This is the GNU termcap library -- a library of C functions that enable programs to send control strings to terminals in a way independent of the terminal type. Most of this package is also distributed with GNU Emacs, but it is available in this separate distribution to make it easier to install as -ltermcap.
Created attachment 1209 [details] The Termcap Ebuild Script
Isn't termcap supposed to be more or less replaced by ncurses? I can't remember the last time I compiled an app by hand that couldn't link with -lncurses in stead of -ltermcap. Why add another library to do the same thing (at least if it's going to actually be used as dependencies in ebuilds)?
i know this. but since there is released a new version this year, i though that this would be a good idea. i think it is easier to use this one, but if the other devs thinks like you i'll accept it. but i need to hack all makefiles which depends on libtermcap. i didn' found another ebuild wchich depends on it (-lncurses)?!? i only need it because of some deps for other ebuilds i make.
I guess we could always do as LFS used to suggest (don't know if it still does, though); symlinking /lib/libcurses.so to /lib/libtermcap.so and perhaps even /usr/include/ncurses.h to /usr/include/termcap.h. I don't know how different the header files are, so it might not work at all. Is this "solution" too hackish?
You need this package if a program (that you cannot recompile) fails to run with the error message "...: can't load library 'libtermcap.so.2'" or complains about a missing /etc/termcap file That's a little tidbit from Debian's entry for the termcap-compat package they offer. So far, I have not noticed any ebuilds specifically call with this error. In the past what we have done is just use sed to replace -ltermcap with -lncurses in the Makefile.in files. For an example, please have a look at media-sound/festival. We had a discussion about termcap, and it was decided that since it truly is deprecated by ncurses, it is not necessary to have in gentoo. Thanks for the ebuild, though :)