Fail to install RST5.1.1 on Ubuntu 25.10

[gighen74]

Hi all,

I'm trying to install RST5.1.1 on Ubuntu 25.10.
I first of all installed the required dependencies:
"sudo apt install libhdf5-serial-dev libncurses-dev libnetcdf-dev libpng-dev libx11-dev libxext-dev netpbm build-essential"
listed in the Documentation page for Ubuntu 20.04.
I followed the other steps as usual (correctly installed CDF package, checked the environment variables, refresh the bash shell).
Run make.build without problems.
Run make.code and after a bit of compiling I get:

================================================================================
Compiling Library:/home/gigi/rst-v5.1.1/codebase/base/src.lib/tcpip/cnx.1.17

make clean
rm -f *.o
make
make.version /home/gigi/rst-v5.1.1/codebase/base/src.lib/tcpip/cnx.1.17/src/..
make.hdr /home/gigi/rst-v5.1.1/codebase/base/src.lib/tcpip/cnx.1.17/src/../include /home/gigi/rst-v5.1.1/include/base
/home/gigi/rst-v5.1.1/codebase/base/src.lib/tcpip/cnx.1.17/src/../include/connex.h
'/home/gigi/rst-v5.1.1/codebase/base/src.lib/tcpip/cnx.1.17/src/../include/connex.h' -> '/home/gigi/rst-v5.1.1/include/base/connex.h'
cc -fPIC -Wall -pedantic -O3 -D_GNU_SOURCE -D_LINUX -I/home/gigi/rst-v5.1.1/include/base -DPOSIX -D__EXTENSIONS__ -c connex.c
connex.c: In function ‘ConnexOpen’:
connex.c:47:23: error: conflicting types for ‘gethostbyname’; have ‘struct hostent *(void)’
47 | struct hostent *hp,*gethostbyname();
| ^~~~~~~~~~~~~
In file included from connex.c:31:
/usr/include/netdb.h:142:24: note: previous declaration of ‘gethostbyname’ with type ‘struct hostent *(const char *)’
142 | extern struct hostent *gethostbyname (const char *__name);
| ^~~~~~~~~~~~~
connex.c:63:6: error: too many arguments to function ‘gethostbyname’; expected 0, have 1
63 | hp=gethostbyname(host);
| ^~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~
connex.c:47:23: note: declared here
47 | struct hostent *hp,*gethostbyname();
| ^~~~~~~~~~~~~
make: *** [/home/gigi/rst-v5.1.1/build/make/makelib.linux:19: connex.o] Error 1
Compilation Aborted.

It seems a gcc compilation error, but I've never come across anything like this. Indeed I have recently installed RST5.1.1 on a Linux Mint 22.1 without problems.
Does anyone have an idea on what it happens here?
The version of gcc compiler I have on my Ubuntu 25 distribution is 4:15.2.0-4
The one I have on Mint 20 distribution is 4:13.2.0-7

Thank you

Gigi

[JWiker]

Looks like this may be a GCC 15 / C23 compatibility issue caused by this old-style redeclaration in connex.c:

struct hostent *hp,*gethostbyname();

I think the fix would be to remove that redeclaration and just use:

struct hostent *hp;

since <netdb.h> already provides the proper prototype.

But as a workaround, building with -std=gnu17 may work.

[gighen74]

Thank you Jordan,

I followed your suggestion and, in fact, the compilation of code went on but...It stopped again and again afterwards when trying to compile other libraries.
For example:

================================================================================
Compiling Library:/home/gigi/rst-v5.1.1/codebase/analysis/src.lib/aacgm/aacgm.1.15

make clean
rm -f *.o
make
make.version /home/gigi/rst-v5.1.1/codebase/analysis/src.lib/aacgm/aacgm.1.15/src/..
make.hdr /home/gigi/rst-v5.1.1/codebase/analysis/src.lib/aacgm/aacgm.1.15/src/../include /home/gigi/rst-v5.1.1/include/analysis
/home/gigi/rst-v5.1.1/codebase/analysis/src.lib/aacgm/aacgm.1.15/src/../include/aacgm.h
'/home/gigi/rst-v5.1.1/codebase/analysis/src.lib/aacgm/aacgm.1.15/src/../include/aacgm.h' -> '/home/gigi/rst-v5.1.1/include/analysis/aacgm.h'
cc -fPIC -Wall -pedantic -O3 -D_GNU_SOURCE -D_LINUX -I/home/gigi/rst-v5.1.1/include/base -I/home/gigi/rst-v5.1.1/include/general -c math.c
cc -fPIC -Wall -pedantic -O3 -D_GNU_SOURCE -D_LINUX -I/home/gigi/rst-v5.1.1/include/base -I/home/gigi/rst-v5.1.1/include/general -c aacgm.c
cc -fPIC -Wall -pedantic -O3 -D_GNU_SOURCE -D_LINUX -I/home/gigi/rst-v5.1.1/include/base -I/home/gigi/rst-v5.1.1/include/general -c altitude_to_cgm.c
cc -fPIC -Wall -pedantic -O3 -D_GNU_SOURCE -D_LINUX -I/home/gigi/rst-v5.1.1/include/base -I/home/gigi/rst-v5.1.1/include/general -c cgm_to_altitude.c
cc -fPIC -Wall -pedantic -O3 -D_GNU_SOURCE -D_LINUX -I/home/gigi/rst-v5.1.1/include/base -I/home/gigi/rst-v5.1.1/include/general -c coeff.c
cc -fPIC -Wall -pedantic -O3 -D_GNU_SOURCE -D_LINUX -I/home/gigi/rst-v5.1.1/include/base -I/home/gigi/rst-v5.1.1/include/general -c convert_geo_coord.c
convert_geo_coord.c: In function ‘convert_geo_coord’:
convert_geo_coord.c:61:16: error: conflicting types for ‘rylm’; have ‘int(void)’
61 | extern int rylm();
| ^~~~
In file included from convert_geo_coord.c:39:
rylm.h:34:5: note: previous declaration of ‘rylm’ with type ‘int(double, double, int, double *)’
34 | int rylm(double colat,double lon,int order,
| ^~~~
convert_geo_coord.c:121:5: error: too many arguments to function ‘rylm’; expected 0, have 4
121 | rylm(colat_input,lon_input,order,ylmval);
| ^~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~
convert_geo_coord.c:61:16: note: declared here
61 | extern int rylm();
| ^~~~
make: *** [/home/gigi/rst-v5.1.1/build/make/makelib.linux:19: convert_geo_coord.o] Error 1
Compilation Aborted.

---

I just fixed this commenting line 61, as the rylm function is already defined in rylm.h.

But when I got this error in geopack.1.4, the hystorical Tsiganenko code, well I raised my hands and surrendered...

================================================================================
Compiling Library:/home/gigi/rst-v5.1.1/codebase/analysis/src.lib/geopack/geopack.1.4

make clean
rm -f *.o
make
make.version /home/gigi/rst-v5.1.1/codebase/analysis/src.lib/geopack/geopack.1.4/src/..
make.hdr /home/gigi/rst-v5.1.1/codebase/analysis/src.lib/geopack/geopack.1.4/src/../include /home/gigi/rst-v5.1.1/include/analysis
/home/gigi/rst-v5.1.1/codebase/analysis/src.lib/geopack/geopack.1.4/src/../include/geopack.h
'/home/gigi/rst-v5.1.1/codebase/analysis/src.lib/geopack/geopack.1.4/src/../include/geopack.h' -> '/home/gigi/rst-v5.1.1/include/analysis/geopack.h'
cc -fPIC -Wall -pedantic -O3 -D_GNU_SOURCE -D_LINUX -I/home/gigi/rst-v5.1.1/include/base -I/home/gigi/rst-v5.1.1/include/general -I/home/gigi/rst-v5.1.1/include/analysis -c geopackwrap.c
cc -fPIC -Wall -pedantic -O3 -D_GNU_SOURCE -D_LINUX -I/home/gigi/rst-v5.1.1/include/base -I/home/gigi/rst-v5.1.1/include/general -I/home/gigi/rst-v5.1.1/include/analysis -c geopack_2005.c
geopack_2005.c: In function ‘rhand_’:
geopack_2005.c:1742:6: error: too many arguments to function ‘exname’; expected 0, have 9
1742 | (*exname)(iopt, &parmod[1], &geopack1_9.psi, x, y, z__, &bxgsm, &bygsm, &
| ~^~~~~~~~ ~~~~
geopack_2005.c:1744:6: error: too many arguments to function ‘inname__’; expected 0, have 6
1744 | (*inname__)(x, y, z__, &hxgsm, &hygsm, &hzgsm);
| ~^~~~~~~~~~ ~
make: *** [/home/gigi/rst-v5.1.1/build/make/makelib.linux:19: geopack_2005.o] Error 1

---

What I did instead was to install the older version gcc 13 and make this the default C compiler.
That worked!

So, in conclusion, I think we have an issue with RST code with the most up to date gcc compilers...