How to compile C++ under Ubuntu Linux?

Question

I cut&pasted the below code from a previous question into a file called "avishay.cpp" and then ran

gcc avishay.cpp

only to get the following error messages from the linker. What went wrong, what should I have done?

carl@carl-ubuntu:~/Projects/StackOverflow$ gcc -static avishay.cpp 
/tmp/cccRNW34.o: In function `__static_initialization_and_destruction_0(int, int)':
avishay.cpp:(.text+0x41): undefined reference to `std::ios_base::Init::Init()'
avishay.cpp:(.text+0x46): undefined reference to `std::ios_base::Init::~Init()'
/tmp/cccRNW34.o: In function `A::func()':
avishay.cpp:(.text._ZN1A4funcEv[A::func()]+0x11): undefined reference to `std::cout'
avishay.cpp:(.text._ZN1A4funcEv[A::func()]+0x16): undefined reference to `std::basic_ostream<char, std::char_traits<char> >& std::operator<< <std::char_traits<char> >(std::basic_ostream<char, std::char_traits<char> >&, char const*)'
avishay.cpp:(.text._ZN1A4funcEv[A::func()]+0x1e): undefined reference to `std::basic_ostream<char, std::char_traits<char> >& std::endl<char, std::char_traits<char> >(std::basic_ostream<char, std::char_traits<char> >&)'
avishay.cpp:(.text._ZN1A4funcEv[A::func()]+0x26): undefined reference to `std::basic_ostream<char, std::char_traits<char> >::operator<<(std::basic_ostream<char, std::char_traits<char> >& (*)(std::basic_ostream<char, std::char_traits<char> >&))'
avishay.cpp:(.text._ZN1A4funcEv[A::func()]+0x36): undefined reference to `std::cout'
avishay.cpp:(.text._ZN1A4funcEv[A::func()]+0x3b): undefined reference to `std::basic_ostream<char, std::char_traits<char> >::operator<<(int)'
/tmp/cccRNW34.o:(.eh_frame+0x12): undefined reference to `__gxx_personality_v0'
collect2: ld returned 1 exit status

The C++ code (not my code, I was just trying to run it):

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

class A
{
private:
   int _dmember;

public:
   void func()
   {
     cout<<"Inside A!! "<<endl;
     cout<<_dmember; // crash when reach here.
   }
};

int main ()

{

    A* a= NULL;

    a->func(); // prints "Inside A!!!" 

    return 1;
}

Answer 1

You should use g++, not gcc, to compile C++ programs.

For this particular program, I just typed

make avishay

and let make figure out the rest. Gives your executable a decent name, too, instead of a.out.

Answer 2

You probably should use g++ rather than gcc.

Answer 3

Yes, use g++ to compile. It will automatically add all the references to libstdc++ which are necessary to link the program.

g++ source.cpp -o source

If you omit the -o parameter, the resultant executable will be named a.out. In any case, executable permissions have already been set, so no need to chmod anything.

Also, the code will give you undefined behaviour (and probably a SIGSEGV) as you are dereferencing a NULL pointer and trying to call a member function on an object that doesn't exist, so it most certainly will not print anything. It will probably crash or do some funky dance.