Linux From Scratch - Version r12.4-6-systemd

Chapter 8. Installing Basic System Software

8.31. Ncurses-6.5-20250809

The Ncurses package contains libraries for terminal-independent handling of character screens.

Approximate build time: 0.2 SBU
Required disk space: 46 MB

8.31.1. Installation of Ncurses

Prepare Ncurses for compilation: 

./configure --prefix=/usr           \
            --mandir=/usr/share/man \
            --with-shared           \
            --without-debug         \
            --without-normal        \
            --with-cxx-shared       \
            --enable-pc-files       \
            --with-pkg-config-libdir=/usr/lib/pkgconfig

The meaning of the new configure options:

--with-shared

This makes Ncurses build and install shared C libraries.

--without-normal

This prevents Ncurses building and installing static C libraries.

--without-debug

This prevents Ncurses building and installing debug libraries.

--with-cxx-shared

This makes Ncurses build and install shared C++ bindings. It also prevents it building and installing static C++ bindings.

--enable-pc-files

This switch generates and installs .pc files for pkg-config.

Compile the package: 

make

This package has a test suite, but it can only be run after the package has been installed. The tests reside in the test/ directory. See the README file in that directory for further details.

The installation of this package will overwrite libncursesw.so.6.5 in-place. It may crash the shell process which is using code and data from the library file. Install the package with DESTDIR, and replace the library file correctly using the --remove-destination option of cp (the header curses.h is also edited to ensure the wide-character ABI to be used as what we've done in Section 6.3, “Ncurses-6.5-20250809”): 

make DESTDIR=$PWD/dest install
sed -e 's/^#if.*XOPEN.*$/#if 1/' \
    -i dest/usr/include/curses.h
cp --remove-destination -av dest/* /

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 (note that the .so links are only safe with curses.h edited to always use the wide-character ABI): 

for lib in ncurses form panel menu ; do
    ln -sfv lib${lib}w.so /usr/lib/lib${lib}.so
    ln -sfv ${lib}w.pc    /usr/lib/pkgconfig/${lib}.pc
done

Finally, make sure that old applications that look for -lcurses at build time are still buildable: 

ln -sfv libncursesw.so /usr/lib/libcurses.so

If desired, install the Ncurses documentation: 

cp -v -R doc -T /usr/share/doc/ncurses-6.5-20250809
[Note]

Note

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. However, the only known binary-only applications that link against non-wide-character Ncurses libraries require version 5. If you must have such libraries because of some binary-only application or to be compliant with LSB, build the package again with the following commands: 

make distclean
./configure --prefix=/usr    \
            --with-shared    \
            --without-normal \
            --without-debug  \
            --without-cxx-binding \
            --with-abi-version=5
make sources libs
cp -av lib/lib*.so.5* /usr/lib

8.31.2. Contents of Ncurses

Installed programs: captoinfo (link to tic), clear, infocmp, infotocap (link to tic), ncursesw6-config, reset (link to tset), tabs, tic, toe, tput, and tset
Installed libraries: libcurses.so (symlink), libform.so (symlink), libformw.so, libmenu.so (symlink), libmenuw.so, libncurses.so (symlink), libncursesw.so, libncurses++w.so, libpanel.so (symlink), and libpanelw.so,
Installed directories: /usr/share/tabset, /usr/share/terminfo, and /usr/share/doc/ncurses-6.5-20250809

Short Descriptions

captoinfo

Converts a termcap description into a terminfo description

clear

Clears the screen, if possible

infocmp

Compares or prints out terminfo descriptions

infotocap

Converts a terminfo description into a termcap description

ncursesw6-config

Provides configuration information for ncurses

reset

Reinitializes a terminal to its default values

tabs

Clears and sets tab stops on a terminal

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.]

toe

Lists all available terminal types, giving the primary name and description for each

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

tset

Can be used to initialize terminals

libncursesw

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++w

Contains C++ binding for other libraries in this package

libformw

Contains functions to implement forms

libmenuw

Contains functions to implement menus

libpanelw

Contains functions to implement panels