Cannot build Newlib on a Linux PC

[Jeff Johnston]

Hello,

The linux build for newlib is a very delicate thing.  It works using an
amalgamation of headers from newlib and from your local glibc.  This is
required because some of the source code in libc/sys/linux is taken from
glibc and cannot compile with newlib's headers alone.
It consistently breaks release to release due to changes in the glibc
headers.

That said, the linux build hasn't been updated in a long while as no one
has indicated they are using it (re: no reports of problems).  It is out of
date with what newlib has added since the last time it was updated.
Patches are welcome.

You will notice that the libc/sys/linux directory has an include directory
and a sys directory.  These are header files that complement and
override newlib's.  One such case is sys/feature.h which is where the
__GNUC_PREREQ macro is now defined in newlib.

I would suggest you look at adding the missing stuff from newlib's
sys/features.h to libc/sys/linux/sys/features.h.  If you look at
/home/rdiez/rdiez/newlib/newlib-3.0.0.20180831/i686-pc-linux-gnu/newlib/targ-include
you can see what headers are in place (e.g.
you should see the bare bones sys/features.h from libc/sys/linux/sys)

That should fix your immediate problem but you may run into other header
issues that you will need to similarly patch.

-- Jeff J.

On Thu, Sep 27, 2018 at 10:44 AM, R. Diez via newlib <newlib@sourceware.org>
wrote:

> Hi all:
>
> I already asked this question here before, but got no answer at all:
>
> https://sourceware.org/ml/newlib/2018/msg00794.html
>
> I am getting desperate. I created a 32-bit (i686) Ubuntu MATE virtual
> machine for the sole purpose of building Newlib, in case it was getting
> confused because of the 64/32-bit multiarch, but it is failing in the same
> place.
>
> I am using the latest snapshot: newlib-3.0.0.20180831
>
> This is my configure command:
>
> ./configure --prefix="$HOME/rdiez/newlib/newlib-bin"
> CFLAGS_FOR_TARGET="-save-temps -g -O0 -DDEBUG"
> CXXFLAGS_FOR_TARGET="-save-temps -g -O0 -DDEBUG" --host=i686-pc-linux-gnu
> --target=i686-pc-linux-gnu  --disable-multilib --disable-shared
> --with-newlib
>
> Compilation is failing like this:
>
> Making all in argz
> make[5]: Entering directory '/home/rdiez/rdiez/newlib/newl
> ib-3.0.0.20180831/i686-pc-linux-gnu/newlib/libc/argz'
> /bin/bash ../libtool --tag=CC   --mode=compile gcc
> -I/home/rdiez/rdiez/newlib/newlib-3.0.0.20180831/i686-pc-linux-gnu/newlib/targ-include
> -I/home/rdiez/rdiez/newlib/newlib-3.0.0.20180831/newlib/libc/include
> -DPACKAGE_NAME=\"newlib\" -DPACKAGE_TARNAME=\"newlib\"
> -DPACKAGE_VERSION=\"3.0.0\" -DPACKAGE_STRING=\"newlib\ 3.0.0\"
> -DPACKAGE_BUGREPORT=\"\" -DPACKAGE_URL=\"\" -DSTDC_HEADERS=1
> -DHAVE_SYS_TYPES_H=1 -DHAVE_SYS_STAT_H=1 -DHAVE_STDLIB_H=1
> -DHAVE_STRING_H=1 -DHAVE_MEMORY_H=1 -DHAVE_STRINGS_H=1 -DHAVE_INTTYPES_H=1
> -DHAVE_STDINT_H=1 -DHAVE_UNISTD_H=1 -DHAVE_DLFCN_H=1 -DLT_OBJDIR=\".libs/\"
> -I. -I../../../.././newlib/libc/argz -fno-builtin -Wall -DHAVE_FCNTL
> -DHAVE_GETOPT -D_NO_POSIX_SPAWN -fPIC -D_I386MACH_NEED_SOTYPE_FUNCTION
> -DMISSING_SYSCALL_NAMES -DHAVE_INIT_FINI      -save-temps -g -O0 -DDEBUG -c
> -o argz_add.lo ../../../.././newlib/libc/argz/argz_add.c
> libtool: compile:  gcc -I/home/rdiez/rdiez/newlib/new
> lib-3.0.0.20180831/i686-pc-linux-gnu/newlib/targ-include
> -I/home/rdiez/rdiez/newlib/newlib-3.0.0.20180831/newlib/libc/include
> -DPACKAGE_NAME=\"newlib\" -DPACKAGE_TARNAME=\"newlib\"
> -DPACKAGE_VERSION=\"3.0.0\" "-DPACKAGE_STRING=\"newlib 3.0.0\""
> -DPACKAGE_BUGREPORT=\"\" -DPACKAGE_URL=\"\" -DSTDC_HEADERS=1
> -DHAVE_SYS_TYPES_H=1 -DHAVE_SYS_STAT_H=1 -DHAVE_STDLIB_H=1
> -DHAVE_STRING_H=1 -DHAVE_MEMORY_H=1 -DHAVE_STRINGS_H=1 -DHAVE_INTTYPES_H=1
> -DHAVE_STDINT_H=1 -DHAVE_UNISTD_H=1 -DHAVE_DLFCN_H=1 -DLT_OBJDIR=\".libs/\"
> -I. -I../../../.././newlib/libc/argz -fno-builtin -Wall -DHAVE_FCNTL
> -DHAVE_GETOPT -D_NO_POSIX_SPAWN -fPIC -D_I386MACH_NEED_SOTYPE_FUNCTION
> -DMISSING_SYSCALL_NAMES -DHAVE_INIT_FINI -save-temps -g -O0 -DDEBUG -c
> ../../../.././newlib/libc/argz/argz_add.c -o argz_add.o
> In file included from /home/rdiez/rdiez/newlib/newli
> b-3.0.0.20180831/newlib/libc/include/sys/reent.h:13:0,
>                  from /home/rdiez/rdiez/newlib/newli
> b-3.0.0.20180831/i686-pc-linux-gnu/newlib/targ-include/sys/errno.h:11,
>                  from /home/rdiez/rdiez/newlib/newli
> b-3.0.0.20180831/newlib/libc/include/errno.h:9,
>                  from /home/rdiez/rdiez/newlib/newli
> b-3.0.0.20180831/newlib/libc/include/argz.h:10,
>                  from ../../../.././newlib/libc/argz/argz_add.c:7:
> /home/rdiez/rdiez/newlib/newlib-3.0.0.20180831/newlib/libc/include/_ansi.h:72:19:
> error: missing binary operator before token "("
>  #if __GNUC_PREREQ (3, 1)
>                    ^
> Makefile:390: recipe for target 'argz_add.lo' failed
> make[5]: *** [argz_add.lo] Error 1
>
>
> It looks like it does not know macro __GNUC_PREREQ. But the right
> #includes are apparently there.
>
> I am not the only one facing problems trying to build Newlib for a Linux
> PC:
>
> https://stackoverflow.com/questions/49925014/how-do-i-build-
> newlib-for-x86-and-x86-64-linux-in-a-x86-64-linux-host
>
> Please can somebody help?
>
> Best regards,
>   rdiez
>