Re: cannot find libncurses

[JG <j2003gi@yahoo.es>]

Hi,

Reaz Baksh <baksh5179@rogers.com> writes:

> > Hello
> > 
> > Reaz Baksh (<baksh5179@rogers.com>) wrote:
> > 
> > >>From: J.H.M. Dassen (Ray) [mailto:fsmla@xinara.org]
> > > 
> > >>On Tue, Sep 30, 2003 at 13:45:38 -0400, Reaz Baksh wrote:
> > >>> When I type 'make menuconfig' I get the following:
> > >>> --------------------------------
> > >>> /usr/bin/ld: cannot find -lncurses
> > >>> collect2: ld returned 1 exit status
> > > 
> > >>You need to have the ncurses development files installed;
> > >>"apt-get install libncurses5-dev" should do that for you.
> > > 
> > > I tried that but I get:
> > > 
> > > Sorry, but the following packages have unmet dependencies:
> > >   libncurses5-dev: Depends: libncurses5 (= 5.2.20020112a-7) but
> > > 5.3.20030719-1 is to be installed
> > > E: Sorry, broken packages
> > 
> > What version of Debian are you using? 5.2.2002112a-7 is the ncurses
> > version from Woody, the other is not. Do you run a mixed system or are
> > you using any backports?
> > 
> > best regards
> >         Andreas Janssen
> > 
> 
> I am using Woody, when I run 'uname -a' I get the following:
> 
> Linux CR2416178-A 2.4.20 #2 SMP Sat May 31 22:39:43 EDT 2003 i686
> unknown unknown GNU/Linux 

The debian version name is saved in /etc/debian_version

$ cat /etc/debian_version

should tell you (it also appears in the console login prompt, and maybe
other places.

> 
> I dont think I've done anything to make it a 'mixed system' although I
> dont even know how to do that.  As for using any backports I dont
> think so unless I loaded a modified program somewhere.  

To know exactly which version of a package you have, (e.g. libncurses5)
you can type 

$ apt-cache policy libncurses5
libncurses5:
  Installed: 5.3.20030719-1
  Candidate: 5.3.20030719-1
  Version Table:
     5.3.20030719-2 0
        105 http://ftp.de.debian.org unstable/main Packages
 *** 5.3.20030719-1 0
        500 http://ftp.de.debian.org testing/main Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     5.2.20020112a-7 0
        990 http://ftp.de.debian.org stable/main Packages

(your output will be different)
It gives you: The installed version, the version to be installed, and
where they came from.

As you see libncurses5 has several versions, 

5.2.20020112a-7 belongs to stable
5.3.20030719-1 belongs to testing

So it seems that you are running a mixed system, and apt-get is trying
to install the stable version of libncurses5-dev, but it can not because
it is using the testing version of libncurses5. You can tell apt to
install libncurses5-dev from testing, and at the try to solve any
dependence problem using testing sources as:

$ apt-get -u install -t testing libncurses5-dev

This, of course, requires that you have proper testing lines in
/etc/apt/sources.list 

Hope this helps,

Jaume

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