Compiling on Windows = PITA

[rorso]

Has anyone indeed successfully compiled anything in this project on Windows?

It looks so easy. Clone the project, open the *.sln, compile.

Well, no. Maybe there is a special configuration required that is not mentioned explicitly because "everyone else knows" or "nobody cares".

I tried with VS2022 and after solving the puzzle how to get the required OpenSSL headers and libraries into the environment without changing the base code, I constantly stumble over "compiler mis identified as CLANG" problems (__has_extension), zlib.h not found (zconf.h in the same directory IS found), ...

I confess, I'm not a VS specialist and C++ is not my native language either. I just want to run "ipptool" in a Windows-environment, so I need an *.exe.

And since I have strict order to never run software from "elsewhere" but only a handful of whitelisted ones and stuff "directly from [company trusted vendors]", I have to compile it for myself. I coud argue with my boss, if "the vendor" would offer binary builds right from the project page, but this is no option in this project. At least I got the OpenSSL binaries approved and did not need to compile them locally, which would have required to first get "Strawberry Perl" and "NASM" binaries approved or compiled from scratch too ... :-(

Does anyone have an idea how I can manage to get a Windows *.exe out of this codebase?

[michaelrsweet]

You'll need Visual Studio 2019 or later.

The prerequisites are provided via NuGet, which is a standard VS feature. The "BUILD.md" file provides some step-by-step instructions for making sure the NuGet dependencies are installed...

[michaelrsweet]

I also fixed a few issues due to changes in the libcups submodule. Give it a try now...

[rorso-doctra]

I also fixed a few issues due to changes in the libcups submodule. Give it a try now...

Thanks for jumping in. I'm still not able to build this module. Against what version of the OpenbSSL library is this supposed to get linked? I got mine there: https://slproweb.com/products/Win32OpenSSL.html

I get a couple of unresolved external symbol OPENSSL_sk_num referenced in function _httpTLSStart and alike like errors, although I have added the MD/MDd and MT/MTd folders "Additional Library Directories" of the OpenSSL 3.6.1 Windows64 Binaries to the User Properties.

And i have to add a forced include to overcome a "CLANG" detection problem in VS2022

#pragma once
#ifdef _MSC_VER
#  define __attribute__(x)
#endif

This is because "libcups\cups\base.h" lines 43..69 does check for "__has_extension", which is true (sort of) for VS2022

#  ifdef __has_extension		// Clang
#    define _CUPS_HAS_DEPRECATED
#    define _CUPS_HAS_FORMAT
#    define _CUPS_HAS_NORETURN
#    define _CUPS_HAS_VISIBILITY
#    if __has_extension(attribute_deprecated_with_message)
#      define _CUPS_HAS_DEPRECATED_WITH_MESSAGE
#    endif
#    if __has_extension(attribute_unavailable_with_message)
#      define _CUPS_HAS_UNAVAILABLE_WITH_MESSAGE
#    endif
#  elif defined(__GNUC__)		// GCC and compatible
#    if __GNUC__ >= 3			// GCC 3.0 or higher
#      define _CUPS_HAS_DEPRECATED
#      define _CUPS_HAS_FORMAT
#      define _CUPS_HAS_NORETURN
#      define _CUPS_HAS_VISIBILITY
#    endif // __GNUC__ >= 3
#    if __GNUC__ >= 5			// GCC 5.x
#      define _CUPS_HAS_DEPRECATED_WITH_MESSAGE
#    elif __GNUC__ == 4 && __GNUC_MINOR__ >= 5
					// GCC 4.5 or higher
#      define _CUPS_HAS_DEPRECATED_WITH_MESSAGE
#    endif // __GNUC__ >= 5
#  elif defined(_WIN32)
#    define __attribute__(...)
#  endif // __has_extension

I tried running the "configure" using the GIT bash to get a try with CMAKE later:

"C:\Program\ Files\Git\bin\bash.exe" -c "./configure"

but that one does not care bout OpenSSL libraries and finally fails with

configure: error: Sorry, this software requires POSIX threading support.
configure: error: ./configure failed for libcups

So certainly that's not the expected procedure either.

The INSTALL.md (no BUILD.md available here?) is quite short with hints on Windows.

Perhaps I would make more progress dumping VS and use gcc instead ... or I grab a Linux station and try a cross-compile.
:-(

[michaelrsweet]

Against what version of the OpenbSSL library is this supposed to get linked?

The CUPS library (libcups) uses the NuGet libressl_native packages when compiling with Visual Studio.

The INSTALL.md file (recently renamed from BUILD.md for consistency) says the following at the bottom:

Building on Windows

The IPP Sample Code includes a Visual Studio 2019+ solution file in the "vcnet"
directory called "ippsample.sln". After opening the solution in Visual Studio
(VS 2022 users will need to "upgrade" the projects), please do the following
steps to ensure that the package dependencies are installed:

1. From the "Tools" menu select "Command-Line" and "Developer PowerShell" to
   open a PowerShell window in the "vcnet" directory.

2. Type the following commands:

   cd ..\libcups\vcnet
   nuget restore
   cd ..\pdfio
   nuget restore

3. You should then be able to build the solution (F7).

[rorso-doctra]

The CUPS library (libcups) uses the NuGet libressl_native packages when compiling with Visual Studio.

I removed my previous workarounds that I installed before you updated the vcnet part - and sure it runs now.

If it's not broken - don't fix it!