From 4219037faf573da8094ae8083d5ae01da6bdff6e Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: =?UTF-8?q?Alex=20R=C3=B8nne=20Petersen?= <alex@alexrp.com>
Date: Thu, 26 Mar 2026 05:41:15 +0100
Subject: [PATCH] compiler: default to PIC if the target defaults to PIE

Otherwise, by default and with no special flags, we produce objects and static
libraries that cannot be linked into executables.
---
 src/Compilation/Config.zig | 7 +------
 src/Package/Module.zig     | 8 ++++++--
 src/target.zig             | 9 ++++++++-
 3 files changed, 15 insertions(+), 9 deletions(-)

diff --git a/src/Compilation/Config.zig b/src/Compilation/Config.zig
index e4f85b7a48094d82911c1831ca00e30b5f75c85d..7f966725371adc0873fe4e0744c34aaf958bad7b 100644
--- a/src/Compilation/Config.zig
+++ b/src/Compilation/Config.zig
@@ -472,12 +472,7 @@ pub fn resolve(options: Options) ResolveError!Config {
             break :b true;
         }
         if (options.pie) |pie| break :b pie;
-        break :b if (options.output_mode == .Exe) switch (target.os.tag) {
-            .fuchsia,
-            .openbsd,
-            => true,
-            else => target.os.tag.isDarwin(),
-        } else false;
+        break :b if (options.output_mode == .Exe) target_util.defaultPie(target) else false;
     };
 
     const lto: std.zig.LtoMode = b: {
diff --git a/src/Package/Module.zig b/src/Package/Module.zig
index a922af2da5c26e2c2f2001889c1212d3af57893d..d6ec7f8aafb232d7e619944c4891829d154e55df 100644
--- a/src/Package/Module.zig
+++ b/src/Package/Module.zig
@@ -168,7 +168,7 @@ pub fn create(arena: Allocator, options: CreateOptions) !*Package.Module {
     };
 
     const pic = b: {
-        if (target_util.requiresPIC(target, options.global.link_libc)) {
+        if (target_util.requiresPic(target, options.global.link_libc)) {
             if (options.inherited.pic == false)
                 return error.TargetRequiresPic;
             break :b true;
@@ -185,7 +185,11 @@ pub fn create(arena: Allocator, options: CreateOptions) !*Package.Module {
         }
         if (options.inherited.pic) |x| break :b x;
         if (options.parent) |p| break :b p.pic;
-        break :b false;
+
+        // Default to PIC on targets where we default to producing PIEs to make
+        // the common case of linking objects and static libraries into an
+        // executable work out of the box.
+        break :b target_util.defaultPie(target);
     };
 
     const red_zone = b: {
diff --git a/src/target.zig b/src/target.zig
index ca65239a0950bb4d52508655b9040d1cf2b62872..e5df8c86a7a0a409011cac1d7303eb4f8d54e794 100644
--- a/src/target.zig
+++ b/src/target.zig
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ pub fn libCxxNeedsLibUnwind(target: *const std.Target) bool {
 }
 
 /// This function returns whether non-pic code is completely invalid on the given target.
-pub fn requiresPIC(target: *const std.Target, linking_libc: bool) bool {
+pub fn requiresPic(target: *const std.Target, linking_libc: bool) bool {
     return target.abi.isAndroid() or
         ((target.os.tag == .windows or target.os.tag == .uefi) and (target.cpu.arch == .aarch64 or target.cpu.arch == .x86_64)) or
         target.requiresLibC() or
@@ -84,6 +84,13 @@ pub fn supports_fpic(target: *const std.Target) bool {
     };
 }
 
+pub fn defaultPie(target: *const std.Target) bool {
+    return switch (target.os.tag) {
+        .openbsd => true,
+        else => target.os.tag.isDarwin(),
+    };
+}
+
 pub fn alwaysSingleThreaded(target: *const std.Target) bool {
     _ = target;
     return false;
-- 
2.54.0