-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--- Copyright (c) 1998-2017,2018 Free Software Foundation, Inc. --
+-- Copyright 2018-2020,2021 Thomas E. Dickey --
+-- Copyright 1998-2017,2018 Free Software Foundation, Inc. --
-- --
-- Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a --
-- copy of this software and associated documentation files (the --
-- sale, use or other dealings in this Software without prior written --
-- authorization. --
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--- $Id: INSTALL,v 1.204 2018/02/10 17:46:44 tom Exp $
+-- $Id: INSTALL,v 1.232 2021/07/17 16:30:27 tom Exp $
---------------------------------------------------------------------
How to install Ncurses/Terminfo on your system
---------------------------------------------------------------------
and `test'. See the README file for a roadmap to the package.
If you are a distribution integrator or packager, please read and act on the
-section titled IF YOU ARE A SYSTEM INTEGRATOR below.
+section titled FOR SYSTEM INTEGRATORS below.
If you are converting from BSD curses and do not have root access, be sure
to read the BSD CONVERSION NOTES section below.
If you are trying to build applications using gpm with ncurses,
read the USING NCURSES WITH GPM section below.
-If you are running over the Andrew File System see the note below on
-USING NCURSES WITH AFS.
-
-If you are cross-compiling, see the note below on BUILDING NCURSES WITH A
-CROSS-COMPILER.
+If you are cross-compiling, see the note below on BUILDING WITH A CROSS-COMPILER.
If you want to build the Ada95 binding, go to the Ada95 directory and
follow the instructions there. The Ada95 binding is not covered below.
YOU MAY NOT BE ABLE TO COMPILE (OR RUN) NCURSES APPLICATIONS WITH C++.
-SUMMARY OF CONFIGURE OPTIONS:
-----------------------------
+CONFIGURE OPTIONS:
+-----------------
The configure script provides a short list of its options when you type
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. Some, but not all of the
- programs are useful in this configuration, e.g., reset and tput versus
+ programs are useful in this configuration, e.g., tset and tput versus
infocmp and tic.
--disable-db-install
Without some special effort, it will either fail to compile at all,
or the compiler may find a different unctrl.h file.
+ In addition to the curses library, a system may provide its own
+ versions of the add-on libraries (form, menu, panel), which would
+ not be compatible with ncurses. These options allow you to rename
+ ncurses' add-on libraries to avoid conflicts when linking:
+
+ --with-form-libname=XXX
+ --with-menu-libname=XXX
+ --with-panel-libname=XXX
+
+ Rather than renaming them abitrarily, a prefix or suffix is
+ recommended. An "n" prefix provides consistency with ncurses versus
+ curses, i.e.,
+
+ --with-form-libname=nform
+ --with-menu-libname=nmenu
+ --with-panel-libname=npanel
+
+ --disable-pkg-ldflags
+ Omit options in $LDFLAGS and $EXTRA_LDFLAGS from the pkg-config ".pc"
+ and corresponding ncurses*-config script which normally are listed via
+ the "--libs" option. These options are normally used to facilitate
+ linking to ncurses when it was configured to use the rpath feature.
+
+ See also --enable-rpath and --disable-rpath-hack.
+
--disable-relink
If --enable-rpath is given, the generated makefiles normally will
- rebuild the libraries during install. Use this option to simply
- copy whatever the linked produced.
+ rebuild shared libraries during install. Use this option to simply
+ copy whatever the linker produced.
+
+ Static libraries cannot simply be copied because tools use timestamps
+ to determine if the library's symbol table is up to date. If your
+ install program supports the "-p" (preserve timestamp) option, that
+ is used when --disable-relink is given, to avoid rebuilding the symbol
+ table.
- This option is ignored if --enable-rpath is not given.
+ Finally, some tools ignore the subsecond timestamps supported by some
+ filesystems. This option adds a 1-second sleep to help those tools
+ avoid unnecessary relinking during the install process.
+
+ --disable-root-access
+ Compile with environment restriction, so most file-access is limited
+ when running via a setuid/setgid application.
--disable-root-environ
Compile with environment restriction, so certain environment variables
list documented in X/Open. ncurses provides varargs support for this
function. Use --disable-tparm-varargs to disable this support.
- --disable-wattr-macros
- The 6.0 ABI adds support for extended colors and for extended mouse.
- The former is a noticeable problem when developers inadvertantly
- compile using the ncurses6 header files and link with an ncurses5
- library, because the wattr* macros use a new field in the WINDOW
- structure. These macros are used in several applications.
-
- Since ncurses provides an actual function for each of these macros,
- suppressing them from the curses.h header allows the ncurses5 libraries
- to be used in most applications.
-
- NOTE: The extended colors also are used in the cchar_t structure, but
- fewer applications use that.
-
- NOTE: This workaround does not help with mismatches in the ncurses
- mouse version. The extended mouse feature uses one less fewer bit for
- each button, so that only the first button will work as expected with
- a mismatch between header and library. Again, most applications will
- work, since most use only the first button.
-
--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.
For testing, generate functions for certain macros to make them visible
as such to the debugger. See also the --disable-macros option.
+ --enable-exp-win32
+ When configuring for MinGW, use the experimental Windows 10 driver.
+
--enable-ext-colors
Extend the cchar_t structure to allow more than 16 colors to be
encoded. This applies only to the wide-character (--enable-widec)
ncurses. This does not change the ABI (the binary interface seen by
calling applications).
+ --enable-fvisibility
+ Use the gcc "-fvisibility=hidden" option to make symbols which are not
+ explicitly exported, "hidden". Doing this may reduce the number of
+ symbols exported in the C++ binding; it should have less effect on the
+ C libraries when symbol-versioning is used.
+
--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
vsnprintf() or vsprintf(). It is slow, however, and is used only on
very old systems which lack vsnprintf().
- --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-signed-char
The term.h header declares a Booleans[] array typed "char". But it
stores signed values there and "char" is not necessarily signed.
is not strictly compatible. This option allows one to implement this
alteration without patching the source code.
+ --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-sp-funcs
Compile-in support for extended functions which accept a SCREEN pointer,
reducing the need for juggling the global SP value with set_term() and
delscreen().
+ --enable-stdnoreturn
+ When enabled, check if the <stdnoreturn.h> header exists, and if found
+ define GCC_NORETURN to _Noreturn rather than either the gcc-specific
+ __attribute__((noreturn)) or an empty token. Doing this may require
+ calling programs which use GCC_NORETURN in their own function
+ definitions to be modified, because _Noreturn is only accepted as
+ the first token in a declaration.
+
--enable-string-hacks
Controls whether strlcat and strlcpy may be used. The same issue
applies to OpenBSD's warnings about snprintf, noting that this function
--enable-warnings
Turn on GCC compiler warnings. There should be only a few.
+ --enable-wattr-macros
+ The 6.0 ABI adds support for extended colors and for extended mouse.
+ The former is a noticeable problem when developers inadvertently
+ compile using the ncurses6 header files and link with an ncurses5
+ library, because the wattr* macros use a new field in the WINDOW
+ structure. These macros are used in several applications.
+
+ Since ncurses provides an actual function for each of these macros,
+ suppressing them from the curses.h header allows the ncurses5 libraries
+ to be used in most applications.
+
+ NOTE: The extended colors also are used in the cchar_t structure, but
+ fewer applications use that.
+
+ NOTE: This workaround does not help with mismatches in the ncurses
+ mouse version. The extended mouse feature uses one less fewer bit for
+ each button, so that only the first button will work as expected with
+ a mismatch between header and library. Again, most applications will
+ work, since most use only the first button.
+
--enable-weak-symbols
If the --with-pthread option is set, check if the compiler supports
weak-symbols. If it does, then name the thread-capable library without
Tell where to install the Ada includes (default:
PREFIX/lib/ada/adainclude)
+ --with-ada-libname=NAME
+ Override the name of the Ada binding (default: "AdaCurses")
+
--with-ada-objects=DIR
Tell where to install the Ada objects (default: PREFIX/lib/ada/adalib)
correspond with that in <stdbool.h>, or defaults to platform-specific
sizes).
- --with-build-cpp=XXX
- This option is provided by the same macro used for $BUILD_CC, etc.,
- but is not directly used by ncurses.
-
--with-build-cc=XXX
If cross-compiling, specify a host C compiler, which is needed to
compile a few utilities which generate source modules for ncurses.
You can also set the environment variable $BUILD_CFLAGS rather than
use this option.
+ --with-build-cpp=XXX
+ This option is provided by the same macro used for $BUILD_CC, etc.,
+ but is not directly used by ncurses.
+
--with-build-cppflags=XXX
If cross-compiling, specify the host C preprocessor-flags. You might
need to do this if the target compiler has unusual flags which confuse
Specify a suffix for the ncursesw6-config file, etc., used to work
around conflicts with packages.
+ --with-cxx-libname=NAME
+ Override the basename of the ncurses++ library (default: "ncurses++")
+
--with-cxx-shared
When --with-shared is set, build libncurses++ as a shared library.
This implicitly relies upon building with gcc/g++, since other
Specify a list of fallback terminal descriptions which will be
compiled into the ncurses library. See CONFIGURING FALLBACK ENTRIES.
+ See also "--with-tic-path" and "--with-infocmp-path".
+
+ --with-form-libname=NAME
+ Override the basename of the form library (default: "form")
+
--with-gpm
use Alessandro Rubini's GPM library to provide mouse support on the
Linux console. Prior to ncurses 5.5, this introduced a dependency on
See also the --enable-getcap option.
+ --with-infocmp-path[=XXX]
+ Use this option to override the automatic detection of tic in your
+ $PATH when building fallbacks (see "--with-fallbacks").
+
--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"
https://invisible-island.net/autoconf/
--with-libtool-opts=XXX
- Specify additional libtool options.
-
- --with-libtool-opts
Allow user to pass additional libtool options into the library creation
and link steps. The main use for this is to do something like
./configure --with-libtool-opts=-static
by running them through tbl to generate tables understandable by
nroff.
+ --with-menu-libname=NAME
+ Override the basename of the menu library (default: "menu")
+
--with-mmask-t=TYPE
Override type of mmask_t, which stores the mouse mask. Prior to
ncurses 5.5, this was always unsigned long, but with ncurses 5.5, it
those using termcap, do not use the higher speeds. Your application
(or system, in general) may or may not.
+ --with-panel-libname=NAME
+ Override the basename of the panel library (default: "panel")
+
--with-pc-suffix=SUFFIX
If ".pc" files are installed, optionally add a suffix to the files
and corresponding package names to separate unusual configurations.
If no option value is given (or if it is "none"), no suffix is added.
+ --with-pcre2
+ Add PCRE2 (Perl-compatible regular expressions v2) to the build if it
+ is available and the user requests it. Assume the application will
+ otherwise use the POSIX interface.
+
+ This is useful for MinGW builds because the usual POSIX interface is
+ not supplied by the development environment, while ncurses' form
+ library uses a regular expression feature for one of the field types.
+
--with-pkg-config=[DIR]
Check for pkg-config, optionally specifying its path.
Specify a search-list of termcap files which will be compiled into the
ncurses library (default: /etc/termcap:/usr/share/misc/termcap)
+ --with-tic-path[=XXX]
+ Use this option to override the automatic detection of tic in your
+ $PATH when building fallbacks (see "--with-fallbacks").
+
--with-ticlib[=XXX]
When building the ncurses library, build a separate library for
the modules that are used only by the utility programs. Normally
Configure the trace() function as part of the all models of the ncurses
library. Normally it is part of the debug (libncurses_g) library only.
+ --with-valgrind
+ For testing, compile with debug option.
+ This also sets the --disable-leaks option.
+
--with-versioned-syms[=XXX]
The Solaris, GNU and reportedly some other linkers (ld) accept a
"--version-script" option which tells the linker to annotate the
may prefer to use a different ".map" file by setting this option's
value.
- --with-xterm-kbs=XXX
- Configure xterm's terminfo entries to use either BS (^H, i.e., ASCII
- backspace) or DEL (^?, or 127). XXX can be BS (or bs, 8) or DEL
- (or del, 127).
-
- During installation, the makefile and scripts modifies the "xterm+kbs"
- terminfo entry to use this setting.
-
- --with-valgrind
- For testing, compile with debug option.
- This also sets the --disable-leaks option.
-
--with-wrap-prefix=XXX
When using the --enable-reentrant option, ncurses redefines variables
that would be global in curses, e.g., LINES, as a macro that calls a
This overrides a configure check which usually works, but is needed
due to the lack of standardization for X11's files.
+ --with-xterm-kbs=XXX
+ Configure xterm's terminfo entries to use either BS (^H, i.e., ASCII
+ backspace) or DEL (^?, or 127). XXX can be BS (or bs, 8) or DEL
+ (or del, 127).
+
+ During installation, the makefile and scripts modifies the "xterm+kbs"
+ terminfo entry to use this setting.
+
--without-ada
Suppress the configure script's check for Ada95, do not build the
Ada95 binding and related demo.
X11R5 and X11R6 xterm.
-COMPATIBILITY WITH OLDER VERSIONS OF NCURSES:
---------------------------------------------
+COMPATIBILITY WITH OLDER RELEASES:
+---------------------------------
Because ncurses implements X/Open Curses, its interface is fairly stable.
That does not mean the interface does not change. Changes are made to the
you may encounter when building a system with different versions of
ncurses:
+ 6.2 (Feb 12, 2020)
+ Interface changes:
+
+ + the terminal database must be compiled with ncurses 6.2 tic;
+ older versions of tic/infocmp will not work. Aside from that,
+ the compiled database will work with older applications.
+
+ + "*.pc" and "ncurses*-config" files give the same information.
+
+ + vwprintw and vwscanw are deprecated.
+
+ Added extensions:
+
+ + These make it simpler to substitute a debug-configuration of the
+ library for non-debug:
+ curses_trace
+ exit_curses
+ exit_terminfo
+
+ Added internal functions (other than "_sp" variants):
+
+ + These provide fast-lookup of common user-defined capabilities:
+ _nc_find_user_entry
+ _nc_get_userdefs_table
+ _nc_get_hash_user
+
+ + This is added to work around compiler-warnings:
+ _nc_fmt_funcptr
+
+ Removed internal functions:
+
+ + _nc_import_termtype
+
+ Modified internal functions:
+
+ + _nc_reserve_pairs no longer returns a value
+
6.1 (Jan 27, 2018)
Interface changes:
incorrect color scheme.
-IF YOU ARE A SYSTEM INTEGRATOR:
-------------------------------
+FOR SYSTEM INTEGRATORS:
+----------------------
Configuration and Installation:
that will make users' lives easier rather than harder.
-RECENT XTERM VERSIONS:
+MODERN XTERM VERSIONS:
---------------------
The terminfo database file included with this distribution assumes you
In order to support operation of ncurses programs before the terminfo
tree is accessible (that is, in single-user mode or at OS installation
time) the ncurses library can be compiled to include an array of
- pre-fetched fallback entries. This must be done on a machine which
- has ncurses' infocmp and terminfo database installed (as well as
- ncurses' tic and infocmp programs).
+ pre-fetched fallback entries.
+
+ NOTE: This must be done on a machine which has ncurses' infocmp and
+ terminfo database installed (as well as ncurses' tic and infocmp
+ programs). That is because the fallback sources are generated and
+ compiled into the library before the build-tree's copy of infocmp is
+ available.
These entries are checked by setupterm() only when the conventional
fetches from the terminfo tree and the termcap fallback (if configured)
$TERMINFO \
../misc/terminfo.src \
`which tic` \
+ `which infocmp` \
linux vt100 xterm >fallback.c
- The first three parameters of the script are normally supplied by
+ The first four parameters of the script are normally supplied by
the configured makefiles via the "--with-fallbacks" option. They
are
2) the source for the terminfo entries
3) the location of the tic program, used to create a terminfo
database.
+ 4) the location of the infocmp program, used to print a terminfo
+ description.
Then just rebuild and reinstall the library as you would normally.
You can restore the default empty fallback list with
$TERMINFO \
../misc/terminfo.src \
`which tic` \
+ `which infocmp` \
>fallback.c
The overhead for an empty fallback list is one trivial stub function.
- Any non-empty fallback list is const-ed and therefore lives in sharable
+ Any non-empty fallback list is const'd and therefore lives in shareable
text space. You can look at the comment trailing each initializer in
the generated ncurses/fallback.c file to see the core cost of the
fallbacks. A good rule of thumb for modern vt100-like entries is that
------------------------------- CUT HERE --------------------------------
-USING NCURSES WITH AFS:
- AFS treats each directory as a separate logical filesystem, you
- can't hard-link across them. The --enable-symlinks option copes
- with this by making tic use symbolic links.
-
-USING NCURSES WITH GPM:
+USING GPM:
+---------
Ncurses 4.1 and up can be configured to use GPM (General Purpose Mouse)
which is used with Linux console. Be aware that GPM is commonly
installed as a shared library which contains a wrapper for the curses
https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses.faq.html#using_gpm_lib
-BUILDING NCURSES WITH A CROSS-COMPILER
+
+BUILDING WITH A CROSS-COMPILER:
+------------------------------
Ncurses can be built with a cross-compiler. Some parts must be built
with the host's compiler since they are used for building programs
(e.g., ncurses/make_hash and ncurses/make_keys) that generate tables
When ncurses has been successfully cross-compiled, you may want to use
"make install" (with a suitable target directory) to construct an
install tree. Note that in this case (as with the --with-fallbacks
- option), ncurses uses the development platform's tic to do the
- "make install.data" portion.
+ option), ncurses uses the development platform's tic to do the "make
+ install.data" portion.
The system's tic program is used to install the terminal database,
- even for cross-compiles. For best results, the tic program should
- be from the most current version of ncurses.
-
-BUGS:
+ even for cross-compiles. For best results, the tic program should be
+ from the most current version of ncurses.
+
+ NOTE: the system's tic program may use a different terminfo database
+ format than the target system. For instance, as described in term(5),
+ the conventional terminfo layout uses a directory hierarchy with one
+ letter names, while some platforms use two-letter names to work with
+ case-insensitive filesystems. The configure script searches for a tic
+ program using the AC_CHECK_TOOL macro, which will prefer programs
+ using the canonical host prefix in their name. You can use this fact
+ to provide a cross-compiler support utility tic, otherwise you can
+ override the configure script's choice using --with-tic-path
+
+
+BUG REPORTS:
+-----------
Send any feedback to the ncurses mailing list at
bug-ncurses@gnu.org. To subscribe send mail to
bug-ncurses-request@gnu.org with body that reads:
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