ANNOUNCE revision 166125
1 Announcing ncurses 5.6 2 3 The ncurses (new curses) library is a free software emulation of 4 curses in System V Release 4.0, and more. It uses terminfo format, 5 supports pads and color and multiple highlights and forms characters 6 and function-key mapping, and has all the other SYSV-curses 7 enhancements over BSD curses. 8 9 In mid-June 1995, the maintainer of 4.4BSD curses declared that he 10 considered 4.4BSD curses obsolete, and encouraged the keepers of Unix 11 releases such as BSD/OS, FreeBSD and NetBSD to switch over to ncurses. 12 13 The ncurses code was developed under GNU/Linux. It has been in use for 14 some time with OpenBSD as the system curses library, and on FreeBSD 15 and NetBSD as an external package. It should port easily to any 16 ANSI/POSIX-conforming UNIX. It has even been ported to OS/2 Warp! 17 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 5.5; very few applications will require recompilation, 31 depending on the platform. These are the highlights from the 32 change-log since ncurses 5.5 release. 33 34 Interface changes: 35 * generate linkable stubs for some macros: 36 getbegx, getbegy, getcurx, getcury, getmaxx, getmaxy, getparx, 37 getpary, getpary, 38 and (for libncursesw) 39 wgetbkgrnd 40 41 New features and improvements: 42 * library 43 + support hashed databases for the terminal descriptions. This 44 uses the Berkeley database, has been tested for several 45 versions on different platforms. 46 + add use_legacy_coding() function to support lynx's 47 font-switching feature. 48 + add extension nofilter(), to cancel a prior filter() call. 49 + add/install a package config script, e.g., ncurses5-config or 50 ncursesw5-config, according to configuration options. 51 + provide ifdef for NCURSES_NOMACROS which suppresses most 52 macro definitions from curses.h, i.e., where a macro is 53 defined to override a function to improve performance. 54 + make ifdef's consistent in curses.h for the extended colors 55 so the header file can be used for the normal curses library. 56 The header file installed for extended colors is a variation 57 of the wide-character configuration. 58 + improve tgetstr() by making the return value point into the 59 user's buffer, if provided. 60 + add ifdef's allowing ncurses to be built with tparm() using 61 either varargs (the existing status), or using a 62 fixed-parameter list (to match X/Open). 63 + widen the test for xterm kmous a little to allow for other 64 strings than "\E[M", e.g., for xterm-sco functionality in 65 xterm. 66 + modify wgetnstr() to return KEY_RESIZE if a sigwinch occurs. 67 + move prototypes for wide-character trace functions from 68 curses.tail to curses.wide to avoid accidental reference to 69 those if _XOPEN_SOURCE_EXTENDED is defined without ensuring 70 that <wchar.h> is included. 71 + change the way shared libraries (other than libtool) are 72 installed. Rather than copying the build-tree's libraries, 73 link the shared objects into the install directory. This 74 makes the --with-rpath option work except with $(DESTDIR). 75 + several improvements for rendering in hpterm. These are only 76 available if the library is configured using 77 --enable-xmc-glitch. 78 + Add NCURSES_NO_HARD_TABS and NCURSES_NO_MAGIC_COOKIE 79 environment variables to allow runtime suppression of the 80 related hard-tabs and xmc-glitch features. 81 * programs: 82 + add new test programs: chgat.c, demo_altkeys.c, echochar.c, 83 foldkeys.c, movewindow.c, redraw.c, (noting that existing 84 test programs also were modified to test additional 85 features). 86 + modify tack to test extended capability function-key strings. 87 + modify toe to access termcap data, e.g., via cgetent() 88 functions, or as a text file if those are not available. 89 + improve infocmp/tic -f option formatting. 90 + add toe -a option, to show all databases. This uses new 91 private interfaces in the ncurses library for iterating 92 through the list of databases. 93 + modify MKfallback.sh to use tic -x when constructing fallback 94 tables to allow extended capabilities to be retrieved from a 95 fallback entry. 96 * terminal database 97 + add terminfo entries for xfce terminal (xfce) and multi gnome 98 terminal (mgt) 99 + add nsterm-16color entry 100 + updated mlterm terminfo entry 101 + add kon, kon2 and jfbterm terminfo entry 102 + remove invis capability from klone+sgr, mainly used by linux 103 entry, since it does not really do this 104 + add ka2, kb1, kb3, kc2 to vt220-keypad as an extension 105 + add shifted up/down arrow codes to xterm-new as kind/kri 106 strings 107 + add hpterm-color terminfo entry 108 + add 256color variants of terminfo entries for programs which 109 are reported to implement this feature 110 + correct order of use-clauses in rxvt-basic entry which made 111 codes for f1-f4 vt100-style rather than vt220-style. 112 113 Major bug fixes: 114 * correct a typo in configure --with-bool option for the case where 115 --without-cxx is used. 116 * move assignment from environment variable ESCDELAY from initscr() 117 down to newterm() so the environment variable affects timeouts for 118 terminals opened with newterm() as well. 119 * modify werase to clear multicolumn characters that extend into a 120 derived window. 121 * modify wchgat() to mark updated cells as changed so a refresh will 122 repaint those cells. 123 * correct logic in wadd_wch() and wecho_wch(), which did not guard 124 against passing the multi-column attribute into a call on 125 waddch(), e.g., using data returned by win_wch() 126 * fix redrawing of windows other than stdscr using wredrawln() by 127 touching the corresponding rows in curscr. 128 * reduce memory leaks in repeated calls to tgetent() by remembering 129 the last TERMINAL* value allocated to hold the corresponding data 130 and freeing that if the tgetent() result buffer is the same as the 131 previous call. 132 * modify read_termtype() so the term_names data is always allocated 133 as part of the str_table, a better fix for a memory leak. 134 * fix wins_nwstr(), which did not handle single-column non-8bit 135 codes. 136 * modify wbkgrnd() to avoid clearing the A_CHARTEXT attribute bits 137 since those record the state of multicolumn characters. 138 * improve SIGWINCH handling by postponing its effect during 139 newterm(), etc., when allocating screens. 140 * remove 970913 feature for copying subwindows as they are moved in 141 mvwin(). 142 * add checks in waddchnstr() and wadd_wchnstr() to stop copying when 143 a null character is found. 144 * add some checks to ensure current position is within scrolling 145 region before scrolling on a new line. 146 * add a workaround to ACS mapping to allow applications such as 147 test/blue.c to use the "PC ROM" characters by masking them with 148 A_ALTCHARSET. This worked up til 5.5, but was lost in the revision 149 of legacy coding. 150 151 Portability: 152 * configure script: 153 + new options: 154 155 --with-hashed-db 156 Use Berkeley hashed database for storing terminfo 157 data rather than storing each compiled entry in a 158 separate binary file within a directory tree. 159 160 --without-dlsym 161 Do not use dlsym() to load GPM dynamically. 162 163 --with-valgrind 164 Simplify building for testing with valgrind. 165 166 --enable-wgetch-events 167 Compile with experimental wgetch-events code. 168 169 --enable-signed-char 170 Store booleans in "signed char" rather than "char". 171 172 + improved options: 173 174 --disable-largefile 175 make the option work both ways. 176 177 --with-gpm 178 The option now accepts a parameter, i.e., the name 179 of the dynamic GPM library to load via dlopen() 180 181 --disable-symlinks 182 The option now allows one to disable symlink() in 183 tic even when link() does not work. 184 185 * other configure/build issues: 186 + remove special case for Darwin in CF_XOPEN_SOURCE configure 187 macro. 188 + add configure check to ensure that SIGWINCH is defined on 189 platforms such as OS X which exclude that when _XOPEN_SOURCE, 190 etc., are defined 191 + use ld's -search_paths_first option on Darwin to work around 192 odd search rules on that platform. 193 + improve ifdef's for _POSIX_VDISABLE in tset to work with Mac 194 OS X. 195 + modify configure script to ensure that if the C compiler is 196 used rather than the loader in making shared libraries, the 197 $(CFLAGS) variable is also used. 198 + use ${CC} rather than ${LD} in shared library rules for 199 IRIX64, Solaris to help ensure that initialization sections 200 are provided for extra linkage requirements, e.g., of C++ 201 applications. 202 + improve some shared-library configure scripting for Linux, 203 FreeBSD and NetBSD to make --with-shlib-version work. 204 + split up dependency of names.c and codes.c in 205 ncurses/Makefile to work with parallel make. 206 + modify MKlib_gen.sh to change preprocessor-expanded _Bool 207 back to bool. 208 + modify progs/Makefile.in to make tput init work properly with 209 cygwin, i.e., do not pass a .exe in the reference string used 210 in check_aliases. 211 * library: 212 + ignore wide-acs line-drawing characters that wcwidth() claims 213 are not one-column. This is a workaround for Solaris' broken 214 locale support. 215 + reduce name-pollution in term.h by removing #define's for 216 HAVE_xxx symbols. 217 + fix #ifdef in c++/internal.h for QNX 6.1 218 * test programs: 219 + modify test/configure script to allow building test programs 220 with PDCurses/X11. 221 + modified test programs to allow some to work with NetBSD 222 curses. Several do not because NetBSD curses implements a 223 subset of X/Open curses, and also lacks much of SVr4 224 additions. But it is enough for comparison. 225 + improved test/configure to build test/ncurses on HPUX 11 226 using the vendor curses. 227 + change configure script to produce test/Makefile from data 228 file. 229 230 Features of Ncurses 231 232 The ncurses package is fully compatible with SVr4 (System V Release 4) 233 curses: 234 * All 257 of the SVr4 calls have been implemented (and are 235 documented). 236 * Full support for SVr4 curses features including keyboard mapping, 237 color, forms-drawing with ACS characters, and automatic 238 recognition of keypad and function keys. 239 * An emulation of the SVr4 panels library, supporting a stack of 240 windows with backing store, is included. 241 * An emulation of the SVr4 menus library, supporting a uniform but 242 flexible interface for menu programming, is included. 243 * An emulation of the SVr4 form library, supporting data collection 244 through on-screen forms, is included. 245 * Binary terminfo entries generated by the ncurses tic(1) 246 implementation are bit-for-bit-compatible with the entry format 247 SVr4 curses uses. 248 * The utilities have options to allow you to filter terminfo entries 249 for use with less capable curses/terminfo versions such as the 250 HP/UX and AIX ports. 251 252 The ncurses package also has many useful extensions over SVr4: 253 * The API is 8-bit clean and base-level conformant with the X/OPEN 254 curses specification, XSI curses (that is, it implements all BASE 255 level features, and most EXTENDED features). It includes many 256 function calls not supported under SVr4 curses (but portability of 257 all calls is documented so you can use the SVr4 subset only). 258 * Unlike SVr3 curses, ncurses can write to the rightmost-bottommost 259 corner of the screen if your terminal has an insert-character 260 capability. 261 * Ada95 and C++ bindings. 262 * Support for mouse event reporting with X Window xterm and FreeBSD 263 and OS/2 console windows. 264 * Extended mouse support via Alessandro Rubini's gpm package. 265 * The function wresize() allows you to resize windows, preserving 266 their data. 267 * The function use_default_colors() allows you to use the terminal's 268 default colors for the default color pair, achieving the effect of 269 transparent colors. 270 * The functions keyok() and define_key() allow you to better control 271 the use of function keys, e.g., disabling the ncurses KEY_MOUSE, 272 or by defining more than one control sequence to map to a given 273 key code. 274 * Support for 16-color terminals, such as aixterm and modern xterm. 275 * Better cursor-movement optimization. The package now features a 276 cursor-local-movement computation more efficient than either BSD's 277 or System V's. 278 * Super hardware scrolling support. The screen-update code 279 incorporates a novel, simple, and cheap algorithm that enables it 280 to make optimal use of hardware scrolling, line-insertion, and 281 line-deletion for screen-line movements. This algorithm is more 282 powerful than the 4.4BSD curses quickch() routine. 283 * Real support for terminals with the magic-cookie glitch. The 284 screen-update code will refrain from drawing a highlight if the 285 magic- cookie unattributed spaces required just before the 286 beginning and after the end would step on a non-space character. 287 It will automatically shift highlight boundaries when doing so 288 would make it possible to draw the highlight without changing the 289 visual appearance of the screen. 290 * It is possible to generate the library with a list of pre-loaded 291 fallback entries linked to it so that it can serve those terminal 292 types even when no terminfo tree or termcap file is accessible 293 (this may be useful for support of screen-oriented programs that 294 must run in single-user mode). 295 * The tic(1)/captoinfo utility provided with ncurses has the ability 296 to translate many termcaps from the XENIX, IBM and AT&T extension 297 sets. 298 * A BSD-like tset(1) utility is provided. 299 * The ncurses library and utilities will automatically read terminfo 300 entries from $HOME/.terminfo if it exists, and compile to that 301 directory if it exists and the user has no write access to the 302 system directory. This feature makes it easier for users to have 303 personal terminfo entries without giving up access to the system 304 terminfo directory. 305 * You may specify a path of directories to search for compiled 306 descriptions with the environment variable TERMINFO_DIRS (this 307 generalizes the feature provided by TERMINFO under stock System 308 V.) 309 * In terminfo source files, use capabilities may refer not just to 310 other entries in the same source file (as in System V) but also to 311 compiled entries in either the system terminfo directory or the 312 user's $HOME/.terminfo directory. 313 * A script (capconvert) is provided to help BSD users transition 314 from termcap to terminfo. It gathers the information in a TERMCAP 315 environment variable and/or a ~/.termcap local entries file and 316 converts it to an equivalent local terminfo tree under 317 $HOME/.terminfo. 318 * Automatic fallback to the /etc/termcap file can be compiled in 319 when it is not possible to build a terminfo tree. This feature is 320 neither fast nor cheap, you don't want to use it unless you have 321 to, but it's there. 322 * The table-of-entries utility toe makes it easy for users to see 323 exactly what terminal types are available on the system. 324 * The library meets the XSI requirement that every macro entry point 325 have a corresponding function which may be linked (and will be 326 prototype-checked) if the macro definition is disabled with 327 #undef. 328 * An HTML "Introduction to Programming with NCURSES" document 329 provides a narrative introduction to the curses programming 330 interface. 331 332 State of the Package 333 334 Numerous bugs present in earlier versions have been fixed; the library 335 is far more reliable than it used to be. Bounds checking in many 336 `dangerous' entry points has been improved. The code is now type-safe 337 according to gcc -Wall. The library has been checked for malloc leaks 338 and arena corruption by the Purify memory-allocation tester. 339 340 The ncurses code has been tested with a wide variety of applications 341 including (versions starting with those noted): 342 343 cdk 344 Curses Development Kit 345 [3]http://invisible-island.net/cdk/ 346 [4]http://www.vexus.ca/products/CDK/ 347 348 ded 349 directory-editor 350 [5]http://invisible-island.net/ded/ 351 352 dialog 353 the underlying application used in Slackware's setup, and the 354 basis for similar applications on GNU/Linux. 355 [6]http://invisible-island.net/dialog/ 356 357 lynx 358 the character-screen WWW browser 359 [7]http://lynx.isc.org/release/ 360 361 Midnight Commander 362 file manager 363 [8]http://www.ibiblio.org/mc/ 364 365 mutt 366 mail utility 367 [9]http://www.mutt.org/ 368 369 ncftp 370 file-transfer utility 371 [10]http://www.ncftp.com/ 372 373 nvi 374 New vi versions 1.50 are able to use ncurses versions 1.9.7 and 375 later. 376 [11]http://www.bostic.com/vi/ 377 378 pinfo 379 Lynx-like info browser. 380 [12]http://dione.ids.pl/~pborys/software/pinfo/ 381 382 tin 383 newsreader, supporting color, MIME [13]http://www.tin.org/ 384 385 vh-1.6 386 Volks-Hypertext browser for the Jargon File 387 [14]http://www.debian.org/Packages/unstable/text/vh.html 388 389 as well as some that use ncurses for the terminfo support alone: 390 391 minicom 392 terminal emulator 393 [15]http://alioth.debian.org/projects/minicom/ 394 395 vile 396 vi-like-emacs 397 [16]http://invisible-island.net/vile/ 398 399 The ncurses distribution includes a selection of test programs 400 (including a few games). 401 402Who's Who and What's What 403 404 Zeyd Ben-Halim started it from a previous package pcurses, written by 405 Pavel Curtis. Eric S. Raymond continued development. Juergen Pfeifer 406 wrote most of the form and menu libraries. Ongoing work is being done 407 by [17]Thomas Dickey. Thomas Dickey acts as the maintainer for the 408 Free Software Foundation, which holds the copyright on ncurses. 409 Contact the current maintainers at [18]bug-ncurses@gnu.org. 410 411 To join the ncurses mailing list, please write email to 412 bug-ncurses-request@gnu.org containing the line: 413 subscribe <name>@<host.domain> 414 415 This list is open to anyone interested in helping with the development 416 and testing of this package. 417 418 Beta versions of ncurses and patches to the current release are made 419 available at [19]ftp://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ . 420 421Future Plans 422 423 * Extended-level XPG4 conformance, with internationalization 424 support. 425 * Ports to more systems, including DOS and Windows. 426 427 We need people to help with these projects. If you are interested in 428 working on them, please join the ncurses list. 429 430Other Related Resources 431 432 The distribution provides a newer version of the terminfo-format 433 terminal description file once maintained by [20]Eric Raymond . Unlike 434 the older version, the termcap and terminfo data are provided in the 435 same file, and provides several user-definable extensions beyond the 436 X/Open specification. 437 438 You can find lots of information on terminal-related topics not 439 covered in the terminfo file at [21]Richard Shuford's archive . 440 441References 442 443 1. ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/ncurses/ 444 2. ftp://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ 445 3. http://invisible-island.net/cdk/ 446 4. http://www.vexus.ca/products/CDK/ 447 5. http://invisible-island.net/ded/ 448 6. http://invisible-island.net/dialog/ 449 7. http://lynx.isc.org/release/ 450 8. http://www.ibiblio.org/mc/ 451 9. http://www.mutt.org/ 452 10. http://www.ncftp.com/ 453 11. http://www.bostic.com/vi/ 454 12. http://dione.ids.pl/~pborys/software/pinfo/ 455 13. http://www.tin.org/ 456 14. http://www.debian.org/Packages/unstable/text/vh.html 457 15. http://alioth.debian.org/projects/minicom/ 458 16. http://invisible-island.net/vile/ 459 17. mailto:dickey@invisible-island.net 460 18. mailto:bug-ncurses@gnu.org 461 19. ftp://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ 462 20. http://www.catb.org/~esr/terminfo/ 463 21. http://www.cs.utk.edu/~shuford/terminal_index.html 464