>
858 <li>trim unnecessary setf/setb</li>
863 "/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-linux-16color">linux-16color</a>
868 <li>accommodate <a href=
869 "https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-ncurses/2019-10/msg00061.html">
870 Linux console driver</a> incompatibility introduced in
876 "/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-nsterm-256color">nsterm-256color</a>:</dt>
880 <li>add nsterm-build309 to replace nsterm-256color,
881 assigning the latter as an alias of nsterm, to make mouse
882 work with nsterm-256color</li>
887 "/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-regent40">regent40</a>:</dt>
891 <li>renumber function-keys to match manual</li>
896 "/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-regent60">regent60</a>:</dt>
900 <li>add cd (clr_eos)</li>
902 <li>corrected acsc</li>
904 <li>add shifted function-keys</li>
909 "/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-tvi950">tvi950</a>:</dt>
913 <li>added function-key definitions to agree with Televideo
916 <li>corrected acsc</li>
918 <li>remove bogus kf0</li>
925 "/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-tvi955">tvi955</a>:</dt>
934 "/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-vi200">vi200</a>:</dt>
938 <li>add acsc string, including right/down-arrow</li>
943 "/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-wy50">wy50</a>:</dt>
947 <li>corrected acsc</li>
951 <dt><a href="/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-wy50">wy50</a> and
952 <a href="/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-wy60">wy60</a>:</dt>
956 <li>add shifted function-keys as kF1 to kF16</li>
961 "/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-xterm_x11hilite">xterm+x11hilite</a>:</dt>
965 <li>eliminate unused <em>p5</em> parameter.</li>
970 <p>A few entries use extensions (user-defined terminal
975 "/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-xterm_sm_1006"><tt>xterm+sm+1006</tt></a>
976 (aka “SGR 1006 mouse”) for konsole-base and
979 <li>add <em><tt>Smol/Rmol</tt></em> user-defined capability to
980 <tt>tmux</tt> and <tt>vte-2018</tt></li>
982 <li>add <em><tt>Smulx</tt></em> user-defined capability to
983 <tt>tmux</tt>, <tt>vte-2018</tt></li>
986 <h3><a name="h3-documentation" id=
987 "h3-documentation">Documentation</a></h3>
989 <p>As usual, this release</p>
993 <p>improves documentation by describing new features,</p>
997 <p>attempts to improve the description of features which
998 users have found confusing</p>
1002 <p>fills in overlooked descriptions of features which were
1003 described in the <a href=
1004 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/NEWS.html">NEWS</a>
1005 file but treated sketchily in manual pages.</p>
1009 <p>In addition to providing background information to explain
1010 these features and show how they evolved, there are corrections,
1011 clarifications, etc.:</p>
1018 <li>correct error-returns listed in manual pages for a few
1021 <li>corrected prototypes in several manpages using script
1022 to extract those in compilable form.</li>
1024 <li>fix typo in <a href=
1025 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/term.5.html#h3-EXTENDED-NUMBER-FORMAT">
1026 term.5</a>, improve explanation of format</li>
1031 <p>Clarify in manual pages that <a href=
1032 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_printw.3x.html#h2-PORTABILITY">
1033 vwprintw</a> and <a href=
1034 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_scanw.3x.html#h2-PORTABILITY">
1035 vwscanw</a> are obsolete.<br>
1036 They have not been part of X/Open Curses since 2007.</p>
1040 <p>New/improved history and portability sections:</p>
1044 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_addch.3x.html#h3-ACS-Symbols">
1045 curs_addch.3x</a> gives some background for ACS
1049 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_getcchar.3x.html#h2-PORTABILITY">
1050 curs_getcchar.3x</a> explains a difference between ncurses
1051 and X/Open Curses.</li>
1054 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_getstr.3x.html#h2-PORTABILITY">
1055 curs_getstr.3x</a> gives historical/portability background
1056 for the length parameter of <tt>wgetnstr</tt>.</li>
1059 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_slk.3x.html">
1060 curs_slk.3x</a> lists a few differences between SVr4 curses
1061 and X/Open Curses for soft-keys.</li>
1064 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_terminfo.3x.html">
1065 curs_terminfo.3x</a> explains that the initial
1066 implementation of terminfo in SVr2 was mostly replaced by
1067 other developers in SVr3.</li>
1070 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/infocmp.1m.html">infocmp.1</a>
1071 explains that the initial version of terminfo had no tool
1072 for decompiling descriptions. That came later, with SVr3,
1073 with a different developer.</li>
1076 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/tabs.1">tabs.1</a>
1077 tells more than you wanted to know about the tool.</li>
1080 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/tic.1m.html">tic.1</a>
1081 explains that the initial version of terminfo had a
1082 rudimentary tool (based on termcap) for compiling entries.
1083 The tool used with Unix was developed by others for
1087 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/toe.1m.html">toe.1</a>
1088 explains the origin of this tool.</li>
1093 <p>Improvements for <a href=
1094 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/user_caps.5.html">user_caps.5</a>:</p>
1097 <li>mention <tt>meml</tt>, <tt>memu</tt> and
1100 <li>expanded description of <tt>XM</tt></li>
1102 <li>add a clarification regarding the <tt>RGB</tt>
1105 <li>mention user_caps.5 in the tic and infocmp manual
1111 <p>Other improvements:</p>
1115 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_add_wch.3x.html#h3-Line-Graphics">
1116 curs_add_wch.3x</a> adds note about Unicode terminology for
1117 the line-drawing characters.</li>
1120 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_color.3x.html#h3-RETURN-VALUE">
1121 curs_color.3x</a> improves discussion of error returns and
1125 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_mouse.3x.html">
1126 curs_mouse.3x</a> explains how the <tt>kmous</tt> and
1127 <tt>XM</tt> capabilities are used for xterm-mouse
1131 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_refresh.3x.html#h3-wnoutrefresh_doupdate">
1132 curs_refresh.3x</a> improves documentation regarding the
1133 virtual and physical screens.</li>
1136 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_util.3x.html">
1137 curs_util.3x</a> mentions a difference between SVr4 and
1138 X/Open Curses for <tt>unctrl.h</tt></li>
1141 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_variables.3x.html#h2-PORTABILITY">
1142 curs_variables.3x</a> improves description of the
1143 <em>init_tabs</em> capability and <tt>TABSIZE</tt>
1147 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/ncurses.3x.html#h2-ALTERNATE-CONFIGURATIONS">
1148 ncurses.3x</a> improves documentation regarding
1149 feature-test macros in curses.h</li>
1152 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/resizeterm.3x.html#h3-resize_term">
1153 resizeterm.3x</a> about top-level windows which touch the
1154 screen's borders.</li>
1157 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/tput.1.html#h3-Terminal-Size">
1158 tput.1</a> clarifies how <em>tput</em> determines the
1164 <p>There are no new manual pages (all of the manual page updates
1165 are to existing pages).</p>
1167 <p>Some of the improvements are more subtle, relating to the way
1168 the information is presented. For instance, the generated
1169 terminfo.5 file uses a different table layout, allowing it to use
1170 space on wide terminals more effectively.</p>
1172 <h3><a name="h3-bug-fixes" id="h3-bug-fixes">Interesting
1175 <p>While there were many bugs fixed during development of ncurses
1176 6.2, only a few (the reason for this release) were both important
1177 and interesting. Most of the bug-fixes were for local issues
1178 which did not affect compatibility across releases. Since those
1179 are detailed in the NEWS file no elaboration is needed here.</p>
1181 <p>The interesting bugs were in tic/infocmp's handling of
1182 user-defined capabilities. These were not recent bugs. Initially
1183 it was a simple problem:</p>
1186 <li>The user-defined capabilities can be any type (boolean,
1187 number or string), but once given a type all uses of the name
1188 must conform to that type—unless some special support for
1189 a particular multi-typed name is built into ncurses.</li>
1192 <p>One of simpleterm's contributors copied some definitions
1193 for using <em>tmux</em>'s user-defined capabilities in
1195 "https://git.suckless.org/st/commit/06f8cf8ca87a81db15816658c40b2afcd1ad5332.html">
1196 late in 2016</a>.</p>
1199 <pre class="demo-name">
1200 diff --git a/st.info b/st.info
1201 @@ -185,7 +185,10 @@ st| simpleterm,
1206 +# Tmux unofficial extensions, see TERMINFO EXTENSIONS in tmux(1)
1211 st-256color| simpleterm with 256 colors,
1218 <p>Later, in (referring to a version from <a href=
1219 "https://git.suckless.org/st/commit/c0882f2ed1d7a2dd0fa2efa52157e6fc6fde3652.html">
1220 mid-2017</a>), a user asked to have it updated in
1225 <p>However, it had an error from the change in late 2016. The
1226 terminal description made what <em>tmux</em> expected to be
1227 <strong>string</strong> actually a
1228 <strong>boolean</strong>.</p>
1230 <p>Over the years, there were problems with each of
1231 simpleterm's terminal descriptions. I repaired those, and
1232 usually dealt with the problem.</p>
1236 <p>The difference in this case was that when compiling the
1237 terminal database, <em>tic</em> may have in memory the
1238 definitions for more than one terminal description (so that
1239 it can resolve “<tt>use=</tt>” clauses). Seeing
1240 two different types for the same name, in certain situations
1241 it would incorrectly merge the symbol tables for the two
1242 terminal descriptions.</p>
1246 <p>On simpleterm's side, their bug was finally fixed in
1248 "https://git.suckless.org/st/commit/83866428de031300eab03fbb116bcf7d2b1d4f60.html">
1249 late 2019</a>, three years after the bug was created.</p>
1253 <p>For ncurses, the elapsed time to fix this bug was less than
1254 three years. Someone reported a problem with the terminal
1255 description a few weeks after releasing ncurses 6.1 (in <a href=
1256 "https://github.com/tmux/tmux/issues/1264">tmux #1264</a>), and
1257 the terminal description was updated that week (ncurses patch
1259 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/NEWS.html#t20180224">20180224</a>):</p>
1262 <pre class="demo-name">
1264 + modify _nc_resolve_uses2() to detect incompatible types when merging
1265 a "use=" clause of extended capabilities. The problem was seen in a
1266 defective terminfo integrated from simpleterm sources in 20171111,
1267 compounded by repair in 20180121.
1268 + correct Ss/Ms interchange in st-0.7 entry (tmux #1264) -TD
1272 <p>The larger part of that change added a check to prevent a
1273 simple merge of terminal descriptions where the same user-defined
1274 name was used with different types. But it raised some
1279 <p>Was there a reliable way to manage terminal descriptions
1280 which used the same extended name in different ways?</p>
1284 <p>Should ncurses provide a registry of well-known extended
1285 names, with their types?</p>
1289 <p>Since the correction to <a href=
1290 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses.html#download_database">
1291 <tt>terminfo.src</tt></a> could have been readily adopted by
1292 packagers, there was nothing more to be done from ncurses'
1293 standpoint on that part. But improving ncurses to prevent issues
1294 like that is the reason for making a release.</p>
1296 <p>Nothing more (constructive) was mentioned with regard to
1297 simpleterm. But a few problems were found in the handling of
1298 user-defined capabilities:</p>
1302 <p>Forward-references to user-defined capabilities in a
1303 “<tt>use=</tt>” clause did not allocate new data
1304 for each use. In <em>tic</em>, successive compilation of
1305 terminal entries could add user-defined capabilities to the
1306 wrong terminal entry.</p>
1308 <p>This was not noticed before, since xterm's terminal
1309 descriptions were the main users of the feature, and almost
1310 all of the uses of the building-blocks which contained
1311 user-defined capabilities were backward-references.</p>
1315 <p>There is one (documented) case where ncurses 6.1 supports
1316 a user-defined capability that could be any type (i.e.,
1317 “RGB”). The check added in February 2018 to guard
1318 against mismatches did not handle all of the combinations
1323 <p>Both of these issues dated from the original implementation of
1324 user-defined capabilities. Fixing them does not change the
1325 terminal database, but a older <em>tic</em> without the fixes
1326 will not be able to handle terminfo sources which rely upon those
1327 fixes. Starting in June 2019, the download link for the terminfo
1328 source file was capped at that date. The development sources have
1329 an up-to-date copy of the file, for people with a legitimate need
1332 <p>The “<tt>-c</tt>” (check) option of <em>tic</em>
1333 is not very useful if it cannot offer advice on parameters needed
1334 for user-defined capabilities. The various <em>Caps</em> files
1335 were reorganized to reduce redundancy, and in the common portion
1337 "https://github.com/ThomasDickey/ncurses-snapshots/blob/master/include/Caps-ncurses">Caps-ncurses</a>),
1338 a registry of user-defined capabilities is provided for use by
1339 <em>tic</em>. While users can still define their own custom
1340 capabilities, <em>tic</em> will not offer any advice when their
1341 parameters do not match.</p>
1343 <p>In ncurses 6.2, <em>tic</em> makes a special check to allow
1344 any type for <em>RGB</em>, but its being able to do this relies
1345 upon fixes made in the ncurses library in mid-2019.</p>
1347 <h3><a name="h3-config-config" id=
1348 "h3-config-config">Configuration changes</a></h3>
1350 <h4><a name="h4-config-major" id="h4-config-major">Major
1353 <p>There are no major changes. Several new options were added to
1354 ease integration of packages with systems using different
1355 versions of <em>GNAT</em> and <em>ncurses</em>. Also,
1356 improvements were made to configure checks.</p>
1358 <h4><a name="h4-config-options" id=
1359 "h4-config-options">Configuration options</a></h4>
1361 <p>There are a few new/modified configure options:</p>
1364 <dt><tt>--with-config-suffix</tt>
1368 <p>helps work around a filename conflict with Debian packages
1369 versus test-packages.</p>
1372 <dt><tt>--with-ada-libname</tt>
1376 <p>allows one to rename the “AdaCurses” library
1377 (at least one packager prefers a lowercase name).</p>
1380 <dt><tt>--with-fallbacks</tt>
1384 <p>now ensures there is a value, and adds the fallback
1385 information to top-level Makefile summary.</p>
1388 <dt><tt>--with-pcre2</tt>
1392 <p>check for pcre-posix library to help with MinGW port.</p>
1395 <dt><tt>--with-tic-path</tt> and<br></dt>
1397 <dt><tt>--with-infocmp-path</tt>
1401 <p>help work around problems building fallback source using
1402 pre-6.0 tic/infocmp.</p>
1405 <dt><tt>--with-versioned-syms</tt>
1409 <p>option value can now be a relative pathname.</p>
1413 <h3><a name="h3-portability" id="h3-portability">Portability</a></h3>
1415 <p>Many of the portability changes are implemented via the
1416 configure script:</p>
1421 "/ncurses/man/ncurses.3x.html#h3-TERMINFO"><tt>$TERMINFO</tt></a>
1422 as a default value in configure script if it came from the
1423 <tt>infocmp</tt> <strong><tt>-Q</tt></strong> option.</p>
1427 <p>distinguish gcc from icc and clang when the
1428 <tt>--enable-warnings</tt> option is not used, to avoid
1429 unnecessary warnings about unrecognized inline options</p>
1433 <p>consistently prepend new libraries as they are found
1434 during configuration, rather than relying upon the linker to
1435 resolve order dependencies of libraries.</p>
1439 <p>modified configure scripts to reduce relinking/ranlib
1440 during library install :</p>
1443 <li>use “<tt>install -p</tt>” when available,
1444 to avoid need for ranlib of static libraries.</li>
1446 <li>scripts which use
1447 “<tt>--disable-relink</tt>;” add a 1-second
1448 sleep to work around tools which use whole-second
1449 timestamps, e.g., in <tt>utime</tt> rather than the actual
1450 file system resolution.</li>
1455 <p id="getenv-check">add configure check for <a href=
1456 "#getenv-fixes"><tt>getenv</tt></a> to work around
1457 implementation shown in Emscripten which overwrites the
1458 previous return value on each call.</p>
1460 <p>Use that to optionally suppress <tt>START_TRACE</tt>
1461 macro, whose call to <tt>getenv</tt> may not work
1466 <p>change target configure level for <tt>_XOPEN_SOURCE</tt>
1467 to 600 to address use of <tt>vsscanf</tt> and
1468 <tt>setenv</tt>.</p>
1472 <p>reduce use of <tt>_GNU_SOURCE</tt> for current glibc where
1473 <tt>_DEFAULT_SOURCE</tt> combines with
1474 <tt>_XOPEN_SOURCE</tt></p>
1476 <p>Allow for Cygwin's newlib when checking for the
1477 _DEFAULT_SOURCE symbol.</p>
1479 <p>MidnightBSD is now checked for the
1480 <tt>_XOPEN_SOURCE</tt>-related definitions.</p>
1484 <p>If the check for <tt>va_copy</tt> or <tt>__va_copy</tt>
1488 <li>configure now tries copying the pointers for
1489 <tt>va_list</tt>, or as an array.</li>
1491 <li>alternatively, it checks for
1492 <tt>__builtin_va_copy</tt>(), which could be used with AIX
1493 <tt>xlc</tt> in <em>c89</em> mode.</li>
1498 <p>several changes to support a port to Ultrix 3.1:</p>
1501 <li>check if "b" binary feature of fopen works</li>
1503 <li>check for missing feature of locale.h</li>
1505 <li>add fallback for strstr() in test-programs</li>
1507 <li>add fallback for STDOUT_FILENO in test-programs</li>
1512 <p>The <em>test/configure</em> script (used for <a href=
1513 "/ncurses/ncurses-examples.html"><em>ncurses-examples</em></a>)
1517 <li>work around non-ncurses termcap.h file, e.g., in
1520 <li>check for <a href=
1521 "/ncurses/man/curs_variables.3x.html#h3-TABSIZE"><tt>TABSIZE</tt></a>
1524 <li>checks for the X11/Intrinsic.h header, accommodate
1525 recent MacOS changes which largely emptied
1526 <tt>/usr/include</tt>.</li>
1531 <p>Here are some of the other portability fixes:</p>
1535 <p>added dummy "check" rule in top-level and test-Makefile to
1536 simplify building test-packages for ArchLinux.</p>
1540 <p>dropped library-dependency on psapi for MinGW port, since
1541 win_driver.c defines <tt>PSAPI_VERSION</tt> to 2, making it
1542 use <tt>GetProcessImageFileName</tt> from kernel32.dll</p>
1546 <p>made build-fixes for configuration using --program-suffix
1547 with Ada95, noticed with MacOS but applicable to other
1548 platforms without libpanelw, etc.</p>
1552 <p>modified ncurses/Makefile.in to fix a case where
1553 Debian/testing changes to the ld --as-needed configuration
1554 broke ncurses-examples test packages.</p>
1558 <p>used <tt>_WIN32</tt>/<tt>_WIN64</tt> in preference to
1559 <tt>__MINGW32__</tt>/<tt>__MINGW64__</tt> symbols to simplify
1560 building with Microsoft Visual C++, since the former are
1561 defined in both compiler configurations.</p>
1567 <h2><a name="h2-features" id="h2-features">Features of
1568 <span class="main-name">ncurses</span></a></h2>
1570 <p>The <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> package is fully
1571 upward-compatible with SVr4 (System V Release 4) curses:</p>
1575 <p>All of the SVr4 calls have been implemented (and are
1580 <p><span class="main-name">ncurses</span> supports all of the
1581 for SVr4 curses features including keyboard mapping, color,
1582 forms-drawing with ACS characters, and automatic recognition
1583 of keypad and function keys.</p>
1587 <p><span class="main-name">ncurses</span> provides these SVr4
1588 add-on libraries (not part of X/Open Curses):</p>
1592 <p>the panels library, supporting a stack of windows with
1597 <p>the menus library, supporting a uniform but flexible
1598 interface for menu programming.</p>
1602 <p>the form library, supporting data collection through
1603 on-screen forms.</p>
1609 <p><span class="main-name">ncurses</span>'s terminal database
1610 is fully compatible with that used by SVr4 curses.</p>
1614 <p><span class="main-name">ncurses</span> supports
1615 user-defined capabilities which it can see, but which are
1616 hidden from SVr4 curses applications using the
1617 <em>same</em> terminal database.</p>
1621 <p>It can be optionally configured to match the format
1622 used in related systems such as AIX and Tru64.</p>
1626 <p>Alternatively, <span class="main-name">ncurses</span>
1627 can be configured to use hashed databases rather than the
1628 directory of files used by SVr4 curses.</p>
1634 <p>The <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> utilities have
1635 options to allow you to filter terminfo entries for use with
1636 less capable <em>curses</em>/<em>terminfo</em> versions such
1637 as the HP/UX and AIX ports.</p>
1641 <p>The <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> package also has
1642 many useful extensions over SVr4:</p>
1646 <p>The API is 8-bit clean and base-level conformant with the
1647 X/OPEN curses specification, XSI curses (that is, it
1648 implements all BASE level features, and most EXTENDED
1649 features). It includes many function calls not supported
1650 under SVr4 curses (but portability of all calls is documented
1651 so you can use the SVr4 subset only).</p>
1655 <p>Unlike SVr3 curses, <span class="main-name">ncurses</span>
1656 can write to the rightmost-bottommost corner of the screen if
1657 your terminal has an insert-character capability.</p>
1661 <p>Ada95 and C++ bindings.</p>
1665 <p>Support for mouse event reporting with X Window xterm and
1666 FreeBSD and OS/2 console windows.</p>
1670 <p>Extended mouse support via Alessandro Rubini's gpm
1675 <p>The function <code>wresize</code> allows you to resize
1676 windows, preserving their data.</p>
1680 <p>The function <code>use_default_colors</code> allows you to
1681 use the terminal's default colors for the default color pair,
1682 achieving the effect of transparent colors.</p>
1686 <p>The functions <code>keyok</code> and
1687 <code>define_key</code> allow you to better control the use
1688 of function keys, e.g., disabling the <span class=
1689 "main-name">ncurses</span> KEY_MOUSE, or by defining more
1690 than one control sequence to map to a given key code.</p>
1694 <p>Support for 256-color terminals, such as modern xterm.</p>
1698 <p>Support for 16-color terminals, such as <em>aixterm</em>
1699 and <em>modern xterm</em>.</p>
1703 <p>Better cursor-movement optimization. The package now
1704 features a cursor-local-movement computation more efficient
1705 than either BSD's or System V's.</p>
1709 <p>Super hardware scrolling support. The screen-update code
1710 incorporates a novel, simple, and cheap algorithm that
1711 enables it to make optimal use of hardware scrolling,
1712 line-insertion, and line-deletion for screen-line movements.
1713 This algorithm is more powerful than the 4.4BSD curses
1714 <code>quickch</code> routine.</p>
1718 <p>Real support for terminals with the magic-cookie glitch.
1719 The screen-update code will refrain from drawing a highlight
1720 if the magic- cookie unattributed spaces required just before
1721 the beginning and after the end would step on a non-space
1722 character. It will automatically shift highlight boundaries
1723 when doing so would make it possible to draw the highlight
1724 without changing the visual appearance of the screen.</p>
1728 <p>It is possible to generate the library with a list of
1729 pre-loaded fallback entries linked to it so that it can serve
1730 those terminal types even when no terminfo tree or termcap
1731 file is accessible (this may be useful for support of
1732 screen-oriented programs that must run in single-user
1738 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/tic.1m.html"><span class="part-name">
1739 tic</span></a>/<a href=
1740 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/captoinfo.1m.html">captoinfo</a>
1741 utility provided with <span class="main-name">ncurses</span>
1742 has the ability to translate many termcaps from the XENIX,
1743 IBM and AT&T extension sets.</p>
1747 <p>A BSD-like <a href=
1748 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/tset.1.html"><span class="part-name">
1749 tset</span></a> utility is provided.</p>
1753 <p>The <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> library and
1754 utilities will automatically read terminfo entries from
1755 $HOME/.terminfo if it exists, and compile to that directory
1756 if it exists and the user has no write access to the system
1757 directory. This feature makes it easier for users to have
1758 personal terminfo entries without giving up access to the
1759 system terminfo directory.</p>
1763 <p>You may specify a path of directories to search for
1764 compiled descriptions with the environment variable
1765 TERMINFO_DIRS (this generalizes the feature provided by
1766 TERMINFO under stock System V.)</p>
1770 <p>In terminfo source files, use capabilities may refer not
1771 just to other entries in the same source file (as in System
1772 V) but also to compiled entries in either the system terminfo
1773 directory or the user's $HOME/.terminfo directory.</p>
1777 <p>The table-of-entries utility <a href=
1778 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/toe.1m.html"><span class="part-name">
1779 toe</span></a> makes it easy for users to see exactly what
1780 terminal types are available on the system.</p>
1784 <p>The library meets the XSI requirement that every macro
1785 entry point have a corresponding function which may be linked
1786 (and will be prototype-checked) if the macro definition is
1787 disabled with <code>#undef</code>.</p>
1791 <p>Extensive documentation is provided (see the <em><a href=
1792 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses.faq.html#additional_reading">
1793 Additional Reading</a></em> section of the <em><a href=
1794 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses.faq.html"><span class="main-name">
1795 ncurses</span> FAQ</a></em> for online documentation).</p>
1799 <h2><a name="h2-who-uses" id="h2-who-uses">Applications using
1800 <span class="main-name">ncurses</span></a></h2>
1802 <p>The <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> distribution
1803 includes a selection of test programs (including a few games).
1804 These are available separately as <a href=
1805 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses-examples.html">ncurses-examples</a></p>
1807 <p>The ncurses library has been tested with a wide variety of
1808 applications including:</p>
1812 <dt><span class="part-name">aptitude</span>
1816 <p>FrontEnd to Apt, the debian package manager</p>
1819 "https://wiki.debian.org/Aptitude">https://wiki.debian.org/Aptitude</a></p>
1822 <dt><span class="part-name">cdk</span>
1826 <p>Curses Development Kit</p>
1829 "https://invisible-island.net/cdk/">https://invisible-island.net/cdk/</a><br>
1834 <dt><span class="part-name">ded</span>
1838 <p>directory-editor</p>
1841 "https://invisible-island.net/ded/">https://invisible-island.net/ded/</a></p>
1844 <dt><span class="part-name">dialog</span>
1848 <p>the underlying application used in Slackware's setup,
1849 and the basis for similar install/configure applications on
1853 "https://invisible-island.net/dialog/">https://invisible-island.net/dialog/</a></p>
1856 <dt><span class="part-name">lynx</span>
1860 <p>the text WWW browser</p>
1863 "https://lynx.invisible-island.net/">https://lynx.invisible-island.net/</a></p>
1866 <dt><span class="part-name">mutt</span>
1872 <p><a href="http://www.mutt.org/">http://www.mutt.org/</a></p>
1875 <dt><span class="part-name">ncftp</span>
1879 <p>file-transfer utility</p>
1882 "https://www.ncftp.com/">https://www.ncftp.com/</a></p>
1885 <dt><span class="part-name">nvi</span>
1889 <p>New vi uses ncurses.</p>
1892 "https://sites.google.com/a/bostic.com/keithbostic/vi">https://sites.google.com/a/bostic.com/keithbostic/vi</a><br>
1897 <dt><span class="part-name">ranger</span>
1901 <p>A console file manager with VI key bindings in
1902 <em>Python</em>.</p>
1905 "https://ranger.github.io/">https://ranger.github.io/</a></p>
1908 <dt><span class="part-name">tin</span>
1912 <p>newsreader, supporting color, MIME</p>
1914 <p><a href="http://www.tin.org/">http://www.tin.org/</a></p>
1917 <dt><span class="part-name">vifm</span>
1921 <p>File manager with vi like keybindings</p>
1923 <p><a href="https://vifm.info/">https://vifm.info/</a></p>
1928 <p>as well as some that use <span class=
1929 "main-name">ncurses</span> for the terminfo support alone:</p>
1933 <dt><span class="part-name">minicom</span>
1937 <p>terminal emulator for serial modem connections</p>
1940 "https://alioth.debian.org/projects/minicom/">https://alioth.debian.org/projects/minicom/</a></p>
1943 <dt><span class="part-name">mosh</span>
1947 <p>a replacement for <code>ssh</code>.</p>
1950 "https://mosh.mit.edu/">https://mosh.mit.edu/</a></p>
1953 <dt><span class="part-name">tack</span>
1957 <p>terminfo action checker</p>
1960 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/tack.html">https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/tack.html</a></p>
1963 <dt><span class="part-name">tmux</span>
1967 <p>terminal multiplexor</p>
1970 "https://github.com/tmux/tmux/wiki">https://github.com/tmux/tmux/wiki</a></p>
1973 <dt><span class="part-name">vile</span>
1977 <p><em>vi-like-emacs</em> may be built to use the terminfo,
1978 termcap or curses interfaces.</p>
1981 "https://invisible-island.net/vile/">https://invisible-island.net/vile/</a></p>
1986 <p>and finally, those which use only the termcap interface:</p>
1990 <dt><span class="part-name">emacs</span>
1997 "https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/">https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/</a></p>
2000 <dt><span class="part-name">less</span>
2004 <p>The most commonly used <em>pager</em> (a program that
2005 displays text files).</p>
2008 "http://www.greenwoodsoftware.com/less/">http://www.greenwoodsoftware.com/less/</a></p>
2011 <dt><span class="part-name">screen</span>
2015 <p>terminal multiplexor</p>
2018 "https://www.gnu.org/software/screen/">https://www.gnu.org/software/screen/</a></p>
2021 <dt><span class="part-name">vim</span>
2027 <p><a href="https://www.vim.org/">https://www.vim.org/</a></p>
2032 <h2><a name="h2-development" id="h2-development">Development
2035 <p>Zeyd Ben-Halim started <span class="main-name">ncurses</span>
2036 from a previous package pcurses, written by Pavel Curtis. Eric S.
2037 Raymond continued development. Jürgen Pfeifer wrote most of
2038 the form and menu libraries.</p>
2040 <p>Ongoing development work is done by <a href=
2041 "mailto:dickey@invisible-island.net">Thomas E. Dickey</a>. Thomas
2042 E. Dickey has acted as the maintainer for the Free Software
2043 Foundation, which holds a <a href=
2044 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses-license.html">copyright
2045 on ncurses</a> for releases 4.2 through 6.1. Following the
2046 release of ncurses 6.1, effective as of release 6.2, copyright
2047 for ncurses reverted to Thomas E. Dickey (see the <a href=
2048 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses.faq.html#relicensed">
2049 ncurses FAQ</a> for additional information).</p>
2051 <p>Contact the current maintainers at</p>
2054 <a href="mailto:bug-ncurses@gnu.org">bug-ncurses@gnu.org</a>
2057 <p>To join the ncurses mailing list, please write email to</p>
2061 "mailto:bug-ncurses-request@gnu.org">bug-ncurses-request@gnu.org</a>
2063 containing the line:
2066 <p><code>subscribe</code>
2067 <em><name>@<host.domain></em></p>
2070 <p>This list is open to anyone interested in helping with the
2071 development and testing of this package.</p>
2073 <p>Beta versions of <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> are
2074 made available at</p>
2078 "ftp://ftp.invisible-island.net/ncurses/current/">ftp://ftp.invisible-island.net/ncurses/current/</a>
2081 "https://invisible-mirror.net/archives/ncurses/current/">https://invisible-mirror.net/archives/ncurses/current/</a> .</p>
2084 <p>Patches to the current release are made available at</p>
2088 "ftp://ftp.invisible-island.net/ncurses/6.1/">ftp://ftp.invisible-island.net/ncurses/6.1/</a>
2091 "https://invisible-mirror.net/archives/ncurses/6.1/">https://invisible-mirror.net/archives/ncurses/6.1/</a> .</p>
2094 <p>There is an archive of the mailing list here:</p>
2098 "http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-ncurses">http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-ncurses</a>
2100 "https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-ncurses">https</a>)</p>
2103 <h2><a name="h2-this-stuff" id="h2-this-stuff">Related
2106 <p>The release notes make scattered references to these pages,
2107 which may be interesting by themselves:</p>
2111 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses-license.html"><span class="main-name">
2112 ncurses</span> licensing</a></li>
2115 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses-mapsyms.html">Symbol
2116 versioning in <span class="main-name">ncurses</span></a></li>
2119 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses-slang.html">Comments
2120 on <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> versus <span class=
2121 "main-name">slang</span> (S-Lang)</a></li>
2124 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/tack.html">tack –
2125 terminfo action checker</a></li>
2128 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/tctest.html">tctest
2129 – termcap library checker</a></li>
2132 "https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses.html#download_database">
2133 Terminal Database</a></li>
2136 <h2><a name="h2-other-stuff" id="h2-other-stuff">Other
2139 <p>The distribution provides a newer version of the
2140 terminfo-format terminal description file once maintained by
2141 <a href="http://www.catb.org/~esr/terminfo/">Eric
2142 Raymond</a> . Unlike the older version, the termcap and
2143 terminfo data are provided in the same file, which also provides
2144 several user-definable extensions beyond the X/Open
2147 <p>You can find lots of information on terminal-related topics
2148 not covered in the terminfo file at <a href=
2149 "http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.cs.utk.edu/~shuford/terminal">
2150 Richard Shuford's archive</a> . The collection of computer
2152 "http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/">bitsavers.org</a> has also been
2157 <li><a href="#h2-overview">Overview</a></li>
2160 <a href="#h2-release-notes">Release Notes</a>
2164 <a href="#h3-library">Library improvements</a>
2167 <li><a href="#h4-new-library">New features</a></li>
2169 <li><a href="#h4-fixes-library">Other
2170 improvements</a></li>
2175 <a href="#h3-programs">Program improvements</a>
2178 <li><a href="#h4-utilities">Utilities</a></li>
2180 <li><a href="#h4-examples">Examples</a></li>
2184 <li><a href="#h3-database">Terminal database</a></li>
2186 <li><a href="#h3-documentation">Documentation</a></li>
2188 <li><a href="#h3-bug-fixes">Interesting bug-fixes</a></li>
2191 <a href="#h3-config-config">Configuration changes</a>
2194 <li><a href="#h4-config-major">Major changes</a></li>
2196 <li><a href="#h4-config-options">Configuration
2201 <li><a href="#h3-portability">Portability</a></li>
2205 <li><a href="#h2-features">Features of <span class=
2206 "main-name">ncurses</span></a></li>
2208 <li><a href="#h2-who-uses">Applications using <span class=
2209 "main-name">ncurses</span></a></li>
2211 <li><a href="#h2-development">Development activities</a></li>
2213 <li><a href="#h2-this-stuff">Related resources</a></li>
2215 <li><a href="#h2-other-stuff">Other resources</a></li>