diff --git a/recipes/dev/php84/recipe.toml b/recipes/dev/php84/recipe.toml
index a8defe88..7144de02 100644
--- a/recipes/dev/php84/recipe.toml
+++ b/recipes/dev/php84/recipe.toml
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ dependencies = [
     "libxml2",
     "libiconv",
     "libzip",
-    "ncurses",
+    "ncursesw",
     "nghttp2",
     "openssl1",
     "openssl3", # put this after openssl1
diff --git a/recipes/groups/dev-redox/recipe.toml b/recipes/groups/dev-redox/recipe.toml
index 120c5cbc..783b8a65 100644
--- a/recipes/groups/dev-redox/recipe.toml
+++ b/recipes/groups/dev-redox/recipe.toml
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ dependencies = [
     "liborbital",
     "libsodium",
     "libxml2",
-    "ncurses",
+    "ncursesw",
     "nghttp2",
     "openssl3",
     "orbclient",
diff --git a/recipes/libs/readline/recipe.toml b/recipes/libs/readline/recipe.toml
index 82eb522b..8d3b9670 100644
--- a/recipes/libs/readline/recipe.toml
+++ b/recipes/libs/readline/recipe.toml
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ patches = [
 [build]
 template = "custom"
 dependencies = [
-    "ncurses",
+    "ncursesw",
 ]
 script = """
 DYNAMIC_INIT
diff --git a/recipes/wip/libs/other/termcap/recipe.toml b/recipes/libs/termcap/recipe.toml
similarity index 90%
rename from recipes/wip/libs/other/termcap/recipe.toml
rename to recipes/libs/termcap/recipe.toml
index 77eadc22..55a613ea 100644
--- a/recipes/wip/libs/other/termcap/recipe.toml
+++ b/recipes/libs/termcap/recipe.toml
@@ -1,9 +1,9 @@
-#TODO need testing
 [source]
 tar = "https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/termcap/termcap-1.3.1.tar.gz"
 [build]
 template = "custom"
 script = """
+DYNAMIC_STATIC_INIT
 COOKBOOK_CONFIGURE_FLAGS+=(
     --prefix="${COOKBOOK_STAGE}/usr"
 )
diff --git a/recipes/shells/bash/recipe.toml b/recipes/shells/bash/recipe.toml
index 3bb164d2..fd0fdca4 100644
--- a/recipes/shells/bash/recipe.toml
+++ b/recipes/shells/bash/recipe.toml
@@ -8,16 +8,13 @@ patches = [
 [build]
 template = "custom"
 dependencies = [
-    "gettext",
-    "readline",
+    "termcap",
 ]
 script = """
 # compiled statically
 COOKBOOK_CONFIGURE_FLAGS+=(
-    ac_cv_func_wcwidth=no # TODO: add more wc functions and remove this
     bash_cv_func_sigsetjmp=no
     bash_cv_getenv_redef=no
-    --disable-multibyte # TODO: add more multibyte functions and remove this
     --enable-static-link # This ensures loadables are not built, which will fail
 )
 COOKBOOK_MAKE_JOBS=1 # workaround for parallel make bugs
diff --git a/recipes/tools/nano/recipe.toml b/recipes/tools/nano/recipe.toml
index 875e01e7..c1e1b332 100644
--- a/recipes/tools/nano/recipe.toml
+++ b/recipes/tools/nano/recipe.toml
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ tar = "https://www.nano-editor.org/dist/v7/nano-7.2.tar.xz"
 [build]
 template = "custom"
 dependencies = [
-    "ncurses",
+    "ncursesw",
 ]
 script = """
 DYNAMIC_INIT
diff --git a/recipes/tools/vim/recipe.toml b/recipes/tools/vim/recipe.toml
index 850bce19..5b8c1c3f 100644
--- a/recipes/tools/vim/recipe.toml
+++ b/recipes/tools/vim/recipe.toml
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ blake3 = "d1f5802ceb047b09143f1764bf4016f084cf7e6c026c7047919264c9f262a5dd"
 patches = ["vim.patch"]
 
 [build]
-dependencies = ["ncurses"]
+dependencies = ["ncursesw"]
 template = "custom"
 script = """
 DYNAMIC_INIT
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ export vim_cv_memmove_handles_overlap=yes
 
 COOKBOOK_CONFIGURE="./configure"
 COOKBOOK_CONFIGURE_FLAGS+=(
-    --with-tlib=ncurses
+    --with-tlib=ncursesw
 )
 cookbook_configure
 """
diff --git a/recipes/tui/ncdu/recipe.toml b/recipes/tui/ncdu/recipe.toml
index bd885f8d..df3879f1 100644
--- a/recipes/tui/ncdu/recipe.toml
+++ b/recipes/tui/ncdu/recipe.toml
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ dependencies = ["terminfo"]
 
 [build]
 template = "custom"
-dependencies = ["ncurses"]
+dependencies = ["ncursesw"]
 script = """
 DYNAMIC_INIT
 cookbook_configure