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<h1 class="no-header">Announcing ncurses @VERSION@</h1>
<h2><a name="h2-overview" id="h2-overview">Overview</a></h2>
<p>The <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> (new curses)
library is a free software emulation of curses in System V
Release 4.0 (SVr4), 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 SVr4-curses
enhancements over BSD curses. SVr4 curses became the basis of
X/Open Curses.</p>
<p>In mid-June 1995, the maintainer of 4.4BSD curses declared
that he considered 4.4BSD curses obsolete, and encouraged the
keepers of <span class="main-name">unix</span> releases such as
BSD/OS, FreeBSD and NetBSD to switch over to <span class=
"main-name">ncurses</span>.</p>
<p>Since 1995, <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> has been
ported to many systems:</p>
<ul>
<li>It is used in almost every system based on the Linux kernel
(aside from some embedded applications).</li>
<li>It is used as the system curses library on OpenBSD, FreeBSD
and MacOS.</li>
<li>It is used in environments such as Cygwin and MinGW. The
first of these was EMX on OS/2 Warp.</li>
<li>It is used (though usually not as the <em>system</em>
curses) on all of the vendor <span class=
"main-name">unix</span> systems, e.g., AIX, HP-UX, IRIX64, SCO,
Solaris, Tru64.</li>
<li>It should work readily on any ANSI/POSIX-conforming
<span class="main-name">unix</span>.</li>
</ul>
<p>The distribution includes the library and support utilities,
including</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="@HOMEPAGE@/man/captoinfo.1m.html"><span class=
"part-name">captoinfo</span></a>, a termcap conversion
tool</li>
<li><a href="@HOMEPAGE@/man/clear.1.html"><span class=
"part-name">clear</span></a>, utility for clearing the
screen</li>
<li><a href="@HOMEPAGE@/man/infocmp.1m.html"><span class=
"part-name">infocmp</span></a>, the terminfo decompiler</li>
<li><a href="@HOMEPAGE@/man/tabs.1.html"><span class=
"part-name">tabs</span></a>, set tabs on a terminal</li>
<li><a href="@HOMEPAGE@/man/tic.1m.html"><span class=
"part-name">tic</span></a>, the terminfo compiler</li>
<li><a href="@HOMEPAGE@/man/toe.1m.html"><span class=
"part-name">toe</span></a>, list (table of) terminfo
entries</li>
<li><a href="@HOMEPAGE@/man/tput.1.html"><span class=
"part-name">tput</span></a>, utility for retrieving terminal
capabilities in shell scripts</li>
<li><a href="@HOMEPAGE@/man/tset.1.html"><span class=
"part-name">tset</span></a>, to initialize the terminal</li>
</ul>
<p>Full manual pages are provided for the library and tools.</p>
<p>The <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> distribution is
available at <span class="main-name">ncurses</span>' <a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/">homepage</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><a href=
"ftp://ftp.invisible-island.net/ncurses/">ftp://ftp.invisible-island.net/ncurses/</a>
or<br>
<a href=
"https://invisible-mirror.net/archives/ncurses/">https://invisible-mirror.net/archives/ncurses/</a>&nbsp;.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>It is also available via anonymous FTP at the GNU distribution
site</p>
<blockquote>
<p><a href=
"ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/ncurses/">ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/ncurses/</a>&nbsp;.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2><a name="h2-release-notes" id="h2-release-notes">Release
Notes</a></h2>
<p>These notes are for <span class="main-name">ncurses</span>
@VERSION@, released <strong>October 21, 2021</strong>.</p>
<p>This release is designed to be source-compatible with
<span class="main-name">ncurses</span> 5.0 through 6.2; providing
extensions to the application binary interface (ABI). Although
the source can still be configured to support the <span class=
"main-name">ncurses</span> 5 ABI, the reason for the release is
to reflect improvements to the <span class=
"main-name">ncurses</span> 6 ABI and the supporting utility
programs.</p>
<p>There are, of course, numerous other improvements, listed in
this announcement.</p>
<p>The most <a href="#h3-bug-fixes">important
bug-fixes/improvements</a> dealt with portability issues. The
release notes also mention some other bug-fixes, but are focused
on new features and improvements to existing features since
<span class="main-name">ncurses</span> 6.2 release.</p>
<h3><a name="h3-library" id="h3-library">Library improvements</a></h3>
<h4><a name="h4-new-library" id="h4-new-library">New features</a></h4>
<p>There are a few new features:</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p>A new (experimental) driver, for the Windows Terminal
configuration is provided.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>A script is provided which enables <a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/ncurses-openbsd.html">OpenBSD</a> users to
upgrade their system to use ncurses 6.3 (OpenBSD developers
are also invited to do this).</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p>Additionally, to improve performance other changes (and
extensions) are provided in this release:</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p>modify lib_mouse.c to check for out-of-range button
numbers, convert those to position reports.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>add sp-funcs for <a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/man/curs_termattrs.3x.html#h3-erasechar_-erasewchar">
erasewchar</a>, <a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/man/curs_termattrs.3x.html#h3-killchar_-killwchar">
killwchar</a>.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h4><a name="h4-fixes-library" id="h4-fixes-library">Other
improvements</a></h4>
<p>These are revised features:</p>
<ul>
<li>modify wgetnstr, wgetn_wstr to improve compatibility with
SVr4 curses in its treatment of interrupt and quit
characters</li>
</ul>
<p>These were done to limit or ultimately deprecate features:</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p>mark wgetch-events feature as deprecated.</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p>prevent <tt>KEY_EVENT</tt> from appearing in
<tt>curses.h</tt> unless the configure option
<code>--enable-wgetch-events</code> is used.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>modify <tt>MKkey_defs.sh</tt> to hide ncurses'
definition of <tt>KEY_EVENTS</tt> to reduce <em>Visual
Studio C++</em> redefinition warnings.</p>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
<p>reduce build-warnings by excluding ncurses-internals from
deprecation warnings.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p>These are improvements to existing features:</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p>drop symbols <em>GCC_PRINTF</em> and <em>GCC_SCANF</em>
from &lt;curses.h&gt;, to simplify use.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>apply gcc format attribute to prototypes which use a
va_list parameter rather than a &ldquo;<tt>...</tt>&rdquo;
variable-length parameter list.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>modify &lt;term.h&gt; so that it is not necessary to
include &lt;curses.h&gt; before &lt;term.h&gt;.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>provide for wide-characters as background character in
wbkgrnd</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>improve parameter-checking for tparm, adding function
_nc_tiparm() to handle the most-used case, which accepts only
numeric parameters.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>use return-value from <em>vsnprintf</em> to reallocate as
needed to allow for buffers larger than the screen size.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>add another <em>fflush(stdout)</em> in <em>_nc_flush</em>
to handle time-delays in the middle of strings such as flash
when the application uses low-level calls rather than
curses.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p>These are corrections to existing features:</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p>add a check to guard against <em>repeat_char</em> emitting
digits which could be interpreted as BSD-style padding when
<tt>--enable-bsdpad</tt> is configured.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>check for screen size-change in <a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/man/curs_scr_dump.3x.html">scr_init</a> and
<a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/man/curs_scr_dump.3x.html">scr_restore</a>, in
case a screen dump does not match the current screen
dimensions</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h3><a name="h3-programs" id="h3-programs">Program
improvements</a></h3>
<p id="h4-utilities">Several improvements were made to the
utility programs:</p>
<dl>
<dt><span class="part-name"><a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/man/tabs.1.html">tabs</a></span>
</dt>
<dd>
<ul>
<li>
<p>implement &ldquo;<tt>+m</tt>&rdquo; option</p>
</li>
</ul>
</dd>
<dt><span class="part-name"><a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/man/tic.1m.html">tic</a></span>
</dt>
<dd>
<ul>
<li>
<p>add check for duplicate &ldquo;<tt>use=</tt>&rdquo;
clauses.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>add check to report instances where <tt>tparm</tt>
would detect an error in an expression.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>add user-defined capabilities from <em>mintty</em> to
<tt>Caps-ncurses</tt>, for checking consistency.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>improve warning when oc/op do not mention SGR 39/49
for <em>xterm</em> compatible <code>XT</code> flag.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>improve checks for number of parameters of
<code>smglp</code>, <code>smgrp</code>,
<code>smgtp</code>, and <code>smgbp</code>.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>improve &ldquo;<tt>-c</tt>&rdquo; option to validate
the number and type of parameters and compare against
expected number/type before deciding which set of
parameter-lists to use in tparm calls.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>improve check for errors detected in
<code>tparm</code>.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>improve format of output, to ensure that the messages
contain only printable text.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>modify to eliminate unnecessary
&ldquo;<code>\</code>&rdquo; to escape
&ldquo;<code>:</code>&rdquo; in terminfo format.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>remove check that assumes that none or both
parameterized and non-parameterized margin-setting
capabilities are present.</p>
</li>
</ul>
</dd>
<dt><span class="part-name"><a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/man/toe.1m.html">toe</a></span>
</dt>
<dd>
<ul>
<li>
<p>modify output of &ldquo;<tt>toe -as</tt>&rdquo; to
show first description found rather than the last.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>add a check to ensure that a &ldquo;termcap
file&rdquo; is text rather than binary.</p>
</li>
</ul>
</dd>
<dt><span class="part-name"><a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/man/tput.1.html">tput</a></span>
</dt>
<dd>
<ul>
<li>
<p>modify to allow multiple commands per line.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>improve parameter-checking by analyzing all extended
string capabilities, e.g., as used in the <code>Cs</code>
and <code>Ms</code> capabilities of the <em>tmux</em>
description.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>make warning messages consistently using alias names
when those are used, rather than the underlying program's
name.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>improve usage message for aliases such as
<em>clear</em>, by eliminating <em>tput</em>-specific
portions.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>modify initialization to avoid opening
<tt>/dev/tty</tt> for cases other than
<em>reset/init</em>, e.g., for <em>clear</em>.</p>
</li>
</ul>
</dd>
</dl>
<h4><a name="h4-examples" id="h4-examples">Examples</a></h4>
<p>Along with the library and utilities, improvements were made
to the <a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/ncurses-examples.html">ncurses-examples</a>. Most of
this activity aimed at improving the test-packages. A few changes
are more generally useful, e.g., for the main ncurses
test-program, and for analyzing traces using the
<em>tracemunch</em> script:</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p>add &ldquo;<tt>-r</tt>&rdquo; option to the <em>dots</em>
test-programs, to help with scripting a performance
comparison.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>build-fix for <em>test_opaque</em>, for configurations
without opaque curses structs, e.g., ncurses 5.7.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>improve <em>tracemunch</em> logic for "RUN"
compaction.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>improve <em>tracemunch</em>'s coverage of form/menu/panel
libraries.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>improve <em>tracemunch</em>'s checking/reporting the type
for the first parameter, e.g., "WINDOW*" rather than
"#1".</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>modify <em>tracemunch</em> and the panel library to show
readable traces for panel- and user-pointers.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p>There are other new demo/test programs and reusable
examples:</p>
<dl>
<dt><span class="part-name"><em>back_ground</em></span>
</dt>
<dd>to exercise the wide-character background functions.</dd>
<dt><span class="part-name"><em>move_field</em></span>
</dt>
<dd>to demonstrate <a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/man/form_field.3x.html">move_field</a>, and a stub
for a corresponding demo of <a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/man/form_field_new.3x.html">dup_field</a>.</dd>
<dt><span class="part-name"><em>test_tparm</em></span>
</dt>
<dd>for checking <em>tparm</em> changes.</dd>
</dl>
<h3><a name="h3-database" id="h3-database">Terminal database</a></h3>
<p>There are several new terminal descriptions:</p>
<blockquote style="word-break:keep-all">
<p><tt><a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-absolute">absolute</a></tt>,
<tt><a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-att610_cvis">att610+cvis</a></tt>,
<tt><a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-foot">foot</a></tt>,
<tt><a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-foot-direct">foot-direct</a></tt>,
<tt><a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-hp98550-color">hp98550-color</a></tt>,
<tt><a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-hpterm-color2">hpterm-color2</a></tt>,
<tt><a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-hterm">hterm</a></tt>,
<tt><a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-hterm-256color">hterm-256color</a></tt>,
<tt><a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-linux-s">linux-s</a></tt>,
<tt><a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-putty_keypad">putty+keypad</a></tt>,
<tt><a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-putty_screen">putty+screen</a></tt>,
<tt><a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-putty-screen">putty-screen</a></tt>,
<tt><a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-screen.linux-s">screen.linux-s</a></tt>,
<tt><a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-scrt/securecrt">scrt/securecrt</a></tt>,
<tt><a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-tmux-direct">tmux-direct</a></tt>,
<tt><a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-vt220_cvis">vt220+cvis</a></tt>,
<tt><a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-vt220_cvis8">vt220+cvis8</a></tt>,
<tt><a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-vt220_pcedit">vt220+pcedit</a></tt>,
<tt><a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-vt220_vtedit">vt220+vtedit</a></tt>,
<tt><a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-vt220-base">vt220-base</a></tt>,
<tt><a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-vt52_keypad">vt52+keypad</a></tt>,
<tt><a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-xterm_256color2">xterm+256color2</a></tt>,
<tt><a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-xterm_88color2">xterm+88color2</a></tt>,
<tt><a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-xterm-direct16">xterm-direct16</a></tt>,
<tt><a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-xterm-direct256">xterm-direct256</a></tt>,
<tt><a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-xterm_nofkeys">xterm+nofkeys</a></tt>,
and <tt><a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-xterm_nopcfkeys">xterm+nopcfkeys</a></tt>.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>There are many changes to existing terminal descriptions. Some
were updates to several descriptions:</p>
<ul>
<li>correct use-ordering in some <a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-xterm-direct">xterm-direct</a>
flavors</li>
<li>fix some sgr inconsistencies in <a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-d230c">d230c</a>, <a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-ibm6153">ibm6153</a>,
<a href="@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-ibm6154">ibm6154</a>,
<a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-ncrvt100an">ncrvt100an</a></li>
<li>improve <a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-vt50h">vt50h</a> and <a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-vt52">vt52</a> based on
DECScope manual</li>
<li>use <a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-hp_arrows">hp+arrows</a> in a
few places</li>
<li>use <a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-hp_pfk-cr">hp+pfk-cr</a> in a
few places</li>
<li>use <a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-vt220_cvis">vt220+cvis</a> in
<tt>st</tt>, <tt>terminology</tt>, <tt>termite</tt> since they
ignore blinking-cursor detail in <a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-att610_cvis">att610+cvis</a></li>
</ul>
<p>while others affected specific descriptions. These were
retested, to take into account changes by their developers:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><tt><a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-kitty_common">kitty+common</a></tt>,
<tt><a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-mlterm3">mlterm3</a></tt>,
<tt><a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-ms-terminal">ms-terminal</a></tt></p>
</blockquote>
<p>while these are specific fixes based on reviewing
documentation, user reports, or warnings from <span class=
"part-name">tic</span>:</p>
<dl>
<dt><a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-aaa_dec">aaa+dec</a>,
aaa+rv</dt>
<dd>correct rmacs/smacs</dd>
<dt><a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-aaa_rv">aaa+rv</a>
</dt>
<dd>correct sgr</dd>
<dt><a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-icl6404">icl6404</a>
</dt>
<dd>correct csr</dd>
<dt><a href="@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-kitty">kitty</a>
</dt>
<dd>use att610+cvis, xterm+tmux and ansi+enq</dd>
<dt><a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-konsole-base">konsole-base</a>
</dt>
<dd>re-enable "bel"</dd>
<dt><a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-linux2.6">linux2.6</a>
</dt>
<dd>fix pound-sign mapping in acsc</dd>
<dt><a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-linux3.0">linux3.0</a>
</dt>
<dd>modify to reflect default mapping of shift-tab by kbd
1.14</dd>
<dt><a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-pccons">pccons</a>
</dt>
<dd>fill in some missing pieces, to make it comparable to the
vt220 entry</dd>
<dt><a href="@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-putty">putty</a>
</dt>
<dd>use vt100+fnkeys, add rep</dd>
<dt><a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-screen">screen</a>
</dt>
<dd>use vt100+enq</dd>
<dt><a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-terminator">terminator</a>
</dt>
<dd>corrected tsl capability</dd>
<dt><a href="@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-ti916">ti916</a>
</dt>
<dd>correct cup</dd>
<dt><a href="@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-tmux">tmux</a>
</dt>
<dd>change kbs to ^?</dd>
<dt><a href="@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-vt220">vt220</a>
</dt>
<dd>use vt220+cvis</dd>
<dt><a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-vt420_lrmm">vt420+lrmm</a>
</dt>
<dd>add smglp and smgrp</dd>
<dt><a href="@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-vt420">vt420</a>
</dt>
<dd>use vt420+lrmm</dd>
<dt><a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-xterm-new">xterm-new</a>
</dt>
<dd>add nel</dd>
<dt><a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-xterm-vt52">xterm-vt52</a>
</dt>
<dd>use vt52+keypad</dd>
</dl>
<p>A few entries use extensions (user-defined terminal
capabilities):</p>
<ul>
<li>add shifted Linux console keys in <a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-linux_sfkeys">linux+sfkeys</a>
entry for <a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-screen.linux">screen.linux</a></li>
<li>add Smulx to <a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-alacritty">alacritty</a></li>
<li>add kbeg to <a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-xterm_keypad">xterm+keypad</a>
to accommodate termcap applications</li>
<li>add extensions in <a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-xterm_tmux">xterm+tmux</a>
and <a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-ecma_strikeout">ecma+strikeout</a>
to <a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-ms-terminal">ms-terminal</a>,
but cancel the non-working Cr and Ms capabilities</li>
</ul>
<h3><a name="h3-documentation" id=
"h3-documentation">Documentation</a></h3>
<p>As usual, this release</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p>improves documentation by describing new features,</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>attempts to improve the description of features which
users have found confusing</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>fills in overlooked descriptions of features which were
described in the <a href="@HOMEPAGE@/NEWS.html">NEWS</a> file
but treated sketchily in manual pages.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p>In addition to providing background information to explain
these features and show how they evolved, there are corrections,
clarifications, etc.:</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p>Corrections:</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p>make <em>opts</em> extension for <a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/man/curs_getcchar.3x.html#h3-getcchar"><tt>getcchar</tt></a>
work as documented for <a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/announce-6.1.htmll#h4-new-library">ncurses
6.1</a>, adding &ldquo;<tt>-g</tt>&rdquo; flag to
<em>demo_new_pair</em> to illustrate.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>modify <a href="@HOMEPAGE@/man/tset.1.html">tset</a>
&ldquo;-q&rdquo; option to refrain from modifying
terminal modes, to match the documentation.</p>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
<p>New/improved history and portability sections:</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p>improve documentation for <a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/man/terminfo.5.html#h3-Parameterized-Strings">
tparm</a> and static/dynamic variables.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>add history note to <a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/man/curs_scanw.3x.html#h2-HISTORY">curs_scanw.3x</a>
for &lt;stdarg.h&gt; and &lt;varargs.h&gt;</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>add history note to <a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/man/curs_printw.3x.html#h2-HISTORY">curs_printw.3x</a>
for &lt;stdarg.h&gt; and &lt;varargs.h&gt;</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>add portability note to <a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/man/ncurses.3x.html#h3-Header-files">ncurses.3x</a>
regarding &lt;stdarg.h&gt;</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>add historical notes to <a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/man/tput.1.html#h2-HISTORY">tput</a>,
<a href="@HOMEPAGE@/man/curs_terminfo.3x.html#h2-HISTORY">
curses-terminfo</a> and <a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/man/curs_color.3x.html#h2-HISTORY">curses-color</a>
manpages based on source-code for SVr2, SVr3 and
SVr4.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>improve history section for <a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/man/tset.1.html#h2-HISTORY">tset</a> manpage
based on the 1BSD tarball, which preceded BSD's SCCS
checkins by more than three years.</p>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
<p>Other improvements:</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p>explain in <a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/man/ncurses.3x.html#h2-ALTERNATE-CONFIGURATIONS">
ncurses.3x</a> that functions in the tinfo library do not
rely upon wide-characters.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>improve manual page for <a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/man/panel.3x.html#h2-PORTABILITY">panel</a>
library, extending the portability section as well as
documenting error-returns.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>add section on margins to <a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/man/terminfo.5.html#h3-Margins">terminfo.5</a>,
adapted from X/Open Curses.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>improve <a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/man/term.5.html#h3-LEGACY-STORAGE-FORMAT">man/term.5</a>
section on legacy storage format.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>add a note in <a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/man/terminfo.5.html#h3-Predefined-Capabilities">
terminfo.5</a> explaining that no-parameter strings such
as <em><tt>sgr0</tt></em> or <em><tt>cnorm</tt></em>
should not be used with tparm.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>improve description of BSD-style padding in <a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/man/curs_termcap.3x.html#h2-BUGS">curs_termcap.3x</a></p>
</li>
<li>
<p>improve discussion of padding versus <tt>tparm</tt>
and <tt>tputs</tt> in <a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/man/curs_terminfo.3x.html#h3-Formatting-Output">
man/curs_terminfo.3x</a></p>
</li>
<li>
<p>add a note in manual page to explain <a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/man/curs_getch.3x.html#h3-Ungetting-characters">
ungetch</a> vs <a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/man/curs_get_wch.3x.html#h3-unget_wch">unget_wch</a>.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>improve description of error-returns in <a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/man/curs_addch.3x.html#h2-RETURN-VALUE">waddch</a>
and <a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/man/curs_addstr.3x.html#h2-RETURN-VALUE">waddnstr</a>
manual pages.</p>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<p>There are no new manual pages (all of the manual page updates
are to existing pages).</p>
<p>Some of the improvements are more subtle, relating to the way
the information is presented. For instance, hyphenation is
suppressed in the HTML files generated from manual pages because
an upgrade to <em>groff</em> gave noticeably poorer results,
interfering with the process of creating links between the
resulting webpages.</p>
<h3><a name="h3-bug-fixes" id="h3-bug-fixes">Interesting
bug-fixes</a></h3>
<p>While there were many bugs fixed during development of ncurses
6.3, only a few (the reason for this release) were both important
and interesting. Most of the bug-fixes were for local issues
which did not affect compatibility across releases. Since those
are detailed in the <a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/NEWS.html#t20211018">NEWS</a> file no elaboration is
needed here.</p>
<p>The interesting bugs were:</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p>modify <a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/man/curs_bkgd.3x.html#h3-bkgd">wbkgd</a> and
<a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/man/curs_bkgrnd.3x.html#h3-bkgrnd">wbkgrnd</a> to
avoid storing a null in the background character, because it
may be used in cases where the corresponding 0x80 is not
treated as a null.</p>
<p>This was a regression introduced in ncurses 6.2 (<a href=
"https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-ncurses/2020-03/msg00000.html">reported</a>
on the mailing list), for which the workaround was to specify
a blank for the background character.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>remove output-related checks for <a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/man/curs_outopts.3x.html">nl/nonl</a> (also
<a href=
"https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-ncurses/2020-09/msg00018.html">
reported</a> on the mailing list).</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>improve tparm implementation of <tt>%P</tt> and
<tt>%g</tt>, more closely matching SVr4 terminfo. Those
denote <em>static</em> and <em>dynamic</em> variables in
terminfo expressions.</p>
<p>Exactly what those terms meant was never documented before
in any implementation of curses, aside from source code.
Unlike the other two fixes, the problem was discovered while
studying OpenBSD's version of <a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/ncurses-openbsd.html#issue_tput">tset</a>.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h3><a name="h3-config-config" id=
"h3-config-config">Configuration changes</a></h3>
<h4><a name="h4-config-major" id="h4-config-major">Major
changes</a></h4>
<p>There are no major changes. Several new options were added to
ease integration of packages with systems using different
versions of <em>GNAT</em> and <em>ncurses</em>. Also,
improvements were made to configure checks.</p>
<h4><a name="h4-config-options" id=
"h4-config-options">Configuration options</a></h4>
<p>There are a few new/modified configure options:</p>
<dl>
<dt><tt>--enable-fvisibility</tt>
</dt>
<dd>
<p>new configure option and check for <em>gcc</em>
<tt>-fvisibility=hidden</tt> feature</p>
</dd>
<dt><tt>--enable-leaks</tt>
</dt>
<dd>
<p>corrected to allow turning leak-checking off later in a
set of options.</p>
</dd>
<dt><tt>--enable-stdnoreturn</tt>
</dt>
<dd>
<p>new configure option makes the <code>_Noreturn</code>
keyword optional to ease transition.</p>
</dd>
<dt><tt>--disable-pkg-ldflags</tt>
</dt>
<dd>
<p>revised option also controls whether <code>$LDFLAGS</code>
from the build is provided in &ldquo;<tt>-config</tt>&rdquo;
and &ldquo;<tt>.pc</tt>&rdquo; files.</p>
</dd>
<dt><tt>--disable-root-access</tt>
</dt>
<dd>
<p>add configure option which tells ncurses to disallow most
file-opens by setuid processes.</p>
</dd>
<dt><tt>--disable-wattr-macros</tt>
</dt>
<dd>
<p>changed default to help packagers who reuse wide ncursesw
header file with non-wide ncurses library.</p>
</dd>
<dt><tt>--with-pkg-config-libdir</tt>
</dt>
<dd>
<p>revised option uses the actual search path from
<em>pkg-config</em> or <em>pkgconf</em> using the output from
<tt>--debug</tt>.</p>
</dd>
<dt><tt>--with-ada-libname</tt><br>
<tt>--with-form-libname</tt><br>
<tt>--with-menu-libname</tt><br>
<tt>--with-panel-libname</tt>
</dt>
<dd>
<p>new several <tt>--with-<em>xxx</em>-libname</tt> options,
to help with pkgsrc</p>
</dd>
</dl>
<h3><a name="h3-portability" id="h3-portability">Portability</a></h3>
<p>Many of the portability changes are implemented via the
configure script:</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p>add a special case in the configure script to work around
one of the build-time breakages reported for <a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/ncurses-openbsd.html">OpenBSD 6</a> here:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><a href=
"https://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/msg13200.html">
https://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/msg13200.html</a></p>
</blockquote>
</li>
<li>
<p>modify configure check for <em>libtool</em> to prevent
accidental use of an OpenBSD program which uses the same
name.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>modify configuration checks for build-time tic/infocmp to
use <em>AC_CHECK_TOOL</em>. That can still be overridden by
<tt>--with-tic-path</tt> and <tt>--with-infocmp-path</tt>
when fallbacks are used, but even if not using fallbacks, the
improved check may help with cross-compiling.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>relax modification-time comparison in
<em>CF_LINK_FUNCS</em> to allow it to accept link() function
with NFS filesystems which change the mtime on the link
target, e.g., several BSD systems.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>modify configure check for c89/c99 aliases of
<em>clang</em> to use its <tt>-std</tt> option instead,
because some platforms, in particular macOS, do not provide
workable c89/c99 aliases.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>modify <em>CF_NCURSES_CONFIG</em> to work around
<em>Xcode</em>'s c99 "-W" option, which conflicts with
conventional use for passing linker options.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>modify configure scripts to filter out redefinitions of
_XOPEN_SOURCE, e.g., for NetBSD which generally supports 500,
but 600 is needed for ncursesw.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p>Here are some of the other portability fixes:</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p>change configure-check and source-code for gcc's noreturn
attribute to assume it is a prefix rather than suffix,
matching c11's _Noreturn convention.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>modify mk-1st.awk to account for extra-suffix configure
option.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>build-fix for termsort module when configured with
termcap.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>modify configure script and makefiles to support ".PHONY"
make program feature.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>amend <em>libtool</em> configuration to add dependency for
install.tic, etc., in ncurses/Makefile on the lower-level
libraries.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>modify Ada95 source-generation utility to write to a file
given as parameter rather than to the standard output,
allowing builds with MinGW.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>amend tic/infocmp check to allow for the respective tool's
absence.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>build-fixes for gnat 10.1.1, whose gnatmake drops
integration with gprbuild.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>correct configure version-check/warning for g++ to allow
for 10.x</p>
</li>
</ul>
<hr>
<h2><a name="h2-features" id="h2-features">Features of
<span class="main-name">ncurses</span></a></h2>
<p>The <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> package is fully
upward-compatible with SVr4 (System V Release 4) curses:</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p>All of the SVr4 calls have been implemented (and are
documented).</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span class="main-name">ncurses</span> supports all of the
for SVr4 curses features including keyboard mapping, color,
forms-drawing with ACS characters, and automatic recognition
of keypad and function keys.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span class="main-name">ncurses</span> provides these SVr4
add-on libraries (not part of X/Open Curses):</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p>the panels library, supporting a stack of windows with
backing store.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>the menus library, supporting a uniform but flexible
interface for menu programming.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>the form library, supporting data collection through
on-screen forms.</p>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
<p><span class="main-name">ncurses</span>'s terminal database
is fully compatible with that used by SVr4 curses.</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span class="main-name">ncurses</span> supports
user-defined capabilities which it can see, but which are
hidden from SVr4 curses applications using the
<em>same</em> terminal database.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>It can be optionally configured to match the format
used in related systems such as AIX and Tru64.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Alternatively, <span class="main-name">ncurses</span>
can be configured to use hashed databases rather than the
directory of files used by SVr4 curses.</p>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
<p>The <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> utilities have
options to allow you to filter terminfo entries for use with
less capable <em>curses</em>/<em>terminfo</em> versions such
as the HP-UX and AIX ports.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p>The <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> package also has
many useful extensions over SVr4:</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p>The API is 8-bit clean and base-level conformant with the
X/OPEN curses specification, XSI curses (that is, it
implements all <em>BASE</em> level features, and most
<em>EXTENDED</em> 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).</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Unlike SVr3 curses, <span class="main-name">ncurses</span>
can write to the rightmost-bottommost corner of the screen if
your terminal has an insert-character capability.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Ada95 and C++ bindings.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Support for mouse event reporting with X Window xterm and
FreeBSD and OS/2 console windows.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Extended mouse support via Alessandro Rubini's gpm
package.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>The function <code>wresize</code> allows you to resize
windows, preserving their data.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>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.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>The functions <code>keyok</code> and
<code>define_key</code> allow you to better control the use
of function keys, e.g., disabling the <span class=
"main-name">ncurses</span> KEY_MOUSE, or by defining more
than one control sequence to map to a given key code.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Support for direct-color terminals, such as modern
xterm.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Support for 256-color terminals, such as modern xterm.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Support for 16-color terminals, such as <em>aixterm</em>
and <em>modern xterm</em>.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Better cursor-movement optimization. The package now
features a cursor-local-movement computation more efficient
than either BSD's or System V's.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>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
<code>quickch</code> routine.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>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.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>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).</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>The <a href="@HOMEPAGE@/man/tic.1m.html"><span class=
"part-name">tic</span></a>/<a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/man/captoinfo.1m.html">captoinfo</a> utility
provided with <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> has the
ability to translate many termcaps from the XENIX, IBM and
AT&amp;T extension sets.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>A BSD-like <a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/man/tset.1.html"><span class=
"part-name">tset</span></a> utility is provided.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>The <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> 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.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>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.)</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>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.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>The table-of-entries utility <a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/man/toe.1m.html"><span class=
"part-name">toe</span></a> makes it easy for users to see
exactly what terminal types are available on the system.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>The library meets the XSI requirement that every macro
entry point has a corresponding function which may be linked
(and will be prototype-checked) if the macro definition is
disabled with <code>#undef</code>.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Extensive documentation is provided (see the <em><a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/ncurses.faq.html#additional_reading">Additional
Reading</a></em> section of the <em><a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/ncurses.faq.html"><span class=
"main-name">ncurses</span> FAQ</a></em> for online
documentation).</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h2><a name="h2-who-uses" id="h2-who-uses">Applications using
<span class="main-name">ncurses</span></a></h2>
<p>The <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> distribution
includes a selection of test programs (including a few games).
These are available separately as <a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/ncurses-examples.html">ncurses-examples</a></p>
<p>The ncurses library has been tested with a wide variety of
applications including:</p>
<blockquote>
<dl>
<dt><span class="part-name">aptitude</span>
</dt>
<dd>
<p>FrontEnd to Apt, the debian package manager</p>
<p><a href=
"https://wiki.debian.org/Aptitude">https://wiki.debian.org/Aptitude</a></p>
</dd>
<dt><span class="part-name">cdk</span>
</dt>
<dd>
<p>Curses Development Kit</p>
<p><a href="@WEBSITE@/cdk/">@WEBSITE@/cdk/</a><br>
</p>
</dd>
<dt><span class="part-name">ded</span>
</dt>
<dd>
<p>directory-editor</p>
<p><a href="@WEBSITE@/ded/">@WEBSITE@/ded/</a></p>
</dd>
<dt><span class="part-name">dialog</span>
</dt>
<dd>
<p>the underlying application used in Slackware's setup,
and the basis for similar install/configure applications on
many systems.</p>
<p><a href="@WEBSITE@/dialog/">@WEBSITE@/dialog/</a></p>
</dd>
<dt><span class="part-name">lynx</span>
</dt>
<dd>
<p>the text WWW browser</p>
<p><a href=
"https://lynx.invisible-island.net/">https://lynx.invisible-island.net/</a></p>
</dd>
<dt><span class="part-name">mutt</span>
</dt>
<dd>
<p>mail utility</p>
<p><a href="http://www.mutt.org/">http://www.mutt.org/</a></p>
</dd>
<dt><span class="part-name">ncftp</span>
</dt>
<dd>
<p>file-transfer utility</p>
<p><a href=
"https://www.ncftp.com/">https://www.ncftp.com/</a></p>
</dd>
<dt><span class="part-name">nvi</span>
</dt>
<dd>
<p>New vi uses ncurses.</p>
<p><a href=
"https://sites.google.com/a/bostic.com/keithbostic/vi">https://sites.google.com/a/bostic.com/keithbostic/vi</a><br>
</p>
</dd>
<dt><span class="part-name">ranger</span>
</dt>
<dd>
<p>A console file manager with VI key bindings in
<em>Python</em>.</p>
<p><a href=
"https://ranger.github.io/">https://ranger.github.io/</a></p>
</dd>
<dt><span class="part-name">tin</span>
</dt>
<dd>
<p>newsreader, supporting color, MIME</p>
<p><a href="http://www.tin.org/">http://www.tin.org/</a></p>
</dd>
<dt><span class="part-name">vifm</span>
</dt>
<dd>
<p>File manager with vi like keybindings</p>
<p><a href="https://vifm.info/">https://vifm.info/</a></p>
</dd>
</dl>
</blockquote>
<p>as well as some that use <span class=
"main-name">ncurses</span> for the terminfo support alone:</p>
<blockquote>
<dl>
<dt><span class="part-name">minicom</span>
</dt>
<dd>
<p>terminal emulator for serial modem connections</p>
<p><a href=
"https://alioth.debian.org/projects/minicom/">https://alioth.debian.org/projects/minicom/</a></p>
</dd>
<dt><span class="part-name">mosh</span>
</dt>
<dd>
<p>a replacement for <code>ssh</code>.</p>
<p><a href="https://mosh.org/">https://mosh.org/</a></p>
</dd>
<dt><span class="part-name">tack</span>
</dt>
<dd>
<p>terminfo action checker</p>
<p><a href="@HOMEPAGE@/tack.html">@HOMEPAGE@/tack.html</a></p>
</dd>
<dt><span class="part-name">tmux</span>
</dt>
<dd>
<p>terminal multiplexor</p>
<p><a href=
"https://github.com/tmux/tmux/wiki">https://github.com/tmux/tmux/wiki</a></p>
</dd>
<dt><span class="part-name">vile</span>
</dt>
<dd>
<p><em>vi-like-emacs</em> may be built to use the terminfo,
termcap or curses interfaces.</p>
<p><a href="@WEBSITE@/vile/">@WEBSITE@/vile/</a></p>
</dd>
</dl>
</blockquote>
<p>and finally, those which use only the termcap interface:</p>
<blockquote>
<dl>
<dt><span class="part-name">emacs</span>
</dt>
<dd>
<p>text editor</p>
<p><a href=
"https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/">https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/</a></p>
</dd>
<dt><span class="part-name">less</span>
</dt>
<dd>
<p>The most commonly used <em>pager</em> (a program that
displays text files).</p>
<p><a href=
"http://www.greenwoodsoftware.com/less/">http://www.greenwoodsoftware.com/less/</a></p>
</dd>
<dt><span class="part-name">screen</span>
</dt>
<dd>
<p>terminal multiplexor</p>
<p><a href=
"https://www.gnu.org/software/screen/">https://www.gnu.org/software/screen/</a></p>
</dd>
<dt><span class="part-name">vim</span>
</dt>
<dd>
<p>text editor</p>
<p><a href="https://www.vim.org/">https://www.vim.org/</a></p>
</dd>
</dl>
</blockquote>
<h2><a name="h2-development" id="h2-development">Development
activities</a></h2>
<p>Zeyd Ben-Halim started <span class="main-name">ncurses</span>
from a previous package pcurses, written by Pavel Curtis. Eric S.
Raymond continued development. J&uuml;rgen Pfeifer wrote most of
the form and menu libraries.</p>
<p>Ongoing development work is done by <a href=
"mailto:[email protected]">Thomas E. Dickey</a>. Thomas
E. Dickey has acted as the maintainer for the Free Software
Foundation, which held a <a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/ncurses-license.html">copyright on ncurses</a> for
releases 4.2 through 6.1. Following the release of ncurses 6.1,
effective as of release 6.2, copyright for ncurses reverted to
Thomas E. Dickey (see the <a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/ncurses.faq.html#relicensed">ncurses FAQ</a> for
additional information).</p>
<p>Contact the current maintainers at</p>
<blockquote>
<a href="mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]</a>
</blockquote>
<p>To join the ncurses mailing list, please write email to</p>
<blockquote>
<a href=
"mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]</a>
</blockquote>
containing the line:
<blockquote>
<p><code>subscribe</code>
<em>&lt;name&gt;@&lt;host.domain&gt;</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p>This list is open to anyone interested in helping with the
development and testing of this package.</p>
<p>Beta versions of <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> are
made available at</p>
<blockquote>
<p><a href=
"ftp://ftp.invisible-island.net/ncurses/current/">ftp://ftp.invisible-island.net/ncurses/current/</a>
and<br>
<a href=
"https://invisible-mirror.net/archives/ncurses/current/">https://invisible-mirror.net/archives/ncurses/current/</a>&nbsp;.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Patches to the current release are made available at</p>
<blockquote>
<p><a href=
"ftp://ftp.invisible-island.net/ncurses/6.2/">ftp://ftp.invisible-island.net/ncurses/6.2/</a>
and<br>
<a href=
"https://invisible-mirror.net/archives/ncurses/6.2/">https://invisible-mirror.net/archives/ncurses/6.2/</a>&nbsp;.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>There is an archive of the mailing list here:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><a href=
"http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-ncurses">http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-ncurses</a>
(also <a href=
"https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-ncurses">https</a>)</p>
</blockquote>
<h2><a name="h2-this-stuff" id="h2-this-stuff">Related
resources</a></h2>
<p>The release notes make scattered references to these pages,
which may be interesting by themselves:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="@HOMEPAGE@/ncurses-license.html"><span class=
"main-name">ncurses</span> licensing</a></li>
<li><a href="@HOMEPAGE@/ncurses-mapsyms.html">Symbol versioning
in <span class="main-name">ncurses</span></a></li>
<li><a href="@HOMEPAGE@/ncurses-slang.html">Comments on
<span class="main-name">ncurses</span> versus <span class=
"main-name">slang</span> (S-Lang)</a></li>
<li><a href="@HOMEPAGE@/ncurses-openbsd.html">Comments on
<span class="main-name">OpenBSD</span></a></li>
<li><a href="@HOMEPAGE@/tack.html">tack &ndash; terminfo action
checker</a></li>
<li><a href="@HOMEPAGE@/tctest.html">tctest &ndash; termcap
library checker</a></li>
<li><a href=
"@HOMEPAGE@/ncurses.html#download_database">Terminal
Database</a></li>
</ul>
<h2><a name="h2-other-stuff" id="h2-other-stuff">Other
resources</a></h2>
<p>The distribution provides a newer version of the
terminfo-format terminal description file once maintained by
<a href="http://www.catb.org/~esr/terminfo/">Eric
Raymond</a>&nbsp;. Unlike the older version, the termcap and
terminfo data are provided in the same file, which also provides
several user-definable extensions beyond the X/Open
specification.</p>
<p>You can find lots of information on terminal-related topics
not covered in the terminfo file at <a href=
"http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.cs.utk.edu/~shuford/terminal">
Richard Shuford's archive</a>&nbsp;. The collection of computer
manuals at <a href=
"http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/">bitsavers.org</a> has also been
useful.</p>
<div class="nav">
<ul>
<li><a href="#h2-overview">Overview</a></li>
<li>
<a href="#h2-release-notes">Release Notes</a>
<ul>
<li>
<a href="#h3-library">Library improvements</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="#h4-new-library">New features</a></li>
<li><a href="#h4-fixes-library">Other
improvements</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
<a href="#h3-programs">Program improvements</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="#h4-utilities">Utilities</a></li>
<li><a href="#h4-examples">Examples</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><a href="#h3-database">Terminal database</a></li>
<li><a href="#h3-documentation">Documentation</a></li>
<li><a href="#h3-bug-fixes">Interesting bug-fixes</a></li>
<li>
<a href="#h3-config-config">Configuration changes</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="#h4-config-major">Major changes</a></li>
<li><a href="#h4-config-options">Configuration
options</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><a href="#h3-portability">Portability</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><a href="#h2-features">Features of <span class=
"main-name">ncurses</span></a></li>
<li><a href="#h2-who-uses">Applications using <span class=
"main-name">ncurses</span></a></li>
<li><a href="#h2-development">Development activities</a></li>
<li><a href="#h2-this-stuff">Related resources</a></li>
<li><a href="#h2-other-stuff">Other resources</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
</body>
</html>