diff --git a/ncurses/base/lib_initscr.c b/ncurses/base/lib_initscr.c
index 0e8a297..6b91491 100644
--- a/ncurses/base/lib_initscr.c
+++ b/ncurses/base/lib_initscr.c
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 /****************************************************************************
- * Copyright (c) 1998-2009,2014 Free Software Foundation, Inc.              *
+ * Copyright 2019,2020 Thomas E. Dickey                                     *
+ * Copyright 1998-2016,2017 Free Software Foundation, Inc.                  *
  *                                                                          *
  * Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a  *
  * copy of this software and associated documentation files (the            *
@@ -29,7 +30,7 @@
 /****************************************************************************
  *  Author: Zeyd M. Ben-Halim <zmbenhal@netcom.com> 1992,1995               *
  *     and: Eric S. Raymond <esr@snark.thyrsus.com>                         *
- *     and: Thomas E. Dickey                        1996-2003               *
+ *     and: Thomas E. Dickey                        1996-on                 *
  ****************************************************************************/
 
 /*
@@ -45,15 +46,13 @@
 #include <sys/termio.h>		/* needed for ISC */
 #endif
 
-MODULE_ID("$Id: lib_initscr.c,v 1.40 2014/04/26 18:47:51 juergen Exp $")
+MODULE_ID("$Id: lib_initscr.c,v 1.48 2020/09/07 14:26:48 tom Exp $")
 
 NCURSES_EXPORT(WINDOW *)
 initscr(void)
 {
     WINDOW *result;
 
-    NCURSES_CONST char *name;
-
     START_TRACE();
     T((T_CALLED("initscr()")));
 
@@ -62,11 +61,18 @@
 
     /* Portable applications must not call initscr() more than once */
     if (!_nc_globals.init_screen) {
+	const char *env;
+	char *name;
+
 	_nc_globals.init_screen = TRUE;
 
-	if ((name = getenv("TERM")) == 0
-	    || *name == '\0')
-	    name = "unknown";
+	env = getenv("TERM");
+	(void) VALID_TERM_ENV(env, "unknown");
+
+	if ((name = strdup(env)) == NULL) {
+	    fprintf(stderr, "Error opening allocating $TERM.\n");
+	    ExitProgram(EXIT_FAILURE);
+	}
 #ifdef __CYGWIN__
 	/*
 	 * 2002/9/21
@@ -86,7 +92,7 @@
 #endif
 	if (newterm(name, stdout, stdin) == 0) {
 	    fprintf(stderr, "Error opening terminal: %s.\n", name);
-	    exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
+	    ExitProgram(EXIT_FAILURE);
 	}
 
 	/* def_shell_mode - done in newterm/_nc_setupscreen */
@@ -95,6 +101,7 @@
 #else
 	def_prog_mode();
 #endif
+	free(name);
     }
     result = stdscr;
     _nc_unlock_global(curses);