Ld fails when trying to create a 'unity' unit test on an M3 mac with platform = native

I am trying to use the unity unit test framework in ‘native’ mode. When it gets to the link step ld fails with the following message:-

ld: archive member '/' not a mach-o file in '/Users/alan/Documents/PlatformIO/Projects/unitytest/.pio/build/native/lib1ea/libUnity.a'

Here’s my platformio.ini file (very simple!)

[env:native]
platform = native
test_framework = unity

Here’s the full build using -vvv for pio test -e native -vvv

alan@Beaky-Mac unitytest % pio test -e native -vvv
Please wait while upgrading PlatformIO...
PlatformIO has been successfully upgraded to 6.1.16a1!

******************************************************************************************************************************************
If you like PlatformIO, please:
- star it on GitHub > https://github.com/platformio/platformio-core
- follow us on LinkedIn to stay up-to-date on the latest project news > https://www.linkedin.com/company/platformio/
- try PlatformIO IDE for embedded development > https://platformio.org/platformio-ide
******************************************************************************************************************************************

Collected 1 tests (test_dummy)

Processing test_dummy in native environment
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Building...
LDF: Library Dependency Finder -> https://bit.ly/configure-pio-ldf
LDF Modes: Finder ~ chain, Compatibility ~ soft
Found 2 compatible libraries
Scanning dependencies...
Dependency Graph
|-- Unity @ 2.5.2 (License: MIT, Path: /Users/alan/Documents/PlatformIO/Projects/unitytest/.pio/libdeps/native/Unity)
Building in test mode
gcc -o .pio/build/native/unity_config_build/unity_config.o -c -DPLATFORMIO=60116 -DPIO_UNIT_TESTING -DUNIT_TEST -DUNITY_INCLUDE_CONFIG_H -Iinclude -Isrc -I.pio/libdeps/native/Unity/src -I.pio/build/native/unity_config -I.pio/build/native/unity_config -Itest/test_dummy -Itest .pio/build/native/unity_config/unity_config.c
g++ -o .pio/build/native/test/test_dummy/test_dummy.o -c -std=c++11 -DPLATFORMIO=60116 -DPIO_UNIT_TESTING -DUNIT_TEST -DUNITY_INCLUDE_CONFIG_H -Iinclude -Isrc -I.pio/libdeps/native/Unity/src -I.pio/build/native/unity_config -I.pio/build/native/unity_config -Itest/test_dummy -Itest test/test_dummy/test_dummy.cpp
gcc -o .pio/build/native/lib1ea/Unity/unity.o -c -DPLATFORMIO=60116 -DPIO_UNIT_TESTING -DUNITY_INCLUDE_CONFIG_H -I.pio/libdeps/native/Unity/src -I.pio/build/native/unity_config .pio/libdeps/native/Unity/src/unity.c
ar rc .pio/build/native/lib1ea/libUnity.a .pio/build/native/lib1ea/Unity/unity.o
ranlib .pio/build/native/lib1ea/libUnity.a
g++ -o .pio/build/native/program .pio/build/native/unity_config_build/unity_config.o .pio/build/native/test/test_dummy/test_dummy.o -L.pio/build/native .pio/build/native/lib1ea/libUnity.a
ld: archive member '/' not a mach-o file in '/Users/alan/Documents/PlatformIO/Projects/unitytest/.pio/build/native/lib1ea/libUnity.a'
collect2: error: ld returned 1 exit status
*** [.pio/build/native/program] Error 1
Building stage has failed, see errors above. Use `pio test -vvv` option to enable verbose output.
--------------------------------------------- native:test_dummy [ERRORED] Took 0.46 seconds ---------------------------------------------

================================================================ SUMMARY ================================================================
Environment    Test        Status    Duration
-------------  ----------  --------  ------------
native         test_dummy  ERRORED   00:00:00.458
=============================================== 1 test cases: 0 succeeded in 00:00:00.458 ===============================================

I am using the gcc and g++ compilers installed via brew, but the linker appears to the be the Apple ld and the gcc project says that that is the linker to use on a Mac.

What am I doing wrong?

Thanks!

Ok, found out the problem - the issue is actually to do with the version of ‘ar’ that is used. The correct version is /usr/bin/ar - normally part of the Mac CommandLineTools. I had installed homebrew binutils which was at the beginning of the path, and the ar included by that causes the problem. The fix (at least to get platformio going properly) was to uninstall the binutils package using ‘brew uninstall binutils’