announce

ncurses-5.4

          + adjust  include-options  in  CF_ETIP_DEFINES to avoid missing
            ncurses_dll.h,  fixing special definitions that may be needed
            for etip.h.
          + modify CF_LIB_SUFFIX for Itanium releases of HP-UX, which use
            a ".so" suffix.
          + improve  ifdef's to guard against redefinition of wchar_t and
            wint_t in curses.h.
          + remove  an  #undef for KEY_EVENT from curses.tail used in the
            experimental   NCURSES_WGETCH_EVENTS   feature.   The  #undef
            confuses Debian dpkg's build script.

                              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. J黵gen 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][e-mail].

   To   join   the   ncurses   mailing   list,   please  write  email  to
   [e-mail] 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:[e-mail]
  18. mailto:[e-mail]
  19. ftp://invisible-island.net/ncurses/
  20. http://www.catb.org/~esr/terminfo/
  21. http://www.cs.utk.edu/~shuford/terminal_index.html