If a Linux distribution is RPM based, the package name is libncurses-dev and if it is Debian based, it is ncurses-devel. Here are some examples:
# cat /etc/os-release | grep "PRETTY_NAME"
PRETTY_NAME="Debian GNU/Linux 9 (stretch)"
# apt-cache search libncurses-dev
libncurses5-dev - developer's libraries for ncurses
# cat /etc/os-release | grep "PRETTY_NAME"
PRETTY_NAME="Ubuntu 16.04.3 LTS"
# apt-cache search libncurses-dev
libncurses5-dev - developer's libraries for ncurses
# cat /etc/os-release | grep "PRETTY_NAME"
PRETTY_NAME="CentOS Linux 7 (Core)"
# yum search ncurses-devel
====================================================================== N/S matched: ncurses-devel =======================================================================
ncurses-devel.i686 : Development files for the ncurses library
ncurses-devel.x86_64 : Development files for the ncurses library
# cat /etc/os-release | grep "PRETTY_NAME"
PRETTY_NAME="Fedora 27 (Twenty Seven)"
# yum search ncurses-devel
Last metadata expiration check: 0:05:07 ago on Wed Feb 28 19:20:24 2018.
================================================================== Name Exactly Matched: ncurses-devel ==================================================================
ncurses-devel.i686 : Development files for the ncurses library
ncurses-devel.x86_64 : Development files for the ncurses library
I have tried RPM based and Debian based linux distros as they are extensively used and widely distributed. For other (independent) Linux distributions, it is possible they have their own names for the ncurses development package.
Thanks,
- Arvind.