lfs-book/appendixa/ncurses-desc.xml

<sect2><title>Contents of Ncurses</title>

<para>Last checked against version &ncurses-contversion;.</para>

<sect3><title>Program Files</title>
<para>captoinfo (link to tic), clear, infocmp, infotocap (link to tic),
reset (link to tset), tack, tic, toe, tput and tset.</para></sect3>

<sect3><title>Descriptions</title>

<sect4><title>captoinfo</title>
<para>captoinfo converts a termcap description into a terminfo
description.</para></sect4>

<sect4><title>clear</title>
<para>clear clears the screen if this is possible. It looks in
the environment for the terminal type and then in the terminfo database
to figure out how to clear the screen.</para></sect4>

<sect4><title>infocmp</title>
<para>infocmp can be used to compare a binary terminfo entry with
other terminfo entries, rewrite a terminfo description to 
take advantage of the use= terminfo field, or print out a
terminfo description from the binary file (term) in a variety of 
formats (the opposite of what tic does).</para></sect4>

<sect4><title>infotocap</title>
<para>info to cap converts a terminfo description into a termcap
description.</para></sect4>

<sect4><title>reset</title>
<para>reset sets cooked and echo modes, turns off cbreak and raw modes, 
turns on new-line translation and resets any unset special characters to
their default values before doing terminal initialization the same way
as tset.</para></sect4>

<sect4><title>tack</title>
<para>tack is the terminfo action checker.</para></sect4>

<sect4><title>tic</title>
<para>tic is the terminfo entry-description compiler. The program translates a
terminfo file from source format into the binary format for use with the
ncurses library routines. Terminfo files contain information about the
capabilities of a terminal.</para></sect4>

<sect4><title>toe</title>
<para>toe lists all available terminal types by primary name with
descriptions.</para></sect4>

<sect4><title>tput</title>
<para>tput uses the terminfo database to make the values of
terminal-dependent capabilities and information available to the shell,
to initialize or reset the terminal, or return the long name of the
requested terminal type.</para></sect4>

<sect4><title>tset</title>
<para>tset initializes terminals so they can be used, but it's not
widely used anymore. It's provided for 4.4BSD compatibility.</para></sect4>

</sect3>

<sect3><title>Library Files</title>
<para>libcurses.[a,so] (link to libncurses.[a,so]), libform.[a,so],
libform_g.a, libmenu.[a,so], libmenu_g.a, libncurses++.a,
libncurses.[a,so], libncurses_g.a, libpanel.[a,so] and
libpanel_g.a</para>

<sect4><title>libcurses, libncurses++, libncurses, libncurses_g</title>
<para>These libraries are the base of the system and are used to display
text (often in a fancy way) on the screen. An example where ncurses is used
is in the kernel's <quote>make menuconfig</quote> process.</para></sect4>

<sect4><title>libform, libform_g</title>
<para>libform is used to implement forms in ncurses.</para></sect4>

<sect4><title>libmenu, libmenu_g</title>
<para>libmenu is used to implement menus in ncurses.</para></sect4>

<sect4><title>libpanel, libpanel_g</title>
<para>libpanel is used to implement panels in ncurses.</para></sect4>

</sect3>

</sect2>