Q. I see following error when I run make command to install specific software:
curses.h: No such file or directory Problem Solution
How do I fix this error under Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) or CentOS / Fedora Linux?
A.. You need to install the curses library which include routines for a terminal-independent method of updating character screens with reasonable optimization. The ncurses (new curses) library is a freely distributable replacement for the
discontinued 4.4 BSD classic curses library.
Fix this error under RHEL / Fedora / CentOS Linux
Type the following command at a shell prompt as root user:
# yum install ncurses-devel ncurses
Sample output:
Loading "downloadonly" plugin Loading "rhnplugin" plugin Loading "security" plugin rhel-x86_64-server-vt-5 100% |=========================| 1.2 kB 00:00 rhel-x86_64-server-5 100% |=========================| 1.2 kB 00:00 Setting up Install Process Parsing package install arguments Package ncurses - 5.5-24.20060715.x86_64 is already installed. Package ncurses - 5.5-24.20060715.i386 is already installed. Resolving Dependencies --> Running transaction check ---> Package ncurses-devel.x86_64 0:5.5-24.20060715 set to be updated ---> Package ncurses-devel.i386 0:5.5-24.20060715 set to be updated --> Finished Dependency Resolution Dependencies Resolved ============================================================================= Package Arch Version Repository Size ============================================================================= Installing: ncurses-devel x86_64 5.5-24.20060715 rhel-x86_64-server-5 1.7 M ncurses-devel i386 5.5-24.20060715 rhel-x86_64-server-5 1.6 M Transaction Summary ============================================================================= Install 2 Package(s) Update 0 Package(s) Remove 0 Package(s) Total download size: 3.3 M Is this ok [y/N]: y Downloading Packages: (1/2): ncurses-devel-5.5- 100% |=========================| 1.6 MB 00:01 (2/2): ncurses-devel-5.5- 100% |=========================| 1.7 MB 00:01 Running rpm_check_debug Running Transaction Test Finished Transaction Test Transaction Test Succeeded Running Transaction Installing: ncurses-devel ######################### [1/2] Installing: ncurses-devel ######################### [2/2] Installed: ncurses-devel.x86_64 0:5.5-24.20060715 ncurses-devel.i386 0:5.5-24.20060715 Complete!
Fix this error under Debian / Ubuntu Linux
Open terminal and type the following command to install ncurses:
$ sudo apt-get install libncurses5-dev libncursesw5-dev
Now you should able to compile any program under Linux.
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{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
cool thanks
Thanks! It helps me a lot.
I installed libncursesw5-dev in ubuntu by using
$ sudo apt-get install libncurses5-dev libncursesw5-dev
command and also checked in synaptic package manager but I’m still facing the same problem when I’m going to compile in gcc.
Well, maybe you forgot to add “-lncurses” at the end of command.
Like this:
gcc -o game main.c -lncurses
I hope this may help you.
Oh! Perhaps the setings of curses on your computer hadn’t been set to use ncurses lib automaticly. You may use ” ls -l /usr/include/curses.h” to check this. If curses.h is not a link to ncurses.h (or ncurses.h is not a link to curses.h), you need to add ” -I /usr/include/ncurses ” to use lib ncurses forcely.
cool, thanks
Thanks buddy…
Thanks Pal, I was installing cscope on RHEL 6, on which I had ncurses package installed already. ncurses-devel package did the magic.
Thanks for the help!
When I’m trying this “sudo apt-get install libncurses5-dev libncursesw5-dev”
the follwoing error occur;
Reading package lists… Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information… Done
E: Unable to locate package libncruses5-dev
E: Unable to locate package libncrusesw5-dev
You can use “apt-cache search ncurses ncursesw” to find out what the exactly name.