The Curses Perl Module


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COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE INFORMATION IS AT THE END OF THIS FILE
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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.