%general-entities; ]> Ncurses Since the release of Ncurses-&ncurses-version;, a memory leak and some display bugs were found and fixed upstream. Apply those fixes: patch -Np1 -i ../&ncurses-fixes-patch; Prepare Ncurses for compilation: ./configure --prefix=/usr --with-shared --without-debug --enable-widec The meaning of the configure options: --enable-widec This switch causes wide-character libraries (e.g., libncursesw.so.&ncurses-version;) to be built instead of normal ones (e.g., libncurses.so.&ncurses-version;). These wide-character libraries are usable in both multibyte and traditional 8-bit locales, while normal libraries work properly only in 8-bit locales. Wide-character and normal libraries are source-compatible, but not binary-compatible. Compile the package: make This package does not come with a test suite. Install the package: make install Give the Ncurses libraries execute permissions: chmod -v 755 /usr/lib/*.&ncurses-version; Fix a library that should not be executable: chmod -v 644 /usr/lib/libncurses++w.a Move the libraries to the /lib directory, where they are expected to reside: mv -v /usr/lib/libncursesw.so.5* /lib Because the libraries have been moved, one symlink points to a non-existent file. Recreate it: ln -sfv ../../lib/libncursesw.so.5 /usr/lib/libncursesw.so Many applications still expect the linker to be able to find non-wide-character Ncurses libraries. Trick such applications into linking with wide-character libraries by means of symlinks and linker scripts: for lib in curses ncurses form panel menu ; do \ rm -vf /usr/lib/lib${lib}.so ; \ echo "INPUT(-l${lib}w)" >/usr/lib/lib${lib}.so ; \ ln -sfv lib${lib}w.a /usr/lib/lib${lib}.a ; \ done && ln -sfv libncurses++w.a /usr/lib/libncurses++.a Finally, make sure that old applications that look for -lcurses at build time are still buildable: echo "INPUT(-lncursesw)" >/usr/lib/libcursesw.so && ln -sfv libncurses.so /usr/lib/libcurses.so && ln -sfv libncursesw.a /usr/lib/libcursesw.a && ln -sfv libncurses.a /usr/lib/libcurses.a The instructions above don't create non-wide-character Ncurses libraries since no package installed by compiling from sources would link against them at runtime. If you must have such libraries because of some binary-only application, build them with the following commands: make distclean && ./configure --prefix=/usr --with-shared --without-normal \ --without-debug --without-cxx-binding && make sources libs && cp -av lib/lib*.so.5* /usr/lib Installed programs Installed libraries captoinfo (link to tic), clear, infocmp, infotocap (link to tic), reset (link to tset), tack, tic, toe, tput, and tset libcursesw.[a,so] (symlink and linker script to libncursesw.[a,so]), libformw.[a,so], libmenuw.[a,so], libncurses++w.a, libncursesw.[a,so], libpanelw.[a,so] and their non-wide-character counterparts without "w" in the library names. Short Descriptions captoinfo Converts a termcap description into a terminfo description captoinfo clear Clears the screen, if possible clear infocmp Compares or prints out terminfo descriptions infocmp infotocap Converts a terminfo description into a termcap description infotocap reset Reinitializes a terminal to its default values reset tack The terminfo action checker; it is mainly used to test the accuracy of an entry in the terminfo database tack tic The terminfo entry-description compiler that translates a terminfo file from source format into the binary format needed for the ncurses library routines. A terminfo file contains information on the capabilities of a certain terminal tic toe Lists all available terminal types, giving the primary name and description for each toe tput Makes the values of terminal-dependent capabilities available to the shell; it can also be used to reset or initialize a terminal or report its long name tput tset Can be used to initialize terminals tset libcurses A link to libncurses libcurses libncurses Contains functions to display text in many complex ways on a terminal screen; a good example of the use of these functions is the menu displayed during the kernel's make menuconfig libncurses libform Contains functions to implement forms libform libmenu Contains functions to implement menus libmenu libpanel Contains functions to implement panels libpanel