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diff --git a/ncurses-5.3/announce.html.in b/ncurses-5.3/announce.html.in new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4813cee --- /dev/null +++ b/ncurses-5.3/announce.html.in @@ -0,0 +1,436 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//IETF//DTD HTML 3.0//EN"> +<!-- + $Id$ +--> +<HTML> +<HEAD> +<TITLE>Announcing ncurses @VERSION@ Pre-Release</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 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!<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://invisible-island.net/ncurses">ftp://invisible-island.net/ncurses</A>. + +<H1>Release Notes</H1> + +This release is designed to be upward compatible from ncurses 5.0 and 5.2; +very few applications will require recompilation, depending on the platform. +These are the highlights from the change-log since ncurses 5.2 release. +<p> +Interface changes: +<ul> + <li>change type for bool used in headers to <code>NCURSES_BOOL</code>, + which usually is the same as the compiler's definition for + <code>bool</code>. + + <li>add all but two functions for X/Open curses wide-character support. + These are only available if the library is configured using the + <kbd>--enable-widec</kbd> option. Missing functions are + <ul> + <li>pecho_wchar() + <li>slk_wset() + </ul> + + <li>add environment variable <code>$NCURSES_ASSUMED_COLORS</code> to + modify the <code>assume_default_colors()</code> extension. + +</ul> +New features and improvements: +<ul> + <li>Improved support for termcap applications: + <ul> + <li>add logic to dump_entry.c to remove function-key definitions that do + not fit into the 1023-byte limit for generated termcaps. This makes + hds200 fit. + + <li>modify tgetent() to check if exit_attribute_mode resets the alternate + character set, and if so, attempt to adjust the copy of the termcap + "me" string which it will return to eliminate that part. In + particular, 'screen' would lose track of line-drawing characters. + + <li>add check/fix to comp_parse.c to suppress warning about missing acsc + string. This happens in configurations where raw termcap information + is processed; tic already does this and other checks. + + <li>add tic -A option to suppress capabilities which are commented out + when translating to termcap. + + <li>modify logic in lib_baudrate.c for ospeed, for FreeBSD to make it + work properly for termcap applications (patch by Andrey A Chernov). + + </ul> + + <li>add a call to _nc_keypad() in keypad() to accommodate applications + such as nvi, which use curses for output but not for input (fixes + Debian #131263, cf: 20011215). + + <li>correct logic for COLORFGBG environment variable: if rxvt is compiled + with xpm support, the variable has three fields, making it slightly + incompatible with itself. In either case, the background color is + the last field. +</ul> +Major bug fixes: +<ul> + <li>rewrote limit-checks in wscrl() and associated _nc_scroll_window(), + to ensure that if the parameter of wscrl() is larger than the size of + the scrolling region, then the scrolling region will be cleared. + + <li>modify tset to restore original I/O modes if an error is encountered. + Also modify to use buffered stderr consistently rather than mixing + with write(). + + <li>move calls to def_shell_mode() and def_prog_mode() before loop with + callbacks in lib_set_term.c, since the c++ demo otherwise initialized + the tty modes before saving them. + + <li>modified wresize() to ensure that a failed realloc will not corrupt + the window structure, and to make subwindows fit within the resized + window. + + <li>altered resizeterm() to avoid having it fail when a child window + cannot be resized because it would be larger than its parent. + + <li>correct/improve logic to produce an exit status for errors in tput, + which did not exit with an error when told to put a string not in the + current terminfo entry. + + <li>modify behavior of can_clear_with() so that if an application is + running in a non-bce terminals with default colors enabled, it + returns true, allowing the user to select/paste text without picking + up extraneous trailing blanks. + + <li>add a check in relative_move() to guard against buffer overflow in + the overwrite logic. + + <li>add some limit/pointer checks to -S option of tputs. + + <li>modify mvcur() to avoid emitting newline characters when nonl() mode + is set. Normally this is not a problem since the actual terminal + mode is set to suppress nl/crlf translations, however it is useful to + allow the caller to manipulate the terminal mode to avoid staircasing + effects after spawning a process which writes messages (for lynx + 2.8.4). +</ul> + +Portability: +<ul> + <li>configure script: + <ul> + <li>modify check in --disable-overwrite option so that it is used by + default unless the --prefix/$prefix value is not /usr, in attempt to + work around packagers who do not read the INSTALL notes. + + <li>correct a typo in configure --enable-colorfgbg option, and move it + to the experimental section (cf: 20011208). + + <li>modify configure script to allow building with termcap only, or with + fallbacks only. In this case, we do not build tic and toe. + + <li>modify run_tic.sh to check if the build is a cross-compile. In that + case, do not use the build's tic to install the terminfo database. + + <li>modify c++/Makefile.in to accommodate archive programs that are + different for C++ than for C, and add cases for vendor's C++ + compilers on Solaris and IRIX. + + <li>add several configure script options to aid with cross-compiling: + --with-build-cc, --with-build-cflags, --with-build-ldflags, and + --with-build-libs. + + <li>add experimental --with-caps=XXX option to customize to similar + terminfo database formats such as AIX 4.x + + <li>add configure option --with-ospeed to assist packagers in transition + to 5.3 change to ospeed type. + </ul> + + <li>library: + <ul> + <li>implement a simple vsscanf() fallback function which uses the %n + conversion to help parse the input data. + + <li>various fixes to build/work with different implementations of + vsscanf(). + + <li>add/use macro to suppress sign-extension of char type on + platforms where this is a problem in ctype macros, e.g., Solaris. + + <li>finish changes needed to build dll's on cygwin. + + <li>add #undef's before possible redefinition of ERR and OK in curses.h + </ul> + + <li>programs: + <ul> + <li>modify ifdef's in write_entry.c to allow use of symbolic links on + platforms with no hard links, e.g., BeOS. + + <li>modify _nc_write_entry() to allow for the possibility that linking + aliases on a filesystem that ignores case would not succeed because + the source and destination differ only by case, e.g., NCR260VT300WPP0 + on cygwin. + + <li>modify logic in tic, toe, tput and tset which checks for basename of + argv[0] to work properly on systems such as OS/2 which have + case-independent filenames and/or program suffixes, e.g., ".ext". + </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://invisible-island.net/cdk/cdk.html">http://invisible-island.net/cdk</A>. +<br> +<A HREF="http://www.vexus.ca/CDK.html">http://www.vexus.ca/CDK.html</a> +<DT> ded +<DD> directory-editor +<br> +<A HREF="http://invisible-island.net/ded/ded.html">http://invisible-island.net/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://invisible-island.net/dialog/dialog.html">http://invisible-island.net/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 +<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://invisible-island.net/vile/vile.html">http://invisible-island.net/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="http://www.familiepfeifer.de/Contact.aspx?Lang=en">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://invisible-island.net/ncurses">ftp://invisible-island.net/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: +--> |