mesonbuild / mesonbuild/meson

Errors in pkgconfig file lead to very cryptic build failure

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enhancement gnome
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Python
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Description

I've come across an obvious error in spandsp library .pc file. They ended up with `$(prefix)` rather then `${prefix}`. That's not meson bug, but it breaks in a very cryptic way. I also could not figure-out how to recover from that other then just wiping out the build directory.

`ninja: error: build.ninja:2608: bad $-escape (literal $ must be written as $$)`

Calling any target result in the same error.

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Research direction

First inspect the reported spandsp .pc file and the generated build.ninja around line 2608, then reproduce the failure by invoking a Ninja target. Determine whether Meson should handle this malformed pkg-config input or whether the issue belongs to spandsp. Done requires a documented or tested resolution for the cryptic build failure and recovery path.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Domain
build-system
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Needs clarification
Newbie friendliness
30/100

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