If you’ve tried compiling MySQL/MariaDB/XtraDB from source code on Windows, you may have run into the following error:

C:\GnuWin32\bin\bison.exe: m4: Invalid argument

Now, it is a known bug to receive this error if you install it to a location with spaces in the path. So don’t do that!

But, there are cases when you have not installed it to a path with spaces, and you still receive this error.

I’ve encountered it a number of times, and I’m not the only one (btw, thanks Venu for your existing work-around up to this point!).

…

Problem:

Compile MySQL/MariaDB/XtraDB on Windows and receive the following error …

The other day, I posted a “how-to” article for building MySQL 5.5 on Windows from the source code tree.

In an attempt to keep the post as brief as possible, I omitted many outputs, as well as a number of common bugs/problems one could encounter, and so I just wanted to follow-up with some of that in this “appendix” of sorts.

This way, folks who run into any issues might find solutions to those problems here.

I’ll start with the outputs first, followed by the common problems.

Outputs (When works as expected):

..

Output from Obtaining Source Code:

C:\Users\Chris>cd C:\

C:\>bzr init-repo --trees mysql-5.5
Shared repository with trees (format: 2a)
Location:
  shared repository: mysql-5.5

C:\>cd mysql-5.5

C:\mysql-5.5>bzr branch lp:mysql-server/5.5 mysql-5.5
Connected (version …