hi-
I'm seeing issues with pkgsrc mail/mutt under NetBSD 11
displaying text with the wrong colors. The terminal/xterm
default colors are leaking through in places where they are
not supposed to! If I recompile mail/mutt to use ncurses,
then it displays properly -- so the bugs are in NetBSD libcurses.
Working with NetBSD libcurses from trunk, I've tracked the
the issue down to two main issues:
- the handling of "orig_pair" in color.c
- the handling of "exit_attribute_mode" in refresh.c
I have fixes for both that I'm hoping someone more familiar
with NetBSD curses can double check so we can get this fixed.
for "orig_pair"/color.c:
- tput() of "orig_pair" resets the colors to terminal default.
the only time you'd need to do this is when assume_default_colors()
is used to change curses' default white on black (from
__default_pair) with -1 to access one or both of the
terminal default colors.
start_colors():
I removed tput() of "orig_pair" from start_color() and
replaced it with a call to __unset_color(curscr) right
after setting __using_color = 1 (to ensure we are in a
known state). I also moved the tput() of "orig_colors"
later (after we know we are not going to return(ERR)).
__unset_color(): I added a helper function unset_color_pair()
to centralize the handling of "orig_pair" across the
COLOR_ANSI and COLOR_OTHER cases. It only tputs() "orig_pair"
if either __default_pair.fore or __default_pair.back is -1.
for "exit_attribute_mode"/refresh.c:
- tput() of "exit_attribute_mode" resets the colors to terminal default.
we need to add "_cursesi_screen->curpair = -1" to let curses know the
currently set color has changed when "exit_attribute_mode" is used.
Also, I think init_pair() is supposed to fail if you call it
with -1 for a color and you have not called assume_default_colors().
At least that is what ncurses' init_pair() does. I didn't address this.
diff relative to trunk below.
chuck
Index: color.c
===================================================================
RCS file: /cvsroot/src/lib/libcurses/color.c,v
retrieving revision 1.51
diff -u -r1.51 color.c
--- color.c 2 Sep 2026 04:20:20 -0000 1.51
+++ color.c 31 Oct 2026 21:16:45 -0000
@@ -124,14 +124,6 @@
_cursesi_screen->COLOR_PAIRS = COLOR_PAIRS;
_cursesi_screen->curpair = -1;
- /* Reset terminal colour and colour pairs. */
- if (orig_colors != NULL)
- tputs(orig_colors, 0, __cputchar);
- if (orig_pair != NULL) {
- tputs(orig_pair, 0, __cputchar);
- curscr->wattr &= _cursesi_screen->mask_op;
- }
-
/* Type of colour manipulation - ANSI/TEK/HP/other */
if (set_a_foreground != NULL && set_a_background != NULL)
_cursesi_screen->color_type = COLOR_ANSI;
@@ -144,6 +136,10 @@
else
return(ERR); /* Unsupported colour method */
+ /* Reset terminal colour and colour pairs. */
+ if (orig_colors != NULL)
+ tputs(orig_colors, 0, __cputchar);
+
#ifdef DEBUG
__CTRACE(__CTRACE_COLOR, "start_color: COLORS = %d, COLOR_PAIRS = %d",
COLORS, COLOR_PAIRS);
@@ -240,6 +236,7 @@
__default_pair.flags;
__using_color = 1;
+ __unset_color(curscr);
/* Set all positions on all windows to curses default colours. */
for (wlp = _cursesi_screen->winlistp; wlp != NULL; wlp = wlp->nextp) {
@@ -585,6 +582,42 @@
curscr->wattr &= ~__COLOR;
curscr->wattr |= attr & __COLOR;
}
+/*
+ * unset_color_pair --
+ * Reset colors to the defaults. If start_color() has been
+ * called, then we use the colors stored in __default_pair
+ * (white on black, if not changed by the application). If
+ * either color is -1 (indicates we should use the terminal
+ * default for that value) we emit orig_pair to reset both
+ * foreground and background to the terminal default and then
+ * override the terminal default for any color that is not -1.
+ * (-1 values can be established with the use_default_colors()
+ * or assume_default_colors() APIs.)
+ *
+ * If start_color() has not been called, we just use orig_pair.
+ */
+static void
+unset_color_pair(WINDOW *win, const char *set_fg, const char *set_bg)
+{
+ if (__using_color) {
+ /* emit orig_pair if terminal default is used */
+ if (__default_pair.fore == -1 || __default_pair.back == -1) {
+ if (orig_pair)
+ tputs(orig_pair, 0, __cputchar);
+ }
+ if (__default_pair.fore >= 0 && set_fg)
+ tputs(tiparm(set_fg, (int)__default_pair.fore),
+ 0, __cputchar);
+ if (__default_pair.back >= 0 && set_bg)
+ tputs(tiparm(set_bg, (int)__default_pair.back),
+ 0, __cputchar);
+ } else {
+ if (orig_pair)
+ tputs(orig_pair, 0, __cputchar);
+ }
+ win->wattr &= __mask_op;
+ curscr->wattr &= __mask_op;
+}
/*
* __unset_color --
@@ -597,11 +630,9 @@
switch (_cursesi_screen->color_type) {
/* Clear ANSI foreground and background colours */
case COLOR_ANSI:
- if (orig_pair != NULL) {
- tputs(orig_pair, 0, __cputchar);
- win->wattr &= __mask_op;
- curscr->wattr &= __mask_op;
- }
+ unset_color_pair(win,
+ t_set_a_foreground(_cursesi_screen->term),
+ t_set_a_background(_cursesi_screen->term));
break;
case COLOR_HP:
/* XXX: need to support HP style */
@@ -610,10 +641,9 @@
/* XXX: need to support Tek style */
break;
case COLOR_OTHER:
- if (orig_pair != NULL) {
- tputs(orig_pair, 0, __cputchar);
- win->wattr &= __mask_op;
- }
+ unset_color_pair(win,
+ t_set_foreground(_cursesi_screen->term),
+ t_set_background(_cursesi_screen->term));
break;
}
Index: refresh.c
===================================================================
RCS file: /cvsroot/src/lib/libcurses/refresh.c,v
retrieving revision 1.137
diff -u -r1.137 refresh.c
--- refresh.c 2 Sep 2026 04:20:20 -0000 1.137
+++ refresh.c 31 Oct 2026 21:16:46 -0000
@@ -880,6 +880,8 @@
*/
if (off & __TERMATTR && exit_attribute_mode != NULL) {
tputs(exit_attribute_mode, 0, __cputchar);
+ /* exit_attribute_mode resets the color to terminal default */
+ _cursesi_screen->curpair = -1;
curscr->wattr &= __mask_me;
off &= __mask_me;
}
@@ -2093,6 +2095,7 @@
*/
if (curscr->wattr & __TERMATTR && isms) {
tputs(exit_attribute_mode, 0, __cputchar);
+ _cursesi_screen->curpair = -1; /* tputs just reset it */
curscr->wattr &= __mask_me;
}
/* Don't leave the screen with altcharset set (don't check ms). */
