flex 2.6.3 breaks compiling binutils.

[ht990332]

I get the following error:
make[2]: Entering directory '/home/hussam/cache/binutils/src/binutils-build/binutils'
gcc -march=x86-64 -mtune=native -O2 -pipe -fstack-protector-strong -Wl,-O1,--sort-common,--as-needed,-z,relro -o sysinfo sysinfo.o syslex_wrap.o
syslex_wrap.o: In function yylex': syslex_wrap.c:(.text+0xc63): undefined reference to yywrap'
collect2: error: ld returned 1 exit status
make[2]: *** [Makefile:1370: sysinfo] Error 1
make[2]: Leaving directory '/home/hussam/cache/binutils/src/binutils-build/binutils'
make[1]: *** [Makefile:3612: all-binutils] Error 2
make[1]: Leaving directory '/home/hussam/cache/binutils/src/binutils-build'

Reverting to 2.6.1 fixes it.

[westes]

What about 2.6.2?

[ht990332]

2.6.2 lets binutils compile correctly.

[nvinson]

@Hussamt Could you state which version of binutils you're trying to build? I am not able to repeat this issue with binutils-2.25.1, binutils-2.26, or binutils-2.27. I also have not seen it in Gentoo's tracker for this issue (https://bugs.gentoo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=598186)

[ht990332]

Hi nvinson. I compile binutils from 2.27 branch.
https://sourceware.org/git/?p=binutils-gdb.git;a=shortlog;h=refs/heads/binutils-2_27-branch

[nvinson]

Thanks. I was able to reproduce it now.

In syslex.l I see

#ifndef yywrap
static int yywrap (void) { return 1; }
#endif

Which will prevent yywrap from being defined in flex-2.6.3. The source file syslex.c is not regenerated when building from the binutils-2.27 release tarball, which is why I didn't see it in my attempts to reproduce.

[jgalar]

Building Babeltrace 1.5.x fails with a similar error:
https://gist.github.com/jgalar/a4c447e8291264e5d8acc0a3165d2e14

[westes]

Looks like the same issue as #162; please confirm that you see this fixed for you on master now.

[ht990332]

I can compile binutils again using flex from git master branch. Thank you

[jgalar]

Just wondering if there is an ETA available for a 2.6.4 release?

Arch Linux (maybe others?) is distributing 2.6.3 which is forcing users to downgrade flex in order to build a number of packages.

[mrcmunir]

@jgalar If use Arch linux use flex-git from aur https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/flex-git/