./sage -b should fail gracefully when no C compiler available

[startakovsky]

Hello, I am just getting started developing in Sage. I followed the directions here on my Linux Machine:

​http://www.sagemath.org/doc/developer/coding_in_python.html#creating-a-new-directory

but the sage command prompt wasn't recognizing the from sage.<package-name>.all import * command.

After restarting, the issue wasn't fixed. So I ran ./sage -b based on the preceding subsection of the link above.

Now I can't even run sage.

Why would this occur? What can be done to fix this problem?

Attached is the output from the ./sage -b DIRECTLY FOLLOWED by output when I try to run ./sage now.

This is my first programming experience. Thank you.

[jdemeyer]

What happens if you download Sage, don't run ./sage -b and simply run ./sage?

[jdemeyer]

Do you have a C compiler? If you want to develop Sage, you need to install gcc.

[startakovsky]

Hi, I don't know whether I had a C compiler, and if I didn't and it's a prerequisite, then maybe that should be noted?

To answer the other question, Sage worked perfectly as a prebuilt binary. Then I tried to add a package and rebuild and got the error mentioned here. After building from source however, I no longer have this problem and sage builds perfectly and quickly with any modification I have been making to the source. So this ticket is more around the binary than anything else.

[jdemeyer]

Replying to startakovsky:

Hi, I don't know whether I had a C compiler, and if I didn't and it's a prerequisite, then maybe that should be noted?

It is indeed a prerequisite for developing Sage.

[startakovsky]

So it is a prerequisite for developing Sage, but not a prerequisite for running Sage and therefore is not and should not come with the Sage Binary. Is that correct and should we then close this ticket?

[jdemeyer]

In any case, it is sort-of duplicate of #11162.

But even without a C compiler, running ./sage -b should not destroy Sage. So I think that's still a bug.