MingW C for XS in ActiveState

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

UPDATE: SOLVED - thanks to syphilis and ikegami. See solution write up below at Re: MingW C for XS in ActiveState.

I'm using ActiveState Perl and the MingW C compiler as supplied with Dev-cpp.

Admin://{C} # perl -v

This is perl, v5.10.1 built for MSWin32-x86-multi-thread
(with 2 registered patches, see perl -V for more detail)
...
Admin://{C} # gcc -dumpversion
3.4.2
[download]

I'm trying to compile an XS module that compiles fine on another system that uses MS Visual Studio instead of MingW.

It seems like the 'nmake' is "printing" the gcc step, but not actually executing it as no '.o' file is created. If I run nmake, it bombs out, but if I then manually re-run the gcc step, the '.o' file is created and a subsequent 'nmake' works fine.

Admin://{C} # perl Makefile.PL
Set up gcc environment - 3.4.2 (mingw-special)
Checking if your kit is complete...
Looks good
Writing Makefile for Win32::LockWorkStation

Admin://{C} # nmake

Microsoft (R) Program Maintenance Utility   Version 1.50
Copyright (c) Microsoft Corp 1988-94. All rights reserved.

cp lib/Win32/LockWorkStation.pm blib\lib\Win32\LockWorkStation.pm
        C:\Perl\bin\perl.exe C:\Perl\site\lib\ExtUtils\xsubpp  -typema
+p C:\Perl\
lib\ExtUtils\typemap  LockWorkStation.xs > LockWorkStation.xsc && C:\P
+erl\bin\pe
rl.exe -MExtUtils::Command -e "mv" -- LockWorkStation.xsc LockWorkStat
+ion.c
        c:/Dev-Cpp/bin/gcc.exe -c    -DNDEBUG -DWIN32 -D_CONSOLE -DNO_
+STRICT -DH
AVE_DES_FCRYPT -DUSE_SITECUSTOMIZE -DPRIVLIB_LAST_IN_INC -DPERL_IMPLIC
+IT_CONTEXT
 -DPERL_IMPLICIT_SYS -DUSE_PERLIO -DPERL_MSVCRT_READFIX -DHASATTRIBUTE
+ -fno-stri
ct-aliasing -mms-bitfields -O2    -DVERSION=\"0.01\"  -DXS_VERSION=\"0
+.01\"  "-I
C:\Perl\lib\CORE"  -D_WIN32_WINNT=0x0500 LockWorkStation.c
Running Mkbootstrap for Win32::LockWorkStation ()
        C:\Perl\bin\perl.exe -MExtUtils::Command -e "chmod" -- 644 Loc
+kWorkStati
on.bs
        C:\Perl\bin\perl.exe -MExtUtils::Mksymlists  -e "Mksymlists('N
+AME'=>\"Wi
n32::LockWorkStation\", 'DLBASE' => 'LockWorkStation', 'DL_FUNCS' => {
+  }, 'FUNC
LIST' => [], 'IMPORTS' => {  }, 'DL_VARS' => []);"
Set up gcc environment - 3.4.2 (mingw-special)
        dlltool --def LockWorkStation.def --output-exp dll.exp
        c:\Dev-Cpp\bin\g++.exe -o blib\arch\auto\Win32\LockWorkStation
+\LockWorkS
tation.dll -Wl,--base-file -Wl,dll.base -mdll -L"C:\Perl\lib\CORE" Loc
+kWorkStati
on.o -Wl,--image-base,0x1b000000  C:\Perl\lib\CORE\perl510.lib c:\Dev-
+Cpp\lib\li
buser32.a c:\Dev-Cpp\lib\libkernel32.a c:\Dev-Cpp\lib\libuser32.a c:\D
+ev-Cpp\lib
\libgdi32.a c:\Dev-Cpp\lib\libwinspool.a c:\Dev-Cpp\lib\libcomdlg32.a 
+c:\Dev-Cpp
\lib\libadvapi32.a c:\Dev-Cpp\lib\libshell32.a c:\Dev-Cpp\lib\libole32
+.a c:\Dev-
Cpp\lib\liboleaut32.a c:\Dev-Cpp\lib\libnetapi32.a c:\Dev-Cpp\lib\libu
+uid.a c:\D
ev-Cpp\lib\libws2_32.a c:\Dev-Cpp\lib\libmpr.a c:\Dev-Cpp\lib\libwinmm
+.a c:\Dev-
Cpp\lib\libversion.a c:\Dev-Cpp\lib\libodbc32.a c:\Dev-Cpp\lib\libodbc
+cp32.a c:\
Dev-Cpp\lib\libmsvcrt.a dll.exp
g++.exe: LockWorkStation.o: No such file or directory
NMAKE : fatal error U1077: 'C:\WINDOWS\system32\cmd.exe' : return code
+ '0x1'
Stop.

Admin://{C} # ls LockWorkStation.*

 Directory of C:\Documents and Settings\Admin\My Documents\tmp\Win32-L
+ockWor
kStation-0.01

LockWorkStation.bs    LockWorkStation.def
LockWorkStation.c     LockWorkStation.xs
               4 File(s)          3,846 bytes

Admin://{C} #         c:/Dev-Cpp/bin/gcc.exe -c    -DNDEBUG -DWIN32 -D
+_CONSO
LE -DNO_STRICT -DHAVE_DES_FCRYPT -DUSE_SITECUSTOMIZE -DPRIVLIB_LAST_IN
+_INC -DPER
L_IMPLICIT_CONTEXT -DPERL_IMPLICIT_SYS -DUSE_PERLIO -DPERL_MSVCRT_READ
+FIX -DHASA
TTRIBUTE -fno-strict-aliasing -mms-bitfields -O2    -DVERSION=\"0.01\"
+  -DXS_VER
SION=\"0.01\"  "-IC:\Perl\lib\CORE"  -D_WIN32_WINNT=0x0500 LockWorkSta
+tion.c

Admin://{C} # ls LockWorkStation.*

 Directory of C:\Documents and Settings\Admin\My Documents\tmp\Win32-L
+ockWor
kStation-0.01

LockWorkStation.bs    LockWorkStation.def   LockWorkStation.xs
LockWorkStation.c     LockWorkStation.o
               5 File(s)          7,913 bytes

Admin://{C} #
[download]

I've done a lot of Google searching but came up empty. I know the XS code is good because it compiles under MSVC++ and under MingW (if I run it 'manually' instead of via the 'nmake' Makefile). Is there something in the 'perl Makefile.PL' step I'm missing - is there something that needs to be in the Makefile?

Comment on MingW C for XS in ActiveState Select or Download Code

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: MingW C for XS in ActiveState by syphilis (Archbishop) on Feb 19, 2010 at 04:42 UTC
... it compiles under MSVC++ and under MingW (if I run it 'manually' instead of via the 'nmake' Makefile) I don't see why LockWorkStation.o fails to be built by the Makefile .... it's a bit weird. But that old version of nmake that you're using is known to be flakey. Try getting a newer version of nmake, or (better still, imo) install dmake from CPAN. If you do want to switch to dmake, you may need to make sure that nmake is hidden from view - by (eg) removing it from the path, or deleting it. (Otherwise, perl might still continue to generate the Makefile for nmake, instead of for dmake.) Cheers, Rob	[reply]
Re: MingW C for XS in ActiveState by ikegami (Patriarch) on Feb 19, 2010 at 07:08 UTC
Aren't you suppose to use dmake with mingw? Either way, mixing ActiveState (built with MS tools) and non-MS tools isn't the best way to go.	[reply]
Re^2: MingW C for XS in ActiveState by syphilis (Archbishop) on Feb 19, 2010 at 07:38 UTC
Aren't you suppose to use dmake with mingw? Shouldn't matter, afaik - so long as $Config{make} matches the make utility you're using, it should be fine. However, I too would prefer to use dmake with MinGW and nmake with MSVC++ .... just in case :-) I believe (untested) that you do need to use dmake if you want to build perl itself with MinGW, whereas you can build perl using either dmake or nmake with MSVC++ - and thats' something I have tested recently. Cheers, Rob	[reply]
Re^3: MingW C for XS in ActiveState by ikegami (Patriarch) on Feb 19, 2010 at 07:49 UTC
Something didn't ring through with what I was saying, which is why I asked it as a question. thanks.	[reply]
Re: MingW C for XS in ActiveState by VinsWorldcom (Prior) on Feb 19, 2010 at 15:26 UTC
++ for syphilis and ikegami. Your comments forced me to go back, install dmake (which I didn't think I needed) and learn a valuable lesson not learned after reading Compiling C/C++ based Modules under ActiveState using MinGW (ironically posted by syphilis). SOLUTION: Since I do some C work, I already have Dev-Cpp (http://bloodshed.net) installed (thus MingW gcc in C:\Dev-cpp\bin in my path). However, the 'make.exe' installed with Dev-cpp is not liked by ActiveState Perl - it asks for 'dmake.exe' specifically; however, we know MS 'nmake.exe' works "well" also. I downloaded MS 'nmake.exe' to be able to do the: `perl Makefile.PL make make test make install` [download] and the Microsoft 'nmake.exe' (in place of 'make' in the above example) works fine with ActiveState with or without a C compiler installed (as one isn't needed) for simple Perl modules (that is, ones without XS C compile required). However for more complicated modules - that is - ones that require a C compiler for XS components, it *IS* essential that you match your make utility and your C compiler. dmake, MingW (gcc.exe) nmake, MS VC++ (cl.exe) After taking the comments into consideration, I did a: `ppm install dmake` [download] I then moved 'nmake.exe' out of my path. I added 'C:\Perl\site\bin' (where 'dmake.exe' was installed) to the end of my path (which already had 'C:\Dev-cpp\bin' among other things). Now, a: `perl Makefile.PL dmake dmake test dmake install` [download] Worked fine - using the C:\Perl\Site\bin\dmake.exe and C:\Dev-cpp\bin\* C utilities (compiler, linker, DLL tools). My XS module compiled fine - as expected. LESSON: When doing module compiles involving C code, make (pun intended) sure your make utility and C compiler "match". That is: dmake, MingW (gcc.exe) nmake, MS VC++ (cl.exe) seem to work best. Note, these are probably not the only make/C utilities available, they are just the combinations I've 'tested' during this experience.	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^2: MingW C for XS in ActiveState by Anonymous Monk on Feb 19, 2010 at 15:32 UTC
Or `ppm install MinGW dmake` [download] and be finished	[reply] [d/l]
Re^2: MingW C for XS in ActiveState by syphilis (Archbishop) on Feb 19, 2010 at 23:23 UTC
it IS* essential that you match your make utility and your C compiler* Actually, it's essential that you match your make utility with what `perl -V:make` reports. I've just built PDL-2.4.6 and a couple of other XS modules using nmake and MinGW without any problems. The tricky bit when building with gcc and nmake on ActivePerl would be making sure that `perl -V:make` reports 'nmake', not 'dmake'. (I actually didn't manage to achieve that with AS build 1007, though I think it could be done quite readily with some of the earlier AS builds.) Anyway ... good that you've now got things working, and in a sane and reliable way. Cheers, Rob	[reply] [d/l] [select]