GCC errors

Problem:

You have C code like

printf("test");

but when you try to compile it you see a warning like

main.c: In function ‘main’:
main.c:2:5: warning: implicit declaration of function ‘printf’ [-Wimplicit-function-declaration]
     printf("test");
     ^~~~~~
main.c:2:5: warning: incompatible implicit declaration of built-in function ‘printf’
main.c:2:5: note: include ‘<stdio.h>’ or provide a declaration of ‘printf’

Solution:

Add

#include <stdio.h>

at the top of the source file where the warning occured.

Note that this warning message is just a warning and if you use printf correctly, your program will work even without #include <stdio.h>. However, incorrect usage of printf and similar functions will lead to hard-to-debug errors, so I recommend to add #include <stdio.h> in any case, even if it works without.

Problem:

You have C code like

bool mybool = false;

but when you try to compile it you see an error message like

main.c: In function ‘main’:
main.c:2:5: error: unknown type name ‘bool’; did you mean ‘_Bool’?
     bool mybool = false;
     ^~~~
     _Bool
main.c:2:19: error: ‘false’ undeclared (first use in this function)
     bool mybool = false;
                   ^~~~~
main.c:2:19: note: each undeclared identifier is reported only once for each function it appears in

Solution:

Add

#include <stdbool.h>

at the top of the source file where the error occured.

The reason for this error is that bool is not a standard type in C (like int or char) but only in stdbool.h. Also, true and false are declared in stdbool.h.

Problem:

You have C code like

bool mybool = true;

but when you try to compile it you see an error message like

main.c: In function ‘main’:
main.c:2:5: error: unknown type name ‘bool’; did you mean ‘_Bool’?
     bool mybool = true;
     ^~~~
     _Bool
main.c:2:19: error: ‘true’ undeclared (first use in this function)
     bool mybool = true;
                   ^~~~
main.c:2:19: note: each undeclared identifier is reported only once for each function it appears in

Solution:

Add

#include <stdbool.h>

at the top of the source file where the error occured.

The reason for this error is that bool is not a standard type in C (like int or char) but only in stdbool.h. Also, true and false are declared in stdbool.h.

Problem:

You have C code like

bool mybool;

but when you try to compile it you see an error message like

main.c: In function ‘main’:
main.c:3:5: error: unknown type name ‘bool’; did you mean ‘_Bool’?
     bool mybool;
     ^~~~
     _Bool

Solution:

Add

#include <stdbool.h>

at the top of the source file where the error occured.

The reason for this error is that bool is not a standard type in C (like int or char) but only in stdbool.h.

Problem:

You have C code like

char* ptr = NULL;

but when you try to compile it you see an error message like

main.c: In function ‘main’:
main.c:3:17: error: ‘NULL’ undeclared (first use in this function)
     void* ptr = NULL;
                 ^~~~
main.c:3:17: note: each undeclared identifier is reported only once for each function it appears in

Solution:

Add

#include <stddef.h>

at the top of the source file where the error occured.

The reason for this error is that NULL is not defined in C itself but only in stddef.h.

In a legacy C++ project that is using Boost ProgramOptions. trying to compile it will yield this error message:

In file included from /usr/include/boost/lexical_cast/detail/converter_lexical.hpp:50:0,
                 from /usr/include/boost/lexical_cast/try_lexical_convert.hpp:42,
                 from /usr/include/boost/lexical_cast.hpp:32,
                 from /usr/include/boost/program_options/value_semantic.hpp:14,
                 from /usr/include/boost/program_options/options_description.hpp:13,
                 from /usr/include/boost/program_options.hpp:15,
                 from /home/uli/dev/myproject/datasplit.cpp:15:
/usr/include/boost/array.hpp: In member function ‘T& boost::array<T, N>::operator[](boost::array<T, N>::size_type)’:
/usr/include/boost/array.hpp:118:61: error: expected primary-expression before ‘,’ token
             return BOOST_ASSERT_MSG( i < N, "out of range" ), elems[i];

I didn’t find a satisfying way to fix this issue but it can be worked around fixing the issue in the source file:

First, open /usr/include/boost/array.hpp in your favourite editor as root (sudo!). I use nano.

Then, go to line 118 which reads:

return BOOST_ASSERT_MSG( i < N, "out of range" ), elems[i];

Replace that line by

BOOST_ASSERT_MSG( i < N, "out of range" );
return elems[i];

Also, 4 lines below what we just edited you’ll find another instance of

return BOOST_ASSERT_MSG( i < N, "out of range" ), elems[i];

Also replace that by

BOOST_ASSERT_MSG( i < N, "out of range" );
return elems[i];

Now. save the file and close your editor. Your code should compile now.

Problem:

You want to compile an executable using GCC/G++ that uses functionality from std::experimental::filesystem but you get an error message like this during compilation / linking:

test.cpp:(.text+0x33): undefined reference to `std::experimental::filesystem::v1::file_size(std::experimental::filesystem::v1::__cxx11::path const&)'
/tmp/ccSXeCVb.o: In function `std::experimental::filesystem::v1::__cxx11::path::path<char [9], std::experimental::filesystem::v1::__cxx11::path>(char const (&) [9])':
test.cpp:(.text._ZNSt12experimental10filesystem2v17__cxx114pathC2IA9_cS3_EERKT_[_ZNSt12experimental10filesystem2v17__cxx114pathC5IA9_cS3_EERKT_]+0x73): undefined reference to `std::experimental::filesystem::v1::__cxx11::path::_M_split_cmpts()'
collect2: error: ld returned 1 exit status

Solution:

You need to link the stdc++fs library, i.e. append -lstdc++fs to your g++ command.

For example, a working command looks like this:

g++ -o myprogram main.cpp -lstdc++fs

When encountering a GCC error like this:

error: the lambda has no capture-default

fixing it is usually quite easy. Look for a Lambda function that captures some variable like this

[&myVar] (/* ... */) {/* ... */}

&myVar means “capture myVar by reference”.

In most cases you can just capture all local variables by using a capture default:

[&] (/* ... */) {/* ... */}

In rare cases this will have unintended side-effects as you now are capturing all variables by reference where you might want to capture some by copy – so be sure to check your code.

Note that this error is GCC version-dependent. For me using GCC 7.2 fixed the error.

Problem:

You are compiling a C/C++ program using GCC. You get an error message similar to this:

error: invalid use of incomplete type ‘class SomeType’

Solution:

There are multiple possible issues, but in general this error means that GCC can’t find the full declaration of the given class or struct.

The most common issue is that you are missing an #include clause. Find out in which header file the declaration resides, i.e. if the error message mentions class Map, look for something like

class Map {
   // ...
};

Usually the classes reside in header files that are similar to their name, e.g. MyClass might reside in a header file that is called MyClass.h, MyClass.hpp or MyClass.hxx, so be sure to look for those files first. Note that you might also be looking for a type from a library. Often the best approach is to google C++ <insert the missing type here> to find out where it might be located.

Another possible reason is that you have your #include clause after the line where the error occurs. If this is the case, ensure that all required types are included before they are used.

For other reasons, see StackOverflow, e.g. this post

Problem:

You encounter a GCC error message of the form

error: default argument for parameter of type <some type> has type <some other type>

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