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diff --git a/ncurses-5.2/announce.html.in b/ncurses-5.2/announce.html.in new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c8cd852 --- /dev/null +++ b/ncurses-5.2/announce.html.in @@ -0,0 +1,593 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//IETF//DTD HTML 3.0//EN"> +<!-- + $Id$ +--> +<HTML> +<HEAD> +<TITLE>Announcing ncurses @VERSION@</TITLE> +<link rev=made href="mailto:bug-ncurses@gnu.org"> +</HEAD> +<BODY> + +<H1>Announcing ncurses @VERSION@</H1> + +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.<P> + +In mid-June 1995, the maintainer of 4.4BSD curses declared that he +considered 4.4BSD curses obsolete, and is encouraging the keepers of +Unix releases such as BSD/OS, freeBSD and netBSD to switch over to +ncurses.<P> + +The ncurses code was developed under GNU/Linux. It should port easily to +any ANSI/POSIX-conforming UNIX. It has even been ported to OS/2 Warp!<P> + +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.<P> + +The ncurses distribution is available via anonymous FTP at +the GNU distribution site +<A HREF="ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/ncurses">ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/ncurses</A>. +<br>It is also available at +<A HREF="ftp://dickey.his.com/ncurses">ftp://dickey.his.com/ncurses</A>. + +<H1>Release Notes</H1> + +This release is designed to be upward compatible from ncurses 5.0 and 5.1; +very few applications will require recompilation, depending on the platform. +These are the highlights from the change-log since ncurses 5.1 release. +<p> +Interface changes: +<ul> + <li>change type of <code>ospeed</code> variable back to + <code>short</code> to match its use in legacy applications. It was + altered after ncurses 4.2 to <code>speed_t</code> to repair a type + mismatch which was introduced after 1.9.4 in 1995. The principal + users of termcap continued to use <code>short</code>, which is + not the same size. + <p> + <em>NOTE</em>: A few applications will have to be recompiled + (about 1% of the programs in a typical Linux distribution, + 10% of the programs that use ncurses). These are easy to + identify with <code>nm</code> or <code>strings</code>. + + <li>remove a private function <code>_nc_can_clear_with()</code>, which + was built with the configure --enable-expanded option but not used. + + <li>add several private functions (prefixed with "_nc_") for tracing + <code>chtype</code> values in the debug library, and for better + access and buffer limit checking. +</ul> +New features and improvements: +<ul> + <li>rewrote <code>tgoto()</code> to make it better support existing + termcap applications which use hardcoded strings rather than obtain + all of their information from the termcap file. If the string does + not appear to be a terminfo string (i.e., does not refer to a "%p" + parameter, or terminfo-style padding), and termcap support is configured, <code>tgoto()</code> + will interpret it as termcap. Otherwise, as before, it will use + <code>tparm()</code>. + + <li>to ensure that the <code>tgoto()</code> changes work properly, + added checks to <code>tic</code> which report capabilities that do + not reference the expected number of parameters. + + <li>new configure script options: + <ul> + <li>option <code>--disable-root-environ</code> adds runtime checks + which tell ncurses to disregard $TERMINFO and similar environment + variables if the current user is root, or running setuid/setgid. + + <li>option <code>--disable-assumed-color</code> allows you to use the + pre-5.1 convention of default colors used for color-pair 0 to be + configured (see assume_default_colors()). + + <li>implement configure script options that transform installed + program names, e.g., <code>--program-prefix</code>, including the + manpage names and cross references. + + <li>option <code>--with-database</code> allows you to specify a + different terminfo source-file to install. On OS/2 EMX, the + default is misc/emx.src, otherwise misc/terminfo.src + + <li>option <code>--with-default-terminfo-dir</code> allows you to + specify the default terminfo database directory. + + <li>option <code>--with-libtool</code> allows you to build with + <code>libtool</code>. <p> <em>NOTE</em>: <code>libtool</code> + uses a different notation for numbering shared library versions + from the existing ncurses configuration. + + <li>option <code>--with-manpage-tbl</code> causes the manpages to be + preprocessed by tbl(1) prior to installation, + + <li>option <code>--without-curses-h</code> causes the installation + process to install curses.h as ncurses.h and make appropriate + changes to headers and manpages. + </ul> + + <li>modified configure script options: + <ul> + <li>change symbol used by the <code>--install-prefix</code> configure + option from <code>INSTALL_PREFIX</code> to <code>DESTDIR</code> + (the latter has become common usage although the name is + misleading). + + <li>modify <code>ld -rpath</code> options (e.g., Linux, and Solaris) + to use an absolute pathname for the build tree's lib directory, + avoiding confusion with directories relative to the current one + with the installed programs. + + <li>modified <code>misc/run_tic.in</code> to use + <code>tic -o</code>, to eliminate dependency on + <code>$TERMINFO</code> variable for installs. + </ul> + + <li>terminfo database: + <ul> + <li>updated xterm terminfo entries to match XFree86 xterm patch #146. + + <li>added amiga-vnc, + Matrix Orbital, and + QNX qansi to misc/terminfo.src. + + <li>added os2 entry to misc/emx.src. + + <li>add S0 and E0 extensions to <code>screen</code>'s terminfo entry + since otherwise the FreeBSD port makes it pass termcap equivalents + to <code>tgoto</code>, which would be misinterpreted by older + versions of ncurses. + </ul> + + <li>improvements to program usability: + <ul> + <li>modify programs to use <code>curses_version()</code> string to + report the version of ncurses with which they are compiled rather + than the NCURSES_VERSION string. The function returns the patch + level in addition to the major and minor version numbers. + + <li>modify <code>tput</code> program so it can be renamed or invoked via a link as + 'reset' or 'init', producing the same effect as <code>tput reset</code> or <code>tput init</code>. + + <li>add error checking to infocmp's -v and -m options to ensure that + the option value is indeed a number. + </ul> + + <li>improved performance: + <ul> + <li>replace a lookup table in lib_vidattr.c used to decode + <code>no_color_video</code> with a logic expression which is faster. + </ul> + +</ul> +Major bug fixes: +<ul> + <li>correct <code>manlinks.sed</code> script introduced in ncurses 5.1 + to avoid using ERE "\+", which is not understood by standard versions + of <code>sed</code>. This happens to work with GNU <code>sed</code>, + but is not portable, and was the initial motivation for this release. + + <li>remove "hpux10.*" case from CF_SHARED_OPTS configure script macro. + This differed from the "hpux*" case by using reversed symbolic + links, which made the 5.1 version not match the configuration of + 5.0 shared libraries. + + <li>guard against corrupt terminfo data: + <ul> + <li>modify <code>tparm()</code> to disallow arithmetic on strings, + analyze the varargs list to read strings as strings and numbers as + numbers. + + <li>modify <code>tparm()</code>'s internal function + <code>spop()</code> to treat a null pointer as an empty string. + + <li>modify <code>parse_format()</code> in lib_tparm.c to ignore + precision if it is longer than 10000. + + <li>rewrote limit checks in lib_mvcur.c using new functions + <code>_nc_safe_strcat()</code>, etc. Made other related changes to + check lengths used for <code>strcat()</code> and + <code>strcpy()</code>. + </ul> + + <li>corrections to screen optimization: + <ul> + <li>added special case in lib_vidattr.c to reset underline and + standout for devices that have no sgr0 defined. + + <li>change handling of <code>non_dest_scroll_region</code> in + tty_update.c to clear text after it is shifted in rather than before + shifting out. Also correct row computation. + + <li>modify <code>rs2</code> capability in xterm-r6 and similar entries + where cursor save/restore bracketed the sequence for resetting video + attributes. The cursor restore would undo that. + </ul> + + <li>UTF-8 support: + <ul> + <li>when checking LC_ALL, LC_CTYPE, and LANG environment variables + for UTF-8 locale, ignore those which are set to an empty value, as + per SUSV2. + + <li>encode 0xFFFD in UTF-8 with 3 bytes, not 2. + + <li>modify <code>_nc_utf8_outch()</code> to avoid sign-extension when + checking for out-of-range value. + </ul> + + <li>other library fixes: + <ul> + <li>added checks for an empty <code>$HOME</code> environment + variable, to avoid retrieving terminfo descriptions from + <code>./.terminfo</code> . + + <li>change functions <code>_nc_parse_entry()</code> and + <code>postprocess_termcap()</code> to avoid using + <code>strtok()</code>, because it is non-reentrant. + + <li>initialize <code>fds[]</code> array to 0's in + <code>_nc_timed_wait()</code>; apparently <code>poll()</code> only + sets the <code>revents</code> members of that array when there is + activity corresponding to the related file. + + <li>add a check for null pointer in <code>Make_Enum_Type()</code>. + + <li>fix a heap problem with the c++ binding. + + <li>correct missing includes for <string.h> in several places, + including the C++ binding. This is not noted by gcc unless we use + the <code>-fno-builtin</code> option. + </ul> + + <li>several fixes for tic: + <ul> + <li>add a check for empty buffers returned by <code>fgets()</code> in + comp_scan.c <code>next_char()</code> function, in case + <code>tic</code> is run on a non-text file (fixes a core dump). + + <li>modify <code>tic</code> to verify that its inputs are really files, + in case someone tries to read a directory (or + <code>/dev/zero</code>). + + <li>correct an uninitialized parameter to <code>open_tempfile()</code> + in tic.c which made "tic -I" give an ambiguous error message about + <code>tmpnam</code>. + + <li>correct logic in <code>adjust_cancels()</code>, which did not check + both alternatives when reclassifying an extended name between + boolean, number and string, causing an infinite loop in + <code>tic</code>. + </ul> + + <li>using new checks in <code>tic</code> for parameter counts in + capability strings, found/fixed several errors both in the + terminfo database and in the include/Caps file. + <ul> + <li>modified several terminfo capability strings, including the + definitions for setaf, setab, in include/Caps to indicate that the + entries are parameterized. This information is used to tell which + strings are translated when converting to termcap. This fixes a + problem where the generated termcap would contain a spurious "%p1" + for the terminfo "%p1%d". + + <li>correct parameter counts in include/Caps for dclk as well as some + printer-specific capabilities: csnm, defc, scs, scsd, smgtp, smglp. + </ul> + + <li>various fixes for install scripts used to support configure + <code>--srcdir</code> and <code>--with-install-prefix</code>. + + <li>correct several mismatches between manpage filename and ".TH" + directives, renaming dft_fgbg.3x to default_colors.3x and + menu_attribs.3x to menu_attributes.3x. +</ul> + +Portability: +<ul> + <li>configure script: + <ul> + <li>newer config.guess, config.sub, including changes to support OS/2 + EMX. The configure script for OS/2 EMX still relies on a patch + since there is no (working) support for that platform in the main + autoconf distribution. + + <li>make configure script checks on variables <code>$GCC</code> and + <code>$GXX</code> consistently compare against 'yes' rather than + test if they are nonnull, since either may be set to the + corresponding name of the C or C++ compiler. + + <li>change configure script to use AC_CANONICAL_SYSTEM rather than + AC_CANONICAL_HOST, which means that <code>configure --target</code> + will set a default program-prefix. + + <li>modify the check for big-core to force a couple of memory + accesses, which may work as needed for older/less-capable machines + (if not, there's still the explicit configure option). + + <li>modify configure test for <code>tcgetattr()</code> to allow for + old implementations, e.g., on BeOS, which only defined it as a + macro. + + <li>add configure check for filesystems (such as OS/2 EMX) which do + not distinguish between upper/lowercase filenames, use this to fix + tags rules in makefiles. + + <li>add MKncurses_def.sh to generate fallback definitions for + ncurses_cfg.h, to quiet gcc -Wundef warnings, modified ifdef's in + code to consistently use "#if" rather than "#ifdef". + + <li>change most remaining unquoted parameters of <code>test</code> in + configure script to use quotes, for instance fixing a problem in the + <code>--disable-database</code> option. + + <li>modify scripts so that "make install.data" works on OS/2 EMX. + + <li>modify scripts and makefiles so the Ada95 directory builds on + OS/2 EMX. + </ul> + + <li>library: + <ul> + <li>replaced case-statement in <code>_nc_tracebits()</code> for CSIZE + with a table to simplify working around implementations that define + random combinations of the related macros to zero. + + <li>improved OS/2 mouse support by retrying as a 2-button mouse if code + fails to set up a 3-button mouse. + + <li>added private entrypoint <code>_nc_basename()</code>, used to + consolidate related code in progs, as well as accommodating OS/2 EMX + pathnames. + + <li>alter definition of NCURSES_CONST to make it non-empty. + + <li>redefine 'TEXT' in menu.h for AMIGA, since it is reported to have + an (unspecified) symbol conflict. + </ul> + + <li>programs: + <ul> + <li>modified progs/tset.c and tack/sysdep.c to build with sgttyb + interface if neither termio or termios is available. Tested this + with FreeBSD 2.1.5 (which does have termios - but the sgttyb does + work). + </ul> + +</ul> + +<H1>Features of Ncurses</H1> + +The ncurses package is fully compatible with SVr4 (System V Release 4) curses: + +<UL> +<LI>All 257 of the SVr4 calls have been implemented (and are documented). +<LI>Full support for SVr4 curses features including keyboard mapping, color, +forms-drawing with ACS characters, and automatic recognition of keypad +and function keys. +<LI>An emulation of the SVr4 panels library, supporting +a stack of windows with backing store, is included. +<LI>An emulation of the SVr4 menus library, supporting +a uniform but flexible interface for menu programming, is included. +<LI>An emulation of the SVr4 form library, supporting +data collection through on-screen forms, is included. +<LI>Binary terminfo entries generated by the ncurses tic(1) implementation +are bit-for-bit-compatible with the entry format SVr4 curses uses. +<LI>The utilities have options to allow you to filter terminfo +entries for use with less capable <STRONG>curses</STRONG>/<STRONG>terminfo</STRONG> +versions such as the HP/UX and AIX ports.</UL> + +The ncurses package also has many useful extensions over SVr4: + +<UL> +<LI>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). +<LI>Unlike SVr3 curses, ncurses can write to the rightmost-bottommost corner +of the screen if your terminal has an insert-character capability. +<LI>Ada95 and C++ bindings. +<LI>Support for mouse event reporting with X Window xterm and OS/2 console windows. +<LI>Extended mouse support via Alessandro Rubini's gpm package. +<LI>The function <CODE>wresize()</CODE> allows you to resize windows, preserving +their data. +<LI>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. +<LI>The functions <CODE>keyok()</CODE> +and <CODE>define_key()</CODE> 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. +<LI>Support for 16-color terminals, such as aixterm and XFree86 xterm. +<LI>Better cursor-movement optimization. The package now features a +cursor-local-movement computation more efficient than either BSD's +or System V's. +<LI>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. +<LI>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. +<LI>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). +<LI>The tic(1)/captoinfo utility provided with ncurses has the +ability to translate many termcaps from the XENIX, IBM and +AT&T extension sets. +<LI>A BSD-like tset(1) utility is provided. +<LI>The ncurses library and utilities will automatically read terminfo +entries from $HOME/.terminfo if it exists, and compile to that directory +if it exists and the user has no write access to the system directory. +This feature makes it easier for users to have personal terminfo entries +without giving up access to the system terminfo directory. +<LI>You may specify a path of directories to search for compiled +descriptions with the environment variable TERMINFO_DIRS (this +generalizes the feature provided by TERMINFO under stock System V.) +<LI>In terminfo source files, use capabilities may refer not just to +other entries in the same source file (as in System V) but also to +compiled entries in either the system terminfo directory or the user's +$HOME/.terminfo directory. +<LI>A script (<STRONG>capconvert</STRONG>) 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. +<LI>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. +<LI>The table-of-entries utility <STRONG>toe</STRONG> makes it easy for users to +see exactly what terminal types are available on the system. +<LI>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 +<CODE>#undef</CODE>. +<LI>An HTML "Introduction to Programming with NCURSES" document provides +a narrative introduction to the curses programming interface. +</UL> + +<H1>State of the Package</H1> + +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.<P> + +The ncurses code has been tested with a wide variety of applications +including (versions starting with those noted): +<DL> +<DT> cdk +<DD> Curses Development Kit +<br> +<A HREF="http://www.vexus.ca/CDK.html">http://www.vexus.ca/CDK.html</a> +<br> +<A HREF="http://dickey.his.com/cdk/cdk.html">http://dickey.his.com/cdk</A>. +<DT> ded +<DD> directory-editor +<br> +<A HREF="http://dickey.his.com/ded/ded.html">http://dickey.his.com/ded</A>. +<DT> dialog +<DD> the underlying application used in Slackware's setup, and the basis +for similar applications on GNU/Linux. +<br> +<A HREF="http://dickey.his.com/dialog/dialog.html">http://dickey.his.com/dialog</A>. +<DT> lynx +<DD> the character-screen WWW browser +<br> +<A HREF="http://lynx.isc.org/release/">http://lynx.isc.org/release</A>. +<DT> Midnight Commander 4.1 +<DD> file manager +<br> +<A HREF="www.gnome.org/mc/">www.gnome.org/mc/</A>. +<DT> mutt +<DD> mail utility +<br> +<A HREF="http://www.mutt.org">http://www.mutt.org</A>. +<DT> ncftp +<DD> file-transfer utility +<br> +<A HREF="http://www.ncftp.com">http://www.ncftp.com</A>. +<DT> nvi +<DD> New vi versions 1.50 are able to use ncurses versions 1.9.7 and later. +<br> +<A HREF="http://www.bostic.com/vi/">http://www.bostic.com/vi/</A>. +<DT> tin +<DD> newsreader, supporting color, MIME +<br> +<A HREF="http://www.tin.org">http://www.tin.org</A>. +<DT> taper +<DD> tape archive utility +<br> +<A HREF="http://members.iinet.net.au/~yusuf/taper/">http://members.iinet.net.au/~yusuf/taper/</A>. +<DT> vh-1.6 +<DD> Volks-Hypertext browser for the Jargon File +<br> +<A HREF="http://www.bg.debian.org/Packages/unstable/text/vh.html">http://www.bg.debian.org/Packages/unstable/text/vh.html</A>. +</DL> +as well as some that use ncurses for the terminfo support alone: +<DL> +<DT> minicom +<DD> terminal emulator +<br> +<A HREF="http://www.pp.clinet.fi/~walker/minicom.html">http://www.pp.clinet.fi/~walker/minicom.html</A>. +<DT> vile +<DD> vi-like-emacs +<br> +<A HREF="http://dickey.his.com/vile/vile.html">http://dickey.his.com/vile</A>. +</DL> +<P> + +The ncurses distribution includes a selection of test programs (including +a few games). + +<H2>Who's Who and What's What</H2> + +The original developers of ncurses are <A +HREF="mailto:zmbenhal@netcom.com">Zeyd Ben-Halim</A> and +<A HREF="http://www.ccil.org/~esr/home.html">Eric S. Raymond</A>. +Ongoing work is being done by +<A HREF="mailto:dickey@herndon4.his.com">Thomas Dickey</A> +and +<A HREF="mailto:juergen.pfeifer@gmx.net">Jürgen Pfeifer</A>. +<A HREF="mailto:dickey@herndon4.his.com">Thomas Dickey</A> +acts as the maintainer for the Free Software Foundation, which holds the +copyright on ncurses. +Contact the current maintainers at +<A HREF="mailto:bug-ncurses@gnu.org">bug-ncurses@gnu.org</A>. +<P> + +To join the ncurses mailing list, please write email to +<CODE>bug-ncurses-request@gnu.org</CODE> containing the line: +<PRE> + subscribe <name>@<host.domain> +</PRE> + +This list is open to anyone interested in helping with the development and +testing of this package.<P> + +Beta versions of ncurses and patches to the current release are made available at +<A HREF="ftp://dickey.his.com/ncurses">ftp://dickey.his.com/ncurses</A>. + +<H2>Future Plans</H2> +<UL> +<LI>Extended-level XPG4 conformance, with internationalization support. +<LI>Ports to more systems, including DOS and Windows. +</UL> +We need people to help with these projects. If you are interested in working +on them, please join the ncurses list. + +<H2>Other Related Resources</H2> + +The distribution includes and uses a version of the terminfo-format +terminal description file maintained by Eric Raymond. +<A HREF="http://earthspace.net/~esr/terminfo">http://earthspace.net/~esr/terminfo</A>.<P> + +You can find lots of information on terminal-related topics +not covered in the terminfo file at +<A HREF="http://www.cs.utk.edu/~shuford/terminal_index.html">Richard Shuford's +archive</A>. +</BODY> +</HTML> +<!-- +# The following sets edit modes for GNU EMACS +# Local Variables: +# mode:html +# case-fold-search:nil +# fill-column:70 +# End: +--> |