autoconf configure results in C std lib header related compile errors - c

I am attempting to build a project that comes with an automake/autoconf build system. This is a well-used project, so I'm skeptical about a problem with the configure scripts, makefiles, or code as I received them. It is likely some kind of environment, path, flag, etc problem - something on my end with simply running the right commands with the right parameters.
The configuration step seems to complete in a satisfactory way. When I run make, I'm shown a set of errors primarily of these types:
error: ‘TRUE’ undeclared here (not in a function)
error: ‘struct work’ has no member named ‘version’
error: expected ‘)’ before ‘PRIu64’
Let's focus on the last one, which I have spent time researching - and I suspect all the errors are related to missing definitions. Apparently the print-friendly extended definitions from the C standard library header file inttypes.h is not being found. However, in the configure step everything is claimed to be in order:
configure:4930: checking for inttypes.h
configure:4930: /usr/bin/x86_64-linux-gnu-gcc -c -g -O2 conftest.c >&5
configure:4930: $? = 0
configure:4930: result: yes
All the INTTYPES flags are set correctly if I look in confdefs.h, config.h, config.log Output Variables, etc:
HAVE_INTTYPES_H='1'
#define HAVE_INTTYPES_H 1
The problem is the same whether doing a native build, or cross-compiling (for arm-linux-gnueabihf, aka armhf).
The source .c file in question does have config.h included as you'd expect, which by my understanding via the m4 macros mechanic should be adding an
#include <inttypes.h>
line. Yes, as you may be inclined to ask, if I enter this line myself into the .c file it appears to work and the PRIu64 errors go away.
I'm left with wondering how to debug this type of problem - essentially, everything I am aware of tells me I've done the configure properly, but I'm left with a bogus make process. Aside from trying every ./configure tweak and trick I can find, I've started looking at the auto-generated Makefile.in itself, but nothing so far. Also looking into how I can get the C pre-processor to tell me which header files it's actually inserting.
EDIT: I've confirmed that the -DHAVE_CONFIG_H mechanic looks good through configure, config.log, Makefile, etc.

autoconf does not automatically produce #include directives. You need to do that on your own based on the HAVE_* macros. So you'll have to add something like this:
#ifdef HAVE_INTTYPES_H
# include <inttypes.h>
#endif
If these lines show up in confdefs.h, a temporary header file used by configure scripts, this does excuse your application from performing these #includes. If configure writes them to confdefs.h, this is solely for the benefit of other configure tests, and not for application use.

First, run make -n for the target that failed. This is probably some .o file; you may need some tweaking to get its path correctly.
Now you have the command used to compile your file. If you don't find the problem by meditating on this command, try to run it, adding the -E to force preprocessor output text instead of invoking the compiler.
Note that now the .o file will be text, and you must rebuild it without -E later.
You may find some preprocessor flags useful to get more details: -dM or -dD, or others.

Related

PKG_CHECK_MODULES macro not properly expanding, while i do have pkg-config installed and working

BEFORE YOU LINK TO: Using the pkg-config macro PKG_CHECK_MODULES failing
this does not solve my solution. i do have pkg-config installed. when i type aclocal --print, the first thing it gives is main::scan_file() called too early to check prototype at /usr/local/bin/aclocal line 618. it does that too in ./bootstrap.
then it gives the directory /usr/local/share/aclocal
for one or another reason, the macro still doesnt work. i am on Artix linux (an Arch like distro), with automake 1.16.2-3 and pkg-conf 1.7.3-1. the output of ./configure, config.log and ./bootstrap are: https://pastebin.com/NY1GgtFF (configure), https://pastebin.com/iDAUXRv3 (config.log) and https://pastebin.com/aRVw00Ex (bootstrap)
the macro expansion fails no matter what. do you have any ideas? how would i set the m4_pattern_allow flag? this error occurs both at openbox, and lxterminal. i havent tried any other programs yet where i encounter this error, but i dont think it matters at which program it happens
i really hope i provided enough information, this is my first post, so i hope i did everything right
pkg-conf is not the same as pkg-config — the former is a low-deps reimplementation and does not come with the pkg.m4 file you need to have the macro installed.
If the software you're trying to build comes with a copy of pkg.m4 bundled in the repository and/or tarball, you may just need to add -I m4 to the invocation of aclocal, otherwise you need to fetch the pkg.m4 file from a pkg-config distribution.

How can I print headers hierarchy? [duplicate]

How can I tell where g++ was able to find an include file? Basically if I
#include <foo.h>
g++ will scan the search path, using any include options to add or alter the path. But, at the end of days, is there a way I can tell the absolute path of foo.h that g++ chose to compile? Especially relevant if there is more than one foo.h in the myriad of search paths.
Short of a way of accomplishing that... is there a way to get g++ to tell me what its final search path is after including defaults and all include options?
g++ -H ...
will also print the full path of include files in a format which shows which header includes which
This will give make dependencies which list absolute paths of include files:
gcc -M showtime.c
If you don't want the system includes (i.e. #include <something.h>) then use:
gcc -MM showtime.c
Sure use
g++ -E -dI ... (whatever the original command arguments were)
If your build process is very complicated...
constexpr static auto iWillBreak =
#include "where/the/heck/is/this/file.h"
This will (almost certainly) cause a compilation error near the top of the file in question. That should show you a compiler error with the path the compiler sees.
Obviously this is worse than the other answers, but sometimes this kind of hack is useful.
If you use -MM or one of the related options (-M, etc), you get just the list of headers that are included without having all the other preprocessor output (which you seem to get with the suggested g++ -E -dI solution).
For MSVC you can use the /showInclude option, which will display the files that are included.
(This was stated in a comment of Michael Burr on this answer but I wanted to make it more visible and therefore added it as a separate answer.)
Usability note: The compiler will emit this information to the standard error output which seems to be suppressed by default when using the windows command prompt. Use 2>&1 to redirect stderr to stdout to see it nonetheless.

Issue on adding werror flag

I am trying to add warning as error flag in my makefiles. But I am getting the following problem.
When I am compiling without adding the flag it is successful. But when I am adding Werror flag in some ".mk" files, compilation is failing with some error. But in the successful build log warning was not there for that source file(".c") which is throwing error now(Werror).
I am adding he following flags.
UN_CDEFS := -Wno-error=%
CDEFS := -Wall -Werror -Wextra
SUB_CDEFS := -Wall -Werror -Wextra
So please suggest what might be the problem.
Caveat: This isn't a complete answer because we need more information, but it would become [too] lengthy for more top comments like the ones I've already posted.
As you refine the problem and/or post more data, I can edit this answer accordingly. At a minimum, posting your actual makefiles might help, as well as, the actual final cc commands and the compiler warning/error output for the failing .c file [There may be multiple ones, but the single/first one should be sufficient].
Below are some detailed instructions on how to debug this, based on my own experience with such issues.
But, before I get to that, I'll hazard a guess. I notice that you're doing:
CDEFS := -Wall -Werror
[leaving off the -Wextra as you mentioned in a comment].
If this is done as [nearly] the first thing in the makefile, it's fine. However, if it occurs in the middle, you are replacing CDEFS with your own value. If a prior line in the makefile did (e.g.):
CDEFS = -Dwont_build_cleanly_without_this_option
then, when you add your line, that could be the issue, because this gets [effectively] removed. You might try this instead:
CDEFS += -Wall -Werror
This just appends to the existing symbol, so any prior value will be retained.
Also, the base makefile might have something like:
ifndef CDEFS
CDEFS := -Dwont_build_cleanly_without_this_option
endif
Normally, make will output the full text of commands it executes to create targets. For compilation, this is (e.g.) cc -c foo.c.
Some fancier builds wrap the command in (e.g.) #doit cc -c foo.c where doit prints a message like compiling foo.c ... and only outputs the full command if there is an error. (e.g. the linux kernel build does this, IIRC). I'm assuming you don't have this, but if you do, there is usually a command line override such as make VERBOSE=1
So, there is some .c file somewhere that builds cleanly with the normal options but generates an error when extra compile options are added. Let's call this file badnews.c
What we want to see is the compilation command that make printed for badnews.c and the warning/error output for two cases:
without the extra options
with the extra options in various combinations
In particular, examining the case (1) command against the case (2) commands might show that options other than the -W are different. This indicates a makefile issue, similar to my "guess" above. You've said that [your equivalent of] case (1) is clean with no warnings, but, given the trouble you're having, it wouldn't hurt to double check.
You can cut and paste the case (1) cc command into a shell script and manually add the -W options. Watch out for things with spaces, such as -DSTRING="foo bar" in the makefile that may need extra quotes in a shell script.
To alleviate conflicts similar to yours, in my own makefiles I separate the symbols.
DFLAGS for all -DFOO=1
COPTS for -g, -O2, -Wall, -fno-inline-functions, etc.
Then, I either do:
CFLAGS := $(COPTS) $(DFLAGS)
Or:
%.o: %.c:
cc -c $(COPTS) $(DFLAGS) $<
There are other ways to do this as well.
UPDATE:
I am using following command to build: emq PRODUCT=ASG >build_log_0508.log
I'm unfamiliar with emq. I can't find a reference to it, except as "enterprise mail queue for JIRA", which [AFAICT] may be part of cPanel?
Getting the following error on compilation: prod/libs/app/app.c:720:5: error: incompatible implicit declaration of built-in function 'free' [-Werror] free(tmp_dn);
This is the smoking gun ...
I don't know what compiler you're using, or what OS/environment, but it appears to not flag this as a warning/error by default.
However, it is a bug in the source app.c that needs to be fixed. It was correctly flagged as a warning/error by the addition of -Wall and -Werror
Note: As I mentioned in my original answer, it would be helpful to have the final cc command line that produced this error [as well as the cc command when this file is not flagged].
I created a simple test case:
void
myfree(void *ptr)
{
free(ptr);
}
Here, under gcc, I did gcc -c test.c and I get:
test.c: In function 'myfree':
test.c:5:2: warning: implicit declaration of function 'free' [-Wimplicit-function-declaration]
free(ptr);
^
test.c:5:2: warning: incompatible implicit declaration of built-in function 'free'
test.c:5:2: note: include '<stdlib.h>' or provide a declaration of 'free'
So, gcc flags this by default [even without -Wall or -Werror]. But, your compiler does not unless it is given -Wall. This could occur if your compiler were clang and you also specified -std=c89
As I implied earlier, if you just specify -Wall but not -Werror, you should get the same warnings but they just won't stop the build. In a large build, they can be easily overlooked in the log [by a human (e.g.) me :-)].
Referring to the suggestions in my original answer, assuming that the cc commands between case (1) ["good"] and case (2) ["bad"] only differed by the addition of -Wall, the correct way to fix this is to edit app.c and add #include <stdlib.h> as part of the includes.
Is there any problem with "SUB_CDEFS := -Wall -Werror"?
It will have similar problems/benefits as with CDEFS.
I am adding at the end of the makefiles
This is all the more reason to use += instead of :=. You might be "killing off" the -std=c89 if that were specified somewhere.
UPDATE #2:
It worked after doing += instead of :=.
As I mentioned, using := removed some critical compile options, that were specified elsewhere in the makefile(s).
But, once again, the source code has a bug and is broken. It was broken before you ever touched it. By adding -Wall -Werror using :=, you uncovered this bug, that previously was masked incorrectly. This is a good thing.
Using += just sweeps the bug under the rug [again], by restoring some build options that were lost with :=. But, these "lost" build options were wrong. They allowed a genuine flaw in the C code to escape detection.
This is not about getting the build to work [with a workaround], but to fix the root cause of the build problems, which is to modify the C source code. There are probably other such C source code bugs and some may be more severe.
With the workaround to "fix" the build, you've now got a piece of built software that can not be trusted to run correctly. It could fail in intermittent ways on your system(s). Or, produce incorrect results. Or, allow your system to be hacked [and potentially expose you to legal liability] if you're putting this on a publicly facing site.
If you're not comfortable doing the source modification yourself, file a bug report with the original author of the software. The source code should have a README file, or BUGS file, or whatever that should outline a procedure for doing so.
Just need one more clarification for what is the difference between SUB_CDEFS, UN_CDEFS, and CDEFS
It's completely arbitrary.
Software projects built with make, can often build multiple programs or libraries. These often are placed in subdirectories. Each such subdirectory often has its own Makefile.
To avoid needless duplication [and potential error], the parts that would be common to these makefiles are placed in a single makefile, often called a rules file [but it's just a makefile]. The individual makefiles then have a line like: include ../common/rules.mk
The rules file expects that certain symbols are defined that help guide it to build the targets for the given subdirectory.
CDEFS et. al. are an example of such symbols. Names that are descriptive of function are [should be] chosen. That is, CDEFS [probably] means "C definitions". The actual symbol names and their function depends upon the rules file. We could use the symbol SHRONK instead of CDEFS. That doesn't help much with understanding things, but if all makefiles were edited to change CDEFS to SHRONK, it would work.
For example, in other software, instead of CDEFS, a similar symbol might be named CFLAGS or COPTS. This is fairly common.
Side note: It's a bit moot at this point, but things would have gone much more smoothly and quickly if you had edited your question and posted the output cc commands and [some of] your makefiles as I had requested. You would have gotten specific answers in a matter of hours instead of general guidelines [that took several days].
So, without the rules file, it's not possible to tell. Only make a guess, based upon the names:
CDEFS -- global cc options for a subdirectories
SUB_CDEF -- cc options for this particular subdirectory
UN_CDEFS -- specify -Ufoo options
The particular software you are building may have documentation for this in a documentation file or in comments in one or more of the makefiles.
To understand this generally, there are many online guides to make. Under Linux, there are "info" files. So, try info make. Other systems have detailed manpages, so do man make

gdb get preprocessor macro info from file in different directory

I'm trying to debug some additions I made to a fairly large c program using gdb. The program I'm trying to debug makes extensive use of #define statements to set different values that are used throughout the code. I need to be able to see what these values are in order to help my debugging (as they include some very important information.
After some digging around I found that the info macro FOO and macro expand FOO commands should be able to print these values if the -g3 option (also tried the -gdwarf-2 and -ggdb3 flags as well) is passed to the compiler (as discussed here). However, whenever I try using this I get
The symbol `FOO' has no definition as a C/C++ preprocessor macro
at <user-defined>:-1
Now, I'm sure that the macro is defined otherwise the previous line of code would not have been able to run. In addition, I'm certain that I have passed the -g3 flag to the compiler. I have one idea as to where the issue might be and that is the location that the macro is defined at. Currently the macro is defined in a header file that is not in the same directory as the rest of the files (i.e. if the source files are in /foo/bar/blam/.. then the macro is defined in /def/mac/here/. Given this I thought maybe the problem was that gdb didn't know to look in this directory so I tried issuing the directory command in gdb and gave it the path to the directory containing the header file (base on this). This still did not solve the problem.
Does anyone know how I can get the values of these macros? If it is pertinent I'm running gdb version 7.11 and compiling the program using
cc and gcc both with Apple LLVM version 7.0.2 (clang-700.1.81). Also, gdb was installed/built using homebrew.

How to stop make (in makefile) after "No such file or directory" error?

So, most of the times I'm testing if every include is correct on a given C/C++ code, I have a makefile with a gcc/g++ call with proper -I option for searching headers on specific directories (like every program) when I'm compiling sources to headers.
However, if the included directory is not correct and an undefined header appears (e.g. foo.h has #include and was not found), the gcc/g++ will just spit a bunch of errors for every include I have of that foo.h header for all other sources I'm compiling afterwards (and I'm already using -Werror -Wfatal-errors to make gcc/g++ to stop).
So, my question is simple: how can I tell makefile stop after the first error of the type "No such file or directory" it finds? It is really annoying it continue to compile sources and sources, giving me hundreds of errors just for a repeated error I already understood.
It probably continues because you told it to. See the following two options of GNU make:
-k, --keep-going Keep going when some targets can't be made.
-S, --no-keep-going, --stop
Turns off -k.
Put the header files into a variable and use that variable as a dependency. The following snippet will not build anything until the specified headers exist.
HEADERS=test.h other.h /usr/include/special.h
all: $(HEADERS) $(BINPROGS)
[... all other rules go here as usual ...]
*.h:
echo found $#
The ".h:" simply prints out each header that is found before any building even starts. The makefile itself stops if a header cannot be found (and it will stop before trying to compile anything).
I believe that that is what you wanted?
you can write a shell script to check for error conditions before running the make script.

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