source: chapter06/ncurses.xml@ 47860dc

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<!DOCTYPE sect1 PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.3//EN" "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.3/docbookx.dtd" [
  <!ENTITY % general-entities SYSTEM "../general.ent">
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<sect1 id="ch-system-ncurses" role="wrap">
<title>Ncurses-&ncurses-version;</title>
<?dbhtml filename="ncurses.html"?>

<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>0.6 SBU</seg><seg>27 MB</seg></seglistitem>
</segmentedlist>

<segmentedlist>
<segtitle>Ncurses installation depends on</segtitle>
<seglistitem><seg>Bash, Binutils, Coreutils, Diffutils,
Gawk, GCC, Glibc, Grep, Make, and Sed</seg></seglistitem>
</segmentedlist>
</sect2>

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

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

<screen><userinput>./configure --prefix=/usr --with-shared --without-debug</userinput></screen>

<para>Compile the package:</para>

<screen><userinput>make</userinput></screen>

<para>This package does not come with a test suite.</para>

<para>Install the package:</para>

<screen><userinput>make install</userinput></screen>

<para>Give the Ncurses libraries execute permissions:</para>

<screen><userinput>chmod 755 /usr/lib/*.&ncurses-version;</userinput></screen>

<para>Fix a library that should not be executable:</para>

<screen><userinput>chmod 644 /usr/lib/libncurses++.a</userinput></screen>

<para>Move the libraries to the <filename class="directory">/lib</filename> directory,
where they are expected to reside:</para>

<screen><userinput>mv /usr/lib/libncurses.so.5* /lib</userinput></screen>

<beginpage/>
<para>Because the libraries have been moved, a few symlinks are pointing to
non-existent files. Recreate those symlinks:</para>

<screen><userinput>ln -sf ../../lib/libncurses.so.5 /usr/lib/libncurses.so
ln -sf libncurses.so /usr/lib/libcurses.so</userinput></screen>
</sect2>


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

<segmentedlist>
<segtitle>Installed programs</segtitle>
<segtitle>Installed libraries</segtitle>
<seglistitem><seg>captoinfo (link to tic), clear, infocmp, infotocap (link to tic), 
reset (link to tset), tack, tic, toe, tput, and tset</seg>
<seg>libcurses.[a,so] (link to libncurses.[a,so]), libform.[a,so], libmenu.[a,so], 
libncurses++.a, libncurses.[a,so], and libpanel.[a,so]</seg></seglistitem>
</segmentedlist>

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

<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="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="tack">
<term><command>tack</command></term>
<listitem>
<para>The terminfo action checker; it is mainly used to test the
accuracy of an entry in the terminfo database</para>
<indexterm zone="ch-system-ncurses tack"><primary sortas="b-tack">tack</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>
<beginpage/></listitem>
</varlistentry>

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

<varlistentry id="libncurses">
<term><filename class="libraryfile">libncurses</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 libncurses"><primary sortas="c-libncurses">libncurses</primary></indexterm>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>

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

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

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

</sect2>

</sect1>