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diff --git a/ncurses-5.9/ANNOUNCE b/ncurses-5.9/ANNOUNCE new file mode 100644 index 0000000..11933c5 --- /dev/null +++ b/ncurses-5.9/ANNOUNCE @@ -0,0 +1,288 @@ + Announcing ncurses 5.9 + + The ncurses (new curses) library is a free software emulation of + curses in System V Release 4.0, and more. It uses terminfo format, + supports pads and color and multiple highlights and forms characters + and function-key mapping, and has all the other SYSV-curses + enhancements over BSD curses. + + In mid-June 1995, the maintainer of 4.4BSD curses declared that he + considered 4.4BSD curses obsolete, and encouraged the keepers of Unix + releases such as BSD/OS, FreeBSD and NetBSD to switch over to ncurses. + + The ncurses code was developed under GNU/Linux. It has been in use for + some time with OpenBSD as the system curses library, and on FreeBSD + and NetBSD as an external package. It should port easily to any + ANSI/POSIX-conforming UNIX. It has even been ported to OS/2 Warp! + + The distribution includes the library and support utilities, including + a terminfo compiler tic(1), a decompiler infocmp(1), clear(1), + tput(1), tset(1), and a termcap conversion tool captoinfo(1). Full + manual pages are provided for the library and tools. + + The ncurses distribution is available via anonymous FTP at the GNU + distribution site [1]ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/ncurses/ . + It is also available at [2]ftp://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ . + + Release Notes + + This release is designed to be upward compatible from ncurses 5.0 + through 5.8; very few applications will require recompilation, + depending on the platform. These are the highlights from the + change-log since ncurses 5.8 release. + + This is a bug-fix release, correcting a small number of urgent + problems in the ncurses library from the 5.8 release. + + It also improves the Ada95 binding: + * fixes a longstanding portability problem with its use of the + [3]set_field_type function. Because that function uses + variable-length argument lists, its interface with gnat does not + work with certain platforms. + * improves configurability and portability, particularly when built + separately from the main ncurses tree. The 5.8 release introduced + scripts which can be used to construct separate tarballs for the + Ada95 and ncurses examples. + Those were a proof of concept. For the 5.9 release, those scripts + are augmented with rpm- and dpkg-scripts used in test builds + against a variety of gnat- and system ncurses versions as old as + gnat 3.15 and ncurses 5.4 (see snapshots and systems tested + [4]here. + * additional improvements were made for portability of the ncurses + examples, adding rpm- and dpkg-scripts for test-builds. See + [5]this page for snapshots and other information. + + 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, and most EXTENDED 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). + * 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 FreeBSD + 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 256-color terminals, such as modern xterm, when + configured using the --enable-ext-colors option. + * Support for 16-color terminals, such as aixterm and modern 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 + [6]http://invisible-island.net/cdk/ + [7]http://www.vexus.ca/products/CDK/ + + ded + directory-editor + [8]http://invisible-island.net/ded/ + + dialog + the underlying application used in Slackware's setup, and the + basis for similar applications on GNU/Linux. + [9]http://invisible-island.net/dialog/ + + lynx + the character-screen WWW browser + [10]http://lynx.isc.org/release/ + + Midnight Commander + file manager + [11]http://www.midnight-commander.org/ + + mutt + mail utility + [12]http://www.mutt.org/ + + ncftp + file-transfer utility + [13]http://www.ncftp.com/ + + nvi + New vi versions 1.50 are able to use ncurses versions 1.9.7 and + later. + [14]https://sites.google.com/a/bostic.com/keithbostic/nvi + + pinfo + Lynx-like info browser. + [15]https://alioth.debian.org/projects/pinfo/ + + tin + newsreader, supporting color, MIME [16]http://www.tin.org/ + + as well as some that use ncurses for the terminfo support alone: + + minicom + terminal emulator + [17]http://alioth.debian.org/projects/minicom/ + + vile + vi-like-emacs + [18]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. Juergen Pfeifer + wrote most of the form and menu libraries. Ongoing work is being done + by [19]Thomas Dickey. Thomas Dickey acts as the maintainer for the + Free Software Foundation, which holds the copyright on ncurses. + Contact the current maintainers at [20]bug-ncurses@gnu.org. + + To join the ncurses mailing list, please write email to + bug-ncurses-request@gnu.org containing the line: + subscribe <name>@<host.domain> + + This list is open to anyone interested in helping with the development + and testing of this package. + + Beta versions of ncurses and patches to the current release are made + available at [21]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 once maintained by [22]Eric Raymond . Unlike + the older version, the termcap and terminfo data are provided in the + same file, and provides several user-definable extensions beyond the + X/Open specification. + + You can find lots of information on terminal-related topics not + covered in the terminfo file at [23]Richard Shuford's archive . + +References + + 1. ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/ncurses/ + 2. ftp://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ + 3. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/man/form_fieldtype.3x + 4. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses-Ada95.html + 5. http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses-examples.html + 6. http://invisible-island.net/cdk/ + 7. http://www.vexus.ca/products/CDK/ + 8. http://invisible-island.net/ded/ + 9. http://invisible-island.net/dialog/ + 10. http://lynx.isc.org/release/ + 11. http://www.midnight-commander.org/ + 12. http://www.mutt.org/ + 13. http://www.ncftp.com/ + 14. https://sites.google.com/a/bostic.com/keithbostic/nvi + 15. https://alioth.debian.org/projects/pinfo/ + 16. http://www.tin.org/ + 17. http://alioth.debian.org/projects/minicom/ + 18. http://invisible-island.net/vile/ + 19. mailto:dickey@invisible-island.net + 20. mailto:bug-ncurses@gnu.org + 21. ftp://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ + 22. http://www.catb.org/~esr/terminfo/ + 23. http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.cs.utk.edu/~shuford/terminal |