clang: error: unknown argument: '-no-pie' on darwin macOS High Sierra 10.13.4

[jcrben]

Installed haskell-platform via homebrew cask; brew cask info haskell-platform reports haskell-platform: 8.4.2

This is an open question on Stackoverflow (as well as other places). I followed https://stackoverflow.com/a/50419101/4200039 in part and fixed it by replacing
, ("C compiler supports -no-pie","YES")
with
, ("C compiler supports -no-pie","NO").

It seems this is something of a known issue based on #272 (comment), but it seems to be broken by default on macOS unless I've got something weird about my system...

[gbaz]

Which version of gcc and os x do you have installed?

[jcrben]

OSX version is in the subject line, but even more precisely: 10.13.4 (17E199)

I also tried doing it with PATH=/usr/local/opt/llvm/bin:$PATH at which point my shell reports:

Does GHC not work with clang? Also was expecting this to be pretty much self-contained. Did I miss some caveats? https://github.com/Homebrew/homebrew-cask/blob/master/Casks/haskell-platform.rb

[gbaz]

So the problem seems to be that you have two versions of clang lying around? One supports/requires the no-pie flag (the one shipping with xcode and run as gcc) and one does not recognize it (the one from brew). The config file installed by the platform expects it to be configured for the standard xcode toolchain. Given the way ghc is setup, it doesn't autodetect at every run, it just is configured once and forall. So we can't have it defaulted both ways.

I think forthcoming ghcs won't require use of the flag anymore (not sure of the details) in which case this will no longer be an issue, but until then I don't know of a solution other than changing the config by hand. I'd be happy with a PR that put the suggestion in a discoverable place on the site, but not on the "hot path" of standard instructions since this requires using a nonstandard compiler (or ancient version of xcode tools) to encounter.

[jcrben]

One supports/requires the no-pie flag (the one shipping with xcode and run as gcc)

Are you sure? I get this error when the the system gcc has precedence in my PATH - that homebrew LLVM clang (in /usr/local/opt/llvm/bin) isn't actually in my PATH.

I'm not actually sure that there are two gcc commands on my system - there's just the /usr/bin/gcc one as far as I know. I just uninstalled my homebrew gcc and llvm (with --force to remove old versions) and get the same error.

That stackoverflow question is quite recent. xcode-select --version reports 2349. Maybe Apple changed something? After xcode-select -r same error.

The GNU gcc compiler that I had installed had a versioned executable:

I also use the nix package manager but I don't have gcc or clang installed with it.

[gbaz]

Ok a bit more investigation reveals that there was an os-x toolchain change:

https://ghc.haskell.org/trac/ghc/ticket/15112

However, that appears to just give a warning about unused arguments, not an error (I confirmed this on my system as well).

[jcrben]

According to nh2/link-with-lld-example#1 (comment) llvm supports -no-pie in llvm/clang 5 but according to https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16545037 (uncited by AlexeyBrin) Xcode 9 is based upon llvm/clang 4

[gbaz]

(btw note that the clang version I have, which I believe is the latest, is slightly newer than that which you report: Apple LLVM version 9.1.0 (clang-902.0.39.2))

[jcrben]

Ah good point. I tend to ignore the App Store - there's an Xcode update waiting for me (installing). But I did have the latest Command Line Tools update. Seems like I should have the latest.

I wonder if you're on the Beta or Developer channel from Apple.

Thanks for finding the toolchain change. I guess things will work themselves out.

I particularly got the error when trying to run cabal install strict (copying marcusbuffett/Clanki#5 (comment)) - perhaps cabal in particular isn't happy.

[gbaz]

Ok so it sounds like this is just a stray warning and a red herring that will hopefully be sorted out soon, and the actual install issue you encountered was something else. Closing on that basis. Thanks for bearing with the investigation -- its good to know what this is if it arises in the future...

[aleith]

Same kinds of issues on macOS Sierra 10.12.6,
Apple LLVM version 9.0.0 (clang-900.0.39.2) Target: x86_64-apple-darwin16.7.0
The Glorious Glasgow Haskell Compilation System, version 8.4.3

Alastairs-15-MBP:applied-fp-course aleith$ cabal sandbox init
Writing a default package environment file to
/Users/aleith/dev/applied-fp-course/cabal.sandbox.config
Creating a new sandbox at /Users/aleith/dev/applied-fp-course/.cabal-sandbox
Alastairs-15-MBP:applied-fp-course aleith$ cabal install --only-dependencies --enable-tests
clang: error: unknown argument: '-no-pie'
'gcc' failed in phase `C Compiler'. (Exit code: 1)
Alastairs-15-MBP:applied-fp-course aleith$ cabal build
Resolving dependencies...
Warning: solver failed to find a solution:
Could not resolve dependencies:
[__0] trying: applied-fp-course-0.1.0.0 (user goal)
[__1] unknown package: warp (dependency of applied-fp-course)
[__1] fail (backjumping, conflict set: applied-fp-course, warp)
After searching the rest of the dependency tree exhaustively, these were the
goals I've had most trouble fulfilling: applied-fp-course, warp
Trying configure anyway.
Configuring applied-fp-course-0.1.0.0...
cabal: Encountered missing dependencies:
aeson ==1.,
http-types >=0.9 && <0.13,
optparse-applicative >=0.13 && <0.15,
semigroups ==0.18.,
sqlite-simple ==0.4.,
sqlite-simple-errors ==0.6.,
wai ==3.2.,
warp ==3.2.

Does this mean the initialisation failed? Not sure why I need cabal and what it does, I cloned the QFPL Applied Functional Programming Course and trying to get started. .

[retnuh]

I'm also getting this error on MacOS 10.12.6:

bash-3.2$ gcc --version
Configured with: --prefix=/Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/usr --with-gxx-include-dir=/usr/include/c++/4.2.1
Apple LLVM version 9.0.0 (clang-900.0.38)
Target: x86_64-apple-darwin16.7.0
Thread model: posix
InstalledDir: /Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/usr/bin
bash-3.2$ ghc --version
The Glorious Glasgow Haskell Compilation System, version 8.4.2
bash-3.2$ uname -a
Darwin shank.local 16.7.0 Darwin Kernel Version 16.7.0: Wed Oct  4 00:17:00 PDT 2017; root:xnu-3789.71.6~1/RELEASE_X86_64 x86_64

I get an error (not a warning) trying to install anything w/ cabal:

bash-3.2$ cabal install lambdabot
clang: error: unknown argument: '-no-pie'
`gcc' failed in phase `C Compiler'. (Exit code: 1)
bash-3.2$ cabal install hoogle
clang: error: unknown argument: '-no-pie'
`gcc' failed in phase `C Compiler'. (Exit code: 1)

I'm just learning haskell so am not familiar with the toolchain, or what config file I need to edit to work around this...

[gbaz]

The current version of gcc/clang shipped by apple is newer:

gcc --version
Configured with: --prefix=/Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/usr --with-gxx-include-dir=/usr/include/c++/4.2.1
Apple LLVM version 9.1.0 (clang-902.0.39.2)

It should be possible to upgrade xcode and the command line tools to the latest.