This is what I did which seems to fix it; first:
mv /usr/include/ncurses /usr/include/ncurses-old
Then in the source for ncurses-1.9.9e, I used:
./configure --prefix=/usr --with-normal --with-debug --enable-overwrite --with-shared
(before make && su -c make install)
Lo, it didn't recreate the /usr/include/ncurses directory, but did put
the following header files into /usr/include itself: curses.h
termcap.h term.h unctrl.h panel.h menu.h eti.h form.h.
``make menuconfig'' then worked.
And yes, I tried "make distclean" in the Linux source directory many
times before while attempting to solve this problem.
> From: Mike Crowe <mac@tanstafl.demon.co.uk>
> Message-Id: <199605261458.OAA01579@icarus.fysh.lspace.org>
> To: ulmo@q.net
> In-Reply-To: <199605211606.MAA32467@Q.Net>
> Organization: Fysh
>
[...]
> It's an ncurses problem. I had it with various versions around 1.9.7. It
> works fine with 1.9.4 but I haven't yet tested it with 1.9.9e.
>
> Good luck.
> --
> Mike Crowe <mac@lspace.org, M.A.Crowe@dcs.warwick.ac.uk>
In message <Pine.LNX.3.91.960526110500.2978A-100000@titus.cfw.com>,
"William E. Roadcap" writes:
>When menuconfig hangs, it is usually a sign that you have mixed ncurses
>header files or you upgraded/downgraded ncurses and didn't completely
>recompile lxdialog (check the README.Menuconfig file). Perhaps you have
>recently upgraded your distribution or ncurses?
>
>If after triple checking that you have a clean ncurses install, and
>recompiling lxdialog, you still can't get Menuconfig to run, please mail me
>direct and I will try my best to help you.
>
>__
>William E. Roadcap mailto:roadcapw@cfw.com
>TITUS Software ftp://titus.cfw.com/pub
>Waynesboro, Va (USA) http://www.cfw.com/~roadcapw