Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site brl-tgr.ARPA Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!allegra!mit-eddie!genrad!wjh12!talcott!harvard!seismo!brl-tgr!gwyn From: gwyn@brl-tgr.ARPA (Doug Gwyn) Newsgroups: net.bugs.usg Subject: Re: Terminfo Message-ID: <6193@brl-tgr.ARPA> Date: Thu, 29-Nov-84 18:32:33 EST Article-I.D.: brl-tgr.6193 Posted: Thu Nov 29 18:32:33 1984 Date-Received: Sat, 1-Dec-84 06:54:35 EST References: <5534@brl-tgr.ARPA> <2410@ucla-cs.ARPA> Distribution: net Organization: Ballistic Research Lab Lines: 20 > What is terminfo, and how does it differ from termcap (be technical, please) Terminfo is Mark Horton's redesign of termcap. The overall scheme is quite similar, with the following improvements made: (1) Terminal description database is pre-compiled for speed. (2) Terminal description database is in several files rather than one humongous one. (3) Additional terminal capabilities were added, some of which could be back-ported into termcap and some of which rely on terminfo special abilities. (4) Terminal capabilities are given longer names (ANSI where possible). (5) Parameterized string capabilities are now fully programmable in terms of a stack pseudo-machine. The added flexibility supports a wider variety of terminals and capabilities. (6) The curses and termlib libraries have been combined. Terminfo is supplied as part of UNIX System V Release 2.0. There is a public-domain implementation by Pavel Curtis of Cornell.