X-Git-Url: https://ncurses.scripts.mit.edu/?p=ncurses.git;a=blobdiff_plain;f=doc%2Fhtml%2Fman%2Fncurses.3x.html;h=bda5c0ccd28e723041dc734a06c8b08fdb972581;hp=ddf5d2a05e5f2864829726d6771e60aad28027ad;hb=c0f109a299a82a33c16bd7af942a12ce9aefaaf0;hpb=84cf9f63bf604413fa5714ef91f83076ac8f236b;ds=inline
diff --git a/doc/html/man/ncurses.3x.html b/doc/html/man/ncurses.3x.html
index ddf5d2a0..bda5c0cc 100644
--- a/doc/html/man/ncurses.3x.html
+++ b/doc/html/man/ncurses.3x.html
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@
* sale, use or other dealings in this Software without prior written *
* authorization. *
****************************************************************************
- * @Id: ncurses.3x,v 1.144 2020/02/02 23:34:34 tom Exp @
+ * @Id: ncurses.3x,v 1.146 2020/03/14 23:13:18 tom Exp @
-->
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@
method of updating character screens with reasonable optimization.
This implementation is "new curses" (ncurses) and is the approved
replacement for 4.4BSD classic curses, which has been discontinued.
- This describes ncurses version 6.2 (patch 20200215).
+ This describes ncurses version 6.2 (patch 20200314).
The ncurses library emulates the curses library of System V Release 4
UNIX, and XPG4 (X/Open Portability Guide) curses (also known as XSI
@@ -1277,28 +1277,37 @@
between the XSI Curses and ncurses calls) are described in PORTABILITY
sections of the library man pages.
+
+
+ In many cases, X/Open Curses is vague about error conditions, omitting
+ some of the SVr4 documentation.
+
Unlike other implementations, this one checks parameters such as point-
- ers to WINDOW structures to ensure they are not null. The main reason
- for providing this behavior is to guard against programmer error. The
- standard interface does not provide a way for the library to tell an
+ ers to WINDOW structures to ensure they are not null. The main reason
+ for providing this behavior is to guard against programmer error. The
+ standard interface does not provide a way for the library to tell an
application which of several possible errors were detected. Relying on
this (or some other) extension will adversely affect the portability of
curses applications.
- This implementation also contains several extensions:
+
+
+ Most of the extensions provided by ncurses have not been standardized.
+ Some have been incorporated into other implementations, such as
+ PDCurses or NetBSD curses. Here are a few to consider:
o The routine has_key is not part of XPG4, nor is it present in SVr4.
See the curs_getch(3x) manual page for details.
- o The routine slk_attr is not part of XPG4, nor is it present in
+ o The routine slk_attr is not part of XPG4, nor is it present in
SVr4. See the curs_slk(3x) manual page for details.
- o The routines getmouse, mousemask, ungetmouse, mouseinterval, and
- wenclose relating to mouse interfacing are not part of XPG4, nor
- are they present in SVr4. See the curs_mouse(3x) manual page for
+ o The routines getmouse, mousemask, ungetmouse, mouseinterval, and
+ wenclose relating to mouse interfacing are not part of XPG4, nor
+ are they present in SVr4. See the curs_mouse(3x) manual page for
details.
- o The routine mcprint was not present in any previous curses imple-
+ o The routine mcprint was not present in any previous curses imple-
mentation. See the curs_print(3x) manual page for details.
o The routine wresize is not part of XPG4, nor is it present in SVr4.
@@ -1308,28 +1317,118 @@
tion programs. See curs_opaque(3x) for the discussion of is_scrol-
lok, etc.
- o This implementation can be configured to provide rudimentary sup-
- port for multi-threaded applications. See curs_threads(3x) for
+ o This implementation can be configured to provide rudimentary sup-
+ port for multi-threaded applications. See curs_threads(3x) for
details.
- o This implementation can also be configured to provide a set of
- functions which improve the ability to manage multiple screens.
+ o This implementation can also be configured to provide a set of
+ functions which improve the ability to manage multiple screens.
See curs_sp_funcs(3x) for details.
- In historic curses versions, delays embedded in the capabilities cr,
- ind, cub1, ff and tab activated corresponding delay bits in the UNIX
+
+
+ In historic curses versions, delays embedded in the capabilities cr,
+ ind, cub1, ff and tab activated corresponding delay bits in the UNIX
tty driver. In this implementation, all padding is done by sending NUL
- bytes. This method is slightly more expensive, but narrows the inter-
- face to the UNIX kernel significantly and increases the package's
+ bytes. This method is slightly more expensive, but narrows the inter-
+ face to the UNIX kernel significantly and increases the package's
portability correspondingly.
-
- The header file <curses.h> automatically includes the header files
+
+ The header file <curses.h> automatically includes the header files
<stdio.h> and <unctrl.h>.
- If standard output from a ncurses program is re-directed to something
- which is not a tty, screen updates will be directed to standard error.
+ X/Open Curses has more to say, but does not finish the story:
+
+ The inclusion of <curses.h> may make visible all symbols from the
+ headers <stdio.h>, <term.h>, <termios.h>, and <wchar.h>.
+
+ Here is a more complete story:
+
+ o Starting with BSD curses, all implementations have included
+ <stdio.h>.
+
+ BSD curses included <curses.h> and <unctrl.h> from an internal
+ header "curses.ext" ("ext" was a short name for externs).
+
+ BSD curses used <stdio.h> internally (for printw and scanw), but
+ nothing in <curses.h> itself relied upon <stdio.h>.
+
+ o SVr2 curses added newterm(3x), which relies upon <stdio.h>. That
+ is, the function prototype uses FILE.
+
+ SVr4 curses added putwin and getwin, which also use <stdio.h>.
+
+ X/Open Curses documents all three of these functions.
+
+ SVr4 curses and X/Open Curses do not require the developer to
+ include <stdio.h> before including <curses.h>. Both document
+ curses showing <curses.h> as the only required header.
+
+ As a result, standard <curses.h> will always include <stdio.h>.
+
+ o X/Open Curses is inconsistent with respect to SVr4 regarding <unc-
+ trl.h>.
+
+ As noted in curs_util(3x), ncurses includes <unctrl.h> from
+ <curses.h> (like SVr4).
+
+ o X/Open's comments about <term.h> and <termios.h> may refer to HP-UX
+ and AIX:
+
+ HP-UX curses includes <term.h> from <curses.h> to declare setupterm
+ in curses.h, but ncurses (and Solaris curses) do not.
+
+ AIX curses includes <term.h> and <termios.h>. Again, ncurses (and
+ Solaris curses) do not.
+
+ o X/Open says that <curses.h> may include <term.h>, but there is no
+ requirement that it do that.
+
+ Some programs use functions declared in both <curses.h> and
+ <term.h>, and must include both headers in the same module. Very
+ old versions of AIX curses required including <curses.h> before
+ including <term.h>.
+
+ Because ncurses header files include the headers needed to define
+ datatypes used in the headers, ncurses header files can be included
+ in any order. But for portability, you should include <curses.h>
+ before <term.h>.
+
+ o X/Open Curses says "may make visible" because including a header
+ file does not necessarily make all symbols in it visible (there are
+ ifdef's to consider).
+
+ For instance, in ncurses <wchar.h> may be included if the proper
+ symbol is defined, and if ncurses is configured for wide-character
+ support. If the header is included, its symbols may be made visi-
+ ble. That depends on the value used for _XOPEN_SOURCE feature test
+ macro.
+
+ o X/Open Curses documents one required header, in a special case:
+ <stdarg.h> before <curses.h> to prototype the vw_printw and
+ vw_scanw functions (as well as the obsolete the vwprintw and vws-
+ canw functions). Each of those uses a va_list parameter.
+
+ The two obsolete functions were introduced in SVr3. The other
+ functions were introduced in X/Open Curses. In between, SVr4
+ curses provided for the possibility that an application might
+ include either <varargs.h> or <stdarg.h>. Initially, that was done
+ by using void* for the va_list parameter. Later, a special type
+ (defined in <stdio.h>) was introduced, to allow for compiler type-
+ checking. That special type is always available, because <stdio.h>
+ is always included by <curses.h>.
+
+ None of the X/Open Curses implementations require an application to
+ include <stdarg.h> before <curses.h> because they either have
+ allowed for a special type, or (like ncurses) include <stdarg.h>
+ directly to provide a portable interface.
+
+
+
+ If standard output from a ncurses program is re-directed to something
+ which is not a tty, screen updates will be directed to standard error.
This was an undocumented feature of AT&T System V Release 3 curses.
@@ -1384,7 +1483,14 @@
FILES
SEE ALSO
EXTENSIONS
-PORTABILITY
+PORTABILITY
+
+
NOTES
AUTHORS