Compiling firefox, error: 'This platform lacks a functioning sem_open implementation' (python2 problem)

Lennie · 11-26-2017, 09:42 AM

I'm trying to compile firefox in LFS 8.1, but it stops at configure with the following error:

Code:

js/src> checking for valloc in malloc.h... yes
js/src> checking for valloc in unistd.h... no
js/src> checking for setlocale... yes
js/src> checking for localeconv... (cached) yes
js/src> updating cache /home/lena/Data/tmp/firefox/src/firefox-57.0/firefox-build-dir/config.cache
js/src> creating ./config.data
js/src> Creating config.status
Creating config.status
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/home/lena/Data/tmp/firefox/src/firefox-57.0/configure.py", line 124, in <module>
    sys.exit(main(sys.argv))
  File "/home/lena/Data/tmp/firefox/src/firefox-57.0/configure.py", line 34, in main
    return config_status(config)
  File "/home/lena/Data/tmp/firefox/src/firefox-57.0/configure.py", line 119, in config_status
    return config_status(args=[], **encode(sanitized_config, encoding))
  File "/home/lena/Data/tmp/firefox/src/firefox-57.0/python/mozbuild/mozbuild/config_status.py", line 136, in config_status
    reader = BuildReader(env)
  File "/home/lena/Data/tmp/firefox/src/firefox-57.0/python/mozbuild/mozbuild/frontend/reader.py", line 868, in __init__
    self._gyp_worker_pool = ProcessPoolExecutor(max_workers=max_workers)
  File "/home/lena/Data/tmp/firefox/src/firefox-57.0/third_party/python/futures/concurrent/futures/process.py", line 285, in __init__
    EXTRA_QUEUED_CALLS)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/multiprocessing/__init__.py", line 217, in Queue
    from multiprocessing.queues import Queue
  File "/home/lena/Data/tmp/firefox/src/firefox-57.0/build/mach_bootstrap.py", line 351, in __call__
    module = self._original_import(name, globals, locals, fromlist, level)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/multiprocessing/queues.py", line 48, in <module>
    from .synchronize import Lock, BoundedSemaphore, Semaphore, Condition
  File "/home/lena/Data/tmp/firefox/src/firefox-57.0/build/mach_bootstrap.py", line 351, in __call__
    module = self._original_import(name, globals, locals, fromlist, level)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/multiprocessing/synchronize.py", line 59, in <module>
    " function, see issue 3770.")
ImportError: This platform lacks a functioning sem_open implementation, therefore, the required synchronization primitives needed will not function, see issue 3770.
*** Fix above errors and then restart with\
               "make -f client.mk build"
make[2]: *** [/home/lena/Data/tmp/firefox/src/firefox-57.0/client.mk:388: configure] Error 1

I have googled, and the problem seems to be with python2. But I didn't find how to solve it.

plasmonics · 11-28-2017, 09:59 AM

Not sure if this helps. I upgraded python to the latest version in the book and then compiled firefox 57.0. It took 2 1/2 hrs on a laptop, but no errors. It seems to be working. Screen fonts ok, pulse audio sound ok, geo location works. The start up screen has a different look. No problems so far.

The previous version was shorter.

Lennie · 11-28-2017, 12:35 PM

I already have the latest version of python.

sr_ls_boy · 11-28-2017, 04:30 PM

Which cpu do you have?
It is saying your cpu is having problems.

Lennie · 11-29-2017, 04:37 AM

I have i7. AFAIC there's nothing wrong with it. I think it might be something I need to activate in the kernel, something about sem_open or Semaphore, but I can't find it in menuconfig.

plasmonics · 11-29-2017, 07:32 AM

I have never written semaphores, but I believe sem_open() is defined in /usr/include/semaphore.h which is part of glibc.

If these commands return a blank, that could be a problem

Code:

sysctl -A | grep kernel.sem
ipcs -ls
cat /proc/sys/kernel/sem

In menuconfig, you can do a search for IPC, since semaphores have something to do with SYSV IPC.

Also, it might be a good idea to flash the BIOS to the latest version, if this is hardware related.

Lennie · 11-29-2017, 12:54 PM

Code:

root[/]# sysctl -A | grep kernel.sem
kernel.sem = 250	32000	32	128
root[/]# ipcs -ls

------ Semaphore Limits --------
max number of arrays = 128
max semaphores per array = 250
max semaphores system wide = 32000
max ops per semop call = 32
semaphore max value = 32767

root[/]# cat /proc/sys/kernel/sem
250	32000	32	128

Code:

$ grep IPC config
CONFIG_SYSVIPC=y
CONFIG_SYSVIPC_SYSCTL=y
CONFIG_IPC_NS=y
CONFIG_ARCH_WANT_COMPAT_IPC_PARSE_VERSION=y
CONFIG_ARCH_WANT_OLD_COMPAT_IPC=y
CONFIG_SYSVIPC_COMPAT=y
# CONFIG_INET_IPCOMP is not set
# CONFIG_TIPC is not set
# CONFIG_PCIPCWATCHDOG is not set
# CONFIG_SND_CMIPCI is not set

plasmonics · 11-30-2017, 07:16 AM

FWIW I will post my parameters. I don't know what the differences mean in terms of firefox compilation. As a long time gentoo user, I am used to compiling the kernel manually. As an end user, I have never had to deal with semaphores. The developers handle that.

Code:

sysctl -A | grep kernel.sem
kernel.sem = 32000	1024000000	500	32000
sysctl: reading key "net.ipv6.conf.all.stable_secret"
sysctl: reading key "net.ipv6.conf.default.stable_secret"
sysctl: reading key "net.ipv6.conf.eno1.stable_secret"
sysctl: reading key "net.ipv6.conf.lo.stable_secret"
sysctl: reading key "net.ipv6.conf.wlo1.stable_secret"

Code:

ipcs -ls

------ Semaphore Limits --------
max number of arrays = 32000
max semaphores per array = 32000
max semaphores system wide = 1024000000
max ops per semop call = 500
semaphore max value = 32767

Code:

cat /proc/sys/kernel/sem
32000	1024000000	500	32000

Code:

grep IPC config-4.14.2-lfs-8.1-systemd 
CONFIG_SYSVIPC=y
CONFIG_SYSVIPC_SYSCTL=y
CONFIG_IPC_NS=y
CONFIG_ARCH_WANT_COMPAT_IPC_PARSE_VERSION=y
CONFIG_ARCH_WANT_OLD_COMPAT_IPC=y
CONFIG_SYSVIPC_COMPAT=y
CONFIG_XFRM_IPCOMP=m
CONFIG_INET_IPCOMP=m
CONFIG_INET6_IPCOMP=m
# CONFIG_TIPC is not set
# CONFIG_SND_CMIPCI is not set
# CONFIG_ANDROID_BINDER_IPC is not set

The laptop I am running LFS on is circa 2012. A10 cpu with 4 physical cores. Significantly slower than a dual core i7.

Maybe sr_is_boy is right. Could be a hardware problem.

sr_ls_boy · 12-01-2017, 09:29 AM

These are my limits on a Ryzen 7 1700 with glibc 2.25.
Kernel 4.14.2.

Quote:

# sysctl -A | grep kernel.sem
kernel.sem = 32000 1024000000 500 32000

Quote:

# ipcs -ls

------ Semaphore Limits --------
max number of arrays = 32000
max semaphores per array = 32000
max semaphores system wide = 1024000000
max ops per semop call = 500
semaphore max value = 32767

Quote:

# cat /proc/sys/kernel/sem
32000 1024000000 500 32000

Quote:

# zcat /proc/config.gz | grep IPC
CONFIG_SYSVIPC=y
CONFIG_SYSVIPC_SYSCTL=y
CONFIG_IPC_NS=y
CONFIG_ARCH_WANT_COMPAT_IPC_PARSE_VERSION=y
CONFIG_ARCH_WANT_OLD_COMPAT_IPC=y
CONFIG_SYSVIPC_COMPAT=y
# CONFIG_INET_IPCOMP is not set
# CONFIG_INET6_IPCOMP is not set
# CONFIG_TIPC is not set
# CONFIG_PCIPCWATCHDOG is not set
# CONFIG_SND_CMIPCI is not set
# CONFIG_INTEL_PMC_IPC is not set
# CONFIG_INTEL_PUNIT_IPC is not set

Lennie · 12-01-2017, 12:24 PM

I ran those commands at my computer at work, running LFS 7.10 and got the same as you. On my computer at home I got the same in LFS 7.10 as in 8.1, those I wrote above. So it must be something with the hardware.

sr_ls_boy · 12-01-2017, 02:58 PM

You can always downloads a pre-compiled firefox and place it in /opt.

plasmonics · 12-02-2017, 07:38 AM

As a followup, I tried those commands on my desktop which is ASUS M5A97 LE R2.0 mainboard with AMD FX-4170 CPU, 16 GB DDR3 RAM. Obviously, old hardware.

In LFS 8.1, Fedora, and Gentoo, I got the same numbers as in posts #8 and #9.

Looks more and more like a hardware problem. You can also run those commands on your hardware by booting a live CD, e.g., Fedora, Ubuntu, etc. This will eliminate LFS kernel config as the problem.

Lennie · 12-03-2017, 02:48 AM

I updated the kernel to 4.14.2 (I don't remember which kernel I was running when I posted the output above.) and now I get this, both from running system (LFS 7.10) and from chroot (LFS 8.1):

Code:

root[/]# sysctl -A | grep kernel.sem
kernel.sem = 32000	1024000000	500	32000
root[/]# cat /proc/sys/kernel/sem
32000	1024000000	500	32000
root[/]# ipcs -ls

------ Semaphore Limits --------
max number of arrays = 32000
max semaphores per array = 32000
max semaphores system wide = 1024000000
max ops per semop call = 500
semaphore max value = 32767

root[/]# zcat /proc/config.gz | grep IPC
CONFIG_SYSVIPC=y
CONFIG_SYSVIPC_SYSCTL=y
CONFIG_IPC_NS=y
CONFIG_ARCH_WANT_COMPAT_IPC_PARSE_VERSION=y
CONFIG_ARCH_WANT_OLD_COMPAT_IPC=y
CONFIG_SYSVIPC_COMPAT=y
# CONFIG_INET_IPCOMP is not set
# CONFIG_TIPC is not set
# CONFIG_PCIPCWATCHDOG is not set
# CONFIG_SND_CMIPCI is not set

But I still get the same error. I know I can use the precompiled version from Mozilla, but I think this problem might cause other problems later, so I want to know whats the cause of it and how to fix it.

colorpurple21859 · 08-05-2018, 08:59 AM

In case anyone comes across this error and this thread while trying to compile firefox, try recompiling python 2.