Ubuntu – Install older version of gnu-make in Ubuntu 18.04

make

I want to install make 3.81 on Ubuntu 18.04.

So I download this version of make and run ./configure and then make. But when compiling it gives me this error:

./glob/glob.c: In function ‘glob’:
./glob/glob.c:581:23: warning: implicit declaration of function ‘__alloca’; did you mean ‘alloca’? [-Wimplicit-function-declaration]
       newp = (char *) __alloca (dirlen + 1);
                       ^~~~~~~~
                       alloca
./glob/glob.c:581:14: warning: cast to pointer from integer of different size [-Wint-to-pointer-cast]
       newp = (char *) __alloca (dirlen + 1);
              ^
./glob/glob.c:709:15: warning: cast to pointer from integer of different size [-Wint-to-pointer-cast]
        newp = (char *) __alloca (home_len + dirlen);
               ^
./glob/glob.c:732:15: warning: cast to pointer from integer of different size [-Wint-to-pointer-cast]
        newp = (char *) __alloca (end_name - dirname);
               ^
./glob/glob.c:783:15: warning: cast to pointer from integer of different size [-Wint-to-pointer-cast]
        newp = (char *) __alloca (home_len + rest_len + 1);
               ^
./glob/glob.c:814:11: warning: implicit declaration of function ‘__stat’; did you mean ‘__xstat’? [-Wimplicit-function-declaration]
         : __stat (dirname, &st)) == 0
           ^~~~~~
           __xstat
./glob/glob.c: In function ‘glob_in_dir’:
./glob/glob.c:1256:21: warning: cast to pointer from integer of different size [-Wint-to-pointer-cast]
    char *fullname = (char *) __alloca (dirlen + 1 + patlen + 1);
                     ^
./glob/glob.c:1283:12: warning: cast to pointer from integer of different size [-Wint-to-pointer-cast]
    names = (struct globlink *) __alloca (sizeof (struct globlink));
            ^
./glob/glob.c:1341:32: warning: cast to pointer from integer of different size [-Wint-to-pointer-cast]
         struct globlink *new = (struct globlink *)
                                ^
./glob/glob.c:1367:15: warning: cast to pointer from integer of different size [-Wint-to-pointer-cast]
       names = (struct globlink *) __alloca (sizeof (struct globlink));

Same situation at building version 3.82. My current version of make is 4.1.

Is anybody know what could be wrong?

Thanks

EDIT:

glob/libglob.a(glob.o): In function `glob_in_dir':
/opt/make-3.81/glob/glob.c:1361: undefined reference to `__alloca'
/opt/make-3.81/glob/glob.c:1336: undefined reference to `__alloca'
/opt/make-3.81/glob/glob.c:1277: undefined reference to `__alloca'
/opt/make-3.81/glob/glob.c:1250: undefined reference to `__alloca'
glob/libglob.a(glob.o): In function `glob':
/opt/make-3.81/glob/glob.c:575: undefined reference to `__alloca'
glob/libglob.a(glob.o):/opt/make-3.81/glob/glob.c:726: more undefined references to `__alloca' follow
collect2: error: ld returned 1 exit status
Makefile:410: recipe for target 'make' failed
make[2]: *** [make] Error 1
make[2]: Leaving directory '/opt/make-3.81'
Makefile:603: recipe for target 'all-recursive' failed
make[1]: *** [all-recursive] Error 1
make[1]: Leaving directory '/opt/make-3.81'
Makefile:326: recipe for target 'all' failed
make: *** [all] Error 2

Best Answer

This looks to be a problem with gcc version 7.3.0 (Ubuntu 7.3.0-27ubuntu1~18.04)

For some reason the compiler's default #defines are not in keeping with what make expected. I get same problems making make-4.2.1 which is the latest.

I changed glob/glob.c lines 211 onwward to be :

if  1 // !defined __alloca && !defined __GNU_LIBRARY__

if 1  // ifdef        __GNUC__
 undef alloca
 define alloca(n)     __builtin_alloca (n)

To force glob.c to use the builtin. This works. And seems to be your issue also with the older make.

I did NOT have this problem making make under Ubuntu 16.04.