* sale, use or other dealings in this Software without prior written *
* authorization. *
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- * @Id: term.5,v 1.62 2023/10/21 15:33:10 tom Exp @
+ * @Id: term.5,v 1.65 2023/11/25 22:58:12 tom Exp @
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+<TITLE>term 5 2023-11-25 ncurses 6.4 File formats</TITLE>
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-<H1 class="no-header">term 5 2023-10-21 ncurses 6.4 File formats</H1>
+<H1 class="no-header">term 5 2023-11-25 ncurses 6.4 File formats</H1>
<PRE>
<STRONG><A HREF="term.5.html">term(5)</A></STRONG> File formats <STRONG><A HREF="term.5.html">term(5)</A></STRONG>
the <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> libraries):
<STRONG>directory</STRONG> <STRONG>tree</STRONG>
- A two-level scheme is used to avoid a linear search of a huge UNIX
+ A two-level scheme is used to avoid a linear search of a huge Unix
system directory: <STRONG>/usr/share/terminfo/c/name</STRONG> where <EM>name</EM> is the
name of the terminal, and <EM>c</EM> is the first character of <EM>name</EM>. Thus,
<EM>act4</EM> can be found in the file <STRONG>/usr/share/terminfo/a/act4</STRONG>.
</PRE><H3><a name="h3-EXTENDED-STORAGE-FORMAT">EXTENDED STORAGE FORMAT</a></H3><PRE>
The previous section describes the conventional terminfo binary format.
With some minor variations of the offsets (see PORTABILITY), the same
- binary format is used in all modern UNIX systems. Each system uses a
+ binary format is used in all modern Unix systems. Each system uses a
predefined set of boolean, number or string capabilities.
The <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> libraries and applications support extended terminfo binary
extended capabilities in order, e.g., booleans, then numbers and
finally strings.
+ By storing terminal descriptions in this way, <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> is able to
+ provide a database useful with legacy applications, as well as
+ providing data for applications which need more than the predefined
+ capabilities. See <STRONG><A HREF="user_caps.5.html">user_caps(5)</A></STRONG> for an overview of the way <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> uses
+ this extended information.
+
Applications which manipulate terminal data can use the definitions
described in <STRONG><A HREF="term_variables.3x.html">term_variables(3x)</A></STRONG> which associate the long capability
names with members of a <STRONG>TERMTYPE</STRONG> structure.
<STRONG>TERMTYPE2</STRONG> to provide data for the terminfo functions.
+</PRE><H2><a name="h2-FILES">FILES</a></H2><PRE>
+ <EM>/usr/share/terminfo</EM>
+ compiled terminal description database
+
+
</PRE><H2><a name="h2-PORTABILITY">PORTABILITY</a></H2><PRE>
</PRE><H3><a name="h3-setupterm">setupterm</a></H3><PRE>
</PRE><H3><a name="h3-Binary-format">Binary format</a></H3><PRE>
X/Open Curses does not specify a format for the terminfo database.
- UNIX System V curses used a directory-tree of binary files, one per
- terminal description.
+ System V curses used a directory-tree of binary files, one per terminal
+ description.
Despite the consistent use of little-endian for numbers and the
otherwise self-describing format, it is not wise to count on
- portability of binary terminfo entries between commercial UNIX
+ portability of binary terminfo entries between commercial Unix
versions. The problem is that there are at least three versions of
terminfo (under HP-UX, AIX, and OSF/1) which diverged from System V
terminfo after SVr1, and have added extension capabilities to the
directory tree in (two-character) hexadecimal form.
-</PRE><H2><a name="h2-EXAMPLE">EXAMPLE</a></H2><PRE>
- As an example, here is a description for the Lear-Siegler ADM-3, a
+</PRE><H3><a name="h3-Limits">Limits</a></H3><PRE>
+ <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> stores compiled terminal descriptions in three related formats,
+ described in the sections
+
+ <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG>LEGACY</STRONG> <STRONG>STORAGE</STRONG> <STRONG>FORMAT</STRONG>, and
+
+ <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG>EXTENDED</STRONG> <STRONG>STORAGE</STRONG> <STRONG>FORMAT</STRONG>, and
+
+ <STRONG>o</STRONG> <STRONG>EXTENDED</STRONG> <STRONG>NUMBER</STRONG> <STRONG>FORMAT</STRONG>.
+
+ The legacy storage format and the extended number format differ by the
+ types of numeric capability which they can store (i.e., 16-bit versus
+ 32-bit integers). The extended storage format introduced by ncurses
+ 5.0 adds data to either of these formats.
+
+ Some limitations apply:
+
+ <STRONG>o</STRONG> total compiled entries cannot exceed 4096 bytes in the legacy
+ format.
+
+ <STRONG>o</STRONG> total compiled entries cannot exceed 32768 bytes in the extended
+ format.
+
+ <STRONG>o</STRONG> the name field cannot exceed 128 bytes.
+
+ Compiled entries are limited to 32768 bytes because offsets into the
+ <EM>strings</EM> <EM>table</EM> use two-byte integers. The legacy format could have
+ supported 32768-byte entries, but was limited to a virtual memory
+ page's 4096 bytes.
+
+
+</PRE><H2><a name="h2-EXAMPLES">EXAMPLES</a></H2><PRE>
+ As an example, here is a description for the Lear-Siegler ADM-3, a
popular though rather stupid early terminal:
adm3a|lsi adm3a,
0150 00 08 00 0c 00 0b 00 0a 00 ........ .
-</PRE><H2><a name="h2-LIMITS">LIMITS</a></H2><PRE>
- Some limitations:
-
- <STRONG>o</STRONG> total compiled entries cannot exceed 4096 bytes in the legacy
- format.
-
- <STRONG>o</STRONG> total compiled entries cannot exceed 32768 bytes in the extended
- format.
-
- <STRONG>o</STRONG> the name field cannot exceed 128 bytes.
-
- Compiled entries are limited to 32768 bytes because offsets into the
- <EM>strings</EM> <EM>table</EM> use two-byte integers. The legacy format could have
- supported 32768-byte entries, but was limited a virtual memory page's
- 4096 bytes.
-
-
-</PRE><H2><a name="h2-FILES">FILES</a></H2><PRE>
- <EM>/usr/share/terminfo</EM>
- compiled terminal description database
-
-
</PRE><H2><a name="h2-AUTHORS">AUTHORS</a></H2><PRE>
Thomas E. Dickey
extended terminfo format for ncurses 5.0
</PRE><H2><a name="h2-SEE-ALSO">SEE ALSO</a></H2><PRE>
- <STRONG><A HREF="ncurses.3x.html">curses(3x)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG><A HREF="curs_terminfo.3x.html">curs_terminfo(3x)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG><A HREF="terminfo.5.html">terminfo(5)</A></STRONG>
+ <STRONG><A HREF="ncurses.3x.html">curses(3x)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG><A HREF="curs_terminfo.3x.html">curs_terminfo(3x)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG><A HREF="terminfo.5.html">terminfo(5)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG><A HREF="user_caps.5.html">user_caps(5)</A></STRONG>
-ncurses 6.4 2023-1
0-21 <STRONG><A HREF="term.5.html">term(5)</A></STRONG>
+ncurses 6.4 2023-1
1-25 <STRONG><A HREF="term.5.html">term(5)</A></STRONG>
</PRE>
<div class="nav">
<ul>
<li><a href="#h3-EXTENDED-NUMBER-FORMAT">EXTENDED NUMBER FORMAT</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
+<li><a href="#h2-FILES">FILES</a></li>
<li><a href="#h2-PORTABILITY">PORTABILITY</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="#h3-setupterm">setupterm</a></li>
<li><a href="#h3-Magic-codes">Magic codes</a></li>
<li><a href="#h3-The-TERMTYPE-structure">The TERMTYPE structure</a></li>
<li><a href="#h3-Mixed-case-terminal-names">Mixed-case terminal names</a></li>
+<li><a href="#h3-Limits">Limits</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
-<li><a href="#h2-EXAMPLE">EXAMPLE</a></li>
-<li><a href="#h2-LIMITS">LIMITS</a></li>
-<li><a href="#h2-FILES">FILES</a></li>
+<li><a href="#h2-EXAMPLES">EXAMPLES</a></li>
<li><a href="#h2-AUTHORS">AUTHORS</a></li>
<li><a href="#h2-SEE-ALSO">SEE ALSO</a></li>
</ul>
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