Undefined reference to error handling functions from "The Linux Programming Interface" - c

Question

I tried to run an example program from a book called 'The Linux Programming Interface'. I copied all user-defined header files and functions from official website of book to my booklib location.
When I compiled the program, I took these errors. I need help about'Undefined reference to [functions_name]**.
code:
#include <sys/stat.h>
#include <fcntl.h>
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include "tlpi_hdr.h"
#ifndef BUF_SIZE
#define BUF_SIZE 1024
#endif
int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
int inputFd, outputFd, openFlags;
mode_t filePerms;
ssize_t numRead;
char buf[BUF_SIZE];
if(argc != 3 || strcmp(argv[1], "--help") == 0)
{
usageErr("%s old-file new-file\n", argv[0]);
}
//open input old-file
inputFd = open(argv[1], O_RDONLY);
//error check
if(inputFd == -1)
{
errExit("opening file %s", argv[1]);
}
openFlags = O_CREAT | O_WRONLY | O_TRUNC;
filePerms = S_IRUSR | S_IWUSR | S_IRGRP | S_IWGRP;
//open output the new-file
outputFd = open(argv[2], openFlags, filePerms);
if(outputFd == -1)
{
errExit("opening file %s", argv[2]);
}
//transfer data until we encounter end of input or an error
while((numRead = read(inputFd, buf, BUF_SIZE)) > 0)
{
if(write(outputFd, buf, numRead) != numRead)
fatal("couldn't write whole buffer");
if(numRead == -1)
errExit("read");
if(close(inputFd) == -1)
errExit("close input");
if(close(outputFd) == -1)
errExit("close output");
}
exit(EXIT_SUCCESS);
}
You can see user-defined header files from here.
$gcc -I booklib -o copy copy.c
c
/tmp/ccqC9Tg9.o: In function `main':
copy.c:(.text+0x62): undefined reference to `usageErr'
copy.c:(.text+0xb3): undefined reference to `errExit'
copy.c:(.text+0x11c): undefined reference to `errExit'
copy.c:(.text+0x14b): undefined reference to `fatal'
copy.c:(.text+0x163): undefined reference to `errExit'
copy.c:(.text+0x183): undefined reference to `errExit'
copy.c:(.text+0x1a3): undefined reference to `errExit'
collect2: error: ld returned 1 exit status
gcc -v output:
Using built-in specs.
COLLECT_GCC=gcc
COLLECT_LTO_WRAPPER=/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/6/lto-wrapper
Target: x86_64-linux-gnu
Configured with: ../src/configure -v --with-pkgversion='Debian 6.3.0-6' --with-bugurl=file:///usr/share/doc/gcc-6/README.Bugs --enable-languages=c,ada,c++,java,go,d,fortran,objc,obj-c++ --prefix=/usr --program-suffix=-6 --program-prefix=x86_64-linux-gnu- --enable-shared --enable-linker-build-id --libexecdir=/usr/lib --without-included-gettext --enable-threads=posix --libdir=/usr/lib --enable-nls --with-sysroot=/ --enable-clocale=gnu --enable-libstdcxx-debug --enable-libstdcxx-time=yes --with-default-libstdcxx-abi=new --enable-gnu-unique-object --disable-vtable-verify --enable-libmpx --enable-plugin --enable-default-pie --with-system-zlib --disable-browser-plugin --enable-java-awt=gtk --enable-gtk-cairo --with-java-home=/usr/lib/jvm/java-1.5.0-gcj-6-amd64/jre --enable-java-home --with-jvm-root-dir=/usr/lib/jvm/java-1.5.0-gcj-6-amd64 --with-jvm-jar-dir=/usr/lib/jvm-exports/java-1.5.0-gcj-6-amd64 --with-arch-directory=amd64 --with-ecj-jar=/usr/share/java/eclipse-ecj.jar --with-target-system-zlib --enable-objc-gc=auto --enable-multiarch --with-arch-32=i686 --with-abi=m64 --with-multilib-list=m32,m64,mx32 --enable-multilib --with-tune=generic --enable-checking=release --build=x86_64-linux-gnu --host=x86_64-linux-gnu --target=x86_64-linux-gnu
Thread model: posix
gcc version 6.3.0 20170205 (Debian 6.3.0-6)

Answer 1

For the undefined references, someone asked a very similar answer here How to compile examples in the book "The Linux Programming Interface" by Michael Kerrisk
Then, if that does not work, I would suggest to try again by downloading the source file as specified at the TLPI web site and you can look into the makefile for your script, which is in the fileio/ subfolder and the Makefile.inc file.

Answer 2

I was having the exact same issues with undefined references to his error-handling functions, but if you're doing everything in your own directories my advice may not help. If you downloaded the compressed tarball from his website everything should work. As stated in the BUILDING.txt file it includes, all you have to do is run make from the tlpi-dist or tlpi-book directory, depending on which one you downloaded, and all programs will be compiled and ready to run (subject to some OS specific issues obviously). If you want to modify a program, just add the name you save it as to that directory's Makefile and run make again, and you should be good to go.

Answer 3

I was having similar troubles on Ubuntu 16.04. and MacOSX.
Running 'make' always gave errors containing:
No rule to make target `../libtlpi.a'
This has a simple solution for Ubuntu:
sudo apt-get install libcap-dev
then run 'make' in the root directory.

Answer 4

You would require to ../lib/error_functions.o file along with your compilation.
gcc -I booklib -o copy copy.c ../lib/error_functions.o
The error functions are defined and declared in lib/error_functions.c lib/error_function.h
Make sure you run make from tlpi-dist by which you would have error_functions.o