diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index fad306a4fb..15bf059c89 100755
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -984,7 +984,6 @@ case "$host_os" in
     AC_CHECK_LIB(socket, main)
     AC_CHECK_LIB(nsl, main)
     AC_CHECK_LIB(umem, main)
-    CURSES=-lcurses
     SOLARIS="solaris"
     ;;
   linux*)
@@ -1050,40 +1049,47 @@ dnl ---------------------
 dnl Integrated VTY option
 dnl ---------------------
 case "${enable_vtysh}" in
-  "no") VTYSH="";;
-  *)    VTYSH="vtysh";
-         AC_DEFINE(VTYSH,,VTY shell)
-dnl	 Vtysh uses libreadline, which looks for termcap functions at
-dnl	 configure time.  We follow readlines search order.
-dnl	 The required procedures are in libtermcap on NetBSD, in
-dnl	 [TODO] on Linux, and in [TODO] on Solaris.
-	 AC_CHECK_LIB(termcap, tputs, LIBREADLINE="$LIBREADLINE -ltermcap",
-	   [AC_CHECK_LIB(tinfo, tputs, LIBREADLINE="$LIBREADLINE -ltinfo",
-	     [AC_CHECK_LIB(curses, tputs, LIBREADLINE="$LIBREADLINE -lcurses",
-	       [AC_CHECK_LIB(ncurses, tputs, 
-	                     LIBREADLINE="$LIBREADLINE -lncurses")]
-	      )]
-	    )]
-	  )
-         AC_CHECK_LIB(readline, main, LIBREADLINE="-lreadline $LIBREADLINE",,
-                      "$LIBREADLINE")
-         if test $ac_cv_lib_readline_main = no; then
-           AC_MSG_ERROR([vtysh needs libreadline but was not found and usable on your system.])
-         fi
-	 AC_CHECK_HEADER(readline/history.h)
-	 if test $ac_cv_header_readline_history_h = no;then
-           AC_MSG_ERROR([readline is too old to have readline/history.h, please update to the latest readline library.])
-	 fi
-	 AC_CHECK_LIB(readline, rl_completion_matches, 
-	              LIBREADLINE="$LIBREADLINE",, "$LIBREADLINE")
-         if test $ac_cv_lib_readline_rl_completion_matches = no; then
-           AC_DEFINE(rl_completion_matches,completion_matches,Old readline)
-	 fi
-	 AC_SEARCH_LIBS([append_history], [readline], [frr_cv_append_history=yes], [frr_cv_append_history=no])
-	 if test "$frr_cv_append_history" = yes; then
-	   AC_DEFINE(HAVE_APPEND_HISTORY, 1, [Have history.h append_history])
-	 fi
-	 ;;
+"no")
+  VTYSH="";;
+*)
+  VTYSH="vtysh";
+  AC_DEFINE(VTYSH,,VTY shell)
+
+  prev_libs="$LIBS"
+  AC_CHECK_LIB(readline, main, [
+    LIBREADLINE="-lreadline"
+  ], [
+    dnl readline failed - it might be incorrectly linked and missing its
+    dnl termcap/tinfo/curses dependency.  see if we can fix that...
+    AC_SEARCH_LIBS(tputs, [termcap tinfo curses ncurses], [
+      LIBREADLINE="$ac_cv_search_tputs"
+    ], [
+      AC_MSG_ERROR([libreadline (needed for vtysh) not found and/or missing dependencies])
+    ])
+
+    dnl re-try with the lib we found above
+    unset ac_cv_lib_readline_main
+    AC_CHECK_LIB(readline, main, [
+      LIBREADLINE="-lreadline $LIBREADLINE"
+    ], [
+      AC_MSG_ERROR([libreadline (needed for vtysh) not found and/or missing dependencies])
+    ], [$LIBREADLINE])
+  ], [])
+  LIBS="$prev_libs"
+
+  AC_CHECK_HEADER(readline/history.h)
+  if test $ac_cv_header_readline_history_h = no;then
+    AC_MSG_ERROR([readline is too old to have readline/history.h, please update to the latest readline library.])
+  fi
+  AC_CHECK_LIB(readline, rl_completion_matches, [true], [], [$LIBREADLINE])
+  if test $ac_cv_lib_readline_rl_completion_matches = no; then
+    AC_DEFINE(rl_completion_matches,completion_matches,Old readline)
+  fi
+  AC_CHECK_LIB(readline, [append_history], [frr_cv_append_history=yes], [frr_cv_append_history=no], [$LIBREADLINE])
+  if test "$frr_cv_append_history" = yes; then
+    AC_DEFINE(HAVE_APPEND_HISTORY, 1, [Have history.h append_history])
+  fi
+  ;;
 esac
 AC_SUBST(LIBREADLINE)
 AM_CONDITIONAL(VTYSH, test "x$VTYSH" = "xvtysh")
@@ -1484,7 +1490,6 @@ fi
 AM_CONDITIONAL([ENABLE_BGP_VNC], [test x${enable_bgp_vnc} != xno])
 
 AC_SUBST(SOLARIS)
-AC_SUBST(CURSES)
 AC_CHECK_LIB(crypt, crypt, [],
 		    [AC_CHECK_LIB(crypto, DES_crypt)])
 AC_CHECK_LIB(resolv, res_init)
diff --git a/debianpkg/control b/debianpkg/control
index 67b701e75d..ea977937bf 100644
--- a/debianpkg/control
+++ b/debianpkg/control
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ Priority: optional
 Maintainer: Nobody <nobody@frrouting.org>
 Uploaders: Nobody <nobody@frrouting.org>
 XSBC-Original-Maintainer: <maintainers@frrouting.org>
-Build-Depends: debhelper (>= 7.0.50~), libncurses5-dev, libreadline-dev, libpam0g-dev | libpam-dev, libcap-dev, texinfo (>= 4.7), autotools-dev, libpcre3-dev, gawk, chrpath, libsnmp-dev, git, dh-autoreconf, libjson-c-dev, libjson-c2 | libjson-c3, dh-systemd, libsystemd-dev, bison, flex, libc-ares-dev, pkg-config, python (>= 2.7) | python3, python-sphinx | python3-sphinx, libpython-dev | libpython3-dev, install-info
+Build-Depends: debhelper (>= 7.0.50~), libreadline-dev, libpam0g-dev | libpam-dev, libcap-dev, texinfo (>= 4.7), autotools-dev, libpcre3-dev, gawk, chrpath, libsnmp-dev, git, dh-autoreconf, libjson-c-dev, libjson-c2 | libjson-c3, dh-systemd, libsystemd-dev, bison, flex, libc-ares-dev, pkg-config, python (>= 2.7) | python3, python-sphinx | python3-sphinx, libpython-dev | libpython3-dev, install-info
 Standards-Version: 3.9.6
 Homepage: http://www.frrouting.org/
 
diff --git a/vtysh/subdir.am b/vtysh/subdir.am
index 932429a87c..66a31ffff3 100644
--- a/vtysh/subdir.am
+++ b/vtysh/subdir.am
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ noinst_HEADERS += \
 	vtysh/vtysh_user.h \
 	# end
 
-vtysh_vtysh_LDADD = lib/libfrr.la @LIBCAP@ @LIBREADLINE@ @LIBS@ @CURSES@ @LIBPAM@
+vtysh_vtysh_LDADD = lib/libfrr.la @LIBCAP@ @LIBREADLINE@ @LIBS@ @LIBPAM@
 
 EXTRA_DIST += vtysh/extract.pl