Use have_header() to check for the existence of iconv.h #1218

neonichu · 2015-01-07T15:50:43Z

Simply checking /usr/include is no longer working on the latest versions of Xcode and OS X, because there is no /usr/include anymore. On OS X 10.10 with Xcode 6, the header resides in /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX10.10.sdk/usr/include/iconv.h

In addition to that, the simple check also ignores things like --with-iconv-dir, of course.

knu · 2015-01-07T16:32:25Z

Are you using Xcode 6.0? As far as I know Xcode 6.1 should have fixed the problem.
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/27328049/missing-usr-include-after-yosemite-and-xcode-install

neonichu · 2015-01-07T16:43:45Z

I am using Xcode 6.1, not sure what the exact conditions for the existence of /usr/include are, then. Clang will find the header from the 10.10 SDK automatically, anyway.

In any case, I don't think it makes sense to hardcode a path when options like --with-iconv-dir exist.

knu · 2015-01-07T17:45:50Z

This test is merely for checking if user has properly installed Xcode Command Line Tools. Using have_header() here will not serve the purpose of detecting missing Command Line Tools because it would locate iconv.h installed by Homebrew (or MacPort, etc.) even if the Tools were not installed.

The reason behind the test is that we have seen so many users fail to install nokogiri because they did not have the Command Line Tools properly installed. One common problem was, when a user had (lib)iconv installed via Homebrew while not installing Xcode Command Line Tools libxml2 would pick the header from Homebrew (typically /usr/local/include/iconv.h) as a fallback from missing iconv.h in the system include path (which should be installed as part of the Tools), but the library found would be the one from the system (/usr/lib/libiconv.dylib; part of the base system) which is incompatible with the said header.

neonichu · 2015-01-07T20:28:37Z

That makes sense, but it is apparently an insufficient check. Since 10.9, checking the return value of xcode-select -p is enough, since installing Xcode brings the CLT along automatically. So what would your opinion be on amending the check with this on newer systems?

zenspider · 2015-01-09T19:42:30Z

Did you run 'Xcode-select --install'?

neonichu · 2015-01-12T09:33:21Z

@zenspider No, as it is not needed if one has Xcode installed anymore, according to https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/technotes/tn2339/_index.html. FWIW, building the C extension works just fine - it is just the check which trips it up.

flavorjones · 2015-01-20T17:22:34Z

Do we have consensus on whether this change is an improvement over the existing behavior? I'm a Linux guy, so I don't have a dog in this hunt and am looking for guidance.

zenspider · 2015-01-20T20:20:14Z

@flavorjones I believe that my version of the instructions work when actually followed, so I don't think they need to be changed at this time.

ETA: I don't really have an opinion either way as I have ZERO interest in owning extconf.rb.

flavorjones · 2015-01-21T01:41:38Z

Roger that, closing. Thanks, everybody!

tamird · 2015-05-15T14:17:53Z

Hey, this change is the right thing to do. Can we reopen this, please?

I just ran into this issue on a system that has Xcode (but not CLT) installed, and the file /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX10.10.sdk/usr/include/iconv.h does exist as @neonichu mentioned.

neonichu · 2015-05-15T15:04:03Z

As a workaround, you can:

sudo mkdir -p /usr/include
sudo touch /usr/include/iconv.h

as the header isn't actually used when building on current OS X.

tamird · 2015-05-15T16:05:38Z

Yikes, so the check should be removed entirely?

neonichu · 2015-05-15T18:38:12Z

Sorry for the misunderstanding, what I meant is that /usr/include/iconv.h is never used because the iconv.h from the platform SDK always takes precedence.

flavorjones · 2015-09-18T12:15:48Z

I think I'd like to get this into 1.6.7, since it seems to be turning into an "installation improvement" release. ;)

Thanks to everyone for helping me understand what's going on here. As a Linux guy, it's great to see OSX users stepping up.

neonichu · 2015-10-07T20:40:14Z

@flavorjones let me know if there's anything I can/should do to get this merged.

neonichu · 2015-10-08T08:19:38Z

BTW, I have been using this workaround:

$ sudo mkdir /usr/include
$ sudo touch /usr/include/iconv.h

but am now realising that it doesn't work anymore because of OS X 10.11's System Integrity Protection. Directories in /usr cannot be created anymore without turning it off.

kjs3 · 2015-10-12T15:56:55Z

I hope this gets merged soon. The workaround is annoying.

Here's what I did:

Disable SIP
Do what @neonichu did above.
Re-enable SIP csrutil enable

neonichu · 2015-10-13T08:00:59Z

FWIW, I'm building from source for now — posted some quick instructions here: http://buegling.com/blog/2015/4/26/building-nokogiri-on-os-x

segiddins · 2015-10-29T15:23:02Z

Is there anything I can do to get this merged? It's literally impossible to install nokogiri without patching it on my machine at the moment, and that's quite annoying.

knu · 2015-10-29T16:18:45Z

Will handle this shortly!

Use have_header() to check for the existence of iconv.h

knu · 2015-10-30T02:53:39Z

Sorry to keep you all waiting!

This issue is closed but we are open to additional improvements to the check and instructions in the error message. Thanks you for your continued support!

flavorjones · 2015-11-17T00:25:39Z

Can anybody confirm that this addressed the original poster's issue?

alloy · 2015-11-18T10:59:30Z

@flavorjones Definitely works in my env 👍

Released version

$ gem install nokogiri
Building native extensions.  This could take a while...
ERROR:  Error installing nokogiri:
    ERROR: Failed to build gem native extension.
-----
The file "/usr/include/iconv.h" is missing in your build environment,
which means you haven't installed Xcode Command Line Tools properly.

To install Command Line Tools, try running `xcode-select --install` on
terminal and follow the instructions.  If it fails, open Xcode.app,
select from the menu "Xcode" - "Open Developer Tool" - "More Developer
Tools" to open the developer site, download the installer for your OS
version and run it.
-----
*** extconf.rb failed ***

Master

$ bundle exec rake
checking for iconv.h... yes
checking for iconv... yes

And then:

$ gem install pkg/nokogiri-1.6.7.rc3.gem 
Building native extensions.  This could take a while...
Successfully installed nokogiri-1.6.7.rc3
1 gem installed

flavorjones · 2015-11-22T21:07:46Z

@alloy Thank you so much for the confirmation!

alloy · 2015-11-22T21:44:08Z

No problemo 🎩👌

Use have_header() to check for the existence of iconv.h

c623c84

neonichu mentioned this pull request Jan 7, 2015

Issues installing Nokogiri 1.6.5 on OS X Yosemite (10.10.1) #1210

Closed

flavorjones added the platform/osx label Jan 20, 2015

flavorjones closed this Jan 21, 2015

kylef mentioned this pull request Sep 14, 2015

Nokogiri Build Failure: Bad Design #1345

Closed

flavorjones added this to the 1.6.7 milestone Sep 18, 2015

flavorjones reopened this Sep 18, 2015

This was referenced Oct 29, 2015

Compile issue on OS X Mavericks 10.9.5 #1206

Closed

Rails 4.2 installation issues with Nokogiri on OS X #1214

Closed

knu added a commit that referenced this pull request Oct 30, 2015

Merge pull request #1218 from neonichu/master

7c14888

Use have_header() to check for the existence of iconv.h

knu merged commit 7c14888 into sparklemotion:master Oct 30, 2015

This was referenced Nov 19, 2015

Nokogiri install fails because of missing lzma symbols in self built libxml2 #1119

Closed

nokogiri install fails on mac because homebrew libxml is too new #1166

Closed

flavorjones mentioned this pull request Nov 22, 2015

listen to --with-iconv-dir=<path> on OS X #1369

Closed

tamird mentioned this pull request Dec 10, 2015

Update nokogiri to 1.6.7 rails/rails#22552

Merged

flavorjones mentioned this pull request Jan 24, 2016

link libxml2 with liblzma if it is found #1125

Closed

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Use have_header() to check for the existence of iconv.h #1218

Use have_header() to check for the existence of iconv.h #1218

neonichu commented Jan 7, 2015

knu commented Jan 7, 2015

neonichu commented Jan 7, 2015

knu commented Jan 7, 2015

neonichu commented Jan 7, 2015

zenspider commented Jan 9, 2015

neonichu commented Jan 12, 2015

flavorjones commented Jan 20, 2015

zenspider commented Jan 20, 2015

flavorjones commented Jan 21, 2015

tamird commented May 15, 2015

neonichu commented May 15, 2015

tamird commented May 15, 2015

neonichu commented May 15, 2015

flavorjones commented Sep 18, 2015

neonichu commented Oct 7, 2015

neonichu commented Oct 8, 2015

kjs3 commented Oct 12, 2015

neonichu commented Oct 13, 2015

segiddins commented Oct 29, 2015

knu commented Oct 29, 2015

knu commented Oct 30, 2015

flavorjones commented Nov 17, 2015

alloy commented Nov 18, 2015

flavorjones commented Nov 22, 2015

alloy commented Nov 22, 2015

Use have_header() to check for the existence of iconv.h #1218

Use have_header() to check for the existence of iconv.h #1218

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neonichu commented Jan 7, 2015

knu commented Jan 7, 2015

neonichu commented Jan 7, 2015

knu commented Jan 7, 2015

neonichu commented Jan 7, 2015

zenspider commented Jan 9, 2015

neonichu commented Jan 12, 2015

flavorjones commented Jan 20, 2015

zenspider commented Jan 20, 2015

flavorjones commented Jan 21, 2015

tamird commented May 15, 2015

neonichu commented May 15, 2015

tamird commented May 15, 2015

neonichu commented May 15, 2015

flavorjones commented Sep 18, 2015

neonichu commented Oct 7, 2015

neonichu commented Oct 8, 2015

kjs3 commented Oct 12, 2015

neonichu commented Oct 13, 2015

segiddins commented Oct 29, 2015

knu commented Oct 29, 2015

knu commented Oct 30, 2015

flavorjones commented Nov 17, 2015

alloy commented Nov 18, 2015

Released version

Master

flavorjones commented Nov 22, 2015

alloy commented Nov 22, 2015