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<title>Announcing ncurses 6.5</title>
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<h1 class="no-header">Announcing ncurses 6.5</h1>
<h2><a name="h2-overview" id="h2-overview">Overview</a></h2>
<p>The <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> (new curses)
library is a free software emulation of curses in System V
Release 4.0 (SVr4), 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 SVr4-curses
enhancements over BSD curses. SVr4 curses became the basis of
X/Open Curses.</p>
<p>In mid-June 1995, the maintainer of 4.4BSD curses declared
that he considered 4.4BSD curses obsolete, and encouraged the
keepers of <span class="main-name">unix</span> releases such as
BSD/OS, FreeBSD and NetBSD to switch over to <span class=
"main-name">ncurses</span>.</p>
<p>Since 1995, <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> has been
ported to many systems:</p>
<ul>
<li>It is used in almost every system based on the Linux kernel
(aside from some embedded applications).</li>
<li>It is used as the system curses library on OpenBSD, FreeBSD
and MacOS.</li>
<li>It is used in environments such as Cygwin and MinGW. The
first of these was EMX on OS/2 Warp.</li>
<li>It is used (though usually not as the <em>system</em>
curses) on all of the vendor <span class=
"main-name">unix</span> systems, e.g., AIX, HP-UX, IRIX64, SCO,
Solaris, Tru64.</li>
<li>It should work readily on any ANSI/POSIX-conforming
<span class="main-name">unix</span>.</li>
</ul>
<p>The distribution includes the library and support utilities,
including</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/captoinfo.1m.html"><span class=
"part-name">captoinfo</span></a>, a termcap conversion
tool</li>
<li><a href="https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/clear.1.html"><span class=
"part-name">clear</span></a>, utility for clearing the
screen</li>
<li><a href="https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/infocmp.1m.html"><span class=
"part-name">infocmp</span></a>, the terminfo decompiler</li>
<li><a href="https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/tabs.1.html"><span class=
"part-name">tabs</span></a>, set tabs on a terminal</li>
<li><a href="https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/tic.1m.html"><span class=
"part-name">tic</span></a>, the terminfo compiler</li>
<li><a href="https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/toe.1m.html"><span class=
"part-name">toe</span></a>, list (table of) terminfo
entries</li>
<li><a href="https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/tput.1.html"><span class=
"part-name">tput</span></a>, utility for retrieving terminal
capabilities in shell scripts</li>
<li><a href="https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/tset.1.html"><span class=
"part-name">tset</span></a>, to initialize the terminal</li>
</ul>
<p>Full manual pages are provided for the library and tools.</p>
<p>The <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> distribution is
available at <span class="main-name">ncurses</span>' <a href=
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/">homepage</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><a href=
"https://invisible-island.net/archives/ncurses/">https://invisible-island.net/archives/ncurses/</a>
or<br>
<a href=
"https://invisible-mirror.net/archives/ncurses/">https://invisible-mirror.net/archives/ncurses/</a>&nbsp;.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>It is also available at the GNU distribution site</p>
<blockquote>
<p><a href=
"https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/ncurses/">https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/ncurses/</a>&nbsp;.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2><a name="h2-release-notes" id="h2-release-notes">Release
Notes</a></h2>
<p>These notes are for <span class="main-name">ncurses</span>
6.5, released <strong>April 27, 2024</strong>.</p>
<p>This release is designed to be source-compatible with
<span class="main-name">ncurses</span> 5.0 through 6.4; providing
extensions to the application binary interface (ABI). Although
the source can still be configured to support the <span class=
"main-name">ncurses</span> 5 ABI, the reason for the release is
to reflect improvements to the <span class=
"main-name">ncurses</span> 6 ABI and the supporting utility
programs.</p>
<p>There are, of course, numerous other improvements, listed in
this announcement.</p>
<p>The most <a href="#h3-bug-fixes">important
bug-fixes/improvements</a> dealt with robustness issues. The
release notes also mention some other bug-fixes, but are focused
on new features and improvements to existing features since
<span class="main-name">ncurses</span> 6.4 release.</p>
<h3><a name="h3-library" id="h3-library">Library improvements</a></h3>
<h4><a name="h4-new-library" id="h4-new-library">New features</a></h4>
<p>These are new features:</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p>The low-level terminfo and termcap interfaces are used
both by the higher-level curses library, as well as by many
applications.</p>
<p>The functions which convert parameterized terminal
capability strings for output to the terminal
(<code>tiparm</code> and <code>tparm</code>) analyze the
capability string to determine which parameters are strings
(i.e., addresses), versus numbers (not addresses).</p>
<p>The library's analysis of a capability string may differ
from the calling application's design if environment
variables are used to point to an invalid terminal database.
This is a longstanding problem with <em>all</em>
implementations of terminfo, dating from the early 1980s.</p>
<p>Two new functions address this problem: by providing a
function which allows the calling application to tell ncurses
how many string-parameters to expect:</p>
<ul>
<li><code>tiscan_s</code> helps applications check
formatting capabilities that would be passed to
<code>tiparm_s</code>.</li>
<li><code>tiparm_s</code> provides applications a way to
tell ncurses what the expected parameters are for a
capability.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
<p>The ncurses library supports a compile-time feature
(enabled with the configure <code>--enable-check-size</code>
option) which simplifies initialization with terminals which
do not negotiate window (screen) size. This is done in
<code>setupterm</code>, by providing for using ANSI
cursor-position report (in user6/user7 terminfo capabilities)
to obtain the screen size if neither environment variables or
ioctl is used.</p>
<p>The ncurses test-program with options
&ldquo;<code>-E&nbsp;-T</code>&rdquo; demonstrates this
feature.</p>
</li>
<li>add functions to query tty-flags in
<code>SCREEN</code></li>
</ul>
<p>This release drops compatibility with obsolete versions of
<a href="https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/tack/">tack</a>, e.g., pre-1.08</p>
<h4><a name="h4-fixes-library" id="h4-fixes-library">Other
improvements</a></h4>
<p>These are improvements to existing features:</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p>In addition to the new, safer function
<code>tiparm_s</code>, ncurses adds checks to make the older
<code>tiparm</code>, <code>tparm</code> and
<code>tgoto</code> functions safer:</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p>the terminfo functions <code>tiparm</code> and
<code>tparm</code> ensure that the capability string
comes from the terminal description which ncurses loads,
rather than from random data which the application
happens to have.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>the <code>tgoto</code> function disallows capabilities
which its analysis shows will attempt to use string
parameters.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>ncurses uses internal functions which correspond to
<code>tiparm</code>, and <code>tgoto</code> which ensure
that the capability strings which are passed to these
functions come from the loaded terminal description.</p>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
<p>improve check in <code>lib_tparm.c</code>, ensuring that a
char* fits into a <code>TPARM_ARG</code></p>
</li>
<li>
<p>modify <code>_nc_syserr_abort</code> to use
<code>_nc_env_access</code>, rather than only checking root
uid</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>improve thread lock in <code>lib_trace.c</code></p>
</li>
<li>
<p>modify <code>flushinp</code> to use file descriptors in
<code>SCREEN</code>, rather than from <code>TERMINAL</code>,
and check if they are for a terminal, like SVr4</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>modify <code>mcprint</code> to use file descriptor in
<code>SCREEN</code>, for consistency</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>modify internal function <code>_nc_read_file_entry</code>
to show relevant filename in warnings</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>improve checks in internal function
<code>convert_string</code> for corrupt terminfo entry</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>review/improve handling of out-of-memory conditions</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>limit delays to 30 seconds, i.e., padding delays in
terminfo, as well as <code>napms</code> and
<code>delay_output</code> functions</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>fix reallocation loop for <code>vsnprintf</code> in
<code>_nc_sprintf_string</code> by copying the va_list
variable</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>modify <code>delscreen</code> to limit the windows which
it creates to just those associated with the screen</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>modify <code>endwin</code> to return an error if it is
called again without an intervening screen update</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>modify <code>wenclose</code> to handle pads</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>eliminate use of <code>PATH_MAX</code> in
<code>lib_trace.c</code></p>
</li>
<li>
<p>provide for any <code>CCHARW_MAX</code> greater than 1</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p>These are corrections to existing features:</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p>correct loop termination condition in
<code>waddnstr</code> and <code>waddnwstr</code></p>
</li>
<li>
<p>improve parsing in internal function
<code>_nc_msec_cost</code>, allowing a single decimal
point</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>amend parameter check for entire string versus specific
length in <code>winsnstr</code> and <code>wins_nwstr</code>
to match Solaris; make similar correction to
<code>wins_nwstr</code></p>
</li>
<li>
<p>correct internal function <code>wadd_wch_literal</code>
when adding a non-spacing character to a double-width
character</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>correct definition of <code>Charable</code> macro for
non-wide ncurses library .</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h3><a name="h3-programs" id="h3-programs">Program
improvements</a></h3>
<p id="h4-utilities">Several improvements were made to the
utility programs. Some were done to make the <code>infocmp</code>
option &ldquo;<tt>-u</tt>&rdquo; option help refactor the
terminal database.</p>
<dl>
<dt><span class="part-name"><a href=
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/infocmp.1m.html">infocmp</a></span>
</dt>
<dd>
<ul>
<li>
<p>add limit checks for processing extended capabilities
with the &ldquo;<code>-u</code>&rdquo; option</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>correct initial alignment of extended capabilities, so
that the &ldquo;<code>-u</code>&rdquo; option can be used
for more than two terminal types</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>modify &ldquo;<code>-u</code>&rdquo; option to not
report cancels for strings which were already cancelled
in a use'd chunk.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>correct an assignment &ldquo;<code>-u</code>&rdquo;
for detecting if a boolean is unset in a base entry and
set in a use'd chunk, i.e., if it was cancelled.</p>
</li>
</ul>
</dd>
<dt><span class="part-name"><a href=
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/tic.1m.html">tic</a></span>
</dt>
<dd>
<ul>
<li>
<p>correct limit-check when dumping tc/use clause via
&ldquo;<code>-I</code>&rdquo;</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>check return value of <code>_nc_save_str</code>, in
special case where extended capabilities are processed
but the terminal description was not initialized</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>modify check for multiply defined aliases to report
problems within the current runtime rather than for
conflicts with pre-existing terminal descriptions.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>disallow using <code>$TERMINFO</code> or
<code>$HOME/.terminfo</code> when
&ldquo;<code>-o</code>&rdquo; option is used</p>
</li>
</ul>
</dd>
<dt><span class="part-name"><a href=
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/tput.1.html">tput</a></span> and <span class=
"part-name"><a href=
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/tset.1.html">tset</a></span></dt>
<dd>
<ul>
<li>
<p>add &ldquo;<code>-v</code>&rdquo; option to tput, to
show warnings</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>modify <em>reset</em> command to avoid altering clocal
if the terminal uses a modem</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>modify <em>reset</em> feature to avoid 1-second sleep
if running in a pseudo-terminal</p>
</li>
</ul>
</dd>
</dl>
<h4><a name="h4-examples" id="h4-examples">Examples</a></h4>
<p>Along with the library and utilities, improvements were made
to the <a href=
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses-examples.html">ncurses-examples</a>:</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p>modify <code>test_tparm</code> to account for extended
capabilities</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>corrected mouse mask in <code>test/testcurs.c</code></p>
</li>
<li>
<p>modify <code>test/clip_printw.c</code> to optionally test
non-wrapped updates</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>modify <code>test/test_mouse.c</code> to use curses api
for raw/noraw</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>modify <code>test/clip_printw.c</code> to optionally test
non-wrapped updates</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p>There is one new demo/test programs:</p>
<dl>
<dt><span class="part-name"><em>test/test_endwin.c</em></span>
</dt>
<dd>
<p>This program shows the return-status from
<code>endwin</code> with different combinations of
<code>endwin</code> (repeated), <code>initscr</code>,
<code>newterm</code>.</p>
</dd>
</dl>
<h3><a name="h3-database" id="h3-database">Terminal database</a></h3>
<p>There are several new terminal descriptions:</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><a href=
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-ansi_apparrows"><tt>ansi+apparrows</tt></a></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><a href=
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-contour"><tt>contour</tt></a></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><a href=
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-linux_kbs"><tt>linux+kbs</tt></a>
for terminals which imitate xterm's behavior with Linux</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><a href=
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-rio"><tt>rio</tt></a>,
<a href=
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-rio-direct"><tt>rio-direct</tt></a></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><a href=
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-mostlike"><tt>mostlike</tt></a></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><a href=
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-ms-vt100-16color"><tt>ms-vt100-16color</tt></a>,
<a href=
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-winconsole"><tt>winconsole</tt></a></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><a href=
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-vt100_noapp"><tt>vt100+noapp</tt></a>,
<a href=
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-vt100_noapp_pc"><tt>vt100+noapp+pc</tt></a>,
<a href=
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-xterm_app_pc"><tt>xterm+app+pc</tt></a>,
<a href=
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-xterm_decedit"><tt>xterm+decedit</tt></a>
from <a href="https://invisible-island.net/xterm/xterm.log.html#xterm_389">xterm
#389</a></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><a href=
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-putty_cursor"><tt>putty+cursor</tt></a>
to reflect amending of modified cursor-keys in 2021</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><a href=
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-wezterm"><tt>wezterm</tt></a></p>
</li>
</ul>
<p>There are many changes to existing terminal descriptions. Some
were updates to several descriptions, using the
<code>infocmp</code> &ldquo;<code>-u</code>&rdquo; option in a
script to determine which <em>building-block</em> entries could
be used to replace multiple capability settings (and trim
redundant information).</p>
<p>Other changes include:</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><a href=
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#toc-_X_T_E_R_M__Extensions_">document</a>
XF, kxIN and kxOUT</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>add note on <a href=
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-sun"><tt>sun</tt></a>
regarding wscons/cmdtool/shelltool</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>remove DECCOLM+DECSCLM from <a href=
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-foot"><tt>foot</tt></a></p>
</li>
<li>
<p>add xterm+focus to <a href=
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-foot_base"><tt>foot+base</tt></a></p>
</li>
<li>
<p>add ecma+strikeout to <a href=
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-putty"><tt>putty</tt></a></p>
</li>
<li>
<p>use CSI 3J in <a href=
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-vte-2017"><tt>vte-2017</tt></a></p>
</li>
<li>
<p>use oldxterm+sm+1006 in <a href=
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-vte-2014"><tt>vte-2014</tt></a></p>
</li>
<li>
<p>modify <a href=
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-xgterm"><tt>xgterm</tt></a>
to work around line-drawing bug</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>add xterm focus mode 1004 to <a href=
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-xterm_focus"><tt>xterm+focus</tt></a>
as fe/fd capabilities, like vim.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>add xterm+focus to <a href=
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-alacritty_common"><tt>alacritty+common</tt></a></p>
</li>
<li>
<p>add XR/xr, to work with vim, and use RV/rv to denote DA2
and its response</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>add XF flag to <a href=
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-xterm_focus"><tt>xterm+focus</tt></a>
so that termcap applications can be aware of terminals which
may support focus in/out</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>use xterm+focus in <a href=
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-xterm-p370"><tt>xterm-p370</tt></a>
and <a href=
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-tmux"><tt>tmux</tt></a></p>
</li>
<li>
<p>remove xterm+sm+1006 from <a href=
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-tmux"><tt>tmux</tt></a></p>
</li>
<li>
<p>NetBSD-related fixes for <a href=
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-x68k"><tt>x68k</tt></a> and
<a href=
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/terminfo.src.html#tic-wsvt25"><tt>wsvt25</tt></a></p>
</li>
</ul>
<h3><a name="h3-documentation" id=
"h3-documentation">Documentation</a></h3>
<p>As usual, this release</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p>improves documentation by describing new features,</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>attempts to improve the description of features which
users have found confusing</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>fills in overlooked descriptions of features which were
described in the <a href="https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/NEWS.html">NEWS</a> file
but treated sketchily in manual pages.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p>In addition to providing background information to explain
these features and show how they evolved, there are corrections,
clarifications, etc.:</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p>Corrections:</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p>add assignment in <code>CF_MAN_PAGES</code> to fill in
value for <code>TERMINFO_DIRS</code> in ncurses, terminfo
and tic manpages.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>clarify interaction of <code>-R</code> option versus
<code>-C</code>, <code>-I</code> and <code>-r</code> in
<code>infocmp</code> manpage.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>correct manpage description of panel_hidden.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>improve manpage description for addch versus unctrl
format used for non-printable characters.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>improve manpages discussing file descriptors in
low-level functions.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>improve description of search rules for terminal
descriptions in terminfo manpage.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>modify dist.mk to avoid passing developer's comments
in manpages into the generated html documentation.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>modify test-package "ncurses6-doc" to use
manpage-aliases, which in turn required a change to the
configure script to factor in the extra-suffix option
when deriving alias names.</p>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
<p>New/improved history and portability sections:</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p>add information about "ttycap", termcap's forerunner,
to tset.1</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>document limitations of tparm, and error-returns in
curs_terminfo.3x</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>document limitations of tgoto, and error-returns in
curs_termcap.3x</p>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
<p>Other improvements:</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p>This release has many changes to improve the
formatting and style of the manpages.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Manpages now use consistent section-naming, page
headers and footers (including the modification date for
each page).</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Table layout has been revised.</p>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<p>There are no new manual pages (all of the manual page updates
are to existing pages).</p>
<h3><a name="h3-bug-fixes" id="h3-bug-fixes">Interesting
bug-fixes</a></h3>
<p>The changes to <tt>tparm</tt>, <tt>tgoto</tt> which improve
the design of the low-level interfaces are <em>interesting</em>,
but are not bug-fixes <em>per se</em>.</p>
<h3><a name="h3-config-config" id=
"h3-config-config">Configuration changes</a></h3>
<h4><a name="h4-config-major" id="h4-config-major">Major
changes</a></h4>
<p>These are the major changes (aside from introducing <a href=
"#h4-new-library"><tt>tiparm_s</tt></a>):</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p>use wide-character (ncursesw) by default</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>use opaque typedefs by default</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p>However, most of the work on configure scripts was done to
reduce warnings within the configure script:</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p>intrusive warnings from GNU grep regarding fgrep and
egrep</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>fatal errors in compile-checks, arising from recent
&ldquo;Modern&nbsp;C&rdquo; efforts by some developers which
caused longstanding configure checks to fail.</p>
<p>After repairing the configure script, none of that
activity affected ncurses because stricter warnings are used
routinely in development.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p>Other improvements made to configure checks include</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p>use <a href=
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/INSTALL.html#option:enable-string-hacks">string-hacks</a>
in alloc_entry.c, alloc_type.c and hardscroll.c, overlooked
due to compiler changes in recent OpenBSD releases</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>revise progs.priv.h to provide for NC_ISATTY reuse</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>configure check for MB_LEN_MAX provides warning as
needed</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>trim a space after some "-R" options, fixing builds for
applications built using clang and ncurses on Solaris</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>work around misconfiguration of MacPorts gcc13, which
exposes invalid definition of <tt>MB_LEN_MAX</tt> in gcc's
fallback copy of <tt>limits.h</tt></p>
</li>
<li>
<p>modified experimental Windows driver works with xterm
mouse protocol</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h4><a name="h4-config-options" id=
"h4-config-options">Configuration options</a></h4>
<p>There are a few new configure options:</p>
<dl>
<dt><a href=
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/INSTALL.html#option:disable-setuid-environ"><tt>--disable-setuid-environ</tt></a>
</dt>
<dd>
<p>Compile with environment restriction, so certain
environment variables are not available when running via a
setuid/setgid application. These are (for example
<tt>$TERMINFO</tt>) those that allow the search path for the
terminfo or termcap entry to be customized.</p>
<p>A setuid/setgid application inherits its environment
variables from the current user, in contrast to sudo which
may limit the environment variables that ncurses uses.</p>
</dd>
<dt><a href=
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/INSTALL.html#option:enable-check-size"><tt>--enable-check-size</tt></a>
</dt>
<dd>
<p>Compile-in feature to detect screensize for terminals
which do not advertise their screensize, e.g., serial
terminals.</p>
</dd>
<dt><a href=
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/INSTALL.html#option:with-abi-altered"><tt>--with-abi-altered=<em>NUM</em></tt></a>
</dt>
<dd>
<p>Override the displayed (rather than compiled-in) ABI. Only
packagers who have created configurations where the ABI
differs from ncurses should be interested in this option.</p>
</dd>
<dt><a href=
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/INSTALL.html#option:with-strip-program"><tt>--with-strip-program=<em>XXX</em></tt></a>
</dt>
<dd>
<p>When stripping executables during install, use the
specified program rather than &ldquo;strip&rdquo; overriding
program chosen by the install program for stripping
executables.</p>
</dd>
</dl>
<p>These configure options are modified:</p>
<dl>
<dt><a href=
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/INSTALL.html#option:with-pkg-config-libdir"><tt>--with-pkg-config-libdir[=<em>DIR</em>]</tt></a>
</dt>
<dd>
<p>The optional <em>DIR</em> parameter can now be
&ldquo;auto&rdquo; to automatically use pkg-config's library
directory.</p>
<p>The default is <tt>$(libdir)</tt>.</p>
</dd>
<dt><a href=
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/INSTALL.html#option:with-xterm-kbs"><tt>--with-xterm-kbs[=<em>XXX</em>]</tt></a>
</dt>
<dd>
<p>The default is &ldquo;auto&rdquo; which tells the
configure script to choose BS or DEL according to platform
defaults.</p>
</dd>
</dl>
<h3><a name="h3-portability" id="h3-portability">Portability</a></h3>
<p>Many of the portability changes are implemented via the
configure script:</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p>add/use configure check for <code>clock_gettime</code>, to
supersede <code>gettimeofday</code>.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>modify configure script check for pkg-config library
directory to take into account an older version 0.15.0 which
used PKG_CONFIG_PATH but not PKG_CONFIG_LIBDIR</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>allow for MinGW32-/64-bit configurations to use
_DEFAULT_SOURCE</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>modify CF_XOPEN_SOURCE macro's amend default case to avoid
undefining _XOPEN_SOURCE if _POSIX_C_SOURCE is defined</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>updated configure script macro CF_XOPEN_SOURCE, for
uClibc-ng</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>modify version-check for gcc/g++, now works for msys2</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>build-fixes related to configure-options and/or
platform:</p>
<ul>
<li>fix for <tt>--enable-fvisibility</tt></li>
<li>fix for unusual values of
<tt>--with-rel-version</tt></li>
<li>fix for unusual values of
<tt>--with-abi-version</tt></li>
<li>fix for <tt>--disable-tcap-names</tt></li>
<li>fix for termcap in <tt>nc_access.h</tt></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
<p>other configure-script improvements:</p>
<ul>
<li>recent msys2 headers work with
<tt>_DEFAULT_SOURCE</tt>; amend check</li>
<li>use <tt>$ac_includes_default</tt> in most cases where
stdlib.h should work</li>
<li>use <tt>#error</tt> consistently vs "make an
error"</li>
<li>add configure macro for <tt>gettimeofday</tt> vs inline
check</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<p>Here are some of the other portability fixes:</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p>modify configure scripts/makefiles to omit
<tt>KEY_RESIZE</tt> if the corresponding <tt>SIGWINCH</tt>
feature is disabled</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>increase <tt>MB_CUR_MAX</tt> to 16, matching glibc's
<tt>MB_LEN_MAX</tt></p>
</li>
<li>
<p>add BSD <tt>erase2</tt> to characters handled by
tset/reset</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>use <tt>getauxval</tt> when available, to improve
<tt>setuid</tt>/<tt>setgid</tt> checks</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>set <tt>dwShareMode</tt> in calls to
<tt>CreateConsoleScreenBuffer</tt></p>
</li>
<li>
<p>use <tt>CreateFile</tt> with "<tt>CONIN$</tt>",
"<tt>CONOUT$</tt>" rather than <tt>GetStdHandle</tt> to
obtain a handle on the actual console, avoiding redirection
in the MinGW/Win32 configurations</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>modify MinGW driver to return <tt>KEY_BACKSPACE</tt> when
an unmodified <tt>VK_BACK</tt> virtual key is entered</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>modify MinGW configuration to provide for running in
MSYS/MSYS2 shells, assuming ConPTY support</p>
</li>
</ul>
<hr>
<h2><a name="h2-features" id="h2-features">Features of
<span class="main-name">ncurses</span></a></h2>
<p>The <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> package is fully
upward-compatible with SVr4 (System V Release 4) curses:</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p>All of the SVr4 calls have been implemented (and are
documented).</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span class="main-name">ncurses</span> supports the
features of SVr4 curses including keyboard mapping, color,
form drawing with ACS characters, and automatic recognition
of keypad and function keys.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span class="main-name">ncurses</span> provides work-alike
replacements of SVr4 supplemental libraries based on curses,
but which were not specified by X/Open Curses:</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p>the panel library, supporting a stack of windows with
backing store</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>the menu library, supporting a uniform but flexible
interface for menu programming</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>the form library, supporting data collection through
on-screen forms</p>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
<p><span class="main-name">ncurses</span>'s terminal database
is fully compatible with that used by SVr4 curses.</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span class="main-name">ncurses</span> supports
user-defined capabilities that it can see, but which are
hidden from SVr4 curses applications using the
<em>same</em> terminal database.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>It can be optionally configured to match the format
used in related systems such as AIX and Tru64.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Alternatively, <span class="main-name">ncurses</span>
can be configured to use hashed databases rather than the
directory of files used by SVr4 curses.</p>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
<p>The <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> utilities have
options to allow you to filter terminfo entries for use with
less capable <em>curses</em>/<em>terminfo</em> versions such
as the HP-UX and AIX ports.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p>The <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> package also has
many useful extensions over SVr4:</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p>The API is 8-bit clean and base-level conformant with the
X/Open Curses specification, XSI curses (that is, it
implements all <em>BASE</em> level features, and almost all
<em>EXTENDED</em> features). It includes many function calls
not supported under SVr4 curses (but portability of all calls
is documented so you can use the SVr4 subset only).</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Unlike SVr3 curses, <span class="main-name">ncurses</span>
can write to the rightmost-bottommost corner of the screen if
your terminal has an insert-character capability.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Ada95 and C++ bindings.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Support for mouse event reporting with X Window xterm and
FreeBSD and OS/2 console windows.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Extended mouse support via Alessandro Rubini's gpm
package.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>The function <code>wresize</code> allows you to resize
windows, preserving their data.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>The function <code>use_default_colors</code> allows you to
use the terminal's default colors for the default color pair,
achieving the effect of transparent colors.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>The functions <code>keyok</code> and
<code>define_key</code> allow you to better control the use
of function keys, e.g., disabling the <span class=
"main-name">ncurses</span> KEY_MOUSE, or by defining more
than one control sequence to map to a given key code.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Support for direct-color terminals, such as modern
xterm.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Support for 256-color terminals, such as modern xterm.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Support for 16-color terminals, such as <em>aixterm</em>
and <em>modern xterm</em>.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Better cursor-movement optimization. The package now
features a cursor-local-movement computation more efficient
than either BSD's or System V's.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>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
<code>quickch</code> routine.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>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.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>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).</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>The <a href="https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/tic.1m.html"><span class=
"part-name">tic</span></a>/<a href=
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/captoinfo.1m.html">captoinfo</a> utility
provided with <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> has the
ability to translate many termcaps from the XENIX, IBM and
AT&amp;T extension sets.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>A BSD-like <a href=
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/tset.1.html"><span class=
"part-name">tset</span></a> utility is provided.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>The <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> 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.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>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.)</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>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.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>The table-of-entries utility <a href=
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/toe.1m.html"><span class=
"part-name">toe</span></a> makes it easy for users to see
exactly what terminal types are available on the system.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>X/Open Curses permits most functions it specifies to be
made available as macros as well. ncurses does this</p>
<ul>
<li>to improve performance, e.g., for operations composed
of simpler functions such as cursor movement following by
adding text to the screen,</li>
<li>to simplify the implementation by reusing functions
which use common parameters, e.g., the standard screen
<code>stdscr</code>, and</li>
<li>to provide functions that return values via their
parameters</li>
</ul>
<p>Except for the last case, ncurses provides a non-macro
implementation of the function. If the macro definition is
disabled with <code>#undef</code>, or by defining
<code>NCURSES_NOMACROS</code> the function may be linked (and
its calls will be checked against the prototype).</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Extensive documentation is provided (see the <em><a href=
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses.faq.html#additional_reading">Additional
Reading</a></em> section of the <em><a href=
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses.faq.html"><span class=
"main-name">ncurses</span> FAQ</a></em> for online
documentation).</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h2><a name="h2-who-uses" id="h2-who-uses">Applications using
<span class="main-name">ncurses</span></a></h2>
<p>The <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> distribution
includes a selection of test programs (including a few games).
These are available separately as <a href=
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses-examples.html">ncurses-examples</a></p>
<p>The ncurses library has been tested with a wide variety of
applications including:</p>
<blockquote>
<dl>
<dt><span class="part-name">aptitude</span>
</dt>
<dd>
<p>FrontEnd to Apt, the debian package manager</p>
<p><a href=
"https://wiki.debian.org/Aptitude">https://wiki.debian.org/Aptitude</a></p>
</dd>
<dt><span class="part-name">cdk</span>
</dt>
<dd>
<p>Curses Development Kit</p>
<p><a href="https://invisible-island.net/cdk/">https://invisible-island.net/cdk/</a><br>
</p>
</dd>
<dt><span class="part-name">ded</span>
</dt>
<dd>
<p>directory-editor</p>
<p><a href="https://invisible-island.net/ded/">https://invisible-island.net/ded/</a></p>
</dd>
<dt><span class="part-name">dialog</span>
</dt>
<dd>
<p>the underlying application used in Slackware's setup,
and the basis for similar install/configure applications on
many systems.</p>
<p><a href="https://invisible-island.net/dialog/">https://invisible-island.net/dialog/</a></p>
</dd>
<dt><span class="part-name">lynx</span>
</dt>
<dd>
<p>the text WWW browser</p>
<p><a href=
"https://lynx.invisible-island.net/">https://lynx.invisible-island.net/</a></p>
</dd>
<dt><span class="part-name">mutt</span>
</dt>
<dd>
<p>mail utility</p>
<p><a href="http://www.mutt.org/">http://www.mutt.org/</a></p>
</dd>
<dt><span class="part-name">ncftp</span>
</dt>
<dd>
<p>file-transfer utility</p>
<p><a href=
"https://www.ncftp.com/">https://www.ncftp.com/</a></p>
</dd>
<dt><span class="part-name">nvi</span>
</dt>
<dd>
<p>New vi uses ncurses.</p>
<p><a href=
"https://sites.google.com/a/bostic.com/keithbostic/the-berkeley-vi-editor-home-page">
https://sites.google.com/a/bostic.com/keithbostic/the-berkeley-vi-editor-home-page</a><br>
</p>
</dd>
<dt><span class="part-name">ranger</span>
</dt>
<dd>
<p>A console file manager with VI key bindings in
<em>Python</em>.</p>
<p><a href=
"https://ranger.github.io/">https://ranger.github.io/</a></p>
</dd>
<dt><span class="part-name">tin</span>
</dt>
<dd>
<p>newsreader, supporting color, MIME</p>
<p><a href="http://www.tin.org/">http://www.tin.org/</a></p>
</dd>
<dt><span class="part-name">vifm</span>
</dt>
<dd>
<p>File manager with vi like keybindings</p>
<p><a href="https://vifm.info/">https://vifm.info/</a></p>
</dd>
</dl>
</blockquote>
<p>as well as some that use <span class=
"main-name">ncurses</span> for the terminfo support alone:</p>
<blockquote>
<dl>
<dt><span class="part-name">minicom</span>
</dt>
<dd>
<p>terminal emulator for serial modem connections</p>
<p><a href=
"https://salsa.debian.org/minicom-team/minicom">https://salsa.debian.org/minicom-team/minicom</a></p>
</dd>
<dt><span class="part-name">mosh</span>
</dt>
<dd>
<p>a replacement for <code>ssh</code>.</p>
<p><a href="https://mosh.org/">https://mosh.org/</a></p>
</dd>
<dt><span class="part-name">tack</span>
</dt>
<dd>
<p>terminfo action checker</p>
<p><a href="https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/tack.html">https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/tack.html</a></p>
</dd>
<dt><span class="part-name">tmux</span>
</dt>
<dd>
<p>terminal multiplexor</p>
<p><a href=
"https://github.com/tmux/tmux/wiki">https://github.com/tmux/tmux/wiki</a></p>
</dd>
<dt><span class="part-name">vile</span>
</dt>
<dd>
<p><em>vi-like-emacs</em> may be built to use the terminfo,
termcap or curses interfaces.</p>
<p><a href="https://invisible-island.net/vile/">https://invisible-island.net/vile/</a></p>
</dd>
</dl>
</blockquote>
<p>and finally, those which use only the termcap interface:</p>
<blockquote>
<dl>
<dt><span class="part-name">emacs</span>
</dt>
<dd>
<p>text editor</p>
<p><a href=
"https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/">https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/</a></p>
</dd>
<dt><span class="part-name">less</span>
</dt>
<dd>
<p>The most commonly used <em>pager</em> (a program that
displays text files).</p>
<p><a href=
"http://www.greenwoodsoftware.com/less/">http://www.greenwoodsoftware.com/less/</a></p>
</dd>
<dt><span class="part-name">screen</span>
</dt>
<dd>
<p>terminal multiplexor</p>
<p><a href=
"https://www.gnu.org/software/screen/">https://www.gnu.org/software/screen/</a></p>
</dd>
<dt><span class="part-name">vim</span>
</dt>
<dd>
<p>text editor</p>
<p><a href="https://www.vim.org/">https://www.vim.org/</a></p>
</dd>
</dl>
</blockquote>
<h2><a name="h2-development" id="h2-development">Development
activities</a></h2>
<p>Zeyd Ben-Halim started <span class="main-name">ncurses</span>
from a previous package pcurses, written by Pavel Curtis. Eric S.
Raymond continued development. J&uuml;rgen Pfeifer wrote most of
the form and menu libraries.</p>
<p>Ongoing development work is done by <a href=
"mailto:dickey@invisible-island.net">Thomas E. Dickey</a>. Thomas
E. Dickey has acted as the maintainer for the Free Software
Foundation, which held a <a href=
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses-license.html">copyright on ncurses</a> for
releases 4.2 through 6.1. Following the release of ncurses 6.1,
effective as of release 6.2, copyright for ncurses reverted to
Thomas E. Dickey (see the <a href=
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses.faq.html#relicensed">ncurses FAQ</a> for
additional information).</p>
<p>Contact the current maintainers at</p>
<blockquote>
<a href="mailto:bug-ncurses@gnu.org">bug-ncurses@gnu.org</a>
</blockquote>
<p>To join the ncurses mailing list, please write email to</p>
<blockquote>
<a href=
"mailto:bug-ncurses-request@gnu.org">bug-ncurses-request@gnu.org</a>
</blockquote>
containing the line:
<blockquote>
<p><code>subscribe</code>
<em>&lt;name&gt;@&lt;host.domain&gt;</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p>This list is open to anyone interested in helping with the
development and testing of this package.</p>
<p>Beta versions of <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> are
made available at</p>
<blockquote>
<p><a href=
"https://invisible-island.net/archives/ncurses/current/">https://invisible-island.net/archives/ncurses/current/</a>
and<br>
<a href=
"https://invisible-mirror.net/archives/ncurses/current/">https://invisible-mirror.net/archives/ncurses/current/</a>&nbsp;.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Patches to the current release are made available at</p>
<blockquote>
<p><a href=
"https://invisible-island.net/archives/ncurses/6.4/">https://invisible-island.net/archives/ncurses/6.4/</a>
and<br>
<a href=
"https://invisible-mirror.net/archives/ncurses/6.4/">https://invisible-mirror.net/archives/ncurses/6.4/</a>&nbsp;.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>There is an archive of the mailing list here:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><a href=
"https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-ncurses">https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-ncurses</a>&nbsp;.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2><a name="h2-this-stuff" id="h2-this-stuff">Related
resources</a></h2>
<p>The release notes make scattered references to these pages,
which may be interesting by themselves:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses-license.html"><span class=
"main-name">ncurses</span> licensing</a></li>
<li><a href="https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses-mapsyms.html">Symbol versioning
in <span class="main-name">ncurses</span></a></li>
<li><a href="https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses-slang.html">Comments on
<span class="main-name">ncurses</span> versus <span class=
"main-name">slang</span> (S-Lang)</a></li>
<li><a href="https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses-openbsd.html">Comments on
<span class="main-name">OpenBSD</span></a></li>
<li><a href="https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/tack.html">tack &ndash; terminfo action
checker</a></li>
<li><a href="https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/tctest.html">tctest &ndash; termcap
library checker</a></li>
<li><a href=
"https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses.html#download_database">Terminal
Database</a></li>
</ul>
<h2><a name="h2-other-stuff" id="h2-other-stuff">Other
resources</a></h2>
<p>The distribution provides a newer version of the
terminfo-format terminal description file once maintained by
<a href="http://www.catb.org/~esr/terminfo/">Eric
Raymond</a>&nbsp;. Unlike the older version, the termcap and
terminfo data are provided in the same file, which also provides
several user-definable extensions beyond the X/Open Curses
specification.</p>
<p>You can find lots of information on terminal-related topics
not covered in the terminfo file in <a href=
"https://shuford.invisible-island.net/">Richard Shuford's
archive</a> (<a href=
"http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.cs.utk.edu/~shuford/terminal">original</a>).
The collection of computer manuals at <a href=
"http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/">bitsavers.org</a> has also been
useful.</p>
<div class="nav">
<ul>
<li><a href="#h2-overview">Overview</a></li>
<li>
<a href="#h2-release-notes">Release Notes</a>
<ul>
<li>
<a href="#h3-library">Library improvements</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="#h4-new-library">New features</a></li>
<li><a href="#h4-fixes-library">Other
improvements</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
<a href="#h3-programs">Program improvements</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="#h4-utilities">Utilities</a></li>
<li><a href="#h4-examples">Examples</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><a href="#h3-database">Terminal database</a></li>
<li><a href="#h3-documentation">Documentation</a></li>
<li><a href="#h3-bug-fixes">Interesting bug-fixes</a></li>
<li>
<a href="#h3-config-config">Configuration changes</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="#h4-config-major">Major changes</a></li>
<li><a href="#h4-config-options">Configuration
options</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><a href="#h3-portability">Portability</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><a href="#h2-features">Features of <span class=
"main-name">ncurses</span></a></li>
<li><a href="#h2-who-uses">Applications using <span class=
"main-name">ncurses</span></a></li>
<li><a href="#h2-development">Development activities</a></li>
<li><a href="#h2-this-stuff">Related resources</a></li>
<li><a href="#h2-other-stuff">Other resources</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
</body>
</html>