The Curses Perl Module ============================================================ COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE INFORMATION IS AT THE END OF THIS FILE ============================================================ This is a dynamic loadable curses module for perl. You can get this package at any CPAN archive. Please see the INSTALL document for how to install it on your system, the Curses pod (located at the end of "Curses.pm") for known incompatibilities with other Perl programs, and the end of this document for known compile or install problems. RECENT CHANGES -------------- The change history is in the file HISTORY. BINARY DISTRIBUTIONS -------------------- There is a binary package for Cygwin at ftp://sunsite.dk/projects/cygwinports/release/perl/perl-Curses The maintainer of this CPAN source package doesn't know of any others, but if you do, let him know and he will add them here. DEMO PROGRAMS ------------- The "demo" program is for demonstration purposes only. If it references a function your version of curses doesn't have, wrap it in an "eval" and try again. Same goes double for the "gdc" program. You can type "make cdemo" to make a C language version of the demo. If you get the same results via "demo" and "cdemo", but they don't look right, then it's a bug in your libcurses, not in Curses. MAINTENANCE ----------- Bryan Henderson maintains the Perl Curses module. Bryan doesn't actually know much about it, and is functioning mainly as a coordinator. Go ahead and report bugs to and ask technical questions of Bryan, but don't hold your breath. If you should have a fix or enhancement, though, Bryan will incorporate it into the package promptly. Email Bryan at bryanh@giraffe-data.com. Do not use the CPAN bug database to report a bug. It's more work for both parties and Bryan doesn't know a bug has been opened except when he occasionally goes to look. *** SECURITY NOTICE *** It has always been the case with the curses functions, but please note that the following functions: getstr() (and optional wgetstr(), mvgetstr(), and mvwgetstr()) inchstr() (and optional winchstr(), mvinchstr(), and mvwinchstr()) instr() (and optional winstr(), mvinstr(), and mvwinstr()) are subject to buffer overflow attack. This is because you pass in the buffer to be filled in, which has to be of finite length, but there is no way to stop a bad guy from typing. In order to avoid this problem, use the alternate functions: getnstr() inchnstr() innstr() which take an extra "size of buffer" argument. Known Problems -------------- Wide characters Screen positions get calculated wrong, i.e. based on the number of bytes in a string instead of the number of characters. You should debug this, fix it, and submit the fix for inclusion in the next release of Perl Curses. Note that unless you have and build for the wide-character-capable Ncurses (named 'ncursesw'), wide characters won't work even this much. NCurses getch() and getstr() don't work right under very old versions of ncurses (around v1.8.5). Please upgrade to a newer version. panel_hidden() test is reversed in v1.9.9g. Please upgrade to a newer version. Actually, there are several problems in v1.9.9g. Please upgrade to a newer version. NETBSD William reported as of 2001: I continue to get conflicting reports about the correct number of arguments for longname() and touchline(), controlled via the file `hints/c-netbsd.h'. Before compiling, you may want to look them up yourself, confirm them, and then editing `hints/c-netbsd.h'. Solaris 2.6 The menu stuff doesn't appear to work. I have no idea why. COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE INFORMATION --------------------------------- Copyright (c) 1994-2000 William Setzer All rights reserved. This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as perl, specifically: a) the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 1, or (at your option) any later version, or b) the "Artistic License" which comes with this Kit. This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the Artistic License for more details. You should have received a copy of the Artistic License with this Kit, in the file named "Artistic". If not, I'll be glad to provide one. You should also have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA.