Installation mod for CachyOS Bore LTO feedback

[AntonioRocha17]

I switched to CachyOS Bore LTO (previously CachyOS and it installed just fine and yes I'm distrohopping since I want to find one I like best) and I found some issues installing the tool.

Text copied from Gemini (which help me troubleshoot and installing it properly):
Hello,

I'm providing feedback on the installation process of DAMX Suite v0.9.1, specifically related to getting the Linuwu-Sense drivers to compile and install correctly on CachyOS, which uses a kernel built with clang and Link-Time Optimization (LTO). My laptop is an Acer Nitro V15 (anv15-51-57ws) with an Intel i3-13420h, RTX 3050 6GB, 16GB RAM, and a 500GB SSD m.2.

The installation initially failed with compilation errors for Linuwu-Sense. Here's a summary of the issues encountered and the solutions applied:

Initial Problem:
When running setup.sh, the Linuwu-Sense driver compilation failed with gcc errors, even though the kernel (6.15.7-1-cachyos-bore-lto initially, then 6.15.7-2-cachyos-lto after updates) was built with clang. The key errors were:

warning: the compiler differs from the one used to build the kernel
The kernel was built by: clang version 20.1.8
You are using: gcc (GCC) 15.1.1 20250425
gcc: error: unrecognized command-line option ‘-mretpoline-external-thunk’
gcc: error: unrecognized command-line option ‘-fsplit-lto-unit’

This indicated a compiler mismatch: the kernel was clang-built, but the module was attempting to compile with gcc and clang-specific flags.

Troubleshooting Steps & Solutions:

Ensuring Correct Kernel Headers and Compiler Chain:

    Problem: Initially, I was on kernel 6.15.7-1-cachyos-bore-lto. Running pacman -S linux-bore-lto-headers failed.

    Solution: Identified and installed the correct CachyOS LTO kernel headers:
    Bash

sudo pacman -S linux-cachyos-lto-headers

This updated the kernel to 6.15.7-2-cachyos-lto and installed the corresponding headers. A reboot into the new kernel was crucial at this point to ensure the build environment was correct.

Resolving NVIDIA Driver Conflicts (Important Detour):

Problem: After the kernel update, attempting to install nvidia-dkms (needed for the RTX 3050) conflicted with pre-compiled NVIDIA modules (linux-cachyos-bore-lto-nvidia and linux-cachyos-nvidia).

Solution: Chose to replace the pre-compiled NVIDIA modules with nvidia-dkms by answering y to the pacman prompts:
Bash

sudo pacman -S nvidia-dkms

This correctly configured the NVIDIA drivers to build against the new kernel, preventing mkinitcpio errors later.

Forcing clang and lld for Module Compilation (Initial Attempts):

Attempt: Tried running the setup.sh script with CC=clang and later LD=lld environment variables:
Bash

sudo CC=clang LD=/usr/bin/ld.lld ./setup.sh

Result: This was insufficient, as the variables were not effectively propagated to the nested make calls within the setup.sh script for Linuwu-Sense. The compilation still failed with the original gcc errors and new clang-specific flag errors that gcc didn't understand (e.g., -fdebug-info-for-profiling, -mllvm).

Direct Linuwu-Sense Compilation Test:

Attempt: Manually navigated to ~/Downloads/DAMX-0.9.1/Linuwu-Sense and tried to compile directly:
Bash

sudo make clean
sudo make CC=clang LD=/usr/bin/ld.lld

Result (Success!): This direct compilation succeeded. It correctly used clang and lld to build linuwu_sense.ko for the 6.15.7-2-cachyos-lto kernel. This proved the module itself could compile with the right tools.

Modifying setup.sh to Enforce clang and lld (The Final Fix):

Problem: The setup.sh script's install_drivers() function was using plain make commands without CC and LD variables.

Solution: Edited ~/Downloads/DAMX-09.1/setup.sh and modified the make commands within the install_drivers() function to explicitly include CC=clang LD=/usr/bin/ld.lld.
Original (in setup.sh):
Bash

make clean
make
make install

Modified (in setup.sh):
Bash

make CC=clang LD=/usr/bin/ld.lld clean
make CC=clang LD=/usr/bin/ld.lld
make CC=clang LD=/usr/bin/ld.lld install

Final Installation Attempt:

Action: Ran the modified setup.sh script:
Bash

    sudo ./setup.sh

    And selected option 4 (Reinstall/Update).

    Result: The Linuwu-Sense drivers, DAMX-Daemon, and DAMX-GUI all installed successfully. The damx-daemon.service is running, and the DAMX GUI launches correctly.

Recommendations for Future Versions:

Compiler/Linker Detection: Consider adding logic to setup.sh to detect the kernel's build compiler (gcc vs. clang) and linker (ld vs. lld) and automatically set CC and LD variables for the make calls in Linuwu-Sense. This is crucial for distributions like CachyOS that use clang/LTO kernels.

Documentation for Clang/LTO Kernels: Add a note or a specific section to the installation instructions for users on distributions with clang-built kernels (like CachyOS) detailing the need for clang and lld and how to ensure they are used during compilation.

apt-get vs pacman: Update the install_drivers function's build tools check to be distribution-agnostic or to correctly use pacman for Arch-based systems.

Thank you for providing this valuable tool for Acer laptops on Linux! With these minor adjustments for clang/LTO environments, the installation process can be much smoother for users on such distributions.

Using a Acer Nitro V15 (ANV15-51-57WS) and everything is working just fine.

[PXDiv]

Thank you so much for the workaround. I'll be converting this to a discussion and will be referring everyone here if anyone faces the same issue.
I am really busy with my life rn to update the app with the features, but will be updating the app later.
Thank you so much again