How to set custom search paths for the terminfo database when building ncurses from source

Question

How do I set custom search paths for the terminfo database when building ncurses from source?

To be more specific, how do I force the primary directory to be searched in '~/.terminfo'?

Answer 1

From the terminfo manpage:

Fetching Compiled Descriptions If the environment variable TERMINFO is set, it is interpreted as the pathname of a directory containing the compiled description you are working on. Only that directory is searched.

  If TERMINFO is not set, the ncurses version of the terminfo reader code
  will  instead  look  in  the  directory  $HOME/.terminfo for a compiled
  description. 

You may need to consult the manpage for information on how to compile the terminfo file.

I hope this helps.

Answer 2

Define the --datadir flag in configure, like:

configure --datadir=/usr/customshare

Read the notes in INSTALL file located in the root of ncurses files:

...

The location of the terminfo is set indirectly by the "--datadir" configure option, e.g., /usr/share/terminfo, given a datadir of /usr/share. You may want to override this if you are installing ncurses libraries in nonstandard locations, but wish to share the terminfo database.

...

--with-terminfo-dirs=XXX Specify a search-list of terminfo directories which will be compiled into the ncurses library (default: DATADIR/terminfo)