Set up flutter - android - libncurses5 not in Unbuntu 24.04 (Kubuntu)

[Promis-E]

Page URL

https://docs.flutter.dev/get-started/install/linux/android/

Page source

https://github.com/flutter/website/tree/main/src/content/get-started/install/linux/android.md

Describe the problem

following the instructions when setting up flutter in Kubuntu (Ubuntu24.04) https://docs.flutter.dev/get-started/install/linux/android we have to installl libncurses5:amd64 . However , I cannot , and from this link on reddit it says that libncurse5 has been removed from Ubuntu 24.04 https://www.reddit.com/r/Ubuntu/comments/1cm97bg/libncurses5dev/?tl=es-es

Expected fix

In the link from reddit quoted above there is a work around. I expect that the work around to be confirmed and the documentation updated to reflect what users should be doing

Additional context

I discovered this when trying to set up flutter for the first time

I would like to fix this problem.

• I will try and fix this problem on docs.flutter.dev.

[surfmuggle]

I am running into the same issue with ubuntu 24. It seems that 20 & 22 were the last versions that had libncurses5
AFAIU from this discussion libncurses5 package missing on 23.10 the cause is that debian dropped support for libncurses5.

I would be willing to switch the linux distro. But to my understanding of this fedora package list there is no package with a name libnc*

If the docs would contain a guide or a link to adding it manually this would be great.

[parlough]

@reidbaker @cbracken Any advice here (or know anyone who might)? Should we just document or link out to a workaround for installing libncurses5? Would libncurses6 work?

Thanks!

[brainwo]

I'm not on Ubuntu, but looking at the recent ppa packaged deb for Android Studio, it seems like Android Studio no longer depends on ncurses.

Download file: https://launchpad.net/~maarten-fonville/+archive/ubuntu/android-studio/+files/android-studio-2024.2.2_2024.2.2.6~noble+0_amd64.deb

Package: android-studio-2024.2.2
Version: 2024.2.2.6~noble+0
Architecture: amd64
Maintainer: Maarten Fonville <[email protected]>
Installed-Size: 23
Pre-Depends: wget, coreutils
Depends: unzip
Suggests: libc6-i386, lib32z1

Download file: https://launchpad.net/~maarten-fonville/+archive/ubuntu/android-studio/+files/android-studio-2020.3.1_2020.3.1.22~xenial+0_amd64.deb

Package: android-studio-2020.3.1
Version: 2020.3.1.22~xenial+0
Architecture: amd64
Maintainer: Maarten Fonville <[email protected]>
Installed-Size: 28
Pre-Depends: wget, coreutils
Depends: java-sdk, unzip
Recommends: libc6-i386, lib32stdc++6, lib32gcc1, lib32ncurses5, lib32z1
Suggests: default-jdk

[brainwo]

Seems like Android Studio no longer needs ncurses. From what I gather, it was used for adb that was loaded alongside with Android Studio.

I uninstalled ncurses in my machine. Android Studio seems to run just fine, so does adb.

[reidbaker]

If that is the case then we can remove the documentation to install ncurses.

[parlough]

Thanks for looking in to that and clarifying @brainwo! I appreciate it :D

Let's remove the mention of it as a prerequisite and monitor for anyone raising issues without it.