unknown argument dead_strip for macos

[xlla]

Checklist

• Checked the issue tracker for similar issues to ensure this is not a duplicate
• Read the documentation to confirm the issue is not addressed there and your configuration is set correctly
• Tested with the latest version to ensure the issue hasn't been fixed

How often does this bug occurs?

always

Expected behavior

I expected it can build my project successful on macos.

Actual behavior (suspected bug)

Instead, it is failure and complains

ld.lld: error: unknown argument '-dead_strip'
ld.lld: error: unknown emulation: ap
ld.lld: error: cannot open build/mpy-cross.map: No such file or directory
clang: error: ld command failed with exit code 1 (use -v to see invocation)

Error logs or terminal output

<pre>
make -C mpy-cross V=1
python3 ../py/makeversionhdr.py build/genhdr/mpversion.h
LINK build/mpy-cross
clang -o build/mpy-cross build/py/mpstate.o build/py/nlr.o build/py/nlrx86.o build/py/nlrx64.o build/py/nlrthumb.o build/py/nlraarch64.o build/py/nlrmips.o build/py/nlrpowerpc.o build/py/nlrxtensa.o build/py/nlrrv32.o build/py/nlrrv64.o build/py/nlrsetjmp.o build/py/malloc.o build/py/gc.o build/py/pystack.o build/py/qstr.o build/py/vstr.o build/py/mpprint.o build/py/unicode.o build/py/mpz.o build/py/reader.o build/py/lexer.o build/py/parse.o build/py/scope.o build/py/compile.o build/py/emitcommon.o build/py/emitbc.o build/py/asmbase.o build/py/asmx64.o build/py/emitnx64.o build/py/asmx86.o build/py/emitnx86.o build/py/asmthumb.o build/py/emitnthumb.o build/py/emitinlinethumb.o build/py/asmarm.o build/py/emitnarm.o build/py/asmxtensa.o build/py/emitnxtensa.o build/py/emitinlinextensa.o build/py/emitnxtensawin.o build/py/asmrv32.o build/py/emitnrv32.o build/py/emitinlinerv32.o build/py/emitndebug.o build/py/formatfloat.o build/py/parsenumbase.o build/py/parsenum.o build/py/emitglue.o build/py/persistentcode.o build/py/runtime.o build/py/runtime_utils.o build/py/scheduler.o build/py/nativeglue.o build/py/pairheap.o build/py/ringbuf.o build/py/cstack.o build/py/stackctrl.o build/py/argcheck.o build/py/warning.o build/py/profile.o build/py/map.o build/py/obj.o build/py/objarray.o build/py/objattrtuple.o build/py/objbool.o build/py/objboundmeth.o build/py/objcell.o build/py/objclosure.o build/py/objcode.o build/py/objcomplex.o build/py/objdeque.o build/py/objdict.o build/py/objenumerate.o build/py/objexcept.o build/py/objfilter.o build/py/objfloat.o build/py/objfun.o build/py/objgenerator.o build/py/objgetitemiter.o build/py/objint.o build/py/objint_longlong.o build/py/objint_mpz.o build/py/objlist.o build/py/objmap.o build/py/objmodule.o build/py/objobject.o build/py/objpolyiter.o build/py/objproperty.o build/py/objnone.o build/py/objnamedtuple.o build/py/objrange.o build/py/objreversed.o build/py/objringio.o build/py/objset.o build/py/objsingleton.o build/py/objslice.o build/py/objstr.o build/py/objstrunicode.o build/py/objstringio.o build/py/objtuple.o build/py/objtype.o build/py/objzip.o build/py/opmethods.o build/py/sequence.o build/py/stream.o build/py/binary.o build/py/builtinimport.o build/py/builtinevex.o build/py/builtinhelp.o build/py/modarray.o build/py/modbuiltins.o build/py/modcollections.o build/py/modgc.o build/py/modio.o build/py/modmath.o build/py/modcmath.o build/py/modmicropython.o build/py/modstruct.o build/py/modsys.o build/py/moderrno.o build/py/modthread.o build/py/vm.o build/py/bc.o build/py/showbc.o build/py/repl.o build/py/smallint.o build/py/frozenmod.o build/main.o build/gccollect.o build/shared/runtime/gchelper_generic.o   -Wl,-map,build/mpy-cross.map -Wl,-dead_strip -lm 
ld.lld: error: unknown argument '-dead_strip'
ld.lld: error: unknown emulation: ap
ld.lld: error: cannot open build/mpy-cross.map: No such file or directory
clang: error: ld command failed with exit code 1 (use -v to see invocation)
make: *** [build/mpy-cross] Error 1
</pre>

Steps to reproduce the behavior

1. install esp-idf v5.5.1, follow these instructions
   2.install micropython v1.6 , follow these instructions
2. cd mpy-cross
3. make

Project release version

19.1.2_20250312

System architecture

Intel/AMD 64-bit (modern PC, older Mac)

Operating system

MacOS

Operating system version

macos 10.13

Shell

Bash

Additional context

I found this patch (D103324) for llvm to support "-dead_strip", could someone help to check if this patch can be apply for macos.

[gerekon]

Actually it is there a5645513dba7. But looks like that option is implemented for MachO object format only used for Mac executables.

You are trying to build for ESP-IDF which uses ELF format. You need to use --gc-sections instead. Please, see https://maskray.me/blog/2021-02-28-linker-garbage-collection

[gerekon]

For better results usually --gc-sections is used with -ffunction-sections

[gerekon]

Ok. Looks like I am a bit wrong. You are failing at Building the MicroPython cross-compiler step. For that you need to use native compiler (clang or GCC) on you host, not one supplied with ESP-IDF. Because you want to build the toolchain to be run on your machine.
Our Clang supports only Espressif targets (Xtensa and RISCV) which use ELF format. So LLD fails.

[xlla]

@gerekon , Yes, my native compiler support argument '-dead_strip'.
I can build mpy-cross on esp-idf v4.4, v5.2, v5.4, just failure on esp-idf v5.5.
on v5.4, the clang point to my system one.

Checking "python3" ...
Python 3.11.6
"python3" has been detected
Activating ESP-IDF 5.4

which clang
/usr/local/bin/clang

on v5.5, the clang was change to esp-clang

Checking "python3" ...
Python 3.11.6
"python3" has been detected
Activating ESP-IDF 5.5

which clang
/Users/xlla/.espressif/tools/esp-clang/esp-19.1.2_20250312/esp-clang/bin/clang

maybe I should dig into the $IDF_PATH/export.sh and check why it does not use my native compiler.

[gerekon]

I think you need either

• Uninstall/remove esp-clang at /Users/xlla/.espressif/tools/esp-clang/esp-19.1.2_20250312
• Or try to build mpy-cross before executing . $IDF_PATH/export.sh