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7 <TITLE>Announcing ncurses @VERSION@</TITLE>
8 <link rev=made href="mailto:bug-ncurses@gnu.org">
12 <H1>Announcing ncurses @VERSION@</H1>
14 The ncurses (new curses) library is a free software emulation of
15 curses in System V Release 4.0, and more. It uses terminfo format,
16 supports pads and color
17 and multiple highlights and forms characters and function-key mapping,
18 and has all the other SYSV-curses enhancements over BSD curses.<P>
20 In mid-June 1995, the maintainer of 4.4BSD curses declared that he
21 considered 4.4BSD curses obsolete, and is encouraging the keepers of
22 Unix releases such as BSD/OS, freeBSD and netBSD to switch over to
25 The ncurses code was developed under GNU/Linux. It should port easily to
26 any ANSI/POSIX-conforming UNIX. It has even been ported to OS/2 Warp!<P>
28 The distribution includes the library and support utilities, including a
29 terminfo compiler tic(1), a decompiler infocmp(1), clear(1), tput(1), tset(1),
30 and a termcap conversion tool captoinfo(1). Full manual pages are provided for
31 the library and tools.<P>
33 The ncurses distribution is available via anonymous FTP at
34 the GNU distribution site
35 <A HREF="ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/ncurses">ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/ncurses</A>.
36 <br>It is also available at
37 <A HREF="ftp://dickey.his.com/ncurses">ftp://dickey.his.com/ncurses</A>.
39 <H1>Release Notes</H1>
41 This release is designed to be upward compatible from ncurses 5.0; very few
42 applications will require recompilation, depending on the platform.
43 These are the highlights from the change-log since ncurses 5.0 release.
47 <li>made the extended terminal capabilities
48 (<code>configure --enable-tcap-names</code>)
49 a standard feature (though the configure script can disable it,
50 it is built by default).
52 <li>removed the <code>trace()</code> function and related trace support
53 from the production library. This is the only interface change that
54 may cause problems with existing applications linked to shared
55 libraries, since not all platforms use the minor version number.
57 <li>explicitly initialized to zero several data items which were
58 implicitly initialized, e.g., cur_term. If not explicitly
59 initialized, their storage type is C (common), and causes problems
60 linking on some platforms.
62 <li>modified curses.h.in, undef'ing some symbols to avoid conflict with
67 <li>added a new extension, <code>assume_default_colors()</code> to
68 provide better control over the use of default colors. This is
69 the principal visible difference between ncurses 5.1 and preceding
70 versions. The new extension allows an application to specify what
73 <em>NOTE</em>: Pair 0 defaults to white on black unless
74 you have invoked <code>use_default_colors()</code> or set it via
75 <code>assume_default_colors()</code>. An application that calls
76 <code>start_colors()</code> without setting the background color
77 will consistently have a black background no matter what color your
78 terminal's background actually is.
80 <li>made several fixes to the terminfo-to-termcap conversion, and
81 have been using the generated termcaps without further hand-tuning.
82 This builds on the extension <code>use_extended_names()</code> by
83 adding "obsolete" termcap strings to terminfo.src
85 <li>modified <code>tic</code> so that if extended names (i.e.,
86 configure --enable-tcap-names) are active, then <code>tic -x</code>
87 will also write "obsolete" capabilities that are present in the
90 <li>added screen's AX capability (for ECMA SGR 39 and 49) to applicable
91 terminfo entries, use presence of this as a check for a small
92 improvement in setting default colors.
94 <li>add -a option to tic and infocmp, which retains commented-out
95 capabilities during source translation/comparison, e.g., captoinfo
99 <li>implemented limited support for UTF-8, useful with XFree86 xterm:
101 <li>if the <code>configure --enable-widec</code> option is
102 given, append 'w' to names of the generated libraries (e.g.,
103 libncursesw.so) to avoid conflict with existing ncurses libraries.
104 <li>add a simple UTF-8 output driver to the experimental
105 wide-character support. If any of the environment variables
106 LC_ALL, LC_CTYPE or LANG contain the string "UTF-8", this driver
107 will be used to translate the output to UTF-8.
108 <li>modified view.c to make a rudimentary viewer of UTF-8 text.
111 <li>modify <code>raw()</code> and <code>noraw()</code> to clear/restore
112 IEXTEN flag which affects <code>stty lnext</code> on systems such as FreeBSD
114 <li>reordered tests during mouse initialization to allow for gpm to run
115 in xterm, or for xterm to be used under OS/2 EMX. Also dropped test
116 for <code>$DISPLAY</code> in favor of the terminfo capability
117 <code>kmous=\E[M</code> or
118 if <code>$TERM</code> environment variable contains "xterm".
120 <li>added configure option <code>--with-manpage-symlinks</code>, which
121 provides for fully indexing manpage entries by making symbolic links
124 <li>changed <code>unctrl()</code> to render C1 characters (128-159) as
125 <code>~@</code>, <code>~A</code>, etc.
127 <li>add experimental configure option --enable-colorfgbg to check for
128 $COLORTERM variable as set by rxvt/aterm/Eterm.
130 <li>made the <code>infocmp -F</code> option less verbose.
132 <li>dropped support for gnat 3.10 (gnat 3.12 is current).
137 <li>modified infocmp -e, -E options to ensure that generated fallback.c
138 type for Booleans agrees with term.h
140 <li>documented a special case of incompatiblity between ncurses 4.2 and
141 5.0, added a section for this in INSTALL.
143 <li>corrected tests for file-descriptors in OS/2 EMX mouse support. A
144 negative value could be used by FD_SET, causing the select() call to
147 <li>made 'tput flash' work properly for xterm by flushing output in
148 delay_output() when using napms(), and modifying xterm's terminfo to
149 specify no padding character. Otherwise, xterm's reported baud rate
150 could mislead ncurses into producing too few padding characters.
152 <li>modified lib_addch.c to allow repeated update to the lower-right
153 corner, rather than displaying only the first character written until
154 the cursor is moved. Recent versions of SVr4 curses can update the
155 lower-right corner, and behave this way.
157 <li>modified echo() behavior of getch() to match Solaris curses for
158 carriage return and backspace (reported by Neil Zanella).
160 <li>corrected offsets used for subwindows in <code>wresize()</code>
162 <li>modified configure script so AC_MSG_ERROR is temporarily defined to
163 a warning in AC_PROG_CXX to make it recover from a missing C++
164 compiler without requiring user to add --without-cxx option
166 <li>corrected logic in lib_twait.c as used by lib_mouse.c for GPM mouse
167 support when poll() is used rather than select().
169 <li>made several fixes for buffer overflows, unchecked recursion,
170 improvements in performance, etc. See the NEWS file for details.
173 <H1>Features of Ncurses</H1>
175 The ncurses package is fully compatible with SVr4 (System V Release 4) curses:
178 <LI>All 257 of the SVr4 calls have been implemented (and are documented).
179 <LI>Full support for SVr4 curses features including keyboard mapping, color,
180 forms-drawing with ACS characters, and automatic recognition of keypad
182 <LI>An emulation of the SVr4 panels library, supporting
183 a stack of windows with backing store, is included.
184 <LI>An emulation of the SVr4 menus library, supporting
185 a uniform but flexible interface for menu programming, is included.
186 <LI>An emulation of the SVr4 form library, supporting
187 data collection through on-screen forms, is included.
188 <LI>Binary terminfo entries generated by the ncurses tic(1) implementation
189 are bit-for-bit-compatible with the entry format SVr4 curses uses.
190 <LI>The utilities have options to allow you to filter terminfo
191 entries for use with less capable <STRONG>curses</STRONG>/<STRONG>terminfo</STRONG>
192 versions such as the HP/UX and AIX ports.</UL>
194 The ncurses package also has many useful extensions over SVr4:
197 <LI>The API is 8-bit clean and base-level conformant with the X/OPEN curses
198 specification, XSI curses (that is, it implements all BASE level features,
199 but not all EXTENDED features). Most EXTENDED-level features not directly
200 concerned with wide-character support are implemented, including many
201 function calls not supported under SVr4 curses (but portability of all
202 calls is documented so you can use the SVr4 subset only).
203 <LI>Unlike SVr3 curses, ncurses can write to the rightmost-bottommost corner
204 of the screen if your terminal has an insert-character capability.
205 <LI>Ada95 and C++ bindings.
206 <LI>Support for mouse event reporting with X Window xterm and OS/2 console windows.
207 <LI>Extended mouse support via Alessandro Rubini's gpm package.
208 <LI>The function <CODE>wresize()</CODE> allows you to resize windows, preserving
210 <LI>The function <CODE>use_default_colors()</CODE> allows you to
211 use the terminal's default colors for the default color pair,
212 achieving the effect of transparent colors.
213 <LI>The functions <CODE>keyok()</CODE>
214 and <CODE>define_key()</CODE> allow
215 you to better control the use of function keys,
216 e.g., disabling the ncurses KEY_MOUSE,
217 or by defining more than one control sequence to map to a given key code.
218 <LI>Support for 16-color terminals, such as aixterm and XFree86 xterm.
219 <LI>Better cursor-movement optimization. The package now features a
220 cursor-local-movement computation more efficient than either BSD's
222 <LI>Super hardware scrolling support. The screen-update code incorporates
223 a novel, simple, and cheap algorithm that enables it to make optimal
224 use of hardware scrolling, line-insertion, and line-deletion
225 for screen-line movements. This algorithm is more powerful than
226 the 4.4BSD curses quickch() routine.
227 <LI>Real support for terminals with the magic-cookie glitch. The
228 screen-update code will refrain from drawing a highlight if the magic-
229 cookie unattributed spaces required just before the beginning and
230 after the end would step on a non-space character. It will
231 automatically shift highlight boundaries when doing so would make it
232 possible to draw the highlight without changing the visual appearance
234 <LI>It is possible to generate the library with a list of pre-loaded
235 fallback entries linked to it so that it can serve those terminal types even
236 when no terminfo tree or termcap file is accessible (this may be useful
237 for support of screen-oriented programs that must run in single-user mode).
238 <LI>The tic(1)/captoinfo utility provided with ncurses has the
239 ability to translate many termcaps from the XENIX, IBM and
240 AT&T extension sets.
241 <LI>A BSD-like tset(1) utility is provided.
242 <LI>The ncurses library and utilities will automatically read terminfo
243 entries from $HOME/.terminfo if it exists, and compile to that directory
244 if it exists and the user has no write access to the system directory.
245 This feature makes it easier for users to have personal terminfo entries
246 without giving up access to the system terminfo directory.
247 <LI>You may specify a path of directories to search for compiled
248 descriptions with the environment variable TERMINFO_DIRS (this
249 generalizes the feature provided by TERMINFO under stock System V.)
250 <LI>In terminfo source files, use capabilities may refer not just to
251 other entries in the same source file (as in System V) but also to
252 compiled entries in either the system terminfo directory or the user's
253 $HOME/.terminfo directory.
254 <LI>A script (<STRONG>capconvert</STRONG>) is provided to help BSD users
255 transition from termcap to terminfo. It gathers the information in a
256 TERMCAP environment variable and/or a ~/.termcap local entries file
257 and converts it to an equivalent local terminfo tree under $HOME/.terminfo.
258 <LI>Automatic fallback to the /etc/termcap file can be compiled in
259 when it is not possible to build a terminfo tree. This feature is neither
260 fast nor cheap, you don't want to use it unless you have to,
262 <LI>The table-of-entries utility <STRONG>toe</STRONG> makes it easy for users to
263 see exactly what terminal types are available on the system.
264 <LI>The library meets the XSI requirement that every macro entry
265 point have a corresponding function which may be linked (and will be
266 prototype-checked) if the macro definition is disabled with
268 <LI>An HTML "Introduction to Programming with NCURSES" document provides
269 a narrative introduction to the curses programming interface.
272 <H1>State of the Package</H1>
274 Numerous bugs present in earlier versions have been fixed; the
275 library is far more reliable than it used to be. Bounds checking in many
276 `dangerous' entry points has been improved. The code is now type-safe
277 according to gcc -Wall. The library has been checked for malloc leaks and
278 arena corruption by the Purify memory-allocation tester.<P>
280 The ncurses code has been tested with a wide variety of applications
281 including (versions starting with those noted):
284 <DD> Curses Development Kit
286 <A HREF="http://www.vexus.ca/CDK.html">http://www.vexus.ca/CDK.html</a>
288 <A HREF="http://dickey.his.com/cdk/cdk.html">http://dickey.his.com/cdk</A>.
290 <DD> directory-editor
292 <A HREF="http://dickey.his.com/ded/ded.html">http://dickey.his.com/ded</A>.
294 <DD> the underlying application used in Slackware's setup, and the basis
295 for similar applications on GNU/Linux.
297 <A HREF="http://dickey.his.com/dialog/dialog.html">http://dickey.his.com/dialog</A>.
299 <DD> the character-screen WWW browser
301 <A HREF="http://lynx.isc.org/release/">http://lynx.isc.org/release</A>.
302 <DT> Midnight Commander 4.1
305 <A HREF="www.gnome.org/mc/">www.gnome.org/mc/</A>.
309 <A HREF="http://www.mutt.org">http://www.mutt.org</A>.
311 <DD> file-transfer utility
313 <A HREF="http://www.ncftp.com">http://www.ncftp.com</A>.
315 <DD> New vi versions 1.50 are able to use ncurses versions 1.9.7 and later.
317 <A HREF="http://www.bostic.com/vi/">http://www.bostic.com/vi/</A>.
319 <DD> newsreader, supporting color, MIME
321 <A HREF="http://www.tin.org">http://www.tin.org</A>.
323 <DD> tape archive utility
325 <A HREF="http://members.iinet.net.au/~yusuf/taper/">http://members.iinet.net.au/~yusuf/taper/</A>.
327 <DD> Volks-Hypertext browser for the Jargon File
329 <A HREF="http://www.bg.debian.org/Packages/unstable/text/vh.html">http://www.bg.debian.org/Packages/unstable/text/vh.html</A>.
331 as well as some that use ncurses for the terminfo support alone:
334 <DD> terminal emulator
336 <A HREF="http://www.pp.clinet.fi/~walker/minicom.html">http://www.pp.clinet.fi/~walker/minicom.html</A>.
340 <A HREF="http://dickey.his.com/vile/vile.html">http://dickey.his.com/vile</A>.
344 The ncurses distribution includes a selection of test programs (including
347 <H2>Who's Who and What's What</H2>
349 The original developers of ncurses are <A
350 HREF="mailto:zmbenhal@netcom.com">Zeyd Ben-Halim</A> and
351 <A HREF="http://www.ccil.org/~esr/home.html">Eric S. Raymond</A>.
352 Ongoing work is being done by
353 <A HREF="mailto:dickey@herndon4.his.com">Thomas Dickey</A>
355 <A HREF="mailto:juergen.pfeifer@gmx.net">Jürgen Pfeifer</A>.
356 <A HREF="mailto:dickey@herndon4.his.com">Thomas Dickey</A>
357 acts as the maintainer for the Free Software Foundation, which holds the
358 copyright on ncurses.
359 Contact the current maintainers at
360 <A HREF="mailto:bug-ncurses@gnu.org">bug-ncurses@gnu.org</A>.
363 To join the ncurses mailing list, please write email to
364 <CODE>bug-ncurses-request@gnu.org</CODE> containing the line:
366 subscribe <name>@<host.domain>
369 This list is open to anyone interested in helping with the development and
370 testing of this package.<P>
372 Beta versions of ncurses and patches to the current release are made available at
373 <A HREF="ftp://dickey.his.com/ncurses">ftp://dickey.his.com/ncurses</A>.
375 <H2>Future Plans</H2>
377 <LI>Extended-level XPG4 conformance, with internationalization support.
378 <LI>Ports to more systems, including DOS and Windows.
380 We need people to help with these projects. If you are interested in working
381 on them, please join the ncurses list.
383 <H2>Other Related Resources</H2>
385 The distribution includes and uses a version of the terminfo-format
386 terminal description file maintained by Eric Raymond.
387 <A HREF="http://earthspace.net/~esr/terminfo">http://earthspace.net/~esr/terminfo</A>.<P>
389 You can find lots of information on terminal-related topics
390 not covered in the terminfo file at
391 <A HREF="http://www.cs.utk.edu/~shuford/terminal_index.html">Richard Shuford's
396 # The following sets edit modes for GNU EMACS
399 # case-fold-search:nil