ncursesutil

ncursesutil is a software package that provides a collection of utilities to support development, debugging, and analysis of ncurses-based applications. It is designed to complement the ncurses library by helping developers understand terminal capabilities, manage colors and attributes, and test text-based user interfaces.

The package includes tools such as a terminal capability inspector, a screen-dump utility, a color analyzer, and a session recorder. The terminal capability inspector queries the terminfo database and reports supported operations, color depth, keyboard mappings, and other terminal features. The screen-dump utility captures the current screen state for defect analysis and regression testing.

Usage typically involves installing the package from a distribution channel or building from source, then using its subcommands to investigate and reproduce behavior. Common workflows include running ncursesutil inspect to verify terminal capabilities, ncursesutil dump or record to capture or replay input, and ncursesutil analyze to assess color support and layout constraints. The tool aims to be scriptable and cross-platform within ncurses-enabled environments, facilitating automated testing and documentation of UIs.

Development status: ncursesutil is maintained by an open-source community with documentation and source code hosted in a public repository. It adopts a permissive license and welcomes contributions, issue reports, and feature requests. The project seeks to remain compatible with a broad range of ncurses-enabled environments and terminal emulators.

See also:

- ncurses

- terminfo

- tput

- curses library

- terminal emulator compatibility