Re: [gentoo-user] Make failed to compile: symbol __alloca not found...

[Raffaele Belardi <raffaele.belardi@st.com>]

tuxic@posteo.de wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> sys-devel/make-4.2.1-r1 failed to compile with this:
> 

> Online I found articles which explain, why it is not recommended to
> use alloca() at all:
> RETURN VALUE The alloca() function returns a pointer to the beginning of the allocated space. If the allocation causes stack overflow, program behaviour is undefined.
> (https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1018853/why-is-the-use-of-alloca-not-considered-good-practice)
> 
> How can I recompile make -- it is still non-PIE and one of those
> application which I cant convince to be friendly to gcc :)
> 
> How serious is this alloca-thingy at all?
> 

Not being able to build sys-devel/make is a really serious thing but rather than trying to
debug the sources I'd try to understand why it does not build for you while it does for
most of the gentoo users (otherwise bugzilla and this list would be overwhelmed with panic
messages!).

Is there anything special about your environment? For example, I notice '--as-needed' in
your linker flags: that affects how the linker works which in turn may cause your problem,
was it your choice or a default option?

Once your build issue is solved you could investigate on the 'make' online resources why
they chose to use alloca function (BTW, this may give you a hint: "This temporary space is
automatically freed when the function that called alloca() returns to its caller." I
wouldn't use it but it may make some coding easier)

raffaele