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34 <TITLE>Announcing ncurses 5.6</TITLE>
35 <link rev=made href="mailto:bug-ncurses@gnu.org">
36 <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
40 <H1>Announcing ncurses 5.6</H1>
42 The ncurses (new curses) library is a free software emulation of
43 curses in System V Release 4.0, and more. It uses terminfo format,
44 supports pads and color
45 and multiple highlights and forms characters and function-key mapping,
46 and has all the other SYSV-curses enhancements over BSD curses.<P>
48 In mid-June 1995, the maintainer of 4.4BSD curses declared that he
49 considered 4.4BSD curses obsolete, and encouraged the keepers of
50 Unix releases such as BSD/OS, FreeBSD and NetBSD to switch over to
53 The ncurses code was developed under GNU/Linux.
54 It has been in use for some time with OpenBSD as the system curses library,
55 and on FreeBSD and NetBSD as an external package.
56 It should port easily to any ANSI/POSIX-conforming UNIX.
57 It has even been ported to OS/2 Warp!<P>
59 The distribution includes the library and support utilities, including a
60 terminfo compiler tic(1), a decompiler infocmp(1), clear(1), tput(1), tset(1),
61 and a termcap conversion tool captoinfo(1). Full manual pages are provided for
62 the library and tools.<P>
64 The ncurses distribution is available via anonymous FTP at
65 the GNU distribution site
66 <A HREF="ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/ncurses/">ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/ncurses/</A> .
67 <br>It is also available at
68 <A HREF="ftp://invisible-island.net/ncurses/">ftp://invisible-island.net/ncurses/</A> .
70 <H1>Release Notes</H1>
72 This release is designed to be upward compatible from ncurses 5.0 through 5.5;
73 very few applications will require recompilation, depending on the platform.
74 These are the highlights from the change-log since ncurses 5.5 release.
78 <li>generate linkable stubs for some macros:
80 getbegx, getbegy, getcurx, getcury, getmaxx, getmaxy, getparx,
88 New features and improvements:
92 <li>support hashed databases for the terminal descriptions.
93 This uses the Berkeley database, has been tested for
94 several versions on different platforms.
96 <li>add <code>use_legacy_coding()</code> function to support
97 lynx's font-switching feature.
99 <li>add extension <code>nofilter()</code>, to cancel a prior
100 <code>filter()</code> call.
102 <li>add/install a package config script, e.g.,
103 <code>ncurses5-config</code> or
104 <code>ncursesw5-config</code>, according to
105 configuration options.
107 <li>provide ifdef for <code>NCURSES_NOMACROS</code> which
108 suppresses most macro definitions from curses.h, i.e.,
109 where a macro is defined to override a function to improve
112 <li>make ifdef's consistent in <code>curses.h</code> for the
113 extended colors so the header file can be used for the
114 normal curses library. The header file installed for
115 extended colors is a variation of the wide-character
118 <li>improve <code>tgetstr()</code> by making the return value
119 point into the user's buffer, if provided.
121 <li>add ifdef's allowing ncurses to be built with
122 <code>tparm()</code> using either varargs (the existing
123 status), or using a fixed-parameter list (to match X/Open).
125 <li>widen the test for xterm <code>kmous</code> a little to
126 <code>allow</code> for other
127 strings than "\E[M", e.g., for <code>xterm-sco</code>
128 functionality in xterm.
130 <li>modify <code>wgetnstr()</code> to return
131 <code>KEY_RESIZE</code> if a sigwinch occurs.
133 <li>move prototypes for wide-character trace functions from
134 curses.tail to curses.wide to avoid accidental reference to
135 those if <code>_XOPEN_SOURCE_EXTENDED</code> is defined
136 without ensuring that <wchar.h> is included.
138 <li>change the way shared libraries (other than libtool) are
139 installed. Rather than copying the build-tree's libraries,
140 link the shared objects into the install directory. This
141 makes the <code>--with-rpath</code> option work except with
142 <code>$(DESTDIR)</code>.
144 <li>several improvements for rendering in hpterm. These are
145 only available if the library is configured using
146 <code>--enable-xmc-glitch</code>.
148 <li>Add <code>NCURSES_NO_HARD_TABS</code> and
149 <code>NCURSES_NO_MAGIC_COOKIE</code> environment variables
150 to allow runtime suppression of the related hard-tabs and
156 <li>add new test programs: chgat.c, demo_altkeys.c,
157 echochar.c, foldkeys.c, movewindow.c, redraw.c, (noting
158 that existing test programs also were modified to test
159 additional features).
161 <li>modify tack to test extended capability function-key
164 <li>modify toe to access termcap data, e.g., via <code>cgetent()</code>
165 functions, or as a text file if those are not available.
167 <li>improve infocmp/tic <code>-f</code> option formatting.
169 <li>add <code>toe -a</code> option, to show all databases.
170 This uses new private interfaces in the ncurses library for
171 iterating through the list of databases.
173 <li>modify <code>MKfallback.sh</code> to use
174 <code>tic -x</code> when constructing fallback tables to
175 allow extended capabilities to be retrieved from a fallback entry.
178 <li>terminal database
180 <li>add terminfo entries for xfce terminal (xfce) and multi gnome terminal (mgt)
181 <li>add nsterm-16color entry
182 <li>updated mlterm terminfo entry
183 <li>add kon, kon2 and jfbterm terminfo entry
184 <li>remove invis capability from klone+sgr, mainly used by linux entry, since it does not really do this
185 <li>add ka2, kb1, kb3, kc2 to vt220-keypad as an extension
186 <li>add shifted up/down arrow codes to xterm-new as kind/kri strings
187 <li>add hpterm-color terminfo entry
188 <li>add 256color variants of terminfo entries for programs which are reported to implement this feature
189 <li>correct order of use-clauses in rxvt-basic entry which made codes for f1-f4 vt100-style rather than vt220-style.
194 <li>correct a typo in configure <code>--with-bool</code> option for the
195 case where <code>--without-cxx</code> is used.
197 <li>move assignment from environment variable <code>ESCDELAY</code>
198 from <code>initscr()</code> down to <code>newterm()</code> so the
199 environment variable affects timeouts for terminals opened with
202 <li>modify <code>werase</code> to clear multicolumn characters that
203 extend into a derived window.
205 <li>modify <code>wchgat()</code> to mark updated cells as changed so a
206 refresh will repaint those cells.
208 <li>correct logic in <code>wadd_wch()</code> and
209 <code>wecho_wch()</code>, which did not guard against passing the
210 multi-column attribute into a call on <code>waddch()</code>, e.g.,
211 using data returned by <code>win_wch()</code>
213 <li>fix redrawing of windows other than <code>stdscr</code> using
214 <code>wredrawln()</code> by touching the corresponding rows in
217 <li>reduce memory leaks in repeated calls to <code>tgetent()</code> by
218 remembering the last <code>TERMINAL*</code> value allocated to hold
219 the corresponding data and freeing that if the
220 <code>tgetent()</code> result buffer is the same as the previous
223 <li>modify <code>read_termtype()</code> so the <code>term_names</code>
224 data is always allocated as part of the <code>str_table</code>, a
225 better fix for a memory leak.
227 <li>fix <code>wins_nwstr(),</code> which did not handle single-column
230 <li>modify <code>wbkgrnd()</code> to avoid clearing the
231 <code>A_CHARTEXT</code> attribute bits since those record the state
232 of multicolumn characters.
234 <li>improve <code>SIGWINCH</code> handling by postponing its effect
235 during <code>newterm()</code>, etc., when allocating screens.
237 <li>remove 970913 feature for copying subwindows as they are moved in
238 <code>mvwin()</code>.
240 <li>add checks in <code>waddchnstr()</code> and
241 <code>wadd_wchnstr()</code> to stop copying when a null character
244 <li>add some checks to ensure current position is within scrolling
245 region before scrolling on a new line.
247 <li>add a workaround to ACS mapping to allow applications such as
248 test/blue.c to use the "PC ROM" characters by masking them with
249 A_ALTCHARSET. This worked up til 5.5, but was lost in the revision
255 <li>configure script:
261 <dd>Use Berkeley hashed database for storing terminfo data rather than storing
262 each compiled entry in a separate binary file within a directory
266 <dd>Do not use <code>dlsym()</code> to load GPM dynamically.
269 <dd>Simplify building for testing with valgrind.
271 <dt>--enable-wgetch-events
272 <dd>Compile with experimental wgetch-events code.
274 <dt>--enable-signed-char
275 <dd>Store booleans in "signed char" rather than "char".
279 <li>improved options:
282 <dt>--disable-largefile
283 <dd>make the option work both ways.
286 <dd>The option now accepts a parameter,
287 i.e., the name of the dynamic GPM library to load via
288 <code>dlopen()</code>
290 <dt>--disable-symlinks
291 <dd>The option now allows one to
292 disable <code>symlink()</code> in <code>tic</code> even when
293 <code>link()</code> does not work.
299 <li>other configure/build issues: <ul> <li>remove special case for
300 Darwin in <code>CF_XOPEN_SOURCE</code> configure macro.
302 <li>add configure check to ensure that <code>SIGWINCH</code> is
303 defined on platforms such as OS X which exclude that when
304 <code>_XOPEN_SOURCE,</code> etc., are defined
306 <li>use ld's <code>-search_paths_first</code> option on Darwin
307 to work around odd search rules on that platform.
309 <li>improve ifdef's for <code>_POSIX_VDISABLE</code> in tset to
312 <li>modify configure script to ensure that if the C compiler is
313 used rather than the loader in making shared libraries, the
314 <code>$(CFLAGS)</code> variable is also used.
316 <li>use <code>${CC}</code> rather than <code>${LD}</code> in
317 shared library rules for IRIX64, Solaris to help ensure
318 that initialization sections are provided for extra linkage
319 requirements, e.g., of C++ applications.
321 <li>improve some shared-library configure scripting for Linux,
322 FreeBSD and NetBSD to make
323 <code>--with-shlib-version</code> work.
325 <li>split up dependency of <code>names.c</code> and
326 <code>codes.c</code> in <code>ncurses/Makefile</code> to
327 work with parallel make.
329 <li>modify <code>MKlib_gen.sh</code> to change
330 preprocessor-expanded <code>_Bool</code> back to <code>bool</code>.
332 <li>modify <code>progs/Makefile.in</code> to make
333 <code>tput init</code> work properly with cygwin,
334 i.e., do not pass a <code>.exe</code> in the reference
335 string used in check_aliases.
340 <li>ignore wide-acs line-drawing characters that
341 <code>wcwidth()</code> claims are not one-column. This is
342 a workaround for Solaris' broken locale support.
344 <li>reduce name-pollution in <code>term.h</code> by removing
345 <code>#define</code>'s for HAVE_xxx symbols.
347 <li>fix <code>#ifdef</code> in <code>c++/internal.h</code> for
351 <li>test programs: <ul> <li>modify <code>test/configure</code> script
352 to allow building test programs with PDCurses/X11.
354 <li>modified test programs to allow some to work with NetBSD
355 curses. Several do not because NetBSD curses implements a
356 subset of X/Open curses, and also lacks much of SVr4
357 additions. But it is enough for comparison.
359 <li>improved <code>test/configure</code> to build test/ncurses
360 on HPUX 11 using the vendor curses.
362 <li>change configure script to produce
363 <code>test/Makefile</code> from data file.
367 <H1>Features of Ncurses</H1>
369 The ncurses package is fully compatible with SVr4 (System V Release 4) curses:
372 <LI>All 257 of the SVr4 calls have been implemented (and are documented).
373 <LI>Full support for SVr4 curses features including keyboard mapping, color,
374 forms-drawing with ACS characters, and automatic recognition of keypad
376 <LI>An emulation of the SVr4 panels library, supporting
377 a stack of windows with backing store, is included.
378 <LI>An emulation of the SVr4 menus library, supporting
379 a uniform but flexible interface for menu programming, is included.
380 <LI>An emulation of the SVr4 form library, supporting
381 data collection through on-screen forms, is included.
382 <LI>Binary terminfo entries generated by the ncurses tic(1) implementation
383 are bit-for-bit-compatible with the entry format SVr4 curses uses.
384 <LI>The utilities have options to allow you to filter terminfo
385 entries for use with less capable <STRONG>curses</STRONG>/<STRONG>terminfo</STRONG>
386 versions such as the HP/UX and AIX ports.</UL>
388 The ncurses package also has many useful extensions over SVr4:
391 <LI>The API is 8-bit clean and base-level conformant with the X/OPEN curses
392 specification, XSI curses (that is, it implements all BASE level features,
393 and most EXTENDED features).
394 It includes many function calls not supported under SVr4 curses
395 (but portability of all
396 calls is documented so you can use the SVr4 subset only).
397 <LI>Unlike SVr3 curses, ncurses can write to the rightmost-bottommost corner
398 of the screen if your terminal has an insert-character capability.
399 <LI>Ada95 and C++ bindings.
400 <LI>Support for mouse event reporting with X Window xterm
401 and FreeBSD and OS/2 console windows.
402 <LI>Extended mouse support via Alessandro Rubini's gpm package.
403 <LI>The function <CODE>wresize()</CODE> allows you to resize windows, preserving
405 <LI>The function <CODE>use_default_colors()</CODE> allows you to
406 use the terminal's default colors for the default color pair,
407 achieving the effect of transparent colors.
408 <LI>The functions <CODE>keyok()</CODE>
409 and <CODE>define_key()</CODE> allow
410 you to better control the use of function keys,
411 e.g., disabling the ncurses KEY_MOUSE,
412 or by defining more than one control sequence to map to a given key code.
413 <LI>Support for 16-color terminals, such as aixterm and modern xterm.
414 <LI>Better cursor-movement optimization. The package now features a
415 cursor-local-movement computation more efficient than either BSD's
417 <LI>Super hardware scrolling support. The screen-update code incorporates
418 a novel, simple, and cheap algorithm that enables it to make optimal
419 use of hardware scrolling, line-insertion, and line-deletion
420 for screen-line movements. This algorithm is more powerful than
421 the 4.4BSD curses quickch() routine.
422 <LI>Real support for terminals with the magic-cookie glitch. The
423 screen-update code will refrain from drawing a highlight if the magic-
424 cookie unattributed spaces required just before the beginning and
425 after the end would step on a non-space character. It will
426 automatically shift highlight boundaries when doing so would make it
427 possible to draw the highlight without changing the visual appearance
429 <LI>It is possible to generate the library with a list of pre-loaded
430 fallback entries linked to it so that it can serve those terminal types even
431 when no terminfo tree or termcap file is accessible (this may be useful
432 for support of screen-oriented programs that must run in single-user mode).
433 <LI>The tic(1)/captoinfo utility provided with ncurses has the
434 ability to translate many termcaps from the XENIX, IBM and
435 AT&T extension sets.
436 <LI>A BSD-like tset(1) utility is provided.
437 <LI>The ncurses library and utilities will automatically read terminfo
438 entries from $HOME/.terminfo if it exists, and compile to that directory
439 if it exists and the user has no write access to the system directory.
440 This feature makes it easier for users to have personal terminfo entries
441 without giving up access to the system terminfo directory.
442 <LI>You may specify a path of directories to search for compiled
443 descriptions with the environment variable TERMINFO_DIRS (this
444 generalizes the feature provided by TERMINFO under stock System V.)
445 <LI>In terminfo source files, use capabilities may refer not just to
446 other entries in the same source file (as in System V) but also to
447 compiled entries in either the system terminfo directory or the user's
448 $HOME/.terminfo directory.
449 <LI>A script (<STRONG>capconvert</STRONG>) is provided to help BSD users
450 transition from termcap to terminfo. It gathers the information in a
451 TERMCAP environment variable and/or a ~/.termcap local entries file
452 and converts it to an equivalent local terminfo tree under $HOME/.terminfo.
453 <LI>Automatic fallback to the /etc/termcap file can be compiled in
454 when it is not possible to build a terminfo tree. This feature is neither
455 fast nor cheap, you don't want to use it unless you have to,
457 <LI>The table-of-entries utility <STRONG>toe</STRONG> makes it easy for users to
458 see exactly what terminal types are available on the system.
459 <LI>The library meets the XSI requirement that every macro entry
460 point have a corresponding function which may be linked (and will be
461 prototype-checked) if the macro definition is disabled with
463 <LI>An HTML "Introduction to Programming with NCURSES" document provides
464 a narrative introduction to the curses programming interface.
467 <H1>State of the Package</H1>
469 Numerous bugs present in earlier versions have been fixed; the
470 library is far more reliable than it used to be. Bounds checking in many
471 `dangerous' entry points has been improved. The code is now type-safe
472 according to gcc -Wall. The library has been checked for malloc leaks and
473 arena corruption by the Purify memory-allocation tester.<P>
475 The ncurses code has been tested with a wide variety of applications
476 including (versions starting with those noted):
479 <DD> Curses Development Kit
481 <A HREF="http://invisible-island.net/cdk/">http://invisible-island.net/cdk/</A>
483 <A HREF="http://www.vexus.ca/products/CDK/">http://www.vexus.ca/products/CDK/</a>
485 <DD> directory-editor
487 <A HREF="http://invisible-island.net/ded/">http://invisible-island.net/ded/</A>
489 <DD> the underlying application used in Slackware's setup, and the basis
490 for similar applications on GNU/Linux.
492 <A HREF="http://invisible-island.net/dialog/">http://invisible-island.net/dialog/</A>
494 <DD> the character-screen WWW browser
496 <A HREF="http://lynx.isc.org/release/">http://lynx.isc.org/release/</A>
497 <DT> Midnight Commander
500 <A HREF="http://www.ibiblio.org/mc/">http://www.ibiblio.org/mc/</A>
504 <A HREF="http://www.mutt.org/">http://www.mutt.org/</A>
506 <DD> file-transfer utility
508 <A HREF="http://www.ncftp.com/">http://www.ncftp.com/</A>
510 <DD> New vi versions 1.50 are able to use ncurses versions 1.9.7 and later.
512 <A HREF="http://www.bostic.com/vi/">http://www.bostic.com/vi/</A>
515 <DD> Lynx-like info browser.
516 <A HREF="http://dione.ids.pl/~pborys/software/pinfo/">http://dione.ids.pl/~pborys/software/pinfo/</A>
518 <DD> newsreader, supporting color, MIME
519 <A HREF="http://www.tin.org/">http://www.tin.org/</A>
521 <DD> Volks-Hypertext browser for the Jargon File
523 <A HREF="http://www.debian.org/Packages/unstable/text/vh.html">http://www.debian.org/Packages/unstable/text/vh.html</A>
525 as well as some that use ncurses for the terminfo support alone:
528 <DD> terminal emulator
530 <A HREF="http://alioth.debian.org/projects/minicom/">
531 http://alioth.debian.org/projects/minicom/</A>
535 <A HREF="http://invisible-island.net/vile/">http://invisible-island.net/vile/</A>
539 The ncurses distribution includes a selection of test programs (including
542 <H2>Who's Who and What's What</H2>
545 started it from a previous package pcurses, written by Pavel Curtis.
547 continued development.
548 Jürgen Pfeifer wrote most of the form and menu libraries.
549 Ongoing work is being done by
550 <A HREF="mailto:dickey@invisible-island.net">Thomas Dickey</A>.
552 acts as the maintainer for the Free Software Foundation,
553 which holds the copyright on ncurses.
554 Contact the current maintainers at
555 <A HREF="mailto:bug-ncurses@gnu.org">bug-ncurses@gnu.org</A>.
558 To join the ncurses mailing list, please write email to
559 <CODE>bug-ncurses-request@gnu.org</CODE> containing the line:
561 subscribe <name>@<host.domain>
564 This list is open to anyone interested in helping with the development and
565 testing of this package.<P>
567 Beta versions of ncurses and patches to the current release are made available at
568 <A HREF="ftp://invisible-island.net/ncurses/">ftp://invisible-island.net/ncurses/</A> .
570 <H2>Future Plans</H2>
572 <LI>Extended-level XPG4 conformance, with internationalization support.
573 <LI>Ports to more systems, including DOS and Windows.
575 We need people to help with these projects. If you are interested in working
576 on them, please join the ncurses list.
578 <H2>Other Related Resources</H2>
580 The distribution provides a newer version of the terminfo-format
581 terminal description file once maintained by
582 <A HREF="http://www.catb.org/~esr/terminfo/">Eric Raymond</A> .
583 Unlike the older version, the termcap and terminfo data are provided
584 in the same file, and provides several user-definable extensions
585 beyond the X/Open specification.<P>
587 You can find lots of information on terminal-related topics
588 not covered in the terminfo file at
589 <A HREF="http://www.cs.utk.edu/~shuford/terminal_index.html">Richard Shuford's
594 # The following sets edit modes for GNU EMACS
597 # case-fold-search:nil