Linux universal GUI binaries, second attempt, please test

[mirek-fidler]

I have tried a refined method to (maybe) achieve universal executable GUI binaries in Linux, I am attaching UWord build with this method, please test.

The new method links glibc dynamic and rest static. So for I have tested by building in Ubuntu (which is perhaps necessary) and running UWord in Rocky Linux (RedHat offshot).

Does this work with your distro?

UWord.zip

Update: If you see appearance glitches (wrong font size), please run dump_xsettings on your system and post results here.

Any glitches are likely unrelated to compilation methods, you can also test UWord with X11 flag. The relevant code is in CtrlLib/ChX11.cpp

[ismail-yilmaz]

Will test this on Arch and Fedora tomorrow, thanks.

[sdbtools]

It works fine on Void Linux (Xfce4 + herbstluftwm window manager).
The only problem I can see so far is a font size.

[mirek-fidler]

The post updated with information about appearance glitches and dump_xsettings

[mirek-fidler]

Another update: If you find dump_xsettings missing, do not install it. U++ is currently using, but I can reimplement that internally, which should then fix the issue - and your missing dump_xsettings will be great for testing...

[sdbtools]

MX Linux.

$ ./UWord
./UWord: /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libm.so.6: version `GLIBC_2.38' not found (required by ./UWord)

$ cat /etc/os-release
PRETTY_NAME="Debian GNU/Linux 12 (bookworm)"
NAME="Debian GNU/Linux"
VERSION_ID="12"
VERSION="12 (bookworm)"
VERSION_CODENAME=bookworm
ID=debian
HOME_URL="https://www.debian.org/"
SUPPORT_URL="https://www.debian.org/support"
BUG_REPORT_URL="https://bugs.debian.org/"

$ uname -a
Linux t520mx 6.18.4-1-liquorix-amd64 #1 ZEN SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC liquorix 6.18-4~mx23ahs (2026-01-09) x86_64 GNU/Linux

Edited:

$ ldd UWord
./UWord: /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libm.so.6: version `GLIBC_2.38' not found (required by ./UWord)
./UWord: /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6: version `GLIBC_2.38' not found (required by ./UWord)
        linux-vdso.so.1 (0x00007f31ff938000)
        libm.so.6 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libm.so.6 (0x00007f31fef20000)
        libc.so.6 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6 (0x00007f31fed3e000)
        /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 (0x00007f31ff93a000)

[mirek-fidler]

Thanks. It seems this is fixable e.g. by building on Ubuntu 22.04, will install and try. (bookworm GLIBC is 2.36, 22.04 has 2.35, GLIBC should be forward compatible.)

[sdbtools]

I was looking for a solution of a GLIBC version problem and found this: Glibc version header generator.
I haven't tried this myself, but I think it should work.

[mirek-fidler]

I was looking for a solution of a GLIBC version problem and found this: Glibc version header generator. I haven't tried this myself, but I think it should work.

While this sounds promising at first, I am afraid this only solves the plain C. There is a bunch of libraries that need to linked statically (e.g. X11.a) too, and I think these are built against specific glibc version... So I am afraid that taking complete distro like 22.04 is still the best option.

[mirek-fidler]

MX Linux.

$ ./UWord
./UWord: /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libm.so.6: version `GLIBC_2.38' not found (required by ./UWord)

Please recheck with the new version...

[mirek-fidler]

UWord.zip

Here is a new version built with Ubuntu 22.04, reading xsettings directly instead of using dump_xsettings.

[sdbtools]

AbiWord (I couldn't find anything else gtk-based).

DDUMP and RDUMP do not work for me for some reason.

[sdbtools]

When I use RDUMP I get only this:
* /home/xxx/dvlp/cpp/code/upp/out/examples/CLANGcpp17.Debug.Debug_Full.Gui.Shared.X11/UWord 04.05.2026 13:09:49, user: xxx

[sdbtools]

In case of AbiWord number 12 is 10 pixels tall.
In case of UWord - 9 pixels.

UWord:
9 pixels digit fits into a 24 pixels tall box. Even if we take 2 pixels for a header and 2 pixels for a footer, it is still 20 pixels. 9 is less than a half of 20.
Icons are 16 x 16 pixels.

[mirek-fidler]

Ah, it finally hits home.... The font size is fractional and I was only reading "10" instead of "10.5" :) (Atoi vs Atof, int vs double).

Should be now fixed. Just pull and run UWord in X11 mode... ("GUI X11" config)

[sdbtools]

Thanks. This fixed the issue. "12" is 10 pixels tall now.

Now it looks much better.
"Hyperlink" and "Index entry" are 15 pixels tall now.

[sdbtools]

I'm sorry to say that, but logging (DDUMP/RDUMP) still doesn't work for me.

[mirek-fidler]

Well, actually, this has more to do with the fact that .log is recreated after the skin is loaded. Which is a bug, but never too important to fix.

I guess if you DDUMP in main it will work.

[sdbtools]

Yes. Checked DLOG in main. It works.

Thank you.