Why do I get "Failed to open macho file..." when running program under VSCODE but not under normal shell? - visual-studio-code

Question

I have a C++ program (compiled using CLANG++) that executes CLANG++ to compile another program. When I run this program using OSX shell it runs fine. When I run it under VSCODE debug it runs but following message is displayed: "023-01-12 15:01:02.577820-0800 clang++[10766:1004764] Failed to open macho file at /Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/usr/bin/clang++ for reading: Too many levels of symbolic links". I'm assuming that this message is coming from CLANG++ but I couldn't swear to that. Note, too, that the return code from clang++ is 0.
The routine that executes the compiler is (Note that I also have a routine that runs the compiled program but there isn't any problem with that):
void compileit(){
string codeLoc = "/usr/bin/clang++";
vector<char *> argv;
argv.push_back((char *)codeLoc.c_str());
argv.push_back((char *)"-g");
argv.push_back((char *)"-std=c++14");
argv.push_back((char *)"-otest.a");
argv.push_back((char *)"test.cpp");
argv.push_back((char *)NULL);
pid_t pid;
if ((pid = fork()) < 0) {
cout << "Fork failed" << endl;
exit(999);
}else if (pid > 0) {
cout << "Launching compiler" << endl;
int wstatus;
waitpid(-1, &wstatus, 0);
if (wstatus == 0){
cout << "CPP compiled successfully" << endl;
return;
}else{
cout << "Compile of CPP file failed: " << wstatus << endl;
}
}else{
int status = execv(codeLoc.c_str(),&argv[0]);
cout << "Couldn't launch the compiler" << endl;
exit(998);
}
}
type here
The program being compiled (by the code above) is:
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
cout << "\nhello world" << endl;
return 0;
}
type here
The launch.json file is:
{
"version": "0.2.0",
"configurations": [
{
"name": "C/C++: clang++ build and debug active file",
"type": "lldb",
"request": "launch",
"program": "${workspaceFolder}/main",
"args": ["-b1"],
"cwd": "${workspaceFolder}",
"preLaunchTask": "C/C++: clang++ build active file",
}
]
}
And, the output displayed by VSCODE's terminal when I run the program (including the output when it is run) is:
Launching compiler
2023-01-12 15:01:02.577820-0800 clang++[10766:1004764] Failed to open macho file at /Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/usr/bin/clang++ for reading: Too many levels of symbolic links
CPP compiled successfully
From main: Launching test.a
test.a completed successfully
From forked main: Launching test.a
carl#McTreehouse test %
hello world
type here
A caveat: I'm new to Stack Overflow so If I've not provided enough or the correct information please let me know and I'll provide updates. I'm also more of a hobbyist c++ programmer than a professional (my background is Tandem/HP Nonstop TAL/Cobol).
My original code, which was related to a larger project, exhibited this behavior so I tried to reduce the specifics to the code described above. I had hoped that something I was doing in the larger context was causing the problem but after getting the specific code to its minimal state the problem persisted.
I spent some time looking at the VSCODE properties but couldn't spot anything that seemed like a problem. I also went looking for symlinks in the /Library/Developer directory but didn't spot anything (but could have easily missed it).
What I'm concerned about it this behavior showing up randomly when running the larger project from the shell or as a CGI.