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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=
    "https://invisible-island.net/archives/ncurses/">https://invisible-island.net/archives/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 at the GNU distribution site</p>

  <blockquote>
    <p><a href=
    "https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/ncurses/">https://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>December 30, 2025</strong>.</p>

  <p>This release is designed to be source-compatible with
  <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> 5.0 through 6.5; 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 numerous other improvements listed in this
  announcement.</p>

  <p>The most <a href="#h3-bug-fixes">important
  bug-fixes/improvements</a> 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
  <span class="main-name">ncurses</span> 6.5 release.</p>

  <h3><a name="h3-library" id="h3-library">Library improvements</a></h3>

  <h4><a name="h4-term-driver" id="h4-term-driver">Terminal driver
  improvements</a></h4>

  <p>This release focuses on improvements to the MinGW/Windows
  terminal driver. The terminal driver for MinGW32 was introduced
  in <a href="@HOMEPAGE@/NEWS.html#t20090214">2009</a>. A new
  version of the terminal driver to support Windows Terminal was
  begun in <a href="@HOMEPAGE@/NEWS.html#t20200829">2020</a>.
  However, there were some differences:</p>

  <ul>
    <li>
      <p>Both drivers use <a href=
      "https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/console/console-reference">
      Console API</a>; the later Windows driver also provides for
      using character escape sequences.</p>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p>The MinGW32 driver was designed to imitate POSIX terminal
      I/O data types to simplify integration with the existing
      sources.</p>

      <p>The newer Windows driver did not integrate with the
      sources in the same way. In particular, the <a href=
      "@HOMEPAGE@/man/tset.1.html">reset</a> utility was
      incomplete.</p>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p>Windows Terminal support for Console API is incomplete,
      lacking mouse support. Additionally, its developers took a
      few years to resolve issues with carriage-return versus
      line-feed translation.</p>

      <p>Reflecting on these problems, both MinGW and Windows
      drivers are still provided in ncurses through the current
      release.</p>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p>The two drivers are similar, but in developing the Windows
      driver some renaming and refactoring was done. That resulted
      in duplicate source files. This release eliminates the
      duplication.</p>
    </li>
  </ul>

  <p>These improvements have been made to the terminal driver:</p>

  <ul>
    <li>
      <p>made <tt>win_driver.c</tt> obsolete in favor of
      <tt>win32_driver.c</tt></p>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p>made <tt>win32_curses.h</tt> obsolete in favor of
      <tt>nc_win32.h</tt></p>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p>added configure check for Win32 named pipes feature, using
      that to make <tt>nc_mingw.h</tt> obsolete in favor of
      <tt>nc_win32.h</tt></p>
    </li>

    <li>separated the <tt>_NC_WINDOWS</tt> platform macro into
    <tt>_NC_WINDOWS_NATIVE</tt>, for MinGW and other native Win32
    support, and <tt>_NC_WINDOWS</tt>, to make some Win32 features
    available under the Cygwin runtime, in this case the
    term-driver.</li>

    <li>
      <p>modified MinGW32 configuration to account for its use of
      Windows-style pathnames in filesystem checks.</p>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p>changed <tt>MS_TERMINAL</tt> symbol to
      <tt>DEFAULT_TERM_VAR</tt></p>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p>updated <tt>ncurses/wcwidth.c</tt>, for MinGW ports, from
      xterm.</p>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p>made fixes for reading Unicode characters in MinGW/Windows
      port</p>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p>improved Windows driver by restoring the scroll buffer and
      console mode, e.g., when <tt>reset_prog_mode</tt> or
      <tt>endwin</tt> is called</p>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p>simplified include for <tt>wchar.h</tt> in Windows port by
      removing the platform ifdef's</p>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p>modified driver for MinGW to handle shift-tab and
      control-tab as back-tab</p>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p>made fixes for port using clang-cl or cl MSVC</p>
    </li>
  </ul>

  <h4><a name="h4-fixes-library" id="h4-fixes-library">Other
  improvements</a></h4>

  <p>These are improvements to existing features:</p>

  <ul>
    <li>
      <p>add comments to generated <tt>term.h</tt> to hint the
      configure options used</p>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p>change scope of <tt>TTY</tt>, <tt>GET_TTY</tt> and
      <tt>SET_TTY</tt> to ncurses-internals</p>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p>improved mouse driver</p>

      <ul>
        <li>
          <p>modify <tt>handle_wheel</tt> case 2 to ignore the
          event as in case 1 for mouse version 1, since that
          corresponds to a button 6 or 7 event which is not
          supported with ABI 6.</p>
        </li>

        <li>
          <p>use separate read/write pointers in the mouse event
          queue to work with too-close events for the
          click-detection to work reliably, and further improve
          that in case <tt>mouseinterval(0)</tt> is used to
          suppress click-detection.</p>
        </li>
      </ul>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p>modify treatment of <em>&ldquo;n&rdquo;</em> parameter for
      <tt>waddnstr</tt>, <tt>waddnwstr</tt>, and
      <tt>wins_nwstr</tt> to return <em>OK</em> when
      <em>&ldquo;n&rdquo;</em> is zero, for consistency with other
      implementations</p>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p>modify <tt>wattron</tt>/<tt>wattroff</tt> calls in
      <tt>form/m_post.c</tt> to call <tt>wattr_on</tt> and
      <tt>wattr_off</tt> to omit cast used in the former for X/Open
      compatibility</p>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p>change <tt>winwstr</tt> to a generated function, using the
      macro definition, moving its handling of negative length
      parameter into <tt>winnwstr</tt>.</p>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p>change <tt>winwstr</tt> to return wide character count
      instead of <em>OK</em>.</p>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p>disallow directories and block/character devices in
      safe-open.</p>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p>amend <tt>scr_restore</tt> and <tt>scr_init</tt> to remove
      the target window only after validating the source window
      which will replace the target</p>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p>modify <tt>_nc_flush</tt> to also flush <em>stderr</em> to
      help the <em>flash</em> capability to work in
      <tt>bash</tt></p>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p>trim padding from <em>sgr</em> expression used in
      <tt>trim_sgr0</tt>, to avoid copying the padding into the
      resulting sgr0</p>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p>modify <tt>misc/Makefile.in</tt> and
      <tt>misc/run_tic.in</tt> so that <tt>$DESTDIR</tt> is set and
      used only in the makefile.</p>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p>modify <tt>MKfallback.sh</tt> to eliminate
      <tt>TERMINFO</tt> environment variable.</p>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p>add <tt>-x</tt> option to <tt>infocmp</tt> in
      <tt>MKfallback.sh</tt></p>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p>limit value from <tt>ESCDELAY</tt> environment variable to
      30 seconds, like other delay limits.</p>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p>limit values from <tt>LINES</tt> and <tt>COLUMNS</tt>
      environment variables to 512</p>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p>added check in <tt>wresize</tt> for out-of-range
      dimensions</p>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p>improved error-handling in c++ binding</p>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p>improved error-reporting in <tt>write_entry.c</tt></p>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p>amended limit used in <tt>alloc_pair</tt>, by applying an
      adjustment for default colors only when the maximum number of
      color pairs is greater than the maximum number of colors</p>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p>added limit-checks in <tt>alloc_entry.c</tt> and
      <tt>alloc_ttype.c</tt> to avoid indexing errors when using
      <tt>infocmp</tt> to compare all capabilities when processing
      a malformed terminfo binary which has a valid header</p>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p>added a null pointer check in mouse-initialization, for
      the Windows driver</p>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p>added some null-pointer checks after <tt>malloc</tt>s in
      test-programs.</p>
    </li>
  </ul>

  <p>These are corrections to existing features:</p>

  <ul>
    <li>
      <p>removed test in <tt>wgetch</tt> which applied
      <tt>notimeout</tt> to the initial read of a character</p>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p>added check for special case of <tt>wcrtomb</tt>
      converting a single byte code to a different single byte
      code, which glibc does for code 160 in the KOI8-R
      encoding</p>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p>corrected <tt>_nc_to_char</tt> for the case when
      <tt>wctob</tt> is not found by configure script</p>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p>revised loop in <tt>wins_nwstr</tt>, to ensure that
      non-spacing characters are combined with the base spacing
      character</p>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p>modified checks in <tt>delwin</tt> to avoid checking if
      the window is a pad until first checking if it is still on
      the active window-list</p>
    </li>
  </ul>

  <h3><a name="h3-programs" id="h3-programs">Program
  improvements</a></h3>

  <h4><a name="h4-utilities" id="h4-utilities">Utilities</a></h4>

  <p>Several improvements were made to the utility programs.</p>

  <dl>
    <dt><span class="part-name"><a href=
    "@HOMEPAGE@/man/infocmp.1m.html">infocmp</a></span>
    </dt>

    <dd>
      <ul>
        <li>
          <p>improved <tt>infocmp</tt> <tt>-E</tt>/<tt>-e</tt>
          fallback feature</p>

          <ul>
            <li>prefix names with &ldquo;<tt>ti_</tt>&rdquo; if
            they begin with a digit, e.g., 9term</li>

            <li>escape backslashes and double-quotes in description
            fields</li>
          </ul>
        </li>

        <li>
          <p>modified <tt>infocmp</tt> <tt>-E</tt>/<tt>-e</tt>
          fallback feature to reduce stricter compiler warnings for
          the extended capability data.</p>
        </li>

        <li>
          <p>modified <tt>infocmp</tt> and <tt>tabs</tt> to use
          actual name in usage and header.</p>
        </li>

        <li>
          <p>improved error-message from <tt>infocmp</tt> when a
          terminal entry cannot be opened</p>
        </li>
      </ul>
    </dd>

    <dt><span class="part-name"><a href=
    "@HOMEPAGE@/man/tic.1m.html">tic</a></span>
    </dt>

    <dd>
      <ul>
        <li>
          <p>increased limit on use-clauses from 32 to 40, warn but
          allow entries which exceed the old limit.</p>
        </li>

        <li>
          <p>added check for infinite loop in <tt>tic</tt>'s
          use-resolution.</p>
        </li>

        <li>
          <p>added a buffer-limit check in
          <tt>postprocess_termcap</tt></p>
        </li>
      </ul>
    </dd>

    <dt><span class="part-name"><a href=
    "@HOMEPAGE@/man/tput.1m.html">tput</a></span>
    </dt>

    <dd>
      <ul>
        <li>
          <p>Warn about capabilities which expect parameters where
          none are given. Also, repair the feature where multiple
          capabilities can be handled on a single line.</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>:</p>

  <ul>
    <li>
      <p>add help-popup for <tt>test_instr.c</tt>,
      <tt>test_inwstr.c</tt></p>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p>add options to <tt>test/worm.c</tt> for benchmarking.</p>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p>improve <tt>-t</tt> option of <tt>test/gdc.c</tt>,
      allowing hours only, or hours and minutes only.</p>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p>correct dimensions in <tt>test/popup_msg.c</tt>, fixing an
      overrun.</p>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p>modify <tt>test/demo_keyok.c</tt> to accept <tt>^Q</tt>
      for quit, for consistency.</p>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p>add option &ldquo;<tt>-c</tt>&rdquo; to test programs to
      illustrate a non-blank character in the window background
      property.</p>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p>reserve <tt>-c</tt>/<tt>-l</tt> options in
      <tt>test/*.c</tt> for command/logging like <a href=
      "@WEBSITE@/vttest/">vttest</a>.</p>
    </li>
  </ul>

  <p>There is one new demo/test program:</p>

  <dl>
    <dt><span class=
    "part-name"><em>ncurses/report_ctype.c</em></span>
    </dt>

    <dd>
      <p>Shows a chart of the first 256 character codes, which are
      not as consistent across platforms for ctype versus wctype as
      some suppose.</p>
    </dd>
  </dl>

  <h3><a name="h3-database" id="h3-database">Terminal database</a></h3>

  <p>There are several new terminal descriptions:</p>

  <ul>
    <li>
      <p><a href=
      "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-ghostty"><tt>ghostty</tt></a></p>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p><a href=
      "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-illumos"><tt>illumos</tt></a>,
      <a href=
      "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-sun-16color"><tt>sun-16color</tt></a>,
      <a href=
      "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-sun-256color"><tt>sun-256color</tt></a>,
      and <a href=
      "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-sun-direct"><tt>sun-direct</tt></a></p>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p><a href=
      "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-ms-terminal-direct"><tt>ms-terminal-direct</tt></a></p>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p><a href=
      "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-pangoterm"><tt>pangoterm</tt></a></p>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p><a href=
      "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-rlogin-color"><tt>rlogin-color</tt></a></p>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p><a href=
      "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-sclp"><tt>sclp</tt></a></p>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p><a href=
      "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-vt520-w"><tt>vt520-w</tt></a>
      and <a href=
      "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-vt525-w"><tt>vt525-w</tt></a></p>
    </li>
  </ul>

  <p>along with building blocks</p>

  <ul>
    <li>
      <p><a href=
      "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-linux_lockeys"><tt>linux+lockeys</tt></a>,
      <a href=
      "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-xterm_r5_lockeys"><tt>xterm+r5+lockeys</tt></a>,
      <a href=
      "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-xterm_r5_fkeys"><tt>xterm+r5+fkeys</tt></a></p>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p><a href=
      "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-vt100_pf1-pf4"><tt>vt100+pf1-pf4</tt></a></p>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p><a href=
      "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-vt220_ufkeys"><tt>vt220+ufkeys</tt></a>,
      <a href=
      "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-vt220_sfkeys"><tt>vt220+sfkeys</tt></a></p>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p><a href=
      "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-ecma_standout"><tt>ecma+standout</tt></a>,
      <a href=
      "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-ecma_underline"><tt>ecma+underline</tt></a></p>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p><a href=
      "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-wyse+cvis"><tt>wyse+cvis</tt></a></p>
    </li>
  </ul>

  <p>There are many changes to existing terminal descriptions. Some
  were updates to several descriptions, using the
  <code>infocmp</code> &ldquo;<code>-u</code>&rdquo; option in a
  script to determine which <em>building-block</em> entries could
  be used to replace multiple capability settings (and trim
  redundant information).</p>

  <p>Other changes include:</p>

  <ul>
    <li>
      <p>use <a href=
      "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-xterm_keypad">xterm+keypad</a>
      in <a href=
      "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-pccon_base">pccon+base</a></p>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p>use <a href=
      "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-bracketed_paste">bracketed+paste</a>
      in <a href=
      "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-nsterm">nsterm</a>,
      <a href="@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-rlogin-color">rlogin-color</a>,
      <a href="@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-screen">screen</a>,
      <a href=
      "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-terminology">terminology</a></p>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p>use extended-keys in <a href=
      "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-djgpp">djgpp</a> 2.05</p>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p>update/correct some of the rv/xr strings, checked with</p>

      <p><a href="@HOMEPAGE@/tack.html">tack</a></p>

      <ul>
        <li>add rv code for <a href=
        "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-alacritty">alacritty</a></li>

        <li>add xr code for <a href=
        "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-putty">putty</a></li>

        <li>add rv/xr codes for <a href=
        "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-domterm">domterm</a>,
        <a href=
        "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-mintty">mintty</a>,
        <a href=
        "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-mlterm">mlterm</a>,
        <a href=
        "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-contour">contour</a>,
        <a href=
        "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-ghostty">ghostty</a>,
        <a href=
        "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-iterm2">iterm2</a>,
        <a href="@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-kitty">kitty</a>,
        <a href=
        "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-konsole">konsole</a>,
        <a href=
        "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-vscode">vscode</a>,
        <a href="@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-vte">vte</a>,
        <a href=
        "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-wezterm">wezterm</a></li>
      </ul>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p>improve use-clauses: <a href=
      "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-ansi_cup">ansi+cup</a>,
      <a href=
      "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-ansi_idl1">ansi+idl1</a>,
      <a href=
      "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-ansi_rca">ansi+rca</a>,
      <a href=
      "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-ansi_rca2">ansi+rca2</a>,
      <a href=
      "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-ansi_sgrso">ansi+sgrso</a>,
      <a href=
      "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-ansi_sgrul">ansi+sgrul</a></p>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p><a href=
      "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-sclp">sclp</a>:</p>

      <ul>
        <li>add kf1 to kf5</li>

        <li>use <a href=
        "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-ansi_rca">ansi+rca</a></li>

        <li>use <a href=
        "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-vt220_pcedit">vt220+pcedit</a></li>
      </ul>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p><a href="@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-vt525">vt525</a></p>

      <ul>
        <li>add color</li>

        <li>add op</li>
      </ul>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p><a href=
      "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-wezterm">wezterm</a>:</p>

      <ul>
        <li>use <a href=
        "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-xterm_alt_title">xterm+alt+title</a></li>

        <li>omit its broken left/right margin feature</li>
      </ul>
    </li>

    <li>update <a href=
    "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-contour">contour</a></li>

    <li>
      <p>update <a href=
      "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-ms-terminal">ms-terminal</a></p>

      <ul>
        <li>add XM/xm to ms-terminal, to enable mouse with
        experimental Windows driver</li>
      </ul>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p>update <a href=
      "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-st">st</a> to 0.8.5</p>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p>update <a href=
      "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-teraterm">teraterm</a> to
      5.0</p>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p>update <a href=
      "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-foot">foot</a> to
      1.18.1</p>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p>update <a href=
      "@HOMEPAGE@/terminfo.src.html#tic-iterm2">iTerm2</a> to
      3.5.0</p>
    </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>corrected note about box() in curs_border.3x</p>
        </li>

        <li>
          <p>added note on scrolling and lower-right corner to
          waddch and wadd_wch manual pages.</p>
        </li>
      </ul>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p>Other improvements:</p>

      <ul>
        <li>
          <p>This release has many changes to improve the
          formatting and style of the man pages.</p>
        </li>

        <li>
          <p>Table layout in the man pages has been revised.</p>
        </li>

        <li>
          <p>The <a href=
          "@HOMEPAGE@/howto/NCURSES-Programming-HOWTO.html">ncurses
          HOWTO</a> and its sample programs has been updated.</p>
        </li>
      </ul>
    </li>
  </ul>

  <p>There are no new manual pages (all of the manual page updates
  are to existing pages).</p>

  <h3><a name="h3-bug-fixes" id="h3-bug-fixes">Interesting
  bug-fixes</a></h3>

  <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>Improvements made to configure checks include</p>

  <ul>
    <li>
      <p>improve configure check for &ldquo;install&rdquo;.</p>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p>add check for build-time utilities, in case
      cross-compiling is setup with an invalid
      <tt>$BUILD_CC</tt></p>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p>add configure check for <tt>&lt;sys/fsuid.h&gt;</tt>,
      which may be needed for flatpacks</p>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p>add a consistency-check for termio(s)/tty headers, to help
      with cross-compiles</p>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p>modify configure check for
      <tt>MAKEFLAGS</tt>/<tt>MFLAGS</tt> to ignore existing value
      of these environment variables</p>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p>improve configurability of <tt>alloca</tt> as used in
      Windows ports.</p>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p>modify configure script checks for <tt>stdbool.h</tt> to
      fix build with older gcc version.</p>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p>add &lt;new&gt; to the possible headers declaring the C++
      <tt>std::bad_alloc</tt>.</p>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p>modify check for <tt>stdbool.h</tt> to be more
      conservative in case the headers are used with a compiler
      other than that which was used to configure</p>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p>remove dependency on <tt>stdbool.h</tt> from configure
      script check for type of <em>bool</em> when C++ binding is
      omitted.</p>
    </li>
  </ul>

  <h4><a name="h4-config-options" id=
  "h4-config-options">Configuration options</a></h4>

  <p>There are a few new configure options:</p>

  <dl>
    <dt><a href=
    "@HOMEPAGE@/INSTALL.html#option:enable-install-prefix"><tt>--enable-install-prefix</tt></a>
    </dt>

    <dd>
      <p>Modify behavior of <tt>$DESTDIR</tt> to merge or replace
      the value set by <tt>--prefix</tt>.</p>
    </dd>

    <dt><a href=
    "@HOMEPAGE@/INSTALL.html#option:enable-named-pipes"><tt>--enable-named-pipes</tt></a>
    </dt>

    <dd>
      <p>The Windows driver uses named pipes for communicating with
      a pseudo console, allowing it to use escape sequences rather
      than Console API. This works well with mintty. On the
      downside, this feature may not work well with the Windows
      Terminal due to a longstanding bug in <tt>conhost.exe</tt>
      (<a href=
      "https://github.com/microsoft/terminal/issues/9461">#9461</a>).</p>
    </dd>
  </dl>

  <p>These configure options are modified:</p>

  <dl>
    <dt><a href=
    "@HOMEPAGE@/INSTALL.html#option:enable-exp-win32"><tt>--enable-exp-win32</tt></a>
    </dt>

    <dd>
      <p>This option is obsolete, replaced by
      <tt>--enable-named-pipes</tt>.</p>
    </dd>

    <dt><a href=
    "@HOMEPAGE@/INSTALL.html#option:enable-term-driver"><tt>--enable-term-driver</tt></a>
    </dt>

    <dd>
      <p>This is enabled by default on platforms where the Windows
      driver can be compiled, e.g., Cygwin, MinGW32 and MSYS2.</p>
    </dd>
  </dl>

  <h4><a name="h4-config-package" id="h4-config-package">Package
  configuration scripts</a></h4>

  <p>The configure script and makefiles optionally generate a
  script which reports the compiler and linker options needed to
  build a program with ncurses, as well as a data file which is
  used via pkg-config for the same purpose. Several improvements
  were made for these scripts:</p>

  <ul>
    <li>
      <p>improved filtering of <tt>-L</tt> options in
      <tt>misc/gen-pkgconfig.in</tt> and in
      <tt>misc/ncurses-config.in</tt></p>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p>modified <tt>ncurses*-config</tt> to add <tt>-I</tt>
      option in <tt>--cflag</tt> where needed for
      <tt>--disable-overwrite</tt> to match ".pc" files.</p>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p>suppressed <tt>-g</tt> and <tt>-fXXX</tt> flags from
      <tt>CFLAGS</tt> in <tt>misc/ncurses-config.in</tt></p>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p>modified configure script to allow for <tt>pkg-config</tt>
      using DOS/Windows pathname syntax</p>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p>modified <tt>misc/ncurses-config.in</tt>, improved match
      with <tt>pkg-config output</tt>.</p>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p>adjusted naming of test packages for MinGW
      <tt>*-config</tt> scripts to match the <tt>pkg-config</tt>
      names</p>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p>added <tt>--cflags-only-I</tt> and
      <tt>--cflags-only-other</tt> options to
      <tt>misc/ncurses-config.in</tt></p>
    </li>
  </ul>

  <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>disallow configure options which apply only to multiuser
      systems, to improve ports to single-user systems such as
      Haiku</p>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p>add warning to configure script to address conflict
      between the <tt>--enable-lp64</tt> option and the options for
      overriding the types used for <tt>chtype</tt> and
      <tt>mmask_t</tt>.</p>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p>modify configure script cases for $host_os, to accommodate
      64-bit big-endian POWER Linux with glibc</p>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p>modify configure script and misc/Makefile to accept glob
      expressions that include Windows/DOS drive-letters</p>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p>change <tt>Ada95/configure</tt> to use
      <tt>--with-screen</tt> option rather than
      <tt>--enable-widec</tt>, to provide more choices of
      underlying curses library.</p>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p>modify configure script to work around broken gnatgcc
      script found in gcc-13 builds.</p>
    </li>
  </ul>

  <p>Other portability fixes include:</p>

  <ul>
    <li>
      <p>improve pattern used for configure
      <tt>--with-xterm-kbs</tt> option.</p>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p>modify recursive make rules to avoid interference with GNU
      make's "-j" option</p>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p>when installing the terminfo database, check if symbolic
      links are supported before attemping to link lib/terminfo
      from share/terminfo</p>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p>improve logic in misc/run_tic.in for constructing symbolic
      link when <tt>$DESTDIR</tt> is set.</p>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p>build-fix for ncurses-examples with newer PDCurses, which
      no longer has stubs for unimplemented features.</p>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p>change <tt>etip.h.in</tt> to include either/both of
      <tt>&lt;new&gt;</tt> and <tt>&lt;exception&gt;</tt>, needed
      for another old BSD.</p>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p>correct conditional-compile for a case when the C compiler
      does not have a bool type.</p>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p>improve <tt>MKlib_gen.sh</tt> handling of
      &ldquo;bool&rdquo; type, for building link_test.</p>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p>modify <tt>ncurses/tinfo/MKfallback.sh</tt> to work with
      MacOS <tt>sed</tt>, which lacks BSD-style <tt>\&lt;</tt> and
      <tt>\&gt;</tt>.</p>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p>modify <tt>MKlib_gen.c</tt> to allow for Solaris's
      definition of <tt>NULL</tt> as <tt>0L</tt>.</p>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p>widen pattern in pc/*-config scripts to disallow more
      linker options.</p>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p>avoid redefining bool in <tt>curses.h</tt> if the platform
      already supports that type.</p>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p>move include <tt>&lt;curses.h&gt;</tt> from
      <tt>etip.h.in</tt> to <tt>cursesw.h</tt>, to work around
      breakage in Apple's port of ncurses.</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 the
      features of SVr4 curses including keyboard mapping, color,
      form drawing with ACS characters, and automatic recognition
      of keypad and function keys.</p>
    </li>

    <li>
      <p><span class="main-name">ncurses</span> provides work-alike
      replacements of SVr4 supplemental libraries based on curses,
      but which were not specified by X/Open Curses:</p>

      <ul>
        <li>
          <p>the panel library, permitting windows to stack and
          overlap</p>
        </li>

        <li>
          <p>the menu 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 that 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 almost all
      <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>X/Open Curses permits most functions it specifies to be
      made available as macros as well. ncurses does this</p>

      <ul>
        <li>to improve performance, e.g., for operations composed
        of simpler functions such as cursor movement following by
        adding text to the screen,</li>

        <li>to simplify the implementation by reusing functions
        which use common parameters, e.g., the standard screen
        <code>stdscr</code>, and</li>

        <li>to provide functions that return values via their
        parameters</li>
      </ul>

      <p>Except for the last case, ncurses provides a non-macro
      implementation of the function. If the macro definition is
      disabled with <code>#undef</code>, or by defining
      <code>NCURSES_NOMACROS</code> the function may be linked (and
      its calls will be checked against the prototype).</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/the-berkeley-vi-editor-home-page">
        https://sites.google.com/a/bostic.com/keithbostic/the-berkeley-vi-editor-home-page</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://salsa.debian.org/minicom-team/minicom">https://salsa.debian.org/minicom-team/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:dickey@invisible-island.net">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:bug-ncurses@gnu.org">bug-ncurses@gnu.org</a>
  </blockquote>

  <p>To join the ncurses mailing list, please write email to</p>

  <blockquote>
    <a href=
    "mailto:bug-ncurses-request@gnu.org">bug-ncurses-request@gnu.org</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=
    "https://invisible-island.net/archives/ncurses/current/">https://invisible-island.net/archives/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=
    "https://invisible-island.net/archives/ncurses/6.5/">https://invisible-island.net/archives/ncurses/6.5/</a>
    and<br>
    <a href=
    "https://invisible-mirror.net/archives/ncurses/6.5/">https://invisible-mirror.net/archives/ncurses/6.5/</a>&nbsp;.</p>
  </blockquote>

  <p>There is an archive of the mailing list here:</p>

  <blockquote>
    <p><a href=
    "https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-ncurses">https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-ncurses</a>&nbsp;.</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 Curses
  specification.</p>

  <p>You can find lots of information on terminal-related topics
  not covered in the terminfo file in <a href=
  "https://shuford.invisible-island.net/">Richard Shuford's
  archive</a> (<a href=
  "http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.cs.utk.edu/~shuford/terminal">original</a>).
  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-term-driver">Terminal driver</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>

              <li><a href="#h4-config-package">Package
              configuration scripts</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>
