ncurses 6.1 - patch 20190727

[ncurses.git] / man / infocmp.1m

diff --git a/man/infocmp.1m b/man/infocmp.1m
index d12df261b8e584cc06b4a25419aa05921f1839e3..cfee79a553eb2f82eb9be6dc70f59f7e29891b97 100644 (file)
--- a/man/infocmp.1m
+++ b/man/infocmp.1m
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@
 .\" authorization.                                                           *
 .\"***************************************************************************
 .\"
-.\" $Id: infocmp.1m,v 1.74 2019/05/18 22:00:55 tom Exp $
+.\" $Id: infocmp.1m,v 1.75 2019/07/20 18:42:11 tom Exp $
 .TH @INFOCMP@ 1M ""
 .ie \n(.g .ds `` \(lq
 .el       .ds `` ``
@@ -560,6 +560,34 @@ using the \fB\-x\fR option of \fB@TIC@\fP.
 .TP 20
 \*d
 Compiled terminal description database.
+.SH HISTORY
+Although System V Release 2 provided a terminfo library,
+it had no documented tool for decompiling the terminal descriptions.
+Tony Hansen (AT&T) wrote the first \fBinfocmp\fP in early 1984,
+for System V Release 3.
+.PP
+Eric Raymond used the AT&T documentation in 1995 to provide an equivalent
+\fB@INFOCMP@\fP for ncurses.
+In addition, he added a few new features such as:
+.bP
+the \fB\-e\fP option, to support \fIfallback\fP
+(compiled-in) terminal descriptions
+.bP
+the \fB\-i\fP option, to help with analysis 
+.PP
+Later, Thomas Dickey added the \fB\-x\fP (user-defined capabilities)
+option, and the \fB\-E\fP option to support fallback entries with
+user-defined capabilities.
+.PP
+For a complete list, see the \fIEXTENSIONS\fP section.
+.PP
+In 2010, Roy Marples provided an \fBinfocmp\fP program for NetBSD.
+It is less capable than the SVr4 or ncurses versions
+(e.g., it lacks the sorting options documented in X/Open),
+but does include the \fB\-x\fP option adapted from ncurses.
+.SH PORTABILITY
+X/Open Curses, Issue 7 (2009) provides a description of \fBinfocmp\fP.
+It does not mention the options used for converting to termcap format.
 .SH EXTENSIONS
 The
 \fB\-0\fR,