Running './configure' on external hard drive fails

[dannmat]

When cloning Bitcoin Core and trying to configure/build, I get the error:
./configure: line 1: syntax error near unexpected token ('

Building from the boot disk works as expected, but if I replicate these steps exactly on my external hard drive, I get the above error

I expected the configure file to generate a makefile

Try building with MacOS 10.15 beta (build 19A512f) on an external 1TB hard drive.

Running the latest clone from GitHub (latest commit 94df084)

2015 MacBook Pro 15"

[maflcko]

Does the path have spaces in it?

[dannmat]

Tried again without any spaces in the path and still the same error.
The drive is partitioned as exFat.

[dannmat]

The error is also including:
./configure: line 1: m4trace:configure.ac:12: -1- AC_INIT([Bitcoin Core], [0.18.99], [https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/issues], [bitcoin], [https://bitcoincore.org/])'

I have tried running ./configure --without-gui however this brings back the same result.

[maflcko]

What does the config.log say?

[maflcko]

And have you (re-) run ./autogen.sh?

[dannmat]

I have re-run that ./autogen.sh. I have also tried completely wiping the drive and starting fresh but to no avail. Following the same steps on my boot drive works perfectly however.
It fails when I'm running ./configure (I'm following Bitcoin Core MacOS tutorial )

I can't find any config.log or debug.log anywhere in the directory?

[maflcko]

Hmm, maybe the ./config.log isn't created yet. So what is the full output of ./autogen.sh && ./configure?

[laanwj]

The drive is partitioned as exFat

(ex)Fat is a very minimal file system, it likely misses some metadata, such as file permissions (especially +x) necessary to do the build.

[dannmat]

Running ./autogen.sh give me the following output:

matt@Matts-MacBook-Pro bitcoin % ./autogen.sh 
matt@Matts-MacBook-Pro bitcoin % 

No errors occur, however when I then run ./configure or ./configure --without-gui, I get the following output:

matt@Matts-MacBook-Pro bitcoin % ./configure
./configure: line 1: syntax error near unexpected token `('
./configure: line 1: `m4trace:configure.ac:12: -1- AC_INIT([Bitcoin Core], [0.18.99], [https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/issues], [bitcoin], [https://bitcoincore.org/])'

I have tried re-formatting the drive to FAT32 but still get the same issue.

I will try on a different Mac tonight and try to replicate the issue.

[laanwj]

FAT32 has the same problem, it's an older revision of FAT. You need a 'real' file system. FAT is only good for storing photo's and media, basically, it's not useful for development work.

[dannmat]

I formatted using Mac OS Extended, and this works flawlessly now. Thanks for your help.

Is this something that should be looked into or is it beyond control?

[fanquake]

@dannmat This is likely something out of our control. Thanks for following up.