fix elb linker: remove runtime imports from el-install, add --clean, catch in dev/stage CI

el-install.el explicitly imported runtime/*.el modules (string, env, fs, exec,
json, http), which elb compiled to .c files in the shared dist/bin out_dir.
Linking those alongside el_runtime.c caused multiple definition errors for
every runtime function (http_get, http_patch, etc.). The runtime .el files are
thin wrappers over seed primitives already compiled into el_runtime.c — no
import needed.

Fixes:
- Remove all explicit runtime imports from el-install.el (root cause)
- Add --clean to every elb invocation in sdk-release.yaml so each build
  starts with a clean out_dir (defense-in-depth against stale .c files)
- Add elb build + epm/el-install build steps to ci-dev.yaml and ci-stage.yaml
  so linker errors are caught on every PR, not just stage->main

.gitea/workflows/ci-dev.yaml

@@ -174,6 +174,28 @@ jobs:
             -lcurl -lssl -lcrypto -lpthread -lm -o /tmp/el_native_fs
           /tmp/el_native_fs
 
+      # Build epm binary using elb (epm lives at repo root, not inside lang/)
+      - name: Build epm
+        run: |
+          ABS_ELB="$(pwd)/dist/bin/elb"
+          ABS_ELC="$(pwd)/dist/platform/elc"
+          ABS_RUNTIME="$(pwd)/el-compiler/runtime"
+          ABS_OUT="$(pwd)/dist/bin"
+          (cd ../epm && "$ABS_ELB" --clean --elc="$ABS_ELC" --runtime="$ABS_RUNTIME" --out="$ABS_OUT")
+          chmod +x dist/bin/epm
+          echo "epm built"
+
+      # Build el-install binary using elb
+      - name: Build el-install
+        run: |
+          ABS_ELB="$(pwd)/dist/bin/elb"
+          ABS_ELC="$(pwd)/dist/platform/elc"
+          ABS_RUNTIME="$(pwd)/el-compiler/runtime"
+          ABS_OUT="$(pwd)/dist/bin"
+          (cd tools/install && "$ABS_ELB" --clean --elc="$ABS_ELC" --runtime="$ABS_RUNTIME" --out="$ABS_OUT")
+          chmod +x dist/bin/el-install
+          echo "el-install built"
+
       # Publish only after merge (push event), not on PR validation runs
       - name: Publish El SDK to Artifact Registry (dev)
         if: github.event_name == 'push'

.gitea/workflows/ci-stage.yaml

@@ -170,6 +170,42 @@ jobs:
             -lcurl -lssl -lcrypto -lpthread -lm -o /tmp/el_native_fs
           /tmp/el_native_fs
 
+      # Build elb (needed for epm and el-install builds below)
+      - name: Build elb
+        run: |
+          mkdir -p dist/bin
+          dist/platform/elc elb.el > dist/elb.c
+          gcc -O2 \
+            -I el-compiler/runtime \
+            dist/elb.c \
+            el-compiler/runtime/el_runtime.c \
+            -lcurl -lssl -lcrypto -lpthread -lm \
+            -o dist/bin/elb
+          chmod +x dist/bin/elb
+          echo "elb built"
+
+      # Build epm binary using elb (epm lives at repo root, not inside lang/)
+      - name: Build epm
+        run: |
+          ABS_ELB="$(pwd)/dist/bin/elb"
+          ABS_ELC="$(pwd)/dist/platform/elc"
+          ABS_RUNTIME="$(pwd)/el-compiler/runtime"
+          ABS_OUT="$(pwd)/dist/bin"
+          (cd ../epm && "$ABS_ELB" --clean --elc="$ABS_ELC" --runtime="$ABS_RUNTIME" --out="$ABS_OUT")
+          chmod +x dist/bin/epm
+          echo "epm built"
+
+      # Build el-install binary using elb
+      - name: Build el-install
+        run: |
+          ABS_ELB="$(pwd)/dist/bin/elb"
+          ABS_ELC="$(pwd)/dist/platform/elc"
+          ABS_RUNTIME="$(pwd)/el-compiler/runtime"
+          ABS_OUT="$(pwd)/dist/bin"
+          (cd tools/install && "$ABS_ELB" --clean --elc="$ABS_ELC" --runtime="$ABS_RUNTIME" --out="$ABS_OUT")
+          chmod +x dist/bin/el-install
+          echo "el-install built"
+
       # Publish only after merge (push event), not on PR validation runs
       - name: Publish El SDK to Artifact Registry (stage)
         if: github.event_name == 'push'

.gitea/workflows/sdk-release.yaml

@@ -77,7 +77,7 @@ jobs:
           ABS_ELC="$(pwd)/dist/platform/elc"
           ABS_RUNTIME="$(pwd)/el-compiler/runtime"
           ABS_OUT="$(pwd)/dist/bin"
-          (cd ../epm && "$ABS_ELB" --elc="$ABS_ELC" --runtime="$ABS_RUNTIME" --out="$ABS_OUT")
+          (cd ../epm && "$ABS_ELB" --clean --elc="$ABS_ELC" --runtime="$ABS_RUNTIME" --out="$ABS_OUT")
           chmod +x dist/bin/epm
           echo "epm built"
 
@@ -88,7 +88,7 @@ jobs:
           ABS_ELC="$(pwd)/dist/platform/elc"
           ABS_RUNTIME="$(pwd)/el-compiler/runtime"
           ABS_OUT="$(pwd)/dist/bin"
-          (cd tools/install && "$ABS_ELB" --elc="$ABS_ELC" --runtime="$ABS_RUNTIME" --out="$ABS_OUT")
+          (cd tools/install && "$ABS_ELB" --clean --elc="$ABS_ELC" --runtime="$ABS_RUNTIME" --out="$ABS_OUT")
           chmod +x dist/bin/el-install
           echo "el-install built"
 

lang/elb.el

@@ -271,7 +271,10 @@ fn link_binary(c_files: [String], out_bin: String, runtime_path: String, out_dir
     let parts: [String] = native_list_empty()
     // Include both the runtime dir (for el_runtime.h) and the output dir
     // (for module.elh cross-module forward declarations).
-    let parts = native_list_append(parts, "cc -O2 -fbracket-depth=1024 -I " + dirname_of(runtime_path) + " -I " + out_dir)
+    // Detect clang vs gcc: -fbracket-depth is clang-only; silently ignored
+    // if unsupported but gcc rejects it with an error.
+    let bracket_flag: String = "$(cc --version 2>&1 | grep -q clang && printf -- '-fbracket-depth=1024' || true)"
+    let parts = native_list_append(parts, "cc -O2 " + bracket_flag + " -I " + dirname_of(runtime_path) + " -I " + out_dir)
     let i = 0
     while i < n {
         let f: String = native_list_get(c_files, i)
@@ -279,7 +282,7 @@ fn link_binary(c_files: [String], out_bin: String, runtime_path: String, out_dir
         let i = i + 1
     }
     let parts = native_list_append(parts, runtime_path)
-    let parts = native_list_append(parts, "-lcurl -lpthread -lm")
+    let parts = native_list_append(parts, "-lcurl -lssl -lcrypto -lpthread -lm")
     let parts = native_list_append(parts, "-o " + out_bin)
     let cmd: String = str_join(parts, " ")
     println("  link     " + out_bin)

lang/tools/install/el-install.el

@@ -10,15 +10,6 @@
 //   export PATH="$HOME/.el/bin:$PATH"
 //   export EL_HOME="$HOME/.el"
 
-// ── Imports ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
-
-import "../../runtime/string.el"
-import "../../runtime/env.el"
-import "../../runtime/fs.el"
-import "../../runtime/exec.el"
-import "../../runtime/json.el"
-import "../../runtime/http.el"
-
 // ── Constants ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 
 fn gitea_releases_url() -> String {