ANNOUNCE revision 184989
1114878Sjulian Announcing ncurses 5.7 2114878Sjulian 3114878Sjulian The ncurses (new curses) library is a free software emulation of 4114878Sjulian curses in System V Release 4.0, and more. It uses terminfo format, 5114878Sjulian supports pads and color and multiple highlights and forms characters 6114878Sjulian and function-key mapping, and has all the other SYSV-curses 7114878Sjulian enhancements over BSD curses. 8114878Sjulian 9114878Sjulian In mid-June 1995, the maintainer of 4.4BSD curses declared that he 10114878Sjulian considered 4.4BSD curses obsolete, and encouraged the keepers of Unix 11114878Sjulian releases such as BSD/OS, FreeBSD and NetBSD to switch over to ncurses. 12114878Sjulian 13114878Sjulian The ncurses code was developed under GNU/Linux. It has been in use for 14114878Sjulian some time with OpenBSD as the system curses library, and on FreeBSD 15114878Sjulian and NetBSD as an external package. It should port easily to any 16114878Sjulian ANSI/POSIX-conforming UNIX. It has even been ported to OS/2 Warp! 17114878Sjulian 18 The distribution includes the library and support utilities, including 19 a terminfo compiler tic(1), a decompiler infocmp(1), clear(1), 20 tput(1), tset(1), and a termcap conversion tool captoinfo(1). Full 21 manual pages are provided for the library and tools. 22 23 The ncurses distribution is available via anonymous FTP at the GNU 24 distribution site [1]ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/ncurses/ . 25 It is also available at [2]ftp://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ . 26 27 Release Notes 28 29 This release is designed to be upward compatible from ncurses 5.0 30 through 5.6; very few applications will require recompilation, 31 depending on the platform. These are the highlights from the 32 change-log since ncurses 5.6 release. 33 34 Interface changes: 35 * generate linkable stubs for some macros: 36 getattrs 37 38 New features and improvements: 39 * library 40 + new flavor of the ncurses library provides rudimentary 41 support for POSIX threads. Several functions are reentrant, 42 but most require either a window-level or screen-level mutex. 43 (This is API-compatible, but not ABI-compatible with the 44 normal library). 45 + add NCURSES_OPAQUE symbol to curses.h, will use to make 46 structs opaque in selected configurations. 47 + add NCURSES_EXT_FUNCS and NCURSES_EXT_COLORS symbols to 48 curses.h to make it simpler to tell if the extended functions 49 and/or colors are declared. 50 + add wresize() to C++ binding 51 + eliminate fixed-buffer vsprintf() calls in C++ binding. 52 + add several functions to C++ binding which wrap C functions 53 that pass a WINDOW* parameter. 54 + adapt mouse-handling code from menu library in form-library 55 + improve tracing for form library, showing created forms, 56 fields, etc. 57 + make $NCURSES_NO_PADDING feature work for termcap interface . 58 + add check to trace-file open, if the given name is a 59 directory, add ".log" to the name and try again. 60 + several new manpages: curs_legacy.3x, curs_memleaks.3x, 61 curs_opaque.3x and curs_threads.3x 62 * programs: 63 + modified three test-programs to demonstrate the threading 64 support in this version: ditto, rain, worm. 65 + several new test-programs: demo_panels, dots_mvcur, 66 inch_wide, inchs, key_name, key_names, savescreen, 67 savescreen.sh test_arrays, test_get_wstr, test_getstr, 68 test_instr, test_inwstr and test_opaque. 69 + add adacurses-config to the Ada95 install. 70 + modify tic -f option to format spaces as \s to prevent them 71 from being lost when that is read back in unformatted 72 strings. 73 + The tack program is now distributed separately from ncurses. 74 * terminal database 75 + added entries: 76 o Eterm-256color, Eterm-88color and rxvt-88color 77 o aterm 78 o konsole-256color 79 o mrxvt 80 o screen.mlterm 81 o screen.rxvt 82 o teraterm4.59 is now the primary primary teraterm entry, 83 renamed original to teraterm2.3 84 o 9term terminal 85 o Newbury Data entries 86 + updated/improved entries: 87 o gnome to version 2.22.3 88 o h19, z100 89 o konsole to version 1.6.6 90 o mlterm, mlterm+pcfkeys 91 o xterm, and building-blocks for function-keys to [3]xterm 92 patch #230. 93 94 Major bug fixes: 95 * add logic to tic for cancelling strings in user-defined 96 capabilities (this is needed for current konsole terminfo entry). 97 * modify mk-1st.awk so the generated makefile rules for linking or 98 installing shared libraries do not first remove the library, in 99 case it is in use, e.g., libncurses.so by /bin/sh. 100 * correct check for notimeout() in wgetch(). 101 * fix a sign-extension bug in infocmp's repair_acsc() function. 102 * change winnstr() to stop at the end of the line. 103 * make Ada95 demo_panels() example work. 104 * fix for adding a non-spacing character at the beginning of a line. 105 * fill in extended-color pair to make colors work for 106 wide-characters using extended-colors. 107 * improve refresh of window on top of multi-column characters, 108 taking into account split characters on left/right window 109 boundaries. 110 * modify win_wchnstr() to ensure that only a base cell is returned 111 for each multi-column character. 112 * improve waddch() and winsch() handling of EILSEQ from mbrtowc() by 113 using unctrl() to display illegal bytes rather than trying to 114 append further bytes to make up a valid sequence. 115 * restore curs_set() state after endwin()/refresh() 116 * modify keyname() to use "^X" form only if meta() has been called, 117 or if keyname() is called without initializing curses, e.g., via 118 initscr() or newterm(). 119 * modify unctrl() to check codes in 128-255 range versus isprint(). 120 If they are not printable, and locale was set, use a "M-" or "~" 121 sequence. 122 * improve resizeterm() by moving ripped-off lines, and repainting 123 the soft-keys. 124 * modify form library to accept control characters such as newline 125 in set_field_buffer(), which is compatible with Solaris. 126 * use NCURSES_MOUSE_MASK() in definition of BUTTON_RELEASE(), etc., 127 to make those work properly with the --enable-ext-mouse 128 configuration 129 * correct some functions in Ada95 binding which were using return 130 value from C where none was returned. 131 * reviewed/fixed issues reported by Coverity and Klocwork tools. 132 133 Portability: 134 * configure script: 135 + new options: 136 137 --disable-big-strings 138 control whether static string tables are generated 139 as single large strings (to improve startup 140 performance), or as array of individual strings. 141 142 --disable-relink 143 control whether shared libraries are relinked 144 (during install) when rpath is enabled. 145 146 --disable-tic-depends 147 make explicit whether tic library depends on 148 ncurses/ncursesw library. 149 150 --enable-mixed-case 151 override the configure script's check if the 152 filesystem supports mixed-case filenames. This 153 allows one to control how the terminal database 154 maps to the filesystem. For filesystems that do not 155 support mixed-case, the library uses generate 156 2-character (hexadecimal) codes for the lower-level 157 of the filesystem terminfo database 158 159 --enable-reentrant 160 builds a different flavor of the ncurses library 161 (ncursest) which improves reentrant use of the 162 library by reducing global and static variables 163 (see the "--with-pthread" option for the threaded 164 support). 165 166 --enable-weak-symbols 167 use weak-symbols for linking to the POSIX thread 168 library, and use the same soname for the ncurses 169 shared library as the normal library (caveat: the 170 ABI is for the threaded library, which makes global 171 data accessed via functions). 172 173 --with-pthread 174 build with the POSIX thread library (tested with 175 AIX, Linux, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, HPUX, IRIX64, 176 Solaris, Tru64). 177 178 --with-ticlib 179 build/install the tic-support functions in a 180 separate library 181 182 + improved options: 183 184 --enable-ext-colors 185 requires the wide-character configuration. 186 187 --with-chtype 188 ignore option value "unsigned" is always added to 189 the type in curses.h; do the same for 190 --with-mmask-t. 191 192 --with-dmalloc 193 build-fix for redefinition of strndup. 194 195 --with-hashed-db 196 accepts a parameter which is the install-prefix of 197 a given Berkeley Database. 198 199 --with-hashed-db 200 the $LIBS environment variable overrides the search 201 for the db library. 202 203 --without-hashed-db 204 assumed when "--disable-database" is used. 205 206 * other configure/build issues: 207 + build-fixes for LynxOS 208 + modify shared-library rules to allow FreeBSD 3.x to use 209 rpath. 210 + build-fix for FreeBSD "contemporary" TTY interface. 211 + build-fixes for AIX with libtool. 212 + build-fixes for Darwin and libtool. 213 + modify BeOS-specific ifdef's to build on Haiku. 214 + corrected gcc options for building shared libraries on 215 Solaris and IRIX64. 216 + change shared-library configuration for OpenBSD, make rpath 217 work. 218 + build-fixes for using libutf8, e.g., on OpenBSD 3.7 219 + add "-e" option in ncurses/Makefile.in when generating 220 source-files to force earlier exit if the build environment 221 fails unexpectedly. 222 + add support for shared libraries for QNX. 223 + change delimiter in MKlib_gen.sh from '%' to '@', to avoid 224 substitution by IBM xlc to '#' as part of its extensions to 225 digraphs. 226 * library: 227 + rewrite wrapper for wcrtomb(), making it work on Solaris. 228 This is used in the form library to determine the length of 229 the buffer needed by field_buffer. 230 + add/use configure script macro CF_SIG_ATOMIC_T, use the 231 corresponding type for data manipulated by signal handlers. 232 + set locale in misc/ncurses-config.in since it uses a range 233 + disable GPM mouse support when $TERM does not happen to 234 contain "linux", since Gpm_Open() no longer limits its 235 assertion to terminals that it might handle, e.g., within 236 "screen" in xterm. 237 + reset mouse file-descriptor when unloading GPM library. 238 * test programs: 239 + update test programs to build/work with various UNIX curses 240 for comparisons. 241 242 Features of Ncurses 243 244 The ncurses package is fully compatible with SVr4 (System V Release 4) 245 curses: 246 * All 257 of the SVr4 calls have been implemented (and are 247 documented). 248 * Full support for SVr4 curses features including keyboard mapping, 249 color, forms-drawing with ACS characters, and automatic 250 recognition of keypad and function keys. 251 * An emulation of the SVr4 panels library, supporting a stack of 252 windows with backing store, is included. 253 * An emulation of the SVr4 menus library, supporting a uniform but 254 flexible interface for menu programming, is included. 255 * An emulation of the SVr4 form library, supporting data collection 256 through on-screen forms, is included. 257 * Binary terminfo entries generated by the ncurses tic(1) 258 implementation are bit-for-bit-compatible with the entry format 259 SVr4 curses uses. 260 * The utilities have options to allow you to filter terminfo entries 261 for use with less capable curses/terminfo versions such as the 262 HP/UX and AIX ports. 263 264 The ncurses package also has many useful extensions over SVr4: 265 * The API is 8-bit clean and base-level conformant with the X/OPEN 266 curses specification, XSI curses (that is, it implements all BASE 267 level features, and most EXTENDED features). It includes many 268 function calls not supported under SVr4 curses (but portability of 269 all calls is documented so you can use the SVr4 subset only). 270 * Unlike SVr3 curses, ncurses can write to the rightmost-bottommost 271 corner of the screen if your terminal has an insert-character 272 capability. 273 * Ada95 and C++ bindings. 274 * Support for mouse event reporting with X Window xterm and FreeBSD 275 and OS/2 console windows. 276 * Extended mouse support via Alessandro Rubini's gpm package. 277 * The function wresize() allows you to resize windows, preserving 278 their data. 279 * The function use_default_colors() allows you to use the terminal's 280 default colors for the default color pair, achieving the effect of 281 transparent colors. 282 * The functions keyok() and define_key() allow you to better control 283 the use of function keys, e.g., disabling the ncurses KEY_MOUSE, 284 or by defining more than one control sequence to map to a given 285 key code. 286 * Support for 256-color terminals, such as modern xterm, when 287 configured using the --enable-ext-colors option. 288 * Support for 16-color terminals, such as aixterm and modern xterm. 289 * Better cursor-movement optimization. The package now features a 290 cursor-local-movement computation more efficient than either BSD's 291 or System V's. 292 * Super hardware scrolling support. The screen-update code 293 incorporates a novel, simple, and cheap algorithm that enables it 294 to make optimal use of hardware scrolling, line-insertion, and 295 line-deletion for screen-line movements. This algorithm is more 296 powerful than the 4.4BSD curses quickch() routine. 297 * Real support for terminals with the magic-cookie glitch. The 298 screen-update code will refrain from drawing a highlight if the 299 magic- cookie unattributed spaces required just before the 300 beginning and after the end would step on a non-space character. 301 It will automatically shift highlight boundaries when doing so 302 would make it possible to draw the highlight without changing the 303 visual appearance of the screen. 304 * It is possible to generate the library with a list of pre-loaded 305 fallback entries linked to it so that it can serve those terminal 306 types even when no terminfo tree or termcap file is accessible 307 (this may be useful for support of screen-oriented programs that 308 must run in single-user mode). 309 * The tic(1)/captoinfo utility provided with ncurses has the ability 310 to translate many termcaps from the XENIX, IBM and AT&T extension 311 sets. 312 * A BSD-like tset(1) utility is provided. 313 * The ncurses library and utilities will automatically read terminfo 314 entries from $HOME/.terminfo if it exists, and compile to that 315 directory if it exists and the user has no write access to the 316 system directory. This feature makes it easier for users to have 317 personal terminfo entries without giving up access to the system 318 terminfo directory. 319 * You may specify a path of directories to search for compiled 320 descriptions with the environment variable TERMINFO_DIRS (this 321 generalizes the feature provided by TERMINFO under stock System 322 V.) 323 * In terminfo source files, use capabilities may refer not just to 324 other entries in the same source file (as in System V) but also to 325 compiled entries in either the system terminfo directory or the 326 user's $HOME/.terminfo directory. 327 * A script (capconvert) is provided to help BSD users transition 328 from termcap to terminfo. It gathers the information in a TERMCAP 329 environment variable and/or a ~/.termcap local entries file and 330 converts it to an equivalent local terminfo tree under 331 $HOME/.terminfo. 332 * Automatic fallback to the /etc/termcap file can be compiled in 333 when it is not possible to build a terminfo tree. This feature is 334 neither fast nor cheap, you don't want to use it unless you have 335 to, but it's there. 336 * The table-of-entries utility toe makes it easy for users to see 337 exactly what terminal types are available on the system. 338 * The library meets the XSI requirement that every macro entry point 339 have a corresponding function which may be linked (and will be 340 prototype-checked) if the macro definition is disabled with 341 #undef. 342 * An HTML "Introduction to Programming with NCURSES" document 343 provides a narrative introduction to the curses programming 344 interface. 345 346 State of the Package 347 348 Numerous bugs present in earlier versions have been fixed; the library 349 is far more reliable than it used to be. Bounds checking in many 350 `dangerous' entry points has been improved. The code is now type-safe 351 according to gcc -Wall. The library has been checked for malloc leaks 352 and arena corruption by the Purify memory-allocation tester. 353 354 The ncurses code has been tested with a wide variety of applications 355 including (versions starting with those noted): 356 357 cdk 358 Curses Development Kit 359 [4]http://invisible-island.net/cdk/ 360 [5]http://www.vexus.ca/products/CDK/ 361 362 ded 363 directory-editor 364 [6]http://invisible-island.net/ded/ 365 366 dialog 367 the underlying application used in Slackware's setup, and the 368 basis for similar applications on GNU/Linux. 369 [7]http://invisible-island.net/dialog/ 370 371 lynx 372 the character-screen WWW browser 373 [8]http://lynx.isc.org/release/ 374 375 Midnight Commander 376 file manager 377 [9]http://www.ibiblio.org/mc/ 378 379 mutt 380 mail utility 381 [10]http://www.mutt.org/ 382 383 ncftp 384 file-transfer utility 385 [11]http://www.ncftp.com/ 386 387 nvi 388 New vi versions 1.50 are able to use ncurses versions 1.9.7 and 389 later. 390 [12]http://www.bostic.com/vi/ 391 392 pinfo 393 Lynx-like info browser. 394 [13]https://alioth.debian.org/projects/pinfo/ 395 396 tin 397 newsreader, supporting color, MIME [14]http://www.tin.org/ 398 399 as well as some that use ncurses for the terminfo support alone: 400 401 minicom 402 terminal emulator 403 [15]http://alioth.debian.org/projects/minicom/ 404 405 vile 406 vi-like-emacs 407 [16]http://invisible-island.net/vile/ 408 409 The ncurses distribution includes a selection of test programs 410 (including a few games). 411 412Who's Who and What's What 413 414 Zeyd Ben-Halim started it from a previous package pcurses, written by 415 Pavel Curtis. Eric S. Raymond continued development. J�rgen Pfeifer 416 wrote most of the form and menu libraries. Ongoing work is being done 417 by [17]Thomas Dickey. Thomas Dickey acts as the maintainer for the 418 Free Software Foundation, which holds the copyright on ncurses. 419 Contact the current maintainers at [18]bug-ncurses@gnu.org. 420 421 To join the ncurses mailing list, please write email to 422 bug-ncurses-request@gnu.org containing the line: 423 subscribe <name>@<host.domain> 424 425 This list is open to anyone interested in helping with the development 426 and testing of this package. 427 428 Beta versions of ncurses and patches to the current release are made 429 available at [19]ftp://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ . 430 431Future Plans 432 433 * Extended-level XPG4 conformance, with internationalization 434 support. 435 * Ports to more systems, including DOS and Windows. 436 437 We need people to help with these projects. If you are interested in 438 working on them, please join the ncurses list. 439 440Other Related Resources 441 442 The distribution provides a newer version of the terminfo-format 443 terminal description file once maintained by [20]Eric Raymond . Unlike 444 the older version, the termcap and terminfo data are provided in the 445 same file, and provides several user-definable extensions beyond the 446 X/Open specification. 447 448 You can find lots of information on terminal-related topics not 449 covered in the terminfo file at [21]Richard Shuford's archive . 450 451References 452 453 1. ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/ncurses/ 454 2. ftp://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ 455 3. http://invisible-island.net/xterm/xterm.log.html#xterm_230 456 4. http://invisible-island.net/cdk/ 457 5. http://www.vexus.ca/products/CDK/ 458 6. http://invisible-island.net/ded/ 459 7. http://invisible-island.net/dialog/ 460 8. http://lynx.isc.org/release/ 461 9. http://www.ibiblio.org/mc/ 462 10. http://www.mutt.org/ 463 11. http://www.ncftp.com/ 464 12. http://www.bostic.com/vi/ 465 13. https://alioth.debian.org/projects/pinfo/ 466 14. http://www.tin.org/ 467 15. http://alioth.debian.org/projects/minicom/ 468 16. http://invisible-island.net/vile/ 469 17. mailto:dickey@invisible-island.net 470 18. mailto:bug-ncurses@gnu.org 471 19. ftp://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ 472 20. http://www.catb.org/~esr/terminfo/ 473 21. http://www.cs.utk.edu/~shuford/terminal_index.html 474