announce.html.in revision 50276
1<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//IETF//DTD HTML 3.0//EN"> 2<!-- 3 $Id: announce.html.in,v 1.30 1999/05/16 17:01:39 juergen Exp $ 4--> 5<HTML> 6<HEAD> 7<TITLE>Announcing ncurses @VERSION@</TITLE> 8<link rev=made href="mailto:bug-ncurses@gnu.org"> 9</HEAD> 10<BODY> 11 12<H1>Announcing ncurses @VERSION@</H1> 13 14The ncurses (new curses) library is a free software emulation of 15curses in System V Release 4.0, and more. It uses terminfo format, 16supports pads and color 17and multiple highlights and forms characters and function-key mapping, 18and has all the other SYSV-curses enhancements over BSD curses.<P> 19 20In mid-June 1995, the maintainer of 4.4BSD curses declared that he 21considered 4.4BSD curses obsolete, and is encouraging the keepers of 22Unix releases such as BSD/OS, freeBSD and netBSD to switch over to 23ncurses.<P> 24 25The ncurses code was developed under GNU/Linux. It should port easily to 26any ANSI/POSIX-conforming UNIX. It has even been ported to OS/2 Warp!<P> 27 28The distribution includes the library and support utilities, including a 29terminfo compiler tic(1), a decompiler infocmp(1), clear(1), tput(1), tset(1), 30and a termcap conversion tool captoinfo(1). Full manual pages are provided for 31the library and tools.<P> 32 33The ncurses distribution is available via anonymous FTP at 34the GNU distribution site 35<A HREF="ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu">ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu</A>. 36It is also available at 37<A HREF="ftp://ftp.clark.net/pub/dickey/ncurses">ftp://ftp.clark.net/pub/dickey/ncurses</A>. 38 39<H1>Release Notes</H1> 40 41We decided to release ncurses as a new whole number release (5.0) because it 42incorporates several interface changes, including some that would invalidate 43existing shared libraries. These are the highlights from the change-log 44since ncurses 4.2 release. 45<p> 46Interface changes: 47<ul> 48 <li>The principal source of changes to the interface comes from the 49 release of X/Open Curses in 1997. Earlier versions of ncurses (4.0 50 and before) were based on a draft version of the specification. The 51 release version adds parameters to some functions to support the 52 evolving internationalization of curses. These summarize the impact: 53<ul> 54 <li>modified several prototypes to correspond with 1997 version of 55 X/Open Curses (affects ABI since developers have used attr_get). 56 57 <li>corrected prototypes for slk_* functions, using chtype rather than 58 attr_t. 59 60 <li>the slk_attr_{set,off,on} functions need an additional void* 61 parameter according to XSI. 62 63 <li>correct macros for wattr_set, wattr_get, separate wattrset macro from 64 these to preserve behavior that allows attributes to be combined with 65 color pair numbers. 66 67 <li>reviewed/updated curses.h, term.h against X/Open Curses Issue 4 68 Version 2. This includes making some parameters NCURSES_CONST 69 rather than const, e.g., in termcap.h. 70 71 <li>reviewed/corrected macros in curses.h as per XSI document. 72 73 <li>add set_a_attributes and set_pglen_inch to terminfo structure, as per 74 XSI and Solaris 2.5. 75</ul> 76 <li>The newest version of the X/Open Curses is implemented on Solaris 77 and other vendor's systems. It adds new features to the terminfo 78 descriptions: 79<ul> 80 <li>implement tparm %l format. 81 82 <li>implement tparm printf-style width and precision for %s, %d, %x, %o 83 as per XSI. 84</ul> 85 <li>We made additional changes to reduce impact by future interface 86 changes: 87<ul> 88 <li>change key_names[] array to static since it is not part of the curses 89 interface. 90 91 <li>move macro winch to a function, to hide details of struct ldat 92</ul> 93 <li>modify configure script to embed ABI in shared libraries for HP-UX 94 10.x (detailed request by Tim Mooney). 95 96 <li>modify configuration of shared libraries on Digital Unix so that 97 versioning is embedded in the library, rather than implied by 98 links (patch by Tim Mooney). 99</ul> 100New features: 101<ul> 102 <li>enable sigwinch handler by default. 103 104 <li>turn on hashmap scrolling code by default 105 106 <li>improved support for termcap applications 107<ul> 108 <li>modify tput to accept termcap names as an alternative to terminfo 109 names. 110 111 <li>provide support for termcap PC variable by copying it from terminfo 112 data and using it as the padding character in tputs. 113 114 <li>provide support for termcap ospeed variable by copying it from the 115 internal cur_term member, and using ospeed as the baudrate 116 reference for the delay_output and tputs functions. 117 118 <li>change name-comparisons in lib_termcap to compare no more than 2 119 characters. 120 121 <li>add configure option --enable-tcap-names, which essentially 122 allows users to define new capabilities as in termcap. 123</ul> 124 <li>add mouse support to ncurses menus. 125 126 <li>add mouse and dll support for OS/2 EMX 127 128 <li>modify terminfo parsing to accept octal and hexadecimal constants 129 130 <li>add configure option --enable-no-padding, to allow environment 131 variable $NCURSES_NO_PADDING to eliminate non-mandatory padding, 132 thereby making terminal emulators (e.g., for vt100) a little more 133 efficient. 134 135 <li>modify lib_color.c to eliminate dependency on orig_colors and 136 orig_pair, since SVr4 curses does not require these either, but 137 uses them when they are available. 138 139 <li>add -f option to infocmp and tic, which formats the terminfo 140 if/then/else/endif so that they are readable (with newlines and 141 tabs). 142 143 <li>modify tic to compile into %'char' form in preference to %{number}, 144 since that is a little more efficient. 145</ul> 146Major bug fixes: 147<ul> 148 <li>modify lib_tstp.c to block SIGTTOU when handling SIGTSTP, fixes a 149 problem where ncurses applications which were run via a shell script 150 would hang when given a ^Z. Also, check if the terminal's process 151 group is consistent, i.e., a shell has not taken ownership of it, 152 before deciding to save the current terminal settings in the SIGTSTP 153 handler. 154 155 <li>suppress sc/rc capabilities from terminal description if they appear 156 in smcup/rmcup. This affects only scrolling optimization, to fix a 157 problem reported by several people with xterm's alternate screen, 158 though the problem is more general. 159 160 <li>modify relative_move and tputs to avoid an interaction with the 161 BSD-style padding. The relative_move function could produce a string 162 to replace on the screen which began with a numeric character, which 163 was then interpreted by tputs as padding. 164 165 <li>modify setupterm so that cancelled strings are treated the same as 166 absent strings, cancelled and absent booleans false (does not affect 167 tic, infocmp). 168 169 <li>modify lib_vidattr.c to allow for terminal types (e.g., xterm-color) 170 which may reset all attributes in the 'op' capability, so that colors 171 are set before turning on bold and other attributes, but still after 172 turning attributes off. 173 174 <li>use 'access()' to check if ncurses library should be permitted to 175 open or modify files with fopen/open/link/unlink/remove calls, in 176 case the calling application is running in setuid mode. 177 178 <li>correction to doupdate, for case where terminal does not support 179 insert/delete character. The logic did not check that there was a 180 difference in alignment of changes to old/new screens before 181 repainting the whole non-blank portion of the line. Modified to fall 182 through into logic that reduces by the portion which does not differ. 183</ul> 184 185<H1>Features of Ncurses</H1> 186 187The ncurses package is fully compatible with SVr4 (System V Release 4) curses:<P> 188 189<UL> 190<LI>All 257 of the SVr4 calls have been implemented (and are documented). 191<LI>Full support for SVr4 curses features including keyboard mapping, color, 192forms-drawing with ACS characters, and automatic recognition of keypad 193and function keys. 194<LI>An emulation of the SVr4 panels library, supporting 195a stack of windows with backing store, is included. 196<LI>An emulation of the SVr4 menus library, supporting 197a uniform but flexible interface for menu programming, is included. 198<LI>An emulation of the SVr4 form library, supporting 199data collection through on-screen forms, is included. 200<LI>Binary terminfo entries generated by the ncurses tic(1) implementation 201are bit-for-bit-compatible with the entry format SVr4 curses uses. 202<LI>The utilities have options to allow you to filter terminfo 203entries for use with less capable <STRONG>curses</STRONG>/<STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> 204versions such as the HP/UX and AIX ports.</UL> 205 206The ncurses package also has many useful extensions over SVr4:<P> 207 208<UL> 209<LI>The API is 8-bit clean and base-level conformant with the X/OPEN curses 210specification, XSI curses (that is, it implements all BASE level features, 211but not all EXTENDED features). Most EXTENDED-level features not directly 212concerned with wide-character support are implemented, including many 213function calls not supported under SVr4 curses (but portability of all 214calls is documented so you can use the SVr4 subset only). 215<LI>Unlike SVr4 curses, ncurses can write to the rightmost-bottommost corner 216of the screen if your terminal has an insert-character capability. 217<LI>Ada95 and C++ bindings. 218<LI>Support for mouse event reporting with X Window xterm and OS/2 console windows. 219<LI>Extended mouse support via Alessandro Rubini's gpm package. 220<LI>The function <CODE>wresize()</CODE> allows you to resize windows, preserving 221their data. 222<LI>The function <CODE>use_default_colors()</CODE> allows you to 223use the terminal's default colors for the default color pair, 224achieving the effect of transparent colors. 225<LI>The functions <CODE>keyok()</CODE> 226and <CODE>define_key()</CODE> allow 227you to better control the use of function keys, 228e.g., disabling the ncurses KEY_MOUSE, 229or by defining more than one control sequence to map to a given key code. 230<LI>Support for 16-color terminals, such as aixterm and XFree86 xterm. 231<LI>Better cursor-movement optimization. The package now features a 232cursor-local-movement computation more efficient than either BSD's 233or System V's. 234<LI>Super hardware scrolling support. The screen-update code incorporates 235a novel, simple, and cheap algorithm that enables it to make optimal 236use of hardware scrolling, line-insertion, and line-deletion 237for screen-line movements. This algorithm is more powerful than 238the 4.4BSD curses quickch() routine. 239<LI>Real support for terminals with the magic-cookie glitch. The 240screen-update code will refrain from drawing a highlight if the magic- 241cookie unattributed spaces required just before the beginning and 242after the end would step on a non-space character. It will 243automatically shift highlight boundaries when doing so would make it 244possible to draw the highlight without changing the visual appearance 245of the screen. 246<LI>It is possible to generate the library with a list of pre-loaded 247fallback entries linked to it so that it can serve those terminal types even 248when no terminfo tree or termcap file is accessible (this may be useful 249for support of screen-oriented programs that must run in single-user mode). 250<LI>The tic(1)/captoinfo utility provided with ncurses has the 251ability to translate many termcaps from the XENIX, IBM and 252AT&T extension sets. 253<LI>A BSD-like tset(1) utility is provided. 254<LI>The ncurses library and utilities will automatically read terminfo 255entries from $HOME/.terminfo if it exists, and compile to that directory 256if it exists and the user has no write access to the system directory. 257This feature makes it easier for users to have personal terminfo entries 258without giving up access to the system terminfo directory. 259<LI>You may specify a path of directories to search for compiled 260descriptions with the environment variable TERMINFO_DIRS (this 261generalizes the feature provided by TERMINFO under stock System V.) 262<LI>In terminfo source files, use capabilities may refer not just to 263other entries in the same source file (as in System V) but also to 264compiled entries in either the system terminfo directory or the user's 265$HOME/.terminfo directory. 266<LI>A script (<STRONG>capconvert</STRONG>) is provided to help BSD users 267transition from termcap to terminfo. It gathers the information in a 268TERMCAP environment variable and/or a ~/.termcap local entries file 269and converts it to an equivalent local terminfo tree under $HOME/.terminfo. 270<LI>Automatic fallback to the /etc/termcap file can be compiled in 271when it is not possible to build a terminfo tree. This feature is neither 272fast nor cheap, you don't want to use it unless you have to, 273but it's there. 274<LI>The table-of-entries utility <STRONG>toe</STRONG> makes it easy for users to 275see exactly what terminal types are available on the system. 276<LI>The library meets the XSI requirement that every macro entry 277point have a corresponding function which may be linked (and will be 278prototype-checked) if the macro definition is disabled with 279<CODE>#undef</CODE>. 280<LI>An HTML "Introduction to Programming with NCURSES" document provides 281a narrative introduction to the curses programming interface. 282</UL> 283 284<H1>State of the Package</H1> 285 286Numerous bugs present in earlier versions have been fixed; the 287library is far more reliable than it used to be. Bounds checking in many 288`dangerous' entry points has been improved. The code is now type-safe 289according to gcc -Wall. The library has been checked for malloc leaks and 290arena corruption by the Purify memory-allocation tester.<P> 291 292The ncurses code has been tested with a wide variety of applications 293including (versions starting with those noted):<P> 294<DL> 295<DT> ded 296<DD> directory-editor 297<A HREF="ftp://ftp.clark.net/pub/dickey/ded">ftp://ftp.clark.net/pub/dickey/ded</A>. 298<DT> dialog 299<DD> the underlying application used in Slackware's setup, and the basis 300for similar applications on GNU/Linux. 301<DT> lynx-2.7 302<DD> the character-screen WWW browser 303<DT> Midnight Commander 4.1 304<DD> file manager 305<DT> mutt 0.88 306<DD> mail utility 307<DT> ncftp 2.0 308<DD> file-transfer utility 309<DT> nvi 310<DD> New vi versions 1.50 are able to use ncurses versions 1.9.7 and later. 311<DT> taper 312<DD> tape archive utility 313<DT> vh-1.6 314<DD> Volks-Hypertext browser for the Jargon File 315</DL> 316as well as some that use ncurses for the terminfo support alone: 317<DL> 318<DT> minicom-1.75 319<DD> terminal emulator 320<DT> tin-unoff 321<DD> tin 1.4 newsreader, supporting color, MIME 322<A HREF="ftp://ftp.akk.uni-karlsruhe.de/pub/news/clients/tin-unoff">ftp://ftp.akk.uni-karlsruhe.de/pub/news/clients/tin-unoff</A>. 323<DT> vile 324<DD> vi-like-emacs 325<A HREF="ftp://ftp.clark.net/pub/dickey/vile">ftp://ftp.clark.net/pub/dickey/vile</A>. 326</DL> 327<P> 328 329The ncurses distribution includes a selection of test programs (including 330a few games). 331 332<H2>Who's Who and What's What</H2> 333 334The original developers of ncurses are <A 335HREF="mailto:zmbenhal@netcom.com">Zeyd Ben-Halim</A> and 336<A HREF="http://www.ccil.org/~esr/home.html">Eric S. Raymond</A>. 337Ongoing work is being done by 338<A HREF="mailto:dickey@clark.net">Thomas Dickey</A> 339and 340<A HREF="mailto:juergen.pfeifer@gmx.net">Jürgen Pfeifer</A>. 341<A HREF="mailto:florian@gnu.org">Florian La Roche</A> 342acts as the maintainer for the Free Software Foundation, which holds the 343copyright on ncurses. 344Contact the current maintainers at 345<A HREF="mailto:bug-ncurses@gnu.org">bug-ncurses@gnu.org</A>. 346<P> 347 348To join the ncurses mailing list, please write email to 349<CODE>bug-ncurses-request@gnu.org</CODE> containing the line: 350<PRE> 351 subscribe <name>@<host.domain> 352</PRE> 353 354This list is open to anyone interested in helping with the development and 355testing of this package.<P> 356 357Beta versions of ncurses and patches to the current release are made available at 358<A HREF="ftp://ftp.clark.net/pub/dickey/ncurses">ftp://ftp.clark.net/pub/dickey/ncurses</A>. 359 360<H2>Future Plans</H2> 361<UL> 362<LI>Extended-level XPG4 conformance, with internationalization support. 363<LI>Ports to more systems, including DOS and Windows. 364</UL> 365We need people to help with these projects. If you are interested in working 366on them, please join the ncurses list. 367 368<H2>Other Related Resources</H2> 369 370The distribution includes and uses a version of the terminfo-format 371terminal description file maintained by Eric Raymond. 372<A HREF="http://earthspace.net/~esr/terminfo">http://earthspace.net/~esr/terminfo</A>.<P> 373 374You can find lots of information on terminal-related topics 375not covered in the terminfo file at 376<A HREF="http://www.cs.utk.edu/~shuford/terminal_index.html">Richard Shuford's 377archive</A>. 378</BODY> 379</HTML> 380<!-- 381# The following sets edit modes for GNU EMACS 382# Local Variables: 383# mode:html 384# case-fold-search:nil 385# fill-column:70 386# End: 387--> 388