configure: Fix debug symbols for installed binaries on macOS
What the developer wrote
Authored by Sangbida Chaudhuri
configure: Fix debug symbols for installed binaries on macOS
When installing core lightning on macOS I found that the debug symbols were not being preserved leading to "no debug info in
Mach-O executable". This is because the .dSYM files, which contain the debug information, is generated in the build directory and could not be found by the installed binaries.
Changes:
- Add -fno-standalone-debug flag to CDEBUGFLAGS on macOS to reduce
dependency on absolute source paths
- Modify install-program target to copy .dSYM bundles alongside
binaries for BIN_PROGRAMS, PKGLIBEXEC_PROGRAMS, and PLUGINS
Testing:
1. ./configure --reconfigure
2. make install PREFIX=/tmp/lightning-install
3. make clean (removes all .dSYM files from build directory)
4. /tmp/lightning-install/bin/lightningd --help
5. Verified stack traces now work correctly without "no debug info" errors
What changed, and why it matters
This commit fixes a macOS build/install issue where debug symbol files (.dSYM bundles) were left behind in the build directory instead of being copied during installation. It adds a compiler flag to make debug info less dependent on absolute source paths and updates the install step to copy the .dSYM bundles next to the installed binaries and plugins. There is no security vulnerability here; it is a developer-experience/operability fix for debugging stack traces on macOS.
No security action required. Treat as a normal build-system fix. If reviewing, verify that the .dSYM copy logic does not accidentally overwrite or expose unintended files, which it does not appear to do.
Security signals we found
No strong security signals were identified.
Evidence from the diff
The change modifies configure and Makefile so that on Darwin/macOS: (1) CDEBUGFLAGS gains -fno-standalone-debug to reduce reliance on absolute source paths in DWARF; (2) the install-program target copies any existing .dSYM debug-symbol bundles alongside BIN_PROGRAMS, PKGLIBEXEC_PROGRAMS, and PLUGINS into their respective install destinations. This ensures debuggers and libbacktrace can locate debug info after the build tree is cleaned. No runtime behavior, cryptographic logic, network handling, or privilege boundary is changed.
Changed components
configure scriptMakefile install-program targetmacOS build/install pipelineInspect captured patch +7 / −1
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 09a60e3c..ab36d7b6 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -825,6 +825,12 @@ install-program: installdirs $(BIN_PROGRAMS) $(PKGLIBEXEC_PROGRAMS) $(PLUGINS) $
@if [ -d "$(DESTDIR)$(plugindir)/wss-proxy" ]; then rm -rf $(DESTDIR)$(plugindir)/wss-proxy; fi
[ -z "$(PLUGINS)" ] || $(INSTALL_PROGRAM) $(PLUGINS) $(DESTDIR)$(plugindir)
for PY in $(PY_PLUGINS); do DIR=`dirname $$PY`; DST=$(DESTDIR)$(plugindir)/`basename $$DIR`; if [ -d $$DST ]; then rm -rf $$DST; fi; $(INSTALL_PROGRAM) -d $$DIR; cp -a $$DIR $$DST ; done
+ifeq ($(OS),Darwin)
+ # Install dSYM bundles alongside binaries on macOS
+ for BIN in $(BIN_PROGRAMS); do if [ -d $$BIN.dSYM ]; then cp -a $$BIN.dSYM $(DESTDIR)$(bindir)/; fi; done
+ for BIN in $(PKGLIBEXEC_PROGRAMS); do if [ -d $$BIN.dSYM ]; then cp -a $$BIN.dSYM $(DESTDIR)$(pkglibexecdir)/; fi; done
+ for PLUGIN in $(PLUGINS); do if [ -d $$PLUGIN.dSYM ]; then cp -a $$PLUGIN.dSYM $(DESTDIR)$(plugindir)/; fi; done
+endif
MAN1PAGES = $(filter %.1,$(MANPAGES))
MAN5PAGES = $(filter %.5,$(MANPAGES))
diff --git a/configure b/configure
index bdb803be..015af842 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -151,7 +151,7 @@ set_defaults()
# Detect macOS and use appropriate debug flags for libbacktrace compatibility
if [ "$(uname -s)" = "Darwin" ]; then
# Always override to avoid DWARF 5
- CDEBUGFLAGS="-std=gnu11 -g -gdwarf-4 -fstack-protector-strong"
+ CDEBUGFLAGS="-std=gnu11 -g -gdwarf-4 -fno-standalone-debug -fstack-protector-strong"
# Optional: confirm dsymutil is available
if ! command -v dsymutil >/dev/null 2>&1; then
Why this scored 19/100
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