title: helloworld.c fails to compile with 100+ errors
body: <p>I believe I am dealing with some kind of corrupted library.  I wrote the following code:</p>
  
  <pre><code>//helloworld.c                                                                  
  
  #include &lt;stdio.h&gt;
  
  int main()
  {
    printf("Hello, world!\n");
  
    return 0;
  }
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>And compiled it with the following command:</p>
  
  <pre><code>gcc helloworld.c
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>The errors I got were many.  Here is a sample:</p>
  
  <pre><code>/usr/include/stdio.h:510: error: expected ‘)’ before ‘*’ token
  /usr/include/stdio.h:514: error: expected ‘=’, ‘,’, ‘;’, ‘asm’ or ‘__attribute__’ before ‘__wur’
  /usr/include/stdio.h:517: error: expected ‘=’, ‘,’, ‘;’, ‘asm’ or ‘__attribute__’ before ‘__THROW’
  /usr/include/stdio.h:524: error: expected declaration specifiers before ‘__END_NAMESPACE_C99’
  /usr/include/stdio.h:534: error: expected ‘)’ before ‘*’ token
  /usr/include/stdio.h:540: error: storage class specified for parameter ‘getchar’
  /usr/include/stdio.h:541: error: expected declaration specifiers before ‘__END_NAMESPACE_STD’
  /usr/include/stdio.h:553: error: storage class specified for parameter ‘getchar_unlocked’
  /usr/include/stdio.h:563: error: expected ‘)’ before ‘*’ token
  /usr/include/stdio.h:567: error: expected declaration specifiers before ‘__BEGIN_NAMESPACE_STD’
  /usr/include/stdio.h:576: error: expected declaration specifiers or ‘...’ before ‘FILE’
  /usr/include/stdio.h:576: error: storage class specified for parameter ‘putc’
  /usr/include/stdio.h:582: error: storage class specified for parameter ‘putchar’
  /usr/include/stdio.h:583: error: expected declaration specifiers before ‘__END_NAMESPACE_STD’
  /usr/include/stdio.h:604: error: expected declaration specifiers or ‘...’ before ‘FILE’
  /usr/include/stdio.h:604: error: storage class specified for parameter ‘putc_unlocked’
  /usr/include/stdio.h:605: error: storage class specified for parameter ‘putchar_unlocked’
  /usr/include/stdio.h:612: error: expected ‘)’ before ‘*’ token
  /usr/include/stdio.h:615: error: expected declaration specifiers or ‘...’ before ‘FILE’
  /usr/include/stdio.h:615: error: storage class specified for parameter ‘putw’
  /usr/include/stdio.h:619: error: expected declaration specifiers before ‘__BEGIN_NAMESPACE_STD’
  /usr/include/stdio.h:632: error: expected ‘=’, ‘,’, ‘;’, ‘asm’ or ‘__attribute__’ before ‘__wur’
  /usr/include/stdio.h:633: error: expected declaration specifiers before ‘__END_NAMESPACE_STD’
  /usr/include/stdio.h:661: error: expected ‘=’, ‘,’, ‘;’, ‘asm’ or ‘__attribute__’ before ‘getdelim’
  /usr/include/stdio.h:671: error: expected ‘=’, ‘,’, ‘;’, ‘asm’ or ‘__attribute__’ before ‘getline’
  /usr/include/stdio.h:677: error: expected declaration specifiers before ‘__BEGIN_NAMESPACE_STD’
  /usr/include/stdio.h:688: error: storage class specified for parameter ‘puts’
  /usr/include/stdio.h:695: error: expected declaration specifiers or ‘...’ before ‘FILE’
  /usr/include/stdio.h:695: error: storage class specified for parameter ‘ungetc’
  /usr/include/stdio.h:702: error: expected ‘=’, ‘,’, ‘;’, ‘asm’ or ‘__attribute__’ before ‘fread’
  /usr/include/stdio.h:708: error: expected ‘=’, ‘,’, ‘;’, ‘asm’ or ‘__attribute__’ before ‘fwrite’
  /usr/include/stdio.h:710: error: expected declaration specifiers before ‘__END_NAMESPACE_STD’
  /usr/include/stdio.h:732: error: expected ‘=’, ‘,’, ‘;’, ‘asm’ or ‘__attribute__’ before ‘fwrite_unlocked’
  /usr/include/stdio.h:737: error: expected declaration specifiers before ‘__BEGIN_NAMESPACE_STD’
  /usr/include/stdio.h:747: error: expected ‘)’ before ‘*’ token
  /usr/include/stdio.h:752: error: expected ‘)’ before ‘*’ token
  /usr/include/stdio.h:753: error: expected declaration specifiers before ‘__END_NAMESPACE_STD’
  /usr/include/stdio.h:771: error: expected ‘=’, ‘,’, ‘;’, ‘asm’ or ‘__attribute__’ before ‘ftello’
  /usr/include/stdio.h:785: error: expected declaration specifiers before ‘__BEGIN_NAMESPACE_STD’
  /usr/include/stdio.h:796: error: expected ‘)’ before ‘*’ token
  /usr/include/stdio.h:808: error: expected declaration specifiers before ‘__END_NAMESPACE_STD’
  /usr/include/stdio.h:821: error: expected ‘)’ before ‘*’ token
  /usr/include/stdio.h:823: error: expected ‘)’ before ‘*’ token
  /usr/include/stdio.h:824: error: expected declaration specifiers before ‘__END_NAMESPACE_STD’
  /usr/include/stdio.h:829: error: expected ‘)’ before ‘*’ token
  /usr/include/stdio.h:830: error: expected ‘)’ before ‘*’ token
  /usr/include/stdio.h:834: error: expected declaration specifiers before ‘__BEGIN_NAMESPACE_STD’
  /usr/include/stdio.h:840: error: expected declaration specifiers before ‘__END_NAMESPACE_STD’
  /usr/include/stdio.h:846:30: error: bits/sys_errlist.h: No such file or directory
  /usr/include/stdio.h:856: error: expected ‘)’ before ‘*’ token
  /usr/include/stdio.h:866: error: expected ‘=’, ‘,’, ‘;’, ‘asm’ or ‘__attribute__’ before ‘*’ token
  /usr/include/stdio.h:872: error: expected ‘)’ before ‘*’ token
  /usr/include/stdio.h:878: error: expected ‘=’, ‘,’, ‘;’, ‘asm’ or ‘__attribute__’ before ‘__THROW’
  /usr/include/stdio.h:906: error: expected ‘)’ before ‘*’ token
  /usr/include/stdio.h:910: error: expected ‘)’ before ‘*’ token
  /usr/include/stdio.h:913: error: expected ‘)’ before ‘*’ token
  /usr/include/stdio.h:936: error: expected declaration specifiers before ‘__END_DECLS’
  helloworld.c:10: error: old-style parameter declarations in prototyped function definition
  helloworld.c:10: error: expected ‘{’ at end of input
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>FWIW, I'm running Ubuntu 11.10; a fairly recent install.  I presume there was something I failed to do when installing, but I have never had this problem before.  I would appreciate any advice, and can answer any questions you may have to help me clarify/narrow down the problem.  Thanks again!</p>
  
  <p>EDIT: Thanks for your advice, folks, but I am still lost.  I've uninstalled/reinstalled libc-dev-bin, libc6-dev, gcc and dpkg.  It's been recommended that I ask the package manager where crt1.o and crti.o are, but I'm afraid I don't know how to do this.</p>
  
  <p>Is there a surefire, brute-force way to completely rebuild all the libraries and headers, short of reinstalling Ubuntu?  If there isn't, I may just decide to reinstall.</p>