[question] libcurl/8.4.0: build fails - can't run m4 on msys2 gcc

[RudolfRendier]

What is your question?

Hi! I have a problem with libcurl when trying to build it with conan 2.11. It worked before on conan 1.x
I have a CI-agent that has msys2 pre-installed with the compiler to run our builds.

-------- Installing package libcurl/8.11.1 (15 of 16) --------
libcurl/8.11.1: Building from source
libcurl/8.11.1: Package libcurl/8.11.1:f4dce8faf67fa2457b5dd4080902e114dab98fef
libcurl/8.11.1: Copying sources to build folder
libcurl/8.11.1: Building your package in D:\agent-vocamdev\_work\7\conan_cache\p\b\libcu6edaacfacc2e1\b
libcurl/8.11.1: Calling generate()
libcurl/8.11.1: Generators folder: D:\agent-vocamdev\_work\7\conan_cache\p\b\libcu6edaacfacc2e1\b\build-release\conan
libcurl/8.11.1: Generating aggregated env files
libcurl/8.11.1: Generated aggregated env files: ['conanbuild.sh', 'conanrun.bat']
libcurl/8.11.1: Calling build()
libcurl/8.11.1: RUN: autoreconf --force --install

autom4te: error: need GNU m4 1.4 or later: /d/agent-vocamdev/_work/7/conan_cache/p/b/m489829311a5955/p/bin/m4.exe
aclocal: error: /d/agent-vocamdev/_work/7/conan_cache/p/autocf2af015330354/p/bin/autom4te failed with exit status: 1
autoreconf: error: aclocal failed with exit status: 1

libcurl/8.11.1: ERROR: 
Package 'f4dce8faf67fa2457b5dd4080902e114dab98fef' build failed
libcurl/8.11.1: WARN: Build folder D:\agent-vocamdev\_work\7\conan_cache\p\b\libcu6edaacfacc2e1\b\build-release
ERROR: libcurl/8.11.1: Error in build() method, line 245
	autotools.autoreconf()
	ConanException: Error 1 while executing
##[error]Cmd.exe exited with code '1'.

It resembles this issue from 2023, but that has a workaround with building m4 from source.
I tried that and it doesn't work. (and the issue is something with glibc too)

conan install --requires=libcurl/8.11.1@ -pr:h=pr_mingw32.txt -pr:b=pr_mingw64.txt --build=libcurl* -build=automake* --build=m4*

Here's my profiles that cross-build for Windows x86:
Build:

[settings]
# We are cross building to x86
os=Windows
arch=x86_64
build_type=Release
compiler=gcc
compiler.libcxx=libstdc++11
compiler.version=14
compiler.exception=dwarf2
os.subsystem=msys2
compiler.threads=posix

[options]

[tool_requires]
cmake/3.25.3
[buildenv]
CONAN_CMAKE_SYSTEM_NAME=Windows
CONAN_CMAKE_GENERATOR=MSYS Makefiles
# Workaround for https://github.com/msys2/msys2-runtime/issues/145
MSYS2_ARG_CONV_EXCL=--import=TYPES#
# Workaround for https://github.com/msys2/msys2-runtime/issues/109
MSYS=disable_pcon

# Prepend to path to find msys tooling first
PATH=+(path)c:/msys64/mingw64/bin/
[conf]
tools.build:compiler_executables={"cpp": "C:/msys64/mingw64/bin/g++.exe", "c": "C:/msys64/mingw64/bin/gcc.exe"}
tools.cmake.cmaketoolchain:generator=MSYS Makefiles

Host:

[settings]
# We are cross building to x86
os=Windows
arch=x86
build_type=Release
compiler=gcc
compiler.libcxx=libstdc++11
compiler.version=14
compiler.cppstd=gnu17
compiler.exception=dwarf2
compiler.threads=mcf
os.subsystem=msys2

[options]

[tool_requires]
cmake/3.25.3
[buildenv]
CONAN_CMAKE_SYSTEM_NAME=Windows
CONAN_CMAKE_GENERATOR=MSYS Makefiles
# Workaround for https://github.com/msys2/msys2-runtime/issues/145
MSYS2_ARG_CONV_EXCL=--import=TYPES#
# Workaround for https://github.com/msys2/msys2-runtime/issues/109
MSYS=disable_pcon

# Prepend to path to find msys tooling first
PATH=+(path)c:/tools/mingw32/bin/
[conf]
tools.build:compiler_executables={"cpp": "C:/tools/mingw32/bin/g++.exe", "c": "C:/tools/mingw32/bin/gcc.exe"}
tools.cmake.cmaketoolchain:generator=MSYS Makefiles

When I try to run m4.exe manually it shows an error-dialog.

This is probably because it finds the x86 libraries on the path first.

depends.exe shows this in red:

Pre-pending the folder to the path resolves that (and that's how it's setup in the conan-profile too)

But when I do that in a terminal, m4 freezes:

What could be the issue here?

[RudolfRendier]

Adding this to my x64-build-profile didn't help:

[runenv]
PATH=+(path)c:/msys64/mingw64/bin/

[RudolfRendier]

I believe the settings for MSYS Makefiles is incorrect here:

CONAN_CMAKE_GENERATOR=MSYS Makefiles
tools.cmake.cmaketoolchain:generator=MSYS Makefiles

Although I'm using msys2 with a mingw32-compiler; I don't think the msys2-shell is used by conan.
The build is executed using a regular command prompt, and thus the default; MinGW Makefiles is the correct option.