libtool: unrecognized option `-static'

[hanxue]

The libtool that is built with homebrew will often cause this error message:

libtool: unrecognized option-static'

See #13917 and these two articles for example.

Is there a better solution to unlinking libtool?

[adamv]

What were you trying to do that caused the issue?

[hanxue]

Installing a node.js module by running npm install. The node module contains native code that needs to be compiled by node-gyp, which in turn uses libtool. Specifically I was trying to install and build the node-scrypt module https://www.npmjs.org/package/node-scrypt

[adamv]

Our libtool formula is marked as keg-only, so it shouldn't be linked.

[jacknagel]

It's only keg only for Xcode <= 4.3.

[jacknagel]

Though our libtool does not shadow the system libtool (which is a different tool), because it is installed as glibtool.

[adamv]

What does which -a libtool show? I only have one in /usr/bin/libtool.

[adamv]

Ping.

[hanxue]

My version of libtool from homebrew actually shadows /usr/bin/libtool

$ which libtool
/usr/local/bin/libtool
$ whereis libtool
/usr/bin/libtool
$ ls -l /usr/local/bin/libtool
lrwxr-xr-x  1 hanxue  admin  23 Dec 16 18:11 /usr/local/bin/libtool -> /usr/local/bin/glibtool

I suspect the way GNU libtool is built is slightly different from the version shipped with OS X / XCode.

[adamv]

@hanxue Please post your brew doctor and brew --config as well.

[jacknagel]

$ ls -l /usr/local/bin/libtool
lrwxr-xr-x 1 hanxue admin 23 Dec 16 18:11 /usr/local/bin/libtool -> /usr/local/bin/glibtool

This looks like a symlink that you or some other tool made; our symlinks are (a) relative and (b) point into the keg, not at files in the top-level directory.

Put another way, if our libtool was actually installing itself as libtool, the link would look like

/usr/local/bin/libtool -> ../Cellar/libtool/2.4.2/bin/libtool

I bet if you look at brew list libtool, there will only be a glibtool there.

[adamv]

@hanxue any luck?

[adamv]

Ping.

[adamv]

Presuming fixed.