-The ncurses (new curses) library is a freeware emulation of System V
-Release 4.0 curses. It uses terminfo format, supports pads and color
+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 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 Linux. It should port easily to
-any ANSI/POSIX-conforming UNIX. It has even been ported to OS/2 Warp!
+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),
@@ -31,24 +63,321 @@ the library and tools.
-The ncurses package is fully compatible with SVr4 (System V Release 4) curses:
+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 <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:
+
+
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
+
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
+
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
+
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.
@@ -56,21 +385,20 @@ are bit-for-bit-compatible with the entry format SVr4 curses uses.
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 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
+specification, XSI curses (that is, it implements all BASE 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 SVr4 curses, ncurses can write to the rightmost-bottommost corner
+
Unlike SVr3 curses, ncurses can write to the rightmost-bottommost corner
of the screen if your terminal has an insert-character capability.
-
(PC-clone boxes only) Support for access to the IBM PC ROM characters
-0-32 through the highlight A_ALTCHARSET.
Ada95 and C++ bindings.
-
Support for mouse event reporting under xterm.
+
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.
@@ -82,7 +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.
@@ -98,7 +426,7 @@ after the end would step on a non-space character. It will
automatically shift highlight boundaries when doing so would make it
possible to draw the highlight without changing the visual appearance
of the screen.
-
It is possible to generate the library with a list of pre-loaded
+
It is possible to generate the library with a list of pre-loaded
fallback entries linked to it so that it can serve those terminal 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).
@@ -111,7 +439,7 @@ entries from $HOME/.terminfo if it exists, and compile to that directory
if it exists and the user has no write access to the system directory.
This feature makes it easier for users to have personal terminfo entries
without giving up access to the system terminfo directory.
-
You may specify a path of directories to search for compiled
+
You may specify a path of directories to search for compiled
descriptions with the environment variable TERMINFO_DIRS (this
generalizes the feature provided by TERMINFO under stock System V.)
In terminfo source files, use capabilities may refer not just to
@@ -139,45 +467,72 @@ a narrative introduction to the curses programming interface.
State of the Package
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
+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 code has been tested with a wide variety of applications
-including:
-The original developers of ncurses are Zeyd Ben-Halim and
-Eric S. Raymond.
+Zeyd Ben-Halim
+started it from a previous package pcurses, written by Pavel Curtis.
+Eric S. Raymond
+continued development.
+Jürgen Pfeifer wrote most of the form and menu libraries.
Ongoing work is being done by
-Thomas Dickey
-and
-Jürgen Pfeifer.
-Florian La Roche
-acts as the maintainer for the Free Software Foundation, which holds the
-copyright on ncurses.
+Thomas Dickey.
+Thomas Dickey
+acts as the maintainer for the Free Software Foundation,
+which holds the copyright on ncurses.
Contact the current maintainers at
bug-ncurses@gnu.org.
@@ -210,29 +565,32 @@ This list is open to anyone interested in helping with the development and
testing of this package.
Extended-level XPG4 conformance, with internationalization support.
Ports to more systems, including DOS and Windows.
-We need people to help with these projects. If you are interested in working
+We need people to help with these projects. If you are interested in working
on them, please join the ncurses list.
Other Related Resources
-The distribution includes and uses a version of the terminfo-format
-terminal description file maintained by Eric Raymond.
-http://earthspace.net/~esr/terminfo.
+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, 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
Richard Shuford's
-archive.
+archive .
-