have_header from mkmf throws an error in Jruby

Question

I have this test code :

require 'mkmf'

puts have_header("iostream.h")

this code throws an error in Jruby like this :

checking for iostream.h... RuntimeError: The compiler failed to generate an executable file. You have to install development tools first.

try_do at /home/abd/.rvm/rubies/jruby-9.1.6.0/lib/ruby/stdlib/mkmf.rb:456 try_cpp at /home/abd/.rvm/rubies/jruby-9.1.6.0/lib/ruby/stdlib/mkmf.rb:587
block in have_header at /home/abd/.rvm/rubies/jruby-9.1.6.0/lib/ruby/stdlib/mkmf.rb:1091
block in checking_for at /home/abd/.rvm/rubies/jruby-9.1.6.0/lib/ruby/stdlib/mkmf.rb:942 block in postpone at /home/abd/.rvm/rubies/jruby-9.1.6.0/lib/ruby/stdlib/mkmf.rb:350 open at /home/abd/.rvm/rubies/jruby-9.1.6.0/lib/ruby/stdlib/mkmf.rb:320 block in postpone at /home/abd/.rvm/rubies/jruby-9.1.6.0/lib/ruby/stdlib/mkmf.rb:350 open at /home/abd/.rvm/rubies/jruby-9.1.6.0/lib/ruby/stdlib/mkmf.rb:320 postpone at /home/abd/.rvm/rubies/jruby-9.1.6.0/lib/ruby/stdlib/mkmf.rb:346 checking_for at /home/abd/.rvm/rubies/jruby-9.1.6.0/lib/ruby/stdlib/mkmf.rb:941 have_header at /home/abd/.rvm/rubies/jruby-9.1.6.0/lib/ruby/stdlib/mkmf.rb:1090 at test.rb:3

I have no idea what does it mean by development tools and I searched the internet without finding anything about this.

I installed Jruby 9.1.6.0 through rvm, this is my java version :

[abd@abd testruby]$ java -version
openjdk version "1.8.0_112"
OpenJDK Runtime Environment (build 1.8.0_112-b15)
OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM (build 25.112-b15, mixed mode)

I'm using Arch linux here.

The real reason behind my question is that I tried installing gmp gem and native extensions wouldn't build because of the same error, I know the gem is unmaintained but I want to resolve this issue anyway because the above message suggests that my installation is lacking.

By the way I have the jdk, not just the jre.

Answer 1

JRuby C extensions have been deprecated [and possibly removed already but I'm a bit out of the loop].

Since you're running on the JVM, have you considered the alternatives? i.e. either use Java's BigInteger or BigDecimal if the performance is adequate for your needs, or wrap GMP using JNI / JNA- it looks like somebody has tried already. Check out this SO question for a few more Java alternatives.