Cargo expects libffi-sys v4.1.0 while Linux trixie tells me I have the newest version of libffi-dev installed?

help
1

What do you do in such cases provided it is not an error coming from the cargo compiler?

I am trying to install deno using cargo on, using:

$ uname -a
Linux LAPTOP-QS14DNGD 6.6.87.2-microsoft-standard-WSL2 #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Thu Jun  5 18:30:46 UTC 2025 x86_64 GNU/Linux

$ which cargo
/usr/bin/cargo

$ cargo --version
cargo 1.95.0 (f2d3ce0bd 2026-03-21) (built from a source tarball)

$ sudo apt install libffi-dev
libffi-dev is already the newest version (3.7.1-2).

$ sudo dpkg -l | grep libffi
ii  libffi-dev:amd64      3.7.1-2     amd64        Foreign Function Interface library (development files)
ii  libffi8:amd64         3.7.1-2     amd64        Foreign Function Interface library runtime
$

 time( cargo install "${_KD}" --locked > "${_LOG}" 2>&1 ) >> "${_LOG}" 2>&1
 cat "${_LOG}"
 . . .
   Compiling deno_crypto_provider v0.51.0
   Compiling imara-diff v0.2.0
   Compiling ecb v0.1.2
warning: libffi-sys@4.1.0: Configuring libffi failed with exit status: 1
error: failed to run custom build command for `libffi-sys v4.1.0`

Caused by:
  process didn't exit successfully: `/mnt/c/ . . . /cargo/deno/20260813213503.664/release/build/libffi-sys-0619ac91dcd73575/build-script-build` (exit status: 101)
  --- stdout
  checking build system type... x86_64-pc-linux-gnu
  checking host system type... x86_64-pc-linux-gnu
  checking target system type... x86_64-pc-linux-gnu
  continue configure in default builddir "./x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu"
  ....exec /bin/bash .././configure "--srcdir=.." "--enable-builddir=x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu" "linux
  gnu"
  cargo:warning=Configuring libffi failed with exit status: 1

  --- stderr
  .././configure: line 2214: config.log: No such file or directory
  .././configure: line 2224: config.log: No such file or directory
  cat: standard output: No such file or directory

  thread 'main' (40931) panicked at /home/lbrtchx/.cargo/registry/src/index.crates.io-1949cf8c6b5b557f/libffi-sys-4.1.0/build/not_msvc.rs:155:5:
  Configuring libffi: exit status: 1 (cd "/mnt/c/ . . . /tmp/cargo/deno/20260813213503.664/release/build/libffi-sys-0d1a5a2574274e9a/out/libffi-build" && CC="cc" CFLAGS="-O0 -ffunction-sections -fdata-sections -fPIC -m64 -w" LC_ALL="C" "sh" "./configure" "--with-pic" "--disable-shared" "--disable-docs" "--prefix" "/mnt/c/ . . . /tmp/cargo/deno/20260813213503.664/release/build/libffi-sys-0d1a5a2574274e9a/out/libffi-root")
  note: run with `RUST_BACKTRACE=1` environment variable to display a backtrace
warning: build failed, waiting for other jobs to finish...
error: failed to compile `deno v2.9.5`, intermediate artifacts can be found at `/mnt/c/ . . . /tmp/cargo/deno/20260813213503.664`.
To reuse those artifacts with a future compilation, set the environment variable `CARGO_BUILD_BUILD_DIR` to that path.

real	47m0.229s
user	95m58.442s
sys	10m57.125s

~
lbrtchx

2

You can use triple bqckquotes to mark code blocks, like this:

```
This is code.
Which is readable when formatted like this. 
```

As it is, it is very hard to read your post.

3

it looks like your source tree is located at an ntfs file system? maybe the autoconf script has compatibility issues with windows paths.

try again from a linux native filesystem.

btw, I think the libffi-sys crate is building libffi from source by default, you need to enable a feature flag for it to link your system installed libffi. but I know nothing about deno, I don't know if deno enabled the feature or not.

4

Yes, I am running cargo on WSL2 (Windows 11/NTFS). That might explain what the problem is. Let me seek help by the deno community.

5

You probably want to move the target directory to the internal filesystem of WSL2 rather than use the mount of the host filesystem in /mnt/c.