# Ncurses and Mac OS X

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ncurses-and-mac-os-x/116688>\
**Category:** Ruby\
**Created:** [October 8, 2007, 7:23pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ncurses-and-mac-os-x/116688 "2007-10-08T19:23:17Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Ari\_B](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/a698b9/32.png) [@Ari\_B](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Ari_B)\
**Post date:** [October 8, 2007, 7:23pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ncurses-and-mac-os-x/116688/1 "2007-10-08T19:23:17Z")

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Hey all

After a ncurses error while using sup (mail client in ruby) [error  
follows]:

The problem was: ‘couldn’t initialize curses color pair 4, 0 (key  
1)’ (error type ArgumentError)  
A backtrace follows:  
/usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/sup-0.1/lib/sup/colormap.rb:90:in  
`color_for': couldn't initialize curses color pair 4, 0 (key 1) (ArgumentError) from /usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/sup-0.1/lib/sup/ colormap.rb:114:in`send’  
from /usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/sup-0.1/lib/sup/  
colormap.rb:114:in `method_missing' from /usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/sup-0.1/lib/sup/ buffer.rb:88:in`write’  
from /usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/sup-0.1/lib/sup/modes/  
scroll-mode.rb:44:in `draw' from /usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/sup-0.1/lib/sup/modes/ scroll-mode.rb:42:in`each’  
from /usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/sup-0.1/lib/sup/modes/  
scroll-mode.rb:42:in `draw' from /usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/sup-0.1/lib/sup/modes/ line-cursor-mode.rb:24:in`draw’  
from /usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/sup-0.1/lib/sup/  
buffer.rb:79:in `draw' from /usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/sup-0.1/lib/sup/ buffer.rb:221:in`draw\_screen’  
from /usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/sup-0.1/bin/sup:154  
from /usr/local/bin/sup:16:in `load’  
from /usr/local/bin/sup:16

I decided I should try reinstalling ncurses and the like on my Mac OS  
X PPC

So the main reason i’m writing is… What techniques did other  
people use for installing ncurses, and what should I watch out for?

Thanks,  
~ Ari  
English is like a pseudo-random number generator - there are a  
bajillion rules to it, but nobody cares.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Ari\_B](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/a698b9/32.png) [@Ari\_B](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Ari_B)\
**Post date:** [October 8, 2007, 8:42pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ncurses-and-mac-os-x/116688/2 "2007-10-08T20:42:37Z")

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Isn’t it already installed in OS X?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Ari\_B](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/a698b9/32.png) [@Ari\_B](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Ari_B)\
**Post date:** [October 8, 2007, 9:19pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ncurses-and-mac-os-x/116688/3 "2007-10-08T21:19:32Z")

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Supposedly, but the error still persists. Any hints?

On Oct 8, 2007, at 2:40 PM, John J. wrote:

> Isn’t it already installed in OS X?

Ari  
--------------------------------------------|  
If you’re not living on the edge,  
then you’re just wasting space.