make sure tests still pass with older binutils and add CI target with…

… newer binutils

.github/workflows/test_tests.yaml

@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ jobs:
       fail-fast: true
       matrix:
         python-version: ["3.8", "3.12"] #, "3.9", "3.10", "3.11"]
-        os: [ubuntu-latest, macos-latest]
+        os: [ubuntu-22.04, ubuntu-24.04, macos-latest]
     runs-on: ${{ matrix.os }}
     needs: [build-final-nqcc, build-partial-nqcc]
     steps:

test_framework/test_tests/test_programs.py

@@ -8,6 +8,26 @@
 
 from .. import basic, regalloc
 
+LD_HAS_ERROR_EXECSTACK: bool
+# Check whether our version of ld supports the --error-execstack option
+# Linux w/ binutils 2.42 or later does; earlier binutils and macOS linker don't
+
+if basic.IS_OSX:
+    LD_HAS_ERROR_EXECSTACK = False
+else:
+    try:
+        subprocess.run(
+            "ld --error-execstack -v",
+            shell=True,
+            check=True,
+            text=True,
+            capture_output=True,
+        )
+        # if that didn't throw a CalledProcessError, this option is supported
+        LD_HAS_ERROR_EXECSTACK = True
+    except subprocess.CalledProcessError:
+        LD_HAS_ERROR_EXECSTACK = False
+
 
 def build_compiler_args(source_file: Path) -> List[str]:
     """Given a source file, build the list of files/extra options we need for standalone compilation"""
@@ -66,7 +86,8 @@ def compile_and_run_sanitized(self, source_file: Path) -> None:
             "-O3",
             "-fsanitize=undefined",
         ]
-        if not basic.IS_OSX:
+
+        if LD_HAS_ERROR_EXECSTACK:
             subproc_args.extend(
                 [
                     # Linux only: executable stack should produce linker error (this catches missing execstack note in assembly test files)