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diff --git a/contrib/ncurses/doc/html/announce.html b/contrib/ncurses/doc/html/announce.html new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d3c68d0 --- /dev/null +++ b/contrib/ncurses/doc/html/announce.html @@ -0,0 +1,381 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//IETF//DTD HTML 3.0//EN"> +<!-- + $Id: announce.html,v 1.37 2000/07/02 01:50:20 tom Exp $ +--> +<HTML> +<HEAD> +<TITLE>Announcing ncurses 5.1</TITLE> +<link rev=made href="mailto:bug-ncurses@gnu.org"> +</HEAD> +<BODY> + +<H1>Announcing ncurses 5.1</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>. +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; very few +applications will require recompilation, depending on the platform. +These are the highlights from the change-log since ncurses 5.0 release. +<p> +Interface changes: +<ul> + <li>made the extended terminal capabilities + (<code>configure --enable-tcap-names</code>) + a standard feature (though the configure script can disable it, + it is built by default). + + <li>removed the <code>trace()</code> function and related trace support + from the production library. This is the only interface change that + may cause problems with existing applications linked to shared + libraries, since not all platforms use the minor version number. + + <li>explicitly initialized to zero several data items which were + implicitly initialized, e.g., cur_term. If not explicitly + initialized, their storage type is C (common), and causes problems + linking on some platforms. + + <li>modified curses.h.in, undef'ing some symbols to avoid conflict with + C++ STL. +</ul> +New features: +<ul> + <li>added a new extension, <code>assume_default_colors()</code> to + provide better control over the use of default colors. This is + the principal visible difference between ncurses 5.1 and preceding + versions. The new extension allows an application to specify what + colors pair 0 uses. It defaults to white on black, unless you + have invoked <code>use_default_colors()</code>. + + <li>made several fixes to the terminfo-to-termcap conversion, and + have been using the generated termcaps without further hand-tuning. + This builds on the extension <code>use_extended_names()</code> by + adding "obsolete" termcap strings to terminfo.src + <ul> + <li>modified <code>tic</code> so that if extended names (i.e., + configure --enable-tcap-names) are active, then <code>tic -x</code> + will also write "obsolete" capabilities that are present in the + terminfo source. + + <li>added screen's AX capability (for ECMA SGR 39 and 49) to applicable + terminfo entries, use presence of this as a check for a small + improvement in setting default colors. + + <li>add -a option to tic and infocmp, which retains commented-out + capabilities during source translation/comparison, e.g., captoinfo + and infotocap. + </ul> + + <li>implemented limited support for UTF-8, useful with XFree86 xterm: + <ul> + <li>if the <code>configure --enable-widec</code> option is + given, append 'w' to names of the generated libraries (e.g., + libncursesw.so) to avoid conflict with existing ncurses libraries. + <li>add a simple UTF-8 output driver to the experimental + wide-character support. If any of the environment variables + LC_ALL, LC_CTYPE or LANG contain the string "UTF-8", this driver + will be used to translate the output to UTF-8. + <li>modified view.c to make a rudimentary viewer of UTF-8 text. + </ul> + + <li>modify <code>raw()</code> and <code>noraw()</code> to clear/restore + IEXTEN flag which affects stty lnext on systems such as FreeBSD + + <li>reordered tests during mouse initialization to allow for gpm to run in + xterm, or for xterm to be used under OS/2 EMX. Also dropped test for + $DISPLAY in favor of kmous=\E[M or $TERM containing "xterm". + + <li>added configure option <code>--with-manpage-symlinks</code>, which + provides for fully indexing manpage entries by making symbolic links + for the aliases. + + <li>changed <code>unctrl()</code> to render C1 characters (128-159) as + <code>~@</code>, <code>~A</code>, etc. + + <li>add experimental configure option --enable-colorfgbg to check for + $COLORTERM variable as set by rxvt/aterm/Eterm. + + <li>made the <code>infocmp -F</code> option less verbose. + + <li>dropped support for gnat 3.10 (gnat 3.12 is current). + +</ul> +Major bug fixes: +<ul> + <li>modified infocmp -e, -E options to ensure that generated fallback.c + type for Booleans agrees with term.h + + <li>documented a special case of incompatiblity between ncurses 4.2 and + 5.0, added a section for this in INSTALL. + + <li>corrected tests for file-descriptors in OS/2 EMX mouse support. A + negative value could be used by FD_SET, causing the select() call to + wait indefinitely. + + <li>made 'tput flash' work properly for xterm by flushing output in + delay_output() when using napms(), and modifying xterm's terminfo to + specify no padding character. Otherwise, xterm's reported baud rate + could mislead ncurses into producing too few padding characters. + + <li>modified lib_addch.c to allow repeated update to the lower-right + corner, rather than displaying only the first character written until + the cursor is moved. Recent versions of SVr4 curses can update the + lower-right corner, and behave this way. + + <li>modified echo() behavior of getch() to match Solaris curses for + carriage return and backspace (reported by Neil Zanella). + + <li>corrected offsets used for subwindows in <code>wresize()</code> + + <li>modified configure script so AC_MSG_ERROR is temporarily defined to + a warning in AC_PROG_CXX to make it recover from a missing C++ + compiler without requiring user to add --without-cxx option + + <li>corrected logic in lib_twait.c as used by lib_mouse.c for GPM mouse + support when poll() is used rather than select(). + + <li>made several fixes for buffer overflows, unchecked recursion, + improvements in performance, etc. See the NEWS file for details. +</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">Curses Development Kit</a> +<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 +<DT> mutt +<DD> mail utility +<br> +<A HREF="http://www.mutt.org">http://www.mutt.org</A>. +<DT> ncftp +<DD> file-transfer utility +<DT> nvi +<DD> New vi versions 1.50 are able to use ncurses versions 1.9.7 and later. +<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 +<DT> vh-1.6 +<DD> Volks-Hypertext browser for the Jargon File +</DL> +as well as some that use ncurses for the terminfo support alone: +<DL> +<DT> minicom +<DD> terminal emulator +<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: +--> |