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jack_9862 Author

Level 1

5 points

Problem compiling .cpp program with gcc

Hi all,

I would like to compile a .cpp (main.cpp) program with my MacBook Air M1, with gcc, with the command:

gcc main.cpp

But, even with an "hello world" program I am not able to do that for this error (complete error log in the file):

Complete error

ld: symbol(s) not found for architecture arm64
clang: error: linker command failed with exit code 1 (use -v to see invocation)

What I've noticed is that if I try to compile a .c program it doesn't give me an error and everything goes well.

Details about gcc version:

gcc --version
Configured with: --prefix=/Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/usr --with-gxx-include-dir=/Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/SDKs/MacOSX.sdk/usr/include/c++/4.2.1
Apple clang version 12.0.5 (clang-1205.0.22.9)
Target: arm64-apple-darwin21.1.0
Thread model: posix
InstalledDir: /Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/usr/bin

I don't know what to do. It would be great if someone will answer me. Thanks in advance.

MacBook Air (2020 or later)

Posted on Nov 2, 2021 1:33 AM

Top-ranking reply

VikingOSX

Community+ 2024

Level 10

117,329 points

Posted on Nov 2, 2021 4:26 AM

In Apple's Command Line tools, gcc is not GNU C, but rather a link to clang for legacy purposes. Just compile your C++ program as:

clang++ -O -o foo main.cpp [-stdlib=libc++ ] [-std=c++17 ]
./foo

Implicitly, the above command finds and uses the standard C++ library without you needing to involve either of the [ ] options.

If you want to see the list of supported C++ standards, either look at the clang man page or:

clang++ main.cpp -std=foo

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