Fail during configure if perl is missing but required

[haampie]

I did this

Configure curl 8.7.1 without perl on the system, set --disable-docs and --disable-manual or not. The build errors with

env: can't execute 'perl': No such file or directory

during

Making all in cmdline-opts
make[2]: Entering directory '/tmp/root/spack-stage/spack-stage-curl-8.7.1-h65jzpw3styqrc424wm7lxlu4ggv5vu3/spack-src/docs/cmdline-opts'
(rm -f curl.1 && (cd . &&  /tmp/root/spack-stage/spack-stage-curl-8.7.1-h65jzpw3styqrc424wm7lxlu4ggv5vu3/spack-src/scripts/managen mainpage abstract-unix-socket.md ... write-out.md xattr.md) > manpage.tmp.$$ && mv manpage.tmp.$$ curl.1)

I expected the following

No docs / man pages to be generated. No perl required.

curl/libcurl version

curl 8.7.1

operating system

Linux <...> 6.5.0-28-generic #29-Ubuntu SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Thu Mar 28 23:46:48 UTC 2024 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

[bagder]

I believe this is fixed in git already. Can you test a recent daily snapshot?

[haampie]

Tried latest, doesn't build:

/bin/sh ../libtool  --tag=CC   --mode=link /path/to/lib/spack/env/gcc/gcc  -Werror-implicit-function-declaration -O2 -Wno-system-headers    -L/path/to/opt/spack/linux-alpine3-zen2/gcc-12.2.1/zlib-ng-2.1.6-2crxykhopjq2egg4w77yi6ol5f5g7c5z/lib -L/path/to/opt/spack/linux-alpine3-zen2/gcc-12.2.1/openssl-3.2.1-jsky75qguwrxhzyvmlpumk3x742qjfo2/lib64 -L/path/to/opt/spack/linux-alpine3-zen2/gcc-12.2.1/nghttp2-1.57.0-ickbntvp3ipmejjkhc5umli3sdjdvnls/lib -o curl slist_wc.o tool_binmode.o tool_bname.o tool_cb_dbg.o tool_cb_hdr.o tool_cb_prg.o tool_cb_rea.o tool_cb_see.o tool_cb_wrt.o tool_cfgable.o tool_dirhie.o tool_doswin.o tool_easysrc.o tool_filetime.o tool_findfile.o tool_formparse.o tool_getparam.o tool_getpass.o tool_help.o tool_helpers.o tool_hugehelp.o tool_ipfs.o tool_libinfo.o tool_listhelp.o tool_main.o tool_msgs.o tool_operate.o tool_operhlp.o tool_paramhlp.o tool_parsecfg.o tool_progress.o tool_setopt.o tool_sleep.o tool_stderr.o tool_strdup.o tool_urlglob.o tool_util.o tool_vms.o tool_writeout.o tool_writeout_json.o tool_xattr.o var.o ../lib/base64.o ../lib/curl_multibyte.o ../lib/dynbuf.o ../lib/nonblock.o ../lib/strtoofft.o ../lib/timediff.o ../lib/version_win32.o ../lib/warnless.o   ../lib/libcurl.la -lssl -lcrypto -lz  
libtool: link: /path/to/lib/spack/env/gcc/gcc -Werror-implicit-function-declaration -O2 -Wno-system-headers -o .libs/curl slist_wc.o tool_binmode.o tool_bname.o tool_cb_dbg.o tool_cb_hdr.o tool_cb_prg.o tool_cb_rea.o tool_cb_see.o tool_cb_wrt.o tool_cfgable.o tool_dirhie.o tool_doswin.o tool_easysrc.o tool_filetime.o tool_findfile.o tool_formparse.o tool_getparam.o tool_getpass.o tool_help.o tool_helpers.o tool_hugehelp.o tool_ipfs.o tool_libinfo.o tool_listhelp.o tool_main.o tool_msgs.o tool_operate.o tool_operhlp.o tool_paramhlp.o tool_parsecfg.o tool_progress.o tool_setopt.o tool_sleep.o tool_stderr.o tool_strdup.o tool_urlglob.o tool_util.o tool_vms.o tool_writeout.o tool_writeout_json.o tool_xattr.o var.o ../lib/base64.o ../lib/curl_multibyte.o ../lib/dynbuf.o ../lib/nonblock.o ../lib/strtoofft.o ../lib/timediff.o ../lib/version_win32.o ../lib/warnless.o  -L/path/to/opt/spack/linux-alpine3-zen2/gcc-12.2.1/zlib-ng-2.1.6-2crxykhopjq2egg4w77yi6ol5f5g7c5z/lib -L/path/to/opt/spack/linux-alpine3-zen2/gcc-12.2.1/openssl-3.2.1-jsky75qguwrxhzyvmlpumk3x742qjfo2/lib64 -L/path/to/opt/spack/linux-alpine3-zen2/gcc-12.2.1/nghttp2-1.57.0-ickbntvp3ipmejjkhc5umli3sdjdvnls/lib ../lib/.libs/libcurl.so -lssl -lcrypto -lz -Wl,-rpath -Wl,/path/to/opt/spack/linux-alpine3-zen2/gcc-12.2.1/curl-8.8.0-w55rn7cqvtywb2os7l3u3t4ikerkk2a5/lib
/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-alpine-linux-musl/12.2.1/../../../../x86_64-alpine-linux-musl/bin/ld: tool_operate.o: in function `operate':
tool_operate.c:(.text+0x5dc1): undefined reference to `hugehelp'

I won't have time to bisect the first working nightly daily snapshot, unfortunately.

[dfandrich]

Try nuking the directory and starting again. That issue can happen if some old files from a failed build are still lying around.

[bagder]

I second @dfandrich's proposal. hugehelp is a function that should exist whether perl is present or not.

[haampie]

Happens consistently on 2024-03-28 and 2024-04-30 on Alpine Linux using the Spack package manger. Dependency graph looks like this:

Earlier the error is:

/bin/sh: can't open /tmp/root/spack-stage/spack-stage-curl-20240328-y2ewq45hp2dhrks6otovqizdxiozsdo3/spack-src/docs/cmdline-opts/curl.txt: no such file
/bin/sh: can't open /tmp/root/spack-stage/spack-stage-curl-20240328-y2ewq45hp2dhrks6otovqizdxiozsdo3/spack-src/docs/cmdline-opts/curl.txt: no such file

EDIT*

🤦‍♂️ the --disable-docs flag had gone missing while adding new versions. All is good when I add the flag back for both versions tested.

Would be convenient though if curl failed during configure if perl is required and missing...