Announcing ncurses 5.5

   The  ncurses  (new  curses)  library  is  a free software emulation of
   curses  in  System  V  Release 4.0, and more. It uses terminfo format,
   supports  pads  and color and multiple highlights and forms characters
   and   function-key   mapping,   and  has  all  the  other  SYSV-curses
   enhancements over BSD curses.

   In  mid-June  1995,  the  maintainer of 4.4BSD curses declared that he
   considered  4.4BSD curses obsolete, and encouraged the keepers of Unix
   releases such as BSD/OS, FreeBSD and NetBSD to switch over to ncurses.

   The ncurses code was developed under GNU/Linux. It has been in use for
   some  time  with  OpenBSD as the system curses library, and on FreeBSD
   and  NetBSD  as  an  external  package.  It  should port easily to any
   ANSI/POSIX-conforming UNIX. It has even been ported to OS/2 Warp!

   The distribution includes the library and support utilities, including
   a   terminfo  compiler  tic(1),  a  decompiler  infocmp(1),  clear(1),
   tput(1),  tset(1),  and  a  termcap conversion tool captoinfo(1). Full
   manual pages are provided for the library and tools.

   The  ncurses  distribution  is  available via anonymous FTP at the GNU
   distribution site [1]ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/ncurses/ .
   It is also available at [2]ftp://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ .

                                 Release Notes

   This  release  is  designed  to  be upward compatible from ncurses 5.0
   through   5.4;  very  few  applications  will  require  recompilation,
   depending   on  the  platform.  These  are  the  highlights  from  the
   change-log since ncurses 5.4 release.

   Interface changes:
     * terminfo   installs  "xterm-new"  as  "xterm"  entry  rather  than
       "xterm-old" (aka xterm-r6).
     * terminfo  data  is  installed using the tic -x option (few systems
       still use ncurses 4.2).
     * modify  C++  binding to work with newer C++ compilers by providing
       initializers  and  using  modern casts. Old-style header names are
       still  used  in  this  release  to allow compiling with not-so-old
       compilers.
     * modify parameter type in c++ binding for insch() and mvwinsch() to
       be  consistent  with  underlying  ncurses  library  (was  char, is
       chtype).
     * change NCursesWindow::err_handler() to a virtual function.
     * form  and  menu  libraries  now  work  with  wide-character  data.
       Applications  which  bypassed the form library and manipulated the
       FIELD.buf  data  directly  will  not  work properly with libformw,
       since   that   no   longer   points  to  an  array  of  char.  The
       set_field_buffer()  and field_buffer() functions translate to/from
       the actual field data.
     * add  symbol  to  curses.h which can be used to suppress include of
       stdbool.h, e.g.,
                #define NCURSES_ENABLE_STDBOOL_H 0
                #include <curses.h>

     * change  SP->_current_attr  to  a pointer, adjust ifdef's to ensure
       that  libtinfo.so  and  libtinfow.so have the same ABI. The reason
       for  this  is  that  the  corresponding  data which belongs to the
       upper-level ncurses library has a different size in each model.
     * winnstr()   now   returns  multibyte  character  strings  for  the
       wide-character configuration.
     * assume_default_colors()      no      longer      requires     that
       use_default_colors() be called first.
     * data_ahead() now works with wide-characters.
     * slk_set()  and  slk_wset()  now  accept  and  store  multibyte  or
       multicolumn characters.
     * start_color()  now returns OK if colors have already been started.
       start_color() also returns ERR if it cannot allocate memory.
     * pair_content()  now returns -1 for consistency with init_pair() if
       it corresponds to the default-color.
     * unctrl()  now returns null if its parameter does not correspond to
       an unsigned char.

   New features and improvements:
     * library
          + environment     variable     NCURSES_NO_UTF8_ACS     supports
            miscellaneous   terminal  emulators  which  ignore  alternate
            character set escape sequences when in UTF-8 mode.
          + modify  initialization  of  key  lookup  table  so that if an
            extended  capability (tic -x) string is defined, and its name
            begins  with  'k',  ncurses  will automatically treat it as a
            key.
          + change  GPM  initialization,  using  dl  library  to  load it
            dynamically at runtime.
          + form, menu and panel libraries support debug-tracing.
     * add   NCURSES-Programming-HOWTO.html   by   Pradeep   Padala  (see
       http://tldp.org/HOWTO/NCURSES-Programming-HOWTO/).
     * programs:
     * infocmp:
          + The  -i  option  now matches 8-bit controls against its table
            entries, e.g., so it can analyze the xterm-8bit entry.
          + add  "-x"  option to infocmp like tic's "-x", for use in "-F"
            comparisons.  This  modifies  infocmp to only report extended
            capabilities  if  the  -x  option  is given, making this more
            consistent  with  tic.  Some scripts may break, since infocmp
            previous gave this information without an option.
     * tic:
          + modify  termcap-parsing  to retain 2-character aliases at the
            beginning of an entry if the "-x" option is used in tic.
          + filter  out  long  extended names when translating to termcap
            format.  Only  two  characters  are  permissible  for termcap
            capability names.
          + correct  translation  of  "%%" in terminfo format to termcap,
            e.g., using "tic -C".
          + modify  the  "-c  -v" options to ignore delays when comparing
            strings.  Also  modify  it  to  ignore a canceled sgr string,
            e.g.,  for terminals which cannot properly combine attributes
            in one control sequence.
          + add  a  check  for  improperly  ended  strings, i.e., where a
            following line begins in column 1.
          + add a check in tic for terminfo entries having an sgr0 but no
            sgr string. This confuses Tru64 and HPUX curses when combined
            with  color,  e.g., making them leave line-drawing characters
            in odd places.
          + add  check (with debug configuration) that provides about the
            runtime  changes  that  would  be  made  to  sgr0 for termcap
            applications.
     * tset:
          + add  -c  and  -w  options  to allow user to suppress ncurses'
            resizing  of the terminal emulator window in the special case
            where it is not able to detect the true size.

   Major bug fixes:
     * improve  logic  in tgetent() which adjusts the termcap "me" string
       to  work with ISO-2022 string used in xterm-new. This is a feature
       that was incompletely implemented in ncurses 5.3. ncurses attempts
       to  provide  termcap clients with the portion of the sgr0 (termcap
       "me") string that does not reset line-drawing.
     * cells  in  the  WINDOW  which  are  continuations of a multicolumn
       character   are   encoded   differently,  making  repainting  more
       reliable.
     * amend  change to setupterm() in ncurses 5.4 (20030405) which would
       reuse  the value of cur_term if the same output was selected. This
       now  reuses  it  only  when  setupterm() is called from tgetent(),
       which  has no notion of separate SCREENs. Note that tgetent() must
       be called after initscr() or newterm() to use this feature.
     * make  setcchar() now works when its wchar_t* parameter is pointing
       to a string which contains more data than can be converted.
     * win_wchnstr() now works for more than one cell.
     * resizeterm() now processes all levels of window hierarchy.
     * disable  GPM  mouse support when $TERM happens to be prefixed with
       "xterm".  Gpm_Open()  would otherwise assert that it can deal with
       mouse events in this case.
     * add  SP->_screen_acs_map[], used to ensure that mapping of missing
       line-drawing   characters   is   handled  properly.  For  example,
       ACS_DARROW  is  absent  from  xterm-new, and it was coincidentally
       displayed the same as ACS_BTEE.

   Portability:
     * configure script:
          + new options:

              --enable-largefile
                      set  compiler  and  linker  flags  to use largefile
                      support.

              --enable-ext-colors
                      Allow  encoding  of  256  foreground and background
                      colors,    e.g.,   with   the   xterm-256color   or
                      xterm-88color terminfo entries. This requires ABI 6
                      because it changes the size of cchar_t.

              --enable-ext-mouse
                      This  defines NCURSES_MOUSE_VERSION 2, and modifies
                      the encoding of mouse events to support wheel mice,
                      which may transmit buttons 4 and 5. This works with
                      xterm and similar terminal emulators. This requires
                      ABI  6  because  it  changes  the encoding of mouse
                      events.

              --with-chtype
                      overriding of the non-LP64 model's use of chtype

              --with-mmask-t
                      overriding of the non-LP64 model's use of mmask_t

              --without-xterm-new
                      Installs  "xterm-old"  as  the "xterm" entry of the
                      terminfo database.

          + The  --with-termlib option now accepts a value which sets the
            name  of the terminfo library. This would allow a packager to
            build libtinfow.so renamed to coincide with libtinfo.so
          + fixes/improvements for cross-compiling:
               o suppress     $suffix     in     misc/run_tic.sh     when
                 cross-compiling.  This  allows cross-compiles to use the
                 host's  tic  program  to  handle the "make install.data"
                 step.
               o correct       BUILD_CPPFLAGS       substitution       in
                 ncurses/Makefile.in,  to  allow  cross-compiling  from a
                 separate directory tree.
     * library:
          + add  ifdef's  for  _LP64  in curses.h to avoid using wasteful
            64-bits  for  chtype  and  mmask_t,  but add configure option
            --disable-lp64 in case anyone used that configuration.
          + modify  C++  binding to use some C internal functions to make
            it compile properly on Solaris (and other platforms).
          + remove  check  in  newwin()  that prevents allocating windows
            that extend beyond the screen (Solaris does this).
          + check  for  nl_langinfo(CODESET),  use  it if available. This
            replaces  ad  hoc  tests of environment variables to check if
            the  terminal is setup for UTF-8 encoding. Applications which
            do  not  call  setlocale()  should be corrected, to make them
            work properly with UTF-8 encoding.
            In  particular,  applications  which  assume (and do not call
            setlocale())  that Latin-1 codes are printable will no longer
            work  in a UTF-8 locale since the ad hoc check of environment
            variables  to  see  if  the locale was UTF-8 is not used when
            nl_langinfo(CODESET) is available.
          + use  setlocale() to query the program's current locale rather
            than  using  getenv().  This supports applications which rely
            upon  legacy treatment of 8-bit characters when the locale is
            not initialized.

                              Features of Ncurses

   The ncurses package is fully compatible with SVr4 (System V Release 4)
   curses:
     * All  257  of  the  SVr4  calls  have  been  implemented  (and  are
       documented).
     * Full  support for SVr4 curses features including keyboard mapping,
       color,   forms-drawing   with   ACS   characters,   and  automatic
       recognition of keypad and function keys.
     * An  emulation  of  the  SVr4 panels library, supporting a stack of
       windows with backing store, is included.
     * An  emulation  of the SVr4 menus library, supporting a uniform but
       flexible interface for menu programming, is included.
     * An  emulation of the SVr4 form library, supporting data collection
       through on-screen forms, is included.
     * Binary   terminfo   entries   generated   by  the  ncurses  tic(1)
       implementation  are  bit-for-bit-compatible  with the entry format
       SVr4 curses uses.
     * The utilities have options to allow you to filter terminfo entries
       for  use  with  less  capable curses/terminfo versions such as the
       HP/UX and AIX ports.

   The ncurses package also has many useful extensions over SVr4:
     * The  API  is 8-bit clean and base-level conformant with the X/OPEN
       curses  specification, XSI curses (that is, it implements all BASE
       level   features,   but   not   all   EXTENDED   features).   Most
       EXTENDED-level features not directly concerned with wide-character
       support   are  implemented,  including  many  function  calls  not
       supported  under  SVr4  curses  (but  portability  of all calls is
       documented so you can use the SVr4 subset only).
     * Unlike  SVr3 curses, ncurses can write to the rightmost-bottommost
       corner  of  the  screen  if  your terminal has an insert-character
       capability.
     * Ada95 and C++ bindings.
     * Support  for  mouse  event  reporting with X Window xterm and OS/2
       console windows.
     * Extended mouse support via Alessandro Rubini's gpm package.
     * The  function  wresize()  allows you to resize windows, preserving
       their data.
     * The function use_default_colors() allows you to use the terminal's
       default colors for the default color pair, achieving the effect of
       transparent colors.
     * The functions keyok() and define_key() allow you to better control
       the  use  of function keys, e.g., disabling the ncurses KEY_MOUSE,
       or  by  defining  more than one control sequence to map to a given
       key code.
     * Support for 16-color terminals, such as aixterm and XFree86 xterm.
     * Better  cursor-movement  optimization.  The package now features a
       cursor-local-movement computation more efficient than either BSD's
       or System V's.
     * Super   hardware   scrolling   support.   The  screen-update  code
       incorporates  a novel, simple, and cheap algorithm that enables it
       to  make  optimal  use  of hardware scrolling, line-insertion, and
       line-deletion  for  screen-line  movements. This algorithm is more
       powerful than the 4.4BSD curses quickch() routine.
     * Real  support  for  terminals  with  the  magic-cookie glitch. The
       screen-update  code  will  refrain from drawing a highlight if the
       magic-   cookie  unattributed  spaces  required  just  before  the
       beginning  and  after the end would step on a non-space character.
       It  will  automatically  shift  highlight boundaries when doing so
       would  make it possible to draw the highlight without changing the
       visual appearance of the screen.
     * It  is  possible to generate the library with a list of pre-loaded
       fallback  entries linked to it so that it can serve those terminal
       types  even  when  no  terminfo tree or termcap file is accessible
       (this  may  be useful for support of screen-oriented programs that
       must run in single-user mode).
     * The tic(1)/captoinfo utility provided with ncurses has the ability
       to  translate many termcaps from the XENIX, IBM and AT&T extension
       sets.
     * A BSD-like tset(1) utility is provided.
     * The ncurses library and utilities will automatically read terminfo
       entries  from  $HOME/.terminfo  if  it exists, and compile to that
       directory  if  it  exists  and the user has no write access to the
       system  directory.  This feature makes it easier for users to have
       personal  terminfo  entries without giving up access to the system
       terminfo directory.
     * You  may  specify  a  path  of  directories to search for compiled
       descriptions  with  the  environment  variable TERMINFO_DIRS (this
       generalizes  the  feature  provided by TERMINFO under stock System
       V.)
     * In  terminfo  source files, use capabilities may refer not just to
       other entries in the same source file (as in System V) but also to
       compiled  entries  in  either the system terminfo directory or the
       user's $HOME/.terminfo directory.
     * A  script  (capconvert)  is  provided to help BSD users transition
       from  termcap to terminfo. It gathers the information in a TERMCAP
       environment  variable  and/or  a ~/.termcap local entries file and
       converts   it   to   an   equivalent  local  terminfo  tree  under
       $HOME/.terminfo.
     * Automatic  fallback  to  the  /etc/termcap file can be compiled in
       when  it is not possible to build a terminfo tree. This feature is
       neither  fast  nor cheap, you don't want to use it unless you have
       to, but it's there.
     * The  table-of-entries  utility  toe makes it easy for users to see
       exactly what terminal types are available on the system.
     * The library meets the XSI requirement that every macro entry point
       have  a  corresponding  function  which may be linked (and will be
       prototype-checked)  if  the  macro  definition  is  disabled  with
       #undef.
     * An  HTML  "Introduction  to  Programming  with  NCURSES"  document
       provides  a  narrative  introduction  to  the  curses  programming
       interface.

                             State of the Package

   Numerous bugs present in earlier versions have been fixed; the library
   is  far  more  reliable  than  it  used to be. Bounds checking in many
   `dangerous'  entry points has been improved. The code is now type-safe
   according  to gcc -Wall. The library has been checked for malloc leaks
   and arena corruption by the Purify memory-allocation tester.

   The  ncurses  code has been tested with a wide variety of applications
   including (versions starting with those noted):

   cdk
          Curses Development Kit
          [3]http://invisible-island.net/cdk/
          [4]http://www.vexus.ca/products/CDK/

   ded
          directory-editor
          [5]http://invisible-island.net/ded/

   dialog
          the  underlying  application used in Slackware's setup, and the
          basis for similar applications on GNU/Linux.
          [6]http://invisible-island.net/dialog/

   lynx
          the character-screen WWW browser
          [7]http://lynx.isc.org/release/

   Midnight Commander
          file manager
          [8]http://www.ibiblio.org/mc/

   mutt
          mail utility
          [9]http://www.mutt.org/

   ncftp
          file-transfer utility
          [10]http://www.ncftp.com/

   nvi
          New vi versions 1.50 are able to use ncurses versions 1.9.7 and
          later.
          [11]http://www.bostic.com/vi/

   pinfo
          Lynx-like info browser.
          [12]http://dione.ids.pl/~pborys/software/pinfo/

   tin
          newsreader, supporting color, MIME [13]http://www.tin.org/

   vh-1.6
          Volks-Hypertext browser for the Jargon File
          [14]http://www.debian.org/Packages/unstable/text/vh.html

   as well as some that use ncurses for the terminfo support alone:

   minicom
          terminal emulator
          [15]http://www.netsonic.fi/~walker/minicom.html

   vile
          vi-like-emacs
          [16]http://invisible-island.net/vile/

   The  ncurses  distribution  includes  a  selection  of  test  programs
   (including a few games).

Who's Who and What's What

   Zeyd  Ben-Halim started it from a previous package pcurses, written by
   Pavel  Curtis.  Eric  S. Raymond continued development. Jürgen Pfeifer
   wrote  most of the form and menu libraries. Ongoing work is being done
   by  [17]Thomas  Dickey.  Thomas  Dickey acts as the maintainer for the
   Free  Software  Foundation,  which  holds  the  copyright  on ncurses.
   Contact the current maintainers at [18]bug-ncurses@gnu.org.

   To   join   the   ncurses   mailing   list,   please  write  email  to
   bug-ncurses-request@gnu.org containing the line:
             subscribe <name>@<host.domain>

   This list is open to anyone interested in helping with the development
   and testing of this package.

   Beta  versions  of ncurses and patches to the current release are made
   available at [19]ftp://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ .

Future Plans

     * Extended-level   XPG4   conformance,   with   internationalization
       support.
     * Ports to more systems, including DOS and Windows.

   We  need  people to help with these projects. If you are interested in
   working on them, please join the ncurses list.

Other Related Resources

   The  distribution  provides  a  newer  version  of the terminfo-format
   terminal  description file maintained by [20]Eric Raymond . Unlike the
   older  version, the termcap and terminfo data are provided in the same
   file.

   You  can  find  lots  of  information  on  terminal-related topics not
   covered in the terminfo file at [21]Richard Shuford's archive .

References

   1. ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/ncurses/
   2. ftp://invisible-island.net/ncurses/
   3. http://invisible-island.net/cdk/
   4. http://www.vexus.ca/products/CDK/
   5. http://invisible-island.net/ded/
   6. http://invisible-island.net/dialog/
   7. http://lynx.isc.org/release/
   8. http://www.ibiblio.org/mc/
   9. http://www.mutt.org/
  10. http://www.ncftp.com/
  11. http://www.bostic.com/vi/
  12. http://dione.ids.pl/~pborys/software/pinfo/
  13. http://www.tin.org/
  14. http://www.debian.org/Packages/unstable/text/vh.html
  15. http://www.netsonic.fi/~walker/minicom.html
  16. http://invisible-island.net/vile/
  17. mailto:dickey@invisible-island.net
  18. mailto:bug-ncurses@gnu.org
  19. ftp://invisible-island.net/ncurses/
  20. http://www.catb.org/~esr/terminfo/
  21. http://www.cs.utk.edu/~shuford/terminal_index.html