# Ffi-ncurses version 0.3.1

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ffi-ncurses-version-0-3-1/160447>\
**Category:** Ruby\
**Created:** [February 16, 2009, 2:55pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ffi-ncurses-version-0-3-1/160447 "2009-02-16T14:55:22Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![sean](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/f0a364/32.png) [@sean](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/sean)\
**Post date:** [February 16, 2009, 2:55pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ffi-ncurses-version-0-3-1/160447/1 "2009-02-16T14:55:22Z")

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ffi-ncurses version 0.3.1  
by Sean O’Halpin  
[GitHub - seanohalpin/ffi-ncurses: Interface to ncurses using Ruby FFI (Foreign Function Interface)](http://github.com/seanohalpin/ffi-ncurses)

== DESCRIPTION

A wrapper for ncurses 5.x. Tested on Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) and Ubuntu  
8.04 with ruby 1.8.6 using ruby-ffi (\>= 0.2.0) and JRuby 1.1.6.

This point release fixes a problem with installing as a gem under  
JRuby, caused by  
the fact that JRuby has a built-in ffi and there does not appear to be a  
way  
to specify per-platform gem dependencies in a gemspec.

To install:

Ruby 1.8.6

$ sudo gem install ffi ffi-ncurses

JRuby 1.1.6

$ jruby -S gem install ffi-ncurses

Basic docs at [http://ffi-ncurses.rubyforge.org](http://ffi-ncurses.rubyforge.org). See the examples  
directory for  
real working code.

Regards,  
Sean

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![sean](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/f0a364/32.png) [@sean](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/sean)\
**Post date:** [February 17, 2009, 4:35pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ffi-ncurses-version-0-3-1/160447/2 "2009-02-17T16:35:42Z")

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Sean O’Halpin wrote:

> JRuby, caused by
> 
> $ jruby -S gem install ffi-ncurses
> 
> Basic docs at [http://ffi-ncurses.rubyforge.org](http://ffi-ncurses.rubyforge.org). See the examples directory for  
> real working code.
> 
> Regards,  
> Sean

Sean,

How easy would it be to wire up a compatible curses API (C-extension)  
on top of ffi-ncurses? JRuby is still missing this library and for  
compatibility-sake it would be nice to have this missing piece added?  
The plus if it is not so tough is we would end up making ffi-ncurses a  
distribution gem for JRuby too 🙂

-Tom

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![sean](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/f0a364/32.png) [@sean](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/sean)\
**Post date:** [February 17, 2009, 5:30pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ffi-ncurses-version-0-3-1/160447/3 "2009-02-17T17:30:57Z")

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Sean O’Halpin wrote:

> > -Tom
> 
> Hi Tom,
> 
> It’s on my roadmap. I’m planning to add an Ncurses compatibility layer  
> (but without the Menu and Forms interfaces to start with).
> 
> Regards,  
> Sean

Cool beans. We wish an army of ffi-lovers would come up and rewrite  
most of the thin-layer shim extensions… We are spread pretty thin.  
Thanks Sean…

-Tom

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![sean](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/f0a364/32.png) [@sean](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/sean)\
**Post date:** [February 17, 2009, 5:18pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ffi-ncurses-version-0-3-1/160447/4 "2009-02-17T17:18:34Z")

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On Tue, Feb 17, 2009 at 3:35 PM, Thomas E. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid)  
wrote:

> Sean,
> 
> How easy would it be to wire up a compatible curses API (C-extension) on  
> top of ffi-ncurses? JRuby is still missing this library and for  
> compatibility-sake it would be nice to have this missing piece added? The  
> plus if it is not so tough is we would end up making ffi-ncurses a  
> distribution gem for JRuby too 🙂
> 
> -Tom

Hi Tom,

It’s on my roadmap. I’m planning to add an Ncurses compatibility layer  
(but without the Menu and Forms interfaces to start with).

Regards,  
Sean