Embedded perl on windows x64

ekopalypse has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

Hello, I'm looking for some advice on how to build an embedded perl interpreter on win7 x64 What I did so far is, cloned the perl github repo and built, tested and installed perl by doing the following in the win32 directory within a x64 Native Tools Command Prompt for VS 2017

nmake CCTYPE=MSVC141
nmake CCTYPE=MSVC141 test
nmake CCTYPE=MSVC141 INST_DRV=D: install
so far so good, got some interpreter installed in d:\perl which seems to do what it should do.

Now, when trying to build an embedded perl with the same compiler VS2017 community and using the minimal sample

#include "pch.h"
#include <EXTERN.h>
#include <perl.h>

static PerlInterpreter *my_perl;

int main(int argc, char **argv, char **env)
{
    my_perl = perl_alloc();
    perl_construct(my_perl);
    perl_parse(my_perl, NULL, argc, argv, (char **)NULL);
    perl_run(my_perl);
    perl_destruct(my_perl);
    perl_free(my_perl);
}
[download]

it builds the exe but crashes on perl_parse api function when executing it like this

embeddedperl test.pl.

Note, the lib directory as well as the perl.dll has been copied over to VS output directory from the previously created and installed perl interpreter. It looks like the issue is that it is looking for a path or perl module called MSWin32-x64-multi-thread like ...\EmbeddedPerl\x64\Debug\lib\MSWin32-x64-multi-thread. (revealed by procmon) but this hasn't been created. As I'm neither an experienced perl user nor c/c++ programmer, it is most likely that the issue raised from something stupid I did. I tried it with perl 5.30 as well as with the bleed branch from github but the result was the same. Similar code was working on linux ubuntu 19.04. Questions:

Is VS2017 community edition suitable for building a 64bit embedded perl interpreter?
If so, are there some recommendations on how to do this?
If not, might using mingw toolchain create an embedded perl and if so, are there some known pitfalls I could fall into?

Thank you Eko

Comment on Embedded perl on windows x64 Download Code

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Re: Embedded perl on windows x64 by syphilis (Archbishop) on Aug 01, 2019 at 02:18 UTC
Note, the lib directory as well as the perl.dll has been copied over to VS output directory from the previously created and installed perl interpreter That seems a rather odd thing to do. Ensuring that the directory that houses the perl.dll is in the PATH is normally all that's needed. Is VS2017 community edition suitable for building a 64bit embedded perl interpreter? I would expect so, but I haven't tested. If so, are there some recommendations on how to do this? Yes, perlembed. If not, might using mingw toolchain create an embedded perl... Yes. However, I too strike issues with your C code. Not sure where you got it from, but the current perlembed docs present it slightly differently. Here's what I get (with mingw built perl-5.30.0) when I use the C code provided by the perl-5.30.0 perlembed docs: C:\_32\pscrpt\embed>type embed.c #include <EXTERN.h> #include <perl.h> static PerlInterpreter my_perl; int main(int argc, char argv, char env) { PERL_SYS_INIT3(&argc,&argv,&env); my_perl = perl_alloc(); perl_construct(my_perl); PL_exit_flags \|= PERL_EXIT_DESTRUCT_END; perl_parse(my_perl, NULL, argc, argv, (char *)NULL); perl_run(my_perl); perl_destruct(my_perl); perl_free(my_perl); PERL_SYS_TERM(); exit(EXIT_SUCCESS); } C:\_32\pscrpt\embed>perl -MExtUtils::Embed -e ccopts -s -O2 -DWIN32 -DWIN64 -DCONSERVATIVE -DPERL_TEXTMODE_SCRIPTS -DPER +L_IMPLICIT_CONTEXT -DPERL_IMPLICIT_SYS -DUSE_PERLIO -D__USE_MINGW_ANS +I_STDIO -fwrapv -fno-strict-aliasing -mms-bitfields -I"C:\_64\perl53 +0_810\lib\CORE" C:\_32\pscrpt\embed>perl -MExtUtils::Embed -e ldopts -s -L"C:\_64\perl530_810\lib\CORE" -L"C:\_64\gcc-mingw-810\mingw64\l +ib" "C:\_64\perl530_810\lib\CORE\libperl530.a" "C:\_64\gcc-mingw-810 +\mingw64\x86_64-w64-mingw32\lib\libmoldname.a" "C:\_64\gcc-mingw-810\ +mingw64\x86_64-w64-mingw32\lib\libkernel32.a" "C:\_64\gcc-mingw-810\m +ingw64\x86_64-w64-mingw32\lib\libuser32.a" "C:\_64\gcc-mingw-810\ming +w64\x86_64-w64-mingw32\lib\libgdi32.a" "C:\_64\gcc-mingw-810\mingw64\ +x86_64-w64-mingw32\lib\libwinspool.a" "C:\_64\gcc-mingw-810\mingw64\x +86_64-w64-mingw32\lib\libcomdlg32.a" "C:\_64\gcc-mingw-810\mingw64\x8 +6_64-w64-mingw32\lib\libadvapi32.a" "C:\_64\gcc-mingw-810\mingw64\x86 +_64-w64-mingw32\lib\libshell32.a" "C:\_64\gcc-mingw-810\mingw64\x86_6 +4-w64-mingw32\lib\libole32.a" "C:\_64\gcc-mingw-810\mingw64\x86_64-w6 +4-mingw32\lib\liboleaut32.a" "C:\_64\gcc-mingw-810\mingw64\x86_64-w64 +-mingw32\lib\libnetapi32.a" "C:\_64\gcc-mingw-810\mingw64\x86_64-w64- +mingw32\lib\libuuid.a" "C:\_64\gcc-mingw-810\mingw64\x86_64-w64-mingw +32\lib\libws2_32.a" "C:\_64\gcc-mingw-810\mingw64\x86_64-w64-mingw32\ +lib\libmpr.a" "C:\_64\gcc-mingw-810\mingw64\x86_64-w64-mingw32\lib\li +bwinmm.a" "C:\_64\gcc-mingw-810\mingw64\x86_64-w64-mingw32\lib\libver +sion.a" "C:\_64\gcc-mingw-810\mingw64\x86_64-w64-mingw32\lib\libodbc3 +2.a" "C:\_64\gcc-mingw-810\mingw64\x86_64-w64-mingw32\lib\libodbccp32 +.a" "C:\_64\gcc-mingw-810\mingw64\x86_64-w64-mingw32\lib\libcomctl32. +a" [download] Now create the executable (embed.exe): C:\_32\pscrpt\embed>gcc -o embed.exe embed.c -s -O2 -DWIN32 -DWIN64 -D +CONSERVATIVE -DPERL_TEXTMODE_SCRIPTS -DPERL_IMPLICIT_CONTEXT -DPERL_ +IMPLICIT_SYS -DUSE_PERLIO -D__USE_MINGW_ANSI_STDIO -fwrapv -fno-stric +t-aliasing -mms-bitfields -I"C:\_64\perl530_810\lib\CORE" -s -L"C: +\_64\perl530_810\lib\CORE" -L"C:\_64\gcc-mingw-810\mingw64\lib" "C:\ +_64\perl530_810\lib\CORE\libperl530.a" "C:\_64\gcc-mingw-810\mingw64\ +x86_64-w64-mingw32\lib\libmoldname.a" "C:\_64\gcc-mingw-810\mingw64\x +86_64-w64-mingw32\lib\libkernel32.a" "C:\_64\gcc-mingw-810\mingw64\x8 +6_64-w64-mingw32\lib\libuser32.a" "C:\_64\gcc-mingw-810\mingw64\x86_6 +4-w64-mingw32\lib\libgdi32.a" "C:\_64\gcc-mingw-810\mingw64\x86_64-w6 +4-mingw32\lib\libwinspool.a" "C:\_64\gcc-mingw-810\mingw64\x86_64-w64 +-mingw32\lib\libcomdlg32.a" "C:\_64\gcc-mingw-810\mingw64\x86_64-w64- +mingw32\lib\libadvapi32.a" "C:\_64\gcc-mingw-810\mingw64\x86_64-w64-m +ingw32\lib\libshell32.a" "C:\_64\gcc-mingw-810\mingw64\x86_64-w64-min +gw32\lib\libole32.a" "C:\_64\gcc-mingw-810\mingw64\x86_64-w64-mingw32 +\lib\liboleaut32.a" "C:\_64\gcc-mingw-810\mingw64\x86_64-w64-mingw32\ +lib\libnetapi32.a" "C:\_64\gcc-mingw-810\mingw64\x86_64-w64-mingw32\l +ib\libuuid.a" "C:\_64\gcc-mingw-810\mingw64\x86_64-w64-mingw32\lib\li +bws2_32.a" "C:\_64\gcc-mingw-810\mingw64\x86_64-w64-mingw32\lib\libmp +r.a" "C:\_64\gcc-mingw-810\mingw64\x86_64-w64-mingw32\lib\libwinmm.a" + "C:\_64\gcc-mingw-810\mingw64\x86_64-w64-mingw32\lib\libversion.a" " +C:\_64\gcc-mingw-810\mingw64\x86_64-w64-mingw32\lib\libodbc32.a" "C:\ +_64\gcc-mingw-810\mingw64\x86_64-w64-mingw32\lib\libodbccp32.a" "C:\_ +64\gcc-mingw-810\mingw64\x86_64-w64-mingw32\lib\libcomctl32.a" [download] Now test it: `C:\_32\pscrpt\embed>embed -le "print 'hello';" hello C:\_32\pscrpt\embed>type hello.pl use strict; use warnings; print "hello\n"; C:\_32\pscrpt\embed>embed hello.pl hello` [download] So it all seems to be working as advertised once your C code is modified correctly. Cheers, Rob	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^2: Embedded perl on windows x64 by ekopalypse (Novice) on Aug 01, 2019 at 08:16 UTC
Hi Rob, thank you, I'm baffled, because I thought this was from perlembed but the link you provided proves I'm wrong, but still 100% sure, that the posted code runs on ubuntu 19.04, strange. The code change, partially, did it. Now an exception is raised at perl_destruct but let me first check the docs once again, maybe I'm still missing something. And thanks for the mingw example as well. I keep this thread updated. Thank you Eko	[reply]
Re^3: Embedded perl on windows x64 by syphilis (Archbishop) on Aug 01, 2019 at 12:22 UTC
... the posted code runs on ubuntu 19.04 Yes - the C code you posted also works fine for me on Ubuntu-18.04, perl-5.30.0. Apparently different operating systems can have different requirements. Also bear in mind that requirements across different versions of perl might change. The perlembed documentation that I linked to earlier is for perl-5.30.0. It might be more pertinent to check the perlembed docs by running `perldoc perlembed`, as that will give you the documentation for the version of perl that you have installed. Cheers, Rob	[reply] [d/l]
Re^4: Embedded perl on windows x64 by ekopalypse (Novice) on Aug 02, 2019 at 13:00 UTC
Re: Embedded perl on windows x64 by bliako (Abbot) on Aug 01, 2019 at 01:16 UTC
I am not acquainted with that OS but I had been bitten before by missing debug libraries. Is there anywhere in the Makefile a "Release" target (as opposed to "Debug") so that you `make release`?	[reply] [d/l]
Re^2: Embedded perl on windows x64 by ekopalypse (Novice) on Aug 01, 2019 at 08:30 UTC
Hello, thanks for the answer. My understanding is that it always creates a release build unless you specify the CFG=Debug flag. Is this what you are asking for? But it looks like my problem is/was that I used either an outdated or wrong perl documentation, which I'm going to revisit again. :-) Thank you Eko	[reply]
Re^3: Embedded perl on windows x64 by bliako (Abbot) on Aug 01, 2019 at 20:26 UTC
Glad you solved it. You may be interested on using a configure script and a makefile for building perl-embed code, if you are not doing that already, see Re: [OT] Windows cmd.exe shell - use a Makefile	[reply]
Re^4: Embedded perl on windows x64 by ekopalypse (Novice) on Aug 02, 2019 at 13:04 UTC