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-<TITLE>Announcing ncurses @VERSION@ Pre-Release</TITLE>
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-
-<H1>Announcing ncurses @VERSION@</H1>
-
-The ncurses (new curses) library is a free software emulation of
-curses in System V Release 4.0, and more. It uses terminfo format,
-supports pads and color
-and multiple highlights and forms characters and function-key mapping,
-and has all the other SYSV-curses enhancements over BSD curses.<P>
-
-In mid-June 1995, the maintainer of 4.4BSD curses declared that he
-considered 4.4BSD curses obsolete, and is encouraging the keepers of
-Unix releases such as BSD/OS, freeBSD and netBSD to switch over to
-ncurses.<P>
-
-The ncurses code was developed under GNU/Linux.
-It has been in use for some time with OpenBSD as the system curses library,
-and on FreeBSD and NetBSD as an external package.
-It should port easily to any ANSI/POSIX-conforming UNIX.
-It has even been ported to OS/2 Warp!<P>
-
-The distribution includes the library and support utilities, including a
-terminfo compiler tic(1), a decompiler infocmp(1), clear(1), tput(1), tset(1),
-and a termcap conversion tool captoinfo(1). Full manual pages are provided for
-the library and tools.<P>
-
-The ncurses distribution is available via anonymous FTP at
-the GNU distribution site
-<A HREF="ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/ncurses">ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/ncurses</A>.
-<br>It is also available at
-<A HREF="ftp://invisible-island.net/ncurses">ftp://invisible-island.net/ncurses</A>.
-
-<H1>Release Notes</H1>
-
-This release is designed to be upward compatible from ncurses 5.0 and 5.2;
-very few applications will require recompilation, depending on the platform.
-These are the highlights from the change-log since ncurses 5.2 release.
-<p>
-Interface changes:
-<ul>
- <li>change type for bool used in headers to <code>NCURSES_BOOL</code>,
- which usually is the same as the compiler's definition for
- <code>bool</code>.
-
- <li>add all but two functions for X/Open curses wide-character support.
- These are only available if the library is configured using the
- <kbd>--enable-widec</kbd> option. Missing functions are
- <ul>
- <li>pecho_wchar()
- <li>slk_wset()
- </ul>
-
- <li>add environment variable <code>$NCURSES_ASSUMED_COLORS</code> to
- modify the <code>assume_default_colors()</code> extension.
-
-</ul>
-New features and improvements:
-<ul>
- <li>Improved support for termcap applications:
- <ul>
- <li>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.
-
- <li>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.
-
- <li>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.
-
- <li>add tic -A option to suppress capabilities which are commented out
- when translating to termcap.
-
- <li>modify logic in lib_baudrate.c for ospeed, for FreeBSD to make it
- work properly for termcap applications (patch by Andrey A Chernov).
-
- </ul>
-
- <li>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).
-
- <li>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.
-</ul>
-Major bug fixes:
-<ul>
- <li>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.
-
- <li>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().
-
- <li>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.
-
- <li>modified wresize() to ensure that a failed realloc will not corrupt
- the window structure, and to make subwindows fit within the resized
- window.
-
- <li>altered resizeterm() to avoid having it fail when a child window
- cannot be resized because it would be larger than its parent.
-
- <li>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.
-
- <li>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.
-
- <li>add a check in relative_move() to guard against buffer overflow in
- the overwrite logic.
-
- <li>add some limit/pointer checks to -S option of tputs.
-
- <li>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).
-</ul>
-
-Portability:
-<ul>
- <li>configure script:
- <ul>
- <li>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.
-
- <li>correct a typo in configure --enable-colorfgbg option, and move it
- to the experimental section (cf: 20011208).
-
- <li>modify configure script to allow building with termcap only, or with
- fallbacks only. In this case, we do not build tic and toe.
-
- <li>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.
-
- <li>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.
-
- <li>add several configure script options to aid with cross-compiling:
- --with-build-cc, --with-build-cflags, --with-build-ldflags, and
- --with-build-libs.
-
- <li>add experimental --with-caps=XXX option to customize to similar
- terminfo database formats such as AIX 4.x
-
- <li>add configure option --with-ospeed to assist packagers in transition
- to 5.3 change to ospeed type.
- </ul>
-
- <li>library:
- <ul>
- <li>implement a simple vsscanf() fallback function which uses the %n
- conversion to help parse the input data.
-
- <li>various fixes to build/work with different implementations of
- vsscanf().
-
- <li>add/use macro to suppress sign-extension of char type on
- platforms where this is a problem in ctype macros, e.g., Solaris.
-
- <li>finish changes needed to build dll's on cygwin.
-
- <li>add #undef's before possible redefinition of ERR and OK in curses.h
- </ul>
-
- <li>programs:
- <ul>
- <li>modify ifdef's in write_entry.c to allow use of symbolic links on
- platforms with no hard links, e.g., BeOS.
-
- <li>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.
-
- <li>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".
- </ul>
-</ul>
-
-<H1>Features of Ncurses</H1>
-
-The ncurses package is fully compatible with SVr4 (System V Release 4) curses:
-
-<UL>
-<LI>All 257 of the SVr4 calls have been implemented (and are documented).
-<LI>Full support for SVr4 curses features including keyboard mapping, color,
-forms-drawing with ACS characters, and automatic recognition of keypad
-and function keys.
-<LI>An emulation of the SVr4 panels library, supporting
-a stack of windows with backing store, is included.
-<LI>An emulation of the SVr4 menus library, supporting
-a uniform but flexible interface for menu programming, is included.
-<LI>An emulation of the SVr4 form library, supporting
-data collection through on-screen forms, is included.
-<LI>Binary terminfo entries generated by the ncurses tic(1) implementation
-are bit-for-bit-compatible with the entry format SVr4 curses uses.
-<LI>The utilities have options to allow you to filter terminfo
-entries for use with less capable <STRONG>curses</STRONG>/<STRONG>terminfo</STRONG>
-versions such as the HP/UX and AIX ports.</UL>
-
-The ncurses package also has many useful extensions over SVr4:
-
-<UL>
-<LI>The API is 8-bit clean and base-level conformant with the X/OPEN curses
-specification, XSI curses (that is, it implements all BASE level features,
-but not all EXTENDED features). Most EXTENDED-level features not directly
-concerned with wide-character support are implemented, including many
-function calls not supported under SVr4 curses (but portability of all
-calls is documented so you can use the SVr4 subset only).
-<LI>Unlike SVr3 curses, ncurses can write to the rightmost-bottommost corner
-of the screen if your terminal has an insert-character capability.
-<LI>Ada95 and C++ bindings.
-<LI>Support for mouse event reporting with X Window xterm and OS/2 console windows.
-<LI>Extended mouse support via Alessandro Rubini's gpm package.
-<LI>The function <CODE>wresize()</CODE> allows you to resize windows, preserving
-their data.
-<LI>The function <CODE>use_default_colors()</CODE> allows you to
-use the terminal's default colors for the default color pair,
-achieving the effect of transparent colors.
-<LI>The functions <CODE>keyok()</CODE>
-and <CODE>define_key()</CODE> allow
-you to better control the use of function keys,
-e.g., disabling the ncurses KEY_MOUSE,
-or by defining more than one control sequence to map to a given key code.
-<LI>Support for 16-color terminals, such as aixterm and XFree86 xterm.
-<LI>Better cursor-movement optimization. The package now features a
-cursor-local-movement computation more efficient than either BSD's
-or System V's.
-<LI>Super hardware scrolling support. The screen-update code incorporates
-a novel, simple, and cheap algorithm that enables it to make optimal
-use of hardware scrolling, line-insertion, and line-deletion
-for screen-line movements. This algorithm is more powerful than
-the 4.4BSD curses quickch() routine.
-<LI>Real support for terminals with the magic-cookie glitch. The
-screen-update code will refrain from drawing a highlight if the magic-
-cookie unattributed spaces required just before the beginning and
-after the end would step on a non-space character. It will
-automatically shift highlight boundaries when doing so would make it
-possible to draw the highlight without changing the visual appearance
-of the screen.
-<LI>It is possible to generate the library with a list of pre-loaded
-fallback entries linked to it so that it can serve those terminal types even
-when no terminfo tree or termcap file is accessible (this may be useful
-for support of screen-oriented programs that must run in single-user mode).
-<LI>The tic(1)/captoinfo utility provided with ncurses has the
-ability to translate many termcaps from the XENIX, IBM and
-AT&T extension sets.
-<LI>A BSD-like tset(1) utility is provided.
-<LI>The ncurses library and utilities will automatically read terminfo
-entries from $HOME/.terminfo if it exists, and compile to that directory
-if it exists and the user has no write access to the system directory.
-This feature makes it easier for users to have personal terminfo entries
-without giving up access to the system terminfo directory.
-<LI>You may specify a path of directories to search for compiled
-descriptions with the environment variable TERMINFO_DIRS (this
-generalizes the feature provided by TERMINFO under stock System V.)
-<LI>In terminfo source files, use capabilities may refer not just to
-other entries in the same source file (as in System V) but also to
-compiled entries in either the system terminfo directory or the user's
-$HOME/.terminfo directory.
-<LI>A script (<STRONG>capconvert</STRONG>) is provided to help BSD users
-transition from termcap to terminfo. It gathers the information in a
-TERMCAP environment variable and/or a ~/.termcap local entries file
-and converts it to an equivalent local terminfo tree under $HOME/.terminfo.
-<LI>Automatic fallback to the /etc/termcap file can be compiled in
-when it is not possible to build a terminfo tree. This feature is neither
-fast nor cheap, you don't want to use it unless you have to,
-but it's there.
-<LI>The table-of-entries utility <STRONG>toe</STRONG> makes it easy for users to
-see exactly what terminal types are available on the system.
-<LI>The library meets the XSI requirement that every macro entry
-point have a corresponding function which may be linked (and will be
-prototype-checked) if the macro definition is disabled with
-<CODE>#undef</CODE>.
-<LI>An HTML "Introduction to Programming with NCURSES" document provides
-a narrative introduction to the curses programming interface.
-</UL>
-
-<H1>State of the Package</H1>
-
-Numerous bugs present in earlier versions have been fixed; the
-library is far more reliable than it used to be. Bounds checking in many
-`dangerous' entry points has been improved. The code is now type-safe
-according to gcc -Wall. The library has been checked for malloc leaks and
-arena corruption by the Purify memory-allocation tester.<P>
-
-The ncurses code has been tested with a wide variety of applications
-including (versions starting with those noted):
-<DL>
-<DT> cdk
-<DD> Curses Development Kit
-<br>
-<A HREF="http://invisible-island.net/cdk/cdk.html">http://invisible-island.net/cdk</A>.
-<br>
-<A HREF="http://www.vexus.ca/CDK.html">http://www.vexus.ca/CDK.html</a>
-<DT> ded
-<DD> directory-editor
-<br>
-<A HREF="http://invisible-island.net/ded/ded.html">http://invisible-island.net/ded</A>.
-<DT> dialog
-<DD> the underlying application used in Slackware's setup, and the basis
-for similar applications on GNU/Linux.
-<br>
-<A HREF="http://invisible-island.net/dialog/dialog.html">http://invisible-island.net/dialog</A>.
-<DT> lynx
-<DD> the character-screen WWW browser
-<br>
-<A HREF="http://lynx.isc.org/release/">http://lynx.isc.org/release</A>.
-<DT> Midnight Commander
-<DD> file manager
-<br>
-<A HREF="www.gnome.org/mc/">www.gnome.org/mc/</A>.
-<DT> mutt
-<DD> mail utility
-<br>
-<A HREF="http://www.mutt.org">http://www.mutt.org</A>.
-<DT> ncftp
-<DD> file-transfer utility
-<br>
-<A HREF="http://www.ncftp.com">http://www.ncftp.com</A>.
-<DT> nvi
-<DD> New vi versions 1.50 are able to use ncurses versions 1.9.7 and later.
-<br>
-<A HREF="http://www.bostic.com/vi/">http://www.bostic.com/vi/</A>.
-<DT> tin
-<DD> newsreader, supporting color, MIME
-<br>
-<A HREF="http://www.tin.org">http://www.tin.org</A>.
-<DT> taper
-<DD> tape archive utility
-<br>
-<A HREF="http://members.iinet.net.au/~yusuf/taper/">http://members.iinet.net.au/~yusuf/taper/</A>.
-<DT> vh-1.6
-<DD> Volks-Hypertext browser for the Jargon File
-<br>
-<A HREF="http://www.bg.debian.org/Packages/unstable/text/vh.html">http://www.bg.debian.org/Packages/unstable/text/vh.html</A>.
-</DL>
-as well as some that use ncurses for the terminfo support alone:
-<DL>
-<DT> minicom
-<DD> terminal emulator
-<br>
-<A HREF="http://www.pp.clinet.fi/~walker/minicom.html">http://www.pp.clinet.fi/~walker/minicom.html</A>.
-<DT> vile
-<DD> vi-like-emacs
-<br>
-<A HREF="http://invisible-island.net/vile/vile.html">http://invisible-island.net/vile</A>.
-</DL>
-<P>
-
-The ncurses distribution includes a selection of test programs (including
-a few games).
-
-<H2>Who's Who and What's What</H2>
-
-The original developers of ncurses are <A
-HREF="mailto:zmbenhal@netcom.com">Zeyd Ben-Halim</A> and
-<A HREF="http://www.ccil.org/~esr/home.html">Eric S. Raymond</A>.
-Ongoing work is being done by
-<A HREF="mailto:dickey@herndon4.his.com">Thomas Dickey</A>
-and
-<A HREF="http://www.familiepfeifer.de/Contact.aspx?Lang=en">Jürgen Pfeifer</A>.
-<A HREF="mailto:dickey@herndon4.his.com">Thomas Dickey</A>
-acts as the maintainer for the Free Software Foundation, which holds the
-copyright on ncurses.
-Contact the current maintainers at
-<A HREF="mailto:bug-ncurses@gnu.org">bug-ncurses@gnu.org</A>.
-<P>
-
-To join the ncurses mailing list, please write email to
-<CODE>bug-ncurses-request@gnu.org</CODE> containing the line:
-<PRE>
- subscribe <name>@<host.domain>
-</PRE>
-
-This list is open to anyone interested in helping with the development and
-testing of this package.<P>
-
-Beta versions of ncurses and patches to the current release are made available at
-<A HREF="ftp://invisible-island.net/ncurses">ftp://invisible-island.net/ncurses</A>.
-
-<H2>Future Plans</H2>
-<UL>
-<LI>Extended-level XPG4 conformance, with internationalization support.
-<LI>Ports to more systems, including DOS and Windows.
-</UL>
-We need people to help with these projects. If you are interested in working
-on them, please join the ncurses list.
-
-<H2>Other Related Resources</H2>
-
-The distribution includes and uses a version of the terminfo-format
-terminal description file maintained by Eric Raymond.
-<A HREF="http://earthspace.net/~esr/terminfo">http://earthspace.net/~esr/terminfo</A>.<P>
-
-You can find lots of information on terminal-related topics
-not covered in the terminfo file at
-<A HREF="http://www.cs.utk.edu/~shuford/terminal_index.html">Richard Shuford's
-archive</A>.
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+<html>
+<head>
+ <meta name="generator" content=
+ "HTML Tidy for HTML5 for Linux version 5.6.0">
+ <title>Announcing ncurses @VERSION@</title>
+ <link rel="author" href="mailto:bug-ncurses@gnu.org">
+ <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content=
+ "text/html; charset=us-ascii">
+ <style type="text/css">
+ p,li { max-width:700px; }
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+ font-size: 12pt;
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+ font-size: 10pt;
+ }
+ </style>
+</head>
+<body>
+ <h1 class="no-header">Announcing ncurses @VERSION@</h1>
+
+ <h2><a name="h2-overview" id="h2-overview">Overview</a></h2>
+
+ <p>The <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> (new curses)
+ library is a free software emulation of curses in System V
+ Release 4.0 (SVr4), and more. It uses terminfo format, supports
+ pads and color and multiple highlights and forms characters and
+ function-key mapping, and has all the other SVr4-curses
+ enhancements over BSD curses. SVr4 curses became the basis of
+ X/Open Curses.</p>
+
+ <p>In mid-June 1995, the maintainer of 4.4BSD curses declared
+ that he considered 4.4BSD curses obsolete, and encouraged the
+ keepers of <span class="main-name">unix</span> releases such as
+ BSD/OS, FreeBSD and NetBSD to switch over to <span class=
+ "main-name">ncurses</span>.</p>
+
+ <p>Since 1995, <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> has been
+ ported to many systems:</p>
+
+ <ul>
+ <li>It is used in almost every system based on the Linux kernel
+ (aside from some embedded applications).</li>
+
+ <li>It is used as the system curses library on OpenBSD, FreeBSD
+ and MacOS.</li>
+
+ <li>It is used in environments such as Cygwin and MinGW. The
+ first of these was EMX on OS/2 Warp.</li>
+
+ <li>It is used (though usually not as the <em>system</em>
+ curses) on all of the vendor <span class=
+ "main-name">unix</span> systems, e.g., AIX, HP-UX, IRIX64, SCO,
+ Solaris, Tru64.</li>
+
+ <li>It should work readily on any ANSI/POSIX-conforming
+ <span class="main-name">unix</span>.</li>
+ </ul>
+
+ <p>The distribution includes the library and support utilities,
+ including</p>
+
+ <ul>
+ <li><a href="@HOMEPAGE@/man/captoinfo.1m.html"><span class=
+ "part-name">captoinfo</span></a>, a termcap conversion
+ tool</li>
+
+ <li><a href="@HOMEPAGE@/man/clear.1.html"><span class=
+ "part-name">clear</span></a>, utility for clearing the
+ screen</li>
+
+ <li><a href="@HOMEPAGE@/man/infocmp.1m.html"><span class=
+ "part-name">infocmp</span></a>, the terminfo decompiler</li>
+
+ <li><a href="@HOMEPAGE@/man/tabs.1.html"><span class=
+ "part-name">tabs</span></a>, set tabs on a terminal</li>
+
+ <li><a href="@HOMEPAGE@/man/tic.1m.html"><span class=
+ "part-name">tic</span></a>, the terminfo compiler</li>
+
+ <li><a href="@HOMEPAGE@/man/toe.1m.html"><span class=
+ "part-name">toe</span></a>, list (table of) terminfo
+ entries</li>
+
+ <li><a href="@HOMEPAGE@/man/tput.1.html"><span class=
+ "part-name">tput</span></a>, utility for retrieving terminal
+ capabilities in shell scripts</li>
+
+ <li><a href="@HOMEPAGE@/man/tset.1.html"><span class=
+ "part-name">tset</span></a>, to initialize the terminal</li>
+ </ul>
+
+ <p>Full manual pages are provided for the library and tools.</p>
+
+ <p>The <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> distribution is
+ available at <span class="main-name">ncurses</span>' <a href=
+ "@HOMEPAGE@/">homepage</a>:</p>
+
+ <blockquote>
+ <p><a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/archives/ncurses/">https://invisible-island.net/archives/ncurses/</a>
+ or<br>
+ <a href=
+ "https://invisible-mirror.net/archives/ncurses/">https://invisible-mirror.net/archives/ncurses/</a> .</p>
+ </blockquote>
+
+ <p>It is also available at the GNU distribution site</p>
+
+ <blockquote>
+ <p><a href=
+ "https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/ncurses/">https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/ncurses/</a> .</p>
+ </blockquote>
+
+ <h2><a name="h2-release-notes" id="h2-release-notes">Release
+ Notes</a></h2>
+
+ <p>These notes are for <span class="main-name">ncurses</span>
+ @VERSION@, released <strong>December 31, 2022</strong>.</p>
+
+ <p>This release is designed to be source-compatible with
+ <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> 5.0 through 6.3; providing
+ extensions to the application binary interface (ABI). Although
+ the source can still be configured to support the <span class=
+ "main-name">ncurses</span> 5 ABI, the reason for the release is
+ to reflect improvements to the <span class=
+ "main-name">ncurses</span> 6 ABI and the supporting utility
+ programs.</p>
+
+ <p>There are, of course, numerous other improvements, listed in
+ this announcement.</p>
+
+ <p>The most <a href="#h3-bug-fixes">important
+ bug-fixes/improvements</a> dealt with robustness issues. The
+ release notes also mention some other bug-fixes, but are focused
+ on new features and improvements to existing features since
+ <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> 6.3 release.</p>
+
+ <h3><a name="h3-library" id="h3-library">Library improvements</a></h3>
+
+ <h4><a name="h4-new-library" id="h4-new-library">New features</a></h4>
+
+ <p>There are no new features in this release.</p>
+
+ <h4><a name="h4-fixes-library" id="h4-fixes-library">Other
+ improvements</a></h4>
+
+ <p>These are improvements to existing features:</p>
+
+ <ul>
+ <li>
+ <p>modify <tt>delscreen</tt> to more effectively delete all
+ windows on the given screen.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>modify <tt>wnoutrefresh</tt> to call <tt>pnoutrefresh</tt>
+ if its parameter is a pad, rather than treating it as an
+ error, and modify new_panel to permit its window-parameter to
+ be a pad</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>modify curses_trace() to show the trace-mask as symbols,
+ e.g., <tt>TRACE_ORDINARY</tt>, <tt>DEBUG_LEVEL(3)</tt>.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>improve checks for valid mouse events when an intermediate
+ mouse state is not part of the mousemask specified by the
+ caller</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>allow extended-color number in <em>opts</em> parameter of
+ <tt>wattr_on</tt>.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>improve <tt>_tracecchar_t2</tt> formatting of
+ base+combining character.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>trim out some unwanted linker options from ncurses*config
+ and .pc files seen in Fedora 36+.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>improve shell-scripts with <em>shellcheck</em></p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>improve use of "trap" in shell scripts, using a
+ script.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>modify <tt>make-tar.sh</tt> scripts to make timestamps
+ more predictable.</p>
+ </li>
+ </ul>
+
+ <p>These are corrections to existing features:</p>
+
+ <ul>
+ <li>
+ <p>modify <tt>misc/gen-pkgconfig.in</tt> to allow for the
+ case where the library directory does not yet exist, since
+ this is processed before doing an install</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>set trailing null on string passed from <tt>winsnstr</tt>
+ to <tt>wins_nwstr</tt>.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>modify <tt>waddch_literal</tt> to allow for double-width
+ base character when merging a combining character</p>
+ </li>
+ </ul>
+
+ <h3><a name="h3-programs" id="h3-programs">Program
+ improvements</a></h3>
+
+ <p id="h4-utilities">Several improvements were made to the
+ utility programs:</p>
+
+ <dl>
+ <dt><span class="part-name"><a href=
+ "@HOMEPAGE@/man/infocmp.1m.html">infocmp</a></span>
+ </dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <ul>
+ <li>rewrite <tt>canonical_name</tt> function of
+ <tt>infocmp</tt> to ensure buffer size</li>
+
+ <li>improve readability of long parameterized expressions
+ with the infocmp “<tt>-f</tt>” option by
+ allowing split before a “<tt>%p</tt>”
+ marker.</li>
+
+ <li>modify verbose-option of <tt>infocmp</tt>,
+ <tt>tic</tt>, <tt>toe</tt> to enable debug-tracing if that
+ is configured.</li>
+ </ul>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt><span class="part-name"><a href=
+ "@HOMEPAGE@/man/tabs.1.html">tabs</a></span>
+ </dt>
+
+ <dd>limit tab-stop values to max-columns</dd>
+
+ <dt><span class="part-name"><a href=
+ "@HOMEPAGE@/man/tic.1m.html">tic</a></span>
+ </dt>
+
+ <dd>add consistency check in tic for u6/u7/u8/u9 and NQ
+ capabilities.</dd>
+
+ <dt><span class="part-name"><a href=
+ "@HOMEPAGE@/man/tput.1.html">tput</a></span>
+ </dt>
+
+ <dd>corrected use of original tty-modes in <em>init/reset</em>
+ subcommands</dd>
+ </dl>
+
+ <h4><a name="h4-examples" id="h4-examples">Examples</a></h4>
+
+ <p>Along with the library and utilities, improvements were made
+ to the <a href=
+ "@HOMEPAGE@/ncurses-examples.html">ncurses-examples</a>. Most of
+ this activity aimed at improving the test-packages:</p>
+
+ <ul>
+ <li>
+ <p>add minimal <tt>-h</tt> (usage) and <tt>-V</tt> (version)
+ getopt logic to all ncurses-examples programs.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>fix an error in "@" command in <tt>test/ncurses.c</tt>
+ F-menu</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>add curses_trace to ifdef's for <tt>START_TRACE</tt> in
+ <tt>test/test.priv.h</tt></p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>improve pthread-configuration for test/worm.c</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>add <tt>setlocale</tt> call to several test-programs.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>workaround in <tt>test/picsmap.c</tt> for use of floating
+ point for rgb values by ImageMagick 6.9.11, which appears to
+ use the wrong upper limit.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>use static libraries for AdaCurses test-package for
+ Mageia, since no gprbuild package is available.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>install Ada95 sample programs in libexecdir, adding a
+ wrapper script to invoke those.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>install ncurses-examples programs in libexecdir, adding a
+ wrapper script to invoke those.</p>
+ </li>
+ </ul>
+
+ <p>There are other new demo/test programs and reusable
+ examples:</p>
+
+ <dl>
+ <dt><span class="part-name"><em>test/combine</em></span>
+ </dt>
+
+ <dd>demonstrate combining characters</dd>
+
+ <dt><span class="part-name"><em>test/test_delwin</em></span>
+ </dt>
+
+ <dd>demonstrate deleting a window</dd>
+
+ <dt><span class="part-name"><em>test/test_mouse</em></span>
+ </dt>
+
+ <dd>observe mouse events in the raw terminal or parsed ncurses
+ modes</dd>
+
+ <dt><span class="part-name"><em>test/test_unget_wch</em></span>
+ </dt>
+
+ <dd>demonstrate the unget_wch and unget functions</dd>
+ </dl>
+
+ <h3><a name="h3-database" id="h3-database">Terminal database</a></h3>
+
+ <p>There are several new terminal descriptions:</p>
+
+ <ul>
+ <li><tt><a href=
+ "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-mosh">mosh</a></tt>
+ </li>
+
+ <li><tt><a href=
+ "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-mosh-256color">mosh-256color</a></tt>
+ </li>
+
+ <li><tt><a href=
+ "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-teken-16color">teken-16color</a></tt>
+ </li>
+
+ <li><tt><a href=
+ "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-teken-sc">teken-sc</a></tt>
+ </li>
+
+ <li><tt><a href=
+ "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-teken-vt">teken-vt</a></tt>
+ </li>
+
+ <li><tt><a href=
+ "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-xgterm">xgterm</a></tt>
+ </li>
+ </ul>
+
+ <p>There are many changes to existing terminal descriptions. Some
+ were updates to several descriptions:</p>
+
+ <ul>
+ <li>
+ <p>make description-fields distinct</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>fix errata in description fields</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>add/use several building-blocks:</p>
+
+ <ul>
+ <li><a href=
+ "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-aixterm_sl"><tt>aixterm+sl</tt></a></li>
+
+ <li><a href=
+ "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-ansi_cpr"><tt>ansi+cpr</tt></a></li>
+
+ <li><a href=
+ "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-apollo_vt132"><tt>apollo+vt132</tt></a></li>
+
+ <li><a href=
+ "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-decid_cpr"><tt>decid+cpr</tt></a></li>
+
+ <li><a href=
+ "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-ncr260vp_sl"><tt>ncr260vp+sl</tt></a></li>
+
+ <li><a href=
+ "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-wyse_sl"><tt>wyse+sl</tt></a></li>
+
+ <li><a href=
+ "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-x10term_sl"><tt>x10term+sl</tt></a></li>
+
+ <li><a href=
+ "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-xterm_acs"><tt>xterm+acs</tt></a></li>
+
+ <li><a href=
+ "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-xterm_alt47"><tt>xterm+alt47</tt></a></li>
+ </ul>
+ </li>
+ </ul>
+
+ <p>while others affected specific descriptions. These were
+ retested, to take into account changes by their developers:</p>
+
+ <ul>
+ <li>
+ <p><tt><a href=
+ "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-kitty">kitty</a></tt>
+ </p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p><tt><a href=
+ "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-teken">teken</a></tt>
+ </p>
+ </li>
+ </ul>
+
+ <p>while these are specific fixes based on reviewing
+ documentation, user reports, or warnings from <span class=
+ "part-name">tic</span>:</p>
+
+ <dl>
+ <dt><a href=
+ "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-att610_cvis0">att610+cvis0</a>
+ </dt>
+
+ <dd>amended note as per documentation for att610, att620,
+ att730</dd>
+
+ <dt><a href="@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-kon">kon</a>,
+ kon2, jfbterm</dt>
+
+ <dd>revise to undo "linux2.6" change to smacs/rmacs/enacs</dd>
+
+ <dt><a href=
+ "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-st-0_6">st-0.6</a>
+ </dt>
+
+ <dd>add dim, ecma+strikeout</dd>
+
+ <dt><a href=
+ "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-foot_base">foot+base</a>
+ </dt>
+
+ <dd>add xterm+sl-alt</dd>
+
+ <dt><a href=
+ "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-dec_sl">dec+sl</a>
+ </dt>
+
+ <dd>correct dsl in dec+sl</dd>
+
+ <dt><a href=
+ "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-mintty">mintty</a> and
+ tmux</dt>
+
+ <dd>correct setal in mintty/tmux entries, add to vte-2018</dd>
+
+ <dt><a href=
+ "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-nsterm">nsterm</a>
+ </dt>
+
+ <dd>modify nsterm to use xterm+alt1049</dd>
+
+ <dt><a href="@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-putty">putty</a>
+ </dt>
+
+ <dd>modify putty to use xterm+alt1049</dd>
+
+ <dt><a href=
+ "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-vte-2018">vte-2018</a>
+ </dt>
+
+ <dd>add blink and setal</dd>
+ </dl>
+
+ <p>A few entries use extensions (user-defined terminal
+ capabilities):</p>
+
+ <ul>
+ <li>
+ <p>use <tt>ansi+enq</tt> and <tt>decid+cpr</tt> in cases
+ where the terminal probably supported the u6-u9 extension</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>remove u6-u9 from teken-2018</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>use <tt>NQ</tt> to flag entries where the terminal does
+ not support query and response</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>add/use <a href=
+ "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-bracketed_paste"><tt>bracketed+paste</tt></a>
+ to help identify terminals supporting this xterm feature</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>modify samples for xterm mouse 1002/1003 modes to use 1006
+ mode, and also provide for focus in/out responses</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>xterm patch #371 supports DEC-compatible status-line. add
+ <tt>dec+sl</tt> to xterm-new, per xterm #371, add <a href=
+ "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-xterm-p371"><tt>xterm-p371</tt></a>,
+ add <a href=
+ "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-xterm-p370"><tt>xterm-p370</tt></a>,
+ for use in older terminals, and set “xterm-new”
+ to “xterm-p370” (to ease adoption).</p>
+ </li>
+ </ul>
+
+ <h3><a name="h3-documentation" id=
+ "h3-documentation">Documentation</a></h3>
+
+ <p>As usual, this release</p>
+
+ <ul>
+ <li>
+ <p>improves documentation by describing new features,</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>attempts to improve the description of features which
+ users have found confusing</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>fills in overlooked descriptions of features which were
+ described in the <a href="@HOMEPAGE@/NEWS.html">NEWS</a> file
+ but treated sketchily in manual pages.</p>
+ </li>
+ </ul>
+
+ <p>In addition to providing background information to explain
+ these features and show how they evolved, there are corrections,
+ clarifications, etc.:</p>
+
+ <ul>
+ <li>
+ <p>Corrections:</p>
+
+ <ul>
+ <li>
+ <p>remove a stray '/' from description of <tt>%g</tt> in
+ <a href=
+ "@HOMEPAGE@/man/terminfo.5.html#h3-Parameterized-Strings">
+ terminfo(5)</a>.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>correct/improve font-formatting in <a href=
+ "@HOMEPAGE@/man/curs_getch.3x.html">curs_getch.3x</a>, as
+ well as other manual pages.</p>
+ </li>
+ </ul>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>New/improved history and portability sections:</p>
+
+ <ul>
+ <li>
+ <p>add portability notes for <a href=
+ "@HOMEPAGE@/man/curs_initscr.3x.html#h2-PORTABILITY">delscreen</a>
+ and <a href=
+ "@HOMEPAGE@/man/curs_window.3x.html#h2-PORTABILITY">delwin</a>
+ in manual.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>improve <a href=
+ "@HOMEPAGE@/man/curs_slk.3x.html#h2-EXTENSIONS">curs_slk.3x</a>
+ discussion of extensions and portability</p>
+ </li>
+ </ul>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>Other improvements:</p>
+
+ <ul>
+ <li>
+ <p>improve <a href=
+ "@HOMEPAGE@/man/curs_bkgd.3x.html">curs_bkgd.3x</a>,
+ explaining that <tt>bkgdset</tt> can affect results for
+ <tt>bkgd</tt></p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>add note on portable memory-leak checking in <a href=
+ "@HOMEPAGE@/man/curs_memleaks.3x.html#h2-PORTABILITY">curs_memleaks.3x</a></p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>expanded description in <a href=
+ "@HOMEPAGE@/man/resizeterm.3x.html">resizeterm.3x</a></p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>add section on releasing memory to <a href=
+ "@HOMEPAGE@/man/curs_termcap.3x.html#h3-Releasing-Memory">
+ curs_termcap.3x</a> and <a href=
+ "@HOMEPAGE@/man/curs_terminfo.3x.html#h3-Releasing-Memory">
+ curs_terminfo.3x</a> manpages.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>add clarification of the scope of dynamic variables in
+ <a href=
+ "@HOMEPAGE@/man/terminfo.5.html">terminfo(5)</a>.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>improve formatting of <a href=
+ "@HOMEPAGE@/ncurses-intro.html">ncurses-intro.html</a>
+ and <a href=
+ "@HOMEPAGE@/hackguide.html">hackguide.html</a></p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>improve <a href=
+ "@HOMEPAGE@/man/curs_clear.3x.html">curs_clear.3x</a>
+ links to other pages</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>update <a href=
+ "@HOMEPAGE@/howto/NCURSES-Programming-HOWTO.html">ncurses-howto</a>,
+ making documentation fixes along with corrections to
+ example programs.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>use newer version 1.36 of gnathtml for generating Ada
+ html files.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>update external links in <a href=
+ "@HOMEPAGE@/Ada95.html">Ada95.html</a></p>
+ </li>
+ </ul>
+ </li>
+ </ul>
+
+ <p>There are no new manual pages (all of the manual page updates
+ are to existing pages).</p>
+
+ <h3><a name="h3-bug-fixes" id="h3-bug-fixes">Interesting
+ bug-fixes</a></h3>
+
+ <p>While there were many bugs fixed during development of ncurses
+ 6.4, only a few (the reason for this release) were both important
+ and interesting. Most of the bug-fixes were for local issues
+ which did not affect compatibility across releases. Since those
+ are detailed in the <a href=
+ "@HOMEPAGE@/NEWS.html#t20221231">NEWS</a> file no elaboration is
+ needed here.</p>
+
+ <p>The interesting bugs were those dealing with memory leaks and
+ buffer overflows. Although the utilities are designed for
+ <em>text</em> files (which they do properly), some choose to test
+ them with <strong>non-</strong><em>text</em> files.</p>
+
+ <ul>
+ <li>
+ <p>Text files contain no embedded nulls. Also, they end with
+ a newline. Feeding <strong>tic</strong> non-text files
+ exposed a few cases where the program did not check for those
+ issues. As a result, further processing of the input found
+ limit-checks whose assumptions were invalid.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>Fixing the limit-checks (first) found a problem with
+ <strong>tic</strong> managing the list of strings in a
+ terminal description. In merging two terminal descriptions
+ (i.e., the “use=” feature), <strong>tic</strong>
+ was not allocating a complete copy. A quick repair for that
+ introduced a memory leak.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>The checks for non-text files are improved (i.e., embedded
+ nulls in the input file will cause <strong>tic</strong> to
+ reject it rather than attempting to process it).</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>The string allocations in <strong>tic</strong> are
+ likewise improved.</p>
+ </li>
+ </ul>
+
+ <h3><a name="h3-config-config" id=
+ "h3-config-config">Configuration changes</a></h3>
+
+ <h4><a name="h4-config-major" id="h4-config-major">Major
+ changes</a></h4>
+
+ <p>There are no major changes. No new options were added. Several
+ improvements were made to configure checks.</p>
+
+ <h4><a name="h4-config-options" id=
+ "h4-config-options">Configuration options</a></h4>
+
+ <p>There are a few new/modified configure options:</p>
+
+ <dl>
+ <dt><tt>--with-abi-version</tt>
+ </dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>add ABI 7 defaults to configure script.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt><tt>--with-caps</tt>
+ </dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>add warning in configure script if file specified for
+ “<tt>--with-caps</tt>” does not exist.</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt><tt>--with-manpage-format</tt>
+ </dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>bzip2 and xz compression are now supported</p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt><tt>--with-xterm-kbs</tt>
+ </dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>add check/warning in configure script if option
+ “<tt>--with-xterm-kbs</tt>” is missing or
+ inconsistent</p>
+ </dd>
+ </dl>
+
+ <h3><a name="h3-portability" id="h3-portability">Portability</a></h3>
+
+ <p>Many of the portability changes are implemented via the
+ configure script:</p>
+
+ <ul>
+ <li>
+ <p>amend configure option's auto-search to account for
+ systems where none of the directories known to
+ <em>pkg-config</em> exist</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>corrected regex needed for older <em>pkg-config</em> used
+ in Solaris 10</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>improve handling of <tt>--with-pkg-config-libdir</tt>
+ option, allowing for the case where either
+ <tt>$PKG_CONFIG_LIBDIR</tt> or the option value has a
+ colon-separated list of directories</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>if the <tt>--with-pkg-config-libdir</tt> option is not
+ given, use <tt>${libdir}/pkgconfig</tt> as a default</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>improve search-path check for <em>pkg-config</em>, e.g.,
+ for Debian testing which installs <em>pkg-config</em> with
+ architecture-prefixes.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>build-fix for cross-compiling to MingW, conditionally add
+ <tt>-lssp</tt></p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>improve configure check for <tt>getttynam</tt></p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>fixes to build with <em>dietlibc</em>:</p>
+
+ <ul>
+ <li>add configure check for <tt>fpathconf</tt></li>
+
+ <li>add configure check for math sine/cosine, needed in
+ test/tclock, and eliminate <tt>pow()</tt> from
+ test/hanoi</li>
+
+ <li>use <tt>wcsnlen</tt> as an alternative to
+ <tt>wmemchr</tt> if it is not found</li>
+ </ul>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>modify configure macro <tt>CF_BUILD_CC</tt> to check if
+ the build-compiler works, rather than that it is different
+ from the cross-compiler, e.g., to accommodate a compiler
+ which can be used for either purpose with different flags</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>modify configure/scripts to work around interference by
+ GNU grep 3.8</p>
+ </li>
+ </ul>
+
+ <p>Here are some of the other portability fixes:</p>
+
+ <ul>
+ <li>
+ <p>change <tt>man_db.renames</tt> to template, to handle
+ <em>ncurses*-config</em> script with the
+ <tt>--extra-suffix</tt> configure option.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>update <tt>CF_XOPEN_SOURCE</tt> macro, adding variants
+ “gnueabi" and “gnueabihf" to get
+ <tt>_DEFAULT_SOURCE</tt> special case, as well as adding GNU
+ libc suffixes for “abi64”, “abin32”,
+ “x32” to distinguish it from other libc
+ flavors.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>work around <em>musl</em>'s nonstandard use of feature
+ test macros by adding a definition for
+ <tt>NCURSES_WIDECHAR</tt> to the generated “.pc”
+ and <em><tt>*-config</tt></em> files.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>use “<tt>command -v</tt>” rather than
+ “<tt>type</tt>” in <tt>Ada95/gen/Makefile.in</tt>
+ to fix a portability issue.</p>
+ </li>
+ </ul>
+
+ <hr>
+
+ <h2><a name="h2-features" id="h2-features">Features of
+ <span class="main-name">ncurses</span></a></h2>
+
+ <p>The <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> package is fully
+ upward-compatible with SVr4 (System V Release 4) curses:</p>
+
+ <ul>
+ <li>
+ <p>All of the SVr4 calls have been implemented (and are
+ documented).</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p><span class="main-name">ncurses</span> supports the features of
+ SVr4 curses including keyboard mapping, color, form drawing with
+ ACS characters, and automatic recognition of keypad and function
+ keys.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p><span class="main-name">ncurses</span> provides work-alike
+ replacements of SVr4 supplemental libraries based on curses, but
+ which were not specified by X/Open Curses:</p>
+
+ <ul>
+ <li>
+ <p>the panel library, supporting a stack of windows with
+ backing store</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>the menu library, supporting a uniform but flexible
+ interface for menu programming</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>the form library, supporting data collection through
+ on-screen forms</p>
+ </li>
+ </ul>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p><span class="main-name">ncurses</span>'s terminal database
+ is fully compatible with that used by SVr4 curses.</p>
+
+ <ul>
+ <li>
+ <p><span class="main-name">ncurses</span> supports
+ user-defined capabilities that it can see, but which are
+ hidden from SVr4 curses applications using the
+ <em>same</em> terminal database.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>It can be optionally configured to match the format
+ used in related systems such as AIX and Tru64.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>Alternatively, <span class="main-name">ncurses</span>
+ can be configured to use hashed databases rather than the
+ directory of files used by SVr4 curses.</p>
+ </li>
+ </ul>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>The <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> utilities have
+ options to allow you to filter terminfo entries for use with
+ less capable <em>curses</em>/<em>terminfo</em> versions such
+ as the HP-UX and AIX ports.</p>
+ </li>
+ </ul>
+
+ <p>The <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> package also has
+ many useful extensions over SVr4:</p>
+
+ <ul>
+ <li>
+ <p>The API is 8-bit clean and base-level conformant with the
+ X/OPEN curses specification, XSI curses (that is, it
+ implements all <em>BASE</em> level features, and most
+ <em>EXTENDED</em> features). It includes many function calls
+ not supported under SVr4 curses (but portability of all calls
+ is documented so you can use the SVr4 subset only).</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>Unlike SVr3 curses, <span class="main-name">ncurses</span>
+ can write to the rightmost-bottommost corner of the screen if
+ your terminal has an insert-character capability.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>Ada95 and C++ bindings.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>Support for mouse event reporting with X Window xterm and
+ FreeBSD and OS/2 console windows.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>Extended mouse support via Alessandro Rubini's gpm
+ package.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>The function <code>wresize</code> allows you to resize
+ windows, preserving their data.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>The function <code>use_default_colors</code> allows you to
+ use the terminal's default colors for the default color pair,
+ achieving the effect of transparent colors.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>The functions <code>keyok</code> and
+ <code>define_key</code> allow you to better control the use
+ of function keys, e.g., disabling the <span class=
+ "main-name">ncurses</span> KEY_MOUSE, or by defining more
+ than one control sequence to map to a given key code.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>Support for direct-color terminals, such as modern
+ xterm.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>Support for 256-color terminals, such as modern xterm.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>Support for 16-color terminals, such as <em>aixterm</em>
+ and <em>modern xterm</em>.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>Better cursor-movement optimization. The package now
+ features a cursor-local-movement computation more efficient
+ than either BSD's or System V's.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>Super hardware scrolling support. The screen-update code
+ incorporates a novel, simple, and cheap algorithm that
+ enables it to make optimal use of hardware scrolling,
+ line-insertion, and line-deletion for screen-line movements.
+ This algorithm is more powerful than the 4.4BSD curses
+ <code>quickch</code> routine.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>Real support for terminals with the magic-cookie glitch.
+ The screen-update code will refrain from drawing a highlight
+ if the magic- cookie unattributed spaces required just before
+ the beginning and after the end would step on a non-space
+ character. It will automatically shift highlight boundaries
+ when doing so would make it possible to draw the highlight
+ without changing the visual appearance of the screen.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>It is possible to generate the library with a list of
+ pre-loaded fallback entries linked to it so that it can serve
+ those terminal types even when no terminfo tree or termcap
+ file is accessible (this may be useful for support of
+ screen-oriented programs that must run in single-user
+ mode).</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>The <a href="@HOMEPAGE@/man/tic.1m.html"><span class=
+ "part-name">tic</span></a>/<a href=
+ "@HOMEPAGE@/man/captoinfo.1m.html">captoinfo</a> utility
+ provided with <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> has the
+ ability to translate many termcaps from the XENIX, IBM and
+ AT&T extension sets.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>A BSD-like <a href=
+ "@HOMEPAGE@/man/tset.1.html"><span class=
+ "part-name">tset</span></a> utility is provided.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>The <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> library and
+ utilities will automatically read terminfo entries from
+ $HOME/.terminfo if it exists, and compile to that directory
+ if it exists and the user has no write access to the system
+ directory. This feature makes it easier for users to have
+ personal terminfo entries without giving up access to the
+ system terminfo directory.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>You may specify a path of directories to search for
+ compiled descriptions with the environment variable
+ TERMINFO_DIRS (this generalizes the feature provided by
+ TERMINFO under stock System V.)</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>In terminfo source files, use capabilities may refer not
+ just to other entries in the same source file (as in System
+ V) but also to compiled entries in either the system terminfo
+ directory or the user's $HOME/.terminfo directory.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>The table-of-entries utility <a href=
+ "@HOMEPAGE@/man/toe.1m.html"><span class=
+ "part-name">toe</span></a> makes it easy for users to see
+ exactly what terminal types are available on the system.</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>The library meets the X/Open Curses requirement that every
+ function declared in a header file has a macro equivalent.
+ If the macro definition is disabled with <code>#undef</code>,
+ the function may be linked (and its calls will be checked
+ against the prototype).</p>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <p>Extensive documentation is provided (see the <em><a href=
+ "@HOMEPAGE@/ncurses.faq.html#additional_reading">Additional
+ Reading</a></em> section of the <em><a href=
+ "@HOMEPAGE@/ncurses.faq.html"><span class=
+ "main-name">ncurses</span> FAQ</a></em> for online
+ documentation).</p>
+ </li>
+ </ul>
+
+ <h2><a name="h2-who-uses" id="h2-who-uses">Applications using
+ <span class="main-name">ncurses</span></a></h2>
+
+ <p>The <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> distribution
+ includes a selection of test programs (including a few games).
+ These are available separately as <a href=
+ "@HOMEPAGE@/ncurses-examples.html">ncurses-examples</a></p>
+
+ <p>The ncurses library has been tested with a wide variety of
+ applications including:</p>
+
+ <blockquote>
+ <dl>
+ <dt><span class="part-name">aptitude</span>
+ </dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>FrontEnd to Apt, the debian package manager</p>
+
+ <p><a href=
+ "https://wiki.debian.org/Aptitude">https://wiki.debian.org/Aptitude</a></p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt><span class="part-name">cdk</span>
+ </dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>Curses Development Kit</p>
+
+ <p><a href="@WEBSITE@/cdk/">@WEBSITE@/cdk/</a><br>
+ </p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt><span class="part-name">ded</span>
+ </dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>directory-editor</p>
+
+ <p><a href="@WEBSITE@/ded/">@WEBSITE@/ded/</a></p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt><span class="part-name">dialog</span>
+ </dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>the underlying application used in Slackware's setup,
+ and the basis for similar install/configure applications on
+ many systems.</p>
+
+ <p><a href="@WEBSITE@/dialog/">@WEBSITE@/dialog/</a></p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt><span class="part-name">lynx</span>
+ </dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>the text WWW browser</p>
+
+ <p><a href=
+ "https://lynx.invisible-island.net/">https://lynx.invisible-island.net/</a></p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt><span class="part-name">mutt</span>
+ </dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>mail utility</p>
+
+ <p><a href="http://www.mutt.org/">http://www.mutt.org/</a></p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt><span class="part-name">ncftp</span>
+ </dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>file-transfer utility</p>
+
+ <p><a href=
+ "https://www.ncftp.com/">https://www.ncftp.com/</a></p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt><span class="part-name">nvi</span>
+ </dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>New vi uses ncurses.</p>
+
+ <p><a href=
+ "https://sites.google.com/a/bostic.com/keithbostic/vi">https://sites.google.com/a/bostic.com/keithbostic/vi</a><br>
+
+ </p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt><span class="part-name">ranger</span>
+ </dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>A console file manager with VI key bindings in
+ <em>Python</em>.</p>
+
+ <p><a href=
+ "https://ranger.github.io/">https://ranger.github.io/</a></p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt><span class="part-name">tin</span>
+ </dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>newsreader, supporting color, MIME</p>
+
+ <p><a href="http://www.tin.org/">http://www.tin.org/</a></p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt><span class="part-name">vifm</span>
+ </dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>File manager with vi like keybindings</p>
+
+ <p><a href="https://vifm.info/">https://vifm.info/</a></p>
+ </dd>
+ </dl>
+ </blockquote>
+
+ <p>as well as some that use <span class=
+ "main-name">ncurses</span> for the terminfo support alone:</p>
+
+ <blockquote>
+ <dl>
+ <dt><span class="part-name">minicom</span>
+ </dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>terminal emulator for serial modem connections</p>
+
+ <p><a href=
+ "https://alioth.debian.org/projects/minicom/">https://alioth.debian.org/projects/minicom/</a></p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt><span class="part-name">mosh</span>
+ </dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>a replacement for <code>ssh</code>.</p>
+
+ <p><a href="https://mosh.org/">https://mosh.org/</a></p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt><span class="part-name">tack</span>
+ </dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>terminfo action checker</p>
+
+ <p><a href="@HOMEPAGE@/tack.html">@HOMEPAGE@/tack.html</a></p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt><span class="part-name">tmux</span>
+ </dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>terminal multiplexor</p>
+
+ <p><a href=
+ "https://github.com/tmux/tmux/wiki">https://github.com/tmux/tmux/wiki</a></p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt><span class="part-name">vile</span>
+ </dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p><em>vi-like-emacs</em> may be built to use the terminfo,
+ termcap or curses interfaces.</p>
+
+ <p><a href="@WEBSITE@/vile/">@WEBSITE@/vile/</a></p>
+ </dd>
+ </dl>
+ </blockquote>
+
+ <p>and finally, those which use only the termcap interface:</p>
+
+ <blockquote>
+ <dl>
+ <dt><span class="part-name">emacs</span>
+ </dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>text editor</p>
+
+ <p><a href=
+ "https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/">https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/</a></p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt><span class="part-name">less</span>
+ </dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>The most commonly used <em>pager</em> (a program that
+ displays text files).</p>
+
+ <p><a href=
+ "http://www.greenwoodsoftware.com/less/">http://www.greenwoodsoftware.com/less/</a></p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt><span class="part-name">screen</span>
+ </dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>terminal multiplexor</p>
+
+ <p><a href=
+ "https://www.gnu.org/software/screen/">https://www.gnu.org/software/screen/</a></p>
+ </dd>
+
+ <dt><span class="part-name">vim</span>
+ </dt>
+
+ <dd>
+ <p>text editor</p>
+
+ <p><a href="https://www.vim.org/">https://www.vim.org/</a></p>
+ </dd>
+ </dl>
+ </blockquote>
+
+ <h2><a name="h2-development" id="h2-development">Development
+ activities</a></h2>
+
+ <p>Zeyd Ben-Halim started <span class="main-name">ncurses</span>
+ from a previous package pcurses, written by Pavel Curtis. Eric S.
+ Raymond continued development. Jürgen Pfeifer wrote most of
+ the form and menu libraries.</p>
+
+ <p>Ongoing development work is done by <a href=
+ "mailto:dickey@invisible-island.net">Thomas E. Dickey</a>. Thomas
+ E. Dickey has acted as the maintainer for the Free Software
+ Foundation, which held a <a href=
+ "@HOMEPAGE@/ncurses-license.html">copyright on ncurses</a> for
+ releases 4.2 through 6.1. Following the release of ncurses 6.1,
+ effective as of release 6.2, copyright for ncurses reverted to
+ Thomas E. Dickey (see the <a href=
+ "@HOMEPAGE@/ncurses.faq.html#relicensed">ncurses FAQ</a> for
+ additional information).</p>
+
+ <p>Contact the current maintainers at</p>
+
+ <blockquote>
+ <a href="mailto:bug-ncurses@gnu.org">bug-ncurses@gnu.org</a>
+ </blockquote>
+
+ <p>To join the ncurses mailing list, please write email to</p>
+
+ <blockquote>
+ <a href=
+ "mailto:bug-ncurses-request@gnu.org">bug-ncurses-request@gnu.org</a>
+ </blockquote>
+ containing the line:
+ <blockquote>
+ <p><code>subscribe</code>
+ <em><name>@<host.domain></em></p>
+ </blockquote>
+
+ <p>This list is open to anyone interested in helping with the
+ development and testing of this package.</p>
+
+ <p>Beta versions of <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> are
+ made available at</p>
+
+ <blockquote>
+ <p><a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/archives/ncurses/current/">https://invisible-island.net/archives/ncurses/current/</a>
+ and<br>
+ <a href=
+ "https://invisible-mirror.net/archives/ncurses/current/">https://invisible-mirror.net/archives/ncurses/current/</a> .</p>
+ </blockquote>
+
+ <p>Patches to the current release are made available at</p>
+
+ <blockquote>
+ <p><a href=
+ "https://invisible-island.net/archives/ncurses/6.3/">https://invisible-island.net/archives/ncurses/6.3/</a>
+ and<br>
+ <a href=
+ "https://invisible-mirror.net/archives/ncurses/6.3/">https://invisible-mirror.net/archives/ncurses/6.3/</a> .</p>
+ </blockquote>
+
+ <p>There is an archive of the mailing list here:</p>
+
+ <blockquote>
+ <p><a href=
+ "http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-ncurses">http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-ncurses</a>
+ (also <a href=
+ "https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-ncurses">https</a>)</p>
+ </blockquote>
+
+ <h2><a name="h2-this-stuff" id="h2-this-stuff">Related
+ resources</a></h2>
+
+ <p>The release notes make scattered references to these pages,
+ which may be interesting by themselves:</p>
+
+ <ul>
+ <li><a href="@HOMEPAGE@/ncurses-license.html"><span class=
+ "main-name">ncurses</span> licensing</a></li>
+
+ <li><a href="@HOMEPAGE@/ncurses-mapsyms.html">Symbol versioning
+ in <span class="main-name">ncurses</span></a></li>
+
+ <li><a href="@HOMEPAGE@/ncurses-slang.html">Comments on
+ <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> versus <span class=
+ "main-name">slang</span> (S-Lang)</a></li>
+
+ <li><a href="@HOMEPAGE@/ncurses-openbsd.html">Comments on
+ <span class="main-name">OpenBSD</span></a></li>
+
+ <li><a href="@HOMEPAGE@/tack.html">tack – terminfo action
+ checker</a></li>
+
+ <li><a href="@HOMEPAGE@/tctest.html">tctest – termcap
+ library checker</a></li>
+
+ <li><a href=
+ "@HOMEPAGE@/ncurses.html#download_database">Terminal
+ Database</a></li>
+ </ul>
+
+ <h2><a name="h2-other-stuff" id="h2-other-stuff">Other
+ resources</a></h2>
+
+ <p>The distribution provides a newer version of the
+ terminfo-format terminal description file once maintained by
+ <a href="http://www.catb.org/~esr/terminfo/">Eric
+ Raymond</a> . Unlike the older version, the termcap and
+ terminfo data are provided in the same file, which also provides
+ several user-definable extensions beyond the X/Open
+ specification.</p>
+
+ <p>You can find lots of information on terminal-related topics
+ not covered in the terminfo file at <a href=
+ "http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.cs.utk.edu/~shuford/terminal">
+ Richard Shuford's archive</a> . The collection of computer
+ manuals at <a href=
+ "http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/">bitsavers.org</a> has also been
+ useful.</p>
+
+ <div class="nav">
+ <ul>
+ <li><a href="#h2-overview">Overview</a></li>
+
+ <li>
+ <a href="#h2-release-notes">Release Notes</a>
+ <ul>
+ <li>
+ <a href="#h3-library">Library improvements</a>
+ <ul>
+ <li><a href="#h4-new-library">New features</a></li>
+
+ <li><a href="#h4-fixes-library">Other
+ improvements</a></li>
+ </ul>
+ </li>
+
+ <li>
+ <a href="#h3-programs">Program improvements</a>
+ <ul>
+ <li><a href="#h4-utilities">Utilities</a></li>
+
+ <li><a href="#h4-examples">Examples</a></li>
+ </ul>
+ </li>
+
+ <li><a href="#h3-database">Terminal database</a></li>
+
+ <li><a href="#h3-documentation">Documentation</a></li>
+
+ <li><a href="#h3-bug-fixes">Interesting bug-fixes</a></li>
+
+ <li>
+ <a href="#h3-config-config">Configuration changes</a>
+ <ul>
+ <li><a href="#h4-config-major">Major changes</a></li>
+
+ <li><a href="#h4-config-options">Configuration
+ options</a></li>
+ </ul>
+ </li>
+
+ <li><a href="#h3-portability">Portability</a></li>
+ </ul>
+ </li>
+
+ <li><a href="#h2-features">Features of <span class=
+ "main-name">ncurses</span></a></li>
+
+ <li><a href="#h2-who-uses">Applications using <span class=
+ "main-name">ncurses</span></a></li>
+
+ <li><a href="#h2-development">Development activities</a></li>
+
+ <li><a href="#h2-this-stuff">Related resources</a></li>
+
+ <li><a href="#h2-other-stuff">Other resources</a></li>
+ </ul>
+ </div>
+</body>
+</html>
projects / ncurses.git / blobdiff