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Announcing ncurses 5.6
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.
The ncurses distribution is available via anonymous FTP at the GNU
distribution site [1]ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/ncurses/ .
It is also available at [2]ftp://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ .
Release Notes
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 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 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):
cdk
Curses Development Kit
[3]http://invisible-island.net/cdk/
[4]http://www.vexus.ca/products/CDK/
ded
directory-editor
[5]http://invisible-island.net/ded/
dialog
the underlying application used in Slackware's setup, and the
basis for similar applications on GNU/Linux.
[6]http://invisible-island.net/dialog/
lynx
the character-screen WWW browser
[7]http://lynx.isc.org/release/
Midnight Commander
file manager
[8]http://www.ibiblio.org/mc/
mutt
mail utility
[9]http://www.mutt.org/
ncftp
file-transfer utility
[10]http://www.ncftp.com/
nvi
New vi versions 1.50 are able to use ncurses versions 1.9.7 and
later.
[11]http://www.bostic.com/vi/
pinfo
Lynx-like info browser.
[12]http://dione.ids.pl/~pborys/software/pinfo/
tin
newsreader, supporting color, MIME [13]http://www.tin.org/
vh-1.6
Volks-Hypertext browser for the Jargon File
[14]http://www.debian.org/Packages/unstable/text/vh.html
as well as some that use ncurses for the terminfo support alone:
minicom
terminal emulator
[15]http://alioth.debian.org/projects/minicom/
vile
vi-like-emacs
[16]http://invisible-island.net/vile/
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. Juergen Pfeifer
wrote most of the form and menu libraries. Ongoing work is being done
by [17]Thomas Dickey. Thomas Dickey acts as the maintainer for the
Free Software Foundation, which holds the copyright on ncurses.
Contact the current maintainers at [18]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.
Beta versions of ncurses and patches to the current release are made
available at [19]ftp://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ .
Future Plans
* 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 [20]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 [21]Richard Shuford's archive .
References
1. ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/ncurses/
2. ftp://invisible-island.net/ncurses/
3. http://invisible-island.net/cdk/
4. http://www.vexus.ca/products/CDK/
5. http://invisible-island.net/ded/
6. http://invisible-island.net/dialog/
7. http://lynx.isc.org/release/
8. http://www.ibiblio.org/mc/
9. http://www.mutt.org/
10. http://www.ncftp.com/
11. http://www.bostic.com/vi/
12. http://dione.ids.pl/~pborys/software/pinfo/
13. http://www.tin.org/
14. http://www.debian.org/Packages/unstable/text/vh.html
15. http://alioth.debian.org/projects/minicom/
16. http://invisible-island.net/vile/
17. mailto:dickey@invisible-island.net
18. mailto:bug-ncurses@gnu.org
19. ftp://invisible-island.net/ncurses/
20. http://www.catb.org/~esr/terminfo/
21. http://www.cs.utk.edu/~shuford/terminal_index.html