fontconfig build fails if "head" is missing or unusable

[ryandesign (Ryan Carsten Schmidt)]

If the /usr/bin/head program is missing or unusable, or if an unusable head program is listed first in the PATH, fontconfig fails to build with this unintuitive error:

$ sudo port upgrade fontconfig
--->  Building fontconfig with target all
Error: Target org.macports.build returned: shell command " cd "/opt/local/var/macports/build/_opt_local_var_macports_sources_rsync.macports.org_release_ports_graphics_fontconfig/work/fontconfig-2.5.0" && make all " returned error 2
Command output: fcaliastail.h:520:2: error: #endif without #if
fcaliastail.h:522: error: only weak aliases are supported in this configuration
fcaliastail.h:523:2: error: #endif without #if
fcaliastail.h:525: error: only weak aliases are supported in this configuration
fcaliastail.h:526:2: error: #endif without #if
fcaliastail.h:528: error: only weak aliases are supported in this configuration
fcaliastail.h:529:2: error: #endif without #if
fcaliastail.h:531: error: only weak aliases are supported in this configuration
fcaliastail.h:532:2: error: #endif without #if
fcaliastail.h:534: error: only weak aliases are supported in this configuration
fcaliastail.h:535:2: error: #endif without #if
fcaliastail.h:537: error: only weak aliases are supported in this configuration
fcaliastail.h:538:2: error: #endif without #if
fcaliastail.h:540: error: only weak aliases are supported in this configuration
fcaliastail.h:541:2: error: #endif without #if
fcaliastail.h:543: error: only weak aliases are supported in this configuration
fcaliastail.h:544:2: error: #endif without #if
fcaliastail.h:546: error: only weak aliases are supported in this configuration
fcaliastail.h:547:2: error: #endif without #if
fcaliastail.h:549: error: only weak aliases are supported in this configuration
fcaliastail.h:550:2: error: #endif without #if
fcaliastail.h:552: error: only weak aliases are supported in this configuration
fcaliastail.h:553:2: error: #endif without #if
fcaliastail.h:555: error: only weak aliases are supported in this configuration
fcaliastail.h:556:2: error: #endif without #if
fcaliastail.h:557:2: error: #endif without #if
make[3]: *** [fcatomic.lo] Error 1
make[2]: *** [all] Error 2
make[1]: *** [all-recursive] Error 1
make: *** [all] Error 2

Error: Unable to upgrade port: 1
$

/usr/bin/head might be unusable if the user manually installed an old version of libwww-perl, which would have tried to install /usr/bin/HEAD, which, on a case-insensitive filesystem like the default Mac HFS+ filesystem, would have collided with and overwritten /usr/bin/head.

Another head program might be in the user's PATH if the user installed libwww-perl to another prefix that's in their PATH before /usr/bin.

This problem was reported ​on macports-users in January 2007 and in this ticket in June 2007 and ​on someone's blog in November 2007 and ​on macports-users in December 2007 and in this ticket in January 2008.

It would be nice if there were a more-intelligible error message for this situation.

[ryandesign (Ryan Carsten Schmidt)]

Added a sensible error message if /usr/bin/head is missing or unusable in r33541. This doesn't yet help the other situation where an unusable head is found elsewhere.

[ryandesign (Ryan Carsten Schmidt)]

I ​filed a bug with the developers of fontconfig. Maybe they'll change fontconfig to emit a better error message, or to avoid the problem altogether.

In the process of researching that bug, I found out how I could probably make a one-line change to fontconfig to work around the problem (change "head -1" to "sed -n 1p" in src/makealias). I'm now torn as to whether I should do this, since doing so would mean the user would continue to have a broken head program on their system which could just cause problems for them further down the road.

[ryandesign (Ryan Carsten Schmidt)]

​The bug has been ​fixed upstream.

[(none)]

Milestone Port Bugs deleted