Compiler test fails, gcc on redhat - c

Question

I'm trying to install LISTSERV by lsoft.com on redhat. The package comes with a compiler test, and this test is failing.
The OS is:
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server release 6.8 (Santiago)
The Arch is:
x86_64
The compiler is:
gcc (GCC) 4.4.7 20120313 (Red Hat 4.4.7-17)
Here's the full "gcc -v":
Using built-in specs.
Target: x86_64-redhat-linux
Configured with: ../configure --prefix=/usr --mandir=/usr/share/man --infodir=/usr/share/info --with-bugurl=http://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla --enable-bootstrap --enable-shared --enable-threads=posix --enable-checking=release --with-system-zlib --enable-__cxa_atexit --disable-libunwind-exceptions --enable-gnu-unique-object --enable-languages=c,c++,objc,obj-c++,java,fortran,ada --enable-java-awt=gtk --disable-dssi --with-java-home=/usr/lib/jvm/java-1.5.0-gcj-1.5.0.0/jre --enable-libgcj-multifile --enable-java-maintainer-mode --with-ecj-jar=/usr/share/java/eclipse-ecj.jar --disable-libjava-multilib --with-ppl --with-cloog --with-tune=generic --with-arch_32=i686 --build=x86_64-redhat-linux
Thread model: posix
gcc version 4.4.7 20120313 (Red Hat 4.4.7-17) (GCC)
compilertest.c:
main()
{}
The compiler test command:
gcc -O compilertest.c
The error message:
/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-redhat-linux/4.4.7/../../../crt1.o: could not read symbols: File in wrong format
collect2: ld returned 1 exit status
The file exists as a real file (i.e. not a symbolic link):
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1240 Jan 28 2016 /usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-redhat-linux/4.4.7/../../../crt1.o
So, what am I missing? Was something compiled using 32b instead of 64b? Am I missing a library or have the wrong version of one?
$ readelf -h /usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-redhat-linux/4.4.7/../../../crt1.o
ELF Header:
Magic: 7f 45 4c 46 01 01 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
Class: ELF32
Data: 2's complement, little endian
Version: 1 (current)
OS/ABI: UNIX - System V
ABI Version: 0
Type: REL (Relocatable file)
Machine: Intel 80386
Version: 0x1
Entry point address: 0x0
Start of program headers: 0 (bytes into file)
Start of section headers: 288 (bytes into file)
Flags: 0x0
Size of this header: 52 (bytes)
Size of program headers: 0 (bytes)
Number of program headers: 0
Size of section headers: 40 (bytes)
Number of section headers: 13
Section header string table index: 10
$ env -i PATH=/usr/bin gcc -O compilertest.c
/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-redhat-linux/4.4.7/../../../crt1.o: could not read symbols: File in wrong format
collect2: ld returned 1 exit status
$ gcc -v compilertest.c
Using built-in specs.
Target: x86_64-redhat-linux
Configured with: ../configure --prefix=/usr --mandir=/usr/share/man --infodir=/usr/share/info --with-bugurl=http://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla --enable-bootstrap --enable-shared --enable-threads=posix --enable-checking=release --with-system-zlib --enable-__cxa_atexit --disable-libunwind-exceptions --enable-gnu-unique-object --enable-languages=c,c++,objc,obj-c++,java,fortran,ada --enable-java-awt=gtk --disable-dssi --with-java-home=/usr/lib/jvm/java-1.5.0-gcj-1.5.0.0/jre --enable-libgcj-multifile --enable-java-maintainer-mode --with-ecj-jar=/usr/share/java/eclipse-ecj.jar --disable-libjava-multilib --with-ppl --with-cloog --with-tune=generic --with-arch_32=i686 --build=x86_64-redhat-linux
Thread model: posix
gcc version 4.4.7 20120313 (Red Hat 4.4.7-17) (GCC)
COLLECT_GCC_OPTIONS='-v' '-mtune=generic'
/usr/libexec/gcc/x86_64-redhat-linux/4.4.7/cc1 -quiet -v compilertest.c -quiet -dumpbase compilertest.c -mtune=generic -auxbase compilertest -version -o /tmp/ccGTjhJB.s
ignoring nonexistent directory "/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-redhat-linux/4.4.7/include-fixed"
ignoring nonexistent directory "/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-redhat-linux/4.4.7/../../../../x86_64-redhat-linux/include"
#include "..." search starts here:
#include <...> search starts here:
/usr/local/include
/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-redhat-linux/4.4.7/include
/usr/include
End of search list.
GNU C (GCC) version 4.4.7 20120313 (Red Hat 4.4.7-17) (x86_64-redhat-linux)
compiled by GNU C version 4.4.7 20120313 (Red Hat 4.4.7-17), GMP version 4.3.1, MPFR version 2.4.1.
GGC heuristics: --param ggc-min-expand=100 --param ggc-min-heapsize=131072
Compiler executable checksum: 2e79a9448b1040fd1e442d3c6bfaea69
COLLECT_GCC_OPTIONS='-v' '-mtune=generic'
as -V -Qy -o /tmp/cc4clAj5.o /tmp/ccGTjhJB.s
GNU assembler version 2.20.51.0.2 (x86_64-redhat-linux) using BFD version version 2.20.51.0.2-5.44.el6 20100205
COMPILER_PATH=/usr/libexec/gcc/x86_64-redhat-linux/4.4.7/:/usr/libexec/gcc/x86_64-redhat-linux/4.4.7/:/usr/libexec/gcc/x86_64-redhat-linux/:/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-redhat-linux/4.4.7/:/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-redhat-linux/:/usr/libexec/gcc/x86_64-redhat-linux/4.4.7/:/usr/libexec/gcc/x86_64-redhat-linux/:/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-redhat-linux/4.4.7/:/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-redhat-linux/
LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-redhat-linux/4.4.7/:/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-redhat-linux/4.4.7/:/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-redhat-linux/4.4.7/../../../../lib64/:/lib/../lib64/:/usr/lib/../lib64/:/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-redhat-linux/4.4.7/../../../:/lib/:/usr/lib/
COLLECT_GCC_OPTIONS='-v' '-mtune=generic'
/usr/libexec/gcc/x86_64-redhat-linux/4.4.7/collect2 --eh-frame-hdr --build-id -m elf_x86_64 --hash-style=gnu -dynamic-linker /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 /usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-redhat-linux/4.4.7/../../../crt1.o /usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-redhat-linux/4.4.7/../../../crti.o /usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-redhat-linux/4.4.7/crtbegin.o -L/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-redhat-linux/4.4.7 -L/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-redhat-linux/4.4.7 -L/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-redhat-linux/4.4.7/../../../../lib64 -L/lib/../lib64 -L/usr/lib/../lib64 -L/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-redhat-linux/4.4.7/../../.. /tmp/cc4clAj5.o -lgcc --as-needed -lgcc_s --no-as-needed -lc -lgcc --as-needed -lgcc_s --no-as-needed /usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-redhat-linux/4.4.7/crtend.o /usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-redhat-linux/4.4.7/../../../crtn.o
/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-redhat-linux/4.4.7/../../../crt1.o: could not read symbols: File in wrong format
collect2: ld returned 1 exit status
$ file /usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-redhat-linux/4.4.7/../../../crt1.o
/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-redhat-linux/4.4.7/../../../crt1.o: ELF 32-bit LSB relocatable, Intel 80386, version 1 (SYSV), for GNU/Linux 2.6.18, not stripped

Answer 1

This error message:
/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-redhat-linux/4.4.7/../../../crt1.o: could not read symbols: File in wrong format collect2: ld returned 1 exit status
Indicates that the linker found a 32-bit object file where it expected a 64-bit one, or vise versa. You can determine which by examining the file in question with the file command. readelf is a little bit overkill for this purpose, but it gets the job done, too. We know as a result that yours is a 32-bit ELF object file, so presumably the compiler expected a 64-bit one.
The path you present canonicalizes to /usr/lib/crt1.o. On RHEL6, that belongs to the 32-bit glibc-devel package (the 64-bit analog lives in /usr/lib64). A 32-bit ELF object is exactly what that file should be, so if the compiler expected a 64-bit object then something is seriously wrong with it.
My best guess is that an installation from source or from a package for some other RPM-based distribution (maybe even a different version of RHEL) has produced an unusable environment for you. If you have an installed-from-source copy of GCC somewhere other than /usr/bin, then removing that (from the path, at least) might be sufficient to solve your problem. The command which gcc might be useful in determining whether you're getting a rogue gcc instead of RHEL's standard one.
Otherwise, your best bet is to remove all copies of gcc and your development libraries, and then reinstall from the official package repositories. The main packages to remove and reinstall are 'gcc' and 'glibc-devel'; removing these may cause other tools and development libraries to be removed as well. I recommend also removing any 'compat-gcc' package. Do not attempt to remove the main 'glibc' package, however, for if you somehow managed to do that, it would render your system inoperable.