Charm build fails on cosmic: _curses.error: setupterm: could not find terminal

[barryprice]

Checklist

• [X] Confirmed this is an issue with charm-tools, not charmstore-client
• [X] Provide versions of tools used
• [X] Described the feature or ways to replicate the issue

What version am I running?

I ran the following command: snap info charm and got the following output:

name:      charm
summary:   charm and charm-tools
publisher: Cory Johns (johnsca)
contact:   juju@lists.ubuntu.com
license:   unset
description: |
  charmstore-client and charm-tools
commands:
  - charm
snap-id:      2Rryoc2ylScfbFl4eQtpntHD9iuZuMvt
tracking:     stable
refresh-date: today at 14:50 +07
channels:                                    
  stable:    2.4.4                (254) 47MB classic
  candidate: 2.4.4                (254) 47MB classic
  beta:      2.4.4                (254) 47MB classic
  edge:      2.4.4+git-3-g5b80184 (270) 47MB classic
installed:   2.4.4                (254) 47MB classic

I am using: Ubuntu 18.10 (beta)

Issue/Feature

I expect/expected the following

The charm should have been built.

What I got

The terminal error halts execution before the charm is built, so I'm unable to build the charm.

Full output here: https://pastebin.ubuntu.com/p/VyZnqkjZDj/

I generally use the Terminator terminal emulator, and the bash shell - but I have reproduced this in both gnome-terminal and a regular xterm, using both bash and zsh.

It works fine inside xenial and bionic LXD containers, so this is likely cosmic-specific...

[dannf]

I'm seeing this both on cosmic and Debian unstable.