On 2014-09-19 09:02 +0200, Vincent McIntyre wrote:
> Package: debian-faq
> Severity: wishlist
>
> The faq [1] says:
>
> Debian uses the terminfo database and the ncurses library of terminal
> interface routes, rather than the termcap database and the termcap
> library. Users who are compiling programs that require some knowledge
> of the terminal interface should replace references to libtermcap with
> references to libncurses.
>
> To support binaries that have already been linked with the termcap
> library, and for which you do not have the source, Debian provides
> a package called termcap-compat. This provides both libtermcap.so.2
> and /etc/termcap. Install this package if the program fails to run
> with the error message "can't load library 'libtermcap.so.2'", or
> complains about a missing /etc/termcap file.
>
> All of which appears to be out of date now on wheezy.
> A better text might be something like:
>
> Debian uses the terminfo database and the ncurses library of terminal
> interface routes, rather than the termcap database and the termcap
> library. The low-level terminfo library has been split out from the
> general ncurses library, making a new package called libtinfo5.
> libncurses is linked to libtinfo, so users who are compiling programs
> that require some knowledge of the terminal interface should replace
> references to libtermcap with references to libncurses.
The libtinfo split is transparent and not really relevant for users, and
for compiling programs expecting libtermcap it is sufficient (and
usually necessary) to install the libncurses5-dev package. Linking with
-ltermcap has always been supported, so no need to replace references.
> To support binaries that have already been linked with the termcap
> library, and for which you do not have the source, you will have to
> find the library source and compile it yourself. Debian used to provide
> a package called termcap-compat which contained both libtermcap.so.2
> and /etc/termcap, but this was removed from the distribution in 2005.
Apparently symlinking libtinfo.so.5 to libtermcap.so.2 works and lets
the application use the terminfo database instead of /etc/termcap, but
this is something I'd rather not guarantee.
Cheers,
Sven
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