Dyninst Build Failure With Spack: Capstone Issue

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Dyninst Build Failure with Spack: Capstone Issue

Hey folks, I've run into a bit of a snag while trying to build Dyninst with Spack, and I wanted to share my findings and see if anyone else is experiencing the same thing. It seems like a recent commit might have broken the build process, specifically related to the Capstone dependency. Let's dive into the details, shall we?

The Problem: Capstone Not Found

The issue manifests as a CMake error during the build process. When I try to build Dyninst using Spack, the build fails with the following error message:

-- Found Thread_DB: /usr/lib64/libthread_db.so
-- Found OpenMP_C: -fopenmp (found version "4.5")
-- Found OpenMP_CXX: -fopenmp (found version "4.5")
-- Found OpenMP: TRUE (found version "4.5")
CMake Error at cmake/tpls/DyninstCapstone.cmake:39 (find_package):
  By not providing "Findcapstone.cmake" in CMAKE_MODULE_PATH this project has
  asked CMake to find a package configuration file provided by "capstone",
  but CMake did not find one.

  Could not find a package configuration file provided by "capstone" with any
  of the following names:

    capstoneConfig.cmake
    capstone-config.cmake

  Add the installation prefix of "capstone" to CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH or set
  "capstone_DIR" to a directory containing one of the above files.  If
  "capstone" provides a separate development package or SDK, be sure it has
  been installed.

Essentially, the build process can't find the Capstone library, which is a dependency of Dyninst. This is preventing the build from completing successfully. It seems like the build system is looking for a capstoneConfig.cmake or capstone-config.cmake file, but it's not able to locate them.

I first noticed this issue on a system at UOregon, and later confirmed it on another machine at Rice. The error consistently appears during the build process, suggesting a deeper problem within the Dyninst build configuration or the Spack recipe itself. Let's explore the possible causes.

Identifying the Culprit: Recent Commit

After some investigation, I believe the culprit is a specific commit in the Dyninst repository. A little digging revealed that a previous commit, 8823b4abbe (from November 4th), builds cleanly for me using Spack. However, the very next commit, 3fdbf5a841 (from November 6th), introduces the Capstone-related failure. This strongly suggests that the changes in this commit are responsible for breaking the build process.

The problematic commit is:

commit 3fdbf5a841feba2d211fc293eb435759d9ca219a
Author: wxrdnx <67510189+wxrdnx@users.noreply.github.com>
Date:   Thu Nov 6 10:48:14 2025 -0600

    Add Capstone Workflow (#2053)

M       .github/workflows/dependency-version.yaml
M       CMakeLists.txt
A       cmake/tpls/DyninstCapstone.cmake
M       docker/Dockerfile.fedora
M       docker/Dockerfile.ubuntu
A       docker/build_capstone.sh
M       docker/dependencies.versions

This commit appears to be adding a Capstone workflow and related files to the Dyninst project. It makes sense that this commit, which directly involves Capstone, would be the cause of the build failure. The changes include modifications to CMakeLists.txt and the addition of DyninstCapstone.cmake, which is likely where the find_package(capstone) call is located.

Ruling Out CMake Issues

Initially, I suspected that the problem might be related to my CMake version. I've had some previous issues with CMake versions 3.30 and 3.31 when building HPCToolkit with CUDA. To rule out this possibility, I tried building Dyninst with different CMake versions, including 3.31.9 (my preferred version) and 4.1.2.

However, the build failed with both versions, indicating that the issue wasn't directly related to the CMake version itself. This means we can eliminate CMake as the primary cause of the problem, and shift our focus to other potential sources of the issue.

Possible Causes: Dyninst Repo or Spack Recipe

With CMake ruled out, the likely culprits are either the Dyninst repository itself or the Spack recipe used to build Dyninst. Since the error is directly related to Capstone, and the problematic commit involves Capstone integration, the issue likely lies within the Dyninst repository's build configuration or how it handles the Capstone dependency.

Alternatively, there could be a problem with the Spack recipe for Dyninst. The recipe might not be correctly specifying the dependencies or providing the necessary flags to locate Capstone. The recipe would need to be updated to correctly locate and link against Capstone, potentially by specifying the Capstone installation path or providing other necessary configuration. Let's delve deeper into this.

System Information and Environment

Here's the relevant system information where I'm encountering this issue:

  • System: Headroom (at UOregon)
  • Operating System: Ubuntu 22.04.5 for x86_64
  • Compiler: gcc 13.2.0
  • glibc: 2.35
  • Affected Commit: 3fdbf5a841f

This information can be helpful in debugging the issue, as it provides context about the environment in which the build is failing. It can help pinpoint if this is a general issue or specific to certain environments. If anyone has experience with this, please share your thoughts.

Conclusion and Next Steps

In summary, the Dyninst build is failing due to an inability to find the Capstone library. This is likely caused by a recent commit that added Capstone integration to the project. The CMake version does not appear to be the cause, suggesting that the problem lies within the Dyninst repository or the Spack recipe for building Dyninst.

My next steps will be to:

  1. Investigate the Dyninst repository: Examine the CMakeLists.txt and the DyninstCapstone.cmake files to understand how Capstone is being located and linked. Check if there are any missing dependencies or incorrect paths.
  2. Examine the Spack recipe: Review the Spack recipe for Dyninst to see how it handles the Capstone dependency. Make sure that it correctly specifies the Capstone dependencies and includes any necessary flags for the build process.
  3. Test different Capstone versions: Try building Dyninst with different versions of the Capstone library to see if it resolves the issue.
  4. Reach out to the Dyninst developers: Report the issue to the Dyninst developers and provide them with the details of the failure. They might have a better understanding of the problem and provide a solution.
  5. Seek guidance from the Spack community: Post the issue on the Spack mailing lists or forums to get help from the community.

Hopefully, by taking these steps, we can get Dyninst building successfully again! Any insights or suggestions from the community would be greatly appreciated. I'll keep you posted on my progress. Happy building, folks!