Build error on FreeBSD: 'recompile with -fPIC' #14616

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Build on FreeBSD fails with:

  CXXLD    bitcoind
/usr/bin/ld: libbitcoin_util.a(libbitcoin_util_a-sync.o): relocation R_X86_64_TPOFF32 against `a local symbol' can not be used when making a shared object; recompile with -fPIC
libbitcoin_util.a: could not read symbols: Bad value
c++: error: linker command failed with exit code 1 (use -v to see invocation)

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FreeBSD 11.2, but I've had it fail on earlier versions as well.

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config.log is here:

https://0bin.net/paste/epcDXoNlXiwxyYzG#a-072U7z83TRocrB1f7NIQ3U656RVwinqBQMKti9ful

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As a workaround, appending '-fPIC' to HARDENED_LDFLAGS and PIE_FLAGS in both Makefile and src/Makefile worked for me.

FreeBSD is supported now.

Is this still an issue with a recent version of Bitcoin Core? If yes, what are the steps to reproduce?

Yes, it is still an issue (FreeBSD 11.3). To reproduce, just the usual:

$ ./autogen.sh
$ ./configure [...]
$ gmake check

FreeBSD 12.1 works just fine:

https://cirrus-ci.com/task/6384853019000832

I also remember that this used to work on freeBSD 11.3. Are you sure this is not a local issue? Is the failure reproducible on a fresh machine?

FWIW I don't see any issues when building master with Clang 8 inside a FreeBSD 11.3 VM (vagrant). @murrayn can you provide any more info?

@fanquake Interesting. I just built on a new FreeBSD 12.1 VM with no issues as well.