Linking examples fails with empty_file.c.obj not found.

[Tage Korsdal Nielsen]

Completed manual*) install of nRF Connect SDK 2.2.0, zephyr-sdk-0.15.1. 

The project is placed in C:\dev\peripheral_nfc_pairing

The SDK in: C:\dev\ncs

Build output:

[244/255] Linking C static library zephyr\kernel\libkernel.a
[245/255] Linking C executable zephyr\zephyr_pre0.elf
FAILED: zephyr/zephyr_pre0.elf zephyr/zephyr_pre0.map C:/dev/peripheral_nfc_pairing/build/zephyr/zephyr_pre0.map
cmd.exe /C "cd . && C:\Users\tnielsen\zephyr-sdk-0.15.1\arm-zephyr-eabi\bin\arm-zephyr-eabi-gcc.exe -gdwarf-4 @CMakeFiles\zephyr_pre0.rsp -o zephyr\zephyr_pre0.elf && cmd.exe /C "cd /D C:\dev\peripheral_nfc_pairing\build\zephyr && "C:\Program Files\CMake\bin\cmake.exe" -E echo ""
c:/users/tnielsen/zephyr-sdk-0.15.1/arm-zephyr-eabi/bin/../lib/gcc/arm-zephyr-eabi/12.1.0/../../../../arm-zephyr-eabi/bin/ld.exe: cannot find zephyr/CMakeFiles/zephyr_pre0.dir/misc/empty_file.c.obj: No such file or directory
collect2.exe: error: ld returned 1 exit status
ninja: build stopped: subcommand failed.

The empty_file.c really is a empty source file - apparently not generating an empty object file.

*) The tool manager would not detect SDK versions above 1.9.1, and found this as an unresolved issue on dev zone, so went with the manual install.

[Sigurd Hellesvik]

Hi,

Can you try to build the Zephyr Hello World sample, and see if you get the same error?

It is located at ncs/zephyr/samples/hello_world

Regards,
Sigurd Hellesvik

[Tage Korsdal Nielsen]

ncs/zephyr/samples/hello_worlds builds ok.

[Sigurd Hellesvik]

Hi,

That is interesting.

Do other samples in the nRF Connect SDK also build?
Which work and which builds and which don't?

What is the contents of your peripheral_nfc_pairing/build folder?

Regards,
Sigurd Hellesvik

[Tage Korsdal Nielsen]

I tried building the examples inside ncs instead - result is the same:

[246/256] Linking C executable zephyr\zephyr_pre0.elf
FAILED: zephyr/zephyr_pre0.elf zephyr/zephyr_pre0.map C:/dev/ncs/nrf/samples/bluetooth/peripheral_nfc_pairing/build/zephyr/zephyr_pre0.map
cmd.exe /C "cd . && C:\Users\tnielsen\zephyr-sdk-0.15.1\arm-zephyr-eabi\bin\arm-zephyr-eabi-gcc.exe -gdwarf-4 @CMakeFiles\zephyr_pre0.rsp -o zephyr\zephyr_pre0.elf && cmd.exe /C "cd /D C:\dev\ncs\nrf\samples\bluetooth\peripheral_nfc_pairing\build\zephyr && "C:\Program Files\CMake\bin\cmake.exe" -E echo ""
c:/users/tnielsen/zephyr-sdk-0.15.1/arm-zephyr-eabi/bin/../lib/gcc/arm-zephyr-eabi/12.1.0/../../../../arm-zephyr-eabi/bin/ld.exe: cannot find zephyr/CMakeFiles/zephyr_pre0.dir/misc/empty_file.c.obj: No such file or directory

6505.build.zip

[Sigurd Hellesvik]

I can find "empty_file.c.obj" in the build folder, so the main suspect is the windows max path length here.

Try the following three things:

1. build the peripheral_lbs sample
2. Install zephyr-sdk-0.15.1 to a shorter path, for example "C:/zephyr-sdk-0.15.1
3. Install the nRF Connect SDK to a shorter path, for example C:/ncs

At a glance, it seems like your paths should be short enough, but it is worth to try to fix this.

Regards,
Sigurd Hellesvik

[Tage Korsdal Nielsen]

Hi Sigurd, 

I have moved the Zephyr SDK as you suggested, and tried to build peripheral_lbs. Same result.

I tried to build from the command line, and it yielded the following interesting result:

C:\dev\ncs\nrf\samples\bluetooth\peripheral_lbs>west build -b nrf52dk_nrf52832
[1/11] Linking C executable zephyr\zephyr_pre0.elf
FAILED: zephyr/zephyr_pre0.elf zephyr/zephyr_pre0.map C:/dev/ncs/nrf/samples/bluetooth/peripheral_lbs/build/zephyr/zephyr_pre0.map
cmd.exe /C "cd . && C:\zephyr-sdk-0.15.1\arm-zephyr-eabi\bin\arm-zephyr-eabi-gcc.exe -gdwarf-4 @CMakeFiles\zephyr_pre0.rsp -o zephyr\zephyr_pre0.elf && cmd.exe /C "cd /D C:\dev\ncs\nrf\samples\bluetooth\peripheral_lbs\build\zephyr && "C:\Program Files\CMake\bin\cmake.exe" -E echo ""
c:/zephyr-sdk-0.15.1/arm-zephyr-eabi/bin/../lib/gcc/arm-zephyr-eabi/12.1.0/../../../../arm-zephyr-eabi/bin/ld.exe: cannot find ´╗┐zephyr/CMakeFiles/zephyr_pre0.dir/misc/empty_file.c.obj: No such file or directory
collect2.exe: error: ld returned 1 exit status
ninja: build stopped: subcommand failed.

So it looks like cmake or some other build generation tool inserts garbage in the search path.

I took the tools dtc, git and gperf from Cygwin - can that be the cause? Do you or zephyr have an official download of these support tools for windows, that you use in your test?

Ninja was installed from a previous automated nRF Connect install.

My support tools are:

C:\dev\ncs\nrf\samples\bluetooth\peripheral_lbs>ninja --version
1.10.0

C:\dev\ncs\nrf\samples\bluetooth\peripheral_lbs>gperf --version
GNU gperf 3.1
Copyright (C) 1989-2017 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <gnu.org/.../gpl.html>
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.
There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.
Written by Douglas C. Schmidt and Bruno Haible.

C:\dev\ncs\nrf\samples\bluetooth\peripheral_lbs>dtc --version
Version: DTC 1.6.1-g2cd89f86-dirty

C:\dev\ncs\nrf\samples\bluetooth\peripheral_lbs>git --version
git version 2.39.0

C:\dev\ncs\nrf\samples\bluetooth\peripheral_lbs>cmake --version
cmake version 3.25.1

CMake suite maintained and supported by Kitware (kitware.com/cmake).

rgds Tage