Compilation Errors

Compilation Troubleshooting

This page is the compile-focused companion to Troubleshooting.

The detailed error workflow has been merged into the main troubleshooting guide so there is one canonical place for build failures, runtime failures, and debugging steps.

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1. Verify the backend path

On Windows, start with:

lp file.lp --gcc
lp build file.lp --release --gcc

If you are checking the native default path, remember that lp file.lp uses the ASM backend and expects a working assembler/linker toolchain.

2. Inspect generated C

lp file.lp -o output.c

Then inspect the generated file around the failing line.

3. Recompile the generated C manually

gcc -Wall -Wextra -std=c11 output.c -o output

This is often the fastest way to surface missing symbols, invalid lowering, or host-toolchain warnings.

4. Use the canonical guide

For the full troubleshooting flow, go to Troubleshooting, especially:

• compile and backend checks
• generated-C debugging
• runtime debugging
• common LP coding mistakes

Common Compile-Failure Categories

Category	Typical symptom
LP syntax error	parser or codegen error before C compilation
lowering/codegen issue	generated C fails under GCC
missing toolchain	gcc, as, or ld not found
stale assumptions from docs	example parses, but current build path is not reliable end-to-end

Related Pages

• Troubleshooting
• CLI and Tooling
• Installation and Setup