X-Git-Url: https://ncurses.scripts.mit.edu/?p=ncurses.git;a=blobdiff_plain;f=ANNOUNCE;h=0684b3dc41d7e5df96990f73f9201f4b40b7d747;hp=bbeeb8922d4724c0b184b8de901cfb0d99577bb5;hb=461e72d1826483cb2c2cb243412f2dc5b00b2b1a;hpb=027ae42953e3186daed8f3882da73de48291b606 diff --git a/ANNOUNCE b/ANNOUNCE index bbeeb892..0684b3dc 100644 --- a/ANNOUNCE +++ b/ANNOUNCE @@ -1,253 +1,502 @@ - Announcing ncurses 5.6 + Announcing ncurses 6.3 + +Overview 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. + 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. In mid-June 1995, the maintainer of 4.4BSD curses declared that he - considered 4.4BSD curses obsolete, and encouraged the keepers of Unix + considered 4.4BSD curses obsolete, and encouraged the keepers of unix releases such as BSD/OS, FreeBSD and NetBSD to switch over to ncurses. - 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! + Since 1995, ncurses has been ported to many systems: + * It is used in almost every system based on the Linux kernel (aside + from some embedded applications). + * It is used as the system curses library on OpenBSD, FreeBSD and + MacOS. + * It is used in environments such as Cygwin and MinGW. The first of + these was EMX on OS/2 Warp. + * It is used (though usually not as the system curses) on all of the + vendor unix systems, e.g., AIX, HP-UX, IRIX64, SCO, Solaris, + Tru64. + * It should work readily on any ANSI/POSIX-conforming unix. 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. - - The ncurses distribution is available via anonymous FTP at the GNU - distribution site [1]ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/ncurses/ . - It is also available at [2]ftp://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ . - - Release Notes - - This release is designed to be upward compatible from ncurses 5.0 - through 5.5; very few applications will require recompilation, - depending on the platform. These are the highlights from the - change-log since ncurses 5.5 release. - - Interface changes: - * generate linkable stubs for some macros: - getbegx, getbegy, getcurx, getcury, getmaxx, getmaxy, getparx, - getpary, getpary, - and (for libncursesw) - wgetbkgrnd - - New features and improvements: - * library - + support hashed databases for the terminal descriptions. This - uses the Berkeley database, has been tested for several - versions on different platforms. - + add use_legacy_coding() function to support lynx's - font-switching feature. - + add extension nofilter(), to cancel a prior filter() call. - + add/install a package config script, e.g., ncurses5-config or - ncursesw5-config, according to configuration options. - + provide ifdef for NCURSES_NOMACROS which suppresses most - macro definitions from curses.h, i.e., where a macro is - defined to override a function to improve performance. - + make ifdef's consistent in curses.h for the extended colors - so the header file can be used for the normal curses library. - The header file installed for extended colors is a variation - of the wide-character configuration. - + improve tgetstr() by making the return value point into the - user's buffer, if provided. - + add ifdef's allowing ncurses to be built with tparm() using - either varargs (the existing status), or using a - fixed-parameter list (to match X/Open). - + widen the test for xterm kmous a little to allow for other - strings than "\E[M", e.g., for xterm-sco functionality in - xterm. - + modify wgetnstr() to return KEY_RESIZE if a sigwinch occurs. - + move prototypes for wide-character trace functions from - curses.tail to curses.wide to avoid accidental reference to - those if _XOPEN_SOURCE_EXTENDED is defined without ensuring - that is included. - + change the way shared libraries (other than libtool) are - installed. Rather than copying the build-tree's libraries, - link the shared objects into the install directory. This - makes the --with-rpath option work except with $(DESTDIR). - + several improvements for rendering in hpterm. These are only - available if the library is configured using - --enable-xmc-glitch. - + Add NCURSES_NO_HARD_TABS and NCURSES_NO_MAGIC_COOKIE - environment variables to allow runtime suppression of the - related hard-tabs and xmc-glitch features. - * programs: - + add new test programs: chgat.c, demo_altkeys.c, echochar.c, - foldkeys.c, movewindow.c, redraw.c, (noting that existing - test programs also were modified to test additional - features). - + modify tack to test extended capability function-key strings. - + modify toe to access termcap data, e.g., via cgetent() - functions, or as a text file if those are not available. - + improve infocmp/tic -f option formatting. - + add toe -a option, to show all databases. This uses new - private interfaces in the ncurses library for iterating - through the list of databases. - + modify MKfallback.sh to use tic -x when constructing fallback - tables to allow extended capabilities to be retrieved from a - fallback entry. - * terminal database - + add terminfo entries for xfce terminal (xfce) and multi gnome - terminal (mgt) - + add nsterm-16color entry - + updated mlterm terminfo entry - + add kon, kon2 and jfbterm terminfo entry - + remove invis capability from klone+sgr, mainly used by linux - entry, since it does not really do this - + add ka2, kb1, kb3, kc2 to vt220-keypad as an extension - + add shifted up/down arrow codes to xterm-new as kind/kri - strings - + add hpterm-color terminfo entry - + add 256color variants of terminfo entries for programs which - are reported to implement this feature - + correct order of use-clauses in rxvt-basic entry which made - codes for f1-f4 vt100-style rather than vt220-style. - - Major bug fixes: - * correct a typo in configure --with-bool option for the case where - --without-cxx is used. - * move assignment from environment variable ESCDELAY from initscr() - down to newterm() so the environment variable affects timeouts for - terminals opened with newterm() as well. - * modify werase to clear multicolumn characters that extend into a - derived window. - * modify wchgat() to mark updated cells as changed so a refresh will - repaint those cells. - * correct logic in wadd_wch() and wecho_wch(), which did not guard - against passing the multi-column attribute into a call on - waddch(), e.g., using data returned by win_wch() - * fix redrawing of windows other than stdscr using wredrawln() by - touching the corresponding rows in curscr. - * reduce memory leaks in repeated calls to tgetent() by remembering - the last TERMINAL* value allocated to hold the corresponding data - and freeing that if the tgetent() result buffer is the same as the - previous call. - * modify read_termtype() so the term_names data is always allocated - as part of the str_table, a better fix for a memory leak. - * fix wins_nwstr(), which did not handle single-column non-8bit - codes. - * modify wbkgrnd() to avoid clearing the A_CHARTEXT attribute bits - since those record the state of multicolumn characters. - * improve SIGWINCH handling by postponing its effect during - newterm(), etc., when allocating screens. - * remove 970913 feature for copying subwindows as they are moved in - mvwin(). - * add checks in waddchnstr() and wadd_wchnstr() to stop copying when - a null character is found. - * add some checks to ensure current position is within scrolling - region before scrolling on a new line. - * add a workaround to ACS mapping to allow applications such as - test/blue.c to use the "PC ROM" characters by masking them with - A_ALTCHARSET. This worked up til 5.5, but was lost in the revision - of legacy coding. - - Portability: - * configure script: - + new options: - - --with-hashed-db - Use Berkeley hashed database for storing terminfo - data rather than storing each compiled entry in a - separate binary file within a directory tree. - - --without-dlsym - Do not use dlsym() to load GPM dynamically. - - --with-valgrind - Simplify building for testing with valgrind. - - --enable-wgetch-events - Compile with experimental wgetch-events code. - - --enable-signed-char - Store booleans in "signed char" rather than "char". - - + improved options: - - --disable-largefile - make the option work both ways. - - --with-gpm - The option now accepts a parameter, i.e., the name - of the dynamic GPM library to load via dlopen() - - --disable-symlinks - The option now allows one to disable symlink() in - tic even when link() does not work. - - * other configure/build issues: - + remove special case for Darwin in CF_XOPEN_SOURCE configure - macro. - + add configure check to ensure that SIGWINCH is defined on - platforms such as OS X which exclude that when _XOPEN_SOURCE, - etc., are defined - + use ld's -search_paths_first option on Darwin to work around - odd search rules on that platform. - + improve ifdef's for _POSIX_VDISABLE in tset to work with Mac - OS X. - + modify configure script to ensure that if the C compiler is - used rather than the loader in making shared libraries, the - $(CFLAGS) variable is also used. - + use ${CC} rather than ${LD} in shared library rules for - IRIX64, Solaris to help ensure that initialization sections - are provided for extra linkage requirements, e.g., of C++ - applications. - + improve some shared-library configure scripting for Linux, - FreeBSD and NetBSD to make --with-shlib-version work. - + split up dependency of names.c and codes.c in - ncurses/Makefile to work with parallel make. - + modify MKlib_gen.sh to change preprocessor-expanded _Bool - back to bool. - + modify progs/Makefile.in to make tput init work properly with - cygwin, i.e., do not pass a .exe in the reference string used - in check_aliases. - * library: - + ignore wide-acs line-drawing characters that wcwidth() claims - are not one-column. This is a workaround for Solaris' broken - locale support. - + reduce name-pollution in term.h by removing #define's for - HAVE_xxx symbols. - + fix #ifdef in c++/internal.h for QNX 6.1 - * test programs: - + modify test/configure script to allow building test programs - with PDCurses/X11. - + modified test programs to allow some to work with NetBSD - curses. Several do not because NetBSD curses implements a - subset of X/Open curses, and also lacks much of SVr4 - additions. But it is enough for comparison. - + improved test/configure to build test/ncurses on HPUX 11 - using the vendor curses. - + change configure script to produce test/Makefile from data - file. - - Features of Ncurses - - The ncurses package is fully compatible with SVr4 (System V Release 4) - curses: - * All 257 of the SVr4 calls have been implemented (and are - documented). - * Full support for SVr4 curses features including keyboard mapping, - color, forms-drawing with ACS characters, and automatic - recognition of keypad and function keys. - * An emulation of the SVr4 panels library, supporting a stack of - windows with backing store, is included. - * An emulation of the SVr4 menus library, supporting a uniform but - flexible interface for menu programming, is included. - * An emulation of the SVr4 form library, supporting data collection - through on-screen forms, is included. - * Binary terminfo entries generated by the ncurses tic(1) - implementation are bit-for-bit-compatible with the entry format - SVr4 curses uses. - * The utilities have options to allow you to filter terminfo entries - for use with less capable curses/terminfo versions such as the - HP/UX and AIX ports. + * captoinfo, a termcap conversion tool + * clear, utility for clearing the screen + * infocmp, the terminfo decompiler + * tabs, set tabs on a terminal + * tic, the terminfo compiler + * toe, list (table of) terminfo entries + * tput, utility for retrieving terminal capabilities in shell + scripts + * tset, to initialize the terminal + + Full manual pages are provided for the library and tools. + + The ncurses distribution is available at ncurses' homepage: + + ftp://ftp.invisible-island.net/ncurses/ or + https://invisible-mirror.net/archives/ncurses/ . + + It is also available via anonymous FTP at the GNU distribution site + + ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/ncurses/ . + +Release Notes + + These notes are for ncurses 6.3, released October 21, 2021. + + This release is designed to be source-compatible with ncurses 5.0 + through 6.2; providing extensions to the application binary interface + (ABI). Although the source can still be configured to support the + ncurses 5 ABI, the reason for the release is to reflect improvements + to the ncurses 6 ABI and the supporting utility programs. + + There are, of course, numerous other improvements, listed in this + announcement. + + The most important bug-fixes/improvements dealt with portability + issues. The release notes also mention some other bug-fixes, but are + focused on new features and improvements to existing features since + ncurses 6.2 release. + + Library improvements + + New features + + There are a few new features: + * A new (experimental) driver, for the Windows Terminal + configuration is provided. + * A script is provided which enables OpenBSD users to upgrade their + system to use ncurses 6.3 (OpenBSD developers are also invited to + do this). + + Additionally, to improve performance other changes (and extensions) + are provided in this release: + * modify lib_mouse.c to check for out-of-range button numbers, + convert those to position reports. + * add sp-funcs for erasewchar, killwchar. + + Other improvements + + These are revised features: + * modify wgetnstr, wgetn_wstr to improve compatibility with SVr4 + curses in its treatment of interrupt and quit characters + + These were done to limit or ultimately deprecate features: + * mark wgetch-events feature as deprecated. + + prevent KEY_EVENT from appearing in curses.h unless the + configure option --enable-wgetch-events is used. + + modify MKkey_defs.sh to hide ncurses' definition of + KEY_EVENTS to reduce Visual Studio C++ redefinition warnings. + * reduce build-warnings by excluding ncurses-internals from + deprecation warnings. + + These are improvements to existing features: + * drop symbols GCC_PRINTF and GCC_SCANF from , to simplify + use. + * apply gcc format attribute to prototypes which use a va_list + parameter rather than a "..." variable-length parameter list. + * modify so that it is not necessary to include + before . + * provide for wide-characters as background character in wbkgrnd + * improve parameter-checking for tparm, adding function _nc_tiparm() + to handle the most-used case, which accepts only numeric + parameters. + * use return-value from vsnprintf to reallocate as needed to allow + for buffers larger than the screen size. + * add another fflush(stdout) in _nc_flush to handle time-delays in + the middle of strings such as flash when the application uses + low-level calls rather than curses. + + These are corrections to existing features: + * add a check to guard against repeat_char emitting digits which + could be interpreted as BSD-style padding when --enable-bsdpad is + configured. + * check for screen size-change in scr_init and scr_restore, in case + a screen dump does not match the current screen dimensions + + Program improvements + + Several improvements were made to the utility programs: + + tabs + + + implement "+m" option + + tic + + + add check for duplicate "use=" clauses. + + add check to report instances where tparm would detect an + error in an expression. + + add user-defined capabilities from mintty to Caps-ncurses, + for checking consistency. + + improve warning when oc/op do not mention SGR 39/49 for xterm + compatible XT flag. + + improve checks for number of parameters of smglp, smgrp, + smgtp, and smgbp. + + improve "-c" option to validate the number and type of + parameters and compare against expected number/type before + deciding which set of parameter-lists to use in tparm calls. + + improve check for errors detected in tparm. + + improve format of output, to ensure that the messages contain + only printable text. + + modify to eliminate unnecessary "\" to escape ":" in terminfo + format. + + remove check that assumes that none or both parameterized and + non-parameterized margin-setting capabilities are present. + + toe + + + modify output of "toe -as" to show first description found + rather than the last. + + add a check to ensure that a "termcap file" is text rather + than binary. + + tput + + + modify to allow multiple commands per line. + + improve parameter-checking by analyzing all extended string + capabilities, e.g., as used in the Cs and Ms capabilities of + the tmux description. + + make warning messages consistently using alias names when + those are used, rather than the underlying program's name. + + improve usage message for aliases such as clear, by + eliminating tput-specific portions. + + modify initialization to avoid opening /dev/tty for cases + other than reset/init, e.g., for clear. + + Examples + + Along with the library and utilities, improvements were made to the + ncurses-examples. Most of this activity aimed at improving the + test-packages. A few changes are more generally useful, e.g., for the + main ncurses test-program, and for analyzing traces using the + tracemunch script: + * add "-r" option to the dots test-programs, to help with scripting + a performance comparison. + * build-fix for test_opaque, for configurations without opaque + curses structs, e.g., ncurses 5.7. + * improve tracemunch logic for "RUN" compaction. + * improve tracemunch's coverage of form/menu/panel libraries. + * improve tracemunch's checking/reporting the type for the first + parameter, e.g., "WINDOW*" rather than "#1". + * modify tracemunch and the panel library to show readable traces + for panel- and user-pointers. + + There are other new demo/test programs and reusable examples: + + back_ground + to exercise the wide-character background functions. + + move_field + to demonstrate move_field, and a stub for a corresponding demo + of dup_field. + + test_tparm + for checking tparm changes. + + Terminal database + + There are several new terminal descriptions: + + absolute, att610+cvis, foot, foot-direct, hp98550-color, + hpterm-color2, hterm, hterm-256color, linux-s, putty+keypad, + putty+screen, putty-screen, screen.linux-s, scrt/securecrt, + tmux-direct, vt220+cvis, vt220+cvis8, vt220+pcedit, vt220+vtedit, + vt220-base, vt52+keypad, xterm+256color2, xterm+88color2, + xterm-direct16, xterm-direct256, xterm+nofkeys, and + xterm+nopcfkeys. + + There are many changes to existing terminal descriptions. Some were + updates to several descriptions: + * correct use-ordering in some xterm-direct flavors + * fix some sgr inconsistencies in d230c, ibm6153, ibm6154, + ncrvt100an + * improve vt50h and vt52 based on DECScope manual + * use hp+arrows in a few places + * use hp+pfk-cr in a few places + * use vt220+cvis in st, terminology, termite since they ignore + blinking-cursor detail in att610+cvis + + while others affected specific descriptions. These were retested, to + take into account changes by their developers: + + kitty+common, mlterm3, ms-terminal + + while these are specific fixes based on reviewing documentation, user + reports, or warnings from tic: + + aaa+dec, aaa+rv + correct rmacs/smacs + + aaa+rv + correct sgr + + icl6404 + correct csr + + kitty + use att610+cvis, xterm+tmux and ansi+enq + + konsole-base + re-enable "bel" + + linux2.6 + fix pound-sign mapping in acsc + + linux3.0 + modify to reflect default mapping of shift-tab by kbd 1.14 + + pccons + fill in some missing pieces, to make it comparable to the vt220 + entry + + putty + use vt100+fnkeys, add rep + + screen + use vt100+enq + + terminator + corrected tsl capability + + ti916 + correct cup + + tmux + change kbs to ^? + + vt220 + use vt220+cvis + + vt420+lrmm + add smglp and smgrp + + vt420 + use vt420+lrmm + + xterm-new + add nel + + xterm-vt52 + use vt52+keypad + + A few entries use extensions (user-defined terminal capabilities): + * add shifted Linux console keys in linux+sfkeys entry for + screen.linux + * add Smulx to alacritty + * add kbeg to xterm+keypad to accommodate termcap applications + * add extensions in xterm+tmux and ecma+strikeout to ms-terminal, + but cancel the non-working Cr and Ms capabilities + + Documentation + + As usual, this release + * improves documentation by describing new features, + * attempts to improve the description of features which users have + found confusing + * fills in overlooked descriptions of features which were described + in the NEWS file but treated sketchily in manual pages. + + In addition to providing background information to explain these + features and show how they evolved, there are corrections, + clarifications, etc.: + * Corrections: + + make opts extension for getcchar work as documented for + ncurses 6.1, adding "-g" flag to demo_new_pair to illustrate. + + modify tset "-q" option to refrain from modifying terminal + modes, to match the documentation. + * New/improved history and portability sections: + + improve documentation for tparm and static/dynamic variables. + + add history note to curs_scanw.3x for and + + + add history note to curs_printw.3x for and + + + add portability note to ncurses.3x regarding + + add historical notes to tput, curses-terminfo and + curses-color manpages based on source-code for SVr2, SVr3 and + SVr4. + + improve history section for tset manpage based on the 1BSD + tarball, which preceded BSD's SCCS checkins by more than + three years. + * Other improvements: + + explain in ncurses.3x that functions in the tinfo library do + not rely upon wide-characters. + + improve manual page for panel library, extending the + portability section as well as documenting error-returns. + + add section on margins to terminfo.5, adapted from X/Open + Curses. + + improve man/term.5 section on legacy storage format. + + add a note in terminfo.5 explaining that no-parameter strings + such as sgr0 or cnorm should not be used with tparm. + + improve description of BSD-style padding in curs_termcap.3x + + improve discussion of padding versus tparm and tputs in + man/curs_terminfo.3x + + add a note in manual page to explain ungetch vs unget_wch. + + improve description of error-returns in waddch and waddnstr + manual pages. + + There are no new manual pages (all of the manual page updates are to + existing pages). + + Some of the improvements are more subtle, relating to the way the + information is presented. For instance, hyphenation is suppressed in + the HTML files generated from manual pages because an upgrade to groff + gave noticeably poorer results, interfering with the process of + creating links between the resulting webpages. + + Interesting bug-fixes + + While there were many bugs fixed during development of ncurses 6.3, + 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 + NEWS file no elaboration is needed here. + + The interesting bugs were: + * modify wbkgd and wbkgrnd to avoid storing a null in the background + character, because it may be used in cases where the corresponding + 0x80 is not treated as a null. + This was a regression introduced in ncurses 6.2 (reported on the + mailing list), for which the workaround was to specify a blank for + the background character. + * remove output-related checks for nl/nonl (also reported on the + mailing list). + * improve tparm implementation of %P and %g, more closely matching + SVr4 terminfo. Those denote static and dynamic variables in + terminfo expressions. + Exactly what those terms meant was never documented before in any + implementation of curses, aside from source code. Unlike the other + two fixes, the problem was discovered while studying OpenBSD's + version of tset. + + Configuration changes + + Major changes + + There are no major changes. Several new options were added to ease + integration of packages with systems using different versions of GNAT + and ncurses. Also, improvements were made to configure checks. + + Configuration options + + There are a few new/modified configure options: + + --enable-fvisibility + new configure option and check for gcc -fvisibility=hidden + feature + + --enable-leaks + corrected to allow turning leak-checking off later in a set of + options. + + --enable-stdnoreturn + new configure option makes the _Noreturn keyword optional to + ease transition. + + --disable-pkg-ldflags + revised option also controls whether $LDFLAGS from the build is + provided in "-config" and ".pc" files. + + --disable-root-access + add configure option which tells ncurses to disallow most + file-opens by setuid processes. + + --disable-wattr-macros + changed default to help packagers who reuse wide ncursesw + header file with non-wide ncurses library. + + --with-pkg-config-libdir + revised option uses the actual search path from pkg-config or + pkgconf using the output from --debug. + + --with-ada-libname + --with-form-libname + --with-menu-libname + --with-panel-libname + new several --with-xxx-libname options, to help with pkgsrc + + Portability + + Many of the portability changes are implemented via the configure + script: + * add a special case in the configure script to work around one of + the build-time breakages reported for OpenBSD 6 here: + + https://www.mail-archive.com/bugs@openbsd.org/msg13200.html + * modify configure check for libtool to prevent accidental use of an + OpenBSD program which uses the same name. + * modify configuration checks for build-time tic/infocmp to use + AC_CHECK_TOOL. That can still be overridden by --with-tic-path and + --with-infocmp-path when fallbacks are used, but even if not using + fallbacks, the improved check may help with cross-compiling. + * relax modification-time comparison in CF_LINK_FUNCS to allow it to + accept link() function with NFS filesystems which change the mtime + on the link target, e.g., several BSD systems. + * modify configure check for c89/c99 aliases of clang to use its + -std option instead, because some platforms, in particular macOS, + do not provide workable c89/c99 aliases. + * modify CF_NCURSES_CONFIG to work around Xcode's c99 "-W" option, + which conflicts with conventional use for passing linker options. + * modify configure scripts to filter out redefinitions of + _XOPEN_SOURCE, e.g., for NetBSD which generally supports 500, but + 600 is needed for ncursesw. + + Here are some of the other portability fixes: + * change configure-check and source-code for gcc's noreturn + attribute to assume it is a prefix rather than suffix, matching + c11's _Noreturn convention. + * modify mk-1st.awk to account for extra-suffix configure option. + * build-fix for termsort module when configured with termcap. + * modify configure script and makefiles to support ".PHONY" make + program feature. + * amend libtool configuration to add dependency for install.tic, + etc., in ncurses/Makefile on the lower-level libraries. + * modify Ada95 source-generation utility to write to a file given as + parameter rather than to the standard output, allowing builds with + MinGW. + * amend tic/infocmp check to allow for the respective tool's + absence. + * build-fixes for gnat 10.1.1, whose gnatmake drops integration with + gprbuild. + * correct configure version-check/warning for g++ to allow for 10.x + _________________________________________________________________ + +Features of ncurses + + The ncurses package is fully upward-compatible with SVr4 (System V + Release 4) curses: + * All of the SVr4 calls have been implemented (and are documented). + * ncurses supports all of the for SVr4 curses features including + keyboard mapping, color, forms-drawing with ACS characters, and + automatic recognition of keypad and function keys. + * ncurses provides these SVr4 add-on libraries (not part of X/Open + Curses): + + the panels library, supporting a stack of windows with + backing store. + + the menus library, supporting a uniform but flexible + interface for menu programming. + + the form library, supporting data collection through + on-screen forms. + * ncurses's terminal database is fully compatible with that used by + SVr4 curses. + + ncurses supports user-defined capabilities which it can see, + but which are hidden from SVr4 curses applications using the + same terminal database. + + It can be optionally configured to match the format used in + related systems such as AIX and Tru64. + + Alternatively, ncurses can be configured to use hashed + databases rather than the directory of files used by SVr4 + curses. + * The ncurses utilities have options to allow you to filter terminfo + entries for use with less capable curses/terminfo versions such as + the HP-UX and AIX ports. The ncurses package also has many useful extensions over SVr4: * The API is 8-bit clean and base-level conformant with the X/OPEN @@ -262,15 +511,17 @@ * Support for mouse event reporting with X Window xterm and FreeBSD and OS/2 console windows. * Extended mouse support via Alessandro Rubini's gpm package. - * The function wresize() allows you to resize windows, preserving + * The function wresize allows you to resize windows, preserving their data. - * The function use_default_colors() allows you to use the terminal's + * The function use_default_colors allows you to use the terminal's default colors for the default color pair, achieving the effect of transparent colors. - * The functions keyok() and define_key() 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. + * The functions keyok and define_key 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. + * Support for direct-color terminals, such as modern xterm. + * Support for 256-color terminals, such as modern xterm. * Support for 16-color terminals, such as aixterm and modern xterm. * Better cursor-movement optimization. The package now features a cursor-local-movement computation more efficient than either BSD's @@ -279,7 +530,7 @@ 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. + powerful than the 4.4BSD curses quickch routine. * 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 @@ -292,10 +543,10 @@ 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). - * The tic(1)/captoinfo utility provided with ncurses has the ability - to translate many termcaps from the XENIX, IBM and AT&T extension + * The tic/captoinfo utility provided with ncurses has the ability to + translate many termcaps from the XENIX, IBM and AT&T extension sets. - * A BSD-like tset(1) utility is provided. + * A BSD-like tset utility is provided. * 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 @@ -310,154 +561,215 @@ 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. - * A script (capconvert) 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. - * 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. * The table-of-entries utility toe makes it easy for users to see exactly what terminal types are available on the system. * The library meets the XSI requirement that every macro entry point - have a corresponding function which may be linked (and will be + has a corresponding function which may be linked (and will be prototype-checked) if the macro definition is disabled with #undef. - * An HTML "Introduction to Programming with NCURSES" document - provides a narrative introduction to the curses programming - interface. + * Extensive documentation is provided (see the Additional Reading + section of the ncurses FAQ for online documentation). + +Applications using ncurses - State of the Package + The ncurses distribution includes a selection of test programs + (including a few games). These are available separately as + ncurses-examples - 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. + The ncurses library has been tested with a wide variety of + applications including: - The ncurses code has been tested with a wide variety of applications - including (versions starting with those noted): + aptitude + FrontEnd to Apt, the debian package manager + + https://wiki.debian.org/Aptitude cdk Curses Development Kit - [3]http://invisible-island.net/cdk/ - [4]http://www.vexus.ca/products/CDK/ + + https://invisible-island.net/cdk/ ded directory-editor - [5]http://invisible-island.net/ded/ + + https://invisible-island.net/ded/ dialog the underlying application used in Slackware's setup, and the - basis for similar applications on GNU/Linux. - [6]http://invisible-island.net/dialog/ + basis for similar install/configure applications on many + systems. + + https://invisible-island.net/dialog/ lynx - the character-screen WWW browser - [7]http://lynx.isc.org/release/ + the text WWW browser - Midnight Commander - file manager - [8]http://www.ibiblio.org/mc/ + https://lynx.invisible-island.net/ mutt mail utility - [9]http://www.mutt.org/ + + http://www.mutt.org/ ncftp file-transfer utility - [10]http://www.ncftp.com/ + + https://www.ncftp.com/ nvi - New vi versions 1.50 are able to use ncurses versions 1.9.7 and - later. - [11]http://www.bostic.com/vi/ + New vi uses ncurses. + + https://sites.google.com/a/bostic.com/keithbostic/vi - pinfo - Lynx-like info browser. - [12]http://dione.ids.pl/~pborys/software/pinfo/ + ranger + A console file manager with VI key bindings in Python. + + https://ranger.github.io/ tin - newsreader, supporting color, MIME [13]http://www.tin.org/ + newsreader, supporting color, MIME + + http://www.tin.org/ + + vifm + File manager with vi like keybindings - vh-1.6 - Volks-Hypertext browser for the Jargon File - [14]http://www.debian.org/Packages/unstable/text/vh.html + https://vifm.info/ as well as some that use ncurses for the terminfo support alone: minicom - terminal emulator - [15]http://alioth.debian.org/projects/minicom/ + terminal emulator for serial modem connections + + https://alioth.debian.org/projects/minicom/ + + mosh + a replacement for ssh. + + https://mosh.org/ + + tack + terminfo action checker + + https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/tack.html + + tmux + terminal multiplexor + + https://github.com/tmux/tmux/wiki vile - vi-like-emacs - [16]http://invisible-island.net/vile/ + vi-like-emacs may be built to use the terminfo, termcap or + curses interfaces. - The ncurses distribution includes a selection of test programs - (including a few games). + https://invisible-island.net/vile/ + + and finally, those which use only the termcap interface: + + emacs + text editor + + https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/ + + less + The most commonly used pager (a program that displays text + files). + + http://www.greenwoodsoftware.com/less/ + + screen + terminal multiplexor + + https://www.gnu.org/software/screen/ + + vim + text editor + + https://www.vim.org/ -Who's Who and What's What +Development activities - Zeyd Ben-Halim started it from a previous package pcurses, written by - Pavel Curtis. Eric S. Raymond continued development. Juergen Pfeifer - wrote most of the form and menu libraries. Ongoing work is being done - by [17]Thomas Dickey. Thomas Dickey acts as the maintainer for the - Free Software Foundation, which holds the copyright on ncurses. - Contact the current maintainers at [18]bug-ncurses@gnu.org. + Zeyd Ben-Halim started ncurses from a previous package pcurses, + written by Pavel Curtis. Eric S. Raymond continued development. + Juergen Pfeifer wrote most of the form and menu libraries. - To join the ncurses mailing list, please write email to - bug-ncurses-request@gnu.org containing the line: - subscribe @ + Ongoing development work is done by Thomas E. Dickey. Thomas E. Dickey + has acted as the maintainer for the Free Software Foundation, which + held a copyright on ncurses 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 ncurses FAQ for + additional information). + + Contact the current maintainers at + + bug-ncurses@gnu.org + + To join the ncurses mailing list, please write email to + + bug-ncurses-request@gnu.org + + containing the line: + + subscribe @ This list is open to anyone interested in helping with the development and testing of this package. - Beta versions of ncurses and patches to the current release are made - available at [19]ftp://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ . + Beta versions of ncurses are made available at + + ftp://ftp.invisible-island.net/ncurses/current/ and + https://invisible-mirror.net/archives/ncurses/current/ . + + Patches to the current release are made available at + + ftp://ftp.invisible-island.net/ncurses/6.2/ and + https://invisible-mirror.net/archives/ncurses/6.2/ . + + There is an archive of the mailing list here: -Future Plans + http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-ncurses (also https) - * Extended-level XPG4 conformance, with internationalization - support. - * Ports to more systems, including DOS and Windows. +Related resources - We need people to help with these projects. If you are interested in - working on them, please join the ncurses list. + The release notes make scattered references to these pages, which may + be interesting by themselves: + * ncurses licensing + * Symbol versioning in ncurses + * Comments on ncurses versus slang (S-Lang) + * Comments on OpenBSD + * tack - terminfo action checker + * tctest - termcap library checker + * Terminal Database -Other Related Resources +Other resources The distribution provides a newer version of the terminfo-format - terminal description file once maintained by [20]Eric Raymond . Unlike - the older version, the termcap and terminfo data are provided in the - same file, and provides several user-definable extensions beyond the + terminal description file once maintained by Eric Raymond . 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. You can find lots of information on terminal-related topics not - covered in the terminfo file at [21]Richard Shuford's archive . - -References - - 1. ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/ncurses/ - 2. ftp://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ - 3. http://invisible-island.net/cdk/ - 4. http://www.vexus.ca/products/CDK/ - 5. http://invisible-island.net/ded/ - 6. http://invisible-island.net/dialog/ - 7. http://lynx.isc.org/release/ - 8. http://www.ibiblio.org/mc/ - 9. http://www.mutt.org/ - 10. http://www.ncftp.com/ - 11. http://www.bostic.com/vi/ - 12. http://dione.ids.pl/~pborys/software/pinfo/ - 13. http://www.tin.org/ - 14. http://www.debian.org/Packages/unstable/text/vh.html - 15. http://alioth.debian.org/projects/minicom/ - 16. http://invisible-island.net/vile/ - 17. mailto:dickey@invisible-island.net - 18. mailto:bug-ncurses@gnu.org - 19. ftp://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ - 20. http://www.catb.org/~esr/terminfo/ - 21. http://www.cs.utk.edu/~shuford/terminal_index.html + covered in the terminfo file at Richard Shuford's archive . The + collection of computer manuals at bitsavers.org has also been useful. + + * Overview + * Release Notes + + Library improvements + o New features + o Other improvements + + Program improvements + o Utilities + o Examples + + Terminal database + + Documentation + + Interesting bug-fixes + + Configuration changes + o Major changes + o Configuration options + + Portability + * Features of ncurses + * Applications using ncurses + * Development activities + * Related resources + * Other resources