What happened to GCC?

[Gabor Szots]

Recently, when I try to use gcc with the command line "gcc *.c etc." I get an error message that *.c is an invalid argument. I'd be grateful if someone here could explain why is that and whether there is a solution.

[fire_varan]

I believe you need to provide exact list of .c files to gcc for compile - like gcc myfile1.c myfile2.c

[BeyondCritics]

Nothing of course, it looks like as if the shell you were using could not expand your globbing pattern and in turn left it as is, hence the compiler stumbled over it. Could that be?
What do you want to do? Could it be, that you are not an experienced coder, since you are trying to do something that you normally never should do?
If you want to compile the source code of a given engine for yourself you should use the build system provided. I also would recommend to always ask a coding model for assistance, it is the way it goes in the future. Resistance is futile

[Gabor Szots]

I believe you need to provide exact list of .c files to gcc for compile - like gcc myfile1.c myfile2.c

That would be a pain when there are 10 or more source files.

[fire_varan]

You could construct a .bat or .sh file and just run it. Or use tool like make / CMake.

[Gabor Szots]

Nothing of course, it looks like as if the shell you were using could not expand your globbing pattern and in turn left it as is, hence the compiler stumbled over it. Could that be?
What do you want to do? Could it be, that you are not an experienced coder, since you are trying to do something that you normally never should do?
If you want to compile the source code of a given engine for yourself you should use the build system provided. I also would recommend to always ask a coding model for assistance, it is the way it goes in the future. Resistance is futile

I am not an experienced coder. In fact I am not a coder at all. However, I have compiled lots of chess engines from source using '*.c'. But now, for some time, that has not been possible. I'm on Win11 23H2.

When you say 'you should use the build system provided' I guess you mean the makefile, don't you?
And when you say 'ask a coding model for assistance' I simply don't know what you are taling about.

[Bo Persson]

However, I have compiled lots of chess engines from source using '*.c'. But now, for some time, that has not been possible. I'm on Win11 23H2.

Yes, that is the problem. On Linux the shell will expand *.c and feed that list to the compiler. The standard Windows console does not do anything like that.

So it has nothing to do with gcc, it is the environment.

[Modern Times]

Yes, that is the problem. On Linux the shell will expand *.c and feed that list to the compiler. The standard Windows console does not do anything like that.

How about Windows Powershell ? Same ?

[Gabor Szots]

So it has nothing to do with gcc, it is the environment.

It was OK a couple of months ago. My typical command looked like this: gcc *.c -O3 -flto -march=native -oSomething.exe, and it usually worked. I use Total Commander as a file manager and I issue commands from there.

There were a couple of Windows updates lately, maybe they ruined something.

Thanks for the hints.

[Roland Chastain]

Don't know why it doesn't work for you. It still works here (Linux).

I would use a Makefile. For example this one I have made for an engine named Leonidas.

Code: Select all

SRC := $(wildcard *.c)

leonidas: ${SRC}
	gcc -o $@ $^

When I type make in a terminal, I can see the command sent to gcc:

[roland@localhost leonidas-makefile]$ make
gcc -o leonidas bitboard.c board.c evaluate.c game.c genrand.c hashkey.c hashtable.c keypressed.c leo.c move.c movegen.c perft.c pieces.c play.c search.c see.c square.c timer.c variants.c xboard.c

That Makefile should work for any C program. It will work also under Windows, provided that you have make.exe.