Dealing with "C compiler cannot create executables" in Cygwin

Question

Whatever I try to compile in Cygwin I get the following output:

checking for mingw32 environment... no
checking for EMX OS/2 environment... no
checking how to run the C preprocessor... gcc -E
checking for gcc... gcc
checking whether the C compiler (gcc   ) works... no
configure: error: installation or configuration problem: C compiler cannot creat
e executables.

The last few lines of the logfile look like this:

configure:2810: checking for EMX OS/2 environment
configure:2822: gcc -c   conftest.c 1>&5
configure: In function `main':
configure:2818: error: `__EMX__' undeclared (first use in this function)
configure:2818: error: (Each undeclared identifier is reported only once
configure:2818: error: for each function it appears in.)
configure: failed program was:
#line 2815 "configure"
#include "confdefs.h"

int main() {
return __EMX__;
; return 0; }
configure:2838: checking how to run the C preprocessor
configure:2859: gcc -E  conftest.c >/dev/null 2>conftest.out
configure:2943: checking for gcc
configure:3056: checking whether the C compiler (gcc   ) works
configure:3072: gcc -o conftest    conftest.c -llib 1>&5
/usr/lib/gcc/i686-pc-cygwin/3.4.4/../../../../i686-pc-cygwin/bin/ld: cannot find
 -llib
collect2: ld returned 1 exit status
configure: failed program was:

#line 3067 "configure"
#include "confdefs.h"

main(){return(0);}

This is a fresh Cygwin install with G++ and a bunch of other devtools added. Any idea what I need to do to get this thing working?

Update 0: Nick, your link to http://www.geektimes.com/linux/troubleshooting/c-cant-create-executables.html was tried already - unfortunately this instructions are for redhat and do not seem to apply to cygwin.

Can you compile something from the command line? A simple "hello world" app, for instance? — Max Lybbert
– Max Lybbert, Commented Jan 20, 2009 at 23:53

rurban · Accepted Answer · 2011-05-29 20:13:44Z

3

Your Configure is wrong. Usually autoreconf -f helps. If not you need to check the failing rule and fix it.

answered May 29, 2011 at 20:13

rurban

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Jay · Accepted Answer · 2009-01-20 15:27:02Z

2

The '-llib' seems a bit unusual to me, but I'm far from an expert. Just out of curiosity is autoconf installed? I had some problems similar to this until I installed autoconf. It seems like the configure script is incorrectly generating a '-llib' value but it's hard to say why based on just the snippets posted.

answered Jan 20, 2009 at 15:27

Jay

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Max Lybbert · Accepted Answer · 2009-01-21 00:53:55Z

1

When I've had this problem, it has been a link error caused by Cygwin looking for "library.o" instead of "library.obj" or "library.so" instead of "library.dll".

answered Jan 21, 2009 at 0:53

Max Lybbert

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