linux-embedded: which shell, termcap or ncurses ?

[Brendan Simon]

I am trying to get a powerpc embedded system up and running.  I have
compiled the kernel and can mount a root filesystem using initrd or
nfs.  I now need to get a shell running so I can call shell scripts to
setup the IP addresses etc via ifconfig (is there any other way ?).

I got the latest version of bash(2.0.3) and ncurses(5.0).  Bash requires
termcap but apparently termcap is obsolete and is replaced by ncurses.

I had some trouble getting ncurses to cross-compile but I manged to hack
around with configure, make and the source code and eventually get it to
compile and install.  Bash is proving more difficult.

Does anyone have any recommendations for a good shell and termcap that
cross-compiles without too much effort ?  If so, where can I get them
and are they maintained ?

Has anyone cross-compiled a recent version of bash and ncurses ?  Are
they huge ?  Will they fit on a 4MB initrd image ?

Thanks,
Brendan Simon.


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