[Buildroot] [Bug 9721] New: version 2017.02: no acceptable m4 could be found in $PATH

[Buildroot] [Bug 9721] New: version 2017.02: no acceptable m4 could be found in $PATH

[bugzilla at busybox.net]

https://bugs.busybox.net/show_bug.cgi?id=9721

            Bug ID: 9721
           Summary: version 2017.02: no acceptable m4 could be found in
                    $PATH
           Product: buildroot
           Version: unspecified
          Hardware: All
                OS: Linux
            Status: NEW
          Severity: normal
          Priority: P5
         Component: Other
          Assignee: unassigned at buildroot.uclibc.org
          Reporter: louigi600 at yahoo.it
                CC: buildroot at uclibc.org
  Target Milestone: ---

using buildroot on slackware 14.2_x86_64 I get this error:
checking for GNU M4 that supports accurate traces... configure: error: no
acceptable m4 could be found in $PATH.
GNU M4 1.4.6 or later is required; 1.4.16 or newer is recommended.
GNU M4 1.4.15 uses a buggy replacement strstr on some systems.
Glibc 2.9 - 2.12 and GNU M4 1.4.11 - 1.4.15 have another strstr bug.
package/pkg-generic.mk:206: recipe for target
'/usr/src/buildroot-2017.02/output/build/host-libtool-2.4.6/.stamp_configured'
failed
make: ***
[/usr/src/buildroot-2017.02/output/build/host-libtool-2.4.6/.stamp_configured]
Error 1

But I've m4 version 1.4.17 in path
root at desktopdbsm:/usr/src/buildroot-2017.02# echo $PATH
/usr/src/buildroot-2016.11.2/output/host/usr/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/games:/usr/lib64/qt/bin:/usr/share/texmf/bin
root at desktopdbsm:/usr/src/buildroot-2017.02# type m4
m4 is /usr/bin/m4
root at desktopdbsm:/usr/src/buildroot-2017.02# m4 --version
m4 (GNU M4) 1.4.17
Copyright (C) 2013 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.
There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.

Written by Rene' Seindal.
root at desktopdbsm:/usr/src/buildroot-2017.02#

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[Buildroot] [Bug 9721] version 2017.02: no acceptable m4 could be found in $PATH

[bugzilla at busybox.net]

https://bugs.busybox.net/show_bug.cgi?id=9721

louigi600 at yahoo.it changed:

           What    |Removed                     |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
             Target|                            |arm
               Host|                            |x86_64

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[Buildroot] [Bug 9721] version 2017.02: no acceptable m4 could be found in $PATH

[bugzilla at busybox.net]

https://bugs.busybox.net/show_bug.cgi?id=9721

--- Comment #1 from Peter Korsgaard <jacmet@uclibc.org> ---
Can you check in output/build/host-libtool-2.4.6/config.log to see why the m4
check fails?

I'm using m4 1.4.18 here without issues.

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[Buildroot] [Bug 9721] version 2017.02: no acceptable m4 could be found in $PATH

[bugzilla at busybox.net]

https://bugs.busybox.net/show_bug.cgi?id=9721

Yann E. MORIN <yann.morin.1998@free.fr> changed:

           What    |Removed                     |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 CC|                            |yann.morin.1998 at free.fr

--- Comment #2 from Yann E. MORIN <yann.morin.1998@free.fr> ---
host-libtool in Buildroot has a dependency on host-m4, so you should have
seen host-m4 build before host-libtool.

Can you verify this is the case?

Also, I see you are building as root. This is absolutely not necessary,
and it is greatly suggested that you do not do that. Furthermore, this
is known to cause build issues in some packages (at least nodejs is
impacted). Can you retry running as non-root?

Finally, I see that you are building in a sub-directory of /usr, which
has caused issues in the past. Can you try bulding in your user's home
instead?

In the meantime, I'll try a local build in a sub-dir os /usr to check
the issue has not resurfaced...

Regards,
Yann E. MORIN.

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[Buildroot] [Bug 9721] version 2017.02: no acceptable m4 could be found in $PATH

[bugzilla at busybox.net]

https://bugs.busybox.net/show_bug.cgi?id=9721

--- Comment #3 from louigi600 at yahoo.it ---
I think solved that issue that may have been induced (not sure how exactly
maybe at some point it's looking in /proc/mounts) by working chroot without
/sys /proc mountd on the chroot env. Unfortunately I don't have the failing
logs anymore.
I've got it to compile now but I've other issues while using the built
xtoolchain. 

I know it's not necessary to compile using root ... but appart from being
superuser, root is just like any other user on the system.

I've seen some unix systems where the user homes are un /usr/home so that would
be a subfolder of usr anyway ... that's another odd thing a folder is a folder
and why should I not be able to build this from any folder I like to choose on
my system ?

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[Buildroot] [Bug 9721] version 2017.02: no acceptable m4 could be found in $PATH

[bugzilla at busybox.net]

https://bugs.busybox.net/show_bug.cgi?id=9721

Yann E. MORIN <yann.morin.1998@free.fr> changed:

           What    |Removed                     |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
         Resolution|---                         |INVALID
             Status|NEW                         |RESOLVED

--- Comment #4 from Yann E. MORIN <yann.morin.1998@free.fr> ---
> that may have been induced [...] by working chroot without /sys
> /proc mountd on the chroot env.

OK, so this was an environment problem. Closing the issue.

Thanks for the heads-up. :-)

> but appart from being superuser, root is just like any other user
> on the system.

And it is causing build isues when building nodejs, because nodejs'
buildsystem does not work correctly when running as root. This is a
fact and an issue we do have encountered.

> why should I not be able to build this from any folder I like to
> choose on my system?

Well, we try hard to make it work. However, we have had issues when
building in a sub-dir of /usr, because some packages' buildsystems
behave incorrectly in this case. That's not entirely Buikldroot's
fault, although it should work now.

Regards,
Yann E. MORIN.

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