Running './configure' on external hard drive fails #16478

dannmat commented at 1:55 PM on July 28, 2019: none

When cloning Bitcoin Core and trying to configure/build, I get the error: ./configure: line 1: syntax error near unexpected token ('

Building from the boot disk works as expected, but if I replicate these steps exactly on my external hard drive, I get the above error

I expected the configure file to generate a makefile

Try building with MacOS 10.15 beta (build 19A512f) on an external 1TB hard drive.

Running the latest clone from GitHub (latest commit 94df084)

2015 MacBook Pro 15"

fanquake added the label macOS on Jul 28, 2019

MarcoFalke commented at 2:15 PM on July 28, 2019: member

Does the path have spaces in it?

dannmat commented at 7:21 PM on July 28, 2019: none

Tried again without any spaces in the path and still the same error. The drive is partitioned as exFat.

dannmat commented at 9:01 PM on July 29, 2019: none

The error is also including: ./configure: line 1: m4trace:configure.ac:12: -1- AC_INIT([Bitcoin Core], [0.18.99], [https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/issues], [bitcoin], [https://bitcoincore.org/])'

I have tried running ./configure --without-gui however this brings back the same result.

MarcoFalke commented at 9:06 PM on July 29, 2019: member

What does the config.log say?

MarcoFalke commented at 9:07 PM on July 29, 2019: member

And have you (re-) run ./autogen.sh?

dannmat commented at 9:17 PM on July 29, 2019: none

I have re-run that ./autogen.sh. I have also tried completely wiping the drive and starting fresh but to no avail. Following the same steps on my boot drive works perfectly however. It fails when I'm running ./configure (I'm following Bitcoin Core MacOS tutorial )

I can't find any config.log or debug.log anywhere in the directory?

MarcoFalke commented at 9:22 PM on July 29, 2019: member

Hmm, maybe the ./config.log isn't created yet. So what is the full output of ./autogen.sh && ./configure?

laanwj commented at 6:32 AM on July 30, 2019: member

The drive is partitioned as exFat

(ex)Fat is a very minimal file system, it likely misses some metadata, such as file permissions (especially +x) necessary to do the build.

dannmat commented at 10:27 AM on July 30, 2019: none

Running ./autogen.sh give me the following output:

matt@Matts-MacBook-Pro bitcoin % ./autogen.sh 
matt@Matts-MacBook-Pro bitcoin %

No errors occur, however when I then run ./configure or ./configure --without-gui, I get the following output:

matt@Matts-MacBook-Pro bitcoin % ./configure
./configure: line 1: syntax error near unexpected token `('
./configure: line 1: `m4trace:configure.ac:12: -1- AC_INIT([Bitcoin Core], [0.18.99], [https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/issues], [bitcoin], [https://bitcoincore.org/])'

I have tried re-formatting the drive to FAT32 but still get the same issue.

I will try on a different Mac tonight and try to replicate the issue.

laanwj commented at 1:31 PM on July 30, 2019: member

FAT32 has the same problem, it's an older revision of FAT. You need a 'real' file system. FAT is only good for storing photo's and media, basically, it's not useful for development work.

dannmat commented at 2:28 PM on July 30, 2019: none

I formatted using Mac OS Extended, and this works flawlessly now. Thanks for your help.

Is this something that should be looked into or is it beyond control?

fanquake commented at 5:49 AM on August 4, 2019: member

@dannmat This is likely something out of our control. Thanks for following up.

fanquake closed this on Aug 4, 2019

DrahtBot locked this on Dec 16, 2021