/usr/bin/file: No such file or directory

[robinvd]

Not all systems have file in /usr/bin/file as the configure script assumes. Causing the build to fail with:

--- stderr
/home/robin/.cargo/registry/src/git.luolix.top-1ecc6299db9ec823/servo-fontconfig-sys-4.0.7/configure: line 7528: /usr/bin/file: No such file or directory
configure: error: 
*** expat is required. or try to use --enable-libxml2
make: *** [makefile.cargo:83: /tmp/amethyst/target/debug/build/servo-fontconfig-sys-1029551ea313c80f/out/Makefile] Error 1
thread 'main' panicked at 'assertion failed: Command::new("make").env("MAKEFLAGS",
                         env::var("CARGO_MAKEFLAGS").unwrap_or_default()).args(&["-R",
                                                                                 "-f",
                                                                                 "makefile.cargo"]).status().unwrap().success()', /home/robin/.cargo/registry/src/git.luolix.top-1ecc6299db9ec823/servo-fontconfig-sys-4.0.7/build.rs:20:5
note: Run with `RUST_BACKTRACE=1` for a backtrace.

warning: build failed, waiting for other jobs to finish...

[joonazan]

This makes the library hard to build on Nixos.

[jdm]

This is a configure script that's imported directly from the original fontconfig source, so I don't think there's a lot we can do here.

[Fuuzetsu]

It will build if you expose expat.dev, the /usr/bin/file line is a red herring.

[Anton-4]

For future readers (that are using nix):
I wasn't sure what was meant exactly with "exposing expat.dev", I was able to fix the error in my case by adding pkgs.expat pkgs.fontconfig to my packages ( you may be using nativeBuildInputs).

I found that solution here.