GCC requires `ar` to have plugin support when using LTO. While the situation has improved as many distributions install the GCC plugin to a location that GNU Binutils can automatically find, this isn't required and isn't done by default.
By searching for `gcc-ar` first, we can make this case work without intervention from the user. Problem reported by R. Diez in: https://savannah.gnu.org/support/?110475 * m4/ar-lib.m4 (AM_PROG_AR): Search for gcc-ar. --- I'm still testing this and going to play with it some more in the wild, but how does this look in principle? NEWS | 3 +++ m4/ar-lib.m4 | 2 +- 2 files changed, 4 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS index 30c0cd2c7..d448dba26 100644 --- a/NEWS +++ b/NEWS @@ -17,6 +17,9 @@ New in 1.17.92: - Support for Algol 68 added, based on the GNU Algol 68 compiler. (bug#75807) + - AM_PROG_AR now searches for 'gcc-ar' first. + (https://savannah.gnu.org/support/?110475) + * Bugs fixed - Do not make Perl warnings fatal, per Perl's recommendation. diff --git a/m4/ar-lib.m4 b/m4/ar-lib.m4 index 568ea0798..c00c1a51e 100644 --- a/m4/ar-lib.m4 +++ b/m4/ar-lib.m4 @@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ AC_BEFORE([$0], [AC_PROG_LIBTOOL])dnl AC_BEFORE([$0], [AC_PROG_AR])dnl AC_REQUIRE([AM_AUX_DIR_EXPAND])dnl AC_REQUIRE_AUX_FILE([ar-lib])dnl -AC_CHECK_TOOLS([AR], [ar lib "link -lib"], [false]) +AC_CHECK_TOOLS([AR], [gcc-ar ar lib "link -lib"], [false]) : ${AR=ar} : ${ARFLAGS=cr} -- 2.49.0
