176 lines
7.1 KiB
Plaintext
176 lines
7.1 KiB
Plaintext
-- $Id: README,v 1.19 1999/10/23 20:39:24 tom Exp $
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
README file for the ncurses package
|
|
|
|
See the file ANNOUNCE for a summary of ncurses features and ports.
|
|
See the file INSTALL for instructions on how to build and install ncurses.
|
|
See the file NEWS for a release history and bug-fix notes.
|
|
See the file TO-DO for things that still need doing, including known bugs.
|
|
|
|
Browse the file misc/ncurses-intro.html for narrative descriptions of how
|
|
to use ncurses and the panel, menu, and form libraries.
|
|
|
|
Browse the file misc/hackguide.html for a tour of the package internals.
|
|
|
|
ROADMAP AND PACKAGE OVERVIEW:
|
|
|
|
You should be reading this file in a directory called: ncurses-d.d, where d.d
|
|
is the current version number (see the dist.mk file in this directory for
|
|
that). There should be a number of subdirectories, including `c++', `form',
|
|
`man', `menu', `misc', `ncurses', `panel', `progs', `test', 'tack' and `Ada95'.
|
|
(The 'tack' program may be distributed separately).
|
|
|
|
A full build/install of this package typically installs several libraries, a
|
|
handful of utilities, and a database hierarchy. Here is an inventory of the
|
|
pieces:
|
|
|
|
The libraries are:
|
|
|
|
libncurses.a (normal)
|
|
libncurses.so (shared)
|
|
libncurses_g.a (debug and trace code enabled)
|
|
libncurses_p.a (profiling enabled)
|
|
|
|
libpanel.a (normal)
|
|
libpanel.so (shared)
|
|
libpanel_g.a (debug and trace code enabled)
|
|
|
|
libmenu.a (normal)
|
|
libmenu.so (shared)
|
|
libmenu_g.a (debug enabled)
|
|
|
|
libform.a (normal)
|
|
libform.so (shared)
|
|
libform_g.a (debug enabled)
|
|
|
|
The ncurses libraries implement the curses API. The panel, menu and forms
|
|
libraries implement clones of the SVr4 panel, menu and forms APIs. The source
|
|
code for these lives in the `ncurses', `panel', `menu', and `form' directories
|
|
respectively.
|
|
|
|
In the `c++' directory, you'll find code that defines an interface to the
|
|
curses, forms, menus and panels library packaged as C++ classes, and a demo program in C++
|
|
to test it. These class definition modules are not installed by the 'make
|
|
install.libs' rule as libncurses++.
|
|
|
|
In the `Ada95' directory, you'll find code and documentation for an
|
|
Ada95 binding of the curses API, to be used with the GNAT compiler.
|
|
This binding is built by a normal top-level `make' if configure detects
|
|
an usable version of GNAT (3.10 or above). It is not installed automatically.
|
|
See the Ada95 directory for more build and installation instructions and
|
|
for documentation of the binding.
|
|
|
|
To do its job, the ncurses code needs your terminal type to be set in the
|
|
environment variable TERM (normally set by your OS; under UNIX, getty(1)
|
|
typically does this, but you can override it in your .profile); and, it needs a
|
|
database of terminal descriptions in which to look up your terminal type's
|
|
capabilities.
|
|
|
|
In older (V7/BSD) versions of curses, the database was a flat text file,
|
|
/etc/termcap; in newer (USG/USL) versions, the database is a hierarchy of
|
|
fast-loading binary description blocks under /usr/lib/terminfo. These binary
|
|
blocks are compiled from an improved editable text representation called
|
|
`terminfo' format (documented in man/terminfo.5). The ncurses library can use
|
|
either /etc/termcap or the compiled binary terminfo blocks, but prefers the
|
|
second form.
|
|
|
|
In the `misc' directory, there is a text file terminfo.src, in editable
|
|
terminfo format, which can be used to generate the terminfo binaries (that's
|
|
what make install.data does). If the package was built with the
|
|
--enable-termcap option enabled, and the ncurses library cannot find a terminfo
|
|
description for your terminal, it will fall back to the termcap file supplied
|
|
with your system (which the ncurses package installation leaves strictly
|
|
alone).
|
|
|
|
The utilities are as follows:
|
|
|
|
tic -- terminfo source to binary compiler
|
|
infocmp -- terminfo binary to source decompiler/comparator
|
|
clear -- emits clear-screen for current terminal
|
|
tput -- shell-script access to terminal capabilities.
|
|
toe -- table of entries utility
|
|
tset -- terminal-initialization utility
|
|
|
|
The first two (tic and infocmp) are used for manipulating terminfo
|
|
descriptions; the next two (clear and tput) are for use in shell scripts. The
|
|
last (tset) is provided for 4.4BSD compatibility. The source code for all of
|
|
these lives in the `progs' directory.
|
|
|
|
Detailed documentation for all libraries and utilities can be found in
|
|
the `man' directory. An HTML introduction to ncurses, panels, and
|
|
menus programming lives in the `misc' directory. Manpages in HTML format
|
|
are under `Ada95/html'.
|
|
|
|
The `test' directory contains programs that can be used to verify or
|
|
demonstrate the functions of the ncurses libraries. See test/README for
|
|
descriptions of these programs. Notably, the `ncurses' utility is designed to
|
|
help you systematically exercise the library functions.
|
|
|
|
AUTHORS:
|
|
|
|
Pavel Curtis:
|
|
wrote the original ncurses
|
|
|
|
Zeyd M. Ben-Halim:
|
|
port of original to Linux and many enhancements.
|
|
|
|
Thomas Dickey (maintainer for 1.9.9g through 4.1, resuming with FSF's 5.0):
|
|
configuration scripts, porting, mods to adhere to XSI Curses in the
|
|
areas of background color, terminal modes. Also memory leak testing,
|
|
the wresize, default colors and key definition extensions and numerous
|
|
bug fixes (more than half of those enumerated in NEWS beginning with
|
|
the internal release 1.8.9).
|
|
|
|
Florian La Roche (official maintainer for FSF's ncurses 4.2)
|
|
Beginning with release 4.2, ncurses is distributed under an MIT-style
|
|
license.
|
|
|
|
Eric S. Raymond:
|
|
the man pages, infocmp(1), tput(1), clear(1), captoinfo(1), tset(1),
|
|
toe(1), most of tic(1), trace levels, the HTML intro, wgetnstr() and
|
|
many other entry points, the cursor-movement optimization, the
|
|
scroll-pack optimizer for vertical motions, the mouse interface and
|
|
xterm mouse support, and the ncurses test program.
|
|
|
|
Juergen Pfeifer
|
|
The menu and form libraries, C++ bindings for ncurses, menus, forms and
|
|
panels, as well as the Ada95 binding. Ongoing support for panel.
|
|
|
|
CONTRIBUTORS:
|
|
|
|
Alexander V. Lukyanov
|
|
for numerous fixes and improvements to the optimization logic.
|
|
|
|
David MacKenzie
|
|
for first-class bug-chasing and methodical testing.
|
|
|
|
Ross Ridge
|
|
for the code that hacks termcap parameterized strings into terminfo.
|
|
|
|
Warren Tucker and Gerhard Fuernkranz,
|
|
for writing and sending the panel library.
|
|
|
|
Hellmuth Michaelis,
|
|
for many patches and testing the optimization code.
|
|
|
|
Eric Newton, Ulrich Drepper, and Anatoly Ivasyuk:
|
|
the C++ code.
|
|
|
|
Jonathan Ross,
|
|
for lessons in using sed.
|
|
|
|
Keith Bostic (maintainer of 4.4BSD curses)
|
|
for help, criticism, comments, bug-finding, and being willing to
|
|
deep-six BSD curses for this one when it grew up.
|
|
|
|
Richard Stallman,
|
|
for his commitment to making ncurses free software.
|
|
|
|
Countless other people have contributed by reporting bugs, sending fixes,
|
|
suggesting improvements, and generally whining about ncurses :-)
|
|
|
|
BUGS:
|
|
See the INSTALL file for bug and developer-list addresses.
|
|
The Hacker's Guide in the misc directory includes some guidelines
|
|
on how to report bugs in ways that will get them fixed most quickly.
|