X-Git-Url: https://ncurses.scripts.mit.edu/?p=ncurses.git;a=blobdiff_plain;f=ANNOUNCE;h=11933c5f6d55f4f21e79e0829da3c801365977ce;hp=e39a0bee28d8656945825566da2f96f66f8a3c81;hb=d4d1d81ab6fc1ad681ff120d925099f947fefcf3;hpb=46722468f47c2b77b3987729b4bcf2321cccfd01;ds=sidebyside diff --git a/ANNOUNCE b/ANNOUNCE index e39a0bee..11933c5f 100644 --- a/ANNOUNCE +++ b/ANNOUNCE @@ -1,5 +1,4 @@ - - Announcing ncurses 5.3 + 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 @@ -23,133 +21,36 @@ 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/pub/gnu/ncurses. - It is also available at [2]ftp://invisible-island.net/ncurses. + 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 and - 5.2; very few applications will require recompilation, depending on - the platform. These are the highlights from the change-log since - ncurses 5.2 release. - - Interface changes: - * change type for bool used in headers to NCURSES_BOOL, which - usually is the same as the compiler's definition for bool. - * add all but two functions for X/Open curses wide-character - support. These are only available if the library is configured - using the --enable-widec option. Missing functions are - + pecho_wchar() - + slk_wset() - * add environment variable $NCURSES_ASSUMED_COLORS to modify the - assume_default_colors() extension. - - New features and improvements: - * Improved support for termcap applications: - + add logic to dump_entry.c to remove function-key definitions - that do not fit into the 1023-byte limit for generated - termcaps. This makes hds200 fit. - + modify tgetent() to check if exit_attribute_mode resets the - alternate character set, and if so, attempt to adjust the - copy of the termcap "me" string which it will return to - eliminate that part. In particular, 'screen' would lose track - of line-drawing characters. - + add check/fix to comp_parse.c to suppress warning about - missing acsc string. This happens in configurations where raw - termcap information is processed; tic already does this and - other checks. - + add tic -A option to suppress capabilities which are - commented out when translating to termcap. - + modify logic in lib_baudrate.c for ospeed, for FreeBSD to - make it work properly for termcap applications (patch by - Andrey A Chernov). - * add a call to _nc_keypad() in keypad() to accommodate applications - such as nvi, which use curses for output but not for input (fixes - Debian #131263, cf: 20011215). - * correct logic for COLORFGBG environment variable: if rxvt is - compiled with xpm support, the variable has three fields, making - it slightly incompatible with itself. In either case, the - background color is the last field. - - Major bug fixes: - * rewrote limit-checks in wscrl() and associated - _nc_scroll_window(), to ensure that if the parameter of wscrl() is - larger than the size of the scrolling region, then the scrolling - region will be cleared. - * modify tset to restore original I/O modes if an error is - encountered. Also modify to use buffered stderr consistently - rather than mixing with write(). - * move calls to def_shell_mode() and def_prog_mode() before loop - with callbacks in lib_set_term.c, since the c++ demo otherwise - initialized the tty modes before saving them. - * modified wresize() to ensure that a failed realloc will not - corrupt the window structure, and to make subwindows fit within - the resized window. - * altered resizeterm() to avoid having it fail when a child window - cannot be resized because it would be larger than its parent. - * correct/improve logic to produce an exit status for errors in - tput, which did not exit with an error when told to put a string - not in the current terminfo entry. - * modify behavior of can_clear_with() so that if an application is - running in a non-bce terminals with default colors enabled, it - returns true, allowing the user to select/paste text without - picking up extraneous trailing blanks. - * add a check in relative_move() to guard against buffer overflow in - the overwrite logic. - * add some limit/pointer checks to -S option of tputs. - * modify mvcur() to avoid emitting newline characters when nonl() - mode is set. Normally this is not a problem since the actual - terminal mode is set to suppress nl/crlf translations, however it - is useful to allow the caller to manipulate the terminal mode to - avoid staircasing effects after spawning a process which writes - messages (for lynx 2.8.4). - - Portability: - * configure script: - + modify check in --disable-overwrite option so that it is used - by default unless the --prefix/$prefix value is not /usr, in - attempt to work around packagers who do not read the INSTALL - notes. - + correct a typo in configure --enable-colorfgbg option, and - move it to the experimental section (cf: 20011208). - + modify configure script to allow building with termcap only, - or with fallbacks only. In this case, we do not build tic and - toe. - + modify run_tic.sh to check if the build is a cross-compile. - In that case, do not use the build's tic to install the - terminfo database. - + modify c++/Makefile.in to accommodate archive programs that - are different for C++ than for C, and add cases for vendor's - C++ compilers on Solaris and IRIX. - + add several configure script options to aid with - cross-compiling: --with-build-cc, --with-build-cflags, - --with-build-ldflags, and --with-build-libs. - + add experimental --with-caps=XXX option to customize to - similar terminfo database formats such as AIX 4.x - + add configure option --with-ospeed to assist packagers in - transition to 5.3 change to ospeed type. - * library: - + implement a simple vsscanf() fallback function which uses the - %n conversion to help parse the input data. - + various fixes to build/work with different implementations of - vsscanf(). - + add/use macro to suppress sign-extension of char type on - platforms where this is a problem in ctype macros, e.g., - Solaris. - + finish changes needed to build dll's on cygwin. - + add #undef's before possible redefinition of ERR and OK in - curses.h - * programs: - + modify ifdef's in write_entry.c to allow use of symbolic - links on platforms with no hard links, e.g., BeOS. - + modify _nc_write_entry() to allow for the possibility that - linking aliases on a filesystem that ignores case would not - succeed because the source and destination differ only by - case, e.g., NCR260VT300WPP0 on cygwin. - + modify logic in tic, toe, tput and tset which checks for - basename of argv[0] to work properly on systems such as OS/2 - which have case-independent filenames and/or program - suffixes, e.g., ".ext". + 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 @@ -176,28 +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. @@ -205,7 +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 @@ -268,71 +169,67 @@ cdk Curses Development Kit - [3]http://invisible-island.net/cdk. - [4]http://www.vexus.ca/CDK.html + [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]www.gnome.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/. - - tin - newsreader, supporting color, MIME - [12]http://www.tin.org. + [14]https://sites.google.com/a/bostic.com/keithbostic/nvi - taper - tape archive utility - [13]http://members.iinet.net.au/~yusuf/taper/. + pinfo + Lynx-like info browser. + [15]https://alioth.debian.org/projects/pinfo/ - vh-1.6 - Volks-Hypertext browser for the Jargon File - [14]http://www.bg.debian.org/Packages/unstable/text/vh.html. + tin + 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.pp.clinet.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). Who's Who and What's What - The original developers of ncurses are [17]Zeyd Ben-Halim and [18]Eric - S. Raymond. Ongoing work is being done by [19]Thomas Dickey and - [20]Jürgen Pfeifer. [21]Thomas Dickey acts as the maintainer for the + 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 [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 [22]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: @@ -342,7 +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 [23]ftp://invisible-island.net/ncurses. + available at [21]ftp://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ . Future Plans @@ -355,37 +252,37 @@ Future Plans Other Related Resources - The distribution includes and uses a version of the terminfo-format - terminal description file maintained by Eric Raymond. - [24]http://earthspace.net/~esr/terminfo. + The distribution provides a newer version of the terminfo-format + 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 [25]Richard Shuford's archive. + covered in the terminfo file at [23]Richard Shuford's archive . References - 1. ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/ncurses - 2. ftp://invisible-island.net/ncurses - 3. http://invisible-island.net/cdk/cdk.html - 4. http://www.vexus.ca/CDK.html - 5. http://invisible-island.net/ded/ded.html - 6. http://invisible-island.net/dialog/dialog.html - 7. http://lynx.isc.org/release/ - 8. file://localhost/usr/build/ncurses/ncurses-5.2-20021012/doc/html/www.gnome.org/mc/ - 9. http://www.mutt.org/ - 10. http://www.ncftp.com/ - 11. http://www.bostic.com/vi/ - 12. http://www.tin.org/ - 13. http://members.iinet.net.au/~yusuf/taper/ - 14. http://www.bg.debian.org/Packages/unstable/text/vh.html - 15. http://www.pp.clinet.fi/~walker/minicom.html - 16. http://invisible-island.net/vile/vile.html - 17. mailto:zmbenhal@netcom.com - 18. http://www.ccil.org/~esr/home.html - 19. mailto:dickey@herndon4.his.com - 20. http://www.familiepfeifer.de/Contact.aspx?Lang=en - 21. mailto:dickey@herndon4.his.com - 22. mailto:bug-ncurses@gnu.org - 23. ftp://invisible-island.net/ncurses - 24. http://earthspace.net/~esr/terminfo - 25. http://www.cs.utk.edu/~shuford/terminal_index.html + 1. ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/ncurses/ + 2. ftp://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ + 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