aae38d10b4
Among the changes from before: - Add support for extended colors on widechar version - Enable ncurses extended functions - Enable version 2 of the extended mouse support - Enable SCREEN extensions Modification that differs from upstream: - _nc_delink_entries used to be exposed and was turn static, turn it back as dynamic to not break abi - Adapt our old termcap.c to modern ncurses MFC after: 3 weeks
2960 lines
98 KiB
HTML
2960 lines
98 KiB
HTML
<!--
|
|
$Id: announce.html.in,v 1.92 2018/01/27 02:09:18 tom Exp $
|
|
****************************************************************************
|
|
* Copyright (c) 1998-2015,2018 Free Software Foundation, Inc. *
|
|
* *
|
|
* Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a *
|
|
* copy of this software and associated documentation files (the *
|
|
* "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including *
|
|
* without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, *
|
|
* distribute, distribute with modifications, sublicense, and/or sell *
|
|
* copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is *
|
|
* furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions: *
|
|
* *
|
|
* The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included *
|
|
* in all copies or substantial portions of the Software. *
|
|
* *
|
|
* THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS *
|
|
* OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF *
|
|
* MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. *
|
|
* IN NO EVENT SHALL THE ABOVE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, *
|
|
* DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR *
|
|
* OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR *
|
|
* THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE. *
|
|
* *
|
|
* Except as contained in this notice, the name(s) of the above copyright *
|
|
* holders shall not be used in advertising or otherwise to promote the *
|
|
* sale, use or other dealings in this Software without prior written *
|
|
* authorization. *
|
|
****************************************************************************
|
|
-->
|
|
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN">
|
|
|
|
<html>
|
|
<head>
|
|
<meta name="generator" content=
|
|
"HTML Tidy for Linux (vers 25 March 2009), see www.w3.org">
|
|
|
|
<title>Announcing ncurses @VERSION@</title>
|
|
<link rev="made" href="mailto:bug-ncurses@gnu.org">
|
|
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content=
|
|
"text/html; charset=us-ascii">
|
|
<style type="text/css">
|
|
p,li { max-width:700px; }
|
|
dd { max-width:630px; }
|
|
*.main-name {
|
|
font-style: italic;
|
|
font-variant: small-caps;
|
|
}
|
|
*.part-name {
|
|
font-family: "Andale Mono", "Monotype.com", monospace;
|
|
font-size: 12pt;
|
|
font-weight: bold;
|
|
}
|
|
</style>
|
|
</head>
|
|
|
|
<body>
|
|
<h1 class="no-header">Announcing ncurses @VERSION@</h1>
|
|
|
|
<h2><a name="h2-overview" id="h2-overview">Overview</a></h2>
|
|
|
|
<p>The <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> (new curses)
|
|
library is a free software emulation of curses in System V
|
|
Release 4.0 (SVr4), 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 SVr4-curses
|
|
enhancements over BSD curses. SVr4 curses became the basis of
|
|
X/Open Curses.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>In mid-June 1995, the maintainer of 4.4BSD curses declared
|
|
that he considered 4.4BSD curses obsolete, and encouraged the
|
|
keepers of <span class="main-name">unix</span> releases such as
|
|
BSD/OS, FreeBSD and NetBSD to switch over to <span class=
|
|
"main-name">ncurses</span>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Since 1995, <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> has been
|
|
ported to many systems:</p>
|
|
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>It is used in almost every system based on the Linux kernel
|
|
(aside from some embedded applications).</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>It is used as the system curses library on OpenBSD, FreeBSD
|
|
and OSX.</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>It is used in environments such as Cygwin and MinGW. The
|
|
first of these was EMX on OS/2 Warp.</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>It is used (though usually not as the <em>system</em>
|
|
curses) on all of the vendor <span class=
|
|
"main-name">unix</span> systems, e.g., AIX, HP-UX, IRIX64, SCO,
|
|
Solaris, Tru64.</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>It should work readily on any ANSI/POSIX-conforming
|
|
<span class="main-name">unix</span>.</li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
|
|
<p>The distribution includes the library and support utilities,
|
|
including</p>
|
|
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li><a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/captoinfo.1m.html"><span class="part-name">
|
|
captoinfo</span></a>, a termcap conversion tool</li>
|
|
|
|
<li><a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/clear.1.html"><span class="part-name">
|
|
clear</span></a>, utility for clearing the screen</li>
|
|
|
|
<li><a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/infocmp.1m.html"><span class="part-name">
|
|
infocmp</span></a>, the terminfo decompiler</li>
|
|
|
|
<li><a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/tabs.1.html"><span class="part-name">
|
|
tabs</span></a>, set tabs on a terminal</li>
|
|
|
|
<li><a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/tic.1m.html"><span class="part-name">
|
|
tic</span></a>, the terminfo compiler</li>
|
|
|
|
<li><a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/toe.1m.html"><span class="part-name">
|
|
toe</span></a>, list (table of) terminfo entries</li>
|
|
|
|
<li><a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/tput.1.html"><span class="part-name">
|
|
tput</span></a>, utility for retrieving terminal capabilities
|
|
in shell scripts</li>
|
|
|
|
<li><a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/tset.1.html"><span class="part-name">
|
|
tset</span></a>, to initialize the terminal</li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
|
|
<p>Full manual pages are provided for the library and tools.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>The <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> distribution is
|
|
available at <span class="main-name">ncurses</span>' <a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/">homepage</a>:</p>
|
|
|
|
<blockquote>
|
|
<p><a href=
|
|
"ftp://ftp.invisible-island.net/ncurses/">ftp://ftp.invisible-island.net/ncurses/</a>
|
|
or<br>
|
|
<a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-mirror.net/archives/ncurses/">https://invisible-mirror.net/archives/ncurses/</a> .</p>
|
|
</blockquote>
|
|
|
|
<p>It is also available via anonymous FTP at the GNU distribution
|
|
site</p>
|
|
|
|
<blockquote>
|
|
<p><a href=
|
|
"ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/ncurses/">ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/ncurses/</a> .</p>
|
|
</blockquote>
|
|
|
|
<h2><a name="h2-release-notes" id="h2-release-notes">Release
|
|
Notes</a></h2>
|
|
|
|
<p>These notes are for <span class="main-name">ncurses</span>
|
|
@VERSION@, released <strong>January 27, 2018</strong>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>This release is designed to be source-compatible with
|
|
<span class="main-name">ncurses</span> 5.0 through 6.0; providing
|
|
extensions to the application binary interface (ABI). Although
|
|
the source can still be configured to support the <span class=
|
|
"main-name">ncurses</span> 5 ABI, the intent of the release is to
|
|
provide extensions to the <span class="main-name">ncurses</span>
|
|
<strong>6</strong> ABI:</p>
|
|
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>improve integration of <span class="part-name">tput</span>
|
|
and <span class="part-name">tset</span></p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>provide support for extended numeric capabilities.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
|
|
<p>There are, of course, numerous other improvements, listed in
|
|
this announcement.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>The release notes also mention some bug-fixes, but are focused
|
|
on new features and improvements to existing features since
|
|
<span class="main-name">ncurses</span> 6.0 release.</p>
|
|
|
|
<h3><a name="h3-library" id="h3-library">Library
|
|
improvements</a></h3>
|
|
|
|
<h4><a name="h4-new-library" id="h4-new-library">New
|
|
features</a></h4>
|
|
|
|
<p>The improved integration of <span class=
|
|
"part-name">tput</span> and <span class="part-name">tset</span>
|
|
made only small changes to the libraries. However, supporting
|
|
extended numeric capabilities required a few changes:</p>
|
|
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>The <code>TERMINAL</code> structure in
|
|
<code><term.h></code> is now opaque. Doing that allowed
|
|
making the structure larger, to hold the extended numeric
|
|
data.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>A few applications required changes during development of
|
|
<span class="main-name">ncurses 6.1</span> because those
|
|
applications misused the members of that structure, e.g.,
|
|
directly modifying it rather than using <a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_kernel.3x.html#h3-def_prog_mode_-def_shell_mode">
|
|
def_prog_mode</a>.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>Having made <code>TERMINAL</code> opaque (and because none
|
|
of the library functions use anything except a pointer to
|
|
<code>TERMINAL</code>), it was possible to increase the size
|
|
of the structure, adding to the end.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Existing applications which were linked to the
|
|
<span class="part-name">ncurses 6.0</span> high-level
|
|
(<em>ncurses</em>, <em>ncursesw</em>) and low-level
|
|
(<em>tinfo</em>, <em>tinfo</em>) libraries should not require
|
|
re-linking since the binary interface did not change, nor did
|
|
the structure offsets with <code>TERMINAL</code> change.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>A few applications use the inner <code>TERMTYPE</code>
|
|
structure's offsets to refer to terminfo capabilities within
|
|
that structure. Again, those do not require modification
|
|
because their offsets within <code>TERMINAL</code> did not
|
|
change.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>When configured for wide-characters, i.e.,
|
|
“ncursesw” the <code>TERMINAL</code> structure is
|
|
extended.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>The new data in <code>TERMINAL</code> holds the same
|
|
information as <code>TERMTYPE</code>, but with larger numbers
|
|
(“int” versus “short”). It is named
|
|
<code>TERMTYPE2</code>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>The library uses this structure internally in preference
|
|
to <code>TERMTYPE</code>, referring to <code>TERMTYPE</code>
|
|
only to initialize it for applications that use the
|
|
capabilities defined in <code><term.h></code></p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>When configured for 8-bit (narrow) characters, the
|
|
<code>TERMTYPE2</code> structure is not used.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>The updated application binary interface is 6.1.20171230
|
|
(used for new <a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses-mapsyms.html">versioned
|
|
symbols</a>), although the interface changes were developed
|
|
several months previously.</li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
|
|
<p>The motivation for making this extension came from noticing
|
|
that <a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/tctest.html#bsd42-numeric-caps">
|
|
termcap applications</a> could (though not <a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses-slang.html#cause_numbers">
|
|
realistically</a>) use larger numbers than would fit in 16-bits,
|
|
and the fact that the number of color pairs for a 256-color xterm
|
|
could not be expressed in terminfo (i.e., 32767 versus 65536).
|
|
Also, a few terminals support direct-colors, which could use the
|
|
extension.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Generally speaking, applications that use internal details of
|
|
a library are unsupported. There was exactly one exception for
|
|
<span class="main-name">ncurses</span>: the <span class=
|
|
"main-name">tack</span> program <em>used</em> the internal
|
|
details of <code>TERMINAL</code>, because it provides an
|
|
ncurses-specific feature for interactively modifying a terminfo
|
|
description and writing the updated description to a text-file.
|
|
It was possible to not only separate <span class=
|
|
"main-name">tack</span> from these <a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/tack.html#portable">internal
|
|
details of <span class="main-name">ncurses</span></a>, but to
|
|
generalize it so that the program works with Unix curses
|
|
(omitting the ncurses-specific feature). That was released as
|
|
<a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/tack/CHANGES.html#index-t20170726">
|
|
<span class="main-name">tack</span> 1.08</a> in July
|
|
2017.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>While making changes to <span class="main-name">tack</span> to
|
|
eliminate its dependency upon <span class=
|
|
"main-name">ncurses</span> internals, the publicly-visible
|
|
details of those internals were reviewed, and some symbols were
|
|
moved to private header files, while others were marked
|
|
explicitly as <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> internals.
|
|
Future releases of <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> may
|
|
eliminate some of those symbols (such as those used by
|
|
<span class="main-name">tack</span> 1.07) because they are
|
|
neither part of the API or the ABI.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Using the <code>TERMTYPE2</code> extended numeric
|
|
capabilities, it is possible to support both color pair values
|
|
and color values past 32767. Taking compatibility into account,
|
|
developers readily understand that neither function signatures
|
|
nor structure offsets change. Also, existing functions have to
|
|
operate with the extended numbers. Most of that work is internal
|
|
to the library. For the external interfaces, a hybrid approach
|
|
was used:</p>
|
|
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>X/Open Curses defined function prototypes such as
|
|
<code>wattr_set</code> with an unused parameter, for
|
|
“future” use. After 25 years, the future is here:
|
|
<span class="main-name">ncurses</span> uses the parameter to
|
|
augment color pair values as described in the <a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_attr.3x.html#h2-EXTENSIONS">
|
|
manual page</a>.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>Other functions such as those defining color pairs did not
|
|
have a corresponding <em>reserved</em> parameter. For those,
|
|
<span class="main-name">ncurses</span> defines extended
|
|
versions such as <code>init_extended_pair</code> (versus
|
|
<code>init_pair</code>), <code>init_extended_color</code>
|
|
(versus <code>init_color</code>).</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
|
|
<p>Additionally, to improve performance other changes (and
|
|
extensions) are provided in this release:</p>
|
|
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>Several new functions simplify management of large sets of
|
|
color pairs: <code>reset_color_pairs</code>,
|
|
<code>alloc_pair</code>, <code>find_pair</code> and
|
|
<code>free_pair</code>.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>New "RGB" extension capability for direct-color support is
|
|
used to improve performance of
|
|
<code>color_content</code>.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>The internal <code>colorpair_t</code> is now a struct,
|
|
eliminating an internal 8-bit limit on colors</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>Allocation for <code>SCREEN</code>'s color-pair table
|
|
starts small, grows on demand up to the limit given in the
|
|
terminal description.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p><code>setcchar</code> and <code>getcchar</code> now treat
|
|
a negative color-pair as an error.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
|
|
<h4><a name="h4-fixes-library" id="h4-fixes-library">Other
|
|
improvements</a></h4>
|
|
|
|
<p>These are new or revised features:</p>
|
|
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>modify <code>c++/etip.h.in</code> to accommodate
|
|
deprecation of throw and throws in c++17</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>add new function <code>unfocus_current_field</code></p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>add option to preserve leading whitespace in form
|
|
fields</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>add a macro for <code>is_linetouched</code> and adjust the
|
|
function's return value to make it possible for most
|
|
applications to check for an error-return.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>add build-time utility <code>report_offsets</code> to help
|
|
show when the various configurations of tinfo library are
|
|
compatible or not.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
|
|
<p>These were done to limit or ultimately deprecate features:</p>
|
|
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>drop two symbols obsoleted in 2004:
|
|
<code>_nc_check_termtype</code>, and
|
|
<code>_nc_resolve_uses</code></p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>move <code>_nc_tracebits</code>, <code>_tracedump</code>
|
|
and <code>_tracemouse</code> to <code>curses.priv.h</code>,
|
|
since they are not part of the suggested ABI6.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>mark some structs in form/menu/panel libraries as
|
|
potentially opaque without modifying API/ABI.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>ifdef'd header-file definition of <code>mouse_trafo</code>
|
|
with <code>NCURSES_NOMACROS</code></p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>remove initialization-check for calling <code>napms</code>
|
|
in the term-driver configuration; none is needed.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>modify <code>trace</code> to avoid overwriting existing
|
|
file</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
|
|
<p>These are improvements to existing features:</p>
|
|
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>modify <code>make_hash</code> to allow building with
|
|
address-sanitizer, assuming that <code>--disable-leaks</code>
|
|
is configured.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>move <code>SCREEN</code> field for <code>use_tioctl</code>
|
|
data before the ncursesw fields, and limit that to the
|
|
sp-funcs configuration to improve termlib compatibility</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>modify db-iterator:</p>
|
|
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>ignore zero-length files in db-iterator; these are
|
|
useful for instance to suppress
|
|
<code>$HOME/.terminfo</code> when not wanted.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>modify <code>update_getenv</code> to ensure that
|
|
environment variables which are not initially set will be
|
|
checked later if an application happens to set them</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>modify <code>_nc_outc_wrapper</code> to use the standard
|
|
output if the screen was not initialized, rather than
|
|
returning an error.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>improve checks for low-level terminfo functions when the
|
|
terminal has not been initialized.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>modify <code>set_curterm</code> to update
|
|
<code>ttytype[]</code> data used by longname/p></p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>modify <code>_nc_get_screensize</code> to allow for
|
|
<code>use_env</code> and <code>use_tioctl</code> state to be
|
|
per-screen when sp-funcs are configured, better matching the
|
|
behavior when using the term-driver configuration.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>remove an early-return from <code>_nc_do_color,</code>
|
|
which can interfere with data needed by <code>bkgd</code>
|
|
when <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> is configured
|
|
with extended colors</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>incorporate <code>A_COLOR</code> mask into
|
|
<code>COLOR_PAIR</code>, in case user application provides an
|
|
out-of-range pair number</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>modify logic for <code>endwin</code>-state to be able to
|
|
detect the case where the screen was never initialized, using
|
|
that to trigger a flush of <span class=
|
|
"main-name">ncurses'</span> buffer for <code>mvcur</code>,
|
|
e.g., in the sample program <span class=
|
|
"part-name">dots_mvcur</span> for the term-driver
|
|
configuration.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
|
|
<p>These are corrections to existing features:</p>
|
|
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>fixes for writing extended color pairs in
|
|
<code>putwin</code>.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>modify no-leaks code for <code>lib_cur_term.c</code> to
|
|
account for the <code>tgetent</code> cache.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>amend handling of the <code>repeat_char</code> capability
|
|
in <code>EmitRange</code> to avoid scope creep: translate the
|
|
character to the alternate character set when the alternate
|
|
character set is enabled, and do not use
|
|
<code>repeat_char</code> for characters past 255.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>improve wide-character implementation of
|
|
<code>myADDNSTR</code> in <code>frm_driver.c</code>, which
|
|
was inconsistent with the normal implementation.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>modify <code>winnstr</code> and <code>winchnstr</code> to
|
|
return error if the output pointer is null, as well as adding
|
|
a null pointer check of the window pointer for better
|
|
compatibility with other implementations.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>modify <code>setupterm</code> to save original tty-modes
|
|
so that <code>erasechar</code> works as expected. Also modify
|
|
<code>_nc_setupscreen</code> to avoid redundant calls to get
|
|
original tty-modes.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>modify <code>wattr_set</code> and <code>wattr_get</code>
|
|
to return <code>ERR</code> if <em>win</em>-parameter is null,
|
|
as documented.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>correct order of initialization for traces in
|
|
<code>use_env</code> and <code>use_tioctl</code> versus first
|
|
<code>_tracef</code> calls.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>correct parameters for <code>copywin</code> call in
|
|
<code>_nc_Synchronize_Attributes</code></p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>flush the standard output in <code>_nc_flush</code> for
|
|
the case where <code>SP</code> is zero, e.g., when called via
|
|
<code>putp</code>. This fixes a scenario where
|
|
“tput flash” did not work after changes in
|
|
20130112.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>amend internal use of <code>tputs</code> to consistently
|
|
use the number of lines affected, e.g., for insert/delete
|
|
character operations. While merging terminfo source early in
|
|
1995, several descriptions used the
|
|
“<code>*</code>” proportional delay for these
|
|
operations, prompting a change in <code>doupdate</code>.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>correct return-value of extended <code>putwin</code>.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>double-width multibyte characters were not counted
|
|
properly in <code>winsnstr</code> and
|
|
<code>wins_nwstr</code>.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>amend fix for <code>_nc_ripoffline</code> from 20091031 to
|
|
make <code>test/ditto.c</code> work in threaded
|
|
configuration.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>modify <code>_nc_viscbuf2</code> and
|
|
<code>_tracecchar_t2</code> to trace wide-characters as a
|
|
whole rather than their multibyte equivalents.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>minor fix in <code>wadd_wchnstr</code> to ensure that each
|
|
cell has nonzero width.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>move <code>PUTC_INIT</code> calls next to
|
|
<code>wcrtomb</code> calls, to avoid carry-over of error
|
|
status when processing Unicode values which are not
|
|
mapped.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>add missing assignment in <code>lib_getch.c</code> to make
|
|
<code>notimeout</code> work</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
|
|
<h3><a name="h3-programs" id="h3-programs">Program
|
|
improvements</a></h3>
|
|
|
|
<p>While reviewing user feedback, it became apparent that the
|
|
differences between <a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/tset.1.html#h3-reset---reinitialization">
|
|
<span class="part-name">reset</span></a> (an alias for
|
|
<span class="part-name">tset</span>) and “<span class=
|
|
"part-name">tput reset</span>” were confusing:</p>
|
|
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>one (<a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/tset.1.html">tset</a>)
|
|
updated the terminal modes, but used only part of the terminfo
|
|
capabilities for initialization, while</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>the other (<a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/tput.1.html"><span class="part-name">tput</span></a>)
|
|
used all of the terminal capabilities while neglecting the
|
|
terminal modes.</li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
|
|
<p>On further investigation, it turned out that the differences
|
|
were largely an accident due to the way those programs had
|
|
evolved.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>This release eliminates the unnecessary differences, using the
|
|
same approach for <span class="part-name">tput</span>'s
|
|
<em>init</em> (initialization), <em>reset</em> and <em>clear</em>
|
|
operations as the separate <a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/tset.1.html#h3-reset---reinitialization">
|
|
reset</a> and <a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/clear.1.html"><span class="part-name">
|
|
clear</span></a> programs. Doing this does not change the
|
|
command-line options; existing scripts are unaffected.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>These are the user-visible changes for the three programs
|
|
(<span class="part-name">tput</span>, <span class=
|
|
"part-name">tset</span> and <span class=
|
|
"part-name">clear</span>):</p>
|
|
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>add the terminal-mode parts of “<span class=
|
|
"part-name">reset</span>” (aka <span class=
|
|
"part-name">tset</span>) to the “<code>tput
|
|
reset</code>” command, making the two almost the same
|
|
except for window-size.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>improve <span class="part-name">tput</span>'s check for
|
|
being called as “init” or “reset” to
|
|
allow for transformed names.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>add “clear” as a possible link/alias to
|
|
<span class="part-name">tput</span>.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>amend changes for <span class="part-name">tput</span> to
|
|
reset tty modes to “sane” if the program is run
|
|
as “reset”, like <span class=
|
|
"part-name">tset</span>. Likewise, ensure that <span class=
|
|
"part-name">tset</span> sends either reset- or
|
|
init-strings.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>add <code>-x</code> option to <span class=
|
|
"part-name">clear</span>/<span class="part-name">tput</span>
|
|
to make the <code>E3</code> extension optional</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>add functionality of
|
|
“<code>tset -w</code>” to <span class=
|
|
"part-name">tput</span>, like the
|
|
“<code>-c</code>” feature this is not optional in
|
|
<span class="part-name">tput</span>.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>add options <code>-T</code> and <code>-V</code> to
|
|
<span class="part-name">clear</span> command for
|
|
compatibility with <span class="part-name">tput</span>.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>drop long-obsolete “<code>-n</code>” option
|
|
from <span class="part-name">tset</span>.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>modify <span class="part-name">tset</span>'s assignment to
|
|
<code>TERM</code> in its output to reflect the name by which
|
|
the terminal description is found, rather than the primary
|
|
name. That was an unnecessary part from the initial
|
|
conversion of <span class="part-name">tset</span> from
|
|
termcap to terminfo. The termcap library in 4.3BSD did this
|
|
to avoid using the short 2-character name</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>remove a restriction in <span class=
|
|
"part-name">tput</span>'s support for termcap names which
|
|
omitted capabilities normally not shown in termcap
|
|
translations</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>add usage message to <span class="part-name">clear</span>
|
|
command</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>improve usage messages for <span class=
|
|
"part-name">tset</span> and <span class=
|
|
"part-name">tput</span>.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
|
|
<p>Other user-visible improvements and new features include:</p>
|
|
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>modify <span class="part-name">tic</span>/<span class=
|
|
"part-name">infocmp</span> display of numeric values to use
|
|
hexadecimal when they are "close" to a power of two, making
|
|
the result more readable.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>add “<code>-W</code>” option to <span class=
|
|
"part-name">tic</span>/<span class="part-name">infocmp</span>
|
|
to force long strings to wrap.</p>
|
|
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>This is in addition to the
|
|
“<code>-w</code>” option which attempts to
|
|
fit capabilities into a given line-length.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>If “<code>-f</code>” option splits line,
|
|
do not further split it with
|
|
“<code>-W</code>”.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>Begin a new line when adding
|
|
“<code>use=</code>” after a wrapped line.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>add “<code>-q</code>” option to <span class=
|
|
"part-name">infocmp</span> to suppress the
|
|
“<code>Reconstructed from</code>” comment from
|
|
the header, and a corresponding option to <span class=
|
|
"part-name">tic</span> to suppress all comments from the
|
|
“<code>tic -I</code>” output.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>Sorted options in usage message for <span class=
|
|
"part-name">infocmp</span>, to make it simpler to see unused
|
|
letters.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>Updated usage message for <span class=
|
|
"part-name">tic</span>, adding “<code>-0</code>”
|
|
option.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>add <span class="part-name">infocmp</span>/<span class=
|
|
"part-name">tic</span> “<code>-Q</code>” option,
|
|
which allows one to dump the compiled form of the terminal
|
|
entry, in hexadecimal or base64:</p>
|
|
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>A “<code>b64:</code>” prefix in the
|
|
<code>TERMINFO</code> variable tells the terminfo reader to
|
|
use base64 according to RFC-3548 as well as RFC-4648
|
|
url/filename-safe format.</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>A “<code>hex:</code>” prefix tells the
|
|
terminfo reader to accept hexadecimal data as generated by
|
|
“<code>infocmp -0qQ1</code>”.</li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
</li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
|
|
<p>Other less-visible improvements and new features include:</p>
|
|
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>modify utility headers such as <code>tic.h</code> to make
|
|
it clearer which are externals that are used by <span class=
|
|
"main-name">tack</span>.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>add “<code>reset</code>” to list of programs
|
|
whose names might change in manpages due to
|
|
program-transformation configure options.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>modify “<code>-T</code>” option of
|
|
<span class="part-name">clear</span> and <span class=
|
|
"part-name">tput</span> to call <code>use_tioctl</code> to
|
|
obtain the operating system's notion of the screensize if
|
|
possible.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>add check in <span class="part-name">tput</span> for
|
|
init/reset operands to ensure those use a terminal.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>modify programs <span class="part-name">clear</span>,
|
|
<span class="part-name">tabs</span>, <span class=
|
|
"part-name">tput</span> and <span class=
|
|
"part-name">tset</span> to pass the actual tty file
|
|
descriptor to setupterm rather than the standard output or
|
|
error, making padding work.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>change <span class="part-name">tset</span>'s
|
|
initialization to allow it to get settings from the standard
|
|
input as well as <code>/dev/tty</code>, to be more effective
|
|
when output or error are redirected.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>amend check in <span class="part-name">tput</span>,
|
|
<span class="part-name">tabs</span> and <span class=
|
|
"part-name">clear</span> to allow those to use the
|
|
database-only features in <span class="part-name">cron</span>
|
|
if a “<code>-T</code>” option gives a suitable
|
|
terminal name.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>improve error message from <span class=
|
|
"part-name">tset</span>/<span class="part-name">reset</span>
|
|
when both stderr/stdout are redirected to a file or pipe.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
|
|
<p>Several of the less apparent features deal with translation of
|
|
terminfo to termcap (and the reverse), with corresponding checks
|
|
by <span class="part-name">tic</span>:</p>
|
|
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>modify check in <code>fmt_entry</code> to handle a
|
|
cancelled reset string. Make similar fixes in other parts of
|
|
<code>dump_entry.c</code> and <code>tput.c</code></p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>correct read of terminfo entry in which all strings are
|
|
absent or explicitly cancelled. Before this fix, the result
|
|
was that all were treated as only absent.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>modify <span class="part-name">infocmp</span> to suppress
|
|
mixture of absent/cancelled capabilities that would only show
|
|
as “<code>NULL, NULL</code>”, unless the
|
|
“<code>-q</code>” option is used, e.g., to show
|
|
“<code>-, @</code>” or “<code>@,
|
|
-</code>”.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>correct a warning from <span class="part-name">tic</span>
|
|
about keys which are the same, to skip over missing/cancelled
|
|
values.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>add check in <span class="part-name">tic</span> for use of
|
|
bold, etc., video attributes in the color capabilities,
|
|
accounting whether the feature is listed in
|
|
<code>ncv</code>.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>add check in <span class="part-name">tic</span> for
|
|
unnecessary use of “<code>2</code>” to denote a
|
|
shifted special key.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>improve check in <span class="part-name">tic</span> for
|
|
delays by also warning about beep/flash when a delay is not
|
|
embedded, or if those use the VT100 reverse video escape
|
|
without using a delay.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>improve checks in <code>trim_sgr0</code>, comp_parse.c and
|
|
parse_entry.c, for cancelled string capabilities.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>add check in <span class="part-name">tic</span> for some
|
|
syntax errors of delays, as well as use of proportional
|
|
delays for non-line capabilities.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>add check in <span class="part-name">tic</span> for
|
|
conflict between <code>ritm</code>, <code>rmso</code>,
|
|
<code>rmul</code> versus <code>sgr0</code>.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>add check in <code>_nc_parse_entry</code> for invalid
|
|
entry name, setting the name to
|
|
“<code>invalid</code>” to avoid problems storing
|
|
entries.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>improve <code>_nc_tparm_analyze</code>, using that to
|
|
extend the checks made by <span class="part-name">tic</span>
|
|
for reporting inconsistencies between the expected number of
|
|
parameters for a capability and the actual.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>remove <span class="part-name">tic</span> warning about
|
|
“<code>^?</code>” in string capabilities, which
|
|
was marked as an extension; however all Unix implementations
|
|
support this and X/Open Curses does not address it. On the
|
|
other hand, <a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/tctest.html#bsd42-ctl-question">
|
|
BSD termcap</a> did not support this feature (until the
|
|
<a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/tctest.html#freebsd-ctl-question">
|
|
mid-1990s</a>).</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>in <code>_nc_infotocap</code>, added a check to ensure
|
|
that terminfo “<code>^?</code>” is not written to
|
|
termcap.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>modify <code>sscanf</code> calls in
|
|
<code>_nc_infotocap</code> for patterns
|
|
“<code>%{number}%+%c</code>” and
|
|
“<code>%'char'%+%c</code>” to check that the
|
|
final character is really “<code>c</code>”,
|
|
avoiding a case in icl6404 which cannot be converted to
|
|
termcap.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>in <code>_nc_tic_expand</code> and
|
|
<code>_nc_infotocap</code>, improved string-length check when
|
|
deciding whether to use “<code>^X</code>” or
|
|
“<code>\xxx</code>” format for control
|
|
characters, to make the output of <span class=
|
|
"part-name">tic</span>/<span class="part-name">infocmp</span>
|
|
more predictable.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>limited termcap “<code>%d</code>” width to 2
|
|
digits on input, and use “<code>%2</code>” in
|
|
preference to “<code>%02</code>” on output.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>correct terminfo/termcap conversion of
|
|
“<code>%02</code>” and
|
|
“<code>%03</code>” into
|
|
“<code>%2</code>” and
|
|
“<code>%3</code>”; the result repeated the last
|
|
character.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
|
|
<h4><a name="h4-examples" id="h4-examples">Examples</a></h4>
|
|
|
|
<p>Along with the library and utilities, many improvements were
|
|
made to the <a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses-examples.html">ncurses-examples</a>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>These changes were made to demonstrate new extensions in
|
|
<span class="main-name">ncurses</span>:</p>
|
|
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>add <span class="part-name">demo_new_pair</span> program,
|
|
to demonstrate <a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/new_pair.3x.html#h3-alloc_pair">
|
|
<code>alloc_pair</code></a>, <a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/new_pair.3x.html#h3-find_pair">
|
|
<code>find_pair</code></a> and <a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/new_pair.3x.html#h3-free_pair">
|
|
<code>free_pair</code></a> functions.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>This program iterates over the possible color
|
|
combinations, allocating or initializing color pairs. For
|
|
best results, choose screen-width dividing evenly into the
|
|
number of colors. e.g.,</p>
|
|
|
|
<blockquote>
|
|
<table summary="sample layouts for demo_new_pair">
|
|
<tr>
|
|
<td><code>32x64,32x128</code> </td>
|
|
|
|
<td>256 colors</td>
|
|
</tr>
|
|
|
|
<tr>
|
|
<td><code>24x44,24x88</code></td>
|
|
|
|
<td>88 colors</td>
|
|
</tr>
|
|
|
|
<tr>
|
|
<td><code>32x64,24x128</code></td>
|
|
|
|
<td>16 colors</td>
|
|
</tr>
|
|
</table>
|
|
</blockquote>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>add <span class="part-name">extended_color</span> program,
|
|
like the older <span class="part-name">color_set</span>
|
|
program, but using the extended color functions, with and
|
|
without the SP-functions interface.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>add <span class="part-name">picsmap</span> program to fill
|
|
in some testing issues not met by <span class=
|
|
"part-name">dots</span>, using this as the third example in a
|
|
comparison of the <a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses-slang.html#compare_picsmap">
|
|
ncurses versus slang</a> libraries.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>The program can directly read X bitmap and pixmap files,
|
|
displaying a picture. It can read other image files using
|
|
<span class="part-name">ImageMagick</span>'s <span class=
|
|
"part-name">convert</span> program to translate the image
|
|
into text.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>For 16-, 88- and 256-color terminal descriptions,
|
|
<span class="part-name">picsmap</span> can load a palette
|
|
file which tells it which color palette entries to use. For
|
|
direct-colors, the terminal descriptions use the
|
|
<code>RGB</code> extension capability.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
|
|
<p>There are other new example programs and a few scripts:</p>
|
|
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>add <span class="part-name">dots_xcurses</span> program to
|
|
illustrate a different approach used for extended colors
|
|
which can be contrasted with <span class=
|
|
"part-name">dots_curses</span>.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>add <span class="part-name">list_keys</span> program show
|
|
function keys for one or more terminal descriptions. It uses
|
|
<span class="main-name">ncurses'</span>s convention of
|
|
modifiers for special keys, based on xterm.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>add <span class="part-name">padview</span> program, to
|
|
compare pads with direct updates in the <span class=
|
|
"part-name">view</span> program.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>add <span class="part-name">sp_tinfo</span> program to
|
|
exercise the SP-functions extension of the low-level terminfo
|
|
library.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>add test-programs for <code>termattrs</code> and
|
|
<code>term_attrs</code> functions.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>add <span class="part-name">test_sgr</span> program to
|
|
exercise all combinations of the sgr capability.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>add <span class="part-name">tput-colorcube</span> demo
|
|
script, imitating xterm's 88- and 256-color scripts using
|
|
<span class="part-name">tput</span>.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>add <span class="part-name">tput-initc</span> script to
|
|
demonstrate how <span class="part-name">tput</span> may be
|
|
used to initialize a color palette from a data file.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
|
|
<p>A variety of improvements were made to existing programs, both
|
|
new features as well as options added to make the set of programs
|
|
more consistent.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>The <span class="part-name">ncurses</span> program is the
|
|
largest; a proportionately large number of changes were made to
|
|
it:</p>
|
|
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>modify a/A screens to make exiting on an escape character
|
|
depend on the start of keypad and timeout modes, to allow
|
|
better testing of function-keys.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>add “<code>t</code>” toggle for
|
|
<code>notimeout</code> function.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>modify layout of b/B screens to allow for additional
|
|
annotation on the right margin; some terminals with partial
|
|
support did not display well.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>modify c/C screens to allow for extended color pairs.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>add z/Z <em>zoom</em> feature to make extended color pairs
|
|
easier to test.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>modify test-screens to take advantage of wide screens,
|
|
reducing the number of lines used for 88- and 256-colors.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>modify “<code>d</code>” edit-color screen to
|
|
optionally read xterm color palette directly from terminal,
|
|
as well as handling <code>KEY_RESIZE</code> and
|
|
screen-repainting with control/L and control/R.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>add examples to “<code>F</code>” screen for
|
|
<code>WACS_D_PLUS</code> and <code>WACS_T_PLUS</code>.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>improve “<code>g</code>” screen, correcting
|
|
ifdef which made the legend not reflect changes to keypad-
|
|
and scroll-modes. Added check for return-value of
|
|
<code>putwin</code>.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>make “<code>s</code>” test easier to
|
|
understand which subtests are available</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>add a corresponding “<code>S</code>”
|
|
wide-character overlap test-screen.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>add “<code>v</code>” screen to show
|
|
<code>baudrate</code> and other values.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
|
|
<p>These changes were made to the other examples:</p>
|
|
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>modify <span class="part-name">blue</span> program to use
|
|
Unicode values for card-glyphs when available, as well as
|
|
improving the check for CP437 and CP850.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>improve <span class="part-name">demo_menus</span> program,
|
|
allowing mouse-click on the menu-headers to switch the active
|
|
menu. This requires a new extension option
|
|
<code>O_MOUSE_MENU</code> to tell the menu driver to put
|
|
mouse events which do not apply to the active menu back into
|
|
the queue so that the application can handle the event.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>correct logic in <span class=
|
|
"part-name">demo_terminfo</span> program for
|
|
“<code>-f</code>” option</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>modify <span class="part-name">ditto</span> program to
|
|
allow <code>$XTERM_PROG</code> environment variable to
|
|
override "xterm" as the name of the program to run in the
|
|
threaded configuration.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>add several options to the “<em>dots</em>”
|
|
test-programs.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>modify <span class="part-name">filter</span> program:</p>
|
|
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>illustrate an alternative to <code>getnstr</code>, that
|
|
polls for input while updating a clock on the right margin
|
|
as well as responding to window size-changes.</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>adapt logic used in <a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/dialog/"><span class=
|
|
"main-name">dialog</span></a> <a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/dialog/manpage/dialog.html#h3-Common-Options">
|
|
“<code>--keep-tite</code>” option</a> for
|
|
<span class="part-name">filter</span> program as the "-a"
|
|
option. When set, <span class="part-name">filter</span>
|
|
attempts to suppress the alternate screen.</li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>modify <span class="part-name">knight</span> program to
|
|
provide the "slow" solution for small screens using
|
|
“<code>R</code>”, noting that Warnsdorf's method
|
|
is easily done with “<code>a</code>”.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>modify the <span class="part-name">savescreen</span>
|
|
program to add test patterns that exercise 88-, 256-, etc.,
|
|
colors.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>add options to <span class="part-name">test_arrays</span>,
|
|
for selecting termcap vs terminfo, etc.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>modify the <span class="part-name">view</span>
|
|
program:</p>
|
|
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>expand tabs using the ncurses library rather than in
|
|
the test-program.</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>eliminate the “<code>-n</code>” option by
|
|
simply reading the whole file.</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>implement page up/down commands.</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>remove the very old <code>SIGWINCH</code> example; just
|
|
use <code>KEY_RESIZE</code>.</li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>improve animation in <span class="part-name">xmas</span>
|
|
program by adding a time-delay in <code>blinkit</code>.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>modify several test-programs which call
|
|
<code>use_default_colors</code> to consistently do this only
|
|
if the “<code>-d</code>” option is given.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>modify the install-rule for ncurses-examples to put the
|
|
data files in the data directory, e.g.,
|
|
<code>/usr/share/ncurses-examples</code>.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>modify several test programs to use new
|
|
<code>popup_msgs</code> function, adapted from the
|
|
help-screen used in the <code>edit_field</code> program.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>modify test data for xterm palettes to use the newer
|
|
color4/color12 values.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>improve the <span class="part-name">tracemunch</span>
|
|
script:</p>
|
|
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>show screenXX pointers and thread identifiers as
|
|
names.</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>chang address-parameters of <code>add_wch</code>,
|
|
<code>color_content</code> and <code>pair_content</code> to
|
|
dummy parameters.</li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
</li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
|
|
<h3><a name="h3-database" id="h3-database">Terminal
|
|
database</a></h3>
|
|
|
|
<p>There are several new terminal descriptions:</p>
|
|
|
|
<blockquote>
|
|
<p><code>dumb-emacs-ansi</code>, <code>dvtm</code>,
|
|
<code>dvtm-256color</code>, <code>fbterm</code>,
|
|
<code>iterm2</code>, <code>linux-m1</code> <em>minitel
|
|
entries</em>, <code>putty-noapp</code>, <code>viewdata</code>,
|
|
and <code>vt100+4bsd</code> <em>building-block</em>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p><code>xterm+noalt</code>, <code>xterm+titlestack</code>,
|
|
<code>xterm+alt1049</code>, <code>xterm+alt+title</code>
|
|
<em>building blocks</em> and <code>xterm+direct</code>,
|
|
<code>xterm+indirect</code>, <code>xterm-direct</code>. from
|
|
<a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/xterm/xterm.log.html#xterm_331">xterm
|
|
patch #331</a>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>several other “<code>-direct</code>”
|
|
descriptions to address the differences of other terminal
|
|
emulators versus <code>xterm-direct</code>.</p>
|
|
</blockquote>
|
|
|
|
<p>There are many changes to existing terminal descriptions. Some
|
|
were updates to several descriptions:</p>
|
|
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>use <code>xterm+sm+1006</code> in several terminal
|
|
descriptions which were validated as supporting the extended
|
|
mouse feature for their respective terminal emulators.</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>corrected <em>sgr</em>/<em>sgr0</em> strings in a few cases
|
|
reported by <span class="part-name">tic</span>, making those
|
|
correspond to the non-<em>sgr</em> settings where they differ,
|
|
but otherwise use ECMA-48 consistently.</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>add 0.1sec mandatory delay to <em>flash</em> capabilities
|
|
using the VT100 reverse-video control</li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
|
|
<p>while others affected specific descriptions. These were
|
|
retested, to take into account new/undocumented changes by their
|
|
developers:</p>
|
|
|
|
<blockquote>
|
|
<p><code>iterm</code>, <code>minitel</code>, <code>st</code>,
|
|
<code>viewdata</code>, <code>nsterm</code></p>
|
|
</blockquote>
|
|
|
|
<p>while these are specific fixes based on user reports, or
|
|
warnings from <span class="part-name">tic</span>:</p>
|
|
|
|
<dl>
|
|
<dt><a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#toc-_A_N_S_I__S_Y_S__I_S_O_6429__E_C_M_A-48__Capabilities">
|
|
<code>ansi</code> <em>building blocks</em></a></dt>
|
|
|
|
<dd>
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>restored <em>rmir</em>/<em>smir</em> in
|
|
<code>ansi+idc</code> to better match original
|
|
<code>ansiterm+idc</code>, add alias
|
|
<code>ansiterm</code></li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
</dd>
|
|
|
|
<dt><a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-icl6404">
|
|
<code>icl6402</code></a></dt>
|
|
|
|
<dd>
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>corrected missing comma-separator between string
|
|
capabilities in <code>icl6402</code> and
|
|
<code>m2-nam</code></li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
</dd>
|
|
|
|
<dt><a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-interix">
|
|
<code>interix</code></a></dt>
|
|
|
|
<dd>
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>updated using <span class="main-name">tack</span> and
|
|
SFU with Windows 7 Ultimate.</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>used <code>^?</code> for <em>kdch1</em></li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
</dd>
|
|
|
|
<dt><a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#toc-_Linux_consoles">
|
|
<code>linux</code></a></dt>
|
|
|
|
<dd>
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>made <code>linux3.0</code> entry the default
|
|
<strong><code>linux</code></strong> entry</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>modify <code>linux2.6</code> entry to improve
|
|
line-drawing so that the <code>linux3.0</code> entry can be
|
|
used in non-UTF-8 mode</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>omitted selection of ISO-8859-1 for G0 in enacs
|
|
capability from linux2.6 entry, to avoid conflict with the
|
|
user-defined mapping. The reset feature uses ISO-8859-1 in
|
|
any case.</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>modify <em>flash</em> capability for <code>linux</code>
|
|
and <code>wyse</code> entries to put the delay between the
|
|
reverse/normal escapes rather than after</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>modify <code>linux-16color</code> to not mask dim,
|
|
standout or reverse with the <em>ncv</em> capability</li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
</dd>
|
|
|
|
<dt><a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#toc-_Open_B_S_D_consoles">
|
|
<code>pccon</code> <em>entries</em></a></dt>
|
|
|
|
<dd>
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>fixed some inconsistencies in the
|
|
<code><em>pccon*</em></code> entries</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>add bold to <code>pccon+sgr+acs</code> and
|
|
<code>pccon-base</code></li>
|
|
|
|
<li>add keys f12-f124 to <code>pccon+keys</code></li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
</dd>
|
|
|
|
<dt><a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#toc-_Tmux">
|
|
<code>tmux</code></a></dt>
|
|
|
|
<dd>
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>corrected <em>sgr</em> string, which used
|
|
<code>screen</code>'s "standout" code rather than the
|
|
standard code.</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>add settings corresponding to <code>xterm-keys</code>
|
|
option to reflect upcoming change to make that option
|
|
<em>"on"</em> by default</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>uncanceled <em>Ms</em></li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
</dd>
|
|
|
|
<dt><a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#toc-_D_E_C__V_T100_and_compatibles">
|
|
<code>vt100</code></a></dt>
|
|
|
|
<dd>
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>modify <code>vt100</code> <em>rs2</em> string to reset
|
|
vt52 mode and scrolling regions</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>corrected <em>rs2</em> string for
|
|
<code>vt100-nam</code></li>
|
|
|
|
<li>made minor fixes for <code>vt100+4bsd</code>, e.g.,
|
|
delay in <em>sgr</em> for consistency</li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
</dd>
|
|
|
|
<dt><a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#toc-_G_N_O_M_E__V_T_E_">
|
|
<code>vte</code></a></dt>
|
|
|
|
<dd>
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>moved SGR 24 and 27 from <code>vte-2014</code> to
|
|
<code>vte-2012</code></li>
|
|
|
|
<li>add a few capabilities fixed in recent <em>VTE</em>
|
|
development</li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
</dd>
|
|
|
|
<dt><a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#toc-_X_T_E_R_M">
|
|
<code>xterm</code></a></dt>
|
|
|
|
<dd>
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>add <em>rep</em> to <code>xterm-new</code>, available
|
|
since <a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/xterm/xterm.log.html#xterm_32">
|
|
late 1996</a>.</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>modify <code>xterm+256color</code> and
|
|
<code>xterm+256setaf</code> to use correct number of color
|
|
pairs.</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>modify <em>rs1</em> for <code>xterm-16color</code>,
|
|
<code>xterm-88color</code> and <code>xterm-256color</code>
|
|
to reset palette using <em>oc</em> string as in
|
|
<code>linux</code> entry.</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>add <em>rs1</em> capability to
|
|
<code>xterm-256color</code></li>
|
|
|
|
<li>add <em>oc</em> capability to
|
|
<code>xterm+256color</code>, allowing palette reset for
|
|
<span class="main-name">xterm</span></li>
|
|
|
|
<li>add <em>op</em> to <code>xterm+256setaf</code></li>
|
|
|
|
<li>modify <code>xterm-r5</code>, <code>xterm-r6</code> and
|
|
<code>xterm-xf86-v32</code> to use <code>xterm+kbs</code>
|
|
to match <a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/xterm/xterm.log.html#xterm_272">
|
|
xterm #272</a>, reflecting packager's changes</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>used ANSI reply for <em>u8</em> in
|
|
<code>xterm-new</code>, to reflect vt220-style responses
|
|
that could be returned.</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>made <code>xterm-pcolor</code> <em>sgr</em> consistent
|
|
with other capabilities</li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
</dd>
|
|
</dl>
|
|
|
|
<p>A few entries use extensions (user-defined terminal
|
|
capabilities):</p>
|
|
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>add <em>rmxx</em>/<em>smxx</em> ECMA-48 strikeout extension
|
|
to <code>tmux</code> and <code>xterm-basic</code></li>
|
|
|
|
<li>used <em>RGB</em> capability in new <em>*-direct</em>
|
|
entries to denote direct-color feature.</li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
|
|
<h3><a name="h3-documentation" id=
|
|
"h3-documentation">Documentation</a></h3>
|
|
|
|
<p>As usual, this release</p>
|
|
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>improves documentation by describing new features,</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>attempts to improve the description of features which
|
|
users have found confusing</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>fills in overlooked descriptions of features which were
|
|
described in the <a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/NEWS.html">NEWS</a>
|
|
file but treated sketchily in manual pages.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
|
|
<p>In particular,</p>
|
|
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>Since the underlying features for <a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/clear.1.html#h2-HISTORY">
|
|
<span class="part-name">tset</span></a>, <a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/clear.1.html#h2-HISTORY">
|
|
<span class="part-name">tput</span></a>, and <a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/clear.1.html#h2-HISTORY">
|
|
<span class="part-name">clear</span></a> have been better
|
|
integrated, the documentation now includes information on how
|
|
those tools evolved.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>In addition to explaining the improved integration of the
|
|
tools, the manual pages made it easier to see how the tools
|
|
are similar and how they are different.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>The <code>addch</code> manual page has additional
|
|
information on <a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_addch.3x.html#h2-PORTABILITY">
|
|
portability</a> and differences from other
|
|
implementations.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>The discussion of color-pairs in the <em>attributes</em>
|
|
manual page is improved in its <a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_attr.3x.html#h2-HISTORY">
|
|
history section</a>.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>The documentation of the <code>chtype</code>,
|
|
<code>cchar_t</code> types and the attribute values which can
|
|
be stored in those types, in particular the <a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_attr.3x.html#h2-HISTORY">
|
|
history</a> and <a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_attr.3x.html#h2-PORTABILITY">
|
|
portability</a> sections of the <em>attributes</em> manual
|
|
page, has been improved.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>improve discussion of <a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_mouse.3x.html#h2-PORTABILITY">
|
|
portability</a> in the <em>mouse</em> manual.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>The <em>pad</em> manual page has a section on the <a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_pad.3x.html#h2-PORTABILITY">
|
|
origin and portability</a> of pads.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>Differences between SVr4 and X/Open Curses soft-keys are
|
|
discussed in a new section on <a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_slk.3x.html#h2-PORTABILITY">
|
|
portability</a>.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>There are updated/improved notes on portability in the
|
|
<a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/resizeterm.3x.html#h2-PORTABILITY">
|
|
resizeterm</a> and <a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/wresize.3x.html#h2-PORTABILITY">
|
|
wresize</a> manual pages.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
|
|
<p>In addition to providing background information to explain
|
|
these features and show how they evolved, there are corrections,
|
|
clarifications, etc.:</p>
|
|
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>add note in the <a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_addch.3x.html#h3-ACS-Symbols">
|
|
<em>addch</em></a> manual about line-drawing when it depends
|
|
upon UTF-8.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>improve discussion of line-drawing characters in the
|
|
<a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_add_wch.3x.html">
|
|
<em>add_wch</em></a> manual.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>explain in <a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/clear.1.html#h2-DESCRIPTION">
|
|
<span class="part-name">clear</span></a>'s manual page that
|
|
it writes to the standard output.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>improve description of <a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_initscr.3x.html#h3-endwin">
|
|
<em>endwin</em></a>.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>improve discussion of field validation in the <a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/form_driver.3x.html">
|
|
<em>form driver</em></a> manual page.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>clarify the use of <code>wint_t</code> vs
|
|
<code>wchar_t</code> in <a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_get_wstr.3x.html#h2-RETURN-VALUE">
|
|
<em>get_wstr</em></a> manual page.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>clarify in the <a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_getch.3x.html#h3-Predefined-key-codes">
|
|
<em>getch</em></a> manual that the keypad mode affects an
|
|
application's ability to read <code>KEY_MOUSE</code> codes,
|
|
but does not affect <code>KEY_RESIZE</code>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>trim some obsolete/incorrect wording about
|
|
<code>EINTR</code> from the <em>getch</em> manual page</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>improve manual pages for <a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_getch.3x.html#h3-Keypad-Mode">
|
|
<em>getch</em></a> and <a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_get_wch.3x.html#h2-DESCRIPTION">
|
|
<em>get_wch</em></a> to point out that they might return
|
|
user-defined values which have no predefined names in
|
|
<code><curses.h></code></p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>improve description of the <code>-R</code> option in the
|
|
<a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/infocmp.1m.html"><span class="part-name">
|
|
infocmp</span></a> manual page</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>clarify in the <a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/resizeterm.3x.html#h2-NOTES">
|
|
<em>resizeterm</em></a> manual page how
|
|
<code>KEY_RESIZE</code> is pushed onto the input stream.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>document return value of <a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_extend.3x#h2-RETURN-VALUE">
|
|
<code>use_extended_names</code></a></p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>document differences in <a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_variables.3x.html#h2-PORTABILITY">
|
|
<code>ESCDELAY</code></a> versus AIX's implementation in the
|
|
<em>variables</em> manual page.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>The <code>_nc_free_tinfo</code> function is now documented
|
|
in the <a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_memleaks.3x.html">
|
|
<em>memory-leaks</em></a> manual page, because it could be
|
|
used in <span class="main-name">tack</span> for memory-leak
|
|
checking.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>add a note to the <a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/tic.1m.html"><span class="part-name">
|
|
tic</span></a> manual page about -W versus -f options.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>improve <em>terminfo manual</em> description of <a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/terminfo.5.html#h3-Terminfo-Capabilities-Syntax">
|
|
terminfo syntax</a>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>improve terminfo manual page discussion of <a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/terminfo.5.html#h3-Line-Graphics">
|
|
control- and graphics- characters</a>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>improve <a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/terminfo.5.html#h3-Color-Handling">
|
|
color-handling</a> section in terminfo manual page</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>clarify description in <a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/tput.1.html#h2-PORTABILITY">
|
|
<span class="part-name">tput</span></a> manual page regarding
|
|
support for termcap names</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>update <a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/tput.1.html#h3-Aliases">
|
|
<span class="part-name">tput</span></a> manual page to
|
|
reflect changes to manipulate terminal modes by sharing
|
|
functions with <span class="part-name">tset</span>.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>clarify in manual pages that the optional verbose option
|
|
level of <a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/tic.1m.html#h2-OPTIONS">
|
|
<span class="part-name">tic</span></a> and <a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/infocmp.1m.html#h3-Other-Options">
|
|
<span class="part-name">infocmp</span></a> is available only
|
|
when <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> is configured for
|
|
tracing.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>improve manual page description of <a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/tset.1.html"><em>tset/reset</em></a>
|
|
versus window-size.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>improve description of <a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_termcap.3x.html#h3-FORMATTING-CAPABILITIES">
|
|
<em>tgoto</em></a> parameters</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
|
|
<p>There are new manual pages:</p>
|
|
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li><a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/user_caps.5.html"><em>
|
|
user_caps</em></a> documents the terminfo extensions used by
|
|
<span class="main-name">ncurses</span>.</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p><a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/scr_dump.5.html"><em>
|
|
scr_dump</em></a> documents the screen-dump format.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
|
|
<p>Some of the improvements are more subtle, relating to the way
|
|
the information is presented:</p>
|
|
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>Made minor fixes to manpage <em>NAME/SYNOPSIS</em>
|
|
sections to consistently use rule that either all functions
|
|
which are prototyped in <em>SYNOPSIS</em> are listed in the
|
|
<em>NAME</em> section, or the manual-page name is the sole
|
|
item listed in the <em>NAME</em> section. The latter is used
|
|
to reduce clutter, e.g., for the top-level library manual
|
|
pages as well as for certain feature-pages such as <a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_sp_funcs.3x.html">
|
|
<em>SP-funcs</em></a> and <a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_threads.3x.html">
|
|
<em>threading</em></a>.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>improve manual pages for utilities with respect to POSIX
|
|
versus X/Open Curses.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>improve organization of the <a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_attr.3x.html"><em>
|
|
attributes</em></a> and <a href=
|
|
"/ncurses/man/curs_color.3x.html"><em>color</em></a> manual
|
|
pages.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
|
|
<h3><a name="h3-bug-fixes" id="h3-bug-fixes">Interesting
|
|
bug-fixes</a></h3>
|
|
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>modify <span class="part-name">toe</span> to not exit if
|
|
unable to read a terminal description, e.g., if there is a
|
|
permission problem.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>correct 20100515 change for weak signals versus
|
|
sigprocmask</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>work around Ada tool-breakage in Debian 9 and later by
|
|
invoking <code>gprconfig</code> to specify the C compiler to be
|
|
used by <code>gnatmake</code>, and conditionally suppressing
|
|
<code>Library_Options</code> line for static libraries.</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>There were, as well, several bug-fixes to handle illegal
|
|
input for <span class="part-name">tic</span>. Because those
|
|
did not correspond to useful terminal descriptions, most
|
|
users are unaffected.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
|
|
<h3><a name="h3-config-config" id=
|
|
"h3-config-config">Configuration changes</a></h3>
|
|
|
|
<h4><a name="h4-config-major" id="h4-config-major">Major
|
|
changes</a></h4>
|
|
|
|
<p>This release provides a new binary format for terminal
|
|
descriptions that use extended numeric capabilities. Applications
|
|
built with the wide-character <em>ncursesw</em> library can use
|
|
these extended numbers.</p>
|
|
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>This includes utilities such as <span class=
|
|
"part-name">tic</span> and <span class=
|
|
"part-name">infocmp</span>, because (as noted in <a href=
|
|
"#h4-new-library"><em>New features</em></a>), the feature
|
|
relies upon an extension to the low-level <em>tinfo</em>
|
|
library.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>A few software packagers use a configuration option of
|
|
<span class="main-name">ncurses</span> which allows the
|
|
low-level <em>tinfo</em> library to be shared between the
|
|
high-level <em>ncurses</em> and <em>ncursesw</em> libraries.
|
|
This new feature was designed to work in that configuration
|
|
as well.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
|
|
<p>Other applications (i.e., using the 8-bit <em>ncurses</em>
|
|
library) which read the extended terminal descriptions see those
|
|
numeric capabilities set to the maximum value for a signed 16-bit
|
|
number.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Older versions of <span class="main-name">ncurses</span>'
|
|
<span class="part-name">tic</span> accept out-of-range numeric
|
|
capabilities, storing those as the maximum value for a signed
|
|
16-bit number. Other implementations of curses (mentioned in the
|
|
discussion of <a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses-slang.html#compare_picsmap">
|
|
<span class="part-name">picsmap</span></a>) give zero for these
|
|
out-of-range capabilities.</p>
|
|
|
|
<h4><a name="h4-config-options" id=
|
|
"h4-config-options">Configuration options</a></h4>
|
|
|
|
<p>These changes provide support for <span class=
|
|
"main-name">tack</span> 1.08, released in <a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/tack/CHANGES.html#index-t20170726">
|
|
July 2017</a>:</p>
|
|
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>add <code>--without-tack</code> configure option to refine
|
|
<code>--with-progs</code> configure option. Normally
|
|
<span class="main-name">tack</span> is built outside the
|
|
<span class="main-name">ncurses</span> tree, but a few
|
|
packagers combine it during the build. If
|
|
<code>term_entry.h</code> is installed, there is no advantage
|
|
to in-tree builds.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>adjust configure-script to define
|
|
<code>HAVE_CURSES_DATA_BOOLNAMES</code> symbol needed for
|
|
<span class="main-name">tack</span> 1.08 when built in-tree.
|
|
Rather than relying upon internal "_nc_" functions,
|
|
<span class="main-name">tack</span> now uses the boolean,
|
|
number and string capability name-arrays provided by
|
|
<span class="main-name">ncurses</span> and SVr4 Unix curses.
|
|
It still uses <code>term_entry.h</code> for the definitions
|
|
of the extended capability arrays.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>add dependency upon ncurses_cfg.h to <span class=
|
|
"part-name">tic</span>'s header-files; any program using
|
|
<span class="part-name">tic</span>-library will have to
|
|
supply this file. Legacy <span class="main-name">tack</span>
|
|
versions supply this file; ongoing <span class=
|
|
"main-name">tack</span> development has dropped the
|
|
dependency upon <span class="part-name">tic</span>-library
|
|
and new releases will not be affected.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
|
|
<p>Other changes to the configure-script and generated files
|
|
include</p>
|
|
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>add configure options to disable checks for form, menu and
|
|
panel libraries so that ncurses-examples can be built with
|
|
non-SVr4 curses implementations.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>add configure option <code>--enable-opaque-curses</code>
|
|
for <em>ncurses</em> library and similar options for the
|
|
other libraries.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>add configure option <code>--disable-wattr-macros</code>
|
|
for use in cases where one wants to use the same headers for
|
|
ncurses5/ncurses6 development, by suppressing the
|
|
<em>wattr*</em> macros which differ due to the introduction
|
|
of extended colors</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>modify configure macro for shared-library rules to use
|
|
<code>-Wl,-rpath</code> rather than <code>-rpath</code> to
|
|
work around a bug in <span class="part-name">scons</span></p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>improve ncurses-examples' configure script to define as
|
|
needed <code>NCURSES_WIDECHAR</code> for platforms where
|
|
<code>_XOPEN_SOURCE_EXTENDED</code> does not work. Also
|
|
modified the test program to ensure that if building with
|
|
<span class="main-name">ncurses</span>, that the
|
|
<code>cchar_t</code> type is checked, since that is normally
|
|
(since <a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/NEWS.html#t20111030">20111030</a>)
|
|
ifdef'd depending on this test.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>modify configure script to handle the case where
|
|
<span class="part-name">tic</span>-library is renamed, but
|
|
the <code>--with-debug</code> option is used by itself
|
|
without normal or shared libraries</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>modify editing script which generates resulting.map to
|
|
work with the clang configuration on recent FreeBSD, which
|
|
gives an error on an empty "local" section.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>improve configure check for setting the
|
|
<code>WILDCARD_SYMS</code> variable; on ppc64 the variable is
|
|
in the <strong><em>Data</em></strong> section rather than
|
|
<strong><em>Text</em></strong>.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>correct result of configure option
|
|
<code>--without-fallbacks</code>, which caused FALLBACK_LIST
|
|
to be set to "no"</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>modify <code>--with-pkg-config-libdir</code> option to
|
|
make it possible to install “.pc” files even if
|
|
<span class="part-name">pkg-config</span> is not found. Limit
|
|
this change, to suppress the actual install if it is not
|
|
overridden to a valid directory at install time.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>disallow “no” as a possible value for
|
|
<code>--with-shlib-version</code> option, overlooked in
|
|
cleanup-changes for <a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/NEWS.html#t20000708">20000708</a>.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
|
|
<h3><a name="h3-portability" id=
|
|
"h3-portability">Portability</a></h3>
|
|
|
|
<p>Many of the portability changes are implemented via the
|
|
configure script:</p>
|
|
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>improve configure script's <code>CF_CC_ENV_FLAGS</code>
|
|
macro to allow for compiler wrappers such as <span class=
|
|
"part-name">ccache</span>. This change moves only the
|
|
preprocessor, optimization and warning flags to
|
|
<code>CPPFLAGS</code> and <code>CFLAGS</code>, leaving the
|
|
residue in <code>CC</code>. That happens to work for
|
|
<span class="part-name">gcc</span>'s various
|
|
“model” options, but may require tuning for other
|
|
compilers.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>modify ncurses-examples' configure script to use
|
|
<span class="part-name">pkg-config</span> for the extra
|
|
form/menu/panel libraries, to be more consistent with the
|
|
handling of the curses/ncurses library.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>add configuration checks to build with <a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses-netbsd.html">NetBSD
|
|
curses</a>, which for example lacks <a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_util.3x.html#h3-use_env">
|
|
<code>use_env</code></a>.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>change ncurses-examples to use <code>attr_t</code> vs
|
|
<code>chtype</code> to follow X/Open documentation more
|
|
closely since Solaris xpg4-curses uses different values for
|
|
<code>WA_<em>xxx</em></code> vs <code>A_<em>xxx</em></code>
|
|
that rely on attr_t being an unsigned short. Tru64 aka OSF1,
|
|
HPUX, AIX did as <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> does,
|
|
equating the two sets.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>modify several test programs to reflect that <span class=
|
|
"main-name">ncurses</span> honors existing signal handlers in
|
|
initscr, while other implementations do not.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>add configure check for <code>openpty</code> to
|
|
ncurses-examples' configure script, for <span class=
|
|
"part-name">ditto</span>.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>improve check for working <code>poll</code> function by
|
|
using <code>posix_openpt</code> as a fallback in case there
|
|
is no valid terminal on the standard input</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>modify ncurses-examples' configure script to check for
|
|
<span class="part-name">pthread</span> dependency of
|
|
<em>ncursest</em> or <em>ncursestw</em> library when building
|
|
the <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> examples, e.g., in
|
|
case weak symbols are used.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>add checks in ncurses-examples' configure script for some
|
|
functions neither in 4.3BSD curses, nor based on X/Open
|
|
Curses:</p>
|
|
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>modify a loop limit in firework.c to work around
|
|
absense of limit checks in some libraries.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>fill the last row of a window with
|
|
“<code>?</code>” in firstlast if waddch does
|
|
not return <code>ERR</code> on the lower-right
|
|
corner.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>build-fixes for the Portland Group (PGI) compilers</p>
|
|
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>accept whitespace in <span class=
|
|
"part-name">sed</span> expression for generating
|
|
expanded.c</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>modify configure check that g++ compiler warnings are
|
|
not used.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>add configure check for -fPIC option needed for shared
|
|
libraries.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>modify configure script for clang as used on FreeBSD, to
|
|
work around clang's differences in exit codes vs gcc.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>fixes for configure/build using clang on OSX</p>
|
|
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>do not redefine “inline” in
|
|
<code>ncurses_cfg.h</code>; this was originally to solve
|
|
a problem with gcc/g++, but is aggravated by clang's
|
|
misuse of symbols to pretend it is gcc.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>add braces to configure script to prevent unwanted
|
|
addition of “<code>-lstdc++</code>” option to
|
|
the <code>CXXLIBS</code> symbol.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>improve/update test-program used for checking
|
|
existence of stdc++ library.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>if <code>$CXXLIBS</code> is set, the linkage test uses
|
|
that in addition to <code>$LIBS</code>.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>fixes for OS/2:</p>
|
|
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>use button instead of <code>kbuf[0]</code> in
|
|
EMX-specific part of <code>lib_mouse.c</code></p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>support building with <span class=
|
|
"part-name">libtool</span> on OS/2</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>use stdc++ library with OS/2 kLIBC</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>clear configure script's <code>cf_XOPEN_SOURCE</code>
|
|
for OS/2, to work with its header files</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>add “newer” baudrate symbols to the <a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/curs_termattrs.3x.html#h3-baudrate">
|
|
<code>baudrate</code></a> function in the ncurses library as
|
|
well as to a corresponding table in <span class=
|
|
"part-name">tset</span>.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>modify ncurses-examples <span class=
|
|
"part-name">savescreen</span> to work with AIX and HPUX.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>define <code>WIN32_LEAN_AND_MEAN</code> for MinGW port,
|
|
making builds faster.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>add a configure check for <em>wcwidth</em> versus the
|
|
<span class="main-name">ncurses</span> line-drawing
|
|
characters, to use in special-casing systems such as Solaris.
|
|
Solaris, however, requires a special case that maps Unicode
|
|
line-drawing characters into the acsc string for non-Unicode
|
|
locales. Solaris also has a misconfigured wcwidth which marks
|
|
all of the line drawing characters as double-width.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>string-hacks (non-standard):</p>
|
|
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>fix configure script to record when
|
|
<code>strlcat</code> is found on OpenBSD.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>add <code>--enable-string-hacks</code> option to
|
|
ncurses-examples' configure script.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>completed string-hacks for <em>sprintf</em>, etc.,
|
|
including the ncurses-examples programs.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>make <code>--enable-string-hacks</code> option work
|
|
with Debian by checking for the "bsd" library and its
|
|
associated "<bsd/string.h>" header.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>workaround for Debian's antique/unmaintained version of
|
|
mawk:</p>
|
|
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>see Debian #65617, which was fixed in <span class=
|
|
"main-name">mawk</span>'s upstream releases in <a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/mawk/CHANGES.html#t20090727">
|
|
2009</a>.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>related fixes when building link_test.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
</li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
<hr>
|
|
|
|
<h2><a name="h2-features" id="h2-features">Features of
|
|
<span class="main-name">ncurses</span></a></h2>
|
|
|
|
<p>The <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> package is fully
|
|
upward-compatible with SVr4 (System V Release 4) curses:</p>
|
|
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>All of the SVr4 calls have been implemented (and are
|
|
documented).</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p><span class="main-name">ncurses</span> supports all of the
|
|
for SVr4 curses features including keyboard mapping, color,
|
|
forms-drawing with ACS characters, and automatic recognition
|
|
of keypad and function keys.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p><span class="main-name">ncurses</span> provides these SVr4
|
|
add-on libraries (not part of X/Open Curses):</p>
|
|
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>the panels library, supporting a stack of windows with
|
|
backing store.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>the menus library, supporting a uniform but flexible
|
|
interface for menu programming.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>the form library, supporting data collection through
|
|
on-screen forms.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p><span class="main-name">ncurses</span>'s terminal database
|
|
is fully compatible with that used by SVr4 curses.</p>
|
|
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p><span class="main-name">ncurses</span> supports
|
|
user-defined capabilities which it can see, but which are
|
|
hidden from SVr4 curses applications using the
|
|
<em>same</em> terminal database.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>It can be optionally configured to match the format
|
|
used in related systems such as AIX and Tru64.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>Alternatively, <span class="main-name">ncurses</span>
|
|
can be configured to use hashed databases rather than the
|
|
directory of files used by SVr4 curses.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>The <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> utilities have
|
|
options to allow you to filter terminfo entries for use with
|
|
less capable <em>curses</em>/<em>terminfo</em> versions such
|
|
as the HP/UX and AIX ports.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
|
|
<p>The <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> package also has
|
|
many useful extensions over SVr4:</p>
|
|
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>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).</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>Unlike SVr3 curses, <span class="main-name">ncurses</span>
|
|
can write to the rightmost-bottommost corner of the screen if
|
|
your terminal has an insert-character capability.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>Ada95 and C++ bindings.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>Support for mouse event reporting with X Window xterm and
|
|
FreeBSD and OS/2 console windows.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>Extended mouse support via Alessandro Rubini's gpm
|
|
package.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>The function <code>wresize</code> allows you to resize
|
|
windows, preserving their data.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>The function <code>use_default_colors</code> allows you to
|
|
use the terminal's default colors for the default color pair,
|
|
achieving the effect of transparent colors.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>The functions <code>keyok</code> and
|
|
<code>define_key</code> allow you to better control the use
|
|
of function keys, e.g., disabling the <span class=
|
|
"main-name">ncurses</span> KEY_MOUSE, or by defining more
|
|
than one control sequence to map to a given key code.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>Support for 256-color terminals, such as modern xterm.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>Support for 16-color terminals, such as <em>aixterm</em>
|
|
and <em>modern xterm</em>.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>Better cursor-movement optimization. The package now
|
|
features a cursor-local-movement computation more efficient
|
|
than either BSD's or System V's.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>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
|
|
<code>quickch</code> routine.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>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.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>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).</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>The <a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/tic.1m.html"><span class="part-name">
|
|
tic</span></a>/<a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/captoinfo.1m.html">captoinfo</a>
|
|
utility provided with <span class="main-name">ncurses</span>
|
|
has the ability to translate many termcaps from the XENIX,
|
|
IBM and AT&T extension sets.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>A BSD-like <a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/tset.1.html"><span class="part-name">
|
|
tset</span></a> utility is provided.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>The <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> 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.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>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.)</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>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.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>The table-of-entries utility <a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/toe.1m.html"><span class="part-name">
|
|
toe</span></a> makes it easy for users to see exactly what
|
|
terminal types are available on the system.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>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 <code>#undef</code>.</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<p>Extensive documentation is provided (see the <em><a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses.faq.html#additional_reading">
|
|
Additional Reading</a></em> section of the <em><a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses.faq.html"><span class="main-name">
|
|
ncurses</span> FAQ</a></em> for online documentation).</p>
|
|
</li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
|
|
<h2><a name="h2-who-uses" id="h2-who-uses">Applications using
|
|
<span class="main-name">ncurses</span></a></h2>
|
|
|
|
<p>The <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> distribution
|
|
includes a selection of test programs (including a few games).
|
|
These are available separately as <a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses-examples.html">ncurses-examples</a></p>
|
|
|
|
<p>The ncurses library has been tested with a wide variety of
|
|
applications including:</p>
|
|
|
|
<blockquote>
|
|
<dl>
|
|
<dt><span class="part-name">aptitude</span></dt>
|
|
|
|
<dd>
|
|
<p>FrontEnd to Apt, the debian package manager</p>
|
|
|
|
<p><a href=
|
|
"https://wiki.debian.org/Aptitude">https://wiki.debian.org/Aptitude</a></p>
|
|
</dd>
|
|
|
|
<dt><span class="part-name">cdk</span></dt>
|
|
|
|
<dd>
|
|
<p>Curses Development Kit</p>
|
|
|
|
<p><a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/cdk/">https://invisible-island.net/cdk/</a><br>
|
|
</p>
|
|
</dd>
|
|
|
|
<dt><span class="part-name">ded</span></dt>
|
|
|
|
<dd>
|
|
<p>directory-editor</p>
|
|
|
|
<p><a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ded/">https://invisible-island.net/ded/</a></p>
|
|
</dd>
|
|
|
|
<dt><span class="part-name">dialog</span></dt>
|
|
|
|
<dd>
|
|
<p>the underlying application used in Slackware's setup,
|
|
and the basis for similar install/configure applications on
|
|
many systems.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p><a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/dialog/">https://invisible-island.net/dialog/</a></p>
|
|
</dd>
|
|
|
|
<dt><span class="part-name">lynx</span></dt>
|
|
|
|
<dd>
|
|
<p>the text WWW browser</p>
|
|
|
|
<p><a href=
|
|
"https://lynx.invisible-island.net/">https://lynx.invisible-island.net/</a></p>
|
|
</dd>
|
|
|
|
<dt><span class="part-name">mutt</span></dt>
|
|
|
|
<dd>
|
|
<p>mail utility</p>
|
|
|
|
<p><a href=
|
|
"http://www.mutt.org/">http://www.mutt.org/</a></p>
|
|
</dd>
|
|
|
|
<dt><span class="part-name">ncftp</span></dt>
|
|
|
|
<dd>
|
|
<p>file-transfer utility</p>
|
|
|
|
<p><a href=
|
|
"https://www.ncftp.com/">https://www.ncftp.com/</a></p>
|
|
</dd>
|
|
|
|
<dt><span class="part-name">nvi</span></dt>
|
|
|
|
<dd>
|
|
<p>New vi uses ncurses.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p><a href=
|
|
"https://sites.google.com/a/bostic.com/keithbostic/vi">https://sites.google.com/a/bostic.com/keithbostic/vi</a><br>
|
|
</p>
|
|
</dd>
|
|
|
|
<dt><span class="part-name">ranger</span></dt>
|
|
|
|
<dd>
|
|
<p>A console file manager with VI key bindings in
|
|
<em>Python</em>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p><a href=
|
|
"https://ranger.github.io/">https://ranger.github.io/</a></p>
|
|
</dd>
|
|
|
|
<dt><span class="part-name">tin</span></dt>
|
|
|
|
<dd>
|
|
<p>newsreader, supporting color, MIME</p>
|
|
|
|
<p><a href=
|
|
"http://www.tin.org/">http://www.tin.org/</a></p>
|
|
</dd>
|
|
|
|
<dt><span class="part-name">vifm</span></dt>
|
|
|
|
<dd>
|
|
<p>File manager with vi like keybindings</p>
|
|
|
|
<p><a href="https://vifm.info/">https://vifm.info/</a></p>
|
|
</dd>
|
|
</dl>
|
|
</blockquote>
|
|
|
|
<p>as well as some that use <span class=
|
|
"main-name">ncurses</span> for the terminfo support alone:</p>
|
|
|
|
<blockquote>
|
|
<dl>
|
|
<dt><span class="part-name">minicom</span></dt>
|
|
|
|
<dd>
|
|
<p>terminal emulator for serial modem connections</p>
|
|
|
|
<p><a href=
|
|
"https://alioth.debian.org/projects/minicom/">https://alioth.debian.org/projects/minicom/</a></p>
|
|
</dd>
|
|
|
|
<dt><span class="part-name">mosh</span></dt>
|
|
|
|
<dd>
|
|
<p>a replacement for <code>ssh</code>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p><a href=
|
|
"https://mosh.mit.edu/">https://mosh.mit.edu/</a></p>
|
|
</dd>
|
|
|
|
<dt><span class="part-name">tack</span></dt>
|
|
|
|
<dd>
|
|
<p>terminfo action checker</p>
|
|
|
|
<p><a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/tack.html">https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/tack.html</a></p>
|
|
</dd>
|
|
|
|
<dt><span class="part-name">tmux</span></dt>
|
|
|
|
<dd>
|
|
<p>terminal multiplexor</p>
|
|
|
|
<p><a href=
|
|
"https://github.com/tmux/tmux/wiki">https://github.com/tmux/tmux/wiki</a></p>
|
|
</dd>
|
|
|
|
<dt><span class="part-name">vile</span></dt>
|
|
|
|
<dd>
|
|
<p>vi-like-emacs may be built to use the terminfo, termcap
|
|
or curses interfaces.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p><a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/vile/">https://invisible-island.net/vile/</a></p>
|
|
</dd>
|
|
</dl>
|
|
</blockquote>
|
|
|
|
<p>and finally, those which use only the termcap interface:</p>
|
|
|
|
<blockquote>
|
|
<dl>
|
|
<dt><span class="part-name">emacs</span></dt>
|
|
|
|
<dd>
|
|
<p>text editor</p>
|
|
|
|
<p><a href=
|
|
"https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/">https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/</a></p>
|
|
</dd>
|
|
|
|
<dt><span class="part-name">less</span></dt>
|
|
|
|
<dd>
|
|
<p>The most commonly used <em>pager</em> (a program that
|
|
displays text files).</p>
|
|
|
|
<p><a href=
|
|
"http://www.greenwoodsoftware.com/less/">http://www.greenwoodsoftware.com/less/</a></p>
|
|
</dd>
|
|
|
|
<dt><span class="part-name">screen</span></dt>
|
|
|
|
<dd>
|
|
<p>terminal multiplexor</p>
|
|
|
|
<p><a href=
|
|
"https://www.gnu.org/software/screen/">https://www.gnu.org/software/screen/</a></p>
|
|
</dd>
|
|
|
|
<dt><span class="part-name">vim</span></dt>
|
|
|
|
<dd>
|
|
<p>text editor</p>
|
|
|
|
<p><a href=
|
|
"https://www.vim.org/">https://www.vim.org/</a></p>
|
|
</dd>
|
|
</dl>
|
|
</blockquote>
|
|
|
|
<h2><a name="h2-development" id="h2-development">Development
|
|
activities</a></h2>
|
|
|
|
<p>Zeyd Ben-Halim started <span class="main-name">ncurses</span>
|
|
from a previous package pcurses, written by Pavel Curtis. Eric S.
|
|
Raymond continued development. Jürgen Pfeifer wrote most of
|
|
the form and menu libraries. Ongoing development work is done by
|
|
<a href="mailto:dickey@invisible-island.net">Thomas Dickey</a>.
|
|
Thomas Dickey also acts as the maintainer for the Free Software
|
|
Foundation, which holds the <a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses-license.html">copyright
|
|
on ncurses</a>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Contact the current maintainers at</p>
|
|
|
|
<blockquote>
|
|
<a href="mailto:bug-ncurses@gnu.org">bug-ncurses@gnu.org</a>
|
|
</blockquote>
|
|
|
|
<p>To join the ncurses mailing list, please write email to</p>
|
|
|
|
<blockquote>
|
|
<a href=
|
|
"mailto:bug-ncurses-request@gnu.org">bug-ncurses-request@gnu.org</a>
|
|
</blockquote>containing the line:
|
|
|
|
<blockquote>
|
|
<p><code>subscribe</code>
|
|
<em><name>@<host.domain></em></p>
|
|
</blockquote>
|
|
|
|
<p>This list is open to anyone interested in helping with the
|
|
development and testing of this package.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>Beta versions of <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> and
|
|
patches to the current release are made available at</p>
|
|
|
|
<blockquote>
|
|
<p><a href=
|
|
"ftp://ftp.invisible-island.net/ncurses/">ftp://ftp.invisible-island.net/ncurses/</a>
|
|
and<br>
|
|
<a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-mirror.net/archives/ncurses/">https://invisible-mirror.net/archives/ncurses/</a> .</p>
|
|
</blockquote>
|
|
|
|
<p>There is an archive of the mailing list here:</p>
|
|
|
|
<blockquote>
|
|
<p><a href=
|
|
"http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-ncurses">http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-ncurses</a>
|
|
(also <a href=
|
|
"https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-ncurses">https</a>)</p>
|
|
</blockquote>
|
|
|
|
<h2><a name="h2-this-stuff" id="h2-this-stuff">Related
|
|
resources</a></h2>
|
|
|
|
<p>The release notes make scattered references to these pages,
|
|
which may be interesting by themselves:</p>
|
|
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li><a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses-license.html"><span class="main-name">
|
|
ncurses</span> licensing</a></li>
|
|
|
|
<li><a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses-mapsyms.html">Symbol
|
|
versioning in <span class="main-name">ncurses</span></a></li>
|
|
|
|
<li><a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses-slang.html">Comments
|
|
on <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> versus <span class=
|
|
"main-name">slang</span> (S-Lang)</a></li>
|
|
|
|
<li><a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/tack.html">tack –
|
|
terminfo action checker</a></li>
|
|
|
|
<li><a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/tctest.html">tctest
|
|
– termcap library checker</a></li>
|
|
|
|
<li><a href=
|
|
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses.html#download_database">
|
|
Terminal Database</a></li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
|
|
<h2><a name="h2-other-stuff" id="h2-other-stuff">Other
|
|
resources</a></h2>
|
|
|
|
<p>The distribution provides a newer version of the
|
|
terminfo-format terminal description file once maintained by
|
|
<a href="http://www.catb.org/~esr/terminfo/">Eric
|
|
Raymond</a> . Unlike the older version, the termcap and
|
|
terminfo data are provided in the same file, which also provides
|
|
several user-definable extensions beyond the X/Open
|
|
specification.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p>You can find lots of information on terminal-related topics
|
|
not covered in the terminfo file at <a href=
|
|
"http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.cs.utk.edu/~shuford/terminal">
|
|
Richard Shuford's archive</a> .</p>
|
|
|
|
<div class="nav">
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li><a href="#h2-overview">Overview</a></li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<a href="#h2-release-notes">Release Notes</a>
|
|
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li>
|
|
<a href="#h3-library">Library improvements</a>
|
|
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li><a href="#h4-new-library">New features</a></li>
|
|
|
|
<li><a href="#h4-fixes-library">Other
|
|
improvements</a></li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<a href="#h3-programs">Program improvements</a>
|
|
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li><a href="#h4-utilities">Utilities</a></li>
|
|
|
|
<li><a href="#h4-examples">Examples</a></li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li><a href="#h3-database">Terminal database</a></li>
|
|
|
|
<li><a href="#h3-documentation">Documentation</a></li>
|
|
|
|
<li><a href="#h3-bug-fixes">Interesting
|
|
bug-fixes</a></li>
|
|
|
|
<li>
|
|
<a href="#h3-config-config">Configuration changes</a>
|
|
|
|
<ul>
|
|
<li><a href="#h4-config-major">Major changes</a></li>
|
|
|
|
<li><a href="#h4-config-options">Configuration
|
|
options</a></li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li><a href="#h3-portability">Portability</a></li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
</li>
|
|
|
|
<li><a href="#h2-features">Features of <span class=
|
|
"main-name">ncurses</span></a></li>
|
|
|
|
<li><a href="#h2-who-uses">Applications using <span class=
|
|
"main-name">ncurses</span></a></li>
|
|
|
|
<li><a href="#h2-development">Development activities</a></li>
|
|
|
|
<li><a href="#h2-this-stuff">Related resources</a></li>
|
|
|
|
<li><a href="#h2-other-stuff">Other resources</a></li>
|
|
</ul>
|
|
</div>
|
|
</body>
|
|
</html>
|