Building sample project fails with -fPIC linker error on Arch Linux

[Janfel]

Steps to reproduce

For example:

1. Install stack with yay -S stack-static.
2. Run command stack new sample.
3. Run command cd sample.
4. Run command stack build.

Expected

The demo builds without errors.

Actual

The build failed with this output filled with -fPIC errors.

Stack version

$ stack --version
Version 1.9.3, Git revision 40cf7b37526b86d1676da82167ea8758a854953b (6211 commits) x86_64 hpack-0.31.1

Method of installation

I used the stack-static AUR Package, which does nothing more than copying the official binary into an Arch Linux package, as seen in it's PKGBUILD.

[dbaynard]

Hi @Janfel, have you seen the entry on this in the FAQ?

Failing that, you may try the approach at #3518 (comment) using /data/home/janfel/.stack/programs/x86_64-linux/ghc-tinfo6-8.6.3/lib/ghc-8.6.3/settings?

[Janfel]

Hi @dbaynard, thank you for taking your time for fixing this seemingly age old problem again. I have read the FAQ entry, and browsed the solutions here before posting this, but the FAQ seemed to only talk about problems with older versions of GHC, and suggest these were already fixed by GHC 8.0.2.

I tried using the nopie compiler build, but nothing changed compared to the tinfo6 build installed by default. I was however hesitant to change the GHC settings file, because messing with configs is almost never a good idea if you don't know what you're doing.

After reading your message I took a look into this file and it seems that some configuration tool wrongly set ("C compiler supports -no-pie", "NO"), despite both Clang and GCC supporting this flag.

Which of the following should I now do?

• Change C compiler supports -no-pie to YES.
• Add -fPIC to C compiler flags.
• Add -no-pie to C compiler flags.
• Add -no-pie to C compiler link flags.

[dbaynard]

It's in the FAQ because it's not clear what causes the problem (otherwise I imagine it would already be fixed) and you appear to understand this better than I.

Perhaps begin with YES, then try the linker, then the other -no-pie option, then the -fPIC?

[Janfel]

I set C compiler supports -no-pie to YES and now building the sample project as well as building an external library such as zlib works without errors. Do you happen to know which tool generates the GHC config file? This seems to be a bug on their side.

[dbaynard]

I don't know, no. Do you think your outcome should be added to the FAQ (and if so would you be willing to make the PR)?

Trac 15319 and Trac 15848 seem relevant, but I haven't dug in to the source. It may be worth raising an issue on GHC's tracker.

[Janfel]

I have created a pull request (see #4499) which adds this as a possible solution to the FAQ.