Problem building gcc 4.9.2

[Jeremy Hall]

After a fresh install on Linux Mint 17 (64-bit) I am attempting to build
the latest gcc using the following (which has worked in the past):-

cd gcc-4.9.1
contrib/download_prerequisites
mkdir obj
cd obj
../configure --disable-multilib

The configure ends with the following:-
...
checking where to find the target readelf... host tool
checking where to find the target strip... host tool
checking where to find the target windres... host tool
checking where to find the target windmc... host tool
checking whether to enable maintainer-specific portions of Makefiles... no
configure: creating ./config.status
/bin/bash: _tar: line 12: syntax error near unexpected token `('
/bin/bash: _tar: line 12: ` ?(-)*[cr]*f)'
/bin/bash: error importing function definition for `_tar'
config.status: creating Makefile
/tmp/gcc-4.9.1/obj*

What am I doing wrong, or what is missing?

The current compiler (that came with Mint 17) is:-

/tmp/gcc-4.9.1/obj* gcc -v
Using built-in specs.
COLLECT_GCC=gcc
COLLECT_LTO_WRAPPER=/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/4.8/lto-wrapper
Target: x86_64-linux-gnu
Configured with: ../src/configure -v --with-pkgversion='Ubuntu
4.8.2-19ubuntu1'
--with-bugurl=file:///usr/share/doc/gcc-4.8/README.Bugs
--enable-languages=c,c++,java,go,d,fortran,objc,obj-c++ --prefix=/usr
--program-suffix=-4.8 --enable-shared --enable-linker-build-id
--libexecdir=/usr/lib --without-included-gettext
--enable-threads=posix --with-gxx-include-dir=/usr/include/c++/4.8
--libdir=/usr/lib --enable-nls --with-sysroot=/ --enable-clocale=gnu
--enable-libstdcxx-debug --enable-libstdcxx-time=yes
--enable-gnu-unique-object --disable-libmudflap --enable-plugin
--with-system-zlib --disable-browser-plugin --enable-java-awt=gtk
--enable-gtk-cairo
--with-java-home=/usr/lib/jvm/java-1.5.0-gcj-4.8-amd64/jre
--enable-java-home
--with-jvm-root-dir=/usr/lib/jvm/java-1.5.0-gcj-4.8-amd64
--with-jvm-jar-dir=/usr/lib/jvm-exports/java-1.5.0-gcj-4.8-amd64
--with-arch-directory=amd64
--with-ecj-jar=/usr/share/java/eclipse-ecj.jar --enable-objc-gc
--enable-multiarch --disable-werror --with-arch-32=i686 --with-abi=m64
--with-multilib-list=m32,m64,mx32 --with-tune=generic
--enable-checking=release --build=x86_64-linux-gnu
--host=x86_64-linux-gnu --target=x86_64-linux-gnu
Thread model: posix
gcc version 4.8.2 (Ubuntu 4.8.2-19ubuntu1)

Many thanks,
Jeremy

[Jonathan Wakely]

Post by Jeremy Hall
After a fresh install on Linux Mint 17 (64-bit) I am attempting to build
the latest gcc using the following (which has worked in the past):-
cd gcc-4.9.1
contrib/download_prerequisites
mkdir obj
cd obj
../configure --disable-multilib
The configure ends with the following:-
...
checking where to find the target readelf... host tool
checking where to find the target strip... host tool
checking where to find the target windres... host tool
checking where to find the target windmc... host tool
checking whether to enable maintainer-specific portions of Makefiles... no
configure: creating ./config.status
/bin/bash: _tar: line 12: syntax error near unexpected token `('
/bin/bash: _tar: line 12: ` ?(-)*[cr]*f)'
/bin/bash: error importing function definition for `_tar'
config.status: creating Makefile
/tmp/gcc-4.9.1/obj*
What am I doing wrong, or what is missing?

I've never seen that error before, there should not be a call to tar
being done there. It looks like something in your environment is
causing the problem, try to find where "_tar" is being defined (maybe
in ~/.bash_profile, ~/.bashrc or /etc/bashrc).

[Jeremy Hall]

Post by Jonathan Wakely

Post by Jeremy Hall
checking whether to enable maintainer-specific portions of Makefiles... no
configure: creating ./config.status
/bin/bash: _tar: line 12: syntax error near unexpected token `('
/bin/bash: _tar: line 12: ` ?(-)*[cr]*f)'
/bin/bash: error importing function definition for `_tar'
config.status: creating Makefile

I've never seen that error before, there should not be a call to tar
being done there. It looks like something in your environment is
causing the problem,

Thanks Jonathan,

You were correct about the environment. The kernel headers were missing.
I found the problem by chance - the system did an automatic update and
I noticed the kernel headers were being installed for some reason. I
tried the configure again and it worked.

Thanks,
Jeremy