Unable to install on Debian 12

[hax0rbana-adam]

Problem

When running ./install-linux.sh on Debian 12, the serial program failed to run due to a linking error.

./serial-ubuntu-latest/serial: /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6: version `GLIBC_2.38' not found (required by ./serial-ubuntu-latest/serial)

Solution

Include a version of serial with the release package that will work with Debian 12 (and other distros with the same version of GLIBC).

Workaround

Compile serial from source and use the resulting executable.

# Start from the directory that you unpacked the release into
sudo apt install -y cargo
git clone https://github.com/EFForg/rayhunter
cd rayhunter/serial
cargo build
cd ../..
sed -i 's|./serial-ubuntu-latest/serial|./rayhunter/target/debug/serial|g' install-linux.sh
./install-linux.sh

[hax0rbana-adam]

I'm not much of a Microsoft fan, but I think getting serial compiled for Debian might just be a matter of adding a few lines here and waiting for Microsoft to run the CI job.

The linux-install.sh script would still need to be updated, perhaps by looking at the output of lsb_release -a or similar to determine which version of serial should be used.

[cooperq]

I think that we don't want to support the many varied versions of libc. I think the better solution here is to improve the documentation on how to build from scratch for people on systems we don't support.

[cooperq]

this is a sub issue of #29

[hax0rbana-adam]

This issue of releases not supporting Debian seems like it is orthogonal to improving the documentation. Asking people to set up an entire rust development environment is a lot to ask, let alone to ask it of journalists and activists. Maybe we can find some way we can make this easier for people to use, particularly those who are not developers.

Would you be willing to add RUSTFLAGS="-C target-feature=+crt-static" to the compilation so serial will run everywhere with a single executable?

If not, would you be willing to add --target x86_64-unknown-linux-musl to the cargo build command to create a statically linked release? This option would require one additional command before compilation (rustup target add x86_64-unknown-linux-musl) but musl is more stable than glibc when it comes to static linking.

If not, would you accept a pull request that compiles a version of serial that functions on Debian (in addition to the exiting executable in the release)?

If neither of those are acceptable, would you be willing to switch to binaries that work on Debian, which is reportedly more popular the Ubuntu?

[cooperq]

I think adding the static compilation flag to serial or switching to MUSL would be the ideal solution here as it would make Serial more portablle and robust in line with my goals for #88 . It would also increase the number of systems we support installing on. So yes, that would be my ideal solution.

[hax0rbana-adam]

Static compilation using glibc results in an executable that can't run (tested on Debian 12 and 13). I didn't do a deep dive into why since the musl route is probably going to be better.

Static compilation using musl is something I'm still working on and am trying to collaborate with developers of rusb and udev-rs. Hopefully someone who is familiar with rust can help out on this one (I'm just a hacker, I don't actually know Rust)

[cooperq]

ohh right the rusb dependency might make this hard actually, I forgot about that! Cooper Quintin Senior Staff Technologist EFF.org is member supported. Join today!<https://www.eff.org/donate> Signal: hunter.02 Find me on bluesky @cooperq.com or @***@***.*** exchange on mastodon

…

________________________________ From: Adam ***@***.***> Sent: Thursday, January 30, 2025 2:38 PM To: EFForg/rayhunter ***@***.***> Cc: Cooper Quintin ***@***.***>; Assign ***@***.***> Subject: Re: [EFForg/rayhunter] Unable to install on Debian 12 (Issue #93) Static compilation using glibc results in an executable that can't run (tested on Debian 12 and 13). I didn't do a deep dive into why since the musl route is probably going to be better. Static compilation using musl is something I'm still working on and am trying to collaborate with developers of rusb and udev-rs. Hopefully someone who is familiar with rust can help out on this one (I'm just a hacker, I don't actually know Rust) — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub<#93 (comment)>, or unsubscribe<https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AAAP3VNYHTAS645TAQHBKVT2NKSVXAVCNFSM6AAAAABVOH5G4WVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43OSLTON2WKQ3PNVWWK3TUHMZDMMRVG42DGNZXGY>. You are receiving this because you were assigned.Message ID: ***@***.***>