Why can't I fix the cygwin1.dll mismatch issue? - cygwin

Question

I'm trying to execute a .sh script (that wasn't written by me) and I get the following error:
0 [main] echo (5320) C:\Program Files\Git\usr\bin\echo.exe: *** fatal error - cygheap base mismatch detected - 0x180343408/0x180317408.
This problem is probably due to using incompatible versions of the cygwin DLL.
Search for cygwin1.dll using the Windows Start->Find/Search facility
and delete all but the most recent version. The most recent version should
reside in x:\cygwin\bin, where 'x' is the drive on which you have
installed the cygwin distribution. Rebooting is also suggested if you
are unable to find another cygwin DLL.
I tried to follow the instructions in the error but I only have one cygwin1.dll file.
So I tried to execute the following command in a git bash shell:
/c/cygwin/bin/man
and I get:
0 [main] man (11952) C:\cygwin\bin\man.exe: *** fatal error - cygheap
base mismatch detected - 0x180317408/0x180343408. This problem is
probably due to using incompatible versions of the cygwin DLL. Search
for cygwin1.dll using the Windows Start->Find/Search facility and
delete all but the most recent version. The most recent version
should reside in x:\cygwin\bin, where 'x' is the drive on which you have installed the cygwin distribution. Rebooting is also suggested
I already tried to disable ASRL options in the exploit protection panel (as suggested by somebody) and reboot but that didn't fix the problem.
If I write
which -a cygwin1.dll
I get:
/c/cygwin/bin/cygwin1.dll
/c/cygwin/bin/cygwin1.dll
It looks like I have two cygwin1.dll but actually I only have one..
I have been searching for a possible solution since days but nothing seems to work for me.
Any suggestion?

Answer 1

While the error message is mentioning cygwin1.dll, it is misleading as the Git for Windows is using MSYS and the file was renamed msys-2.0.dll
Unfortunately the MSYS team forgot to change the error messages when they imported and modified the Cygwin source:

Answer 2

I encountered the same problem while trying to build a certain C/C++ project from source in the Git Bash Terminal.
Based on the previous answers by #Harry and #matzeri it seems that Git Bash is what is causing this problem. To resolve it I had to disable ASLR for all executables in my Cygwin install folder (Usuall C:\cygwin64) using the command
Get-Item -Path "C:\cygwin64\bin\*.exe" | %{ Set-ProcessMitigation -Name $_.Name -Disable ForceRelocateImages }
I restarted the computer and then switched to using Cygwin Terminal and compiled from there.
NB: Cygwin Terminal comes by default with Cygwin installation

Answer 3

Find all the msys-2.0.dll's on your machine and add the suffix .bkp to them.
Wherever you found them at, copy "C:\Program Files\Git\usr\bin\msys-2.0.dll" to those locations.
Notes:
If you were to copy from C:\msys64\usr\bin\msys-2.0.dll to all other locations, then you lose that nice additional text at the end that shows the branch you're on (master)
Same goes if you just decide to delete all the extra dlls and just add C:\msys64\usr\bin to your path, there must be a dependencies it looks for relative to the directory it normally resides.
Because apparently I skimmed the selected answer and missed the part about msys-2.0.dll, I had to figure this out myself. For future reference:
Run listdlls -r -v -d msys-2.0.dll
Check Base, Path, and Version info for discrepancies.