Troubleshooting Rust Linker Failures on macOS (linking with cc failed: exit status: 1)

[derekjwilliams]

When running cargo build on an M1 machine running macOS 15.2 (Sequoia) I get the following error:

   ...
   Compiling stylex_compiler_rs v0.6.1-rc.2 (/Users/derekwilliams/development/stylex-swc-plugin/crates/stylex-rs-compiler)
   Compiling stylex_swc_plugin v0.6.1-rc.2 (/Users/derekwilliams/development/stylex-swc-plugin/crates/stylex-swc-plugin)
error: linking with `cc` failed: exit status: 1

I was able to fix this by adding a config file: .cargo/config, with these contents:

[target.x86_64-apple-darwin]
rustflags = [
  "-C", "link-arg=-undefined",
  "-C", "link-arg=dynamic_lookup",
]

[target.aarch64-apple-darwin]
rustflags = [
  "-C", "link-arg=-undefined",
  "-C", "link-arg=dynamic_lookup",
]

Following the suggestion here: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/28124221/error-linking-with-cc-failed-exit-code-1

If it makes sense to add that to the repo I'd be more than happy to do so.

My Rust skills are minimal at this point so I didn't want to add an issue or make a PR without touching base. I also was not sure if this issue was already addressed in the project's github actions; the concern on my part being breaking the CI/CD workflow with adding a .cargo/config file.

Note: I do have an Intel i7 machine running an older version of macOS (Monterey), so I can verify on that machine as well, if needed, and I can start up an Ubuntu VM if needed to verify on Linux

[Dwlad90]

Hi @derekjwilliams,

I had the same problem with a M1 machine. This problem also existed on previous versions of MacOS.

The solution was one of the solutions suggested in the link above, add ~/.cargo/config.toml (https://doc.rust-lang.org/cargo/reference/config.html) file with the following content:

Following the suggestion here: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/28124221/error-linking-with-cc-failed-exit-code-1

[target.x86_64-apple-darwin]
rustflags = [
  "-C", "link-arg=-undefined",
  "-C", "link-arg=dynamic_lookup",
]

[target.aarch64-apple-darwin]
rustflags = [
  "-C", "link-arg=-undefined",
  "-C", "link-arg=dynamic_lookup",
]

After that, this problem did not occur again.

Perhaps it is worth adding a description of this problem and solution directly to the repository, for example, the Q&A section, or maybe the presence of this discussion is enough.

I am ready to consider various options, including PR.

[derekjwilliams]

I like the idea of a Q&A section. There are likely to be other small 'gotchas' that only occur in some edge cases. In this case I naïvely ran cargo build from the root; what I should have done is run pnpm run build. A 'Development Getting Started' section may make more sense.

I'd be glad to submit a PR for either, or both sections, if you'd like, at the end of the existing README.md?

I agree that it does not make sense to add a .cargo/config.toml file, since this error does not come up when doing a typical build (pnpm run build).

Edit: I'll mark your answer as the solution so we don't have this as a BUG

[Dwlad90]

I think it would be convenient to use the "Wiki" section for this. Something like vscode repository.

What do you think about this approach, would it be convenient?

[derekjwilliams]

Great idea.

[Dwlad90]

I'll just leave this here:

https://github.com/Dwlad90/stylex-swc-plugin/wiki/Rust-Linker-Error-MacOS

[derekjwilliams]

I like it, it looks like the best way to contribute to the wiki is to fork https://github.com/Dwlad90/stylex-swc-plugin/wiki and then make a PR?

Wiki is awesome to have, thanks!

[Dwlad90]

I was just working on this problem. I created a new repository where all the files of the WIKI section are stored. Needs to fork it and open new PRs. The changes will be automatically applied after the PR merges into master branch. I wrote about this in the footer of the WIKI section.