gdb depends on libpython3.8

[JeremyGrosser]

After switching to the gnat-fsf-13.1.0 toolchain, arm-eabi-gdb stops working on Debian bookworm, because libpython3.8.so.1.0 is unavailable. Python 3.11 is the release included with Debian stable.

synack@polar ~/src/rp2040_hal/tests(master) $ eval $(alr printenv)
synack@polar ~/src/rp2040_hal/tests(master) $ arm-eabi-gdb
arm-eabi-gdb: error while loading shared libraries: libpython3.8.so.1.0: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

[JeremyGrosser]

I've confirmed that adding --without-python to the gdb configure flags removes the dependency on libpython3.8. I was unable to find an option for static linking.
main...JeremyGrosser:GNAT-FSF-builds:gdb-without-python

[Fabien-Chouteau]

Thanks for the report @JeremyGrosser.

I don't think I want to disable python for the builds as it brings many useful features. Maybe there's a way to disable it at run-time?

[reznikmm]

Workaround 🔧

To make gdb from gnat_native_13.2.0_788a01f9 work I've rebuilt libpython3.8 for my Ubuntu 22.04. This is rather simple (I used a docker to have a clean build env).

• Download sources from Ubuntu and my patch
• Run

tar xaf python3.8_3.8.10.orig.tar.xz 
cd Python-3.8.10
tar xaf ../python3.8_3.8.10-0ubuntu1~20.04.8.debian.tar.xz
patch -p1 < ../python-3.8.patch
sudo apt install build-essential
sudo apt-get build-dep .
sudo ln -s /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libmpdec.so.2.5.1 /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libmpdec.so.2
dpkg-buildpackage -b

• Now you have needed packages, install them

apt install ./libpython3.8_3.8.10-0ubuntu1~20.04.8_amd64.deb ./libpython3.8-stdlib_3.8.10-0ubuntu1~20.04.8_amd64.deb ./libpython3.8-minimal_3.8.10-0ubuntu1~20.04.8_amd64.deb

[reznikmm]

python-3.8.patch

[godunko]

Another workaround for Ububtu 22.04 is to add external repository and to install libpython3.8 package.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:deadsnakes/ppa
sudo apt install libpython3.8

[yrashk]

I want to add a suggestion here. It's possible to use RPATH with ($ORIGIN on Linux and @loader_path on macOS) to ship a shared library side-by-side.

[Fabien-Chouteau]

Hello here, so I decided to disable python support in the next builds (14.1.3). I don't see a good way to provide python and it was never enabled for our Windows builds anyway.

The workaround, if Python support is really important for you, will be to use the distrib GDB