Alien Pastures

My thoughts on Slackware, life and everything

Tag: clang

In the works: LibreOffice 24.2.0 for Slackware 15.0

February 20, 2024 / / 21 Comments

Apart from post-COVID syndrome there were some other setbacks lately, but those were mostly software-centered. Like the fact that I can not build a 32bit Chromium package for instance.
But also the realization that the latest LibreOffice 24.2.0 can no longer be compiled on Slackware 15.0 – its gcc 11.2.0 compiler is considered “too old”.
With the help and insight of Pat Volkerding I was able to compile LibreOffice on Slackware 15.0 anyhow:

I need to test the resulting binaries, and I still need to see whether I can repeat this on 32bit Slackware of course… but it looks promising.
More to follow.

Update 2024-Feb-21:

+--------------------------+
Wed Feb 21 12:41:50 UTC 2024
libreoffice: updated to 24.2.0 for Slackware 15.0 and -current.
Depends on openjdk17.
openjdk17: added v17.0.10_7 for Slackware 15.0 and newer.
Only install one version of Java!

Cheers, Eric

Chromium 121 for Slackware… don’t hold your breath

January 24, 2024 / / 30 Comments

Chromium 121 sources were released yesterday, and as much as I would like to tell you that the Slackware packages are ready, in fact it appears that you will have to wait for them for an unspecified amount of time.

I found out that the build of Chromium now needs Google’s custom version of the Rust compiler, next to Google’s custom version of the Clang compiler. Those Rust and Clang versions are intertwined and Google advises packagers to simply use their own pre-compiled binaries which they provide for download.

You guessed… those binaries are not available for a 32bit OS. Nothing new, and it is for that exact reason that as part of compiling Chromium for Slackware, the complete LLVM toolchain is built from Google’s sources first. For every package I release. Tweaking the LLVM/Clang compilation so that they work for 32bit Slackware took a lot of time – after all, no one at Google tests their sources for 32bit build compatibility. So I patch here and there and every time feel lucky that it still works.

Until today, when I ran into the new Rust requirement. And after the umptiest iteration of a Chromium package build using a variety of changing options, I still fail to even start compiling a Rust binary.

I am taking a break from this to consider my options. My aim is to keep supporting the 32bit Slackware package. I just need to figure out how Google messed this up again and find a way around it. In the meantime, don’t hold your breath – I only have a few hours each evening to do the troubleshooting. A new package will appear when it’s ready.

All the best, Eric

Update 2024-jan-29: I have buillt 64bit packages for Chromium (also -ungoogled) version 121.0.6167.85 and uploaded them to my repository.
Note that I can not currently compile their 32bit versions because until now I have not been successful in building Google’s custom llvm and rust from source. I had to revert to downloading and using Google’s pre-compiled binaries which they only supply for 64bit systems.

I am still determined to find a way to compile these llvm and rust compilers from Google’s own sources. But I have no ETA on that unfortunately.

Chromium is now compiled using clang

October 30, 2017 / / 10 Comments

chromium_iconIn my previous blog post about Chromium 62, I described the issues I had while attempting to compile it on Slackware14.2. The gcc compiler suite on Slackware 14.2 is “too old” for Chromium because it lacks the required C++11 support. More to the point, the Google developers use clang instead of gcc for their own compilations and therefore gcc support is becoming stale. Response by Google developers when they encounter a gcc-related bug report is to ‘please switch to clang’.

Unfortunately, as previously noted, the chromium build framework will download Google’s own clang binaries in that case. I do not trust these binaries on my Slackware computer. I stated that I would not switch to clang until it became possible to either use Slackware’s own clang or else compile Google’s clang from source on my own computer.

I exchanged a couple of emails with Google developers and got enough hints to convince me that compiling Google’s clang was possible.

And indeed, after a week of trial and error (especially the 32bit build gave me headaches) I managed to add all the needed bits and pieces to my chromium.SlackBuild.

The updated packages for Chromium (version 62.0.3202.75) for which the sources were released last week, are compiled with clang instead of gcc, and that clang has been compiled from source first. Of course, this adds time to the package build… every time I compile the chromium package, the SlackBuild script has to download and compile clang as well. But, the process is fully automated and a separate “gcc5” package is not needed on Slackware 14.2. Also, we are future-proof now. And an added bonus is that the package size has decreased substantially, from 65 to 56 MB (a 14% decrement).

Note about the new Chromium release: it addresses CVE-2017-15396 (Stack overflow in V8) so it will be good to upgrade.

If you want to compile chromium using gcc nevertheless (to decrease the total build time for instance) then all you need to do is: set the variable “USE_CLANG” to “0”.
On Slackware 14.2 you still need my gcc5 package and apply the instructions from my previous post.

The packages for chromium are available for Slackware 14.2 and -current in my repository or one of its mirrors:

Have fun! Eric

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