The devel/ncurses port provides many libraries: > $ pkg info -l ncurses | grep lib/ | grep "so$" > /usr/local/lib/libform.so > /usr/local/lib/libformw.so > /usr/local/lib/libmenu.so > /usr/local/lib/libmenuw.so > /usr/local/lib/libncurses.so > /usr/local/lib/libncursesw.so > /usr/local/lib/libpanel.so > /usr/local/lib/libpanelw.so > /usr/local/lib/libtinfo.so > /usr/local/lib/libtinfow.so At least libpanelw.so and libtinfo.so are missing in /lib, and maybe more libraries are missing. Please note that the header /usr/include/panel.h corresponding to libpanelw.so is present. The ncurses port is at version 6.2, and the base ncurses is at version 5.x. 12.2-STABLE r368977
Take a look at /usr/src/lib/ncurses/ncurses/Makefile and you'll see that libtinfo is a symlink and a number of other libs are all symlinks. Everything is built into one lib and symlinked, which isn't ideal but is how it's historically been done. Base ncurses probably needs a bit of an overhaul.