diff --git a/srcpkgs/ncurses/template b/srcpkgs/ncurses/template
index 8b4052ae599..d37a5b7563b 100644
--- a/srcpkgs/ncurses/template
+++ b/srcpkgs/ncurses/template
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ do_configure() {
 	../configure ${configure_args} \
 		--enable-widec --with-shared --without-debug \
 		--with-manpage-symlinks --without-ada --enable-ext-colors \
-		--without-tests
+		--without-tests --with-manpage-format=gzip
 
 	cd ${wrksrc}/ncurses-build
 	# non-widec build