Building HelloWorld C++ Program in Linux with ncurses

Question

I successfully ran sudo apt-get install libncurses5-dev

Within my Eclipse window I then try to build the following HelloWord.cpp program:

#include <ncurses.h>

int main()
{
    initscr();                 /* Start curses mode     */
    printw("Hello World !!!"); /* Print Hello World    */
    refresh();                 /* Print it on to the real screen */
    getch();                   /* Wait for user input */
    endwin();                  /* End curses mode    */

    return 0;
}

I get the following error:

Invoking: GCC C++ Linker
g++ -m32 -lncurses -L/opt/lib -o "Test_V"  ./src/curseTest.o ./src/trajectory.o ./src/xJus-epos.o   -lEposCmd
/usr/bin/ld: cannot find -lncurses
collect2: error: ld returned 1 exit status
make: *** [Test_V] Error 1

It looks like the compiler is searching for the ncurses library and can't find it? I checked /usr/lib and the library does not exist there so do I need to manually link the ncurses library there - I thought the get-apt installer would automatically do this?

Answer 1

g++ HelloWorld.cpp -lncurses -o HelloWolrd

If you have a 32-bit machine, gcc compile m32 auto. If you have a 64-bit machine and you want to compile 32bits you

Answer 2

Your arguments are not in the correct order. You must specify all source files first and then linker search directories before specifying the libraries to link with. Your command should be like this:

g++ HelloWorld.o -L/opt/lib -lncurses -o HelloWorld

Taken from comment by @ChrisDodd:

Your options are in the wrong order -- -L must be BEFORE -l and both must be after all .o