Short note on how to install PHP Ncurses on Debian. This post assumes root level access.

Install pear and the and ncurses development packages:

apt-get update apt-get install -y php-pear apt-get install -y php5-dev apt-get install -y ncurses-dev apt-get install -y libncursesw5-dev

Install PHP ncurses (hit return on any prompts):

sudo pecl install ncurses

Edit /etc/php5/cli/php.ini and register the new extension by adding the following in the “; Dynamic Extensions ;” part:

extension=ncurses.so

To verify your install issue:

php -i | grep -i ncurses

Should output something similar to:

ncurses ncurses support => enabled ncurses library version => x.x