Gcc error: gcc: error trying to exec 'cc1'

Question

I have been successfully using gcc on Linux Mint 12. Now I am getting an error. I have recently been doing some .so builds and installed Clang not to long ago, but have successfully compiled since both of those events, so not sure what has changed. I used the GUI Software Manager to remove and then install gcc again, but the results are the same:

~/code/c/ut: which gcc                                                                                                     
/usr/bin/gcc

~/code/c/ut: gcc -std=c99 -Wall -Wextra -g -c object.c                                                                      
gcc: error trying to exec 'cc1': execvp: No such file or directory

Answer 1

On CentOS or Fedora

yum install gcc-c++ 

Answer 2

I ran into a similar issue today - a co-worker could not build his software but I could build it. When he ran gcc it could not find cc1.

His executable path looked reasonable but the fact that I could not easily replicate the failure suggested something in his environment as the cause.

Eventually we found GCC_EXEC_PREFIX defined in his environment which was the culprit and was misleading gcc in the search for cc1. This was part of his shell startup scripts and was meant to work around a limitation on a SPARC/Solaris system that is no longer in use. The problem was resolved by not setting this environment variable.

http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/Environment-Variables.html

Answer 3

Just to document my trouble with this issue even though it just appears to be a specific example of other answers; as a relative newbie I feel like this might help others.

Solution:

I added '/usr/bin' to the beginning of PATH for a single session using PATH='/usr/path/:$PATH' and everything started to work fine.

I used gedit to update the PATH permanently, after ensuring it wouldn't break my regular toolchains.

Explanation:

I have multiple toolchains installed on Ubuntu 14.04LTS and I use just a couple on a regular basis. When I tried to use gcc from the command line I got the issue describe by the OP. '/usr/bin' is in the PATH but it is behind the other toolchain locations. Turns out the cc1 for those other toolchains is incompatible with gcc.

Answer 4

yum install gcc-c++ did the fix.