Inconsistencies with dnf/apt install gcc

[PhilipDeegan]

Hi

I've been testing out pkgx recently to see if I can use it to replace usage of dnf or apt across different linux distros.

I've run into two separate issues when trying to use gcc on fedora and ubuntu.
Such that, compilation works when I dnf or apt install gcc, and does not when I pkgx install gcc

Is this something that I should report here or elsewhere?

Thanks

[jhheider]

It depends on what problem you're having. If it's a problem with the environment construction, then this is the correct repo. If it's a problem with the gnu.org/gcc formula, then pkgxdev/pantry.

It might specifically be an issue with the pkgx install scripts. If you instead use pkgx +gcc^{version} ... as your command line instead of using install, do you experience the same issues? That would point to a problem with the install methodology.

You could try running your makefile (or whatever) with CC='pkgx +gnu.org/gcc^14 gcc' or pkgx +gcc^14 +make make, as an example, to use pkgx to manage the full environment.

[PhilipDeegan]

The errors, were during compilation of python package during a pip install.

I think the ubuntu issue was, the build system couldn't find x86_64-linux-gnu-gcc

and the fedora issue was a missing standard header

 fatal error: stdlib.h: No such file or directory

it's possible what you suggest might work, but I'm not sure compilation during pip install uses CC or CXX

[mxcl]

This is probably a deeper problem with how we add the gcc headers to the env.

[jhheider]

the build system couldn't find x86_64-linux-gnu-gcc

yes, we don't add the system-target binaries to the provides: key for gnu.org/gcc. this would be solved using pkgx +gnu.org/gcc, but because they aren't listed as a provided binary, no installation shim exists.

[PhilipDeegan]

you can see the fedora error here

the ubuntu issue was happening locally for me during a docker build (but still during pip install internally)

you should be able to reproduce this via

comment out this line

and add if_install gcc -v here

[tannevaled]

Took a look — split the issue into two:

(1) `x86_64-linux-gnu-gcc` not found on Ubuntu — root cause confirmed. The `gnu.org/gcc` recipe doesn't install the Debian-style multi-arch triplet symlinks that autoconf / distutils / pip build backends probe for. PR #pending adds them.

(2) `stdlib.h: No such file or directory` on Fedora — separate problem: pkgx gcc relies on system glibc-devel for `/usr/include/stdlib.h`. On a minimal Fedora docker base without glibc-devel, that header isn't there, and pkgx doesn't currently ship a glibc bottle that would substitute.

Fixing (2) properly needs a `gnu.org/glibc` bottle in pantry + the gcc recipe wired to use its headers via `--sysroot` or `CPATH`. This is non-trivial (see #12968 — the glibc bottle work — and brewkit#348 / the `bklibcvenv` pattern), but it's the right path for a fully-isolated pkgx-only toolchain.

Workaround until that lands: install your distro's `glibc-devel` / `libc6-dev` package on the host (`dnf install glibc-devel` / `apt install libc6-dev`). Then pkgx gcc picks them up from `/usr/include`.