


tic(1)                                                     tic(1)


NAME
       tic - the terminfo entry-description compiler

SYNOPSIS
       tic  [-1CINRTVacfrsx]  [-e names] [-o dir] [-v[n]] [-w[n]]
       file

DESCRIPTION
       The command tic translates a  terminfo  file  from  source
       format  into compiled format.  The compiled format is nec-
       essary for use with the library routines in curses(3).

       The results are normally placed  in  the  system  terminfo
       directory  /usr/share/terminfo.   There  are  two  ways to
       change this behavior.

       First, you may override the system default by setting  the
       variable  TERMINFO  in  your  shell environment to a valid
       (existing) directory name.

       Secondly, if tic cannot get access to  /usr/share/terminfo
       or  your  TERMINFO  directory,  it looks for the directory
       $HOME/.terminfo; if that directory exists,  the  entry  is
       placed there.

       Libraries that read terminfo entries are expected to check
       for a TERMINFO directory first, look at $HOME/.terminfo if
       TERMINFO  is  not set, and finally look in /usr/share/ter-
       minfo.

       -a     tells  tic  to  retain  commented-out  capabilities
              rather than discarding them.  Capabilities are com-
              mented by prefixing them with a period.  This  sets
              the  -x option, because it treats the commented-out
              entries as user-defined names.

       -c     tells tic to only check file for errors,  including
              syntax  problems and bad use links.  If you specify
              -C (-I) with this option, the code will print warn-
              ings about entries which, after use resolution, are
              more than 1023 (4096) bytes long.  Due to  a  fixed
              buffer  length  in  older  termcap libraries (and a
              documented limit in terminfo),  these  entries  may
              cause core dumps.

       -vn    specifies that (verbose) output be written to stan-
              dard  error   trace   information   showing   tic's
              progress.   The optional integer n is a number from
              1 to 10, inclusive, indicating the desired level of
              detail  of  information.   If  n  is  omitted,  the
              default level is 1.  If n is specified and  greater
              than 1, the level of detail is increased.

       -odir  Write   compiled   entries   to   given  directory.



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tic(1)                                                     tic(1)


              Overrides the TERMINFO environment variable.

       -wn    specifies the width of the output.

       -1     restricts the output to a single column

       -C     Force source translation to termcap format.   Note:
              this  differs  from  the -C option of infocmp(1) in
              that it does not merely translate capability names,
              but  also  translates  terminfo  strings to termcap
              format.  Capabilities that are not translatable are
              left  in  the  entry under their terminfo names but
              commented out with two preceding dots.

       -G     Display constant literals in  decimal  form  rather
              than their character equivalents.

       -I     Force source translation to terminfo format.

       -L     Force  source  translation to terminfo format using
              the long C variable names listed in <term.h>

       -N     Disable smart defaults.  Normally, when translating
              from termcap to terminfo, the compiler makes a num-
              ber of assumptions about  the  defaults  of  string
              capabilities  reset1_string,  carriage_return, cur-
              sor_left, cursor_down,  scroll_forward,  tab,  new-
              line,  key_backspace,  key_left, and key_down, then
              attempts to use obsolete  termcap  capabilities  to
              deduce correct values.  It also normally suppresses
              output of obsolete termcap capabilities such as bs.
              This  option forces a more literal translation that
              also preserves the obsolete capabilities.

       -Rsubset
              Restrict output to a given subset.  This option  is
              for  use  with  archaic  versions  of terminfo like
              those on SVr1, Ultrix, or HP/UX that don't  support
              the  full set of SVR4/XSI Curses terminfo; and out-
              right broken ports like AIX 3.x that have their own
              extensions  incompatible  with SVr4/XSI.  Available
              subsets  are  "SVr1",  "Ultrix",  "HP",  "BSD"  and
              "AIX"; see terminfo(5) for details.

       -T     eliminates size-restrictions on the generated text.
              This is mainly useful  for  testing  and  analysis,
              since  the compiled descriptions are limited (e.g.,
              1023 for termcap, 4096 for terminfo).

       -V     reports the version of ncurses which  was  used  in
              this program, and exits.

       -r     Force  entry  resolution (so there are no remaining
              tc capabilities) even  when  doing  translation  to



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tic(1)                                                     tic(1)


              termcap  format.   This  may  be  needed if you are
              preparing a termcap  file  for  a  termcap  library
              (such as GNU termcap up to version 1.3 or BSD term-
              cap up to 4.3BSD) that doesn't handle  multiple  tc
              capabilities per entry.

       -e     Limit  writes  and  translations  to  the following
              comma-separated list of terminals.  If any name  or
              alias of a terminal matches one of the names in the
              list, the entry will be written  or  translated  as
              normal.   Otherwise no output will be generated for
              it.  The option value is interpreted as a file con-
              taining  the  list  if  it  contains a '/'.  (Note:
              depending on how tic was compiled, this option  may
              require -I or -C.)

       -f     Display  complex  terminfo  strings  which  contain
              if/then/else/endif expressions indented  for  read-
              ability.

       -g     Display  constant character literals in quoted form
              rather than their decimal equivalents.

       -s     Summarize the compile by showing the directory into
              which  entries  are  written,  and  the  number  of
              entries which are compiled.

       -x     Treat unknown capabilities as  user-defined.   That
              is,  if you supply a capability name which tic does
              not recognize, it will  infer  its  type  (boolean,
              number  or  string)  from  the  syntax  and make an
              extended table entry for that.

       file   contains one or more terminfo terminal descriptions
              in  source format [see terminfo(5)].  Each descrip-
              tion in the file describes the  capabilities  of  a
              particular terminal.

       The debug flag levels are as follows:

       1      Names of files created and linked

       2      Information related to the ``use'' facility

       3      Statistics from the hashing algorithm

       5      String-table memory allocations

       7      Entries into the string-table

       8      List of tokens encountered by scanner

       9      All  values  computed  in  construction of the hash
              table



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tic(1)                                                     tic(1)


       If n is not given, it is taken to be one.

       All but one of the capabilities recognized by tic are doc-
       umented in terminfo(5).  The exception is the use capabil-
       ity.

       When a use=entry-name field is discovered  in  a  terminal
       entry  currently  being  compiled, tic reads in the binary
       from /usr/share/terminfo to complete the entry.   (Entries
       created  from file will be used first.  If the environment
       variable TERMINFO  is  set,  that  directory  is  searched
       instead of /usr/share/terminfo.)  tic duplicates the capa-
       bilities in entry-name for the  current  entry,  with  the
       exception   of  those  capabilities  that  explicitly  are
       defined in the current entry.

       When   an   entry,   e.g.,   entry_name_1,   contains    a
       use=entry_name_2   field,  any  canceled  capabilities  in
       entry_name_2 must also appear in entry_name_1 before  use=
       for these capabilities to be canceled in entry_name_1.

       If  the environment variable TERMINFO is set, the compiled
       results are placed there instead of /usr/share/terminfo.

       Total compiled entries cannot exceed 4096 bytes.  The name
       field  cannot  exceed 512 bytes.  Terminal names exceeding
       the maximum alias length (32 characters  on  systems  with
       long filenames, 14 characters otherwise) will be truncated
       to the maximum alias length and a warning message will  be
       printed.

COMPATIBILITY
       There  is  some evidence that historic tic implementations
       treated description fields with no whitespace in  them  as
       additional  aliases  or short names.  This tic does not do
       that, but it does warn  when  description  fields  may  be
       treated  that way and check them for dangerous characters.

EXTENSIONS
       Unlike the stock SVr4 tic command, this implementation can
       actually  compile  termcap  sources.   In fact, entries in
       terminfo and termcap syntax  can  be  mixed  in  a  single
       source  file.   See  terminfo(5)  for  the list of termcap
       names taken to be equivalent to terminfo names.

       The SVr4 manual pages are  not  clear  on  the  resolution
       rules  for  use  capabilities.  This implementation of tic
       will find use targets anywhere in the source file, or any-
       where  in the file tree rooted at TERMINFO (if TERMINFO is
       defined), or in the user's $HOME/.terminfo  directory  (if
       it  exists),  or  (finally)  anywhere in the system's file
       tree of compiled entries.

       The error messages from this tic have the same  format  as



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tic(1)                                                     tic(1)


       GNU  C  error  messages,  and can be parsed by GNU Emacs's
       compile facility.

       The -C, -G, -I, -N, -R, -T, -V, -a, -e, -f, -g, -o, -r, -s
       and  -x options are not supported under SVr4.  The SVr4 -c
       mode does not report bad use links.

       System V does not compile entries to or read entries  from
       your  $HOME/.terminfo directory unless TERMINFO is explic-
       itly set to it.

FILES
       /usr/share/terminfo/?/*
            Compiled terminal description database.

SEE ALSO
       captoinfo(1), infocmp(1),  infotocap(1),  curses(3),  ter-
       minfo(5).







































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