I'm developing in an environment that is severely constrained, but the developers also have tight control over.
VCRedist_x86.exe - A 4Mb redistributable - is no fun (four hours to transfer). I'd really prefer to just redistribute MFC90.dll, msvcm90.dll, msvcp90.dll and msvcr90.dll - that's more like 2Mb. However, Redistributing Visual C++ Files says:
It is not supported to redistribute C/C++ applications that are built without a manifest. Visual C++ libraries cannot be used by C/C++ applications without a manifest binding the application to these libraries. For more information, see Choosing a Deployment Method.
My original plan of copying the DLLs into the program's working directory doesn't seem to
work in this brave new world of manifests.
My next guess is to bodge up the registry entries required to populate the files into the WinSxS directory and populate it myself (rather than using the 4 meg program).
[edit] The software is frequently updated, so DLLs are strongly preferred to static linking. [/edit]
How can I sucessfully distribute the necessary files but keep the overhead down?
[I'm the current SxS maintainer at Microsoft]
I would strongly suggest against removing the publicKeyToken attribute from manifests. Private deployment of the dlls will work just fine with this attribute left intact.
However, removing it will prevent your app from benefiting from security updates should there be a newer version of the CRT installed centrally on the target machine, as the dependencies will no longer match up.
So, to summarize: it's safe to embed your manifest, with the default. Copy the CRT manifest + DLL files directly into your executable's directory, with no edits. That's it. Compatible Win2k+.
We use this: Howto: Deploy VC2008 apps without installing vcredist_x86.exe
Essentially
Don't embed a manifest in your exe files.
Copy the C++ DLLs and their manifests to your app's directory.
Remove the "publicKeyToken" from all manifests (yours and Microsoft's).
If necessary, change the version info in your app's manifest files to match the Microsoft manifest files (or vice versa)
Specify /MT (Multithreaded) for the "runtime library" setting in the compiler property page. This statically links against the runtime library so you don't have to install the redistributable.
Install them as private assemblies. See here:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms235291.aspx
Note that if you don't need all of the DLLs provided you can modify the manifest files to only reference the ones you need.
Related
I have downloaded wxWidgets-3.1.0.zip and extracted it to D:\wxWidgets-3.1.0. MY OS: Windows 7 Professional 64 Bit. I am using visual Studio 2015.
I build the library through running: D:\wxWidgets-3.1.0\build\msw\wx_vc14.sln, It was OK. So I can build the projects in samples.
The thing that matters I cannot run this application on another machines where wxWidgets is not installed there. I Don't know Which dlls I must Copy side-by-side my application.
How Can I Also build statically my application so I don not have to copy Dlls?
Can any one add a useful tutorial step by step on how to build on both: Static and dynamic?.
If you open the D:\wxWidgets-3.1.0\samples\minimal\minimal.sln you will be able to see what options you should set. Also, by default, the solution is set to build statically build executable. You can also try to change the "C/C++ -> Code Generation -> RunTime library" in order to statically link the CRT.
If you still need/want the DLL build, at the very least you will need "base" and "core" libraries from D:\wxWidgets-3.1.0\lib\vc_dll folder. And you will also need the CRT libraries. Every time you run the binary, you will get an error on screen that "library such-and-such can't be found". Just copy the library to the same folder where the executable is located.
The other thing - you should've build the library with "Build->Batch Build...->Select All->Build".
HTH.
MSVS 2015 doesn't support linking CRT statically any longer, so you will need to install its CRT DLLs on the target machine in some way. It could be as simple as just copying the DLLs to your application folder (although this is not recommended by Microsoft), but it still needs to be done.
You can build wxWidgets statically simply by choosing the "Release" configuration in the solution file (and not the "DLL Release" one).
I have a software that is coded in C#. It depends on two(!) third party dll which require Visual C++ 2008 and Visual C++ 2005 redistribute. Originally the installer was built in InnoSetup with all "vs200x_sp1_vcredist_x??.exe" embedded and run on install time. However since it lacks of some advanced features we decided to migrate to Wix Toolset.
The problem is, MSI was running in a more restricted environment, so I didn't figure out what is the best way to require those redistributable file being executed properly. I was tried to use merge modules instead but it didn't work - I can see that the files were installed but dependency walker shows that dll is still not link to the right version.
I think that WinSxS makes things worse at least in this case, since the software keep failing with some error message regarding "Windows Side by Side configiration (14001)" when I use the merge module approach.
So the question is:
Are there any way to build a MSI that runs a exe that install some prerequisites? I wouldn't mind those prerequisites being downloaded or just embedded.
I know that WinSxS information is stored in the manifest of the dll. So if I was permitted to remove the manifest information by the third party company, and use dynamic dll loading instead the problem could be resolved. However is this legitimate? Since I will then need to embedded the Microsoft dlls directally in the msi.
I have noticed one of the dll's manifest says its required version is "9.0.21022.8" but the one in my MSM file is "9.0.30729.6161". Is this the issue? If so can I resolve the issue by I modifying the manifest to allow the right version? I don't think this will cause the dll not working, anyway.
The msi file should install only your software. If you need to install pre-requisites, you should use a bootstrapper for it. Bootstrapper's responsibility is to install pre-requisites and it's not a task of your msi.
If you see that wix bootstrapper is complex you can try on a simple bootstrapper like the dotnet installer bootstraper. you can download it from
http://dblock.github.io/dotnetinstaller/
I am working on a C++/CLI project with VS 2012 in Dynamic Library (.dll) and x64 mode.
If I switch the mode to Static Library, I get the error below.
Error 1 error C1107: could not find assembly 'mscorlib.dll': please specify the assembly search path using /AI or by setting the LIBPATH environment variable C:\Depot\Main\Current\Sln\ALibraryProject\Stdafx.cpp 1 1 ALibraryProject
I tried removing the reference to the mscorlib.dll then adding it again from:
Project > Properties > General > Common Properties
But that didn't help. As I know that VS handles the reference to the .NET assemblies, I don't want to add a disk file reference to it as it seems illogical! Did anybody face this before?
I had the same problem when converting my solution from the VS2010 compiler to VS2013 compiler.
I resolved it by changing the project settings (for the project containing the managed .cpp file that was throwing this error) as follows: In Project Settings | C/C++ | General | Additional #using Directories I added the macro $(FrameworkPathOverride). This resolves to the reference assembly directory for the version of .NET that you're targeting, which in my case is C:\Program Files (x86)\Reference Assemblies\Microsoft\Framework.NETFramework\v4.5.1
If I switch the mode to Static Library
This is not the typical error you get when you try to build a static library with /clr in effect. I'd have to assume you've been tinkering with project settings to get rid of the inscrutable linker errors you get when you try to do this.
Core issue is that the C++/CLI build system doesn't support static libraries that contain MSIL. Managed code doesn't use a linker, binding happens at runtime. Which makes the essential difference between static libraries and DLLs disappear. So Microsoft decided to not support it because it didn't make much sense to implement it. Unfortunately they don't yell loud enough when you try to do it anyway, the linker errors you get don't give enough of a hint what you did wrong. Workarounds, like merging with ILMerge don't work either, it cannot deal with mixed-mode assemblies. Merging the native code sections and their associated relocation table entries is very untrivial.
Keep in mind that it is fine to link native static libraries. A typical C++/CLI project has only the ref class wrappers that need to be built with /clr in effect. You can glue any amount of native code from libraries into the final assembly.
I'm forced to theorize about the actual compile error, too many programmers get this error for another reason that doesn't have anything to do with building static libraries and they are harassing me in the comments.
Do beware that targeting a different version of .NET than the one you have installed on your machine is quite a hazardous affair, particularly so if you want to target 4.0 and you have 4.5.x installed. The key element in your .vcxproj file is the <TargetFrameworkVersion>. This will be missing if you started the project targeting an old .NET version, you have to insert it yourself. The IDE also doesn't support changing it if it is present, again edit by hand.
Which is enough to coax MSBuild into generating the proper compile command. You can verify if that panned-out well, look in the *.tlog subdirectory of the Debug build directory for your project. The cl.command.1.tlog file shows the options that were passed to the compiler. It should contain:
/AI"C:\Program Files (x86)\Reference Assemblies\Microsoft\Framework.NETFramework\v4.0"
/FU"C:\Program Files (x86)\Reference Assemblies\Microsoft\Framework.NETFramework\v4.0\mscorlib.dll"
Note the subdirectory, very important that it matches your intended .NET target. v4.0 in this example. And very, very important that it does not point to c:\windows\microsoft.net, the legacy location for reference assemblies.
I have the same problem. Having a dll doesn't work, as I need to provide a native C++ wrapper for a .net object so it can fulfil a natice c++ interface - I can't use .net in a dll interface - this gives a compile error
This worked as a static library in VS 2010 (with .net 4)
Some of my executables and dlls which also have some code with /clr. They don't have an issue. I'm not trying to make a net Lbirary.
I solved it by removing dependency in old and not updated mixed lib, which was also configured only in Debug configuration, and as result, it started to get the same error as yours after I changed some code.
It was not simple to find it, because error is not clear, and the dependency was set up via "Additional Dependencies" in project settings.
Open visual studio and unload your project then Go to the project folder and open file .vcxproj . Search for tag "targetFrameworkVersion"
(if not present it means ur project is not using dot net frameworks.so no requirement of change)
Change it to required version
Save the file.
And now reload the project .
I have some projects built with different versions of VS2005 that require different run-time version. i need to display the assemblyIdentity to see which run-time is required to run the program. I need the information to include the specific VC80 runtime MSM in my WiX installer project.
{Edit}
While the binaries have been built with Visual Studio I don't have a VS on the PCs where WiX shall be used. I am reluctant to install an Express version, since I am a guest on that PC.
{/Edit}
How can I conviniently display the embedded manifest? Preferrable with a small tool, command line tool would be OK.
Manifests are stored as resource in executables/DLLs. These are stored under RT_MANIFESTresource type. Open the resources under it and parse it as XML.
One example is pasted below (I opened one of my EXE using VS resource editor):
The PeStudio is a small tool that does the job. Including displaying the manifest in clear text.
Additionally it displays all DLLs that must be present on target system. That helps to author the installer.
I have an application that uses the ms vc++ runtime. How should I install it on the end-user's system if it is not present? I was thinking of bundling it with the installer... but how would I do that as far as what to include? Is there some silent installer? If so, where can it be found? I can't seem to find it in the Windows SDK.
There is an interesting post about deploying the runtime libraries on the Visual C++ blog. The post is about VC8 so I'm not sure all the recommendations apply to VC9.
Here are your options according to Microsoft:
Use an .msi installer including the .MSM files for the VC
libraries you're using. These MSM
files install the libraries globally.
They also keep a reference count so
that the libraries are removed when
the last application using them gets
uninstalled.
Use "app-local"
deployment i.e. copy the
libraries and manifest files in your
application directory. This is a simpler
solution if you don't use an .msi
installer. Your app should still use the
system version of the libraries if they are more
up-to-date than your own.
Link everything statically (and avoid crt usage across dll boundaries)
Another option Microsoft discourage you from using is running the Visual C++ redist installer from your own installer.
I'm not sure what their reasons are. It will take a few extra megabytes and will not be reference counted but it still works very well AFAICT. You can pass the /q option to vc_redist_x86.exe to perform an unattended install (no user interaction).
It has it's own installation program. I've seen it usually run as a prereq step of a larger installer.
One way or the other, you need to list it in your manifest. So you might just as well deliver it as via SxS in your application rather than try to deliver a global copy to the target machine. SxS is a big hard subject, sadly. Hopefully someone will supply an answer with more details and I'll delete this one.