Related questions
ncurses: init_color() has no effect (specific to PuTTY, xterm and gnome-terminal)
NCurses: Why does init_color return OK but still not set the color? (specific to xterm)
The issue
init_color is saving the color info in ncurses memory, and reporting success - but having no effect on the MacOS (Mojave 10.14.2) Terminal.app version 2.9.1 (421.1). ncurses was installed via HomeBrew:
$ brew info ncurses
ncurses: stable 6.1 (bottled) [keg-only]
Text-based UI library
https://www.gnu.org/software/ncurses/
/usr/local/Cellar/ncurses/6.1 (3,869 files, 8.3MB)
Poured from bottle on 2018-12-31 at 21:59:36
My workaround might have to be reliance on the default ncurses color palette.
Based on one of the answers in a prior question, I reviewed the terminfo source. The relevant section is under this text:
# The AppKit Terminal.app descriptions all have names beginning with
# "nsterm".
In particular:
# For Apple_Terminal v309+, use "nsterm-256color" (or "nsterm-bce")
It seems there's no specific section for 10.14; the latest entry is for 10.13:
# reviewed Terminal.app in High Sierra (version 2.8 build 400) -TD
# Comparing with build361, little has changed, except that italics work.
# Direct-color is not supported, by the way.
#
# Improved rmso/rmul -TD
nsterm-build400|Terminal.app in OS X 10.13,
rmso=\E[27m, rmul=\E[24m, use=xterm+sm+1006,
use=ecma+italics, use=nsterm-build361,
# This is an alias which should always point to the "current" version
nsterm|nsterm-256color|Apple_Terminal|AppKit Terminal.app,
use=nsterm-build400,
Upon reading that I'm unclear on whether this is expected behaviour.
Minimum reproducible example
When I run this, all asserts pass, but the default colours (rather than the edited colours) are shown for the foreground and background.
#include <assert.h>
#include <fcntl.h>
#include <ncursesw/ncurses.h>
#include <unistd.h>
int main() {
int fdump = open("/tmp/ncurses_dump", O_WRONLY|O_CREAT|O_TRUNC, 0600);
dup2(fdump, STDOUT_FILENO);
assert(initscr() != NULL);
assert(ERR != start_color());
assert(has_colors());
assert(can_change_color());
assert(COLOR_PAIRS >= 256);
assert(COLORS >= 256);
// color 21 is blue by default
// let's make it white
const NCURSES_COLOR_T fore = 21;
assert(ERR != init_color(fore, 998, 999, 1000));
NCURSES_COLOR_T r, g, b;
assert(ERR != color_content(fore, &r, &g, &b));
assert(r == 998);
assert(g == 999);
assert(b == 1000);
// color 195 is light blue by default
// let's make it black
const NCURSES_COLOR_T back = 195;
assert(ERR != init_color(back, 0, 1, 2));
assert(ERR != color_content(back, &r, &g, &b));
assert(r == 0);
assert(g == 1);
assert(b == 2);
// arbitrary
const NCURSES_PAIRS_T pair = 100;
assert(ERR != init_pair(pair, fore, back));
NCURSES_COLOR_T fc, bc;
assert(ERR != pair_content(pair, &fc, &bc));
assert(fc == fore);
assert(bc == back);
// The pair init works, but the color init doesn't - this still outputs blue
// on light blue
assert(ERR != attron(COLOR_PAIR(pair)));
assert(ERR != addch('X'));
while (getch() != 'q');
endwin();
return 0;
}
The dump file then contains the following:
$ hexdump -C /tmp/ncurses_dump
00000000 1b 5b 3f 31 30 34 39 68 1b 5b 32 32 3b 30 3b 30 |.[?1049h.[22;0;0|
00000010 74 1b 5b 31 3b 34 37 72 1b 28 42 1b 5b 6d 1b 5b |t.[1;47r.(B.[m.[|
00000020 34 6c 1b 5b 3f 37 68 1b 5b 33 39 3b 34 39 6d 1b |4l.[?7h.[39;49m.|
00000030 5d 34 3b 32 31 3b 72 67 62 3a 46 45 2f 46 45 2f |]4;21;rgb:FE/FE/|
00000040 46 46 1b 5c 1b 5d 34 3b 31 39 35 3b 72 67 62 3a |FF.\.]4;195;rgb:|
00000050 30 30 2f 30 30 2f 30 30 1b 5c 1b 5b 33 39 3b 34 |00/00/00.\.[39;4|
00000060 39 6d 1b 5b 33 37 6d 1b 5b 34 30 6d 1b 5b 48 1b |9m.[37m.[40m.[H.|
00000070 5b 32 4a 1b 5b 33 38 3b 35 3b 32 31 6d 1b 5b 34 |[2J.[38;5;21m.[4|
00000080 38 3b 35 3b 31 39 35 6d 58 1b 28 42 1b 5b 6d 1b |8;5;195mX.(B.[m.|
00000090 5b 33 39 3b 34 39 6d 1b 5b 33 37 6d 1b 5b 34 30 |[39;49m.[37m.[40|
000000a0 6d 1b 5b 33 38 3b 35 3b 32 31 6d 1b 5b 34 38 3b |m.[38;5;21m.[48;|
000000b0 35 3b 31 39 35 6d 71 1b 28 42 1b 5b 6d 1b 5b 33 |5;195mq.(B.[m.[3|
000000c0 39 3b 34 39 6d 1b 5b 33 37 6d 1b 5b 34 30 6d 1b |9;49m.[37m.[40m.|
000000d0 5b 33 39 3b 34 39 6d 0d 1b 5b 34 37 64 1b 5b 4b |[39;49m..[47d.[K|
000000e0 1b 5b 33 39 3b 34 39 6d 1b 5d 31 30 34 07 1b 5b |.[39;49m.]104..[|
000000f0 34 37 3b 31 48 1b 5b 3f 31 30 34 39 6c 1b 5b 32 |47;1H.[?1049l.[2|
00000100 33 3b 30 3b 30 74 0d 1b 5b 3f 31 6c 1b 3e |3;0;0t..[?1l.>|
0000010e
