Cannot cross-compile CMake project (ZLIB for target arch not found?)

[AFCMS]

Hello! I am trying to cross-compile program which require several dependencies, one of them being prometheus-cpp but it fails to compile ☹️

ZLIB isn't found for some reason for the target arch.

Here is my Dockerfile:

# syntax=docker/dockerfile:1

FROM --platform=$BUILDPLATFORM tonistiigi/xx AS xx
FROM --platform=$BUILDPLATFORM alpine:3.19 AS dev

COPY --from=xx / /

ARG TARGETPLATFORM

RUN apk add --no-cache build-base git cmake clang lld llvm ninja ca-certificates

RUN xx-info env

RUN xx-apk setup

RUN xx-apk add --no-cache build-base curl-dev zlib-dev

RUN git clone --recursive https://github.com/jupp0r/prometheus-cpp && \
        cd prometheus-cpp && \
        cmake $(xx-clang --print-cmake-defines) -B build \
            -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr/local \
            -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release \
            -DENABLE_TESTING=0 \
            -GNinja && \
        cmake --build build && \
        cmake --install build && \
        ls -la /usr/local/lib && \
        xx-verify /usr/local/lib/libprometheus-cpp-*

The prometheus-cpp library require ZLIB by default, but for some reason it doesn't find the library when cross compiling to arm. It builds if I add zlib-dev to the build platform arch, but in that case xx-verify complains about the output files.

> docker buildx build . --file test.Dockerfile --platform linux/arm64           
[+] Building 18.3s (19/19) FINISHED                                                                                                                                                                docker-container:gracious_bhabha
 => [internal] load build definition from test.Dockerfile                                                                                                                                                                      0.0s
 => => transferring dockerfile: 968B                                                                                                                                                                                           0.0s
 => resolve image config for docker-image://docker.io/docker/dockerfile:1                                                                                                                                                      0.7s
 => [auth] docker/dockerfile:pull token for registry-1.docker.io                                                                                                                                                               0.0s
 => CACHED docker-image://docker.io/docker/dockerfile:1@sha256:dbbd5e059e8a07ff7ea6233b213b36aa516b4c53c645f1817a4dd18b83cbea56                                                                                                0.0s
 => => resolve docker.io/docker/dockerfile:1@sha256:dbbd5e059e8a07ff7ea6233b213b36aa516b4c53c645f1817a4dd18b83cbea56                                                                                                           0.0s
 => [internal] load metadata for docker.io/tonistiigi/xx:latest                                                                                                                                                                0.5s
 => [internal] load metadata for docker.io/library/alpine:3.19                                                                                                                                                                 0.6s
 => [auth] tonistiigi/xx:pull token for registry-1.docker.io                                                                                                                                                                   0.0s
 => [auth] library/alpine:pull token for registry-1.docker.io                                                                                                                                                                  0.0s
 => [internal] load .dockerignore                                                                                                                                                                                              0.0s
 => => transferring context: 146B                                                                                                                                                                                              0.0s
 => [xx 1/1] FROM docker.io/tonistiigi/xx:latest@sha256:0cd3f05c72d6c9b038eb135f91376ee1169ef3a330d34e418e65e2a5c2e9c0d4                                                                                                       0.0s
 => => resolve docker.io/tonistiigi/xx:latest@sha256:0cd3f05c72d6c9b038eb135f91376ee1169ef3a330d34e418e65e2a5c2e9c0d4                                                                                                          0.0s
 => [dev 1/9] FROM docker.io/library/alpine:3.19@sha256:c5b1261d6d3e43071626931fc004f70149baeba2c8ec672bd4f27761f8e1ad6b                                                                                                       0.0s
 => => resolve docker.io/library/alpine:3.19@sha256:c5b1261d6d3e43071626931fc004f70149baeba2c8ec672bd4f27761f8e1ad6b                                                                                                           0.0s
 => CACHED [dev 2/9] COPY --from=xx / /                                                                                                                                                                                        0.0s
 => CACHED [dev 3/9] RUN apk add --no-cache build-base git cmake clang lld llvm ninja ca-certificates                                                                                                                          0.0s
 => CACHED [dev 4/9] RUN xx-info env                                                                                                                                                                                           0.0s
 => CACHED [dev 5/9] RUN xx-apk setup                                                                                                                                                                                          0.0s
 => [dev 6/9] RUN xx-apk add --no-cache build-base curl-dev zlib-dev                                                                                                                                                           6.7s
 => [dev 7/9] RUN xx-clang --wrap                                                                                                                                                                                              0.2s
 => [dev 8/9] RUN xx-clang --setup-target-triple                                                                                                                                                                               0.2s
 => ERROR [dev 9/9] RUN git clone --recursive https://github.com/jupp0r/prometheus-cpp &&         cd prometheus-cpp &&         cmake $(xx-clang --print-cmake-defines) -B build             -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr/local  9.5s
------
 > [dev 9/9] RUN git clone --recursive https://github.com/jupp0r/prometheus-cpp &&         cd prometheus-cpp &&         cmake $(xx-clang --print-cmake-defines) -B build             -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr/local             -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release             -DENABLE_TESTING=0             -GNinja &&         cmake --build build &&         cmake --install build &&         ls -la /usr/local/lib &&         xx-verify /usr/local/lib/libprometheus-cpp-*:
0.083 Cloning into 'prometheus-cpp'...
1.105 Submodule 'civetweb' (https://github.com/civetweb/civetweb.git) registered for path '3rdparty/civetweb'
1.106 Submodule 'googletest' (https://github.com/google/googletest.git) registered for path '3rdparty/googletest'
1.109 Cloning into '/prometheus-cpp/3rdparty/civetweb'...
4.876 Cloning into '/prometheus-cpp/3rdparty/googletest'...
7.722 Submodule path '3rdparty/civetweb': checked out 'd7ba35bbb649209c66e582d5a0244ba988a15159'
7.783 Submodule path '3rdparty/googletest': checked out 'e2239ee6043f73722e7aa812a459f54a28552929'
8.249 -- The C compiler identification is Clang 17.0.5
8.303 -- The CXX compiler identification is Clang 17.0.5
8.341 -- Detecting C compiler ABI info
8.448 -- Detecting C compiler ABI info - done
8.455 -- Check for working C compiler: /usr/local/bin/clang - skipped
8.456 -- Detecting C compile features
8.457 -- Detecting C compile features - done
8.462 -- Detecting CXX compiler ABI info
8.569 -- Detecting CXX compiler ABI info - done
8.578 -- Check for working CXX compiler: /usr/local/bin/clang++ - skipped
8.578 -- Detecting CXX compile features
8.579 -- Detecting CXX compile features - done
8.587 -- Performing Test CMAKE_HAVE_LIBC_PTHREAD
8.694 -- Performing Test CMAKE_HAVE_LIBC_PTHREAD - Success
8.698 -- Found Threads: TRUE  
8.699 -- Performing Test HAVE_CXX_ATOMICS_WITHOUT_LIB
8.865 -- Performing Test HAVE_CXX_ATOMICS_WITHOUT_LIB - Success
8.867 -- Performing Test COMPILER_HAS_HIDDEN_VISIBILITY
8.971 -- Performing Test COMPILER_HAS_HIDDEN_VISIBILITY - Success
8.972 -- Performing Test COMPILER_HAS_HIDDEN_INLINE_VISIBILITY
9.077 -- Performing Test COMPILER_HAS_HIDDEN_INLINE_VISIBILITY - Success
9.077 -- Performing Test COMPILER_HAS_DEPRECATED_ATTR
9.184 -- Performing Test COMPILER_HAS_DEPRECATED_ATTR - Success
9.195 CMake Error at /usr/share/cmake/Modules/FindPackageHandleStandardArgs.cmake:230 (message):
9.195   Could NOT find ZLIB (missing: ZLIB_LIBRARY ZLIB_INCLUDE_DIR)
9.195 Call Stack (most recent call first):
9.195   /usr/share/cmake/Modules/FindPackageHandleStandardArgs.cmake:600 (_FPHSA_FAILURE_MESSAGE)
9.195   /usr/share/cmake/Modules/FindZLIB.cmake:199 (FIND_PACKAGE_HANDLE_STANDARD_ARGS)
9.195   pull/CMakeLists.txt:21 (find_package)
9.195 
9.195 
9.195 -- Configuring incomplete, errors occurred!
------
WARNING: No output specified with docker-container driver. Build result will only remain in the build cache. To push result image into registry use --push or to load image into docker use --load
test.Dockerfile:21
--------------------
  20 |     
  21 | >>> RUN git clone --recursive https://github.com/jupp0r/prometheus-cpp && \
  22 | >>>         cd prometheus-cpp && \
  23 | >>>         cmake $(xx-clang --print-cmake-defines) -B build \
  24 | >>>             -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr/local \
  25 | >>>             -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release \
  26 | >>>             -DENABLE_TESTING=0 \
  27 | >>>             -GNinja && \
  28 | >>>         cmake --build build && \
  29 | >>>         cmake --install build && \
  30 | >>>         ls -la /usr/local/lib && \
  31 | >>>         xx-verify /usr/local/lib/libprometheus-cpp-*
--------------------
ERROR: failed to solve: process "/bin/sh -c git clone --recursive https://github.com/jupp0r/prometheus-cpp &&         cd prometheus-cpp &&         cmake $(xx-clang --print-cmake-defines) -B build             -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr/local             -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release             -DENABLE_TESTING=0             -GNinja &&         cmake --build build &&         cmake --install build &&         ls -la /usr/local/lib &&         xx-verify /usr/local/lib/libprometheus-cpp-*" did not complete successfully: exit code: 1

Any help welcome !

[GibsonSoft]

So I know this is old, but just in case you haven't figured it out, I'm pretty sure you have to specify the target-arch ZLib path and lib in cmake. I had to do something similar when building protobuf from source.

Something like:

-DZLIB_LIBRARY=$(xx-info sysroot)lib/libz.so \
-DZLIB_INCLUDE_DIR=${xx-info sysroot)usr/include \

You'll probably have to do that with any other dependency libraries as well. An alternative might be to add your target-arch lib and include paths to your LDFLAGS and CFLAGS/CXXFLAGS variables. I'm not sure if xx does this by default.