Anchor Deploy Error: ELF error: Multiple or no text sections, consider removing llc option: -function-sections

1

I'm trying to deploy a Solana program created with Anchor framework. The program compiles successfully with both cargo build and anchor build commands, but when I try to deploy it using anchor deploy, I'm receiving the following error:

Deploying cluster: https://api.devnet.solana.com
Upgrade authority: /home/joao-pedro/.config/solana/id.json
Deploying program "sollearning"...
Program path: /home/joao-pedro/Documents/projects/new-sollearning/sollearning/target/deploy/sollearning.so...
Error: ELF error: ELF error: Multiple or no text sections, consider removing llc option: -function-sections
There was a problem deploying: Output { status: ExitStatus(unix_wait_status(256)), stdout: "", stderr: "" }.

This happens regardless of whether I try to deploy to localnet (using a local solana-test-validator) or to devnet - the same error occurs in both environments. The text section isn't generated, and I don't know why.

The strange part is that the build process seems to complete without errors:

  • anchor build runs successfully and produces a .so file in the target directory
  • cargo build completes without errors
  • cargo check passes

But when trying to deploy, the ELF file seems to be incorrectly generated, even though there are no build errors.

I've also tried:

  • Cleaning the project with anchor clean and rebuilding
  • Checking for compatibility issues between Solana CLI and Anchor versions
  • Verifying the Cargo.toml configuration for any problematic compiler flags
  • Uninstalling and reinstalling the tools (Solana, Rust, Anchor, etc.)
  • Migrating the project and all its files to a completely fresh directory, but the issue persisted
  • Investigating the generated .so file, which is suspiciously small (only 784 bytes) despite the build process completing without any errors or warnings

Project Structure

This is a standard Anchor project created with anchor init. The program appears to build correctly, but the generated .so file seems to have issues with its ELF format.

Environment

  • Solana CLI version: solana-cli 2.1.16 (src:a5744e79; feat:3271415109, client:Agave)
  • Anchor version: anchor-cli 0.31.0
  • Rust version: rustc 1.87.0-nightly (4d30011f6 2025-03-15)
  • Operating System: Ubuntu 24.04.2 LTS (Noble)

Why is this happening and how can I try to resolve it?

2

I don't think many people here are familiar with Anchor. You may want to ask on their Discord or stack exchange instead.

3

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