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27-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
28-- $Id: TO-DO,v 1.51 2008/10/11 19:22:27 tom Exp $
29-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
30
31SHORT-TERM TO-DO ITEMS:
32
33Known Problems:
34
35+ libtool does not work with GNAT.
36
37+ The screen optimization has been tested only in an ad hoc manner.  We should
38  develop a good set of regression tests to cover lib_doupdate.c and
39  lib_mvcur.c.
40
41+ Magic cookie support (for nonzero xmc values) does not work, since the logic
42  does not take into account refresh.  Also, the initial optimize does not
43  adjust the current location when a cookie is emitted.
44
45+ Scrolling optimization has holes:  for example, it forces repaints of the
46  screen between calls to refresh().
47
48+ SVr4 uses slightly different rules for determining when softkeys are shown. 
49  For example, they are initially displayed (before the ncurses 'e' test
50  activates them), and a touchwin can apparently also force them to be
51  displayed.
52
53+ The code departs from perfect 8-bit cleanness in one respect; you cannot
54  specify a character \200 as part of a capability string, because the
55  terminfo library interprets \200 as a request to embed NUL (\000) at that
56  point.  This is a legacy terminfo property we can't mess with.
57
58+ The window classes defined in the c++ subdirectory need documentation.  Some
59  C++ programmer could earn a lot of good karma by doing this...
60
61+ vid_attr() should support the set_a_attributes (sgr1) string, but does not. 
62  There appear to be no terminals that require that functionality.
63
64+ the configure --disable-ext-funcs option does not work for Ada95 tree.
65
66+ the --with-pthread configuration builds for Cygwin, but does not work
67  properly (test/worm.c shows all of the worms in the same location).
68
69+ the --enable-rpath configure option builds for the corresponding platforms;
70  however combining it with --with-ticlib and --with-termlib does not always
71  produce libraries that can be run without setting environment variables.
72  Building those with libtool does not work either.  (This is a problem with
73  the BSD platforms).
74
75Portability (or lack thereof):
76
77+ Users of older System V UNIXes (but not Solaris, and probably not SVr4) may
78  trip over a known problem with the signal-handling code which causes abrupt
79  termination of ncurses applications following resume from a ^Z suspend (this
80  problem was first seen running lynx).  You will not see this problem if you
81  are running Linux or one of the 4.4BSD derivatives like FreeBSD, NetBSD, or
82  BSDI.  For details, see the analysis in the header comment of
83  ncurses/tty/lib_tstp.c .
84
85+ In theory, vwprintw and vwscanf are supposed to use the older varargs.h
86  interface for handling variadic argument lists (and are deprecated by X/Open
87  for that reason).  Linux doesn't have varargs.h, it has the newer
88  X/Open-standard stdargs.h equivalent.  So these functions use stdargs
89  instead.  This is unlikely to be a problem unless you're building ncurses on
90  a System V old enough to only have varargs.h.  (Solaris 2.5.1 used the
91  stdarg.h binding as well).
92
93+ If you're using a BSD earlier than 4.4BSD, or a Linux old enough not to have
94  a native vsscanf(3) in its library, vwscanw() will not work.  You lose.  (It
95  should work on any System V, however).  If you want to fix this, add an
96  implementation to ncurses/vsscanf.c.
97
98+ The C++ binding fails to build with a few C++ compilers.
99
100+ terminfo.5 does not format with the SunOS (and most other platform's) tbl
101  utility because it relies on a diversion for each table entry.  Get the
102  groff package.
103
104Untested features:
105
106+ The code for the HP color model using set_color_pair is untested.
107
108+ The code for handling soft labels on a terminal type with built-in support
109  for them (num_labels > 0, label_height, label_width, label_format, label_off,
110  label_on, plab_norm, lab_f*) has not been tested.  The label_format and
111  lab_f* capabilities aren't presently used.
112
113LONGER-TERM TO-DO ITEMS:
114
1151. Extended COSE conformance
116
117There is an XPG4 standard released in 1996 which describes a superset
118of the SVr4 API.  The library is BASE conformant with this standard.
119We would like to make ncurses fully conformant at the EXTENDED level
120supporting internationalization.
121
1222. DOS port
123
124Only a few of the files in the library depend on the terminfo format.
125It should be possible to further kernelize the package, then rewrite 
126a small number of core files to produce a functionally-compatible
127port that would do updates to a memory-mapped screen area.  The first
128result of this would be a DOS port.
129
1303. X port
131
132It would be nice if ncurses could recognize when it was running under X and
133maintain its own window.  With this feature, all ncurses programs would
134automatically become X programs.  The challenge is to handle resize events
135properly.
136
1374. Unused capabilities
138
139The currently unused capabilities fall naturally into several groups:
140
141A. Status-line capabilities:
142
143	Booleans: has_status_line, status_line_esc_ok.
144	Numerics: width_status_line.
145	Strings: dis_status_line, from_status_line, to_status_line.
146
147System V Release 1 curses made no use of these at all.  SVr4's use, if
148any, is unknown.  From the AT&T termcap file it looks like curses, in general,
149shouldn't use them; terminal variants with status lines have their line count
150decremented by 1, suggesting that curses is supposed to leave the status line
151alone.
152
153B. Printer capabilities:
154
155	Boolean: col_addr_glitch, cr_cancels_micro_mode, has_print_wheel,
156		row_addr_glitch, semi_auto_right_margin, cpi_changes_res,
157		lpi_changes_res.
158	Numeric: buffer_capacity, dot_horz_spacing, dot_vert_spacing,
159		max_micro_address, max_micro_jump, micro_col_size,
160		micro_line_size, number_of_pins, output_res_char,
161		output_res_line, output_res_horz_inch, print_rate,
162		wide_char_size, bit_image_entwining, bit_image_type.
163	String: down_half_line, form_feed, up_half_line, set_left_margin,
164		set_right_margin, clear_margins, change_char_pitch
165		... set_page_length (all the SVr4 printer caps),
166
167Curses doesn't use these.
168
169C. Printer-control capabilities:
170
171	Boolean: prtr_silent.
172	Strings: print_screen, prtr_on, prtr_off, prtr_non.
173
174Curses doesn't use these.
175
176D. Dialer strings:
177
178	Strings: hangup, dial_phone, quick_dial, tone, pulse, flash_hook,
179		fixed_pause, wait_tone.
180
181Curses doesn't use these.
182
183E. Window and virtual-terminal capabilities:
184
185	Numerics: maximum_windows, virtual_terminal.
186	Strings: req_for_input, create_window, goto_window, set_window.
187
188These seem to be fossils from some AT&T experiments on character-based
189window systems that never escaped the lab.  The virtual_terminal cap had
190something to do with building terminal emulations into tty line disciplines.
191
192F. Unused VDT capabilities:
193
194	Booleans: erase_overstrike, has_meta_key, insert_null_glitch,
195		move_insert, dest_tabs_magic_smso, transparent_underline,
196		needs_xon_xoff, hard_cursor.
197	Numerics: lines_of_memory, buttons.
198	Strings: pkey_key, pkey_local, pkey_xmit, underline_char, 
199		enter_xon_mode,	exit_xon_mode, xon_character, xoff_character, 
200		display_clock, remove_clock, user[0-5], display_pc_char,
201		enter_scancode_mode, exit_scancode_mode, pc_term_options, 
202		scancode_escape, alt_scancode_esc.
203
204These are the potentially important ones for ncurses.  Notes:
205
206	i) ncurses doesn't need move_insert; it never uses cup/hpa/vpa while
207		insert_mode is on.
208
209	ii) We probably don't care about dest_tabs_magic_smso; only
210		Telerays used it and they're all long obsolete.
211
212-- vile:txtmode
213