GHC Static linking does not work

[codygman]

Marked this as a bug, because currently there is no way (easy or that I know of) to compile Haskell programs on nixos that work on other linuxes such as Ubuntu, Debian,or Red Hat.

I was of the opinion that:

ghc -static static-test.hs

Would give me a statically linked binary which works on *nix or most of them. However it seems that it uses nix specific linking even with -static specified:

[cody@cody-nixos:~/tmp]$ ghc -static static-test.hs
[1 of 1] Compiling Main             ( static-test.hs, static-test.o )
Linking static-test ...

[cody@cody-nixos:~/tmp]$ ldd static-test
    linux-vdso.so.1 (0x00007ffff33b3000)
    libgmp.so.10 => /nix/store/wxkad81khi8gzxs8kppq5yqkki5hy0np-gmp-5.1.3/lib/libgmp.so.10 (0x00007fb28261e000)
    libm.so.6 => /nix/store/pdskwizjw8ar31hql2wjnnx6g0s6xc50-glibc-2.19/lib/libm.so.6 (0x00007fb28231d000)
    librt.so.1 => /nix/store/pdskwizjw8ar31hql2wjnnx6g0s6xc50-glibc-2.19/lib/librt.so.1 (0x00007fb282115000)
    libdl.so.2 => /nix/store/pdskwizjw8ar31hql2wjnnx6g0s6xc50-glibc-2.19/lib/libdl.so.2 (0x00007fb281f11000)
    libgcc_s.so.1 => /nix/store/9fb027n5a2lf9qwpb98v77iycqq552pf-gcc-4.8.2/lib64/libgcc_s.so.1 (0x00007fb281cfb000)
    libc.so.6 => /nix/store/pdskwizjw8ar31hql2wjnnx6g0s6xc50-glibc-2.19/lib/libc.so.6 (0x00007fb28194e000)
    libpthread.so.0 => /nix/store/pdskwizjw8ar31hql2wjnnx6g0s6xc50-glibc-2.19/lib/libpthread.so.0 (0x00007fb281730000)
    /nix/store/pdskwizjw8ar31hql2wjnnx6g0s6xc50-glibc-2.19/lib/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 (0x00007fb2828a1000)

I then learned about -optl-static and tried it:

[cody@cody-nixos:~/tmp]$ ghc -optl-static static-test.hs
Linking static-test ...
/nix/store/xjvdpqgn2kd4rg0k30z020kxylvlbpx0-binutils-2.23.1/bin/ld: cannot find -lgmp
/nix/store/1jp3vsjcl8ydiy92lzyjclwr943vh5lx-ghc-7.6.3/lib/ghc-7.6.3/libHSrts.a(Linker.o): In function `addDLL':
Linker.c:(.text+0x1a19): warning: Using 'dlopen' in statically linked applications requires at runtime the shared libraries from the glibc version used for linking
collect2: error: ld returned 1 exit status

[vcunat]

Ah, I didn't notice. See #3194.

[codygman]

I've been following the changes here, I'll try the updates out as soon as I can.

[peti]

The current master branch supports static linking now.

[codygman]

Great, I got a simple example working, however when trying to statically compile a more complicated example:

/nix/store/bzvdg7g74rkw7p3zw3mqpp7ynnq4mxf1-binutils-2.23.1/bin/ld: cannot find -lpcre
/nix/store/bzvdg7g74rkw7p3zw3mqpp7ynnq4mxf1-binutils-2.23.1/bin/ld: cannot find -lmysqlclient
/nix/store/bzvdg7g74rkw7p3zw3mqpp7ynnq4mxf1-binutils-2.23.1/bin/ld: cannot find -lssl
/nix/store/bzvdg7g74rkw7p3zw3mqpp7ynnq4mxf1-binutils-2.23.1/bin/ld: cannot find -lcrypto
/nix/store/hb92nfw5iapmrgy7c12h04vhp6yqb85b-ghc-7.8.3/lib/ghc-7.8.3/rts-1.0/libHSrts.a(Linker.o): In function `internal_dlopen':
Linker.c:(.text+0x5c): warning: Using 'dlopen' in statically linked applications requires at runtime the shared libraries from the glibc version used for linking
/nix/store/hb92nfw5iapmrgy7c12h04vhp6yqb85b-ghc-7.8.3/lib/ghc-7.8.3/unix-2.7.0.1/libHSunix-2.7.0.1.a(HsUnix.o): In function `__hsunix_getpwent':
HsUnix.c:(.text+0xb1): warning: Using 'getpwent' in statically linked applications requires at runtime the shared libraries from the glibc version used for linking
/nix/store/hb92nfw5iapmrgy7c12h04vhp6yqb85b-ghc-7.8.3/lib/ghc-7.8.3/unix-2.7.0.1/libHSunix-2.7.0.1.a(HsUnix.o): In function `__hsunix_getpwnam_r':
HsUnix.c:(.text+0xc1): warning: Using 'getpwnam_r' in statically linked applications requires at runtime the shared libraries from the glibc version used for linking
/nix/store/hb92nfw5iapmrgy7c12h04vhp6yqb85b-ghc-7.8.3/lib/ghc-7.8.3/unix-2.7.0.1/libHSunix-2.7.0.1.a(HsUnix.o): In function `__hsunix_getpwuid_r':
HsUnix.c:(.text+0xd1): warning: Using 'getpwuid_r' in statically linked applications requires at runtime the shared libraries from the glibc version used for linking
/nix/store/zg76yaqw5jyqfpj87ndkyl8swsdw3bmg-haskell-network-ghc7.8.3-2.5.0.0-shared/lib/ghc-7.8.3/network-2.5.0.0/libHSnetwork-2.5.0.0.a(HsNet.o): In function `hsnet_getaddrinfo':
(.text+0x21): warning: Using 'getaddrinfo' in statically linked applications requires at runtime the shared libraries from the glibc version used for linking
/nix/store/zg76yaqw5jyqfpj87ndkyl8swsdw3bmg-haskell-network-ghc7.8.3-2.5.0.0-shared/lib/ghc-7.8.3/network-2.5.0.0/libHSnetwork-2.5.0.0.a(BSD__266.o):(.text+0x7f): warning: Using 'gethostbyname' in statically linked applications requires at runtime the shared libraries from the glibc version used for linking
/nix/store/zg76yaqw5jyqfpj87ndkyl8swsdw3bmg-haskell-network-ghc7.8.3-2.5.0.0-shared/lib/ghc-7.8.3/network-2.5.0.0/libHSnetwork-2.5.0.0.a(BSD__248.o): In function `c1q6p_info':
(.text+0xbd): warning: Using 'getprotobyname' in statically linked applications requires at runtime the shared libraries from the glibc version used for linking
/nix/store/zg76yaqw5jyqfpj87ndkyl8swsdw3bmg-haskell-network-ghc7.8.3-2.5.0.0-shared/lib/ghc-7.8.3/network-2.5.0.0/libHSnetwork-2.5.0.0.a(BSD__231.o): In function `c1pYC_info':
(.text+0xb2): warning: Using 'getservbyname' in statically linked applications requires at runtime the shared libraries from the glibc version used for linking
collect2: error: ld returned 1 exit status

I'm guessing I need to have the following libraries: pcre, mysqlclient, ssl, crypto

[codygman]

According to a stackoverflow commenter, staticly linked programs are much less portable (is this true?)

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/8657908/deploying-yesod-to-heroku-cant-build-statically#answer-8658468

So would it be better for a program that does something like the following:

[cody@cody-nixos:~]$ ldd hello
    linux-vdso.so.1 (0x00007fffde5fb000)
    libgmp.so.10 => /nix/store/rgm3f9ih66b9b726kf1n1g4xx0gnv3rq-gmp-5.1.3/lib/libgmp.so.10 (0x00007f152fea5000)
    libm.so.6 => /nix/store/94n64qy99ja0vgbkf675nyk39g9b978n-glibc-2.19/lib/libm.so.6 (0x00007f152fba4000)
    librt.so.1 => /nix/store/94n64qy99ja0vgbkf675nyk39g9b978n-glibc-2.19/lib/librt.so.1 (0x00007f152f99c000)
    libdl.so.2 => /nix/store/94n64qy99ja0vgbkf675nyk39g9b978n-glibc-2.19/lib/libdl.so.2 (0x00007f152f798000)
    libc.so.6 => /nix/store/94n64qy99ja0vgbkf675nyk39g9b978n-glibc-2.19/lib/libc.so.6 (0x00007f152f3eb000)
    libpthread.so.0 => /nix/store/94n64qy99ja0vgbkf675nyk39g9b978n-glibc-2.19/lib/libpthread.so.0 (0x00007f152f1cd000)
    /nix/store/94n64qy99ja0vgbkf675nyk39g9b978n-glibc-2.19/lib/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 (0x00007f1530128000)
[cody@cody-nixos:~]$ patchfor ubuntu hello
Patched hello to work on ubuntu
[cody@cody-nixos:~]$ ldd hello
    linux-vdso.so.1 =>  (0x00007fffbebfe000)
    libgmp.so.10 => /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libgmp.so.10 (0x00007f27db51c000)
    libffi.so.6 => /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libffi.so.6 (0x00007f27db314000)
    libm.so.6 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libm.so.6 (0x00007f27db00d000)
    librt.so.1 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/librt.so.1 (0x00007f27dae05000)
    libdl.so.2 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libdl.so.2 (0x00007f27dac01000)
    libc.so.6 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6 (0x00007f27da83a000)
    libpthread.so.0 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libpthread.so.0 (0x00007f27da61c000)
    /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 (0x00007f27db79a000)

Hm, notice the nix example doesn't have libffi.

[peti]

Yes, if you want to link pcre and friends statically, then you need static versions of those libraries.

[vcunat]

@codygman: the key thing was that statically linking glibc might be a problem, as far as I understood the post. For the other libraries it should be fine, I think, and increasing portability.

[nh2]

To link fully statically (using musl libc instead of glibc), see https://github.com/nh2/static-haskell-nix/ for an example.