[Linux][From Source] pkg-config: checking whether the C compiler works... no

[osalbahr]

Additional Info

• I am using Windows Subsystem for Linux

Output of brew config

HOMEBREW_VERSION: 4.0.26
ORIGIN: https://github.com/Homebrew/brew
HEAD: eff45ef570f265e226f14ce91da72d7a6e7d516a
Last commit: 6 days ago
Core tap origin: https://github.com/Homebrew/homebrew-core
Core tap HEAD: 7368debda68286f1d5b3abf59e629e1abaaf0360
Core tap last commit: 13 minutes ago
Core tap branch: master
Core tap JSON: 03 Jul 00:00 UTC
HOMEBREW_PREFIX: /var/home/linuxbrew/.linuxbrew
HOMEBREW_REPOSITORY: /var/home/linuxbrew/.linuxbrew/Homebrew
HOMEBREW_CELLAR: /var/home/linuxbrew/.linuxbrew/Cellar
HOMEBREW_CASK_OPTS: []
HOMEBREW_DISPLAY: :0
HOMEBREW_EDITOR: /usr/bin/nano
HOMEBREW_MAKE_JOBS: 4
HOMEBREW_NO_INSTALL_FROM_API: set
Homebrew Ruby: 2.6.10 => /var/home/linuxbrew/.linuxbrew/Homebrew/Library/Homebrew/vendor/portable-ruby/2.6.10_1/bin/ruby
CPU: quad-core 64-bit skylake
Clang: N/A
Git: 2.41.0 => /bin/git
Curl: 8.0.1 => /bin/curl
Kernel: Linux 6.3.8-200.fc38.x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
OS: Fedora release 38 (Thirty Eight)
Host glibc: 2.37
/usr/bin/gcc: 13.1.1
/usr/bin/ruby: N/A
glibc: N/A
gcc@11: N/A
gcc: N/A
xorg: N/A

Output of brew doctor

Please note that these warnings are just used to help the Homebrew maintainers
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Warning: Your Homebrew's prefix is not /home/linuxbrew/.linuxbrew.

Many of Homebrew's bottles (binary packages) can only be used with the default prefix.
Consider uninstalling Homebrew and reinstalling into the default prefix.
It is expected behaviour that some formulae will fail to build in this unsupported configuration.
It is expected behaviour that Homebrew will be buggy and slow.
Do not create any issues about this on Homebrew's GitHub repositories.
Do not create any issues even if you think this message is unrelated.
Any opened issues will be immediately closed without response.
Do not ask for help from Homebrew or its maintainers on social media.
You may ask for help in Homebrew's discussions but are unlikely to receive a response.
Try to figure out the problem yourself and submit a fix as a pull request.
We will review it but may or may not accept it.

Description of issue

Hello, I am training to brew install fish but it fails the Building pkg-config from source step:

[dracula@fedora ~]$ brew install pkg-config
==> Fetching pkg-config
Warning: Building pkg-config from source:
  The bottle (and many others) needs to be installed into /home/linuxbrew/.linuxbrew.

==> Downloading https://pkgconfig.freedesktop.org/releases/pkg-config-0.29.2.tar
Already downloaded: /var/home/dracula/.cache/Homebrew/downloads/5bdbf3b3fdadaf72744884b98b74a2ff887bd63a20b246f811a222a146ad7b64--pkg-config-0.29.2.tar.gz
==> ./configure --prefix=/var/home/linuxbrew/.linuxbrew/Cellar/pkg-config/0.29.2
Last 15 lines from /var/home/dracula/.cache/Homebrew/Logs/pkg-config/01.configure:
checking for a BSD-compatible install... /usr/bin/install -c
checking whether build environment is sane... yes
checking for a thread-safe mkdir -p... /usr/bin/mkdir -p
checking for gawk... gawk
checking whether make sets $(MAKE)... yes
checking whether make supports nested variables... yes
checking build system type... x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu
checking host system type... x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu
checking how to print strings... printf
checking for style of include used by make... GNU
checking for gcc... gcc
checking whether the C compiler works... no
configure: error: in `/tmp/pkg-config-20230703-21577-eilwlz/pkg-config-0.29.2':
configure: error: C compiler cannot create executables
See `config.log' for more details

READ THIS: https://docs.brew.sh/Troubleshooting

I tried with --debug and it seems to be using gcc (GCC) 13.1.1 20230614 (Red Hat 13.1.1-4):

[dracula@fedora ~]$ brew install pkg-config --debug
/var/home/linuxbrew/.linuxbrew/Homebrew/Library/Homebrew/brew.rb (Formulary::FormulaLoader): loading /var/home/linuxbrew/.linuxbrew/Homebrew/Library/Taps/homebrew/homebrew-core/Formula/pkg-config.rb
/usr/bin/env /var/home/linuxbrew/.linuxbrew/Homebrew/Library/Homebrew/shims/shared/git --version
==> Fetching pkg-config
Warning: Building pkg-config from source:
  The bottle (and many others) needs to be installed into /home/linuxbrew/.linuxbrew.

==> Downloading https://pkgconfig.freedesktop.org/releases/pkg-config-0.29.2.tar
/usr/bin/env /var/home/linuxbrew/.linuxbrew/Homebrew/Library/Homebrew/shims/shared/curl --disable --cookie /dev/null --globoff --show-error --user-agent Linuxbrew/4.0.26\ \(Linux\;\ x86_64\ 6.3.8-200.fc38.x86_64\)\ curl/8.0.1 --header Accept-Language:\ en --retry 3 --fail --location --silent --head https://pkgconfig.freedesktop.org/releases/pkg-config-0.29.2.tar.gz
/usr/bin/env /var/home/linuxbrew/.linuxbrew/Homebrew/Library/Homebrew/shims/shared/curl --disable --cookie /dev/null --globoff --show-error --user-agent Linuxbrew/4.0.26\ \(Linux\;\ x86_64\ 6.3.8-200.fc38.x86_64\)\ curl/8.0.1 --header Accept-Language:\ en --retry 3 --fail --location --silent --head --request GET https://pkgconfig.freedesktop.org/releases/pkg-config-0.29.2.tar.gz
Already downloaded: /var/home/dracula/.cache/Homebrew/downloads/5bdbf3b3fdadaf72744884b98b74a2ff887bd63a20b246f811a222a146ad7b64--pkg-config-0.29.2.tar.gz
/var/home/linuxbrew/.linuxbrew/Homebrew/Library/Homebrew/build.rb (Formulary::FormulaLoader): loading /var/home/linuxbrew/.linuxbrew/Homebrew/Library/Taps/homebrew/homebrew-core/Formula/[email protected]
/var/home/linuxbrew/.linuxbrew/Homebrew/Library/Homebrew/build.rb (Formulary::FormulaLoader): loading /var/home/linuxbrew/.linuxbrew/Homebrew/Library/Taps/homebrew/homebrew-core/Formula/binutils.rb
/var/home/linuxbrew/.linuxbrew/Homebrew/Library/Homebrew/build.rb (Formulary::FormulaLoader): loading /var/home/linuxbrew/.linuxbrew/Homebrew/Library/Taps/homebrew/homebrew-core/Formula/make.rb
/usr/bin/env tar --extract --no-same-owner --file /var/home/dracula/.cache/Homebrew/downloads/5bdbf3b3fdadaf72744884b98b74a2ff887bd63a20b246f811a222a146ad7b64--pkg-config-0.29.2.tar.gz --directory /tmp/d20230703-23028-1nghfhk
/usr/bin/env cp -pR /tmp/d20230703-23028-1nghfhk/pkg-config-0.29.2/. /tmp/pkg-config-20230703-23028-1glcv6z/pkg-config-0.29.2
==> ./configure --prefix=/var/home/linuxbrew/.linuxbrew/Cellar/pkg-config/0.29.2
Last 15 lines from /var/home/dracula/.cache/Homebrew/Logs/pkg-config/01.configure:
checking for a BSD-compatible install... /usr/bin/install -c
checking whether build environment is sane... yes
checking for a thread-safe mkdir -p... /usr/bin/mkdir -p
checking for gawk... gawk
checking whether make sets $(MAKE)... yes
checking whether make supports nested variables... yes
checking build system type... x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu
checking host system type... x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu
checking how to print strings... printf
checking for style of include used by make... GNU
checking for gcc... gcc
checking whether the C compiler works... no
configure: error: in `/tmp/pkg-config-20230703-23028-1glcv6z/pkg-config-0.29.2':
configure: error: C compiler cannot create executables
See `config.log' for more details
/usr/bin/env /var/home/linuxbrew/.linuxbrew/Homebrew/Library/Homebrew/shims/shared/git --version
/usr/bin/env /var/home/linuxbrew/.linuxbrew/Homebrew/Library/Homebrew/shims/shared/curl --version
/usr/bin/env /usr/bin/ruby -e puts\ RUBY_VERSION
/var/home/linuxbrew/.linuxbrew/Homebrew/Library/Homebrew/build.rb (Formulary::FormulaLoader): loading /var/home/linuxbrew/.linuxbrew/Homebrew/Library/Taps/homebrew/homebrew-core/Formula/glibc.rb
/var/home/linuxbrew/.linuxbrew/Homebrew/Library/Homebrew/build.rb (Formulary::FormulaLoader): loading /var/home/linuxbrew/.linuxbrew/Homebrew/Library/Taps/homebrew/homebrew-core/Formula/gcc.rb
/var/home/linuxbrew/.linuxbrew/Homebrew/Library/Homebrew/ignorable.rb:29:in `block in raise'
BuildError: Failed executing: ./configure --disable-debug --prefix=/var/home/linuxbrew/.linuxbrew/Cellar/pkg-config/0.29.2_3 --disable-host-tool --with-internal-glib --with-pc-path=/var/home/linuxbrew/.linuxbrew/lib/pkgconfig:/var/home/linuxbrew/.linuxbrew/share/pkgconfig:/var/home/linuxbrew/.linuxbrew/Homebrew/Library/Homebrew/os/linux/pkgconfig --with-system-include-path=/usr/include
1. raise
2. ignore
3. backtrace
4. irb
5. shell
Choose an action: 5
When you exit this shell, you will return to the menu.
bash-5.2$ cc --version
gcc (GCC) 13.1.1 20230614 (Red Hat 13.1.1-4)
Copyright (C) 2023 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
This is free software; see the source for copying conditions.  There is NO
warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

bash-5.2$ gcc --version
gcc (GCC) 13.1.1 20230614 (Red Hat 13.1.1-4)
Copyright (C) 2023 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
This is free software; see the source for copying conditions.  There is NO
warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

bash-5.2$ which cc
/var/home/linuxbrew/.linuxbrew/Homebrew/Library/Homebrew/shims/linux/super/cc
bash-5.2$ realpath $(which cc)
/var/home/linuxbrew/.linuxbrew/Homebrew/Library/Homebrew/shims/super/cc
bash-5.2$ realpath $(which gcc)
/var/home/linuxbrew/.linuxbrew/Homebrew/Library/Homebrew/shims/super/cc
bash-5.2$ 

The same happens if I cd into that /tmp/* directory and run it manually:

[dracula@fedora ~]$ cd /tmp/pkg-config-20230703-23028-1glcv6z/pkg-config-0.29.2
[dracula@fedora pkg-config-0.29.2]$ ./configure --disable-debug --prefix=/var/home/linuxbrew/.linuxbrew/Cellar/pkg-config/0.29.2_3 --disable-host-tool --with-internal-glib --with-pc-path=/var/home/linuxbrew/.linuxbrew/lib/pkgconfig:/var/home/linuxbrew/.linuxbrew/share/pkgconfig:/var/home/linuxbrew/.linuxbrew/Homebrew/Library/Homebrew/os/linux/pkgconfig --with-system-include-path=/usr/include
checking for a BSD-compatible install... /usr/bin/install -c
checking whether build environment is sane... yes
checking for a thread-safe mkdir -p... /usr/bin/mkdir -p
checking for gawk... gawk
checking whether make sets $(MAKE)... yes
checking whether make supports nested variables... yes
checking build system type... x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu
checking host system type... x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu
checking how to print strings... printf
checking for style of include used by make... GNU
checking for gcc... gcc
checking whether the C compiler works... no
configure: error: in `/tmp/pkg-config-20230703-23028-1glcv6z/pkg-config-0.29.2':
configure: error: C compiler cannot create executables
See `config.log' for more details

config.log

bash-x-configure.log

Why does ./configure think the C compiler doesn't work?

[osalbahr]

Ok it looks like the host's gcc is broken:

[dracula@fedora ~]$ cat test.c 
#include<stdio.h>
int main(){puts("Hello, gcc-13!");}
[dracula@fedora ~]$ gcc test.c
collect2: fatal error: cannot find ‘ld’
compilation terminated.