[DPDK/meson Bug 1670] DPDK fails to compile using gcc version 8.5.0

[Wathsala Wathawana Vithanage]

> Subject: [DPDK/meson Bug 1670] DPDK fails to compile using gcc version 8.5.0
> 
> Bug ID	 1670 <https://bugs.dpdk.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1670>
> Summary	 DPDK fails to compile using gcc version 8.5.0
> Product	 DPDK
> Version	 25.03
> Hardware	 ARM
> OS	 Linux
> Status	 UNCONFIRMED
> Severity	 critical
> Priority	 Normal
> Component	 meson
> Assignee	 dev at dpdk.org
> Reporter	 subhim at nvidia.com
> Target Milestone	 ---
> 
> Compiling DPDK 25.03 on systems that runs gcc version 8.5.0 and ARM
> architecture ( aarch64) is failing.
> 
> Reproducer :
> 
> 1.Clone DPDK 23.05 :
> 
> git clone git:\\dpdk.org\dpdk dpdk-25.03
> 
> 2. Compile DPDK :
> 
> meson build-meson --werror
> -Dexamples=ethtool,ip_fragmentation,l2fwd-crypto,l3fwd-
> power,link_status_interrupt,multi_process/client_server_mp/mp_client,multi_pr
> ocess/client_server_mp/mp_server,multi_process/simple_mp,multi_process/sym
> metric_mp,vdpa
> -Dprefix=/download/dpdk/install -Dlibdir=lib64 -
> Denable_drivers=*/mlx5,mempool/bucket,mempool/ring,mempool/stack,net/fail
> safe,net/netvsc,bus/vmbus,net/tap,net/vdev_netvsc,crypto/openssl,*/virtio*,bus
> /auxiliary
> && ninja -C build-meson install
> 
> 
> Result : compilation fails with the following error  :
> 
> Compiler for C supports arguments -Wno-missing-field-initializers: YES Compiler
> for C supports arguments -fzero-init-padding-bits=all: NO
> Message: Arm implementer: Arm
> Message: Arm part number: 0xd42
> Compiler for C supports arguments -mcpu=cortex-a78ae: NO
> 
> config/arm/meson.build:915:12: ERROR: Problem encountered: Compiler does
> not support -mcpu=cortex-a78ae.
> 

Cortex-a78ae is newer than GCC 8, so you get this error.
One of the following options would solve this Issue.

Option 1: Upgrade the GCC to at least an 11.x version
The resulting build would be the most performant for Cortex-a78ae CPU.

Option 2: Force meson to do a generic build by passing -Dplatform=generic
The resulting build may not be as performant as the one produced by options 1.
It will use only following march=armv8-a+crc as defined here
https://github.com/DPDK/dpdk/blob/main/config/arm/meson.build#L676

--wathsala