configure: Always use AC_LINK_ELSEIF when testing against assembler

This fixes #16440, where the build system incorrectly concluded that the
`.subsections_via_symbols` assembler directive was supported on a Linux
system. This was caused by the fact that gcc was invoked with `-flto`;
when so-configured gcc does not call the assembler but rather simply
serialises its AST for compilation during the final link.

This is described in Note [autoconf assembler checks and -flto].

1 files changed, 33 insertions, 5 deletions

diff --git a/aclocal.m4 b/aclocal.m4
index 5b03732..d2d42f2 100644
--- a/aclocal.m4
+++ b/aclocal.m4
@@ -288,11 +288,31 @@ AC_DEFUN([FPTOOLS_SET_HASKELL_PLATFORM_VARS],
         esac
     }
 
+    dnl Note [autoconf assembler checks and -flto]
+    dnl ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+    dnl
+    dnl Autoconf's AC_COMPILE_IFELSE macro is fragile in the case of checks
+    dnl which require that the assembler is run. Specifically, GCC does not run
+    dnl the assembler if invoked with `-c -flto`; it merely dumps its internal
+    dnl AST to the object file, to be compiled and assembled during the final
+    dnl link.
+    dnl
+    dnl This can cause configure checks like that for the
+    dnl .subsections_via_symbols directive to pass unexpected (see #16440),
+    dnl leading the build system to incorrectly conclude that the directive is
+    dnl supported.
+    dnl
+    dnl For this reason, it is important that configure checks that rely on the
+    dnl assembler failing use AC_LINK_IFELSE rather than AC_COMPILE_IFELSE,
+    dnl ensuring that the assembler sees the check.
+    dnl
+
     dnl ** check for Apple-style dead-stripping support
     dnl    (.subsections-via-symbols assembler directive)
 
     AC_MSG_CHECKING(for .subsections_via_symbols)
-    AC_COMPILE_IFELSE(
+    dnl See Note [autoconf assembler checks and -flto]
+    AC_LINK_IFELSE(
         [AC_LANG_PROGRAM([], [__asm__ (".subsections_via_symbols");])],
         [AC_MSG_RESULT(yes)
          HaskellHaveSubsectionsViaSymbols=True
@@ -305,8 +325,9 @@ AC_DEFUN([FPTOOLS_SET_HASKELL_PLATFORM_VARS],
     dnl ** check for .ident assembler directive
 
     AC_MSG_CHECKING(whether your assembler supports .ident directive)
-    AC_COMPILE_IFELSE(
-        [AC_LANG_SOURCE([__asm__ (".ident \"GHC x.y.z\"");])],
+    dnl See Note [autoconf assembler checks and -flto]
+    AC_LINK_IFELSE(
+        [AC_LANG_PROGRAM([__asm__ (".ident \"GHC x.y.z\"");], [])],
         [AC_MSG_RESULT(yes)
          HaskellHaveIdentDirective=True],
         [AC_MSG_RESULT(no)
@@ -330,8 +351,15 @@ AC_DEFUN([FPTOOLS_SET_HASKELL_PLATFORM_VARS],
         ;;
     esac
     AC_MSG_CHECKING(for GNU non-executable stack support)
-    AC_COMPILE_IFELSE(
-        [AC_LANG_PROGRAM([__asm__ (".section .note.GNU-stack,\"\",$progbits");], [0])],
+    dnl See Note [autoconf assembler checks and -flto]
+    AC_LINK_IFELSE(
+       dnl the `main` function is placed after the .note.GNU-stack directive
+       dnl so we need to ensure that the active segment is correctly set,
+       dnl otherwise `main` will be placed in the wrong segment.
+        [AC_LANG_PROGRAM([
+           __asm__ (".section .note.GNU-stack,\"\",$progbits");
+           __asm__ (".section .text");
+         ], [0])],
         [AC_MSG_RESULT(yes)
          HaskellHaveGnuNonexecStack=True],
         [AC_MSG_RESULT(no)