I got the following error compiling nodejs v16.15.1 with GCC v10.3.0:
touch /theia/scratch/brussel/vo/000/bvo00000/vsc10000/easybuild/install/skylake/build/nodejs/16.15.1/GCCcore-10.3.0/node-v16.15.1/out/Release/obj.target/tools/v8_gypfiles/v8_compiler_for_mksnapshot.stamp
make[1]: execvp: printf: Argument list too long
make[1]: *** [/theia/scratch/brussel/vo/000/bvo00000/vsc10000/easybuild/install/skylake/build/nodejs/16.15.1/GCCcore-10.3.0/node-v16.15.1/out/Release/obj.target/tools/v8_gypfiles/libv8_base_without_compiler.a] Error 127
rm 5bbfd6c4a8f8ff3451772da37fa142cac4520fdc.intermediate c551182bfbb57b84e78564bf84990af2837af887.intermediate
make[1]: Leaving directory `/theia/scratch/brussel/vo/000/bvo00000/vsc10000/easybuild/install/skylake/build/nodejs/16.15.1/GCCcore-10.3.0/node-v16.15.1/out’
make: *** [node] Error 2
The error printf: Argument list too long is not related to the GCC compiler but the build with make. The issue is caused by some command that becomes too long, not only because of a large number of arguments but also because of a too long argument line. I typically hit this type of error in nodejs and Qt5. For instance, nodejs is known to have long linker commands aggregating many objects in static binaries (Gentoo#809935).
In my case, the main cause of this error is the path to the build directory:
1
/theia/scratch/brussel/vo/000/bvo00000/vsc10000/easybuild/install/skylake/build/nodejs/16.15.1/GCCcore-10.3.0/node-v16.15.1
The build directory is quite deep within the filesystem and, most importantly, it is long. Commands in the build process dealing with many files referenced with their absolute paths will become too long and trigger this error.
The solution is as simple as carrying out the build in a different directory with a shorted absolute path. I exceptionally execute such builds in a temporary directory in /tmp. EasyBuild allows to change the location of the build directory for a single build by just setting the command line option --buildpath.