How to build GRPC with third party supplied from system

[Matthew Bennett]

Hi,

I am trying to build (and eventually cross compile) GRPC from source. I can't find any good information on this anywhere so I am stuck just trying to get it to build on my machine.

I have c-ares, protobuf etc built on my machine and I want to use them for supplying to GRPC. However I am getting the following error when running make:

host,grpc: Done (3)

host,grpc: Running Commands

host,grpc: Package libcares was not found in the pkg-config search path.

host,grpc: Perhaps you should add the directory containing `libcares.pc'

host,grpc: to the PKG_CONFIG_PATH environment variable

host,grpc: No package 'libcares' found

host,grpc: Package protobuf was not found in the pkg-config search path.

host,grpc: Perhaps you should add the directory containing `protobuf.pc'

host,grpc: to the PKG_CONFIG_PATH environment variable

host,grpc: No package 'protobuf' found

host,grpc: Package protobuf was not found in the pkg-config search path.

host,grpc: Perhaps you should add the directory containing `protobuf.pc'

host,grpc: to the PKG_CONFIG_PATH environment variable

host,grpc: No package 'protobuf' found

host,grpc: echo " HAS_PKG_CONFIG = true, HAS_SYSTEM_OPENSSL_NPN = true, HAS_SYSTEM_ZLIB = true, HAS_SYSTEM_PROTOBUF = true, HAS_SYSTEM_CARES = true," | tr , '\n' >cache.mk

host,grpc: 

host,grpc: DEPENDENCY ERROR

host,grpc: 

host,grpc: The target you are trying to run requires protobuf-compiler 3.0.0+

host,grpc: Your system doesn't have it, and neither does the third_party directory.

host,grpc: 

host,grpc: Please consult INSTALL to get more information.

host,grpc: 

host,grpc: If you need information about why these tests failed, run:

host,grpc: 

host,grpc:   make run_dep_checks

host,grpc: 

host,grpc: Additionally, since you are in a git clone, you can download the

host,grpc: missing dependencies in third_party by running the following command:

host,grpc: 

host,grpc:   git submodule update --init

host,grpc: 

host,grpc: Makefile:946: recipe for target 'stop' failed

host,grpc: make: *** [stop] Error 1

Path: output/host/grpc/work/grpc

Arg[0] = 'make'

Arg[1] = 'CFLAGS=-I/home/mattb/code/OpenFlowDev/buildsys/output/host/grpc/staging/local/usr/include -std=c99'

Arg[2] = 'CXXFLAGS=-I/home/mattb/code/OpenFlowDev/buildsys/output/host/grpc/staging/local/usr/include -std=c++11'

Arg[3] = 'prefix=/local/usr'

Arg[4] = 'PROTOC=/home/mattb/code/OpenFlowDev/buildsys/output/host/grpc/staging/local/usr/bin/protoc'

Arg[5] = 'HAS_SYSTEM_PROTOBUF=true'

Arg[6] = 'HAS_SYSTEM_CARES=true'

Arg[7] = 'LDFLAGS=-L/home/mattb/code/OpenFlowDev/buildsys/output/host/grpc/staging/local/usr/lib'

Arg[8] = 'HAS_PKG_CONFIG=true'

Arg[9] = 'PKG_CONFIG_PATH=/home/mattb/code/OpenFlowDev/buildsys/output/host/grpc/staging/local/usr/lib/pkgconfig/'

Arg[10] = 'V=1'

Arg[11] = 'Q='

What am I supply as make arguments to get the script to use the packages on my system? Why is it complaining about the protobuf-compiler as I can clearly see:

mattb@mattb-dl:/home/mattb/code/OpenFlowDev/buildsys/output/host/grpc/staging/local/usr/bin/protoc --version

libprotoc 3.5.0

[Nicolas Noble]

So you are in that bad situation where you have a local version of protobuf, but your pkg-config doesn't know about it. Try overriding HAS_PKG_CONFIG to false:

make HAS_PKG_CONFIG=false

this will force the detection to happen using invocation of the protoc tool instead of relying on pkg-config information. Cross compilation is difficult, especially in the situation of gRPC when you need to build local host tools such as the code plugins :) Most of the time, you need to be doing a really tailored build for the platform and the set of features you need and want.