From 9aa84b5e3ad7aca24c3481edb69f9e678c9250c2 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Yawning Angel <yawning@schwanenlied.me>
Date: Fri, 7 Aug 2026 14:29:08 +0900
Subject: [PATCH] src: Use `posix_spawnp` instead of `system()` when invoking
 the linker

Thanks to Matteo on discord for pointing this out.
---
 src/common.cpp | 69 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 src/linker.cpp |  3 ++-
 src/main.cpp   | 23 ++++++++++++++---
 3 files changed, 91 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)

diff --git a/src/common.cpp b/src/common.cpp
index 3b4557cde..0c0633794 100644
--- a/src/common.cpp
+++ b/src/common.cpp
@@ -739,6 +739,75 @@ gb_internal wchar_t **command_line_to_wargv(wchar_t *cmd_line, int *_argc, isize
 	return argv;
 }
 
+#elif defined(GB_SYSTEM_OSX) || defined(GB_SYSTEM_UNIX)
+
+gb_internal char **command_line_to_spawn_argv(const char *cmd_line, int *_argc) {
+	u32 i, j;
+
+	u32 len = cast(u32)strlen(cmd_line);
+	i = len*gb_size_of(void *) + gb_size_of(void *);
+
+	char **argv = cast(char **)gb_alloc(gb_heap_allocator(), i + (len+1));
+	char *_argv = (cast(char *)argv)+i;
+
+	u32 argc = 0;
+	argv[argc] = _argv;
+	bool in_quote = false;
+	bool in_text = false;
+	bool in_space = true;
+	i = 0;
+	j = 0;
+
+	for (;;) {
+		char a = cmd_line[i];
+		if (a == 0) {
+			break;
+		}
+		if (in_quote) {
+			if (a == '\"') {
+				in_quote = false;
+			} else {
+				_argv[j++] = a;
+			}
+		} else {
+			switch (a) {
+			case '\"':
+				in_quote = true;
+				in_text = true;
+				if (in_space) {
+					// check_double_dash();
+					argv[argc++] = _argv + j;
+				}
+				in_space = false;
+				break;
+			case ' ':
+			case '\t':
+			case '\n':
+			case '\r':
+				if (in_text) _argv[j++] = '\0';
+				in_text = false;
+				in_space = true;
+				break;
+			default:
+				in_text = true;
+				if (in_space) {
+					// check_double_dash();
+					argv[argc++] = _argv + j;
+				}
+				_argv[j++] = a;
+				in_space = false;
+				break;
+			}
+		}
+		i++;
+	}
+	_argv[j] = '\0';
+	argv[argc] = nullptr;
+
+	if (_argc) *_argc = argc;
+	return argv;
+}
+
 #endif
 
 #include "path.cpp"
diff --git a/src/linker.cpp b/src/linker.cpp
index 98d299eb8..cc70849f7 100644
--- a/src/linker.cpp
+++ b/src/linker.cpp
@@ -810,6 +810,7 @@ try_cross_linking:;
 				}
 			} else if (build_context.build_mode != BuildMode_DynamicLibrary) {
 				if (build_context.metrics.os != TargetOs_openbsd
+					&& build_context.metrics.os != TargetOs_darwin
 					&& build_context.metrics.arch != TargetArch_riscv64
 					&& !is_android
 				) {
@@ -961,7 +962,7 @@ try_cross_linking:;
 					if (is_android) {
 						// ignore
 					} else {
-						link_settings = gb_string_appendc(link_settings, "-Wl,-rpath,\\$ORIGIN ");
+						link_settings = gb_string_appendc(link_settings, "-Wl,-rpath,$ORIGIN ");
 					}
 				}
 			}
diff --git a/src/main.cpp b/src/main.cpp
index 306a11689..9bea6416f 100644
--- a/src/main.cpp
+++ b/src/main.cpp
@@ -83,6 +83,10 @@ gb_global Timings global_timings = {0};
 
 #include "bug_report.cpp"
 
+#if defined(GB_SYSTEM_OSX) || defined(GB_SYSTEM_UNIX)
+int run_subprocess(const char *name, const char **args, bool honor_path = false);
+#endif
+
 // NOTE(bill): 'name' is used in debugging and profiling modes
 gb_internal i32 system_exec_command_line_app_internal(bool exit_on_err, char const *name, char const *fmt, va_list va) {
 	isize const cmd_cap = 64<<20; // 64 MiB should be more than enough
@@ -154,7 +158,11 @@ gb_internal i32 system_exec_command_line_app_internal(bool exit_on_err, char con
 		gb_printf_err("[SYSTEM CALL] %s\n", name);
 		gb_printf_err("%s\n\n", cmd_line);
 	}
-	exit_code = system(cmd_line);
+
+	int argc;
+	char **argv = command_line_to_spawn_argv(cmd_line, &argc);
+
+	exit_code = run_subprocess(argv[0], cast(const char**)(argv), true);
 	if (exit_on_err && WIFSIGNALED(exit_code)) {
 		struct rlimit limit = { 0, 0, };
 		setrlimit(RLIMIT_CORE, &limit);
@@ -236,10 +244,19 @@ int run_subprocess(String const &exe_name, wchar_t *after_double_dash_raw) {
 	return exit_code;
 }
 #else
-int run_subprocess(const char *name, const char **args) {
+int run_subprocess(const char *name, const char **args, bool honor_path) {
 	pid_t pid;
 	int status;
-	status = posix_spawn(&pid, name, NULL, NULL, (char *const *)args, environ);
+
+	String exec_name = make_string_c(args[0]);
+	exec_name = last_path_element(exec_name);
+	args[0] = alloc_cstring(gb_heap_allocator(), exec_name);
+
+	if (!honor_path) {
+		status = posix_spawn(&pid, name, NULL, NULL, (char *const *)args, environ);
+	} else {
+		status = posix_spawnp(&pid, name, NULL, NULL, (char *const *)args, environ);
+	}
 	if (status != 0) {
 		gb_printf_err("Could not spawn subprocess: %s\n", strerror(errno));
 		return -1;