source: BOOK/final-system/common/ncurses.xml@ b7c7511

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
<!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"?>

  <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>

  </sect2>

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

    <para os="p1">The following patch contains updates from the &ncurses-version; branch
    by the Ncurses developers:</para>

<screen os="p2"><userinput>patch -Np1 -i ../&ncurses-branch_update-patch;</userinput></screen>

    <para os="a">Prepare Ncurses for compilation:</para>

<screen os="b"><userinput>./configure --prefix=/usr --libdir=/lib \
    --with-shared --without-debug --enable-widec \
    --with-manpage-format=normal --enable-pc-files \
    --with-default-terminfo-dir=/usr/share/terminfo</userinput></screen>

    <variablelist os="b1">
      <title>The meaning of the new configure option:</title>

      <varlistentry>
        <term><parameter>--with-manpage-format=normal</parameter></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>This tells Ncurses not to compress its installed manpages.</para>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry>
        <term><parameter>--enable-pc-files</parameter></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>This tells Ncurses to generate and install .pc files for
          <command>pkg-config</command>.</para>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>
    </variablelist>

    <para os="c">Compile the package:</para>

<screen os="d"><userinput>make</userinput></screen>

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

    <para os="f">Install the package:</para>

<screen os="g"><userinput>make install</userinput></screen>

    <para os="h">Move the Ncurses static libraries to the proper location:</para>

<screen os="i"><userinput>mv -v /lib/lib{panelw,menuw,formw,ncursesw,ncurses++w}.a /usr/lib</userinput></screen>

    <para os="j">Create symlinks in <filename class="directory">/usr/lib:</filename></para>

<screen os="k"><userinput>ln -svf ../../lib/$(readlink /lib/libncursesw.so) /usr/lib/libncursesw.so
ln -svf ../../lib/$(readlink /lib/libmenuw.so) /usr/lib/libmenuw.so
ln -svf ../../lib/$(readlink /lib/libpanelw.so) /usr/lib/libpanelw.so
ln -svf ../../lib/$(readlink /lib/libformw.so) /usr/lib/libformw.so
rm -v /lib/lib{ncursesw,menuw,panelw,formw}.so</userinput></screen>

    <para os="l">Many packages that use Ncurses will compile just fine against
    the widechar libraries, but won't know to look for them. Create linker
    scripts and symbolic links to allow older and non-widec compatible
    programs to build properly:</para>

<screen os="m"><userinput>for lib in curses ncurses form panel menu ; do
        echo "INPUT(-l${lib}w)" &gt; /usr/lib/lib${lib}.so
        ln -sfv lib${lib}w.a /usr/lib/lib${lib}.a
done
ln -sfv libncursesw.so /usr/lib/libcursesw.so
ln -sfv libncursesw.a /usr/lib/libcursesw.a
ln -sfv libncurses++w.a /usr/lib/libncurses++.a
ln -sfv ncursesw5-config /usr/bin/ncurses5-config</userinput></screen>

  </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),
        ncursesw5-config, reset (link to tset), tabs, tic, toe, tput, tset</seg>
        <seg>libcursesw.so (link to libncursesw.so), libformw.[a,so],
        libmenuw.[a,so], libncurses++w.a, libncursesw.[a,so],
        libpanelw.[a,so]</seg>
        <seg>/usr/share/tabset, /usr/share/terminfo</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="ncursesw5-config">
        <term><command>ncursesw5-config</command></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>Provides configuration information for ncurses</para>
          <indexterm zone="ch-system-ncurses ncursesw5-config">
            <primary sortas="b-ncursesw5-config">ncursesw5-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>Sets and clears 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="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>