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Date:      Mon, 8 Apr 1996 16:20:47 -0700 (MST)
From:      Terry Lambert <terry@lambert.org>
To:        scrappy@ki.net (Marc G. Fournier)
Cc:        terry@lambert.org, ache@astral.msk.su, esr@locke.ccil.org, current@FreeBSD.org, ncurses-list@netcom.com
Subject:   Re: terminfo-less ncurses
Message-ID:  <199604082320.QAA03414@phaeton.artisoft.com>
In-Reply-To: <Pine.BSI.3.92.960408185626.6304A-100000@freebsd.ki.net> from "Marc G. Fournier" at Apr 8, 96 06:57:46 pm

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> > If you add attribute "foo", since the on disk data is a binary
> > data file contatining a structure, all on-disk data files must be
> > changes and all statically linked programs must be relinked to
> > get the new sizof(struct) and element layout.
> >
> 	Now, *this* argument makes sense.
> 
> 	I take it that in a termcap file, if you add attribute "foo" to one
> entry, you don't have to do so to all the entries?  Or is it just the fact
> that its in one file instead of many?

You are not required to add any particular attribute to any particular
entry.  This includes new attributes.

The file format is not changed; since the attributes are interpretively
parsed from the file, the name is less important than the format.

The difference is that I can add as many attributes as I want without
affecting any binary files (well, lookups are now done using an
indexed database, but the principle is the same).

There is some initial start-up overhead to parse the entries, which
is insignificant compared to the overhead needed to run most programs.


					Terry Lambert
					terry@lambert.org
---
Any opinions in this posting are my own and not those of my present
or previous employers.



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