Build Error: cannot initialize a variable of type 'int8_t *' with an rvalue of type 'const int8_t

Start at src/ggml-bitnet-mad.cpp around line 811 and reproduce the reported build with the project’s Windows or Debian configuration. Check the const-qualified pointer initialization and verify that the build completes with the relevant compiler; done means the reported compilation error is resolved without introducing new diagnostics.

On Windows and Debian, I had compilation problems along this line:

https://github.com/microsoft/BitNet/blob/01eb415772c342d9f20dc42772f1583ae1e5b102/src/ggml-bitnet-mad.cpp#L811

Error:

error: cannot initialize a variable of type 'int8_t *' with an rvalue of type 'const int8_t *'
int8_t * y_col = y + col * by;

So after adding a const to that variable, the build works perfectly.

Relevant informations:

===== SYSTEM =====
Linux debian 6.1.0-43-amd64 #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Debian 6.1.162-1 (2026-02-08) x86_64 GNU/Linux

===== OS =====
PRETTY_NAME="Debian GNU/Linux 12 (bookworm)"
NAME="Debian GNU/Linux"

===== CLANG =====
/usr/bin/clang
Debian clang version 20.1.8 (++20250708063551+0c9f909b7976-1~exp1~20250708183702.136)
Target: x86_64-pc-linux-gnu
Thread model: posix
InstalledDir: /usr/lib/llvm-20/bin

===== LLVM =====
/usr/bin/llvm-config-20
20.1.8

===== CMAKE =====
/usr/bin/cmake
cmake version 3.25.1

CMake suite maintained and supported by Kitware (kitware.com/cmake).

===== PYTHON =====
/home/user/Documentos/Codigos/bitnet/venv/bin/python3
Python 3.11.2

===== GCC (compat libs) =====
gcc (Debian 12.2.0-14+deb12u1) 12.2.0
Copyright (C) 2022 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
This is free software; see the source for copying conditions.  There is NO
warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

g++ (Debian 12.2.0-14+deb12u1) 12.2.0
Copyright (C) 2022 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
This is free software; see the source for copying conditions.  There is NO
warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

===== CLANG VERBOSE =====
Debian clang version 20.1.8 (++20250708063551+0c9f909b7976-1~exp1~20250708183702.136)
Target: x86_64-pc-linux-gnu
Thread model: posix
InstalledDir: /usr/lib/llvm-20/bin
Found candidate GCC installation: /usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/12
Selected GCC installation: /usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/12
Candidate multilib: .;@m64
Selected multilib: .;@m64