X-Git-Url: https://ncurses.scripts.mit.edu/?p=ncurses.git;a=blobdiff_plain;f=announce.html.in;h=84d5bbe127c71d06ad79302568a646c2659f9800;hp=11fb87c354712aa346270e7d53c0573d5bd9c7da;hb=cd858895e9086dadfb3d0a9ae69bc906de6330ea;hpb=a8987e73ec254703634802b4f7ee30d3a485524d
diff --git a/announce.html.in b/announce.html.in
index 11fb87c3..84d5bbe1 100644
--- a/announce.html.in
+++ b/announce.html.in
@@ -1,6 +1,33 @@
@@ -19,8 +46,8 @@ 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 is encouraging the keepers of
-Unix releases such as BSD/OS, freeBSD and netBSD to switch over to
+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.
@@ -42,198 +69,185 @@ the GNU distribution site
Release Notes
-This release is designed to be upward compatible from ncurses 5.0 and 5.3;
+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 5.3 release.
+These are the highlights from the change-log since ncurses 5.5 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.
+ - generate linkable stubs for some macros:
+
+ getbegx, getbegy, getcurx, getcury, getmaxx, getmaxy, getparx,
+ getpary, getpary,
+
+ and (for libncursesw)
+
+ wgetbkgrnd
+
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.
-
+
+ - 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 <wchar.h> 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:
-
-
- - tack:
-
-
- - allow it to run from fallback terminfo data.
-
- reset colors after each color test, correct a place
- where
exit_standout_mode was used instead of
- exit_attribute_mode.
- - improve
bce test by making it set colors other
- than black on white.
-
-
- - tic:
-
-
- - handle a case where an entry has no
- description, and capabilities begin on the same line as the entry
- name.
-
- allow a terminfo entry with a leading 2-character name.
-
- improved warnings when suppressing items to fit in termcap's
- 1023-byte limit.
-
- add check for multiple "tc=" clauses in a termcap.
-
- correct logic for resolving "use=" clauses
- allow infocmp and tic to show cancelled capabilities.
-
- check for incomplete line-drawing character mapping.
-
- check for missing/empty/illegal terminfo name.
-
-
- - tput:
-
- - 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:
-
-
- - use the system's default values for CKILL and other default
- control characters.
-
- correct interchanged defaults for kill and interrupt
- characters, which caused it to report unnecessarily.
-
-
-
+
+ - 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:
- - prevent recursion in wgetch() via wgetnstr() if the connection
- cannot be switched between cooked/raw modes because it is not a TTY.
+
- correct a typo in configure
--with-bool option for the
+ case where --without-cxx is used.
- - 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.
+ - 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 logic of acsc to use the original character if no mapping is
- defined, rather than a null.
+
- modify
werase to clear multicolumn characters that
+ extend into a derived window.
- - 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:
-
- - null-terminate buffer passed to setcchar(), which occasionally
- failed.
-
- 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.
+
- 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:
@@ -242,98 +256,112 @@ Portability:
- 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.
+
+
- --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".
+
-
- - fixes/improvements for cross-compiling:
-
-
- - allow BUILD_CC and related configure script variables to be
- overridden from the environment.
-
- use AC_CHECK_TOOL to get proper values for AR and LD for cross
- compiling.
-
- 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.
- - modify run_tic.in to avoid using wrong shared libraries when
- cross-compiling.
-
-
- - fixes for Mac OS X:
-
- - fix a redefinition of
$RANLIB in the configure
- script when libtool is used.
- - 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:
-
- - 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.
- - modify configure script to omit -Winline for gcc 3.3, since
- that feature is broken.
-
- several script fixes to work around the ironically named
- POSIXLY_CORRECT feature of GNU sed 4.0.
-
- modify configure script to avoid using "head -1", which does
- not work if POSIXLY_CORRECT (sic) is set.
-
- 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.
-
- 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.
-
+
+ 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
@@ -362,14 +390,15 @@ 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
+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
their data.
@@ -381,7 +410,7 @@ 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.
+
- 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.
@@ -498,7 +527,8 @@ as well as some that use ncurses for the terminfo support alone:
- minicom
- terminal emulator
-http://www.netsonic.fi/~walker/minicom.html
+
+http://alioth.debian.org/projects/minicom/
- vile
- vi-like-emacs
@@ -548,10 +578,11 @@ on them, please join the ncurses list.
Other Related Resources
The distribution provides a newer version of the terminfo-format
-terminal description file maintained by
+terminal description file once maintained by
Eric Raymond .
Unlike the older version, the termcap and terminfo data are provided
-in the same file.
+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