# wmcbrine/PDCurses

A curses library for environments that don't fit the termcap/terminfo model.

Repository: https://github.com/wmcbrine/PDCurses
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/pdcurses
Homepage: https://pdcurses.org/
Language: C
License Family: other
Topics: pdcurses, curses, ncurses
Last push: 2026-01-10T09:48:04+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 50/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 61, release rhythm 8, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 4095, "days_push": 235, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_license
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1243, forks 198 (observed 2026-08-28T04:04:06.628365+00:00)

## What it is
PDCurses is a public domain curses library implementing most X/Open and System V R4 curses functions for platforms that don't fit the termcap/terminfo model, such as DOS, OS/2, Windows console, X11, and SDL. It allows existing text-mode curses programs to be recompiled as GUI applications via its X11 and SDL ports.

## Use cases
- build text-mode user interfaces on Windows console
- port ncurses programs to Windows
- compile curses apps as GUI applications with X11 or SDL
- write TUI programs for DOS or OS/2
- develop cross-platform terminal-style applications in C

## When to choose
- you need curses functionality on Windows, DOS, OS/2, X11, or SDL where ncurses isn't available
- you want to recompile existing curses programs as GUI apps
- you need a public-domain, permissively licensed curses implementation

## When to avoid
- you're targeting Unix terminals where ncurses is the standard
- you need modern graphical UI widgets rather than text-mode interfaces
- you require a project with an explicit license file and active large community

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: stable
- function: gui, terminal-ui
- domain: cross-platform, developer-tools, desktop-applications
- platform: windows, cross-platform, cpp, c
- tags: curses, tui, text-user-interface, public-domain, dos, os2, x11, sdl

## Member repositories
- wmcbrine/PDCurses (main) score 50

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:04:06.628365+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T05:08:22.272384+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/wmcbrine/PDCurses (fetched 2026-08-28T04:04:06.628365+00:00, sha 8268b761e2e7)
  - homepage: https://pdcurses.org/ (fetched 2026-08-29T12:20:04.526445+00:00, sha ab9cbcbfe7d8)
  - site_page: https://pdcurses.org/docs/HISTORY.html (fetched 2026-08-29T12:20:04.534634+00:00, sha 98efb38919b9)
  - site_page: https://pdcurses.org/docs (fetched 2026-08-29T12:20:04.539422+00:00, sha 8859c9f93060)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.