The ncurses (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.
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.
Since 1995, ncurses has been ported to many systems:
The distribution includes the library and support utilities, including
Full manual pages are provided for the library and tools.
The ncurses distribution is available at ncurses' homepage:
https://invisible-island.net/archives/ncurses/ or
https://invisible-mirror.net/archives/ncurses/ .
It is also available at the GNU distribution site
These notes are for ncurses 6.4, released December 31, 2022.
This release is designed to be source-compatible with ncurses 5.0 through 6.3; providing extensions to the application binary interface (ABI). Although the source can still be configured to support the ncurses 5 ABI, the reason for the release is to reflect improvements to the ncurses 6 ABI and the supporting utility programs.
There are, of course, numerous other improvements, listed in this announcement.
The most important bug-fixes/improvements dealt with robustness issues. The release notes also mention some other bug-fixes, but are focused on new features and improvements to existing features since ncurses 6.3 release.
There are no new features in this release.
These are improvements to existing features:
modify delscreen to more effectively delete all windows on the given screen.
modify wnoutrefresh to call pnoutrefresh if its parameter is a pad, rather than treating it as an error, and modify new_panel to permit its window-parameter to be a pad
modify curses_trace() to show the trace-mask as symbols, e.g., TRACE_ORDINARY, DEBUG_LEVEL(3).
improve checks for valid mouse events when an intermediate mouse state is not part of the mousemask specified by the caller
allow extended-color number in opts parameter of wattr_on.
improve _tracecchar_t2 formatting of base+combining character.
trim out some unwanted linker options from ncurses*config and .pc files seen in Fedora 36+.
improve shell-scripts with shellcheck
improve use of "trap" in shell scripts, using a script.
modify make-tar.sh scripts to make timestamps more predictable.
These are corrections to existing features:
modify misc/gen-pkgconfig.in to allow for the case where the library directory does not yet exist, since this is processed before doing an install
set trailing null on string passed from winsnstr to wins_nwstr.
modify waddch_literal to allow for double-width base character when merging a combining character
Several improvements were made to the utility programs:
Along with the library and utilities, improvements were made to the ncurses-examples. Most of this activity aimed at improving the test-packages:
add minimal -h (usage) and -V (version) getopt logic to all ncurses-examples programs.
fix an error in "@" command in test/ncurses.c F-menu
add curses_trace to ifdef's for START_TRACE in test/test.priv.h
improve pthread-configuration for test/worm.c
add setlocale call to several test-programs.
workaround in test/picsmap.c for use of floating point for rgb values by ImageMagick 6.9.11, which appears to use the wrong upper limit.
use static libraries for AdaCurses test-package for Mageia, since no gprbuild package is available.
install Ada95 sample programs in libexecdir, adding a wrapper script to invoke those.
install ncurses-examples programs in libexecdir, adding a wrapper script to invoke those.
There are other new demo/test programs and reusable examples:
There are several new terminal descriptions:
There are many changes to existing terminal descriptions. Some were updates to several descriptions:
make description-fields distinct
fix errata in description fields
add/use several building-blocks:
while others affected specific descriptions. These were retested, to take into account changes by their developers:
while these are specific fixes based on reviewing documentation, user reports, or warnings from tic:
A few entries use extensions (user-defined terminal capabilities):
use ansi+enq and decid+cpr in cases where the terminal probably supported the u6-u9 extension
remove u6-u9 from teken-2018
use NQ to flag entries where the terminal does not support query and response
add/use bracketed+paste to help identify terminals supporting this xterm feature
modify samples for xterm mouse 1002/1003 modes to use 1006 mode, and also provide for focus in/out responses
xterm patch #371 supports DEC-compatible status-line. add dec+sl to xterm-new, per xterm #371, add xterm-p371, add xterm-p370, for use in older terminals, and set “xterm-new” to “xterm-p370” (to ease adoption).
As usual, this release
improves documentation by describing new features,
attempts to improve the description of features which users have found confusing
fills in overlooked descriptions of features which were described in the NEWS file but treated sketchily in manual pages.
In addition to providing background information to explain these features and show how they evolved, there are corrections, clarifications, etc.:
Corrections:
remove a stray '/' from description of %g in terminfo(5).
correct/improve font-formatting in curs_getch.3x, as well as other manual pages.
New/improved history and portability sections:
improve curs_slk.3x discussion of extensions and portability
Other improvements:
improve curs_bkgd.3x, explaining that bkgdset can affect results for bkgd
add note on portable memory-leak checking in curs_memleaks.3x
expanded description in resizeterm.3x
add section on releasing memory to curs_termcap.3x and curs_terminfo.3x manpages.
add clarification of the scope of dynamic variables in terminfo(5).
improve formatting of ncurses-intro.html and hackguide.html
improve curs_clear.3x links to other pages
update ncurses-howto, making documentation fixes along with corrections to example programs.
use newer version 1.36 of gnathtml for generating Ada html files.
update external links in Ada95.html
There are no new manual pages (all of the manual page updates are to existing pages).
While there were many bugs fixed during development of ncurses 6.4, 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 NEWS file no elaboration is needed here.
The interesting bugs were those dealing with memory leaks and buffer overflows. Although the utilities are designed for text files (which they do properly), some choose to test them with non-text files.
Text files contain no embedded nulls. Also, they end with a newline. Feeding tic non-text files exposed a few cases where the program did not check for those issues. As a result, further processing of the input found limit-checks whose assumptions were invalid.
Fixing the limit-checks (first) found a problem with tic managing the list of strings in a terminal description. In merging two terminal descriptions (i.e., the “use=” feature), tic was not allocating a complete copy. A quick repair for that introduced a memory leak.
The checks for non-text files are improved (i.e., embedded nulls in the input file will cause tic to reject it rather than attempting to process it).
The string allocations in tic are likewise improved.
There are no major changes. No new options were added. Several improvements were made to configure checks.
There are a few new/modified configure options:
add ABI 7 defaults to configure script.
add warning in configure script if file specified for “--with-caps” does not exist.
bzip2 and xz compression are now supported
add check/warning in configure script if option “--with-xterm-kbs” is missing or inconsistent
Many of the portability changes are implemented via the configure script:
amend configure option's auto-search to account for systems where none of the directories known to pkg-config exist
corrected regex needed for older pkg-config used in Solaris 10
improve handling of --with-pkg-config-libdir option, allowing for the case where either $PKG_CONFIG_LIBDIR or the option value has a colon-separated list of directories
if the --with-pkg-config-libdir option is not given, use ${libdir}/pkgconfig as a default
improve search-path check for pkg-config, e.g., for Debian testing which installs pkg-config with architecture-prefixes.
build-fix for cross-compiling to MingW, conditionally add -lssp
improve configure check for getttynam
fixes to build with dietlibc:
modify configure macro CF_BUILD_CC to check if the build-compiler works, rather than that it is different from the cross-compiler, e.g., to accommodate a compiler which can be used for either purpose with different flags
modify configure/scripts to work around interference by GNU grep 3.8
Here are some of the other portability fixes:
change man_db.renames to template, to handle ncurses*-config script with the --extra-suffix configure option.
update CF_XOPEN_SOURCE macro, adding variants “gnueabi" and “gnueabihf" to get _DEFAULT_SOURCE special case, as well as adding GNU libc suffixes for “abi64”, “abin32”, “x32” to distinguish it from other libc flavors.
work around musl's nonstandard use of feature test macros by adding a definition for NCURSES_WIDECHAR to the generated “.pc” and *-config files.
use “command -v” rather than “type” in Ada95/gen/Makefile.in to fix a portability issue.
The ncurses package is fully upward-compatible with SVr4 (System V Release 4) curses:
All of the SVr4 calls have been implemented (and are documented).
ncurses 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.
ncurses provides these SVr4 add-on libraries (not part of X/Open Curses):
the panels library, supporting a stack of windows with backing store.
the menus library, supporting a uniform but flexible interface for menu programming.
the form library, supporting data collection through on-screen forms.
ncurses's terminal database is fully compatible with that used by SVr4 curses.
ncurses supports user-defined capabilities which it can see, but which are hidden from SVr4 curses applications using the same terminal database.
It can be optionally configured to match the format used in related systems such as AIX and Tru64.
Alternatively, ncurses can be configured to use hashed databases rather than the directory of files used by SVr4 curses.
The ncurses 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 direct-color terminals, such as modern xterm.
Support for 256-color terminals, such as modern xterm.
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/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 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.
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 has a corresponding function which may be linked
(and will be prototype-checked) if the macro definition is
disabled with #undef.
Extensive documentation is provided (see the Additional Reading section of the ncurses FAQ for online documentation).
The ncurses distribution includes a selection of test programs (including a few games). These are available separately as ncurses-examples
The ncurses library has been tested with a wide variety of applications including:
- aptitude
FrontEnd to Apt, the debian package manager
- cdk
Curses Development Kit
- ded
directory-editor
- dialog
the underlying application used in Slackware's setup, and the basis for similar install/configure applications on many systems.
- lynx
the text WWW browser
- mutt
mail utility
- ncftp
file-transfer utility
- nvi
New vi uses ncurses.
- ranger
A console file manager with VI key bindings in Python.
- tin
newsreader, supporting color, MIME
- vifm
File manager with vi like keybindings
as well as some that use ncurses for the terminfo support alone:
- minicom
terminal emulator for serial modem connections
- mosh
a replacement for
ssh.- tack
terminfo action checker
- tmux
terminal multiplexor
- vile
vi-like-emacs may be built to use the terminfo, termcap or curses interfaces.
and finally, those which use only the termcap interface:
- emacs
text editor
- less
The most commonly used pager (a program that displays text files).
- screen
terminal multiplexor
- vim
text editor
Zeyd Ben-Halim started ncurses from a previous package pcurses, written by Pavel Curtis. Eric S. Raymond continued development. Jürgen Pfeifer wrote most of the form and menu libraries.
Ongoing development work is done by Thomas E. Dickey. Thomas E. Dickey has acted as the maintainer for the Free Software Foundation, which held a copyright on ncurses 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 ncurses FAQ for additional information).
Contact the current maintainers at
bug-ncurses@gnu.org
To join the ncurses mailing list, please write email to
bug-ncurses-request@gnu.orgcontaining 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 are made available at
https://invisible-island.net/archives/ncurses/current/ and
https://invisible-mirror.net/archives/ncurses/current/ .
Patches to the current release are made available at
https://invisible-island.net/archives/ncurses/6.3/ and
https://invisible-mirror.net/archives/ncurses/6.3/ .
There is an archive of the mailing list here:
The release notes make scattered references to these pages, which may be interesting by themselves:
The distribution provides a newer version of the terminfo-format terminal description file once maintained by Eric Raymond . 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.
You can find lots of information on terminal-related topics not covered in the terminfo file at Richard Shuford's archive . The collection of computer manuals at bitsavers.org has also been useful.