| [2621] | 1 | <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//IETF//DTD HTML 3.0//EN">
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| 2 | <!--
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| 3 | $Id: announce.html.in,v 1.57 2005/10/01 22:07:23 tom Exp $
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| 4 | -->
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| 5 | <HTML>
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| 6 | <HEAD>
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| 7 | <TITLE>Announcing ncurses @VERSION@</TITLE>
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| 8 | <link rev=made href="mailto:bug-ncurses@gnu.org">
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| 9 | <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
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| 10 | </HEAD>
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| 11 | <BODY>
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| 12 |
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| 13 | <H1>Announcing ncurses @VERSION@</H1>
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| 14 |
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| 15 | The ncurses (new curses) library is a free software emulation of
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| 16 | curses in System V Release 4.0, and more. It uses terminfo format,
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| 17 | supports pads and color
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| 18 | and multiple highlights and forms characters and function-key mapping,
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| 19 | and has all the other SYSV-curses enhancements over BSD curses.<P>
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| 20 |
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| 21 | In mid-June 1995, the maintainer of 4.4BSD curses declared that he
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| 22 | considered 4.4BSD curses obsolete, and encouraged the keepers of
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| 23 | Unix releases such as BSD/OS, FreeBSD and NetBSD to switch over to
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| 24 | ncurses.<P>
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| 25 |
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| 26 | The ncurses code was developed under GNU/Linux.
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| 27 | It has been in use for some time with OpenBSD as the system curses library,
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| 28 | and on FreeBSD and NetBSD as an external package.
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| 29 | It should port easily to any ANSI/POSIX-conforming UNIX.
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| 30 | It has even been ported to OS/2 Warp!<P>
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| 31 |
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| 32 | The distribution includes the library and support utilities, including a
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| 33 | terminfo compiler tic(1), a decompiler infocmp(1), clear(1), tput(1), tset(1),
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| 34 | and a termcap conversion tool captoinfo(1). Full manual pages are provided for
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| 35 | the library and tools.<P>
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| 36 |
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| 37 | The ncurses distribution is available via anonymous FTP at
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| 38 | the GNU distribution site
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| 39 | <A HREF="ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/ncurses/">ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/ncurses/</A> .
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| 40 | <br>It is also available at
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| 41 | <A HREF="ftp://invisible-island.net/ncurses/">ftp://invisible-island.net/ncurses/</A> .
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| 42 |
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| 43 | <H1>Release Notes</H1>
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| 44 |
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| 45 | This release is designed to be upward compatible from ncurses 5.0 through 5.4;
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| 46 | very few applications will require recompilation, depending on the platform.
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| 47 | These are the highlights from the change-log since ncurses 5.4 release.
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| 48 | <p>
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| 49 | Interface changes:
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| 50 | <ul>
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| 51 | <li>terminfo installs "xterm-new" as "xterm" entry rather than
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| 52 | "xterm-old" (aka xterm-r6).
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| 53 |
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| 54 | <li>terminfo data is installed using the tic -x option (few systems
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| 55 | still use ncurses 4.2).
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| 56 |
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| 57 | <li>modify C++ binding to work with newer C++ compilers by providing
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| 58 | initializers and using modern casts. Old-style header names are
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| 59 | still used in this release to allow compiling with not-so-old
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| 60 | compilers.
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| 61 |
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| 62 | <li>modify parameter type in c++ binding for insch() and mvwinsch() to
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| 63 | be consistent with underlying ncurses library (was char, is chtype).
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| 64 |
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| 65 | <li>change NCursesWindow::err_handler() to a virtual function.
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| 66 |
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| 67 | <li>form and menu libraries now work with wide-character data.
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| 68 | Applications which bypassed the form library and manipulated the
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| 69 | FIELD.buf data directly will not work properly with libformw,
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| 70 | since that no longer points to an array of char. The
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| 71 | set_field_buffer() and field_buffer() functions translate to/from
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| 72 | the actual field data.
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| 73 |
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| 74 |
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| 75 | <li>add symbol to curses.h which can be used to suppress include of
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| 76 | stdbool.h, e.g.,
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| 77 | <pre>
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| 78 | #define NCURSES_ENABLE_STDBOOL_H 0
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| 79 | #include <curses.h>
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| 80 | </pre>
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| 81 |
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| 82 | <li>change SP->_current_attr to a pointer, adjust ifdef's to ensure
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| 83 | that libtinfo.so and libtinfow.so have the same ABI. The reason
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| 84 | for this is that the corresponding data which belongs to the
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| 85 | upper-level ncurses library has a different size in each model.
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| 86 |
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| 87 | <li>winnstr() now returns multibyte character strings for the
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| 88 | wide-character configuration.
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| 89 |
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| 90 | <li>assume_default_colors() no longer requires that
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| 91 | use_default_colors() be called first.
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| 92 |
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| 93 | <li>data_ahead() now works with wide-characters.
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| 94 |
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| 95 | <li>slk_set() and slk_wset() now accept and store multibyte or
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| 96 | multicolumn characters.
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| 97 |
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| 98 | <li>start_color() now returns OK if colors have
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| 99 | already been started.
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| 100 | start_color() also returns ERR if it cannot allocate memory.
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| 101 |
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| 102 | <li>pair_content() now returns -1 for consistency with init_pair()
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| 103 | if it corresponds to the default-color.
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| 104 |
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| 105 | <li>unctrl() now returns null if its parameter does not correspond
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| 106 | to an unsigned char.
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| 107 |
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| 108 | </ul>
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| 109 | New features and improvements:
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| 110 | <ul>
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| 111 | <li>library
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| 112 | <ul>
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| 113 | <li>environment variable NCURSES_NO_UTF8_ACS supports
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| 114 | miscellaneous terminal emulators which ignore alternate
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| 115 | character set escape sequences when in UTF-8 mode.
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| 116 |
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| 117 | <li>modify initialization of key lookup table so that if an extended
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| 118 | capability (tic -x) string is defined, and its name begins with 'k',
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| 119 | ncurses will automatically treat it as a key.
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| 120 |
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| 121 | <li>change GPM initialization, using dl library to load it
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| 122 | dynamically at runtime.
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| 123 |
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| 124 | <li>form, menu and panel libraries support debug-tracing.
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| 125 |
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| 126 | </ul>
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| 127 |
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| 128 | <li>add NCURSES-Programming-HOWTO.html by Pradeep Padala
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| 129 | (see http://tldp.org/HOWTO/NCURSES-Programming-HOWTO/).
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| 130 |
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| 131 | <li>programs:
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| 132 |
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| 133 | <li>infocmp:
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| 134 | <ul>
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| 135 | <li>The -i option now matches 8-bit controls against its table
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| 136 | entries, e.g., so it can analyze the xterm-8bit entry.
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| 137 |
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| 138 | <li>add "-x" option to infocmp like tic's "-x", for use in "-F"
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| 139 | comparisons. This modifies infocmp to only report extended
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| 140 | capabilities if the -x option is given, making this more
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| 141 | consistent with tic. Some scripts may break, since infocmp
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| 142 | previous gave this information without an option.
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| 143 |
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| 144 | </ul>
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| 145 |
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| 146 | <li>tic:
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| 147 |
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| 148 | <ul>
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| 149 |
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| 150 | <li>modify termcap-parsing to retain 2-character aliases at the
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| 151 | beginning of an entry if the "-x" option is used in tic.
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| 152 |
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| 153 | <li>filter out long extended names when translating to termcap
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| 154 | format. Only two characters are permissible for termcap
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| 155 | capability names.
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| 156 |
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| 157 | <li>correct translation of "%%" in terminfo format to termcap,
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| 158 | e.g., using "tic -C".
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| 159 |
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| 160 | <li>modify the "-c -v" options to ignore delays when comparing
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| 161 | strings. Also modify it to ignore a canceled sgr string,
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| 162 | e.g., for terminals which cannot properly combine attributes
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| 163 | in one control sequence.
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| 164 |
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| 165 | <li>add a check for improperly ended strings, i.e., where a
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| 166 | following line begins in column 1.
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| 167 |
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| 168 | <li>add a check in tic for terminfo entries having an sgr0 but no
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| 169 | sgr string. This confuses Tru64 and HPUX curses when combined
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| 170 | with color, e.g., making them leave line-drawing characters in
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| 171 | odd places.
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| 172 |
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| 173 | <li>add check (with debug configuration) that provides about the
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| 174 | runtime changes that would be made to sgr0 for termcap
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| 175 | applications.
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| 176 |
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| 177 | </ul>
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| 178 |
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| 179 | <li>tset:
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| 180 |
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| 181 | <ul>
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| 182 |
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| 183 | <li>add -c and -w options to allow user to suppress ncurses'
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| 184 | resizing of the terminal emulator window in the special case
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| 185 | where it is not able to detect the true size.
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| 186 |
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| 187 | </ul>
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| 188 |
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| 189 | </ul>
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| 190 | Major bug fixes:
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| 191 | <ul>
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| 192 |
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| 193 | <li>improve logic in tgetent() which adjusts the termcap "me" string
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| 194 | to work with ISO-2022 string used in xterm-new.
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| 195 | This is a feature that was incompletely implemented in ncurses 5.3.
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| 196 | ncurses attempts to provide termcap clients with the portion of
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| 197 | the sgr0 (termcap "me") string that does not reset line-drawing.
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| 198 |
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| 199 | <li>cells in the WINDOW which are continuations of a multicolumn
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| 200 | character are encoded differently, making repainting more
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| 201 | reliable.
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| 202 |
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| 203 | <li>amend change to setupterm() in ncurses 5.4 (20030405) which would
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| 204 | reuse the value of cur_term if the same output was selected. This
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| 205 | now reuses it only when setupterm() is called from tgetent(),
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| 206 | which has no notion of separate SCREENs. Note that tgetent() must
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| 207 | be called after initscr() or newterm() to use this feature.
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| 208 |
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| 209 | <li>make setcchar() now works when its wchar_t* parameter is
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| 210 | pointing to a string which contains more data than can be converted.
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| 211 |
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| 212 | <li>win_wchnstr() now works for more than one cell.
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| 213 |
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| 214 | <li>resizeterm() now processes all levels of window hierarchy.
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| 215 |
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| 216 | <li>disable GPM mouse support when $TERM happens to be prefixed with
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| 217 | "xterm". Gpm_Open() would otherwise assert that it can deal with
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| 218 | mouse events in this case.
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| 219 |
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| 220 | <li>add SP->_screen_acs_map[], used to ensure that mapping of missing
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| 221 | line-drawing characters is handled properly. For example, ACS_DARROW
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| 222 | is absent from xterm-new, and it was coincidentally displayed the
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| 223 | same as ACS_BTEE.
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| 224 |
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| 225 | </ul>
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| 226 |
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| 227 | Portability:
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| 228 | <ul>
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| 229 | <li>configure script:
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| 230 | <ul>
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| 231 | <li>new options:
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| 232 | <dl>
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| 233 | <dt>--enable-largefile
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| 234 | <dd>set compiler and linker flags to use largefile support.
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| 235 |
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| 236 | <dt>--enable-ext-colors
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| 237 | <dd>Allow encoding of 256 foreground
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| 238 | and background colors, e.g., with the xterm-256color or
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| 239 | xterm-88color terminfo entries.
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| 240 | This requires ABI 6 because it changes the size of cchar_t.
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| 241 |
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| 242 | <dt>--enable-ext-mouse
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| 243 | <dd>This defines NCURSES_MOUSE_VERSION 2, and modifies the encoding of
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| 244 | mouse events to support wheel mice, which may transmit buttons
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| 245 | 4 and 5. This works with xterm and similar terminal
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| 246 | emulators.
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| 247 | This requires ABI 6 because it changes the encoding of
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| 248 | mouse events.
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| 249 |
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| 250 | <dt>--with-chtype
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| 251 | <dd>overriding of the non-LP64 model's use of chtype
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| 252 |
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| 253 | <dt>--with-mmask-t
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| 254 | <dd>overriding of the non-LP64 model's use of mmask_t
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| 255 |
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| 256 | <dt>--without-xterm-new
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| 257 | <dd>Installs "xterm-old" as the "xterm" entry of the terminfo
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| 258 | database.
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| 259 |
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| 260 | </dl>
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| 261 |
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| 262 | <li>The --with-termlib option now accepts a value which sets
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| 263 | the name of the terminfo library. This would allow a packager to
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| 264 | build libtinfow.so renamed to coincide with libtinfo.so
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| 265 |
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| 266 | <li>fixes/improvements for cross-compiling:
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| 267 |
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| 268 | <ul>
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| 269 | <li>suppress $suffix in misc/run_tic.sh when cross-compiling.
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| 270 | This allows cross-compiles to use the host's tic program to
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| 271 | handle the "make install.data" step.
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| 272 |
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| 273 | <li>correct BUILD_CPPFLAGS substitution in ncurses/Makefile.in, to allow
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| 274 | cross-compiling from a separate directory tree.
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| 275 |
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| 276 | </ul>
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| 277 |
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| 278 | </ul>
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| 279 |
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| 280 | <li>library:
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| 281 | <ul>
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| 282 |
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| 283 | <li>add ifdef's for _LP64 in curses.h to avoid using wasteful
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| 284 | 64-bits for chtype and mmask_t, but add configure option
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| 285 | --disable-lp64 in case anyone used that configuration.
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| 286 |
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| 287 | <li>modify C++ binding to use some C internal functions to make it
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| 288 | compile properly on Solaris (and other platforms).
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| 289 |
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| 290 | <li>remove check in newwin() that prevents allocating windows that
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| 291 | extend beyond the screen (Solaris does this).
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| 292 |
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| 293 | <li>check for <code>nl_langinfo(CODESET)</code>, use it if available.
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| 294 | This replaces ad hoc tests of environment variables to
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| 295 | check if the terminal is setup for UTF-8 encoding.
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| 296 | Applications which do not call <code>setlocale()</code>
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| 297 | should be corrected, to make them work properly with
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| 298 | UTF-8 encoding.
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| 299 | <br>
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| 300 | <strong>In particular, applications which assume (and
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| 301 | do not call <code>setlocale()</code>) that
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| 302 | Latin-1 codes are printable will no longer work in
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| 303 | a UTF-8 locale since the ad hoc check of environment
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| 304 | variables to see if the locale was UTF-8 is not used
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| 305 | when <code>nl_langinfo(CODESET)</code> is available.</strong>
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| 306 |
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| 307 | <li>use setlocale() to query the program's current locale rather
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| 308 | than using getenv(). This supports applications which rely
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| 309 | upon legacy treatment of 8-bit characters when the locale is
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| 310 | not initialized.
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| 311 |
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| 312 | </ul>
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| 313 | </ul>
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| 314 |
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| 315 | <H1>Features of Ncurses</H1>
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| 316 |
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| 317 | The ncurses package is fully compatible with SVr4 (System V Release 4) curses:
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| 318 |
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| 319 | <UL>
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| 320 | <LI>All 257 of the SVr4 calls have been implemented (and are documented).
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| 321 | <LI>Full support for SVr4 curses features including keyboard mapping, color,
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| 322 | forms-drawing with ACS characters, and automatic recognition of keypad
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| 323 | and function keys.
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| 324 | <LI>An emulation of the SVr4 panels library, supporting
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| 325 | a stack of windows with backing store, is included.
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| 326 | <LI>An emulation of the SVr4 menus library, supporting
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| 327 | a uniform but flexible interface for menu programming, is included.
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| 328 | <LI>An emulation of the SVr4 form library, supporting
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| 329 | data collection through on-screen forms, is included.
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| 330 | <LI>Binary terminfo entries generated by the ncurses tic(1) implementation
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| 331 | are bit-for-bit-compatible with the entry format SVr4 curses uses.
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| 332 | <LI>The utilities have options to allow you to filter terminfo
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| 333 | entries for use with less capable <STRONG>curses</STRONG>/<STRONG>terminfo</STRONG>
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| 334 | versions such as the HP/UX and AIX ports.</UL>
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| 335 |
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| 336 | The ncurses package also has many useful extensions over SVr4:
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| 337 |
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| 338 | <UL>
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| 339 | <LI>The API is 8-bit clean and base-level conformant with the X/OPEN curses
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| 340 | specification, XSI curses (that is, it implements all BASE level features,
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| 341 | but not all EXTENDED features). Most EXTENDED-level features not directly
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| 342 | concerned with wide-character support are implemented, including many
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| 343 | function calls not supported under SVr4 curses (but portability of all
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| 344 | calls is documented so you can use the SVr4 subset only).
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| 345 | <LI>Unlike SVr3 curses, ncurses can write to the rightmost-bottommost corner
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| 346 | of the screen if your terminal has an insert-character capability.
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| 347 | <LI>Ada95 and C++ bindings.
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| 348 | <LI>Support for mouse event reporting with X Window xterm and OS/2 console windows.
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| 349 | <LI>Extended mouse support via Alessandro Rubini's gpm package.
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| 350 | <LI>The function <CODE>wresize()</CODE> allows you to resize windows, preserving
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| 351 | their data.
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| 352 | <LI>The function <CODE>use_default_colors()</CODE> allows you to
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| 353 | use the terminal's default colors for the default color pair,
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| 354 | achieving the effect of transparent colors.
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| 355 | <LI>The functions <CODE>keyok()</CODE>
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| 356 | and <CODE>define_key()</CODE> allow
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| 357 | you to better control the use of function keys,
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| 358 | e.g., disabling the ncurses KEY_MOUSE,
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| 359 | or by defining more than one control sequence to map to a given key code.
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| 360 | <LI>Support for 16-color terminals, such as aixterm and XFree86 xterm.
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| 361 | <LI>Better cursor-movement optimization. The package now features a
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| 362 | cursor-local-movement computation more efficient than either BSD's
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| 363 | or System V's.
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| 364 | <LI>Super hardware scrolling support. The screen-update code incorporates
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| 365 | a novel, simple, and cheap algorithm that enables it to make optimal
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| 366 | use of hardware scrolling, line-insertion, and line-deletion
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| 367 | for screen-line movements. This algorithm is more powerful than
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| 368 | the 4.4BSD curses quickch() routine.
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| 369 | <LI>Real support for terminals with the magic-cookie glitch. The
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| 370 | screen-update code will refrain from drawing a highlight if the magic-
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| 371 | cookie unattributed spaces required just before the beginning and
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| 372 | after the end would step on a non-space character. It will
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| 373 | automatically shift highlight boundaries when doing so would make it
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| 374 | possible to draw the highlight without changing the visual appearance
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| 375 | of the screen.
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| 376 | <LI>It is possible to generate the library with a list of pre-loaded
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| 377 | fallback entries linked to it so that it can serve those terminal types even
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| 378 | when no terminfo tree or termcap file is accessible (this may be useful
|
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| 379 | for support of screen-oriented programs that must run in single-user mode).
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| 380 | <LI>The tic(1)/captoinfo utility provided with ncurses has the
|
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| 381 | ability to translate many termcaps from the XENIX, IBM and
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| 382 | AT&T extension sets.
|
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| 383 | <LI>A BSD-like tset(1) utility is provided.
|
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| 384 | <LI>The ncurses library and utilities will automatically read terminfo
|
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| 385 | entries from $HOME/.terminfo if it exists, and compile to that directory
|
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| 386 | if it exists and the user has no write access to the system directory.
|
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| 387 | This feature makes it easier for users to have personal terminfo entries
|
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| 388 | without giving up access to the system terminfo directory.
|
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| 389 | <LI>You may specify a path of directories to search for compiled
|
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| 390 | descriptions with the environment variable TERMINFO_DIRS (this
|
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| 391 | generalizes the feature provided by TERMINFO under stock System V.)
|
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| 392 | <LI>In terminfo source files, use capabilities may refer not just to
|
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| 393 | other entries in the same source file (as in System V) but also to
|
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| 394 | compiled entries in either the system terminfo directory or the user's
|
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| 395 | $HOME/.terminfo directory.
|
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| 396 | <LI>A script (<STRONG>capconvert</STRONG>) is provided to help BSD users
|
|---|
| 397 | transition from termcap to terminfo. It gathers the information in a
|
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| 398 | TERMCAP environment variable and/or a ~/.termcap local entries file
|
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| 399 | and converts it to an equivalent local terminfo tree under $HOME/.terminfo.
|
|---|
| 400 | <LI>Automatic fallback to the /etc/termcap file can be compiled in
|
|---|
| 401 | when it is not possible to build a terminfo tree. This feature is neither
|
|---|
| 402 | fast nor cheap, you don't want to use it unless you have to,
|
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| 403 | but it's there.
|
|---|
| 404 | <LI>The table-of-entries utility <STRONG>toe</STRONG> makes it easy for users to
|
|---|
| 405 | see exactly what terminal types are available on the system.
|
|---|
| 406 | <LI>The library meets the XSI requirement that every macro entry
|
|---|
| 407 | point have a corresponding function which may be linked (and will be
|
|---|
| 408 | prototype-checked) if the macro definition is disabled with
|
|---|
| 409 | <CODE>#undef</CODE>.
|
|---|
| 410 | <LI>An HTML "Introduction to Programming with NCURSES" document provides
|
|---|
| 411 | a narrative introduction to the curses programming interface.
|
|---|
| 412 | </UL>
|
|---|
| 413 |
|
|---|
| 414 | <H1>State of the Package</H1>
|
|---|
| 415 |
|
|---|
| 416 | Numerous bugs present in earlier versions have been fixed; the
|
|---|
| 417 | library is far more reliable than it used to be. Bounds checking in many
|
|---|
| 418 | `dangerous' entry points has been improved. The code is now type-safe
|
|---|
| 419 | according to gcc -Wall. The library has been checked for malloc leaks and
|
|---|
| 420 | arena corruption by the Purify memory-allocation tester.<P>
|
|---|
| 421 |
|
|---|
| 422 | The ncurses code has been tested with a wide variety of applications
|
|---|
| 423 | including (versions starting with those noted):
|
|---|
| 424 | <DL>
|
|---|
| 425 | <DT> cdk
|
|---|
| 426 | <DD> Curses Development Kit
|
|---|
| 427 | <br>
|
|---|
| 428 | <A HREF="http://invisible-island.net/cdk/">http://invisible-island.net/cdk/</A>
|
|---|
| 429 | <br>
|
|---|
| 430 | <A HREF="http://www.vexus.ca/products/CDK/">http://www.vexus.ca/products/CDK/</a>
|
|---|
| 431 | <DT> ded
|
|---|
| 432 | <DD> directory-editor
|
|---|
| 433 | <br>
|
|---|
| 434 | <A HREF="http://invisible-island.net/ded/">http://invisible-island.net/ded/</A>
|
|---|
| 435 | <DT> dialog
|
|---|
| 436 | <DD> the underlying application used in Slackware's setup, and the basis
|
|---|
| 437 | for similar applications on GNU/Linux.
|
|---|
| 438 | <br>
|
|---|
| 439 | <A HREF="http://invisible-island.net/dialog/">http://invisible-island.net/dialog/</A>
|
|---|
| 440 | <DT> lynx
|
|---|
| 441 | <DD> the character-screen WWW browser
|
|---|
| 442 | <br>
|
|---|
| 443 | <A HREF="http://lynx.isc.org/release/">http://lynx.isc.org/release/</A>
|
|---|
| 444 | <DT> Midnight Commander
|
|---|
| 445 | <DD> file manager
|
|---|
| 446 | <br>
|
|---|
| 447 | <A HREF="http://www.ibiblio.org/mc/">http://www.ibiblio.org/mc/</A>
|
|---|
| 448 | <DT> mutt
|
|---|
| 449 | <DD> mail utility
|
|---|
| 450 | <br>
|
|---|
| 451 | <A HREF="http://www.mutt.org/">http://www.mutt.org/</A>
|
|---|
| 452 | <DT> ncftp
|
|---|
| 453 | <DD> file-transfer utility
|
|---|
| 454 | <br>
|
|---|
| 455 | <A HREF="http://www.ncftp.com/">http://www.ncftp.com/</A>
|
|---|
| 456 | <DT> nvi
|
|---|
| 457 | <DD> New vi versions 1.50 are able to use ncurses versions 1.9.7 and later.
|
|---|
| 458 | <br>
|
|---|
| 459 | <A HREF="http://www.bostic.com/vi/">http://www.bostic.com/vi/</A>
|
|---|
| 460 | <br>
|
|---|
| 461 | <DT> pinfo
|
|---|
| 462 | <DD> Lynx-like info browser.
|
|---|
| 463 | <A HREF="http://dione.ids.pl/~pborys/software/pinfo/">http://dione.ids.pl/~pborys/software/pinfo/</A>
|
|---|
| 464 | <DT> tin
|
|---|
| 465 | <DD> newsreader, supporting color, MIME
|
|---|
| 466 | <A HREF="http://www.tin.org/">http://www.tin.org/</A>
|
|---|
| 467 | <DT> vh-1.6
|
|---|
| 468 | <DD> Volks-Hypertext browser for the Jargon File
|
|---|
| 469 | <br>
|
|---|
| 470 | <A HREF="http://www.debian.org/Packages/unstable/text/vh.html">http://www.debian.org/Packages/unstable/text/vh.html</A>
|
|---|
| 471 | </DL>
|
|---|
| 472 | as well as some that use ncurses for the terminfo support alone:
|
|---|
| 473 | <DL>
|
|---|
| 474 | <DT> minicom
|
|---|
| 475 | <DD> terminal emulator
|
|---|
| 476 | <br>
|
|---|
| 477 | <A HREF="http://www.netsonic.fi/~walker/minicom.html">http://www.netsonic.fi/~walker/minicom.html</A>
|
|---|
| 478 | <DT> vile
|
|---|
| 479 | <DD> vi-like-emacs
|
|---|
| 480 | <br>
|
|---|
| 481 | <A HREF="http://invisible-island.net/vile/">http://invisible-island.net/vile/</A>
|
|---|
| 482 | </DL>
|
|---|
| 483 | <P>
|
|---|
| 484 |
|
|---|
| 485 | The ncurses distribution includes a selection of test programs (including
|
|---|
| 486 | a few games).
|
|---|
| 487 |
|
|---|
| 488 | <H2>Who's Who and What's What</H2>
|
|---|
| 489 |
|
|---|
| 490 | Zeyd Ben-Halim
|
|---|
| 491 | started it from a previous package pcurses, written by Pavel Curtis.
|
|---|
| 492 | Eric S. Raymond
|
|---|
| 493 | continued development.
|
|---|
| 494 | Jürgen Pfeifer wrote most of the form and menu libraries.
|
|---|
| 495 | Ongoing work is being done by
|
|---|
| 496 | <A HREF="mailto:dickey@invisible-island.net">Thomas Dickey</A>.
|
|---|
| 497 | Thomas Dickey
|
|---|
| 498 | acts as the maintainer for the Free Software Foundation,
|
|---|
| 499 | which holds the copyright on ncurses.
|
|---|
| 500 | Contact the current maintainers at
|
|---|
| 501 | <A HREF="mailto:bug-ncurses@gnu.org">bug-ncurses@gnu.org</A>.
|
|---|
| 502 | <P>
|
|---|
| 503 |
|
|---|
| 504 | To join the ncurses mailing list, please write email to
|
|---|
| 505 | <CODE>bug-ncurses-request@gnu.org</CODE> containing the line:
|
|---|
| 506 | <PRE>
|
|---|
| 507 | subscribe <name>@<host.domain>
|
|---|
| 508 | </PRE>
|
|---|
| 509 |
|
|---|
| 510 | This list is open to anyone interested in helping with the development and
|
|---|
| 511 | testing of this package.<P>
|
|---|
| 512 |
|
|---|
| 513 | Beta versions of ncurses and patches to the current release are made available at
|
|---|
| 514 | <A HREF="ftp://invisible-island.net/ncurses/">ftp://invisible-island.net/ncurses/</A> .
|
|---|
| 515 |
|
|---|
| 516 | <H2>Future Plans</H2>
|
|---|
| 517 | <UL>
|
|---|
| 518 | <LI>Extended-level XPG4 conformance, with internationalization support.
|
|---|
| 519 | <LI>Ports to more systems, including DOS and Windows.
|
|---|
| 520 | </UL>
|
|---|
| 521 | We need people to help with these projects. If you are interested in working
|
|---|
| 522 | on them, please join the ncurses list.
|
|---|
| 523 |
|
|---|
| 524 | <H2>Other Related Resources</H2>
|
|---|
| 525 |
|
|---|
| 526 | The distribution provides a newer version of the terminfo-format
|
|---|
| 527 | terminal description file maintained by
|
|---|
| 528 | <A HREF="http://www.catb.org/~esr/terminfo/">Eric Raymond</A> .
|
|---|
| 529 | Unlike the older version, the termcap and terminfo data are provided
|
|---|
| 530 | in the same file.<P>
|
|---|
| 531 |
|
|---|
| 532 | You can find lots of information on terminal-related topics
|
|---|
| 533 | not covered in the terminfo file at
|
|---|
| 534 | <A HREF="http://www.cs.utk.edu/~shuford/terminal_index.html">Richard Shuford's
|
|---|
| 535 | archive</A> .
|
|---|
| 536 | </BODY>
|
|---|
| 537 | </HTML>
|
|---|
| 538 | <!--
|
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| 539 | # The following sets edit modes for GNU EMACS
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| 540 | # Local Variables:
|
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| 541 | # mode:html
|
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| 542 | # case-fold-search:nil
|
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| 543 | # fill-column:70
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| 544 | # End:
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| 545 | -->
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