+
+SUMMARY OF CONFIGURE OPTIONS:
+----------------------------
+
+ The configure script provides a short list of its options when you type
+
+ ./configure --help
+
+ The --help and several options are common to all configure scripts that are
+ generated with autoconf. Those are all listed before the line
+
+ --enable and --with options recognized:
+
+ The other options are specific to this package. We list them in alphabetic
+ order.
+
+ --disable-assumed-color
+ With ncurses 5.1, we introduced a new function, assume_default_colors()
+ which allows applications to specify what the default foreground and
+ background color are assumed to be. Most color applications use
+ full-screen color; but a few do not color the background. While the
+ assumed values can be overridden by invoking assume_default_colors(),
+ you may find it useful to set the assumed values to the pre-5.1
+ convention, using this configure option.
+
+ --disable-big-core
+ Assume machine has little memory. The configure script attempts to
+ determine if your machine has enough memory (about 6Mb) to compile the
+ terminfo database without writing portions to disk. Some allocators
+ return deceptive results, so you may have to override the configure
+ script. Or you may be building tic for a smaller machine.
+
+ --disable-database
+ Use only built-in data. The ncurses libraries normally read terminfo
+ and termcap data from disk. You can configure ncurses to have a
+ built-in database, aka "fallback" entries. Embedded applications may
+ have no need for an external database.
+
+ --disable-ext-funcs
+ Disable function-extensions. Configure ncurses without the functions
+ that are not specified by XSI. See ncurses/modules for the exact
+ list of library modules that would be suppressed.
+
+ --disable-hashmap
+ Compile without hashmap scrolling-optimization code. This algorithm is
+ the default.
+
+ --disable-leaks
+ For testing, compile-in code that frees memory that normally would not
+ be freed, to simplify analysis of memory-leaks.
+
+ --disable-macros
+ For testing, use functions rather than macros. The program will run
+ more slowly, but it is simpler to debug. This makes a header file
+ "nomacros.h". See also the --enable-expanded option.
+
+ --disable-overwrite
+ If you are installing ncurses on a system which contains another
+ development version of curses, or which could be confused by the loader
+ for another version, we recommend that you leave out the link to
+ -lcurses. The ncurses library is always available as -lncurses.
+ Disabling overwrite also causes the ncurses header files to be
+ installed into a subdirectory, e.g., /usr/local/include/ncurses,
+ rather than the include directory. This makes it simpler to avoid
+ compile-time conflicts with other versions of curses.h
+
+ --disable-root-environ
+ Compile with environment restriction, so certain environment variables
+ are not available when running as root, or via a setuid/setgid
+ application. These are (for example $TERMINFO) those that allow the
+ search path for the terminfo or termcap entry to be customized.
+
+ --disable-scroll-hints
+ Compile without scroll-hints code. This option is ignored when
+ hashmap scrolling is configured, which is the default.
+
+ --enable-add-ons=DIR...
+ This is used to check if this package is a glibc add-on. This is used
+ only by the glibc makefiles.
+
+ --enable-assertions
+ For testing, compile-in assertion code. This is used only for a few
+ places where ncurses cannot easily recover by returning an error code.
+
+ --enable-broken_linker
+ A few platforms have what we consider a broken linker: it cannot link
+ objects from an archive solely by referring to data objects in those
+ files, but requires a function reference. This configure option
+ changes several data references to functions to work around this
+ problem.
+
+ NOTE: With ncurses 5.1, this may not be necessary, since we are
+ told that some linkers interpret uninitialized global data as a
+ different type of reference which behaves as described above. We have
+ explicitly initialized all of the global data to work around the
+ problem.
+
+ --enable-bsdpad
+ Recognize BSD-style prefix padding. Some ancient BSD programs (such as
+ nethack) call tputs("50") to implement delays.
+
+ --enable-colorfgbg
+ Compile with experimental $COLORFGBG code. That environment variable
+ is set by some terminal emulators as a hint to applications, by
+ advertising the default foreground and background colors. During
+ initialization, ncurses sets color pair 0 to match this.
+
+ --enable-const
+ The curses interface as documented in XSI is rather old, in fact
+ including features that precede ANSI C. The prototypes generally do
+ not make effective use of "const". When using stricter compilers (or
+ gcc with appropriate warnings), you may see warnings about the mismatch
+ between const and non-const data. We provide a configure option which
+ changes the interfaces to use const - quieting these warnings and
+ reflecting the actual use of the parameters more closely. The ncurses
+ library uses the symbol NCURSES_CONST for these instances of const,
+ and if you have asked for compiler warnings, will add gcc's const-qual
+ warning. There will still be warnings due to subtle inconsistencies
+ in the interface, but at a lower level.
+
+ NOTE: configuring ncurses with this option may detract from the
+ portability of your applications by encouraging you to use const in
+ places where the XSI curses interface would not allow them. Similar
+ issues arise when porting to SVr4 curses, which uses const in even
+ fewer places.
+
+ --enable-echo
+ Use the option --disable-echo to make the build-log less verbose by
+ suppressing the display of the compile and link commands. This makes
+ it easier to see the compiler warnings. (You can always use "make -n"
+ to see the options that are used).
+
+ --enable-expanded
+ For testing, generate functions for certain macros to make them visible
+ as such to the debugger. See also the --disable-macros option.
+
+ --enable-getcap
+ Use the 4.4BSD getcap code if available, or a bundled version of it to
+ fetch termcap entries. Entries read in this way cannot use (make
+ cross-references to) the terminfo tree, but it is faster than reading
+ /etc/termcap.
+
+ --enable-getcap-cache
+ Cache translated termcaps under the directory $HOME/.terminfo
+
+ NOTE: this sounds good - it makes ncurses run faster the second time.
+ But look where the data comes from - an /etc/termcap containing lots of
+ entries that are not up to date. If you configure with this option and
+ forget to install the terminfo database before running an ncurses
+ application, you will end up with a hidden terminfo database that
+ generally does not support color and will miss some function keys.
+
+ --enable-hard-tabs
+ Compile-in cursor-optimization code that uses hard-tabs. We would make
+ this a standard feature except for the concern that the terminfo entry
+ may not be accurate, or that your stty settings have disabled the use
+ of tabs.
+
+ --enable-no-padding
+ Compile-in support for the $NCURSES_NO_PADDING environment variable,
+ which allows you to suppress the effect of non-mandatory padding in
+ terminfo entries. This is the default, unless you have disabled the
+ extended functions.
+
+ --enable-rpath
+ Use rpath option when generating shared libraries, and with some
+ restrictions when linking the corresponding programs. This applies
+ mainly to systems using the GNU linker (read the manpage).
+
+ --enable-safe-sprintf
+ Compile with experimental safe-sprintf code. You may consider using
+ this if you are building ncurses for a system that has neither
+ vsnprintf() or vsprintf(). It is slow, however.
+
+ --enable-sigwinch
+ Compile support for ncurses' SIGWINCH handler. If your application has
+ its own SIGWINCH handler, ncurses will not use its own. The ncurses
+ handler causes wgetch() to return KEY_RESIZE when the screen-size
+ changes. This option is the default, unless you have disabled the
+ extended functions.
+
+ --enable-symlinks
+ If your system supports symbolic links, make tic use symbolic links
+ rather than hard links to save diskspace when writing aliases in the
+ terminfo database.
+
+ --enable-tcap-names
+ Compile-in support for user-definable terminal capabilities. Use the
+ -x option of tic and infocmp to treat unrecognized terminal
+ capabilities as user-defined strings. This option is the default,
+ unless you have disabled the extended functions.
+
+ --enable-termcap
+ Compile in support for reading terminal descriptions from termcap if no
+ match is found in the terminfo database. See also the --enable-getcap
+ and --enable-getcap-cache options.
+
+ --enable-warnings
+ Turn on GCC compiler warnings. There should be only a few.
+
+ --enable-widec
+ Compile with experimental wide-character code. This makes a different
+ version of the libraries (e.g., libncursesw.so), which stores
+ characters in 16-bits. We provide a simple UTF-8 driver and test
+ program to use this feature with terminals that can display UTF-8.
+
+ NOTE: applications compiled with this configuration are not compatible
+ with those built for 8-bit characters. You cannot simply make a
+ symbolic link to equate libncurses.so with libncursesw.so
+
+ --enable-xmc-glitch
+ Compile-in support experimental xmc (magic cookie) code.
+
+ --with-ada-compiler=CMD
+ Specify the Ada95 compiler command (default "gnatmake")
+
+ --with-ada-include=DIR
+ Tell where to install the Ada includes (default:
+ PREFIX/lib/ada/adainclude)
+
+ --with-ada-objects=DIR
+ Tell where to install the Ada objects (default: PREFIX/lib/ada/adalib)
+
+ --with-database=XXX
+ Specify the terminfo source file to install. Usually you will wish
+ to install ncurses' default (misc/terminfo.src). Certain systems
+ have special requirements, e.g, OS/2 EMX has a customized terminfo
+ source file.
+
+ --with-dbmalloc
+ For testing, compile and link with Conor Cahill's dbmalloc library.
+
+ --with-debug
+ Generate debug-libraries (default). These are named by adding "_g"
+ to the root, e.g., libncurses_g.a
+
+ --with-default-terminfo-dir=XXX
+ Specify the default terminfo database directory. This is normally
+ DATADIR/terminfo, e.g., /usr/share/terminfo.
+
+ --with-develop
+ Enable experimental/development options. This does not count those
+ that change the interface, such as --enable-widec.
+
+ --with-dmalloc
+ For testing, compile and link with Gray Watson's dmalloc library.
+
+ --with-fallbacks=XXX
+ Specify a list of fallback terminal descriptions which will be
+ compiled into the ncurses library. See CONFIGURING FALLBACK ENTRIES.
+
+ --with-gpm
+ use Alessandro Rubini's GPM library to provide mouse support on the
+ Linux console.
+
+ --with-install-prefix=XXX
+ Allows you to specify an alternate location for installing ncurses
+ after building it. The value you specify is prepended to the "real"
+ install location. This simplifies making binary packages.
+
+ NOTE: a few systems build shared libraries with fixed pathnames; this
+ option probably will not work for those configurations.
+
+ --with-libtool
+ Generate libraries with libtool. If this option is selected, then
+ it overrides all other library model specifications.
+
+ --with-manpage-format=XXX
+ Tell the configure script how you would like to install man-pages. The
+ option value must be one of these: gzip, compress, BSDI, normal,
+ formatted. If you do not give this option, the configure script
+ attempts to determine which is the case.
+
+ --with-manpage-renames=XXX
+ Tell the configure script that you wish to rename the manpages while
+ installing. Currently the only distribution which does this is
+ the Linux Debian. The option value specifies the name of a file
+ that lists the renamed files, e.g., $srcdir/man/man_db.renames
+
+ --with-manpage-symlinks
+ Tell the configure script that you wish to make symbolic links in the
+ man-directory for aliases to the man-pages. This is the default, but
+ can be disabled for systems that provide this automatically. Doing
+ this on systems that do not support symbolic links will result in
+ copying the man-page for each alias.
+
+ --with-manpage-tbl
+ Tell the configure script that you with to preprocess the manpages
+ by running them through tbl to generate tables understandable by
+ nroff.
+
+ --with-normal
+ Generate normal (i.e., static) libraries (default).
+
+ --with-profile
+ Generate profile-libraries These are named by adding "_p" to the root,
+ e.g., libncurses_p.a
+
+ --with-rcs-ids
+ Compile-in RCS identifiers. Most of the C files have an identifier.
+
+ --with-shared
+ Generate shared-libraries. The names given depend on the system for
+ which you are building, typically using a ".so" suffix, along with
+ symbolic links that refer to the release version.
+
+ NOTE: Unless you override the configure script by setting the $CFLAGS
+ environment variable, these will not be built with the -g debugging
+ option.
+
+ --with-shlib-version=XXX
+ Specify whether to use the release or ABI version for shared libraries.
+ This is normally chosen automatically based on the type of system
+ which you are building on. We use it for testing the configure script.
+
+ --with-system-type=XXX
+ For testing, override the derived host system-type which is used to
+ decide things such as the linker commands used to build shared
+ libraries. This is normally chosen automatically based on the type of
+ system which you are building on. We use it for testing the configure
+ script.
+
+ --with-terminfo-dirs=XXX
+ Specify a search-list of terminfo directories which will be compiled
+ into the ncurses library (default: DATADIR/terminfo)
+
+ --with-termlib
+ When building the ncurses library, organize this as two parts: the
+ curses library (libncurses) and the low-level terminfo library
+ (libtinfo). This is done to accommodate applications that use only
+ the latter. The terminfo library is about half the size of the total.
+
+ --without-ada
+ Suppress the configure script's check for Ada95, do not build the
+ Ada95 binding and related demo.
+
+ --without-curses-h
+ Don't install the ncurses header with the name "curses.h". Rather,
+ install as "ncurses.h" and modify the installed headers and manpages
+ accordingly.
+
+ --without-cxx
+ XSI curses declares "bool" as part of the interface. C++ also declares
+ "bool". Neither specifies the size and type of booleans, but both
+ insist on the same name. We chose to accommodate this by making the
+ configure script check for the size and type (e.g., unsigned or signed)
+ that your C++ compiler uses for booleans. If you do not wish to use
+ ncurses with C++, use this option to tell the configure script to not
+ adjust ncurses bool to match C++.
+
+ --without-cxx-binding
+ Suppress the configure script's check for C++, do not build the
+ C++ binding and related demo.
+
+ --without-progs
+ Tell the configure script to suppress the build of ncurses' application
+ programs (e.g., tic). The test applications will still be built if you
+ type "make", though not if you simply do "make install".
+
+
+COMPATIBILITY WITH OLDER VERSIONS OF NCURSES:
+--------------------------------------------
+
+ Because ncurses implements the X/Open Curses Specification, its interface
+ is fairly stable. That does not mean the interface does not change.
+ Changes are made to the documented interfaces when we find differences
+ between ncurses and X/Open or implementations which they certify (such as
+ Solaris). We add extensions to those interfaces to solve problems not
+ addressed by the original curses design, but those must not conflict with
+ the X/Open documentation.
+
+ Here are some of the major interface changes, and related problems which
+ you may encounter when building a system with different versions of
+ ncurses:
+
+ 5.1 (July 8, 2000)
+ Interface changes:
+
+ + made the extended terminal capabilities
+ (configure --enable-tcap-names) a standard feature. This should
+ be transparent to applications that do not require it.
+
+ + removed the trace() function and related trace support from the
+ production library.
+
+ + modified curses.h.in, undef'ing some symbols to avoid conflict
+ with C++ STL.
+
+ Added extensions: assume_default_colors().
+
+ 5.0 (October 23, 1999)
+ Interface changes:
+
+ + implemented the wcolor_set() and slk_color() functions.
+
+ + move macro winch to a function, to hide details of struct ldat
+
+ + corrected prototypes for slk_* functions, using chtype rather than
+ attr_t.
+
+ + the slk_attr_{set,off,on} functions need an additional void*
+ parameter according to XSI.
+
+ + modified several prototypes to correspond with 1997 version of X/Open
+ Curses: [w]attr_get(), [w]attr_set(), border_set() have different
+ parameters. Some functions were renamed or misspelled:
+ erase_wchar(), in_wchntr(), mvin_wchntr(). Some developers have used
+ attr_get().
+
+ Added extensions: keybound(), curses_version().
+
+ Terminfo database changes:
+
+ + change translation for termcap 'rs' to terminfo 'rs2', which is
+ the documented equivalent, rather than 'rs1'.
+
+ The problems are subtler in recent releases.
+
+ a) This release provides users with the ability to define their own
+ terminal capability extensions, like termcap. To accomplish this,
+ we redesigned the TERMTYPE struct (in term.h). Very few
+ applications use this struct. They must be recompiled to work with
+ the 5.0 library.
+
+ a) If you use the extended terminfo names (i.e., you used configure
+ --enable-tcap-names), the resulting terminfo database can have some
+ entries which are not readable by older versions of ncurses. This
+ is a bug in the older versions:
+
+ + the terminfo database stores booleans, numbers and strings in
+ arrays. The capabilities that are listed in the arrays are
+ specified by X/Open. ncurses recognizes a number of obsolete and
+ extended names which are stored past the end of the specified
+ entries.
+
+ + a change to read_entry.c in 951001 made the library do an lseek()
+ call incorrectly skipping data which is already read from the
+ string array. This happens when the number of strings in the
+ terminfo data file is greater than STRCOUNT, the number of
+ specified and obsolete or extended strings.
+
+ + as part of alignment with the X/Open final specification, in the
+ 990109 patch we added two new terminfo capabilities:
+ set_a_attributes and set_pglen_inch). This makes the indices for
+ the obsolete and extended capabilities shift up by 2.
+
+ + the last two capabilities in the obsolete/extended list are memu
+ and meml, which are found in most terminfo descriptions for xterm.
+
+ When trying to read this terminfo entry, the spurious lseek()
+ causes the library to attempt to read the final portion of the
+ terminfo data (the text of the string capabilities) 4 characters
+ past its starting point, and reads 4 characters too few. The
+ library rejects the data, and applications are unable to
+ initialize that terminal type.
+
+ FIX: remove memu and meml from the xterm description. They are
+ obsolete, not used by ncurses. (It appears that the feature was
+ added to xterm to make it more like hpterm).
+
+ This is not a problem if you do not use the -x option of tic to
+ create a terminfo database with extended names. Note that the
+ user-defined terminal capabilities are not affected by this bug,
+ since they are stored in a table after the older terminfo data ends,
+ and are invisible to the older libraries.
+
+ c) Some developers did not wish to use the C++ binding, and used the
+ configure --without-cxx option. This causes problems if someone
+ uses the ncurses library from C++ because that configure test
+ determines the type for C++'s bool and makes ncurses match it, since
+ both C++ and curses are specified to declare bool. Calling ncurses
+ functions with the incorrect type for bool will cause execution
+ errors. In 5.0 we added a configure option "--without-cxx-binding"
+ which controls whether the binding itself is built and installed.
+
+ 4.2 (March 2, 1998)
+ Interface changes:
+
+ + correct prototype for termattrs() as per XPG4 version 2.
+
+ + add placeholder prototypes for color_set(), erasewchar(),
+ term_attrs(), wcolor_set() as per XPG4 version 2.
+
+ + add macros getcur[xy] getbeg[xy] getpar[xy], which are defined in
+ SVr4 headers.
+
+ New extensions: keyok() and define_key().
+
+ Terminfo database changes:
+
+ + corrected definition in curses.h for ACS_LANTERN, which was 'I'
+ rather than 'i'.
+
+ 4.1 (May 15, 1997)
+
+ We added these extensions: use_default_colors(). Also added
+ configure option --enable-const, to support the use of const where
+ X/Open should have, but did not, specify.
+
+ The terminfo database content changed the representation of color for
+ most entries that use ANSI colors. SVr4 curses treats the setaf/setab
+ and setf/setb capabilities differently, interchanging the red/blue
+ colors in the latter.
+
+ 4.0 (December 24, 1996)
+
+ We bumped to version 4.0 because the newly released dynamic loader
+ (ld.so.1.8.5) on Linux did not load shared libraries whose ABI and REL
+ versions were inconsistent. At that point, ncurses ABI was 3.4 and the
+ REL was 1.9.9g, so we made them consistent.
+
+ 1.9.9g (December 1, 1996)
+
+ This fixed most of the problems with 1.9.9e, and made these interface
+ changes:
+
+ + remove tparam(), which had been provided for compatibility with
+ some termcap. tparm() is standard, and does not conflict with
+ application's fallback for missing tparam().
+
+ + turn off hardware echo in initscr(). This changes the sense of the
+ echo() function, which was initialized to echoing rather than
+ nonechoing (the latter is specified). There were several other
+ corrections to the terminal I/O settings which cause applications to
+ behave differently.
+
+ + implemented several functions (such as attr_on()) which were
+ available only as macros.
+
+ + corrected several typos in curses.h.in (i.e., the mvXXXX macros).
+
+ + corrected prototypes for delay_output(),
+ has_color, immedok() and idcok().
+
+ + corrected misspelled getbkgd(). Some applications used the
+ misspelled name.
+
+ + added _yoffset to WINDOW. The size of WINDOW does not impact
+ applications, since they use only pointers to WINDOW structs.
+
+ These changes were made to the terminfo database:
+
+ + removed boolean 'getm' which was available as an extended name.
+
+ We added these extensions: wresize(), resizeterm(), has_key() and
+ mcprint().
+
+ 1.9.9e (March 24, 1996)
+
+ not recommended (a last-minute/untested change left the forms and
+ menus libraries unusable since they do not repaint the screen).
+ Foreground/background colors are combined incorrectly, working properly
+ only on a black background. When this was released, the X/Open
+ specification was available only in draft form.
+
+ Some applications (such as lxdialog) were "fixed" to work with the
+ incorrect color scheme.
+
+