Is ncurses terminfo compatible with my system?
Sometimes. Terminfo is compiled into binary form, with booleans, numbers and strings in arrays. As long as the array items line up, and the headers (that tell how long the arrays are) are compatible, ncurses and your vendor’s system can each use the same terminfo database. Older sytems (e.g,. those based on SVr3) implement a subset of the SVr4 terminfo. For example, HP-UX 9 is “compatible” up to the entries that would describe graphic (box) characters. There it diverges. Other systems (e.g., Digital Unix 4.x and the older AIX 3.2.5) use different formats and are not compatible. However, terminfo source is compatible and can be compiled using the appropriate tool (usually tic). Some terminfo descriptions may produce warnings (e.g., the memu/meml capabilities in the standard xterm distribution), but the tools compile what they recognize and warn about the rest. The ncurses tic program recognizes a wider range of input than other terminfo compilers, including extensions coordinated with i
