Sunday, December 14, 2008

The dread -lcrt0.o error on Mac OS X

I periodically run into this problem compiling software on the mac:

ld_classic: can't locate file for: -lcrt0.o
collect2: ld returned 1 exit status
make: *** [muscle] Error 1

In this case, I was compiling MUSCLE, a multiple alignment program.

The solution is to track the -static flag down in your Makefile, and remove it. GCC/OSX does NOT like -static.

Saturday, December 13, 2008

On the color of bits

Programmers and mathematicians tend to have a hard time with Intellectual Property law. and Copyright in particular. Fundamentally, when speaking of information, lawyers and math types aren't speaking the same language. This essay manages to capture the difference better than anything I've read: What Colour are your bits?