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6.1, a new format was introduced by making a few changes to the legacy
format:
- <STRONG>o</STRONG> a different magic number (0542)
+ <STRONG>o</STRONG> a different magic number (octal 01036)
<STRONG>o</STRONG> changing the type for the <EM>number</EM> array from signed 16-bit integers
to signed 32-bit integers.
</PRE><H2><a name="h2-PORTABILITY">PORTABILITY</a></H2><PRE>
+
+</PRE><H3><a name="h3-setupterm">setupterm</a></H3><PRE>
Note that it is possible for <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> to expect a different set of
capabilities than are actually present in the file. Either the data-
base may have been updated since <STRONG>setupterm</STRONG> has been recompiled (result-
new capabilities must always be added at the end of the lists of bool-
ean, number, and string capabilities.
+
+</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.
+
Despite the consistent use of little-endian for numbers and the other-
wise self-describing format, it is not wise to count on portability of
binary terminfo entries between commercial UNIX versions. The problem
<STRONG><A HREF="terminfo.5.html">terminfo(5)</A></STRONG> for detailed discussion of terminfo source compatibility
issues.
+ This implementation is by default compatible with the binary terminfo
+ format used by Solaris curses, except in a few less-used details where
+ it was found that the latter did not match X/Open Curses. The format
+ used by the other Unix versions can be matched by building ncurses with
+ different configuration options.
+
+
+</PRE><H3><a name="h3-Magic-codes">Magic codes</a></H3><PRE>
+ The magic number in a binary terminfo file is the first 16-bits (two
+ bytes). Besides making it more reliable for the library to check that
+ a file is terminfo, utilities such as <STRONG>file</STRONG> also use that to tell what
+ the file-format is. System V defined more than one magic number, with
+ 0433, 0435 as screen-dumps (see <STRONG><A HREF="scr_dump.5.html">scr_dump(5)</A></STRONG>). This implementation uses
+ 01036 as a continuation of that sequence, but with a different high-
+ order byte to avoid confusion.
+
+
+</PRE><H3><a name="h3-The-TERMTYPE-structure">The TERMTYPE structure</a></H3><PRE>
Direct access to the <STRONG>TERMTYPE</STRONG> structure is provided for legacy applica-
tions. Portable applications should use the <STRONG>tigetflag</STRONG> and related
functions described in <STRONG><A HREF="curs_terminfo.3x.html">curs_terminfo(3x)</A></STRONG> for reading terminal capabili-
ties.
+
+</PRE><H3><a name="h3-Mixed-case-terminal-names">Mixed-case terminal names</a></H3><PRE>
A small number of terminal descriptions use uppercase characters in
their names. If the underlying filesystem ignores the difference
between uppercase and lowercase, <STRONG>ncurses</STRONG> represents the "first charac-
<li><a href="#h3-EXTENDED-NUMBER-FORMAT">EXTENDED NUMBER FORMAT</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
-<li><a href="#h2-PORTABILITY">PORTABILITY</a></li>
+<li><a href="#h2-PORTABILITY">PORTABILITY</a>
+<ul>
+<li><a href="#h3-setupterm">setupterm</a></li>
+<li><a href="#h3-Binary-format">Binary format</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>
+</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>
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