Eclipse WPIlib requires 32-bit libraries on 64-bit linux installs

[wmarshall]

While migrating our development laptops off Windows and towards Linux, we discovered that WPIlib would not build, preventing us from actually doing development work.
The preverify binary would fail to execute, with the ant script complaining about an IOException.

I poked through a hexdump and saw references to ld-linux.so.2 and glibc, both of which I knew were installed. I took a wild guess and installed ia32-libs (Ubuntu's metapackage for a couple of common 32-bit libraries). After that, there were no issues with either compiling WPIlib or our own code.

TL;DR: If you're running a 64-bit linux distribution, install 32-bit glibc. Otherwise WPIlib will fail to compile.

I find it interesting that there is no precompiled 64-bit binary, despite the ant scripts recognizing 64-bit linux installs.

[codedr]

If your build uses the -m32 flag during compile, it will build 32-bit objects.
The resulting build will fail because it cannot find 32-bit version of the libraries needed
to complete the build.

[jtdowney]

Originally Posted by wmarshall

While migrating our development laptops off Windows and towards Linux

Just a reminder, unless things change next season, you will need a Windows computer to reformat and update the cRIO with image updates. Might be worth it to keep around a Windows VM for that purpose.

[Mr. Lim]

Originally Posted by wmarshall

While migrating our development laptops off Windows and towards Linux, we discovered that WPIlib would not build, preventing us from actually doing development work.
The preverify binary would fail to execute, with the ant script complaining about an IOException.

I poked through a hexdump and saw references to ld-linux.so.2 and glibc, both of which I knew were installed. I took a wild guess and installed ia32-libs (Ubuntu's metapackage for a couple of common 32-bit libraries). After that, there were no issues with either compiling WPIlib or our own code.

TL;DR: If you're running a 64-bit linux distribution, install 32-bit glibc. Otherwise WPIlib will fail to compile.

I find it interesting that there is no precompiled 64-bit binary, despite the ant scripts recognizing 64-bit linux installs.

Thanks! This post helped out a lot. 64-bit Linux installs are becoming more prevalent. WPILib probably needs to get a working 64-bit binary of preverify into the plugin to prevent major frustration from users in the near future.