Building, installing and using Finch on Ubuntu

[Luke Schierer]

On Wed, Sep 12, 2007 at 01:08:52PM -0700, Bill Fassler wrote:
> I am trying to use Finch (a regular version on a Ubuntu box).  I untarred a fresh untouched tarball and compiled and built with typical commands: (I.E. ./configure --disable-gtkui; make; make install).  I see the finch binary in /usr/local/bin as I expect, but can't seem to launch it any way other than from a terminal and then the ncurses interface pops up (inside the terminal) and I can use the tab key to navigate a little, but all the functionality I should have as described on your "how to use finch" page doesn't seem to be there. For one example F10 pulls down the terminal menu and not Finch's menu (obviously a binding issue).  I can use ALT-A to bring up the accounts and I can select a protocol, but then nothing seems to happen. I can't seem to figure out how to use it following the directions. I assume things might work better if I could get it to launch independently and not nested inside a terminal.  Can anyone tell me what I am doing wrong?
> 
> Bill

Finch is an ncurses program, it *must* be inside a terminal of some sort
(or in an ssh session or screen session).  If you are looking for
something that does not require a terminal, then finch is not going to
be the right client for you.

luke