ncurses 5.9 - patch 20110528

[ncurses.git] / man / ncurses.3x

diff --git a/man/ncurses.3x b/man/ncurses.3x
index 9dcdcd940a4c519afdf348a8916a2aacccb7aea7..e69b0d980fdd198c67d58bd338de643547327764 100644 (file)
--- a/man/ncurses.3x
+++ b/man/ncurses.3x
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 '\" t
 .\"***************************************************************************
 '\" t
 .\"***************************************************************************

-.\" Copyright (c) 1998-2009,2010 Free Software Foundation, Inc.              *
+.\" Copyright (c) 1998-2010,2011 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            *
 .\"                                                                          *
 .\" Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a  *
 .\" copy of this software and associated documentation files (the            *


@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@
 .\" authorization.                                                           *
 .\"***************************************************************************
 .\"
 .\" authorization.                                                           *
 .\"***************************************************************************
 .\"

-.\" $Id: ncurses.3x,v 1.101 2010/12/04 18:38:55 tom Exp $
+.\" $Id: ncurses.3x,v 1.104 2011/05/28 23:19:36 tom Exp $

 .hy 0
 .TH ncurses 3X ""
 .de bP
 .hy 0
 .TH ncurses 3X ""
 .de bP


@@ -734,6 +734,9 @@ Routines that return an integer return \fBERR\fR upon failure and an
 integer value other than \fBERR\fR upon successful completion, unless
 otherwise noted in the routine descriptions.
 .PP
 integer value other than \fBERR\fR upon successful completion, unless
 otherwise noted in the routine descriptions.
 .PP

+As a general rule, routines check for null pointers passed as parameters,
+and handle this as an error.
+.PP

 All macros return the value of the \fBw\fR version, except \fBsetscrreg\fR,
 \fBwsetscrreg\fR, \fBgetyx\fR, \fBgetbegyx\fR, and \fBgetmaxyx\fR.
 The return values of \fBsetscrreg\fR, \fBwsetscrreg\fR, \fBgetyx\fR, \fBgetbegyx\fR, and
 All macros return the value of the \fBw\fR version, except \fBsetscrreg\fR,
 \fBwsetscrreg\fR, \fBgetyx\fR, \fBgetbegyx\fR, and \fBgetmaxyx\fR.
 The return values of \fBsetscrreg\fR, \fBwsetscrreg\fR, \fBgetyx\fR, \fBgetbegyx\fR, and


@@ -930,6 +933,28 @@ and is likely to work for terminal emulators.
 When setting this variable, you should set it to a nonzero value.
 Setting it to zero (or to a nonnumber)
 disables the special check for "linux" and "screen".
 When setting this variable, you should set it to a nonzero value.
 Setting it to zero (or to a nonnumber)
 disables the special check for "linux" and "screen".

+.IP
+As an alternative to the environment variable,
+ncurses checks for an extended terminfo capability \fBU8\fP.
+This is a numeric capability which can be compiled using \fBtic\ \-x\fP.
+For example
+.RS 5
+.sp
+.nf
+# linux console, if patched to provide working
+# VT100 shift-in/shift-out, with corresponding font.
+linux-vt100|linux console with VT100 line-graphics,
+       U8#0, use=linux,
+.sp
+# uxterm with vt100Graphics resource set to false
+xterm-utf8|xterm relying on UTF-8 line-graphics,
+       U8#1, use=xterm,
+.fi
+.RE
+.IP
+The name "U8" is chosen to be two characters,
+to permit it to be used by applications that use ncurses'
+termcap interface.

 .TP 5
 NCURSES_TRACE
 During initialization, the \fBncurses\fR debugging library
 .TP 5
 NCURSES_TRACE
 During initialization, the \fBncurses\fR debugging library


@@ -1122,6 +1147,15 @@ A small number of local differences (that is, individual differences between
 the XSI Curses and \fBncurses\fR calls) are described in \fBPORTABILITY\fR
 sections of the library man pages.
 .PP
 the XSI Curses and \fBncurses\fR calls) are described in \fBPORTABILITY\fR
 sections of the library man pages.
 .PP

+Unlike other implementations, this one checks parameters such as pointers
+to WINDOW structures to ensure they are not null.
+The main reason for providing this behavior is to guard against programmer
+error.
+The standard interface does not provide a way for the library
+to tell an application which of several possible errors were detected.
+Relying on this (or some other) extension will adversely affect the
+portability of curses applications.
+.PP

 This implementation also contains several extensions:
 .bP
 The routine \fBhas_key\fR is not part of XPG4, nor is it present in SVr4.
 This implementation also contains several extensions:
 .bP
 The routine \fBhas_key\fR is not part of XPG4, nor is it present in SVr4.