Re: Building on FreeBSD 14.4

3 Jun 2026

      Hi!

This is now fixed with 

https://github.com/dovecot/core/commit/5a393f6ef54b80df0c3d46a1ca7f3a75cd9a2...

Aki
...
On 18/05/2026 05:22 EEST Jeff Aitken via dovecot <dovecot@dovecot.org> wrote:
Evening,
I ran into the same issue on FreeBSD-14.4.  I fixed it by manually removing the offending “-L/usr/local/lib” from the various “*_LIBS = “ definitions in src/auth/Makefile.  I had claude take a look and here’s what it reported:
⏺ Here's the summary of the problem and the fix:
Root cause: In 2.4.4, am__append_8 was changed to include both $(LIBDOVECOT_LUA) (a .la file dep) and $(LUA_LIBS) (raw linker flags:
  -L/usr/local/lib -llua-5.4 -lm). This append goes into auth_libs, which is used verbatim in auth_DEPENDENCIES. GNU make treats
  everything in a target's prerequisite list as files to build — it handles -l<name> specially, but -L<path> is taken literally,
  causing "no rule to make target '-L/usr/local/lib'".
Fix:
  1. Strip $(LUA_LIBS) from am__append_8 — leave only $(LIBDOVECOT_LUA) (the actual file dep)
  2. Add am__append_10 = $(LUA_LIBS), scoped to plugin mode only (AUTH_LUA_PLUGIN_TRUE && HAVE_LUA_TRUE) — in non-plugin mode,
  $(LUA_LIBS) is already covered by AUTH_LUA_LDADD
  3. Append $(am__append_10) to the five LDADD variables that need it
To apply: patch src/auth/Makefile.in /path/to/patch-src-auth-Makefile.in
Here’s the patch I used that resulted in a clean build:
*** src/auth/Makefile.in.orig
--- src/auth/Makefile.in
***************
*** 107,111 ****
  @HAVE_LDAP_TRUE@@LDAP_PLUGIN_TRUE@am__append_6 = libauthdb_ldap.la
  @HAVE_LDAP_TRUE@@LDAP_PLUGIN_FALSE@am__append_7 = $(LIBDOVECOT_LDAP)
- @HAVE_LUA_TRUE@am__append_8 = $(LIBDOVECOT_LUA) $(LUA_LIBS)
  @AUTH_LUA_PLUGIN_TRUE@am__append_9 = libauthdb_lua.la
  subdir = src/auth
--- 107,112 ----
  @HAVE_LDAP_TRUE@@LDAP_PLUGIN_TRUE@am__append_6 = libauthdb_ldap.la
  @HAVE_LDAP_TRUE@@LDAP_PLUGIN_FALSE@am__append_7 = $(LIBDOVECOT_LDAP)
+ @HAVE_LUA_TRUE@am__append_8 = $(LIBDOVECOT_LUA)
+ @AUTH_LUA_PLUGIN_TRUE@@HAVE_LUA_TRUE@am__append_10 = $(LUA_LIBS)
  @AUTH_LUA_PLUGIN_TRUE@am__append_9 = libauthdb_lua.la
  subdir = src/auth
***************
*** 1119,1123 ****
        $(am__append_8)
  auth_CPPFLAGS = $(AM_CPPFLAGS) $(BINARY_CFLAGS)
! auth_LDADD = $(auth_libs) $(LIBDOVECOT) $(AUTH_LIBS) $(BINARY_LDFLAGS) $(AUTH_LUA_LDADD)
  auth_DEPENDENCIES = $(auth_libs) $(LIBDOVECOT_DEPS)
  auth_SOURCES = main.c $(auth_common_sources)
--- 1120,1124 ----
        $(am__append_8)
  auth_CPPFLAGS = $(AM_CPPFLAGS) $(BINARY_CFLAGS)
! auth_LDADD = $(auth_libs) $(LIBDOVECOT) $(AUTH_LIBS) $(BINARY_LDFLAGS) $(AUTH_LUA_LDADD) $(am__append_10)
  auth_DEPENDENCIES = $(auth_libs) $(LIBDOVECOT_DEPS)
  auth_SOURCES = main.c $(auth_common_sources)
***************
*** 1230,1234 ****
        test-main.c
! test_auth_LDADD = $(test_auth_ldadd_plugins) $(LIBDOVECOT) $(auth_libs) $(AUTH_LIBS)
  test_auth_DEPENDENCIES = $(test_auth_ldadd_plugins) $(pkglibexec_PROGRAMS) $(LIBDOVECOT_DEPS)
  test_mech_SOURCES = \
--- 1231,1235 ----
        test-main.c
! test_auth_LDADD = $(test_auth_ldadd_plugins) $(LIBDOVECOT) $(auth_libs) $(AUTH_LIBS) $(am__append_10)
  test_auth_DEPENDENCIES = $(test_auth_ldadd_plugins) $(pkglibexec_PROGRAMS) $(LIBDOVECOT_DEPS)
  test_mech_SOURCES = \
***************
*** 1238,1242 ****
        test-mech.c
! test_mech_LDADD = $(LIBDOVECOT) $(auth_libs) $(AUTH_LIBS)
  test_mech_DEPENDENCIES = $(pkglibexec_PROGRAMS) $(LIBDOVECOT_DEPS)
  test_auth_client_SOURCES = \
--- 1239,1243 ----
        test-mech.c
! test_mech_LDADD = $(LIBDOVECOT) $(auth_libs) $(AUTH_LIBS) $(am__append_10)
  test_mech_DEPENDENCIES = $(pkglibexec_PROGRAMS) $(LIBDOVECOT_DEPS)
  test_auth_client_SOURCES = \
***************
*** 1246,1250 ****
        test-auth-client.c
! test_auth_client_LDADD = $(LIBDOVECOT) $(auth_libs) $(AUTH_LIBS)
  test_auth_client_DEPENDENCIES = $(pkglibexec_PROGRAMS) $(LIBDOVECOT_DEPS)
  test_auth_master_SOURCES = \
--- 1247,1251 ----
        test-auth-client.c
! test_auth_client_LDADD = $(LIBDOVECOT) $(auth_libs) $(AUTH_LIBS) $(am__append_10)
  test_auth_client_DEPENDENCIES = $(pkglibexec_PROGRAMS) $(LIBDOVECOT_DEPS)
  test_auth_master_SOURCES = \
***************
*** 1255,1259 ****
        test-auth-master-server.c
! test_auth_master_LDADD = $(LIBDOVECOT) $(auth_libs) $(AUTH_LIBS)
  test_auth_master_DEPENDENCIES = $(pkglibexec_PROGRAMS) $(LIBDOVECOT_DEPS)
  all: all-am
--- 1256,1260 ----
        test-auth-master-server.c
! test_auth_master_LDADD = $(LIBDOVECOT) $(auth_libs) $(AUTH_LIBS) $(am__append_10)
  test_auth_master_DEPENDENCIES = $(pkglibexec_PROGRAMS) $(LIBDOVECOT_DEPS)
  all: all-am
I haven’t tested the binary yet, but at least it did successfully complete the build.
The right fix is to update src/auth/Makefile.am, but perhaps someone more familiar with this can take a look and confirm.
—Jeff
...
On May 17, 2026, at 19:59, Frank Volf via dovecot <dovecot@dovecot.org> wrote:
Hi,
I'm trying to build dovecot-2.4.4 on FreeBSD 14.4 and I get a strange
  error message.
What I did is download and extract dovecot-2.4.4.tar.gz and then run
  ./configure without any arguments.
  After typing make the build started without any problems until this point:
....
    Making all in auth
      CC       test_auth_cache-auth-cache.o
      CC       test_auth_cache-test-auth-cache.o
      CC       auth-main.o
      CC       auth-auth.o
      CC       auth-auth-cache.o
      CC       auth-auth-client-connection.o
      CC       auth-auth-master-connection.o
      CC       auth-auth-policy.o
      CC       auth-auth-penalty.o
      CC       auth-auth-request.o
      CC       auth-auth-request-fields.o
      CC       auth-auth-request-handler.o
      CC       auth-auth-request-var-expand.o
      CC       auth-auth-sasl-mech-apop.o
      CC       auth-auth-sasl-mech-dovecot-token.o
      CC       auth-auth-sasl-mech-oauth2.o
      CC       auth-auth-sasl.o
      CC       auth-auth-settings.o
      CC       auth-auth-fields.o
      CC       auth-auth-token.o
      CC       auth-auth-worker-connection.o
      CC       auth-auth-worker-server.o
      CC       auth-db-oauth2.o
      CC       auth-db-sql.o
      CC       auth-db-passwd-file.o
      CC       auth-passdb.o
      CC       auth-passdb-blocking.o
      CC       auth-passdb-bsdauth.o
      CC       auth-passdb-cache.o
      CC       auth-passdb-oauth2.o
      CC       auth-passdb-passwd.o
      CC       auth-passdb-passwd-file.o
      CC       auth-passdb-pam.o
      CC       auth-passdb-sql.o
      CC       auth-passdb-static.o
      CC       auth-userdb.o
      CC       auth-userdb-blocking.o
      CC       auth-userdb-passwd.o
      CC       auth-userdb-passwd-file.o
      CC       auth-userdb-prefetch.o
      CC       auth-userdb-static.o
      CC       auth-userdb-sql.o
      CC       auth-db-ldap.o
      CC       auth-db-ldap-sasl.o
      CC       auth-db-ldap-settings.o
      CC       auth-passdb-ldap.o
      CC       auth-userdb-ldap.o
      CC       auth-db-lua.o
      CC       auth-passdb-lua.o
      CC       auth-userdb-lua.o
    make[3]: don't know how to make -L/usr/local/lib. Stop
make[3]: stopped making "all" in /home/volf/dovecot-2.4.4/src/auth
    *** Error code 1
So, apparently make is confused and thinks that the compiler/linker
  commandline option is an item to build.
  I'm at loss how to solve this.
I would appreciate it, if somebody could give me a hint how to solve this.
Kind regards,
Frank
_______________________________________________
dovecot mailing list -- dovecot@dovecot.org
To unsubscribe send an email to dovecot-leave@dovecot.org
Evening,
   I ran into the same issue on FreeBSD-14.4.  I fixed it by manually
   removing the offending "-L/usr/local/lib" from the various "*_LIBS = "
   definitions in src/auth/Makefile.  I had claude take a look and here's
   what it reported:
** Here's the summary of the problem and the fix:
Root cause: In 2.4.4, am__append_8 was changed to include both
   $(LIBDOVECOT_LUA) (a .la file dep) and $(LUA_LIBS) (raw linker flags:
-L/usr/local/lib -llua-5.4 -lm). This append goes into auth_libs, which
   is used verbatim in auth_DEPENDENCIES. GNU make treats
everything in a target's prerequisite list as files to build -- it
   handles -l<name> specially, but -L<path> is taken literally,
causing "no rule to make target '-L/usr/local/lib'".
Fix:
1. Strip $(LUA_LIBS) from am__append_8 -- leave only $(LIBDOVECOT_LUA)
   (the actual file dep)
2. Add am__append_10 = $(LUA_LIBS), scoped to plugin mode only
   (AUTH_LUA_PLUGIN_TRUE && HAVE_LUA_TRUE) -- in non-plugin mode,
$(LUA_LIBS) is already covered by AUTH_LUA_LDADD
3. Append $(am__append_10) to the five LDADD variables that need it
To apply: patch src/auth/Makefile.in /path/to/patch-src-auth-Makefile.in
Here's the patch I used that resulted in a clean build:
*** src/auth/Makefile.in.orig
--- src/auth/Makefile.in
***************
*** 107,111 ****
@HAVE_LDAP_TRUE@@LDAP_PLUGIN_TRUE@am__append_6 = libauthdb_ldap.la
@HAVE_LDAP_TRUE@@LDAP_PLUGIN_FALSE@am__append_7 = $(LIBDOVECOT_LDAP)
- @HAVE_LUA_TRUE@am__append_8 = $(LIBDOVECOT_LUA) $(LUA_LIBS)
@AUTH_LUA_PLUGIN_TRUE@am__append_9 = libauthdb_lua.la
subdir = src/auth
--- 107,112 ----
@HAVE_LDAP_TRUE@@LDAP_PLUGIN_TRUE@am__append_6 = libauthdb_ldap.la
@HAVE_LDAP_TRUE@@LDAP_PLUGIN_FALSE@am__append_7 = $(LIBDOVECOT_LDAP)
+ @HAVE_LUA_TRUE@am__append_8 = $(LIBDOVECOT_LUA)
+ @AUTH_LUA_PLUGIN_TRUE@@HAVE_LUA_TRUE@am__append_10 = $(LUA_LIBS)
@AUTH_LUA_PLUGIN_TRUE@am__append_9 = libauthdb_lua.la
subdir = src/auth
***************
*** 1119,1123 ****
$(am__append_8)
auth_CPPFLAGS = $(AM_CPPFLAGS) $(BINARY_CFLAGS)
! auth_LDADD = $(auth_libs) $(LIBDOVECOT) $(AUTH_LIBS) $(BINARY_LDFLAGS)
   $(AUTH_LUA_LDADD)
auth_DEPENDENCIES = $(auth_libs) $(LIBDOVECOT_DEPS)
auth_SOURCES = main.c $(auth_common_sources)
--- 1120,1124 ----
$(am__append_8)
auth_CPPFLAGS = $(AM_CPPFLAGS) $(BINARY_CFLAGS)
! auth_LDADD = $(auth_libs) $(LIBDOVECOT) $(AUTH_LIBS) $(BINARY_LDFLAGS)
   $(AUTH_LUA_LDADD) $(am__append_10)
auth_DEPENDENCIES = $(auth_libs) $(LIBDOVECOT_DEPS)
auth_SOURCES = main.c $(auth_common_sources)
***************
*** 1230,1234 ****
test-main.c
! test_auth_LDADD = $(test_auth_ldadd_plugins) $(LIBDOVECOT) $(auth_libs)
   $(AUTH_LIBS)
test_auth_DEPENDENCIES = $(test_auth_ldadd_plugins)
   $(pkglibexec_PROGRAMS) $(LIBDOVECOT_DEPS)
test_mech_SOURCES = \
--- 1231,1235 ----
test-main.c
! test_auth_LDADD = $(test_auth_ldadd_plugins) $(LIBDOVECOT) $(auth_libs)
   $(AUTH_LIBS) $(am__append_10)
test_auth_DEPENDENCIES = $(test_auth_ldadd_plugins)
   $(pkglibexec_PROGRAMS) $(LIBDOVECOT_DEPS)
test_mech_SOURCES = \
***************
*** 1238,1242 ****
test-mech.c
! test_mech_LDADD = $(LIBDOVECOT) $(auth_libs) $(AUTH_LIBS)
test_mech_DEPENDENCIES = $(pkglibexec_PROGRAMS) $(LIBDOVECOT_DEPS)
test_auth_client_SOURCES = \
--- 1239,1243 ----
test-mech.c
! test_mech_LDADD = $(LIBDOVECOT) $(auth_libs) $(AUTH_LIBS)
   $(am__append_10)
test_mech_DEPENDENCIES = $(pkglibexec_PROGRAMS) $(LIBDOVECOT_DEPS)
test_auth_client_SOURCES = \
***************
*** 1246,1250 ****
test-auth-client.c
! test_auth_client_LDADD = $(LIBDOVECOT) $(auth_libs) $(AUTH_LIBS)
test_auth_client_DEPENDENCIES = $(pkglibexec_PROGRAMS)
   $(LIBDOVECOT_DEPS)
test_auth_master_SOURCES = \
--- 1247,1251 ----
test-auth-client.c
! test_auth_client_LDADD = $(LIBDOVECOT) $(auth_libs) $(AUTH_LIBS)
   $(am__append_10)
test_auth_client_DEPENDENCIES = $(pkglibexec_PROGRAMS)
   $(LIBDOVECOT_DEPS)
test_auth_master_SOURCES = \
***************
*** 1255,1259 ****
test-auth-master-server.c
! test_auth_master_LDADD = $(LIBDOVECOT) $(auth_libs) $(AUTH_LIBS)
test_auth_master_DEPENDENCIES = $(pkglibexec_PROGRAMS)
   $(LIBDOVECOT_DEPS)
all: all-am
--- 1256,1260 ----
test-auth-master-server.c
! test_auth_master_LDADD = $(LIBDOVECOT) $(auth_libs) $(AUTH_LIBS)
   $(am__append_10)
test_auth_master_DEPENDENCIES = $(pkglibexec_PROGRAMS)
   $(LIBDOVECOT_DEPS)
all: all-am
I haven't tested the binary yet, but at least it did successfully complete
   the build.
   The right fix is to update src/auth/Makefile.am, but perhaps someone more
   familiar with this can take a look and confirm.
   --Jeff
On May 17, 2026, at 19:59, Frank Volf via dovecot <dovecot@dovecot.org>
     wrote:
       Hi,
I'm trying to build dovecot-2.4.4 on FreeBSD 14.4 and I get a strange
       error message.
What I did is download and extract dovecot-2.4.4.tar.gz and then run
       ./configure without any arguments.
       After typing make the build started without any problems until this
     point:
....
         Making all in auth
           CC       test_auth_cache-auth-cache.o
           CC       test_auth_cache-test-auth-cache.o
           CC       auth-main.o
           CC       auth-auth.o
           CC       auth-auth-cache.o
           CC       auth-auth-client-connection.o
           CC       auth-auth-master-connection.o
           CC       auth-auth-policy.o
           CC       auth-auth-penalty.o
           CC       auth-auth-request.o
           CC       auth-auth-request-fields.o
           CC       auth-auth-request-handler.o
           CC       auth-auth-request-var-expand.o
           CC       auth-auth-sasl-mech-apop.o
           CC       auth-auth-sasl-mech-dovecot-token.o
           CC       auth-auth-sasl-mech-oauth2.o
           CC       auth-auth-sasl.o
           CC       auth-auth-settings.o
           CC       auth-auth-fields.o
           CC       auth-auth-token.o
           CC       auth-auth-worker-connection.o
           CC       auth-auth-worker-server.o
           CC       auth-db-oauth2.o
           CC       auth-db-sql.o
           CC       auth-db-passwd-file.o
           CC       auth-passdb.o
           CC       auth-passdb-blocking.o
           CC       auth-passdb-bsdauth.o
           CC       auth-passdb-cache.o
           CC       auth-passdb-oauth2.o
           CC       auth-passdb-passwd.o
           CC       auth-passdb-passwd-file.o
           CC       auth-passdb-pam.o
           CC       auth-passdb-sql.o
           CC       auth-passdb-static.o
           CC       auth-userdb.o
           CC       auth-userdb-blocking.o
           CC       auth-userdb-passwd.o
           CC       auth-userdb-passwd-file.o
           CC       auth-userdb-prefetch.o
           CC       auth-userdb-static.o
           CC       auth-userdb-sql.o
           CC       auth-db-ldap.o
           CC       auth-db-ldap-sasl.o
           CC       auth-db-ldap-settings.o
           CC       auth-passdb-ldap.o
           CC       auth-userdb-ldap.o
           CC       auth-db-lua.o
           CC       auth-passdb-lua.o
           CC       auth-userdb-lua.o
         make[3]: don't know how to make -L/usr/local/lib. Stop
make[3]: stopped making "all" in /home/volf/dovecot-2.4.4/src/auth
         *** Error code 1
So, apparently make is confused and thinks that the compiler/linker
       commandline option is an item to build.
       I'm at loss how to solve this.
I would appreciate it, if somebody could give me a hint how to solve
     this.
Kind regards,
Frank
     _______________________________________________
     dovecot mailing list -- dovecot@dovecot.org
     To unsubscribe send an email to dovecot-leave@dovecot.org
_______________________________________________
dovecot mailing list -- dovecot@dovecot.org
To unsubscribe send an email to dovecot-leave@dovecot.org

Re: Building on FreeBSD 14.4

Aki Tuomi