Well, not really as it’s already done :) I also realise that I’ve not blogged about it either! So here’s a quick summary.
Each terminal type uses different codes to draw the same thing. So there’s a database called termcap that maps a global two letter code to the terminal code to use. However, the API to this was quite limiting and some terminal descriptions don’t fit into the available space. So terminfo was created to remove these limitations. Most systems that use termcap have since changed to terminfo, except for NetBSD and OpenSolaris.
ncurses is a terminfo/termcap/curses solution all rolled into one and nearly everyone uses it. So why roll another one? Well, because I think I write cleaner, faster and smaller code. Also, there should be choice - there are no other modern terminfo implentations. Plus, I like a challenge :)
But I am working once more on integrating it with libcurses. Once that is done, it’s ready to go into NetBSD.