I need to branch a certain statement in a precompiled-header .h file, based on whether the .h is now being used to create the PCH (i.e., included in a cpp compiled with /Yc), or now included just to use the PCH (i.e., included in a cpp compiled with /Yu).
In other words, I'm looking for something like -
#ifdef NOW_CREATING_THE_PCH
#import yadayada_with_option_a
#else
#import yadayada_with_option_b
#endif
...and can't find anything.
Any ideas would be appreciated!
Thanks,
-Ofek
[Edit:] The reason I need this is that I use Incredibuild, and have started getting this warning. Per the FAQ suggestion, I wish to #import with no_implementation during PCH creation, and with implementation_only during PCH usage.
You can specifically change the configuration (in Visual Studio) of stdafx.cpp (or whatever source file you have that gets compiled with /Yc) to define the symbol NOW_CREATING_THE_PCH, leaving the symbol undefined for the rest of the source files (which get compiled with /Yu).
That's not something you get out-of-the-box, but if you need to do it just for one project (or a few), it's not a problem.
While this is not a direct answer to your question, the simplest way of solving this problem is to use the #import statement with no_implementation in the header file which is used to generate the precompiled header (usually StdAfx.h) and re-#import the header file into the source file that is used to trigger the generation of the pch with the parameter implementation_only. That way the implementation of the wrapper functions are being defined, but only in one place.
Related
A particular C++ logging library called spdlog that I use in my project has a broken package on CentOS (the platform I'm trying to compile on) where the header file will only compile if SPDLOG_FMT_EXTERNAL is defined before any of its files are included. [And this will not be fixed.]
I am trying to find a way to use autoconf directives to test for the presence of this header file - previously I used a homegrown macro that compiles a program which uses that, but its speed latency is unacceptably slow so I am trying to replace it.
Here is the relevant snippet of my configure.ac:
dnl check for libfmt is done earlier...
AC_CHECK_HEADERS([spdlog/spdlog.h], [have_spdlog="yes"], [have_spdlog="no"])
if test x$have_spdlog = xyes; then
LDFLAGS="$LDFLAGS -lspdlog -lfmt";
else
AC_MSG_ERROR([spdlog is required for logging support but is missing.])
fi
The header file spdlog/spdlog.h exists, but Autoconf deems it as not usable because it won't compile by itself.
AC_CHECK_HEADERS has a parameter I can specify include files required to include that particular header file. I can use that to specify the #define macro before the file is included.
Is there an easier way to just directly specify a macro without creating a new header file?
After some experimenting, I learned that the fourth parameter to AC_CHECK_HEADERS accepts macros as well - anything that can be used in a C/C++ preprocessor works as well, such as #ifdef, #endif and so on. It is not restricted to only #include directives.
AC_CHECK_HEADERS([spdlog/spdlog.h], [have_spdlog="yes"], [have_spdlog="no"], [
#define SPDLOG_FMT_EXTERNAL
])
I'm using bison & flex (downloaded via cygwin) with vc++. When I compile the program I got an error:
...: fatal error C1083: Cannot open include file: 'unistd.h': No such file or directory
The corresponding code in the flex-generated file is:
#ifndef YY_NO_UNISTD_H
/* Special case for "unistd.h", since it is non-ANSI. We include it way
* down here because we want the user's section 1 to have been scanned first.
* The user has a chance to override it with an option.
*/
/* %if-c-only */
#include <unistd.h>
/* %endif */
/* %if-c++-only */
/* %endif */
#endif
If I define YY_NO_UNISTD_H in the flex file(.l) this error will disappear, but I get several other errors:
...: error C2447: '{' : missing function header (old-style formal list?)
...: warning C4018: '<' : signed/unsigned mismatch
...: error C3861: 'isatty': identifier not found
How can I fix this problem?
All these errors occur in the flex-generated scanner.
I know it's because unistd.h doesn't exist in windows. Do I have to write my own unistd.h? If so how to write it in order to eliminate those errors?
isatty is used by the lexer to determine if the input stream is a terminal or a pipe/file. The lexer uses this information to change its caching behavior (the lexer reads large chunks of the input when it is not a terminal). If you know that your program will never be used in an interactive kind, you can add %option never-interactive to you lexer. When the program is run with user input, use %option interactive. When both uses are desired, you can either generate an interactive lexer, which gives a performance loss when used in batch mode, or provide your own isatty function.
Use %option nounistd in your .l file to remove the dependence on unistd.h.
just in case somebody's still this problem, Flex comes with unistd.h within its devel files. I found this here:
http://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=931222&group_id=23617&atid=379173
to put it short, just make sure your compiler can reach it. in my case it's just adding "C:\GnuWin32\include" to the additional inclusion directories
use win_flex.exe with option --wincompat and you dont need to hack your lex file
unistd.h is a UNIX header, so it's not present in VC++; your best bet is probably to compile it using g++ in Cygwin (or mingw/msys). You could also look at this question for other suggestions.
I'm using flex 2.5.4 that comes from the GnuWin32 project, which doesn't check for YY_NO_UNISTD_H.
In my version, Flex looks for unistd.h only when being compiled as C++, so you can save yourself all this trouble if your yylval doesn't use any C++ constructs.
I had to use the STL in yylval (using a pointer to make it a POD type), so in order to make flex compile in C++ I created this simple unistd.h:
#include <io.h>
That's all it takes (actually, I could copy the unistd.h file that comes with GnuWin32, like flyontheweb suggests).
P.S. To wrap things up: in Bison I put yylval's required STL header files in %code requires {} and added the current directory to the INCLUDE paths in my makefile.
I am too late but anyway I will share my findings to save someone still looking for answer.
In my case having an empty unistd.h file in the location where compiler looks for headers works for me.
Well this post is old but I face the same problem and here is something that should work.
WinFlexBison
I ran into this problem recently after upgrading to Angular 14.
npm install -g latest-version
resolved my issue.
In every platform there are various versions of a given library: multi-threaded, debug, dynamic, etc..
Correct me if I am wrong here, but in Linux an object can link to any version of a library just fine, regardless of how its compiled. For example, there is no need to use any special flags at compile time to specify whether the link will eventually be to a dynamic or a static version of the run-time libraries (clarification: I am not talking about creating dynamic/static libraries, I am talking about linking to them - so -fPIC doesn't apply). Same goes for debug or optimized version of libraries.
Why in MSVC (Windows in general with other compilers. true?) I need to recompile the code every time in order to link to different versions of libraries? I am talking the /MD, /MT, /MTd, /MDd, etc flags. Is the code actually using different system headers each time. If so, why?
I would really appreciate any pointers to solid documentation that discusses these library matters in Windows for a C/C++ programmer..
thanks!
The compiler setting does very little other than simple change some macro definitions. Its microsoft's c-runtime header files that change their behaviour based on the runtime selected.
First, the header files use a # pragma directive to embed in the object file a directive specifying which .lib file to include, choosing one of: msvcrt.lib, msvcrtd.lib, libcmt.lib and mibcmtd.lib
The directives look like this
#ifdef <release dll runtime>
#pragma comment(lib,"msvcrt.lib")
#endif
Next, it also modifies a macro definition used on all c-rt functions that adds the __declspec(dllimport) directive if a dll runtime was selected. the effect of this directive is to change the imported symbol from, say, '_strcmp' to '__imp__strcmp'.
The dll import libraries (msvcrt.lib and msvcrtd.lib) export their symbols (to the linker) as __imp_<function name>, which means that, in the Visual C++ world, once you have compiled code to link against the dll runtimes you cannot change your mind - they will NOT link against a static runtime.
Of course, the reverse is not the case - dll import libraries actually export their public symbols both ways: with and without the __imp_ prefix.
Which means that code built against a static runtime CAN be later co-erced into linking with the dll or static runtimes.
If you are building a static library for other consumers, you should ensure that your compiler settings include:
One of the static library settings, so that consumers of your .lib can choose themselves which c-runtime to use, and
Set the 'Omit Default Library Name' (/Zl)flag. This tells the compiler to ignore the #pragma comment(lib,... directives, so the obj files and resulting lib does NOT have any kind of implicit runtime dependency. If you don't do this, users of your lib who choose a different runtime setting will see confusing messages about duplicate symbols in libc.lib and msvcrt.lib which they will have to bypass by using the ignore default libraries flag.
These using these compiler options have two effects. The automatically #define a macro that may be used by header files (and your own code) to do different things. This effects only a small part of the C runtime, and you can check the headers to see if it's happening in your case.
The other thing is that the C++ compiler embeds a comment in your object file that tells the linker to automatically include a particular flavor of the MSVC runtime, whether you specify that library at link time or not.
This is convenient for small programs, where you simply type at a command prompt cl myprogram.cpp to compile and link, producing myprogram.exe.
You can defeat automatic linking of the commented-in flavor of the c-runtime by passing /nodefaultlib to the linker. And then specify a different flavor of the c-runtime instead. This will work if you are careful not to depend on the #defines for _MT and
_DLL (keep in mind that the standard C headers might be looking at these also).
I don't recommend this, but if you have a reason to need to do this, it can be made to work in most cases.
If you want to know what parts of the C header files behave differently, you should just search for _MT and _DLL in the headers and see.
All of the options use the same header files, however they all imply different #define which affect the header files. So they need to be recompiled.
The switches also link to the appropriate library, but the recompile is not because of the linking.
See here for a list of what is defined when you use each.
Is it possible to build resources into a static library and reuse them by simply linking with the library?
I'm primarily thinking about the case where you call a function in the library which in turn accesses resources.
The only thing you need to do to use resources (images, dialogs, etc...) in a static library in Visual C++ (2008), is include the static library's associated .res file in your project. This can be done at "Project settings/Linker/Input/Additional dependencies".
With this solution, the resources of the static library are packed into the .exe, so you don't need an extra DLL. Regrettably, Visual Studio does not include the .res file automatically as it does for the .lib file (when using the "project dependencies"-feature), but I think this small extra step is acceptable.
I have looked for a very long time for this solution, and now it surprises me it is that simple. The only problem is that it is totally undocumented.
It can be done, but it's quite painful: You can't do it by simply linking with the static library.
Consider this: resources are embedded in an EXE or DLL. When some code in the static library calls (e.g.) LoadIcon, it'll get the resources from the EXE or DLL that it's linked with.
So, if your static library requires resources to be available, you've got a couple of options:
You can have the library build them on the fly, and then use (e.g.) CreateDialogIndirect. See Raymond Chen's "Building a dialog template at run-time".
You can have them embedded in the library as simple arrays (i.e.) char my_dialog_resource[] = { .... };, and then use (e.g.) CreateDialogIndirect. You'll probably need to find (or write) a utility that converts from .RES files to .CPP files.
You can ship the LIB file with a resource script (.RC file) and corresponding header file. You then #include them as relevant. You'll need to reserve a range of resource IDs for the LIB to use, so that they don't collide with those of the main EXE or DLL. This is what MFC does when used as a static library. Or you can use string resource IDs (this doesn't work for STRINGTABLE resources).
Your static library can ship with a separate resource DLL.
I just went through this with the MS Visual Studio compiler. We were converting some legacy projects from DLLs into static libraries. Several of these DLLs had dialog or string resources embedded in them. I was able to compile the .RC scripts for these DLLs into our main application by including them in the main application's RC script file via the "TEXTINCLUDE" mechanism. I found it easiest to do this by editing the RC file directly, but Visual Studio provides a slightly more "wizardy" mechanism as well. The implementation is most likely different in other compilers.
To manipulate the main RC script directly:
.1. In the "2 TEXTINCLUDE" section, include the header file that defines the resource IDs for your library. The syntax is
2 TEXTINCLUDE
BEGIN
"#include ""my_first_lib_header.h""\r\n"
"#include ""my_second_lib_header.h""\0"
END
.2. In the "3 TEXTINCLUDE" section, include the RC script from your library.
3 TEXTINCLUDE
BEGIN
"#include ""my_first_library.rc""\r\n"
"#include ""my_second_library.rc""\0"
END
Steps 3 and 4 should happen automatically, but I found it was more reliable to just enter them myself, rather than depending on Microsoft's resource script compiler to take care of things.
.3. Add the header file with your libraries resource defines to the read only symbols list. This list is usually near the top of the file.
#define APSTUDIO_READONLY_SYMBOLS
#include "my_first_lib_header.h"
#include "my_second_lib_header.h"
#undef APSTUDIO_READONLY_SYMBOLS
.4. Include your library's RC script in the APSTUDIO_INVOKED section. This is usually at the bottom of the file.
#ifndef APSTUDIO_INVOKED
#include "my_first_library.rc"
#include "my_second_library.rc"
#endif
You can also do all of this automatically through the visual studio IDE, but I found it didn't always apply when I expected it to.
Open the "Resource View" window in Visual Studio.
Right-click on your main application's resource file and choose "Resource Includes..." from the context menu.
In the box labeled "Read-only symbol directives," add the include statements for the .h files that define the resource ID's for your libraries.
In the box labeled "Compile-time directives," add the include statements for your library's .rc script.
Click okay. You may also want to manually trigger the RC script compilation, to make sure it happens.
If your library's resource script references any files on disk (text files, icons files, etc.), you'll need to make sure that the main application project knows where to find them. You can either copy these files to somewhere your application can find them or you can add an additional include path in the compiler settings.
To add an additional include path:
Open up the properties dialog for your main application.
Select "Configuration Properties/Resources/General" from the left-hand navigation pane.
In the properties list, Enter any pertinent paths next to "Additional Include Directories."
As per Visual Studio 2010, the development tools from Microsoft apparently cannot properly handle compiled resource data inside static libraries at all.
To distribute a compiled resource file (a .res file), you have two choices:
Distribute the .res files separately, and instruct the client code to link against them;
Use cvtres to merge several .res files into a single object (.obj) file, and provide it separately.
Note that you can't lib in object files created with cvtres. If multiple object files are provided, lib complains as though as multiple .res files were given; if a single object file is provided, lib does not complain, but the linker simply ignores the embedded resource data in the lib file.
It might be the case that there is a way to force the linker to read and link the libbed in resource data (with some command-line option, section manipulation and so on), since the resource data is indeed available in the library (as dumpbin reveals). So far, I haven't found a solution, and, unless one is willing to hack the development tools, anything better than this simple solution is probably not worth the effort.
The only way to ship resource data in a static library (in this case, with a static library) is to distribute the resources separately and explicitly link them in the client code. Using cvtres can reduce the number of distributed resource files to one, if you have many of them.
I don't think so. Static library doesn't have it's own HINSTANCE. It's code is executed in the context of DLL or EXE which links it. That's why all the resources you'll try to load from the static library's code will be of that enclosing DLL/EXE.
I did that kind of resources reuse with a DLL though, as far as it has it's own address space, and you can call LoadResource with DLL's HINSTANCE.
The recommended way is to provide a dll with the resources together with your library.
When the following method is used, any resource (in this example, an icon) can be used as an integral part of a static library and such library can be used by any type of application, including a console one (which doesn't have any resource segment whatsoever).
Icon is converted to a static array of BYTE. bin2c can be used for that.
Data is converted into a HICON handle. Here is how I have done that:
HICON GetIcon()
{
DWORD dwTmp;
int offset;
HANDLE hFile;
HICON hIcon = NULL;
offset = LookupIconIdFromDirectoryEx(s_byIconData, TRUE, 0, 0, LR_DEFAULTCOLOR);
if (offset != 0)
{
hIcon = CreateIconFromResourceEx(s_byIconData + offset, 0, TRUE, 0x00030000, 0, 0, LR_DEFAULTCOLOR | LR_DEFAULTSIZE);
}
return hIcon;
}
GetIcon is used instead of LoadIcon.
Instead of calling:
m_hIcon = ::LoadIcon(hInstanceIcon, MAKEINTRESOURCE(pXMB->nIcon));
Then call
m_hIcon = GetIcon()
Can anyone explain how compilation works?
I can't seem to figure out how compilation works..
To be more specific, here's an example.. I'm trying to write some code in MSVC++ 6 to load a Lua state..
I've already:
set the additional directories for the library and include files to the right directories
used extern "C" (because Lua is C only or so I hear)
include'd the right header files
But i'm still getting some errors in MSVC++6 about unresolved external symbols (for the Lua functions that I used).
As much as I'd like to know how to solve this problem and move on, I think it would be much better for me if I came to understand the underlying processes involved, so could anyone perhaps write a nice explanation for this? What I'm looking to know is the process.. It could look like this:
Step 1:
Input: Source code(s)
Process: Parsing (perhaps add more detail here)
Output: whatever is output here..
Step 2:
Input: Whatever was output from step 1, plus maybe whatever else is needed (libraries? DLLs? .so? .lib? )
Process: whatever is done with the input
Output: whatever is output
and so on..
Thanks..
Maybe this will explain what symbols are, what exactly "linking" is, what "object" code or whatever is..
Thanks.. Sorry for being such a noob..
P.S. This doesn't have to be language specific.. But feel free to express it in the language you're most comfortable in.. :)
EDIT: So anyway, I was able to get the errors resolved, it turns out that I have to manually add the .lib file to the project; simply specifying the library directory (where the .lib resides) in the IDE settings or project settings does not work..
However, the answers below have somewhat helped me understand the process better. Many thanks!.. If anyone still wants to write up a thorough guide, please do.. :)
EDIT: Just for additional reference, I found two articles by one author (Mike Diehl) to explain this quite well.. :)
Examining the Compilation Process: Part 1
Examining the Compilation Process: Part 2
From source to executable is generally a two stage process for C and associated languages, although the IDE probably presents this as a single process.
1/ You code up your source and run it through the compiler. The compiler at this stage needs your source and the header files of the other stuff that you're going to link with (see below).
Compilation consists of turning your source files into object files. Object files have your compiled code and enough information to know what other stuff they need, but not where to find that other stuff (e.g., the LUA libraries).
2/ Linking, the next stage, is combining all your object files with libraries to create an executable. I won't cover dynamic linking here since that will complicate the explanation with little benefit.
Not only do you need to specify the directories where the linker can find the other code, you need to specify the actual library containing that code. The fact that you're getting unresolved externals indicates that you haven't done this.
As an example, consider the following simplified C code (xx.c) and command.
#include <bob.h>
int x = bob_fn(7);
cc -c -o xx.obj xx.c
This compiles the xx.c file to xx.obj. The bob.h contains the prototype for bob_fn() so that compilation will succeed. The -c instructs the compiler to generate an object file rather than an executable and the -o xx.obj sets the output file name.
But the actual code for bob_fn() is not in the header file but in /bob/libs/libbob.so, so to link, you need something like:
cc -o xx.exe xx.obj -L/bob/libs;/usr/lib -lbob
This creates xx.exe from xx.obj, using libraries (searched for in the given paths) of the form libbob.so (the lib and .so are added by the linker usually). In this example, -L sets the search path for libraries. The -l specifies a library to find for inclusion in the executable if necessary. The linker usually takes the "bob" and finds the first relevant library file in the search path specified by -L.
A library file is really a collection of object files (sort of how a zip file contains multiple other files, but not necessarily compressed) - when the first relevant occurrence of an undefined external is found, the object file is copied from the library and added to the executable just like your xx.obj file. This generally continues until there are no more unresolved externals. The 'relevant' library is a modification of the "bob" text, it may look for libbob.a, libbob.dll, libbob.so, bob.a, bob.dll, bob.so and so on. The relevance is decided by the linker itself and should be documented.
How it works depends on the linker but this is basically it.
1/ All of your object files contain a list of unresolved externals that they need to have resolved. The linker puts together all these objects and fixes up the links between them (resolves as many externals as possible).
2/ Then, for every external still unresolved, the linker combs the library files looking for an object file that can satisfy the link. If it finds it, it pulls it in - this may result in further unresolved externals as the object pulled in may have its own list of externals that need to be satisfied.
3/ Repeat step 2 until there are no more unresolved externals or no possibility of resolving them from the library list (this is where your development was at, since you hadn't included the LUA library file).
The complication I mentioned earlier is dynamic linking. That's where you link with a stub of a routine (sort of a marker) rather than the actual routine, which is later resolved at load time (when you run the executable). Things such as the Windows common controls are in these DLLs so that they can change without having to relink the objects into a new executable.
Step 1 - Compiler:
Input: Source code file[s]
Process: Parsing source code and translating into machine code
Output: Object file[s], which consist[s] of:
The names of symbols which are defined in this object, and which this object file "exports"
The machine code associated with each symbol that's defined in this object file
The names of symbols which are not defined in this object file, but on which the software in this object file depends and to which it must subsequently be linked, i.e. names which this object file "imports"
Step 2 - Linking:
Input:
Object file[s] from step 1
Libraries of other objects (e.g. from the O/S and other software)
Process:
For each object that you want to link
Get the list of symbols which this object imports
Find these symbols in other libraries
Link the corresponding libraries to your object files
Output: a single, executable file, which includes the machine code from all all your objects, plus the objects from libraries which were imported (linked) to your objects.
The two main steps are compilation and linking.
Compilation takes single compilation units (those are simply source files, with all the headers they include), and create object files. Now, in those object files, there are a lot of functions (and other stuff, like static data) defined at specific locations (addresses). In the next step, linking, a bit of extra information about these functions is also needed: their names. So these are also stored. A single object file can reference functions (because it wants to call them when to code is run) that are actually in other object files, but since we are dealing with a single object file here, only symbolic references (their 'names') to those other functions are stored in the object file.
Next comes linking (let's restrict ourselves to static linking here). Linking is where the object files that were created in the first step (either directly, or after they have been thrown together into a .lib file) are taken together and an executable is created.
In the linking step, all those symbolic references from one object file or lib to another are resolved (if they can be), by looking up the names in the correct object, finding the address of the function, and putting the addresses in the right place.
Now, to explain something about the 'extern "C"' thing you need:
C does not have function overloading. A function is always recognizable by its name. Therefore, when you compile code as C code, only the real name of the function is stored in the object file.
C++, however, has something called 'function / method overloading'. This means that the name of a function is no longer enough to identify it. C++ compilers therefore create 'names' for functions that include the prototypes of the function (since the name plus the prototype will uniquely identify a function). This is known as 'name mangling'.
The 'extern "C"' specification is needed when you want to use a library that has been compiled as 'C' code (for example, the pre-compiled Lua binaries) from a C++ project.
For your exact problem: if it still does not work, these hints might help:
* have the Lua binaries been compiled with the same version of VC++?
* can you simply compile Lua yourself, either within your VC solution, or as a separate project as C++ code?
* are you sure you have all the 'extern "C"' things correct?
You have to go into project setting and add a directory where you have that LUA library *.lib files somewhere on the "linker" tab. Setting called "including libraries" or something, sorry I can't look it up.
The reason you get "unresolved external symbols" is because compilation in C++ works in two stages. First, the code gets compiled, each .cpp file in it's own .obj file, then "linker" starts and join all that .obj files into .exe file. .lib file is just a bunch of .obj files merged together to make distribution of libraries just a little bit simplier.
So by adding all the "#include" and extern declaration you told the compiler that somewhere it would be possible to find code with those signatures but linker can't find that code because it doesn't know where those .lib files with actual code is placed.
Make sure you have read REDME of the library, usually they have rather detailed explanation of what you had to do to include it in your code.
You might also want to check this out: COMPILER, ASSEMBLER, LINKER AND LOADER: A BRIEF STORY.