4.2 build fails on i686: ELF format cannot produce non-PC-relative PLT references

[Akilan-Sivakumar]

BB Issue #1030
Original issue created by bbhtt (bitbucket username :bbhtt).
Created on Bitbucket: 2026-04-20
Last updated on Bitbucket: 2026-04-21

FAILED: [code=1] common/CMakeFiles/common.dir/x86/cpu-a.asm.o /usr/bin/nasm -f elf32 -DARCH_X86_64=0 -I /buildstream-build/source/common/../common/x86/ -DHAVE_ALIGNED_STACK=1 -DHIGH_BIT_DEPTH=0 -DBIT_DEPTH=8 -DX265_NS=x265 -o common/CMakeFiles/common.dir/x86/cpu-a.asm.o /buildstream-build/source/common/x86/cpu-a.asm /buildstream-build/source/common/x86/cpu-a.asm:181: error: ELF format cannot produce non-PC-relative PLT references /buildstream-build/source/common/../common/x86/x86inc.asm:1128: ... from macro "call" defined here

This is with NASM 2.16.03. The full build log is also attached.

Attachments:

build_log.txt

[Akilan-Sivakumar]

Original comment by Vimal Prasath (Bitbucket username : Vimal Prasath)
Posted on Bitbucket: 2026-04-29

Hi, can you please share the machine and build configuration to reproduce the issue.

[Akilan-Sivakumar]

Original comment by Zeckma Tech (Bitbucket username : Zeckma Tech)
Posted on Bitbucket: 2026-04-30

This issue can be replicated on a i?86 or x86_64 Linux machine that can target 32-bit (multilib).
For multilib x86_64, this can be replicated by doing the following in the root of the project:

mkdir bld &&
cd    bld &&

CC="gcc -m32" CXX="g++ -m32"              \
PKG_CONFIG_PATH=/usr/lib32/pkgconfig      \
cmake -D CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr        \
      -D LIB_INSTALL_DIR=lib32            \
      -D GIT_ARCHETYPE=1                  \
      -W no-dev ../source &&

make

(EDIT: The above commands were not correct in the first version of this comment, but now it's correct. Apologies!)

For -j12, for me, the issue is encountered at around 10-30% of the build progress.

The issue stems from the fact that 32-bit cannot do PLT. This error is caused by b2950952dcbb28f7aa053e84663c384064c88a4e. This only affects source/common/x86/cpu-a.asm.

There was previously a check for UNIX64, and if it succeeded, it goes through PLT. For compatibility for MacOS, this was changed to FORMAT_ELF. The problem is that because 32-bit can't do PLT, and the only check is for FORMAT_ELF, all x86_64 and i?86 systems using the ELF format will go through that condition, and for 32-bit, it inevitably fails. i?86 would not qualify for the UNIX64 condition.

The fix for this is quite simple: check for both UNIX64 and FORMAT_ELF on the same line, so only 64-bit UNIX/Linux systems with the ELF format go through PLT.

Below is a diff that can be forwarded to patch to fix the error.

diff '--color=auto' -Naur x265_4.2.orig/source/common/x86/cpu-a.asm x265_4.2/source/common/x86/cpu-a.asm
--- x265_4.2.orig/source/common/x86/cpu-a.asm   2026-04-19 00:29:17.000000000 -0600
+++ x265_4.2/source/common/x86/cpu-a.asm    2026-04-28 14:13:19.668692866 -0600
@@ -177,7 +177,7 @@
 %if WIN64
     lea rax, [intel_cpu_indicator_init]
     call rax
-%elif FORMAT_ELF
+%elif UNIX64 && FORMAT_ELF
     call [rel intel_cpu_indicator_init wrt ..plt]
 %else
     call intel_cpu_indicator_init

Gaming Linux From Scratch encounters the issue and has received a report for a pending update: glfs-book/glfs#423.

[Akilan-Sivakumar]

Hi, can you please share the machine and build configuration to reproduce the issue.

Original comment by bbhtt (Bitbucket username :bbhtt)
Posted on Bitbucket: 2026-04-30

The machine is a CI runner provided by OSUOSL, I don't have access to the runner, but I can gather some information from CI. What specific thing do you need?

Build configuration is fairly simple:

kind: cmake

(@): elements/extensions/ffmpeg-full/config.yml

build-depends:
- public-stacks/buildsystem-cmake.bst
- components/nasm.bst
- components/git-minimal.bst

depends:
- bootstrap-import.bst

variables:
  conf-root: "source"

  cmake-local: >-
    -DLIB_INSTALL_DIR="%{prefix}"
    -DENABLE_SHARED=ON
    -DENABLE_CLI=OFF

config:
  install-commands:
    (>):
    - find "%{install-root}%{prefix}" -name "lib*.a" -delete

sources:
- kind: git_repo
  url: git_https:bitbucket.org/multicoreware/x265_git.git
  track: '*.*'
  exclude:
  - "*rc*"
  ref: 4.2-0-ge444744c03978c1fb4e037168967020cf2648427

Below is a diff that can be forwarded to patch to fix the error.

Thanks for this I will try it out.

[Akilan-Sivakumar]

Original comment by bbhtt (Bitbucket username :bbhtt)
Posted on Bitbucket: 2026-05-30

The patch seems to be working.