import pwn crashes in PyCharm, but works when run from terminal

Question

When I try to run the line import pwn in PyCharm, it crashes with this error message:

/usr/local/bin/python3.8 /Users/ianzhang/Documents/Coding/CTF/buffer_overflow1.py
Warning: _curses.error: setupterm: could not find terminfo database

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/Users/ianzhang/Documents/Coding/CTF/buffer_overflow1.py", line 1, in <module>
    import pwn
  File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.8/lib/python3.8/site-packages/pwn/__init__.py", line 4, in <module>
    from pwn.toplevel import *
  File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.8/lib/python3.8/site-packages/pwn/toplevel.py", line 20, in <module>
    import pwnlib
  File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.8/lib/python3.8/site-packages/pwnlib/__init__.py", line 43, in <module>
    importlib.import_module('.%s' % module, 'pwnlib')
  File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.8/lib/python3.8/importlib/__init__.py", line 127, in import_module
    return _bootstrap._gcd_import(name[level:], package, level)
  File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.8/lib/python3.8/site-packages/pwnlib/args.py", line 62, in <module>
    from pwnlib import term
  File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.8/lib/python3.8/site-packages/pwnlib/term/__init__.py", line 6, in <module>
    from pwnlib.term import completer
  File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.8/lib/python3.8/site-packages/pwnlib/term/completer.py", line 7, in <module>
    from pwnlib.term import readline
  File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.8/lib/python3.8/site-packages/pwnlib/term/readline.py", line 13, in <module>
    from pwnlib.term import text
  File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.8/lib/python3.8/site-packages/pwnlib/term/text.py", line 126, in <module>
    sys.modules[__name__] = Module()
  File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.8/lib/python3.8/site-packages/pwnlib/term/text.py", line 49, in __init__
    s = termcap.get(y)
  File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.8/lib/python3.8/site-packages/pwnlib/term/unix_termcap.py", line 28, in get
    s = curses.tigetstr(cap)
_curses.error: must call (at least) setupterm() first

Process finished with exit code 1

However, when I execute the file from the terminal, it runs fine.

I have tried to find similar questions, but it seems that other people have the error ImportError: cannot import name ENUM_P_TYPE rather than the error that I have.

I am running this on macOS 10.15.4.

Answer 1

The issue is due to this, Warning: _curses.error: setupterm: could not find terminfo database , leading to the curses throwing error and exception.

The solution should be to export the terminal variables

$ export TERM=linux
$ export TERMINFO=/bin/zsh

But for pycharm, it needs to be done inside pycharm's configuration.

Based on this answer , it should be set from Edit Configurations -> Environment variables and set the name value pairs.

TERM linux

TERMINFO /etc/zsh