curs_memleaks(3X)                Library calls               curs_memleaks(3X)

NAME

     exit_curses, exit_terminfo - check for memory leaks in curses

SYNOPSIS

     #include <curses.h>
     void exit_curses(int code);

     #include <term.h>
     void exit_terminfo(int code);

     /* deprecated (intentionally not declared in curses.h or term.h) */
     void _nc_freeall(void);
     void _nc_free_and_exit(int code);
     void _nc_free_tinfo(int code);

DESCRIPTION

     These functions are used to simplify analysis of memory leaks in the
     ncurses library.

     Any implementation of curses must not free the memory associated with a
     screen, since (even after calling endwin(3X)), it must be available for
     use in the next call to refresh(3X).  There are also chunks of memory
     held for performance reasons.  That makes it hard to analyze curses
     applications for memory leaks.  When using the specially configured
     debugging version of the ncurses library, applications can call functions
     which free those chunks of memory, simplifying the process of memory-leak
     checking.

     Some of the functions are named with a "_nc_" prefix because they are not
     intended for use in the non-debugging library:

     _nc_freeall
          This frees (almost) all of the memory allocated by ncurses.

     _nc_free_and_exit
          This frees the memory allocated by ncurses (like _nc_freeall), and
          exits the program.  It is preferred over _nc_freeall since some of
          that memory may be required to keep the application running.  Simply
          exiting (with the given exit-code) is safer.

     _nc_free_tinfo
          Use this function if only the low-level terminfo functions (and
          corresponding library) are used.  Like _nc_free_and_exit, it exits
          the program after freeing memory.

     The functions prefixed "_nc" are normally not available; they must be
     configured into the library at build time using the --disable-leaks
     option.  That compiles-in code that frees memory that normally would not
     be freed.

     The exit_curses and exit_terminfo functions call _nc_free_and_exit and
     _nc_free_tinfo if the library is configured to support memory-leak
     checking.  If the library is not configured to support memory-leak
     checking, they simply call exit.

RETURN VALUE

     These functions do not return a value.

PORTABILITY

     These functions are not part of X/Open Curses; nor do other
     implementations of curses provide a similar feature.

     In any implementation of X/Open Curses, an application can free part of
     the memory allocated by curses:

     o   The portable part of exit_curses can be freed using delscreen,
         passing the SCREEN pointer returned by newterm.

         In some implementations, there is a global variable sp which could be
         used, e.g., if the screen were only initialized using initscr.

     o   The portable part of exit_terminfo can be freed using del_curterm.

         In this case, there is a global variable cur_term which can be used
         as parameter.

SEE ALSO

     curses(3X), curs_initscr(3X), curs_terminfo(3X)

ncurses 6.6                       2024-03-16                 curs_memleaks(3X)