I'm trying to compile the GPL NETGEAR firmware for the WNR2000v3 router using Ubuntu 12.04.1 LTS.

I've downloaded and extracted the source, installed everything I think I need, yet there are two build dependencies that I cannot resolve:

> make menuconfig

....

Build dependency: Please install ncurses. (Missing libncurses.so or ncurses.h)
Build dependency: Please install zlib. (Missing libz.so or zlib.h)

I've tried apt-getting all of the following packages:

• libncurses5
• libncurses5:i386
• libncurses5-dev
• zlib1g
• zlib1g-dev
• zlib1g-dbg

The missing libs seem 'real': the target .so files aren't in /usr/lib, although the .h files are in /usr/include.

EDIT: some Googling told me of broken or missing symlinks.

I found the following:

/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libncurses.so.5 -> libncurses.so.5.9
/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libncurses.so.5.9
/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libncursesw.so.5 -> libncursesw.so.5.9
/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libncursesw.so.5.9

/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libz.so.1 -> libz.so.1.2.3.4
/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libz.so.1.2.3.4

so I tried to symlink these to /usr/lib:

/usr/lib/libncurses.so -> /lib/i386-linux-gnu/libncurses.so.5
/usr/lib/libz.so -> /lib/i386-linux-gnu/libz.so.1

but the project still complains about missing libncurses and zlib.

EDIT: I was able to get the dependencies to work under 8.04. Need to cross-reference things now.

Does anyone have some tips on how to debug this sort of issue?