File format not recognized when linking rmeta file for sparc-linux-unknown-gnu

I am currently trying to build rustc for the sparc-linux-unknown-gnu target which fails with the linker complaining about not recognizing the file format of the rmeta file on the command line:

error: linking with `sparc-linux-gnu-gcc` failed: exit status: 1
  |
  = note: LC_ALL="C" PATH="/home/glaubitz/rust/build/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/stage1/lib/rustlib/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/bin:/home/glaubitz/rust/build/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/stage1/lib/rustlib/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/bin:/home/glaubitz/rust/build/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/stage1/lib/rustlib/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/bin:/home/glaubitz/.local/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/local/games:/usr/games" VSLANG="1033" "sparc-linux-gnu-gcc" "-Wl,--version-script=/tmp/rustc9YiYtF/list" "-Wl,--no-undefined-version" "-mcpu=v9" "-m32" "-Wl,-melf32_sparc" "/home/glaubitz/rust/build/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/stage1-std/sparc-unknown-linux-gnu/release/deps/std-41da709e9f6744d7.std.a946a352528c9d3a-cgu.00.rcgu.o" "/home/glaubitz/rust/build/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/stage1-std/sparc-unknown-linux-gnu/release/deps/std-41da709e9f6744d7.std.a946a352528c9d3a-cgu.01.rcgu.o" "/home/glaubitz/rust/build/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/stage1-std/sparc-unknown-linux-gnu/release/deps/std-41da709e9f6744d7.std.a946a352528c9d3a-cgu.02.rcgu.o" "/home/glaubitz/rust/build/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/stage1-std/sparc-unknown-linux-gnu/release/deps/std-41da709e9f6744d7.std.a946a352528c9d3a-cgu.03.rcgu.o" "/home/glaubitz/rust/build/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/stage1-std/sparc-unknown-linux-gnu/release/deps/std-41da709e9f6744d7.std.a946a352528c9d3a-cgu.04.rcgu.o" "/home/glaubitz/rust/build/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/stage1-std/sparc-unknown-linux-gnu/release/deps/std-41da709e9f6744d7.std.a946a352528c9d3a-cgu.05.rcgu.o" "/home/glaubitz/rust/build/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/stage1-std/sparc-unknown-linux-gnu/release/deps/std-41da709e9f6744d7.std.a946a352528c9d3a-cgu.06.rcgu.o" "/home/glaubitz/rust/build/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/stage1-std/sparc-unknown-linux-gnu/release/deps/std-41da709e9f6744d7.std.a946a352528c9d3a-cgu.07.rcgu.o" "/home/glaubitz/rust/build/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/stage1-std/sparc-unknown-linux-gnu/release/deps/std-41da709e9f6744d7.std.a946a352528c9d3a-cgu.08.rcgu.o" "/home/glaubitz/rust/build/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/stage1-std/sparc-unknown-linux-gnu/release/deps/std-41da709e9f6744d7.std.a946a352528c9d3a-cgu.09.rcgu.o" "/home/glaubitz/rust/build/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/stage1-std/sparc-unknown-linux-gnu/release/deps/std-41da709e9f6744d7.std.a946a352528c9d3a-cgu.10.rcgu.o" "/home/glaubitz/rust/build/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/stage1-std/sparc-unknown-linux-gnu/release/deps/std-41da709e9f6744d7.std.a946a352528c9d3a-cgu.11.rcgu.o" "/home/glaubitz/rust/build/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/stage1-std/sparc-unknown-linux-gnu/release/deps/std-41da709e9f6744d7.std.a946a352528c9d3a-cgu.12.rcgu.o" "/home/glaubitz/rust/build/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/stage1-std/sparc-unknown-linux-gnu/release/deps/std-41da709e9f6744d7.std.a946a352528c9d3a-cgu.13.rcgu.o" "/home/glaubitz/rust/build/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/stage1-std/sparc-unknown-linux-gnu/release/deps/std-41da709e9f6744d7.std.a946a352528c9d3a-cgu.14.rcgu.o" "/home/glaubitz/rust/build/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/stage1-std/sparc-unknown-linux-gnu/release/deps/std-41da709e9f6744d7.std.a946a352528c9d3a-cgu.15.rcgu.o" "/home/glaubitz/rust/build/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/stage1-std/sparc-unknown-linux-gnu/release/deps/std-41da709e9f6744d7.dn0tar95l4w690nusxeqr43d3.rcgu.rmeta" "/home/glaubitz/rust/build/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/stage1-std/sparc-unknown-linux-gnu/release/deps/std-41da709e9f6744d7.040sn9hd3kpadxvyhdk75ycx5.rcgu.o" "-Wl,--as-needed" "-L" "/home/glaubitz/rust/build/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/stage1-std/sparc-unknown-linux-gnu/release/deps" "-L" "/home/glaubitz/rust/build/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/stage1-std/release/deps" "-L" "/home/glaubitz/rust/build/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/stage1-std/sparc-unknown-linux-gnu/release/build/compiler_builtins-9cbe5026186c715b/out" "-L" "/home/glaubitz/rust/build/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/stage1/lib/rustlib/sparc-unknown-linux-gnu/lib" "-Wl,-Bstatic" "/home/glaubitz/rust/build/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/stage1-std/sparc-unknown-linux-gnu/release/deps/libpanic_unwind-d6f3e19e347e8e30.rlib" "/home/glaubitz/rust/build/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/stage1-std/sparc-unknown-linux-gnu/release/deps/libobject-96ad8f1969790b3e.rlib" "/home/glaubitz/rust/build/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/stage1-std/sparc-unknown-linux-gnu/release/deps/libmemchr-7d65095888af1252.rlib" "/home/glaubitz/rust/build/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/stage1-std/sparc-unknown-linux-gnu/release/deps/libaddr2line-bc5934419298e94f.rlib" "/home/glaubitz/rust/build/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/stage1-std/sparc-unknown-linux-gnu/release/deps/libgimli-a550d13df8702836.rlib" "/home/glaubitz/rust/build/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/stage1-std/sparc-unknown-linux-gnu/release/deps/librustc_demangle-3a3f56a767e453f8.rlib" "/home/glaubitz/rust/build/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/stage1-std/sparc-unknown-linux-gnu/release/deps/libstd_detect-34ae8bef4a03fd18.rlib" "/home/glaubitz/rust/build/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/stage1-std/sparc-unknown-linux-gnu/release/deps/libhashbrown-46ce46b7ff78718c.rlib" "/home/glaubitz/rust/build/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/stage1-std/sparc-unknown-linux-gnu/release/deps/librustc_std_workspace_alloc-738616e97bd712d8.rlib" "/home/glaubitz/rust/build/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/stage1-std/sparc-unknown-linux-gnu/release/deps/libminiz_oxide-1f2e9ed080496ac7.rlib" "/home/glaubitz/rust/build/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/stage1-std/sparc-unknown-linux-gnu/release/deps/libadler-c646151839979ca7.rlib" "/home/glaubitz/rust/build/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/stage1-std/sparc-unknown-linux-gnu/release/deps/libunwind-77b4a24e6c936276.rlib" "/home/glaubitz/rust/build/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/stage1-std/sparc-unknown-linux-gnu/release/deps/libcfg_if-ca580308d22018b6.rlib" "/home/glaubitz/rust/build/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/stage1-std/sparc-unknown-linux-gnu/release/deps/liblibc-721c91ee08a9ebc2.rlib" "/home/glaubitz/rust/build/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/stage1-std/sparc-unknown-linux-gnu/release/deps/liballoc-5364848951c68550.rlib" "/home/glaubitz/rust/build/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/stage1-std/sparc-unknown-linux-gnu/release/deps/librustc_std_workspace_core-2d05bd64c8bcabbb.rlib" "/home/glaubitz/rust/build/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/stage1-std/sparc-unknown-linux-gnu/release/deps/libcore-e51655d4cadb2e75.rlib" "/home/glaubitz/rust/build/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/stage1-std/sparc-unknown-linux-gnu/release/deps/libcompiler_builtins-494aac20c9cb2b3e.rlib" "-Wl,-Bdynamic" "-lgcc_s" "-lutil" "-lrt" "-lpthread" "-lm" "-ldl" "-lc" "-Wl,--eh-frame-hdr" "-Wl,-z,noexecstack" "-L" "/home/glaubitz/rust/build/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/stage1/lib/rustlib/sparc-unknown-linux-gnu/lib" "-o" "/home/glaubitz/rust/build/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/stage1-std/sparc-unknown-linux-gnu/release/deps/libstd-41da709e9f6744d7.so" "-shared" "-Wl,-z,relro,-z,now" "-Wl,-O1" "-nodefaultlibs" "-Wl,-z,origin" "-Wl,-rpath,$ORIGIN/../lib"
  = note: /home/glaubitz/rust/build/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/stage1-std/sparc-unknown-linux-gnu/release/deps/std-41da709e9f6744d7.dn0tar95l4w690nusxeqr43d3.rcgu.rmeta: file not recognized: file format not recognized
          collect2: error: ld returned 1 exit status

I have already tried tuning the compiler and linker options in compiler/rustc_target/src/spec/targets/sparc_unknown_linux_gnu.rs, but I am still getting the same error. Since I have no clue what the rmeta file is supposed to contain, I don't know what might be wrong and needs to be fixed.

Thus, opening an issue in the hope that someone can explain what's in the rmeta file and what could be the reason for that file containing unexpected information, so I can come up with a possible fix.

Read compiler/rustc_target/src/spec/targets/sparc_unknown_linux_gnu.rs and compare its target and linker settings with the failing sparc-linux-gnu-gcc command. Trace why the .rmeta file is passed to the linker and determine what produces it. Done means the sparc-linux-unknown-gnu build no longer fails with the file-format error.