-
-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.
-
-This release is designed to be upward compatible from ncurses 5.0 through 5.6;
-very few applications will require recompilation, depending on the platform.
-These are the highlights from the change-log since ncurses 5.6 release.
-
-Interface changes:
-
-
generate linkable stubs for some macros:
-
- getattrs
-
-
-New features and improvements:
-
-
library
-
-
new flavor of the ncurses library provides rudimentary
- support for POSIX threads. Several functions are
- reentrant, but most require either a window-level or
- screen-level mutex.
- (This is API-compatible,
- but not ABI-compatible with the normal library).
-
-
add NCURSES_OPAQUE symbol to curses.h, will
- use to make structs opaque in selected configurations.
-
-
add NCURSES_EXT_FUNCS and
- NCURSES_EXT_COLORS symbols to curses.h to make
- it simpler to tell if the extended functions and/or colors
- are declared.
-
-
add wresize() to C++ binding
-
-
eliminate fixed-buffer vsprintf() calls in C++ binding.
-
-
add several functions to C++ binding which wrap C functions
- that pass a WINDOW* parameter.
-
-
adapt mouse-handling code from menu library in form-library
-
-
improve tracing for form library, showing created forms,
- fields, etc.
-
-
make $NCURSES_NO_PADDING feature work for termcap interface .
-
-
add check to trace-file open, if the given name is a
- directory, add ".log" to the name and try again.
-
-
several new manpages: curs_legacy.3x, curs_memleaks.3x,
- curs_opaque.3x and curs_threads.3x
-
-
-
programs:
-
-
modified three test-programs to demonstrate the threading
- support in this version: ditto, rain, worm.
-
-
several new test-programs: demo_panels, dots_mvcur,
- inch_wide, inchs, key_name, key_names, savescreen,
- savescreen.sh test_arrays, test_get_wstr, test_getstr,
- test_instr, test_inwstr and test_opaque.
-
-
add adacurses-config to the Ada95 install.
-
-
modify tic -f option to format spaces as
- \s to prevent them from being lost when that
- is read back in unformatted strings.
-
-
The tack program is now distributed separately
- from ncurses.
-
-
-
terminal database
-
-
added entries:
-
-
Eterm-256color,
- Eterm-88color and
- rxvt-88color
-
aterm
-
konsole-256color
-
mrxvt
-
screen.mlterm
-
screen.rxvt
-
teraterm4.59 is now the primary primary
- teraterm entry, renamed original to
- teraterm2.3
-
9term terminal
-
Newbury Data entries
-
-
updated/improved entries:
-
-
gnome to version 2.22.3
-
h19, z100
-
konsole to version 1.6.6
-
mlterm, mlterm+pcfkeys
-
xterm, and building-blocks for function-keys
- to xterm patch #230.
-
-
-
-Major bug fixes:
-
-
add logic to tic for cancelling strings in user-defined
- capabilities
- (this is needed for
- current konsole terminfo entry).
-
-
modify mk-1st.awk so the generated makefile rules for
- linking or installing shared libraries do not first remove the
- library, in case it is in use, e.g., libncurses.so by
- /bin/sh.
-
-
correct check for notimeout() in wgetch().
-
-
fix a sign-extension bug in infocmp's repair_acsc() function.
-
-
change winnstr() to stop at the end of the line.
-
-
make Ada95 demo_panels() example work.
-
-
fix for adding a non-spacing character at the beginning of a line.
-
-
fill in extended-color pair to make colors work
- for wide-characters using extended-colors.
-
-
improve refresh of window on top of multi-column characters,
- taking into account split characters on left/right window
- boundaries.
-
-
modify win_wchnstr() to ensure that only a base cell
- is returned for each multi-column character.
-
-
improve waddch() and winsch() handling of
- EILSEQ from mbrtowc() by using unctrl()
- to display illegal bytes rather than trying to append further bytes
- to make up a valid sequence.
-
-
restore curs_set() state after
- endwin()/refresh()
-
-
modify keyname() to use "^X" form only if
- meta() has been called, or if keyname()
- is called without initializing curses, e.g., via
- initscr() or newterm().
-
-
modify unctrl() to check codes in 128-255 range versus
- isprint().
- If they are not printable, and locale was set, use a "M-" or "~"
- sequence.
-
-
improve resizeterm() by moving ripped-off lines, and
- repainting the soft-keys.
-
-
modify form library to accept control characters such as newline
- in set_field_buffer(), which is compatible with Solaris.
-
-
use NCURSES_MOUSE_MASK() in definition of
- BUTTON_RELEASE(), etc., to make those work properly
- with the --enable-ext-mouse configuration
-
-
correct some functions in Ada95 binding which were using return
- value from C where none was returned.
-
-
reviewed/fixed issues reported by Coverity and Klocwork tools.
-
-
-Portability:
-
-
configure script:
-
-
new options:
-
-
-
--disable-big-strings
-
control whether static string tables are generated as single
- large strings (to improve startup performance), or as array
- of individual strings.
-
-
--disable-relink
-
control whether shared libraries are relinked (during install)
- when rpath is enabled.
-
-
--disable-tic-depends
-
make explicit whether tic library depends on ncurses/ncursesw
- library.
-
-
--enable-mixed-case
-
override the configure script's check if the filesystem
- supports mixed-case filenames.
- This allows one to control how the terminal database
- maps to the filesystem.
- For filesystems that do not support mixed-case, the library
- uses generate 2-character (hexadecimal) codes for the
- lower-level of the filesystem terminfo database
-
-
--enable-reentrant
-
builds a different flavor of the ncurses library (ncursest)
- which improves reentrant use of the
- library by reducing global and static variables
- (see the "--with-pthread" option for the threaded support).
-
-
--enable-weak-symbols
-
use weak-symbols for linking to the POSIX thread library,
- and use the same soname for the ncurses shared library
- as the normal library (caveat: the ABI is for the threaded
- library, which makes global data accessed via functions).
-
-
--with-pthread
-
build with the POSIX thread library (tested with AIX,
- Linux, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, HPUX, IRIX64, Solaris, Tru64).
-
-
--with-ticlib
-
build/install the tic-support functions in a separate library
-
-
-
-
improved options:
-
-
-
--enable-ext-colors
-
requires the wide-character configuration.
-
-
--with-chtype
-
ignore option value "unsigned" is always added to
- the type in curses.h; do the same for --with-mmask-t.
-
-
--with-dmalloc
-
build-fix for redefinition of strndup.
-
-
--with-hashed-db
-
accepts a parameter which is the install-prefix of a given
- Berkeley Database.
-
-
--with-hashed-db
-
the $LIBS environment variable overrides the search for the db
- library.
-
-
--without-hashed-db
-
assumed when "--disable-database" is used.
-
-
-
-
-
-
other configure/build issues:
-
-
build-fixes for LynxOS
-
modify shared-library rules to allow FreeBSD 3.x to use rpath.
-
build-fix for FreeBSD "contemporary" TTY interface.
-
build-fixes for AIX with libtool.
-
build-fixes for Darwin and libtool.
-
modify BeOS-specific ifdef's to build on Haiku.
-
corrected gcc options for building shared libraries on Solaris
- and IRIX64.
-
change shared-library configuration for OpenBSD, make rpath work.
-
build-fixes for using libutf8, e.g., on OpenBSD 3.7
-
add "-e" option in ncurses/Makefile.in when generating source-files
- to force earlier exit if the build environment fails unexpectedly.
-
add support for shared libraries for QNX.
-
change delimiter in MKlib_gen.sh from '%' to '@', to
- avoid substitution by IBM xlc to '#' as part of its extensions to
- digraphs.
-
-
-
library:
-
-
rewrite wrapper for wcrtomb(), making it work on
- Solaris. This is used in the form library to determine the length
- of the buffer needed by field_buffer.
-
add/use configure script macro CF_SIG_ATOMIC_T, use the corresponding
- type for data manipulated by signal handlers.
-
set locale in misc/ncurses-config.in since it uses a range
-
disable GPM mouse support when $TERM does not happen to contain
- "linux", since Gpm_Open() no longer limits its assertion to terminals
- that it might handle, e.g., within "screen" in xterm.
-
reset mouse file-descriptor when unloading GPM library.
-
-
-
test programs:
-
-
update test programs to build/work with various UNIX curses for
- comparisons.
-
-
-
-
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
-a stack of windows with backing store, is included.
-
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
-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.
-
The utilities have options to allow you to filter terminfo
-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 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,
-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 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.
-
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 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.
-
Super hardware scrolling support. The screen-update code 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.
-
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 beginning and
-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
-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).
-
The tic(1)/captoinfo utility provided with ncurses has the
-ability to translate many termcaps from the XENIX, IBM and
-AT&T extension sets.
-
A BSD-like tset(1) utility is provided.
-
The ncurses library and utilities will automatically read terminfo
-entries from $HOME/.terminfo if it exists, and compile to that directory
-if it exists and the user has no write access to the system directory.
-This feature makes it easier for users to have personal terminfo entries
-without giving up access to the system terminfo directory.
-
You may specify a path of directories to search for compiled
-descriptions with the environment variable TERMINFO_DIRS (this
-generalizes the feature provided by TERMINFO under stock System V.)
-
In terminfo source files, use capabilities may refer not just to
-other entries in the same source file (as in System V) but also to
-compiled entries in either the system terminfo directory or the user's
-$HOME/.terminfo directory.
-
A script (capconvert) is provided to help BSD users
-transition from termcap to terminfo. It gathers the information in a
-TERMCAP environment variable and/or a ~/.termcap local entries file
-and converts it to an equivalent local terminfo tree under $HOME/.terminfo.
-
Automatic fallback to the /etc/termcap file can be compiled in
-when it is not possible to build a terminfo tree. This feature is neither
-fast nor cheap, you don't want to use it unless you have to,
-but it's there.
-
The table-of-entries utility toe makes it easy for users to
-see exactly what terminal types are available on the system.
-
The library meets the XSI requirement that every macro entry
-point have a corresponding function which may be linked (and will be
-prototype-checked) if the macro definition is disabled with
-#undef.
-
An HTML "Introduction to Programming with NCURSES" document provides
-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
-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 (versions starting with those noted):
-
-
-The ncurses distribution includes a selection of test programs (including
-a few games).
-
-
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 wrote most of the form and menu libraries.
-Ongoing work is being done by
-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.
-
-
-To join the ncurses mailing list, please write email to
-bug-ncurses-request@gnu.org containing the line:
-
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.
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 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 here.
+
+
+
additional improvements were made for portability of the
+ ncurses examples, adding rpm- and dpkg-scripts for test-builds.
+ See this
+ page for snapshots and other information.
+
+
+
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 a stack
+ of windows with backing store, is included.
+
+
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 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.
+
+
The utilities have options to allow you to filter terminfo
+ 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 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, 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
+ 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.
+
+
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 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.
+
+
Super hardware scrolling support. The screen-update code
+ 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.
+
+
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
+ beginning and 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 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).
+
+
The tic(1)/captoinfo utility provided with ncurses has the
+ ability to translate many termcaps from the XENIX, IBM and
+ AT&T extension sets.
+
+
A BSD-like tset(1) utility is provided.
+
+
The ncurses library and utilities will automatically read
+ terminfo 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 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 other entries in the same source file (as in System V)
+ but also to compiled entries in either the system terminfo
+ directory or the user's $HOME/.terminfo directory.
+
+
A script (capconvert) is provided to help
+ BSD users transition from termcap to terminfo. It gathers the
+ information in a TERMCAP environment variable and/or a
+ ~/.termcap local entries file and converts it to an equivalent
+ local terminfo tree under $HOME/.terminfo.
+
+
Automatic fallback to the /etc/termcap file can be compiled
+ in when it is not possible to build a terminfo tree. This
+ feature is neither fast nor cheap, you don't want to use it
+ unless you have to, but it's there.
+
+
The table-of-entries utility toe makes it
+ easy for users to see exactly what terminal types are available
+ on the system.
+
+
The library meets the XSI requirement that every macro
+ entry point have a corresponding function which may be linked
+ (and will be prototype-checked) if the macro definition is
+ disabled with #undef.
+
+
An HTML "Introduction to Programming with NCURSES" document
+ provides 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 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 (versions starting with those noted):
The ncurses distribution includes a selection of test programs
+ (including a few games).
+
+
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 wrote most of the form and menu libraries.
+ Ongoing work is being done by 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.
+
+
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.
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
-on them, please join the ncurses list.
-
-
Other Related 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, 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 .
-
-
+
+
+
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 on them, please join the ncurses list.
+
+
Other Related 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, 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 .