- Announcing ncurses 5.3
+ Announcing ncurses 5.4
The ncurses (new curses) library is a free software emulation of
curses in System V Release 4.0, and more. It uses terminfo format,
manual pages are provided for the library and tools.
The ncurses distribution is available via anonymous FTP at the GNU
- distribution site [1]ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/ncurses.
- It is also available at [2]ftp://invisible-island.net/ncurses.
+ distribution site [1]ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/ncurses/ .
+ It is also available at [2]ftp://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ .
Release Notes
This release is designed to be upward compatible from ncurses 5.0 and
- 5.2; very few applications will require recompilation, depending on
+ 5.3; very few applications will require recompilation, depending on
the platform. These are the highlights from the change-log since
- ncurses 5.2 release.
+ ncurses 5.3 release.
Interface changes:
- * change type for bool used in headers to NCURSES_BOOL, which
- usually is the same as the compiler's definition for bool.
- * add all but two functions for X/Open curses wide-character
- support. These are only available if the library is configured
- using the --enable-widec option. Missing functions are
+ * add the remaining functions for X/Open curses wide-character
+ support.
+ pecho_wchar()
+ slk_wset()
- * add environment variable $NCURSES_ASSUMED_COLORS to modify the
- assume_default_colors() extension.
+ These are only available if the library is configured using the
+ --enable-widec option.
+ * write getyx() and related 2-return macros in terms of getcury(),
+ getcurx(), etc.
+ * simplify ifdef for bool declaration in curses.h
+ * modify ifdef's in curses.h that disabled use of __attribute__()
+ for g++, since recent versions implement the cases which ncurses
+ uses.
+ * add key_defined() function, to tell which keycode a string is
+ bound to.
New features and improvements:
- * Improved support for termcap applications:
- + add logic to dump_entry.c to remove function-key definitions
- that do not fit into the 1023-byte limit for generated
- termcaps. This makes hds200 fit.
- + modify tgetent() to check if exit_attribute_mode resets the
- alternate character set, and if so, attempt to adjust the
- copy of the termcap "me" string which it will return to
- eliminate that part. In particular, 'screen' would lose track
- of line-drawing characters.
- + add check/fix to comp_parse.c to suppress warning about
- missing acsc string. This happens in configurations where raw
- termcap information is processed; tic already does this and
- other checks.
- + add tic -A option to suppress capabilities which are
- commented out when translating to termcap.
- + modify logic in lib_baudrate.c for ospeed, for FreeBSD to
- make it work properly for termcap applications (patch by
- Andrey A Chernov).
- * add a call to _nc_keypad() in keypad() to accommodate applications
- such as nvi, which use curses for output but not for input (fixes
- Debian #131263, cf: 20011215).
- * correct logic for COLORFGBG environment variable: if rxvt is
- compiled with xpm support, the variable has three fields, making
- it slightly incompatible with itself. In either case, the
- background color is the last field.
+ * library
+ + implement logic in lib_mouse.c to handle position reports
+ which are generated when XFree86 xterm is initialized with
+ private modes 1002 or 1003. These are returned to the
+ application as the REPORT_MOUSE_POSITION mask, which was not
+ implemented.
+ + modify soft-key initialization to use A_REVERSE if A_STANDOUT
+ would not be shown when colors are used, i.e., if ncv#1 is
+ set in the terminfo as is done in "screen".
+ + add configure option for FreeBSD sysmouse, --with-sysmouse,
+ and implement library support for that.
+ * programs:
+ + tack:
+ o allow it to run from fallback terminfo data.
+ o reset colors after each color test, correct a place
+ where exit_standout_mode was used instead of
+ exit_attribute_mode.
+ o improve bce test by making it set colors other than
+ black on white.
+ + tic:
+ o handle a case where an entry has no description, and
+ capabilities begin on the same line as the entry name.
+ o allow a terminfo entry with a leading 2-character name.
+ o improved warnings when suppressing items to fit in
+ termcap's 1023-byte limit.
+ o add check for multiple "tc=" clauses in a termcap.
+ o correct logic for resolving "use=" clauses allow infocmp
+ and tic to show cancelled capabilities.
+ o check for incomplete line-drawing character mapping.
+ o check for missing/empty/illegal terminfo name.
+ + tput:
+ o modify tput to use the same parameter analysis as
+ tparm() does, to provide for user-defined strings, e.g.,
+ for xterm title, a corresponding capability might be
+ title=\E]2;%p1%s^G,
+ + tset:
+ o use the system's default values for CKILL and other
+ default control characters.
+ o correct interchanged defaults for kill and interrupt
+ characters, which caused it to report unnecessarily.
Major bug fixes:
- * rewrote limit-checks in wscrl() and associated
- _nc_scroll_window(), to ensure that if the parameter of wscrl() is
- larger than the size of the scrolling region, then the scrolling
- region will be cleared.
- * modify tset to restore original I/O modes if an error is
- encountered. Also modify to use buffered stderr consistently
- rather than mixing with write().
- * move calls to def_shell_mode() and def_prog_mode() before loop
- with callbacks in lib_set_term.c, since the c++ demo otherwise
- initialized the tty modes before saving them.
- * modified wresize() to ensure that a failed realloc will not
- corrupt the window structure, and to make subwindows fit within
- the resized window.
- * altered resizeterm() to avoid having it fail when a child window
- cannot be resized because it would be larger than its parent.
- * correct/improve logic to produce an exit status for errors in
- tput, which did not exit with an error when told to put a string
- not in the current terminfo entry.
- * modify behavior of can_clear_with() so that if an application is
- running in a non-bce terminals with default colors enabled, it
- returns true, allowing the user to select/paste text without
- picking up extraneous trailing blanks.
- * add a check in relative_move() to guard against buffer overflow in
- the overwrite logic.
- * add some limit/pointer checks to -S option of tputs.
- * modify mvcur() to avoid emitting newline characters when nonl()
- mode is set. Normally this is not a problem since the actual
- terminal mode is set to suppress nl/crlf translations, however it
- is useful to allow the caller to manipulate the terminal mode to
- avoid staircasing effects after spawning a process which writes
- messages (for lynx 2.8.4).
+ * prevent recursion in wgetch() via wgetnstr() if the connection
+ cannot be switched between cooked/raw modes because it is not a
+ TTY.
+ * correct a case in _nc_remove_string(), used by define_key(), to
+ avoid infinite loop if the given string happens to be a substring
+ of other strings which are assigned to keys.
+ * modify logic of acsc to use the original character if no mapping
+ is defined, rather than a null.
+ * several improvements for handling multi-cell display of wide
+ characters.
+ + modify setcchar() to allow converting control characters to
+ complex characters.
+ + correct handling of multibyte characters in waddch_literal()
+ which force wrapping because they are started too late on the
+ line.
+ + modify setcchar() to allow for wchar_t input strings that
+ have more than one spacing character.
+ * other fixes for wide-character support:
+ + rewrote lib_acs.c to allow PutAttrChar() to decide how to
+ render alternate-characters, i.e., to work with Linux console
+ and UTF-8 locale.
+ + implement a workaround so that line-drawing works with
+ screen's crippled UTF-8 support (tested with 3.9.13). This
+ only works with the wide-character support (--enable-widec);
+ the normal library will simply suppress line-drawing when
+ running in a UTF-8 locale in screen.
+ + corrections to lib_get_wstr.c:
+ o null-terminate buffer passed to setcchar(), which
+ occasionally failed.
+ o map special characters such as erase- and
+ kill-characters into key-codes so those will work as
+ expected even if they are not mentioned in the terminfo.
+ * modify setupterm() to check if the terminfo and terminal-modes
+ have already been read. This ensures that it does not reinvoke
+ def_prog_mode() when an application calls more than one function,
+ such as tgetent() and initscr().
+ * fix form_driver() cases for REQ_CLR_EOF, REQ_CLR_EOL,
+ REQ_DEL_CHAR, REQ_DEL_PREV and REQ_NEW_LINE, which did not ensure
+ the cursor was at the editing position before making
+ modifications.
+ * correct keybound(), which reported definitions in the wrong table,
+ i.e., the list of definitions which are disabled by keyok().
+ * fixes related to safe_sprintf.c:
+ + correct an allocation size in safe_sprintf.c for the "*"
+ format code.
+ + correct safe_sprintf.c to not return a null pointer if the
+ format happens to be an empty string.
+ + make return value from _nc_printf_string() consistent.
+ Before, depending on whether --enable-safe-sprintf was used,
+ it might not be cached for reallocating.
+ * other low-level improvements to the optimization code include:
+ + if the output is a socket or other non-tty device, use 1
+ millisecond for the cost in mvcur; previously it was 9
+ milliseconds because the baudrate was not known.
+ + modify lib_getch.c to avoid recursion via wgetnstr() when the
+ input is not a tty and consequently mode-changes do not work.
+ + fix several places in tack/pad.c which tested and used the
+ parameter- and parameterless strings inconsistently.
+ + change several tputs() calls in scrolling code to use putp(),
+ to enable padding which may be needed for some terminals.
+ + improve mvcur() by checking if it is safe to move when video
+ attributes are set (msgr), and if not, reset/restore
+ attributes within that function rather than doing it
+ separately in the GoTo() function in tty_update.c.
+ + use tputs() rather than putp() in a few cases in tty_update.c
+ since the corresponding delays are proportional to the number
+ of lines affected: repeat_char, clr_eos,
+ change_scroll_region.
+ * correct line/column reference in adjust_window(), needed to make
+ special windows such as curscr track properly when resizing.
+ * fix a potential recursion between napms() and _nc_timed_wait()
+ * rewrote lib_insch.c, combining it with lib_insstr.c so both handle
+ tab and other control characters consistently.
+ * do not try to open gpm mouse driver if standard output is not a
+ tty; the gpm library does not make this check.
Portability:
* configure script:
- + modify check in --disable-overwrite option so that it is used
- by default unless the --prefix/$prefix value is not /usr, in
- attempt to work around packagers who do not read the INSTALL
- notes.
- + correct a typo in configure --enable-colorfgbg option, and
- move it to the experimental section (cf: 20011208).
- + modify configure script to allow building with termcap only,
- or with fallbacks only. In this case, we do not build tic and
- toe.
- + modify run_tic.sh to check if the build is a cross-compile.
- In that case, do not use the build's tic to install the
- terminfo database.
- + modify c++/Makefile.in to accommodate archive programs that
- are different for C++ than for C, and add cases for vendor's
- C++ compilers on Solaris and IRIX.
- + add several configure script options to aid with
- cross-compiling: --with-build-cc, --with-build-cflags,
- --with-build-ldflags, and --with-build-libs.
- + add experimental --with-caps=XXX option to customize to
- similar terminfo database formats such as AIX 4.x
- + add configure option --with-ospeed to assist packagers in
- transition to 5.3 change to ospeed type.
+ + new options:
+
+ --with-abi-version option.
+ addresses platforms where packagers have diverged
+ from ncurses ABI numbering.
+
+ --with-manpage-format=catonly
+ addresses behavior of BSDI, allow install of
+ man+cat files on NetBSD, whose behavior has
+ diverged by requiring both to be present.
+
+ --with-manpage-aliases
+ extends "--with-manpage-aliases" to provide the
+ option of generating ".so" files rather than
+ symbolic links for manpage aliases.
+
+ --with-rel-version
+ workaround to force libtool on Darwin generate the
+ "same" library names as with the "--with-shared"
+ option. The Darwin ld program does not work well
+ with a zero as the minor-version value.
+
+ --with-trace
+ simplifies defining TRACE to incorporate trace() in
+ libraries.
+
+ + fixes/improvements for cross-compiling:
+ o allow BUILD_CC and related configure script variables to
+ be overridden from the environment.
+ o use AC_CHECK_TOOL to get proper values for AR and LD for
+ cross compiling.
+ o use $cross_compiling variable in configure script rather
+ than comparing $host_alias and $target alias, since
+ "host" is traditionally misused in autoconf to refer to
+ the target platform.
+ o modify run_tic.in to avoid using wrong shared libraries
+ when cross-compiling.
+ + fixes for Mac OS X:
+ o fix a redefinition of $RANLIB in the configure script
+ when libtool is used.
+ o modify MKlib_gen.sh to avoid passing "#" tokens through
+ the C preprocessor. This works around Mac OS X's
+ preprocessor, which insists on adding a blank on each
+ side of the token.
+ + workarounds for broken tools:
+ o add configure check for wchar_t and wint_t types, rather
+ than rely on preprocessor definitions. Also work around
+ for gcc fixinclude bug which creates a shadow copy of
+ curses.h if it sees these symbols apparently typedef'd.
+ o modify configure script to omit -Winline for gcc 3.3,
+ since that feature is broken.
+ o several script fixes to work around the ironically named
+ POSIXLY_CORRECT feature of GNU sed 4.0.
+ o modify configure script to avoid using "head -1", which
+ does not work if POSIXLY_CORRECT (sic) is set.
+ o update configure script to reflect fix for
+ AC_PROG_GCC_TRADITIONAL, which is broken in autoconf
+ 2.5x for Mac OS X 10.2.3.
+ o repair check for missing C++ compiler, which is broken
+ in autoconf 2.5x by hardcoding it to g++.
+ + corrected ifdef's relating to configure check for wchar_t,
+ etc.
+ + remove configure script check to allow -Wconversion for older
+ versions of gcc
+ + modify configure script to accommodate libtool 1.5, as well
+ as add an parameter to the "--with-libtool" option which can
+ specify the pathname of libtool.
+ + change several sed scripts to avoid using "\+" since it is
+ not a BRE (basic regular expression). One instance caused
+ terminfo.5 to be misformatted on FreeBSD.
+ + use '%' as sed substitute delimiter in run_tic script to
+ avoid problems with pathname delimiters such as ':' and '@'.
+ + add -D_XOPEN_SOURCE=500 if needed when configuring with
+ "--enable-widec", to get mbstate_t declaration on HPUX 11.11.
* library:
- + implement a simple vsscanf() fallback function which uses the
- %n conversion to help parse the input data.
- + various fixes to build/work with different implementations of
- vsscanf().
- + add/use macro to suppress sign-extension of char type on
- platforms where this is a problem in ctype macros, e.g.,
- Solaris.
- + finish changes needed to build dll's on cygwin.
- + add #undef's before possible redefinition of ERR and OK in
- curses.h
- * programs:
- + modify ifdef's in write_entry.c to allow use of symbolic
- links on platforms with no hard links, e.g., BeOS.
- + modify _nc_write_entry() to allow for the possibility that
- linking aliases on a filesystem that ignores case would not
- succeed because the source and destination differ only by
- case, e.g., NCR260VT300WPP0 on cygwin.
- + modify logic in tic, toe, tput and tset which checks for
- basename of argv[0] to work properly on systems such as OS/2
- which have case-independent filenames and/or program
- suffixes, e.g., ".ext".
+ + adjust include-options in CF_ETIP_DEFINES to avoid missing
+ ncurses_dll.h, fixing special definitions that may be needed
+ for etip.h.
+ + modify CF_LIB_SUFFIX for Itanium releases of HP-UX, which use
+ a ".so" suffix.
+ + improve ifdef's to guard against redefinition of wchar_t and
+ wint_t in curses.h.
+ + remove an #undef for KEY_EVENT from curses.tail used in the
+ experimental NCURSES_WGETCH_EVENTS feature. The #undef
+ confuses Debian dpkg's build script.
Features of Ncurses
cdk
Curses Development Kit
- [3]http://invisible-island.net/cdk.
- [4]http://www.vexus.ca/CDK.html
+ [3]http://invisible-island.net/cdk/
+ [4]http://www.vexus.ca/products/CDK/
ded
directory-editor
- [5]http://invisible-island.net/ded.
+ [5]http://invisible-island.net/ded/
dialog
the underlying application used in Slackware's setup, and the
basis for similar applications on GNU/Linux.
- [6]http://invisible-island.net/dialog.
+ [6]http://invisible-island.net/dialog/
lynx
the character-screen WWW browser
- [7]http://lynx.isc.org/release.
+ [7]http://lynx.isc.org/release/
Midnight Commander
file manager
- [8]www.gnome.org/mc/.
+ [8]http://www.ibiblio.org/mc/
mutt
mail utility
- [9]http://www.mutt.org.
+ [9]http://www.mutt.org/
ncftp
file-transfer utility
- [10]http://www.ncftp.com.
+ [10]http://www.ncftp.com/
nvi
New vi versions 1.50 are able to use ncurses versions 1.9.7 and
later.
- [11]http://www.bostic.com/vi/.
+ [11]http://www.bostic.com/vi/
- tin
- newsreader, supporting color, MIME
- [12]http://www.tin.org.
+ pinfo
+ Lynx-like info browser.
+ [12]http://dione.ids.pl/~pborys/software/pinfo/
- taper
- tape archive utility
- [13]http://members.iinet.net.au/~yusuf/taper/.
+ tin
+ newsreader, supporting color, MIME [13]http://www.tin.org/
vh-1.6
Volks-Hypertext browser for the Jargon File
- [14]http://www.bg.debian.org/Packages/unstable/text/vh.html.
+ [14]http://www.debian.org/Packages/unstable/text/vh.html
as well as some that use ncurses for the terminfo support alone:
minicom
terminal emulator
- [15]http://www.pp.clinet.fi/~walker/minicom.html.
+ [15]http://www.netsonic.fi/~walker/minicom.html
vile
vi-like-emacs
- [16]http://invisible-island.net/vile.
+ [16]http://invisible-island.net/vile/
The ncurses distribution includes a selection of test programs
(including a few games).
Who's Who and What's What
- The original developers of ncurses are [17]Zeyd Ben-Halim and [18]Eric
- S. Raymond. Ongoing work is being done by [19]Thomas Dickey and
- [20]Jürgen Pfeifer. [21]Thomas Dickey acts as the maintainer for the
+ Zeyd Ben-Halim started it from a previous package pcurses, written by
+ Pavel Curtis. Eric S. Raymond continued development. Jürgen Pfeifer
+ wrote most of the form and menu libraries. Ongoing work is being done
+ by [17]Thomas Dickey. Thomas Dickey acts as the maintainer for the
Free Software Foundation, which holds the copyright on ncurses.
- Contact the current maintainers at [22]bug-ncurses@gnu.org.
+ Contact the current maintainers at [18]bug-ncurses@gnu.org.
To join the ncurses mailing list, please write email to
bug-ncurses-request@gnu.org containing the line:
and testing of this package.
Beta versions of ncurses and patches to the current release are made
- available at [23]ftp://invisible-island.net/ncurses.
+ available at [19]ftp://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ .
Future Plans
Other Related Resources
- The distribution includes and uses a version of the terminfo-format
- terminal description file maintained by Eric Raymond.
- [24]http://earthspace.net/~esr/terminfo.
+ The distribution provides a newer version of the terminfo-format
+ terminal description file maintained by [20]Eric Raymond . Unlike the
+ older version, the termcap and terminfo data are provided in the same
+ file.
You can find lots of information on terminal-related topics not
- covered in the terminfo file at [25]Richard Shuford's archive.
+ covered in the terminfo file at [21]Richard Shuford's archive .
References
- 1. ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/ncurses
- 2. ftp://invisible-island.net/ncurses
- 3. http://invisible-island.net/cdk/cdk.html
- 4. http://www.vexus.ca/CDK.html
- 5. http://invisible-island.net/ded/ded.html
- 6. http://invisible-island.net/dialog/dialog.html
+ 1. ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/ncurses/
+ 2. ftp://invisible-island.net/ncurses/
+ 3. http://invisible-island.net/cdk/
+ 4. http://www.vexus.ca/products/CDK/
+ 5. http://invisible-island.net/ded/
+ 6. http://invisible-island.net/dialog/
7. http://lynx.isc.org/release/
- 8. file://localhost/usr/build/ncurses/ncurses-5.2-20021012/doc/html/www.gnome.org/mc/
+ 8. http://www.ibiblio.org/mc/
9. http://www.mutt.org/
10. http://www.ncftp.com/
11. http://www.bostic.com/vi/
- 12. http://www.tin.org/
- 13. http://members.iinet.net.au/~yusuf/taper/
- 14. http://www.bg.debian.org/Packages/unstable/text/vh.html
- 15. http://www.pp.clinet.fi/~walker/minicom.html
- 16. http://invisible-island.net/vile/vile.html
- 17. mailto:zmbenhal@netcom.com
- 18. http://www.ccil.org/~esr/home.html
- 19. mailto:dickey@herndon4.his.com
- 20. http://www.familiepfeifer.de/Contact.aspx?Lang=en
- 21. mailto:dickey@herndon4.his.com
- 22. mailto:bug-ncurses@gnu.org
- 23. ftp://invisible-island.net/ncurses
- 24. http://earthspace.net/~esr/terminfo
- 25. http://www.cs.utk.edu/~shuford/terminal_index.html
+ 12. http://dione.ids.pl/~pborys/software/pinfo/
+ 13. http://www.tin.org/
+ 14. http://www.debian.org/Packages/unstable/text/vh.html
+ 15. http://www.netsonic.fi/~walker/minicom.html
+ 16. http://invisible-island.net/vile/
+ 17. mailto:dickey@invisible-island.net
+ 18. mailto:bug-ncurses@gnu.org
+ 19. ftp://invisible-island.net/ncurses/
+ 20. http://www.catb.org/~esr/terminfo/
+ 21. http://www.cs.utk.edu/~shuford/terminal_index.html
projects / ncurses.git / blobdiff