How to set custom search paths for the terminfo database when building ncurses from source

Question

How do I set custom search paths for the terminfo database when building ncurses from source?

To be more specific, how do I force the primary directory to be searche

Answer 1

From the terminfo manpage:

Fetching Compiled Descriptions If the environment variable TERMINFO is set, it is interpreted as the pathname of a directory containing the compiled description you are working on. Only that directory is searched.

  If TERMINFO is not set, the ncurses version of the terminfo reader code
  will  instead  look  in  the  directory  $HOME/.terminfo for a compiled
  description. 

You may need to consult the manpage for information on how to compile the terminfo file.

I hope this helps.