'/usr/bin/ld: cannot find -lecore_input' but libecore_input.so exists when compiling Terminology

Question

I am trying to compile the Terminology terminal emulator (btw this does some very cool things and is work checking out). However the build fails giving me the following error:

/usr/bin/ld: cannot find -lecore_input

After some messing around with using make -n to print the commands being (or would would be) run, I find that the following line is the one that fails:

gcc -g -O2   -o terminology terminology-about.o terminology-col.o terminology-config.o terminology-controls.o terminology-ipc.o terminology-keyin.o terminology-main.o terminology-media.o terminology-options.o terminology-options_font.o terminology-options_theme.o terminology-options_themepv.o terminology-options_wallpaper.o terminology-options_colors.o terminology-options_behavior.o terminology-options_keys.o terminology-options_helpers.o terminology-options_video.o terminology-sel.o terminology-termio.o terminology-termcmd.o terminology-termiolink.o terminology-termpty.o terminology-termptydbl.o terminology-termptyesc.o terminology-termptyops.o terminology-termptygfx.o terminology-termptyext.o terminology-termptysave.o lz4/terminology-lz4.o terminology-utf8.o terminology-win.o terminology-utils.o terminology-dbus.o terminology-extns.o terminology-app_server.o terminology-app_server_eet.o -lelementary -lm -lefreet_mime -lefreet_trash -ledbus -ldbus-1 -lecore_con -leina -lpthread -leet -levas -lecore -lecore_evas -lecore_file -ledje -lemotion -lecore_input -lecore_imf -lecore_imf_evas -lecore_ipc -lefreet -lethumb_client   -leldbus 

Running this command on its own from the correct directory and adding the -v option, I get the following output:

Using built-in specs.
COLLECT_GCC=gcc
COLLECT_LTO_WRAPPER=/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/4.8/lto-wrapper
Target: x86_64-linux-gnu
Configured with: ../src/configure -v --with-pkgversion='Debian 4.8.2-16' --with-bugurl=file:///usr/share/doc/gcc-4.8/README.Bugs --enable-languages=c,c++,java,go,d,fortran,objc,obj-c++ --prefix=/usr --program-suffix=-4.8 --enable-shared --enable-linker-build-id --libexecdir=/usr/lib --without-included-gettext --enable-threads=posix --with-gxx-include-dir=/usr/include/c++/4.8 --libdir=/usr/lib --enable-nls --with-sysroot=/ --enable-clocale=gnu --enable-libstdcxx-debug --enable-libstdcxx-time=yes --enable-gnu-unique-object --disable-libmudflap --enable-plugin --with-system-zlib --disable-browser-plugin --enable-java-awt=gtk --enable-gtk-cairo --with-java-home=/usr/lib/jvm/java-1.5.0-gcj-4.8-amd64/jre --enable-java-home --with-jvm-root-dir=/usr/lib/jvm/java-1.5.0-gcj-4.8-amd64 --with-jvm-jar-dir=/usr/lib/jvm-exports/java-1.5.0-gcj-4.8-amd64 --with-arch-directory=amd64 --with-ecj-jar=/usr/share/java/eclipse-ecj.jar --enable-objc-gc --enable-multiarch --with-arch-32=i586 --with-abi=m64 --with-multilib-list=m32,m64,mx32 --with-tune=generic --enable-checking=release --build=x86_64-linux-gnu --host=x86_64-linux-gnu --target=x86_64-linux-gnu
Thread model: posix
gcc version 4.8.2 (Debian 4.8.2-16) 
COMPILER_PATH=/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/4.8/:/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/4.8/:/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/:/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/4.8/:/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/
LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/4.8/:/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/4.8/../../../x86_64-linux-gnu/:/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/4.8/../../../../lib/:/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/:/lib/../lib/:/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/:/usr/lib/../lib/:/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/4.8/../../../:/lib/:/usr/lib/
COLLECT_GCC_OPTIONS='-v' '-g' '-O2' '-o' 'terminology' '-mtune=generic' '-march=x86-64'
 /usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/4.8/collect2 --sysroot=/ --build-id --eh-frame-hdr -m elf_x86_64 --hash-style=gnu -dynamic-linker /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 -o terminology /usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/4.8/../../../x86_64-linux-gnu/crt1.o /usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/4.8/../../../x86_64-linux-gnu/crti.o /usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/4.8/crtbegin.o -L/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/4.8 -L/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/4.8/../../../x86_64-linux-gnu -L/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/4.8/../../../../lib -L/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu -L/lib/../lib -L/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu -L/usr/lib/../lib -L/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/4.8/../../.. terminology-about.o terminology-col.o terminology-config.o terminology-controls.o terminology-ipc.o terminology-keyin.o terminology-main.o terminology-media.o terminology-options.o terminology-options_font.o terminology-options_theme.o terminology-options_themepv.o terminology-options_wallpaper.o terminology-options_colors.o terminology-options_behavior.o terminology-options_keys.o terminology-options_helpers.o terminology-options_video.o terminology-sel.o terminology-termio.o terminology-termcmd.o terminology-termiolink.o terminology-termpty.o terminology-termptydbl.o terminology-termptyesc.o terminology-termptyops.o terminology-termptygfx.o terminology-termptyext.o terminology-termptysave.o lz4/terminology-lz4.o terminology-utf8.o terminology-win.o terminology-utils.o terminology-dbus.o terminology-extns.o terminology-app_server.o terminology-app_server_eet.o -lelementary -lm -lefreet_mime -lefreet_trash -ledbus -ldbus-1 -lecore_con -leina -lpthread -leet -levas -lecore -lecore_evas -lecore_file -ledje -lemotion -lecore_input -lecore_imf -lecore_imf_evas -lecore_ipc -lefreet -lethumb_client -leldbus -lgcc --as-needed -lgcc_s --no-as-needed -lc -lgcc --as-needed -lgcc_s --no-as-needed /usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/4.8/crtend.o /usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/4.8/../../../x86_64-linux-gnu/crtn.o
/usr/bin/ld: cannot find -lecore_input
collect2: error: ld returned 1 exit status

Of course libecore_input is installed:

$ sudo updatedb
$ locate ecore_input.so
/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libecore_input.so
/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libecore_input.so.1
/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libecore_input.so.1.7.7

And /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/ is in both the LIBRARY_PATH in the gcc output and appear as a -L option on the collect2 command.

I also get the same error when I try with gcc-4.7. What has went wrong here? How can I get the program to build?

Update

Since the cause of this was actually a packaging issue, I should have added that I am using Debian Jessie with mixed testing/unstable repositories.

Answer 1

This was caused by /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libecore_input.so being a dead link as the result of a Debian packaging issue and the use of mixed testing/unstable repositories.

The /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libecore_input.so link was part of the libecore-dev package while the library itself was part of libecore-input1. The installed version of libecore-dev was 1.8.6-1 while libecore-input1 was version 1.7.7. As such the target of the libecore_input.so link was libecore_input.so.1.8.6 which didn't exist. While libecore-dev had versioned dependencies for other libraries, libecore-input1 was an indirect dependency and not properly versioned. This probably a a bug since if a package includes links to a shared library, then its dependencies should make sure that the correct version of the library is installed.

The solution was simply to upgrade the libecore-input package.

Answer 2

Actually I have the impression that the containing folder /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/ is not contained in the "collect2 command" as you claim when closing your question. Take a close look: it is indeed mentioned in the LD_LIBRARY_PATH (which is not of interest when linking), but it is not mentioned as -L flag in the COLLECT_GCC_OPTIONS output. There is only a folder /usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/4.8/collect2 in there.

I suggest you change that and retry the linking.