How to solve 'collect2: ld returned 1 exit status '?

Question

when I build my source code in linux I got an error like

qstring.cpp:(.text+0x2c01): undefined reference to `terminate(void)'
collect2: ld returned 1 exit status

How to solve this problem?

Answer 1

terminate is defined in the C++ standard library, so make sure that you're linking that in. Assuming you're using gcc to compile, you should use the g++ executable to compile your source code, not the gcc executable:

g++ source.cc -o output

When executed as g++, the linker automatically links in the C++ standard library (libstdc++) for you. If you instead execute gcc as plain gcc, or you directly invoke the linker ld, then you need to add -lstdc++ yourself to link in the library, e.g.:

gcc source.cc -o output -lstdc++  # Compile directly from source
ld source1.o source2.o -o output -lstdc++  # Link together object files

Answer 2

You need to find out which object file or library terminate lives in and include it in your compile/link command.

If it's in an object or source file, just give it to your gcc (assuming you're actually using gcc, if not, the method will probably be similar) command as per normal. If it's in a library, you should look into the -L (library path) and -l (library name) options.