path: root/chapter08/ncurses.xml

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<!DOCTYPE sect1 PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.5//EN"
  "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.5/docbookx.dtd" [
  <!ENTITY % general-entities SYSTEM "../general.ent">
  %general-entities;
]>

<sect1 id="ch-system-ncurses" role="wrap">
  <?dbhtml filename="ncurses.html"?>

  <sect1info condition="script">
    <productname>ncurses</productname>
    <productnumber>&ncurses-version;</productnumber>
    <address>&ncurses-url;</address>
  </sect1info>

  <title>Ncurses-&ncurses-version;</title>

  <indexterm zone="ch-system-ncurses">
    <primary sortas="a-Ncurses">Ncurses</primary>
  </indexterm>

  <sect2 role="package">
    <title/>

    <para>The Ncurses package contains libraries for terminal-independent
    handling of character screens.</para>

    <segmentedlist>
      <segtitle>&buildtime;</segtitle>
      <segtitle>&diskspace;</segtitle>

      <seglistitem>
        <seg>&ncurses-fin-sbu;</seg>
        <seg>&ncurses-fin-du;</seg>
      </seglistitem>
    </segmentedlist>

  </sect2>

  <sect2 role="installation">
    <title>Installation of Ncurses</title>

    <para>Prepare Ncurses for compilation:</para>

<screen><userinput remap="configure">./configure --prefix=/usr           \
            --mandir=/usr/share/man \
            --with-shared           \
            --without-debug         \
            --without-normal        \
            --with-cxx-shared       \
            --enable-pc-files       \
            --enable-widec          \
            --with-pkg-config-libdir=/usr/lib/pkgconfig</userinput></screen>

    <variablelist>
      <title>The meaning of the new configure options:</title>

      <varlistentry>
        <term><parameter>--with-shared</parameter></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>This makes Ncurses build and install shared C libraries.</para>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry>
        <term><parameter>--without-normal</parameter></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>This prevents Ncurses building and installing static C
          libraries.</para>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry>
        <term><parameter>--without-debug</parameter></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>This prevents Ncurses building and installing debug
          libraries.</para>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry>
        <term><parameter>--with-cxx-shared</parameter></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>This makes Ncurses build and install shared C++ bindings. It
          also prevents it building and installing static C++ bindings.</para>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry>
        <term><parameter>--enable-pc-files</parameter></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>This switch generates and installs .pc files for pkg-config.
          </para>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry>
        <term><parameter>--enable-widec</parameter></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>This switch causes wide-character libraries (e.g., <filename
          class="libraryfile">libncursesw.so.&ncurses-version;</filename>)
          to be built instead of normal ones (e.g., <filename
          class="libraryfile">libncurses.so.&ncurses-version;</filename>).
          These wide-character libraries are usable in both multibyte and
          traditional 8-bit locales, while normal libraries work properly
          only in 8-bit locales. Wide-character and normal libraries are
          source-compatible, but not binary-compatible: an application must
          be recompiled with the proper preprocessor definitions before
          being linked against the wide-character libraries.</para>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

    </variablelist>

    <para>Compile the package:</para>

<screen><userinput remap="make">make</userinput></screen>

    <para>This package has a test suite, but it can only be run after the
    package has been installed.  The tests reside in the
    <filename class="directory">test/</filename> directory.  See the
    <filename>README</filename> file in that directory for further details.
    </para>

    <!-- To editors: crash of shell process was very rare but really
         observed.  We can't simply remove /usr/lib/libncursesw.so.6.x like
         how we handle libmozjs-xx.so in BLFS because bash needs it, and
         make will spawn new shell processes during "make install".  -->

    <para>The installation of this package will overwrite
    <filename class="libraryfile">libncursesw.so.&ncurses-version;</filename>
    in-place.  It may crash the shell process which is using code and data
    from the library file.  Install the package with
    <literal>DESTDIR</literal>, and replace the library file correctly using
    <command>install</command> command:</para>

<screen><userinput remap="install">make DESTDIR=$PWD/dest install
install -vm755 dest/usr/lib/libncursesw.so.&ncurses-version; /usr/lib
rm -v  dest/usr/lib/libncursesw.so.&ncurses-version;
cp -av dest/* /</userinput></screen>

    <para>For applications looking up 8-bit Ncurses libraries via
    <command>pkg-config</command>, create several symlinks so
    <command>pkg-config</command> will output the information of the
    wide-character Ncurses libraries instead.  This is safe because
    <command>pkg-config</command> also provides the <envar>CFLAGS</envar>,
    including the preprocessor definitions needed to ensure the application
    code compiled with the same ABI as the wide-character libraries:</para>

    <!-- For apps directly using -lncurses w/o querying pkg-config, we
         must tell them to use -D_XOPEN_SOURCE=600 and -lncursesw explicitly
         to avoid an ABI mismatch.  We shall handle them case by case.  -->

<screen><userinput remap="install">for lib in ncurses form panel menu ; do
    ln -sfv ${lib}w.pc        /usr/lib/pkgconfig/${lib}.pc
done</userinput></screen>
<!--

    commented out because using libncursesw.so for libcurses.so is unsafe,
    and there shouldn't be "old" apps searching for "libcursesw".

    <para>Finally, make sure that old applications that look for
    <filename class="libraryfile">-lcurses</filename> at build time are still
    buildable:</para>

<screen><userinput remap="install">rm -vf                     /usr/lib/libcursesw.so
echo "INPUT(-lncursesw)" &gt; /usr/lib/libcursesw.so
ln -sfv libncurses.so      /usr/lib/libcurses.so</userinput></screen>
-->
    <para>If desired, install the Ncurses documentation:</para>

<screen><userinput remap="install">cp -v -R doc -T /usr/share/doc/ncurses-&ncurses-version;</userinput></screen>

    <note>

      <para>The instructions above don't create non-wide-character Ncurses
      libraries since no package installed by compiling from sources would link
      against them at runtime. However, the only known binary-only
      applications that link against non-wide-character Ncurses libraries
      require version 5.  If you must have such libraries because of some binary-only
      application or to be compliant with LSB, build the package again with the
      following commands:</para>

<screen role="nodump"><userinput>make distclean
./configure --prefix=/usr    \
            --with-shared    \
            --without-normal \
            --without-debug  \
            --without-cxx-binding \
            --with-abi-version=5
make sources libs
cp -av lib/lib*.so.5* /usr/lib</userinput></screen>
    </note>

  </sect2>

  <sect2 id="contents-ncurses" role="content">
    <title>Contents of Ncurses</title>

    <segmentedlist>
      <segtitle>Installed programs</segtitle>
      <segtitle>Installed libraries</segtitle>
      <segtitle>Installed directories</segtitle>

      <seglistitem>
        <seg>
           captoinfo (link to tic),
           clear,
           infocmp,
           infotocap (link to tic),
           ncursesw6-config,
           reset (link to tset),
           tabs,
           tic,
           toe,
           tput, and
           tset
        </seg>
        <seg>
           libcursesw.so (symlink and linker script to libncursesw.so),
           libformw.so,
           libmenuw.so,
           libncursesw.so,
           libncurses++w.so,
           libpanelw.so, and their non-wide-character counterparts without "w"
              in the library names.</seg>
        <seg>
           /usr/share/tabset,
           /usr/share/terminfo, and
           /usr/share/doc/ncurses-&ncurses-version;
        </seg>
      </seglistitem>
    </segmentedlist>

    <variablelist>
      <bridgehead renderas="sect3">Short Descriptions</bridgehead>
      <?dbfo list-presentation="list"?>
      <?dbhtml list-presentation="table"?>

      <varlistentry id="captoinfo">
        <term><command>captoinfo</command></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>Converts a termcap description into a terminfo description</para>
          <indexterm zone="ch-system-ncurses captoinfo">
            <primary sortas="b-captoinfo">captoinfo</primary>
          </indexterm>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry id="clear">
        <term><command>clear</command></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>Clears the screen, if possible</para>
          <indexterm zone="ch-system-ncurses clear">
            <primary sortas="b-clear">clear</primary>
          </indexterm>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry id="infocmp">
        <term><command>infocmp</command></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>Compares or prints out terminfo descriptions</para>
          <indexterm zone="ch-system-ncurses infocmp">
            <primary sortas="b-infocmp">infocmp</primary>
          </indexterm>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry id="infotocap">
        <term><command>infotocap</command></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>Converts a terminfo description into a termcap description</para>
          <indexterm zone="ch-system-ncurses infotocap">
            <primary sortas="b-infotocap">infotocap</primary>
          </indexterm>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry id="ncursesw6-config">
        <term><command>ncursesw6-config</command></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>Provides configuration information for ncurses</para>
          <indexterm zone="ch-system-ncurses ncursesw6-config">
            <primary sortas="b-ncursesw6-config">ncursesw6-config</primary>
          </indexterm>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry id="reset">
        <term><command>reset</command></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>Reinitializes a terminal to its default values</para>
          <indexterm zone="ch-system-ncurses reset">
            <primary sortas="b-reset">reset</primary>
          </indexterm>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry id="tabs">
        <term><command>tabs</command></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>Clears and sets tab stops on a terminal</para>
          <indexterm zone="ch-system-ncurses tabs">
            <primary sortas="b-tabs">tabs</primary>
          </indexterm>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry id="tic">
        <term><command>tic</command></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>The terminfo entry-description compiler that translates a
          terminfo file from source format into the binary format needed for the
          ncurses library routines [A terminfo file contains information on the
          capabilities of a certain terminal.]</para>
          <indexterm zone="ch-system-ncurses tic">
            <primary sortas="b-tic">tic</primary>
          </indexterm>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry id="toe">
        <term><command>toe</command></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>Lists all available terminal types, giving the primary name and
          description for each</para>
          <indexterm zone="ch-system-ncurses toe">
            <primary sortas="b-toe">toe</primary>
          </indexterm>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry id="tput">
        <term><command>tput</command></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>Makes the values of terminal-dependent capabilities available to
          the shell; it can also be used to reset or initialize a terminal or
          report its long name</para>
          <indexterm zone="ch-system-ncurses tput">
            <primary sortas="b-tput">tput</primary>
          </indexterm>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry id="tset">
        <term><command>tset</command></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>Can be used to initialize terminals</para>
          <indexterm zone="ch-system-ncurses tset">
            <primary sortas="b-tset">tset</primary>
          </indexterm>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry id="libcursesw">
        <term><filename class="libraryfile">libcursesw</filename></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>A link to <filename>libncursesw</filename></para>
          <indexterm zone="ch-system-ncurses libcursesw">
            <primary sortas="c-libcursesw">libcursesw</primary>
          </indexterm>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry id="libncursesw">
        <term><filename class="libraryfile">libncursesw</filename></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>Contains functions to display text in many complex ways on a
          terminal screen; a good example of the use of these functions is the
          menu displayed during the kernel's <command>make
          menuconfig</command></para>
          <indexterm zone="ch-system-ncurses libncursesw">
            <primary sortas="c-libncursesw">libncursesw</primary>
          </indexterm>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry id="libncurses__w">
        <term><filename class="libraryfile">libncurses++w</filename></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>Contains C++ binding for other libraries in this package</para>
          <indexterm zone="ch-system-ncurses libncurses__w">
            <primary sortas="c-libncurses++w">libncurses++w</primary>
          </indexterm>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry id="libformw">
        <term><filename class="libraryfile">libformw</filename></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>Contains functions to implement forms</para>
          <indexterm zone="ch-system-ncurses libformw">
            <primary sortas="c-libformw">libformw</primary>
          </indexterm>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry id="libmenuw">
        <term><filename class="libraryfile">libmenuw</filename></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>Contains functions to implement menus</para>
          <indexterm zone="ch-system-ncurses libmenuw">
            <primary sortas="c-libmenuw">libmenuw</primary>
          </indexterm>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry id="libpanelw">
        <term><filename class="libraryfile">libpanelw</filename></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>Contains functions to implement panels</para>
          <indexterm zone="ch-system-ncurses libpanelw">
            <primary sortas="c-libpanelw">libpanelw</primary>
          </indexterm>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

    </variablelist>

  </sect2>

</sect1>