Description

sorcio

opened on Oct 29, 2023

Issue body actions

Bug report

Bug description:

Python 3.12 dropped ncurses wide char support on macOS, so for example curses.get_wch() is not available anymore.

I believe this was an unintended consequence of #94452, because the change is not documented anywhere. After that PR, HAVE_NCURSESW is never defined on Darwin. It looks like this bit of logic was not ported from setup.py to configure.ac:

cpython/setup.py

Lines 1121 to 1124 in ec5e253

	elif MACOS and curses_library == 'ncurses':
	# Building with the system-suppied combined libncurses/libpanel
	curses_defines.append(('HAVE_NCURSESW', '1'))
	curses_defines.append(('_XOPEN_SOURCE_EXTENDED', '1'))

In fact, wide char support is always available when using Apple-provided ncurses, and it used to work correctly in the 3.11 builds that I tested.

@tiran can you confirm that this was unintended?

cc @sobolevn who interpreted this as an intended change in python/typeshed#10808.

CPython versions tested on:

3.12, 3.13

Operating systems tested on:

macOS

Linked PRs

• gh-111460: restore ncurses widechar support on macOS #111878
• [3.12] gh-111460: Restore ncurses widechar support on macOS (GH-111878) #112034

Activity

1. sorcio

   added

   type-bugAn unexpected behavior, bug, or errorAn unexpected behavior, bug, or error

   on Oct 29, 2023
2. ned-deily

   added

   OS-mac

   buildThe build process and cross-buildThe build process and cross-build

   on Oct 29, 2023
3. ned-deily commented on Oct 29, 2023

   

   ned-deily

   on Oct 29, 2023

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   @erlend-aasland

   Reacted by Erlend E. Aasland
4. serhiy-storchaka

   added this to Curses issueson Oct 29, 2023
5. erlend-aasland commented on Oct 29, 2023

   

   erlend-aasland

   on Oct 29, 2023

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   Yes, this is probably an unintended side effect. I can look into it tomorrow.

   (cc. @corona10, if you are interested)

   Reacted by Donghee Na
6. corona10 commented on Oct 29, 2023

   

   corona10

   on Oct 29, 2023

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   Yeah I will take a look too

   Reacted by Erlend E. Aasland
7. sorcio commented on Oct 30, 2023

   

   sorcio

   on Oct 30, 2023

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   Would it be interesting to encode some platform expectations in tests?

   This regression went under the radar because test_unget_wch is skipped with @requires_curses_func('unget_wch'), among other reasons. Skipping makes sense in general. But in some build configurations (including macOS CI, macOS buildbots, and the official macOS installer) we know that we are building with ncurses, and unget_wch should exist.

   Since this functionality is documented to be generally available, should a test assert that it actually is?
8. sorcio

   added a commit that references this issue on Nov 9, 2023

   pythongh-111460: restore ncurses widechar support on macOS

   e1a1e32
9. sorcio commented on Nov 9, 2023

   

   sorcio

   on Nov 9, 2023

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   Maybe it was a one-character fix after all: #111878

   (Note: if you are testing curses on macOS <14, you might need #111258 or a similar fix)

   Should some test be added?
10. corona10

    added a commit that references this issue on Nov 13, 2023

    gh-111460: Restore ncurses widechar support on macOS (#111878)

    d2f305d
11. miss-islington

    added a commit that references this issue on Nov 13, 2023

    pythongh-111460: Restore ncurses widechar support on macOS (pythonGH-…

    7f106a6
12. corona10

    added a commit that references this issue on Nov 14, 2023

    [3.12] gh-111460: Restore ncurses widechar support on macOS (GH-111878)…

    d34650e
13. erlend-aasland commented on Nov 14, 2023

    

    erlend-aasland

    on Nov 14, 2023

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    Can this be closed?
14. sorcio commented on Nov 14, 2023

    

    sorcio

    on Nov 14, 2023

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    @erlend-aasland if there is no need to test this, we're done here.
15. erlend-aasland commented on Nov 14, 2023

    

    erlend-aasland

    on Nov 14, 2023

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    @erlend-aasland if there is no need to test this, we're done here.

    There's always a need for accompanying tests.
16. sorcio commented on Nov 19, 2023

    

    sorcio

    on Nov 19, 2023

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    I need help with this then. What is a test supposed to test? We could say that wide char support should always be there on Darwin, but it could fail on builds that bring their own curses (or not).
17. ronaldoussoren commented on Dec 5, 2023

    

    ronaldoussoren

    on Dec 5, 2023

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    @erlend-aasland : What kind of tests do you want to see here? AFAIK we generally don't test if expected platform features are present, other than some tests I've added when working on the Universal 2 port to ensure that weak linking works as expected.
18. erlend-aasland commented on Dec 5, 2023

    

    erlend-aasland

    on Dec 5, 2023

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    I did not have anything in particular in mind. If there is no particular need, let's just close this.

    Reacted by Ronald Oussoren
19. erlend-aasland

    added

    pendingThe issue will be closed if no feedback is providedThe issue will be closed if no feedback is provided

    on Dec 5, 2023
20. ronaldoussoren

    removed

    pendingThe issue will be closed if no feedback is providedThe issue will be closed if no feedback is provided

    on Dec 5, 2023
21. ronaldoussoren

    closed this as completedon Dec 5, 2023
22. github-project-automation

    moved this to Done in Curses issueson Dec 5, 2023
23. aisk

    added a commit that references this issue on Feb 11, 2024

    pythongh-111460: Restore ncurses widechar support on macOS (python#11…

    1a9c29e
24. Glyphack

    added a commit that references this issue on Sep 2, 2024

    pythongh-111460: Restore ncurses widechar support on macOS (python#11…

    63654b4

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