program linking fails when using custom built gcc - c++

Question

I'm running a fedora 21 distribution, in which the default gcc is 4.9.
I have a custom built gcc/g++ 4.8 in /usr/local/gcc48 (for instance, cuda requires gcc =< 4.8, and i use update-alternatives to chose this one)
I have been compiling a few small programs with this version 4.8 without problem so far.
Now, I have been given a source code which makes uses of vtk libraries and others. If I use default gcc 4.9, cmake and make work fine.
However, when using gcc48, I get:
/usr/lib64/vtk/libvtkCommonDataModel.so.1: référence indéfinie vers « std::__throw_out_of_range_fmt(char const*, ...)#GLIBCXX_3.4.20 »
/lib64/libicuuc.so.52: référence indéfinie vers « __cxa_throw_bad_array_new_length#CXXABI_1.3.8 »
collect2: erreur: ld a retourné 1 code d'état d'exécution
CMakeFiles/main.dir/build.make:365: recipe for target '../bin/main' failed
make[2]: *** [../bin/main] Error 1
CMakeFiles/Makefile2:60: recipe for target 'CMakeFiles/main.dir/all' failed
make[1]: *** [CMakeFiles/main.dir/all] Error 2
Makefile:76: recipe for target 'all' failed
make: *** [all] Error 2
I understand that is it a linker error, I tried to point LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/local/gcc48/lib or LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/local/gcc48/lib64, but i'm stuck.
What is the problem here ?
Thanks

Answer 1

__cxa_throw_bad_array_new_length was added in GCC 4.9. That's what the #CXXABI_1.3.8 version suffix means. You can look up those version codes here:
https://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/libstdc++/manual/abi.html
This error means that you are trying to link an object file /usr/lib64/vtk/libvtkCommonDataModel.so.1 compiled by GCC 4.9 or later with libstdc++.so or libsupc++.so from GCC 4.8 or earlier. Either rebuild libvtkCommonDataModel.so with GCC 4.8, or link against the correct libstdc++.so.
Edit:
Actually, if you want to compile with a newer version of GCC but run with an older libstdc++.so, that can be done.
Compile with -D_GLIBCXX_USE_CXX11_ABI=0 if you want to compile with GCC 5+ and run with libstdc++.so from older GCC. See https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1153109 and Using dual ABI in the libstdc++ manual.
Link against stdc++compat.cpp containing back-compat hacks from Mozilla. You can also take a look at my modified version which doesn't depend on any Mozilla headers, but it's slightly out of date.
In particular, this defines a stub __cxa_throw_bad_array_new_length.

Answer 2

It would be helpful if you post the error message in English.
It appears that the undefined symbol is __cxa_throw_bad_array_new_length. The functions __cxa... come from the C++ runtime library. G++ usually ships with it's own version of this library, called libsupc++. I would guess that the custom-built G++ can not find this library or is emitting a reference to a symbol which is not in the newer (4.9) libsupc++. Try compiling the libsupc++ source that ships with your custom version of G++ and directing the linker toward it. You may also need to do this for libstdc++.