X-Git-Url: https://ncurses.scripts.mit.edu/?p=ncurses.git;a=blobdiff_plain;f=ANNOUNCE;h=11933c5f6d55f4f21e79e0829da3c801365977ce;hp=513234e33caa431aec05182c38be2c74dd34ffb6;hb=c6f54649ed4bf49ec27a522816984d2290201438;hpb=a8987e73ec254703634802b4f7ee30d3a485524d;ds=inline diff --git a/ANNOUNCE b/ANNOUNCE index 513234e3..11933c5f 100644 --- a/ANNOUNCE +++ b/ANNOUNCE @@ -1,5 +1,4 @@ - - Announcing ncurses 5.4 + Announcing ncurses 5.9 The ncurses (new curses) library is a free software emulation of curses in System V Release 4.0, and more. It uses terminfo format, @@ -8,9 +7,8 @@ enhancements over BSD curses. In mid-June 1995, the maintainer of 4.4BSD curses declared that he - considered 4.4BSD curses obsolete, and is encouraging the keepers of - Unix releases such as BSD/OS, freeBSD and netBSD to switch over to - ncurses. + 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 @@ -28,233 +26,31 @@ Release Notes - This release is designed to be upward compatible from ncurses 5.0 and - 5.3; very few applications will require recompilation, depending on - the platform. These are the highlights from the change-log since - ncurses 5.3 release. - - Interface changes: - * add the remaining functions for X/Open curses wide-character - support. - + pecho_wchar() - + slk_wset() - These are only available if the library is configured using the - --enable-widec option. - * write getyx() and related 2-return macros in terms of getcury(), - getcurx(), etc. - * simplify ifdef for bool declaration in curses.h - * modify ifdef's in curses.h that disabled use of __attribute__() - for g++, since recent versions implement the cases which ncurses - uses. - * add key_defined() function, to tell which keycode a string is - bound to. - - New features and improvements: - * library - + implement logic in lib_mouse.c to handle position reports - which are generated when XFree86 xterm is initialized with - private modes 1002 or 1003. These are returned to the - application as the REPORT_MOUSE_POSITION mask, which was not - implemented. - + modify soft-key initialization to use A_REVERSE if A_STANDOUT - would not be shown when colors are used, i.e., if ncv#1 is - set in the terminfo as is done in "screen". - + add configure option for FreeBSD sysmouse, --with-sysmouse, - and implement library support for that. - * programs: - + tack: - o allow it to run from fallback terminfo data. - o reset colors after each color test, correct a place - where exit_standout_mode was used instead of - exit_attribute_mode. - o improve bce test by making it set colors other than - black on white. - + tic: - o handle a case where an entry has no description, and - capabilities begin on the same line as the entry name. - o allow a terminfo entry with a leading 2-character name. - o improved warnings when suppressing items to fit in - termcap's 1023-byte limit. - o add check for multiple "tc=" clauses in a termcap. - o correct logic for resolving "use=" clauses allow infocmp - and tic to show cancelled capabilities. - o check for incomplete line-drawing character mapping. - o check for missing/empty/illegal terminfo name. - + tput: - o modify tput to use the same parameter analysis as - tparm() does, to provide for user-defined strings, e.g., - for xterm title, a corresponding capability might be - title=\E]2;%p1%s^G, - + tset: - o use the system's default values for CKILL and other - default control characters. - o correct interchanged defaults for kill and interrupt - characters, which caused it to report unnecessarily. - - Major bug fixes: - * prevent recursion in wgetch() via wgetnstr() if the connection - cannot be switched between cooked/raw modes because it is not a - TTY. - * correct a case in _nc_remove_string(), used by define_key(), to - avoid infinite loop if the given string happens to be a substring - of other strings which are assigned to keys. - * modify logic of acsc to use the original character if no mapping - is defined, rather than a null. - * several improvements for handling multi-cell display of wide - characters. - + modify setcchar() to allow converting control characters to - complex characters. - + correct handling of multibyte characters in waddch_literal() - which force wrapping because they are started too late on the - line. - + modify setcchar() to allow for wchar_t input strings that - have more than one spacing character. - * other fixes for wide-character support: - + rewrote lib_acs.c to allow PutAttrChar() to decide how to - render alternate-characters, i.e., to work with Linux console - and UTF-8 locale. - + implement a workaround so that line-drawing works with - screen's crippled UTF-8 support (tested with 3.9.13). This - only works with the wide-character support (--enable-widec); - the normal library will simply suppress line-drawing when - running in a UTF-8 locale in screen. - + corrections to lib_get_wstr.c: - o null-terminate buffer passed to setcchar(), which - occasionally failed. - o map special characters such as erase- and - kill-characters into key-codes so those will work as - expected even if they are not mentioned in the terminfo. - * modify setupterm() to check if the terminfo and terminal-modes - have already been read. This ensures that it does not reinvoke - def_prog_mode() when an application calls more than one function, - such as tgetent() and initscr(). - * fix form_driver() cases for REQ_CLR_EOF, REQ_CLR_EOL, - REQ_DEL_CHAR, REQ_DEL_PREV and REQ_NEW_LINE, which did not ensure - the cursor was at the editing position before making - modifications. - * correct keybound(), which reported definitions in the wrong table, - i.e., the list of definitions which are disabled by keyok(). - * fixes related to safe_sprintf.c: - + correct an allocation size in safe_sprintf.c for the "*" - format code. - + correct safe_sprintf.c to not return a null pointer if the - format happens to be an empty string. - + make return value from _nc_printf_string() consistent. - Before, depending on whether --enable-safe-sprintf was used, - it might not be cached for reallocating. - * other low-level improvements to the optimization code include: - + if the output is a socket or other non-tty device, use 1 - millisecond for the cost in mvcur; previously it was 9 - milliseconds because the baudrate was not known. - + modify lib_getch.c to avoid recursion via wgetnstr() when the - input is not a tty and consequently mode-changes do not work. - + fix several places in tack/pad.c which tested and used the - parameter- and parameterless strings inconsistently. - + change several tputs() calls in scrolling code to use putp(), - to enable padding which may be needed for some terminals. - + improve mvcur() by checking if it is safe to move when video - attributes are set (msgr), and if not, reset/restore - attributes within that function rather than doing it - separately in the GoTo() function in tty_update.c. - + use tputs() rather than putp() in a few cases in tty_update.c - since the corresponding delays are proportional to the number - of lines affected: repeat_char, clr_eos, - change_scroll_region. - * correct line/column reference in adjust_window(), needed to make - special windows such as curscr track properly when resizing. - * fix a potential recursion between napms() and _nc_timed_wait() - * rewrote lib_insch.c, combining it with lib_insstr.c so both handle - tab and other control characters consistently. - * do not try to open gpm mouse driver if standard output is not a - tty; the gpm library does not make this check. - - Portability: - * configure script: - + new options: - - --with-abi-version option. - addresses platforms where packagers have diverged - from ncurses ABI numbering. - - --with-manpage-format=catonly - addresses behavior of BSDI, allow install of - man+cat files on NetBSD, whose behavior has - diverged by requiring both to be present. - - --with-manpage-aliases - extends "--with-manpage-aliases" to provide the - option of generating ".so" files rather than - symbolic links for manpage aliases. - - --with-rel-version - workaround to force libtool on Darwin generate the - "same" library names as with the "--with-shared" - option. The Darwin ld program does not work well - with a zero as the minor-version value. - - --with-trace - simplifies defining TRACE to incorporate trace() in - libraries. - - + fixes/improvements for cross-compiling: - o allow BUILD_CC and related configure script variables to - be overridden from the environment. - o use AC_CHECK_TOOL to get proper values for AR and LD for - cross compiling. - o use $cross_compiling variable in configure script rather - than comparing $host_alias and $target alias, since - "host" is traditionally misused in autoconf to refer to - the target platform. - o modify run_tic.in to avoid using wrong shared libraries - when cross-compiling. - + fixes for Mac OS X: - o fix a redefinition of $RANLIB in the configure script - when libtool is used. - o modify MKlib_gen.sh to avoid passing "#" tokens through - the C preprocessor. This works around Mac OS X's - preprocessor, which insists on adding a blank on each - side of the token. - + workarounds for broken tools: - o add configure check for wchar_t and wint_t types, rather - than rely on preprocessor definitions. Also work around - for gcc fixinclude bug which creates a shadow copy of - curses.h if it sees these symbols apparently typedef'd. - o modify configure script to omit -Winline for gcc 3.3, - since that feature is broken. - o several script fixes to work around the ironically named - POSIXLY_CORRECT feature of GNU sed 4.0. - o modify configure script to avoid using "head -1", which - does not work if POSIXLY_CORRECT (sic) is set. - o update configure script to reflect fix for - AC_PROG_GCC_TRADITIONAL, which is broken in autoconf - 2.5x for Mac OS X 10.2.3. - o repair check for missing C++ compiler, which is broken - in autoconf 2.5x by hardcoding it to g++. - + corrected ifdef's relating to configure check for wchar_t, - etc. - + remove configure script check to allow -Wconversion for older - versions of gcc - + modify configure script to accommodate libtool 1.5, as well - as add an parameter to the "--with-libtool" option which can - specify the pathname of libtool. - + change several sed scripts to avoid using "\+" since it is - not a BRE (basic regular expression). One instance caused - terminfo.5 to be misformatted on FreeBSD. - + use '%' as sed substitute delimiter in run_tic script to - avoid problems with pathname delimiters such as ':' and '@'. - + add -D_XOPEN_SOURCE=500 if needed when configuring with - "--enable-widec", to get mbstate_t declaration on HPUX 11.11. - * library: - + adjust include-options in CF_ETIP_DEFINES to avoid missing - ncurses_dll.h, fixing special definitions that may be needed - for etip.h. - + modify CF_LIB_SUFFIX for Itanium releases of HP-UX, which use - a ".so" suffix. - + improve ifdef's to guard against redefinition of wchar_t and - wint_t in curses.h. - + remove an #undef for KEY_EVENT from curses.tail used in the - experimental NCURSES_WGETCH_EVENTS feature. The #undef - confuses Debian dpkg's build script. + This release is designed to be upward compatible from ncurses 5.0 + through 5.8; very few applications will require recompilation, + depending on the platform. These are the highlights from the + change-log since ncurses 5.8 release. + + This is a bug-fix release, correcting a small number of urgent + problems in the ncurses library from the 5.8 release. + + It also improves the Ada95 binding: + * fixes a longstanding portability problem with its use of the + [3]set_field_type function. Because that function uses + variable-length argument lists, its interface with gnat does not + work with certain platforms. + * improves configurability and portability, particularly when built + separately from the main ncurses tree. The 5.8 release introduced + scripts which can be used to construct separate tarballs for the + Ada95 and ncurses examples. + Those were a proof of concept. For the 5.9 release, those scripts + are augmented with rpm- and dpkg-scripts used in test builds + against a variety of gnat- and system ncurses versions as old as + gnat 3.15 and ncurses 5.4 (see snapshots and systems tested + [4]here. + * additional improvements were made for portability of the ncurses + examples, adding rpm- and dpkg-scripts for test-builds. See + [5]this page for snapshots and other information. Features of Ncurses @@ -281,28 +77,28 @@ The ncurses package also has many useful extensions over SVr4: * The API is 8-bit clean and base-level conformant with the X/OPEN curses specification, XSI curses (that is, it implements all BASE - level features, but not all EXTENDED features). Most - EXTENDED-level features not directly concerned with wide-character - support are implemented, including many function calls not - supported under SVr4 curses (but portability of all calls is - documented so you can use the SVr4 subset only). + level features, and most EXTENDED features). It includes many + function calls not supported under SVr4 curses (but portability of + all calls is documented so you can use the SVr4 subset only). * Unlike SVr3 curses, ncurses can write to the rightmost-bottommost corner of the screen if your terminal has an insert-character capability. * Ada95 and C++ bindings. - * Support for mouse event reporting with X Window xterm and OS/2 - console windows. + * 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. - * Support for 16-color terminals, such as aixterm and XFree86 xterm. + * 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 256-color terminals, such as modern xterm, when + configured using the --enable-ext-colors option. + * 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 or System V's. @@ -310,7 +106,7 @@ 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 @@ -373,59 +169,55 @@ cdk Curses Development Kit - [3]http://invisible-island.net/cdk/ - [4]http://www.vexus.ca/products/CDK/ + [6]http://invisible-island.net/cdk/ + [7]http://www.vexus.ca/products/CDK/ ded directory-editor - [5]http://invisible-island.net/ded/ + [8]http://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/ + [9]http://invisible-island.net/dialog/ lynx the character-screen WWW browser - [7]http://lynx.isc.org/release/ + [10]http://lynx.isc.org/release/ Midnight Commander file manager - [8]http://www.ibiblio.org/mc/ + [11]http://www.midnight-commander.org/ mutt mail utility - [9]http://www.mutt.org/ + [12]http://www.mutt.org/ ncftp file-transfer utility - [10]http://www.ncftp.com/ + [13]http://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/ + [14]https://sites.google.com/a/bostic.com/keithbostic/nvi pinfo Lynx-like info browser. - [12]http://dione.ids.pl/~pborys/software/pinfo/ + [15]https://alioth.debian.org/projects/pinfo/ tin - newsreader, supporting color, MIME [13]http://www.tin.org/ - - vh-1.6 - Volks-Hypertext browser for the Jargon File - [14]http://www.debian.org/Packages/unstable/text/vh.html + newsreader, supporting color, MIME [16]http://www.tin.org/ as well as some that use ncurses for the terminfo support alone: minicom terminal emulator - [15]http://www.netsonic.fi/~walker/minicom.html + [17]http://alioth.debian.org/projects/minicom/ vile vi-like-emacs - [16]http://invisible-island.net/vile/ + [18]http://invisible-island.net/vile/ The ncurses distribution includes a selection of test programs (including a few games). @@ -433,11 +225,11 @@ Who's Who and What's What Zeyd Ben-Halim started it from a previous package pcurses, written by - Pavel Curtis. Eric S. Raymond continued development. Jürgen Pfeifer + 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 + by [19]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. + Contact the current maintainers at [20]bug-ncurses@gnu.org. To join the ncurses mailing list, please write email to bug-ncurses-request@gnu.org containing the line: @@ -447,7 +239,7 @@ Who's Who and What's What 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/ . + available at [21]ftp://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ . Future Plans @@ -461,33 +253,36 @@ Future Plans Other Related Resources The distribution provides a newer version of the terminfo-format - terminal description file maintained by [20]Eric Raymond . Unlike the - older version, the termcap and terminfo data are provided in the same - file. + terminal description file once maintained by [22]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 + 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 . + covered in the terminfo file at [23]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://www.netsonic.fi/~walker/minicom.html - 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 + 3. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/form_fieldtype.3x + 4. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses-Ada95.html + 5. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses-examples.html + 6. http://invisible-island.net/cdk/ + 7. http://www.vexus.ca/products/CDK/ + 8. http://invisible-island.net/ded/ + 9. http://invisible-island.net/dialog/ + 10. http://lynx.isc.org/release/ + 11. http://www.midnight-commander.org/ + 12. http://www.mutt.org/ + 13. http://www.ncftp.com/ + 14. https://sites.google.com/a/bostic.com/keithbostic/nvi + 15. https://alioth.debian.org/projects/pinfo/ + 16. http://www.tin.org/ + 17. http://alioth.debian.org/projects/minicom/ + 18. http://invisible-island.net/vile/ + 19. mailto:dickey@invisible-island.net + 20. mailto:bug-ncurses@gnu.org + 21. ftp://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ + 22. http://www.catb.org/~esr/terminfo/ + 23. http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.cs.utk.edu/~shuford/terminal