On Mon, Sep 01, 2025 at 06:02:12PM -0500, G. Branden Robinson wrote: > At 2025-09-01T14:07:44-0400, Thomas Dickey wrote: > > On Mon, Sep 01, 2025 at 07:58:05AM -0500, G. Branden Robinson wrote: > > > Thomas, would you welcome further work along these lines? > > > > I think that could make some existing programs fail to compile. > > > > I've broken existing programs only in cases where I saw no other way > > to add new functionality, and kept in mind that for those cases, > > users would want to compile/run the same source with different > > versions. > > > > > +/* the API has sometimes used `int` where `bool` was more > > > appropriate */ +#define NCURSES_INT_OR_BOOL @NCURSES_INT_OR_BOOL@ > > > > agreed. But changing the API doesn't add functionality (the ABI > > changes that I have in mind do _that_). > > I think there is an advantage to minimizing the number of internal > inconsistencies in an API. The (n)curses interface is huge and, in my > opinion, a bit intimidating to familiarize oneself with. > > As far as I can tell (I looked[1]), none of PDCurses, PDCursesMod, nor > NetSBD Curses has yet adopted `use_extended_colors()`; narrowing the > data type of its return value, even if only for nit-picky consistency, > is better done before they adopt it than after.
I think you meant use_extended_names(). use_extended_colors is an internal variable. PDCurses doesn't use terminfo, so its capability names aren't relevant. NetBSD curses needs some work, actually. https://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses-netbsd.html I'd rather not hold my breath until they adopt this, since it's from 1999. > I may have made an erroneous assumption that your inauguration of ABI 7 > development meant that you were contemplating numbering the next ncurses > release "7.0". Under "semantic versioning"[2] and other general (if > vague) expectations, that would be the perfect time to make a breaking > change. I started work on this in January 2022, seeing that an ABI change would be needed for mice with more than 5 buttons. The limit on the number of mouse buttons may be more important than the ability to have both indexed colors and direct colors in the same terminal description. (That ability is a limitation only of the high-level curses, of course). > Would you prefer me to hold this return type change idea in abeyance > until you decide upon (and announce) crossing the 7.0 Rubicon, or should > I discard it entirely? we can keep a list in the macro, of nice-to-have's and possibly revisit. > Separately, what is your opinion of making the man pages products of > `AC_SUBST()` and `AC_OUTPUT()`? It's a workable solution if needed. > Regards, > Branden > > [1] https://github.com/wmcbrine/PDCurses > https://github.com/Bill-Gray/PDCursesMod > https://man.netbsd.org/curses.3 > > [2] https://semver.org/ -- Thomas E. Dickey <[email protected]> https://invisible-island.net
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