configure: error: *** These critical programs are missing or too old: gcc make while installing glibc2.12 on Opensuse 42.3

Question

I am trying to install glibc-2.12.2 because Haskell-stack specifically needs 2.12 version.

 ldd --version
 ldd (GNU libc) 2.26
 Copyright (C) 2017 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
 This is free software; see the source for copying conditions.  There is NO warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
 Written by Roland McGrath and Ulrich Drepper.

The error is -

 rajkumar@localhost:~/Downloads/glibc-2.12.2/build-tree> ../configure 
 configure: loading site script /usr/share/site/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu
 checking build system type... x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu
 checking host system type... x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu
 checking for /usr/lib64/gcc/x86_64-suse-linux/7/../../../../x86_64-suse-linux/bin/ld... /usr/lib64/gcc/x86_64-suse-linux/7/../../../../x86_64-suse-linux/bin/ld
 checking version of /usr/lib64/gcc/x86_64-suse-linux/7/../../../../x86_64-suse-linux/bin/ld... 2.29.0.20170830, ok
 checking for pwd... /usr/bin/pwd
 checking for gcc... gcc
 checking version of gcc... 7.2.1, bad
 checking for gnumake... no
 checking for gmake... gmake
 checking version of gmake... 4.2.1, bad
 checking for gnumsgfmt... no
 checking for gmsgfmt... no
 checking for msgfmt... msgfmt
 checking version of msgfmt... 0.19.8.1, ok
 checking for makeinfo... no
 checking for sed... sed
 checking version of sed... v. ?.??, bad
 checking for autoconf... no
 configure: error:
 *** These critical programs are missing or too old: gcc make
 *** Check the INSTALL file for required versions.

But I have gcc and make already installed.

 rajkumar@localhost:~/Downloads/glibc-2.12.2/build-tree> sudo zypper install make
 Loading repository data...
 Reading installed packages...
 'make' is already installed.
 No update candidate for 'make-4.2.1-2.1.x86_64'. The highest available   version is already installed.
 Resolving package dependencies...

 Nothing to do.
 rajkumar@localhost:~/Downloads/glibc-2.12.2/build-tree> sudo zypper install gcc
 Loading repository data...
 Reading installed packages...
 'gcc' is already installed.
 No update candidate for 'gcc-7-2.4.x86_64'. The highest available version is already installed.
 Resolving package dependencies...

 Nothing to do.

I already have glibc 2.26 installed. How can I downgrade the version to 2.12 on opensuse.

Answer 1

I had the same issue and solved it following Mark Plotnick's suggestion in this post:

This may work: edit the configure file, look for 3.79* | 3.[89]*, change it to 3.79* | 3.[89]* | 4.*

The problem is that the .configure file is using an incomplete regular expression when verifying make's version. Adding the | 4.* makes sure it picks your (newer) installed version.