X-Git-Url: https://ncurses.scripts.mit.edu/?p=ncurses.git;a=blobdiff_plain;f=announce.html.in;h=2ac7d7d73363c8e4ddc4d3b4fecfb898c7a72fd1;hp=82079c368c753af8b21f761ab0ca21e303288c5e;hb=2db461ea0b1b29c142e3000d830b520c946e385b;hpb=55ccd2b959766810cf7db8d1c4462f338ce0afc8;ds=sidebyside diff --git a/announce.html.in b/announce.html.in index 82079c36..2ac7d7d7 100644 --- a/announce.html.in +++ b/announce.html.in @@ -1,545 +1,2179 @@ - - - -Announcing ncurses @VERSION@ - - - - - -

Announcing ncurses @VERSION@

- -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.

- -In mid-June 1995, the maintainer of 4.4BSD curses declared that he -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!

- -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 -ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/ncurses/ . -
It is also available at -ftp://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ . - -

Release Notes

- -This release is designed to be upward compatible from ncurses 5.0 through 5.4; -very few applications will require recompilation, depending on the platform. -These are the highlights from the change-log since ncurses 5.4 release. -

-Interface changes: -

-New features and improvements: - +
+

file-transfer utility

-
  • tic: +

    https://www.ncftp.com/

    +
  • - +
    +

    newsreader, supporting color, MIME

    -
  • tset: +

    http://www.tin.org/

    +
  • - +

    https://vifm.info/

    + + + + +

    as well as some that use ncurses for the terminfo support alone:

    + +
    +
    +
    minicom +
    + +
    +

    terminal emulator for serial modem connections

    + +

    https://alioth.debian.org/projects/minicom/

    +
    + +
    mosh +
    + +
    +

    a replacement for ssh.

    + +

    https://mosh.mit.edu/

    +
    + +
    tack +
    + +
    +

    terminfo action checker

    + +

    @HOMEPAGE@/tack.html

    +
    + +
    tmux +
    + +
    +

    terminal multiplexor

    + +

    https://github.com/tmux/tmux/wiki

    +
    + +
    vile +
    - -Major bug fixes: -
    +
    -
  • cells in the WINDOW which are continuations of a multicolumn - character are encoded differently, making repainting more - reliable. +

    and finally, those which use only the termcap interface:

    -
  • amend change to setupterm() in ncurses 5.4 (20030405) which would - reuse the value of cur_term if the same output was selected. This - now reuses it only when setupterm() is called from tgetent(), - which has no notion of separate SCREENs. Note that tgetent() must - be called after initscr() or newterm() to use this feature. +
    +
    +
    emacs +
    -
  • make setcchar() now works when its wchar_t* parameter is - pointing to a string which contains more data than can be converted. +
    +

    text editor

    -
  • win_wchnstr() now works for more than one cell. +

    https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/

    +
  • -
  • resizeterm() now processes all levels of window hierarchy. +
    less +
    -
  • disable GPM mouse support when $TERM happens to be prefixed with - "xterm". Gpm_Open() would otherwise assert that it can deal with - mouse events in this case. +
    +

    The most commonly used pager (a program that + displays text files).

    -
  • add SP->_screen_acs_map[], used to ensure that mapping of missing - line-drawing characters is handled properly. For example, ACS_DARROW - is absent from xterm-new, and it was coincidentally displayed the - same as ACS_BTEE. +

    http://www.greenwoodsoftware.com/less/

    +
  • - +
    screen +
    -Portability: -
      -
    • configure script: -
        -
      • new options: -
        -
        --enable-largefile -
        set compiler and linker flags to use largefile support. +
        +

        terminal multiplexor

        -
        --enable-ext-colors -
        Allow encoding of 256 foreground - and background colors, e.g., with the xterm-256color or - xterm-88color terminfo entries. - This requires ABI 6 because it changes the size of cchar_t. +

        https://www.gnu.org/software/screen/

        +
        -
        --enable-ext-mouse -
        This defines NCURSES_MOUSE_VERSION 2, and modifies the encoding of - mouse events to support wheel mice, which may transmit buttons - 4 and 5. This works with xterm and similar terminal - emulators. - This requires ABI 6 because it changes the encoding of - mouse events. +
        vim +
        -
        --with-chtype -
        overriding of the non-LP64 model's use of chtype +
        +

        text editor

        -
        --with-mmask-t -
        overriding of the non-LP64 model's use of mmask_t +

        https://www.vim.org/

        +
        +
        +
  • -
    --without-xterm-new -
    Installs "xterm-old" as the "xterm" entry of the terminfo - database. +

    Development + activities

    - +

    Zeyd Ben-Halim started ncurses + from a previous package pcurses, written by Pavel Curtis. Eric S. + Raymond continued development. Jürgen Pfeifer wrote most of + the form and menu libraries.

    -
  • The --with-termlib option now accepts a value which sets - the name of the terminfo library. This would allow a packager to - build libtinfow.so renamed to coincide with libtinfo.so +

    Ongoing development work is done by Thomas E. Dickey. Thomas + E. Dickey has acted as the maintainer for the Free Software + Foundation, which holds 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).

    -
  • fixes/improvements for cross-compiling: +

    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 + <name>@<host.domain>

    +
    + +

    This list is open to anyone interested in helping with the + development and testing of this package.

    + +

    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/6.1/ + and
    + https://invisible-mirror.net/archives/ncurses/6.1/ .

    +
    + +

    There is an archive of the mailing list here:

    + +
    +

    http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-ncurses + (also https)

    +
    + +

    Related + resources

    + +

    The release notes make scattered references to these pages, + which may be interesting by themselves:

    + + + +

    Other + resources

    + +

    The distribution provides a newer version of the + terminfo-format 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 + Richard Shuford's archive . The collection of computer + manuals at bitsavers.org has also been + useful.

    + +
  • Terminal database
  • + +
  • Documentation
  • + +
  • Interesting bug-fixes
  • + +
  • + Configuration changes + + +
  • + +
  • Portability
  • + +
  • + +
  • Features of ncurses
  • + +
  • Applications using ncurses
  • + +
  • Development activities
  • + +
  • Related resources
  • + +
  • Other resources
  • + + + +