ncurses 5.6 installed /lib/libcursesw.so -> libncursesw.so.5.6. ncurses 5.7 doesn't install /lib/libcursesw.so, but does install /usr/lib/libcursesw.so which only references the file in /lib. I suppose there's little point in keeping -lcursesw working (it's ncurses-specific, so you might just as well use -lncursesw). If you agree, the file in /usr/lib should go. If you want to continue supporting -lcursesw, the link in /lib needs to be restored. emerge --info will follow.
Portage 2.2_rc20 (default/linux/x86/2008.0, gcc-4.3.2, glibc-2.9_p20081201-r1, 2.6.28-gentoo i686) ================================================================= System uname: Linux-2.6.28-gentoo-i686-AMD_Athlon-tm-_64_X2_Dual_Core_Processor_4200+-with-glibc2.0 Timestamp of tree: Tue, 06 Jan 2009 18:15:01 +0000 app-shells/bash: 3.2_p48 dev-lang/python: 2.5.2-r8 sys-apps/baselayout: 2.0.0 sys-apps/openrc: 0.4.1-r1 sys-apps/sandbox: 1.3.2 sys-devel/autoconf: 2.63 sys-devel/automake: 1.10.2 sys-devel/binutils: 2.19 sys-devel/gcc-config: 1.4.0-r4 sys-devel/libtool: 2.2.6a virtual/os-headers: 2.6.28-r1 ACCEPT_KEYWORDS="x86 ~x86" CBUILD="i686-pc-linux-gnu" CFLAGS="-march=athlon64 -O2 -g" CHOST="i686-pc-linux-gnu" CONFIG_PROTECT="/etc" CONFIG_PROTECT_MASK="/etc/ca-certificates.conf /etc/env.d /etc/gconf /etc/gentoo-release /etc/revdep-rebuild /etc/sandbox.d /etc/terminfo /etc/udev/rules.d" CXXFLAGS="-march=athlon64 -O2 -g" DISTDIR="/usr/portage/distfiles" EMERGE_DEFAULT_OPTS="" FEATURES="distlocks fixpackages installsources notitles parallel-fetch preserve-libs protect-owned sandbox sfperms splitdebug strict unmerge-orphans userfetch" GENTOO_MIRRORS="http://distfiles.gentoo.org http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/gentoo" LANG="en_GB.UTF-8" LDFLAGS="-Wl,-O1" PKGDIR="/usr/portage/packages" PORTAGE_RSYNC_OPTS="--recursive --links --safe-links --perms --times --compress --force --whole-file --delete --stats --timeout=180 --exclude=/distfiles --exclude=/local --exclude=/packages" PORTAGE_TMPDIR="/var/tmp" PORTDIR="/usr/portage" SYNC="rsync://rsync.gentoo.org/gentoo-portage" USE="bindist crypt ipv6 ncurses nls nocxx pam perl readline unicode x86" ALSA_CARDS="ali5451 als4000 atiixp atiixp-modem bt87x ca0106 cmipci emu10k1 emu10k1x ens1370 ens1371 es1938 es1968 fm801 hda-intel intel8x0 intel8x0m maestro3 trident usb-audio via82xx via82xx-modem ymfpci" ALSA_PCM_PLUGINS="adpcm alaw asym copy dmix dshare dsnoop empty extplug file hooks iec958 ioplug ladspa lfloat linear meter mmap_emul mulaw multi null plug rate route share shm softvol" APACHE2_MODULES="actions alias auth_basic authn_alias authn_anon authn_dbm authn_default authn_file authz_dbm authz_default authz_groupfile authz_host authz_owner authz_user autoindex cache dav dav_fs dav_lock deflate dir disk_cache env expires ext_filter file_cache filter headers include info log_config logio mem_cache mime mime_magic negotiation rewrite setenvif speling status unique_id userdir usertrack vhost_alias" ELIBC="glibc" INPUT_DEVICES="keyboard mouse evdev" KERNEL="linux" LCD_DEVICES="bayrad cfontz cfontz633 glk hd44780 lb216 lcdm001 mtxorb ncurses text" USERLAND="GNU" VIDEO_CARDS="fbdev glint i810 intel mach64 mga neomagic nv r128 radeon savage sis tdfx trident vesa vga via vmware voodoo" Unset: CPPFLAGS, CTARGET, FFLAGS, INSTALL_MASK, LC_ALL, LINGUAS, MAKEOPTS, PORTAGE_COMPRESS, PORTAGE_COMPRESS_FLAGS, PORTAGE_RSYNC_EXTRA_OPTS, PORTDIR_OVERLAY
the ebuild never generated those symlinks, the upstream package did. i dont really care about it, so the linker script can go. the point of it was to match static libraries in /usr/lib/, not to mirror things in /lib/. http://sources.gentoo.org/sys-libs/ncurses/ncurses-5.7.ebuild?r1=1.3&r2=1.4
