libffi-sys refuses to build with gnu toolchain on Windows #20

cher-nov · 2021-04-29T09:26:47Z

   Compiling libffi-sys v1.1.0
     Running `<MY_RUST_PROJECT_PATH>\target\release\build\libffi-sys-bcfb47f615dc8bff\build-script-build`
error: failed to run custom build command for `libffi-sys v1.1.0`

Caused by:
  process didn't exit successfully: `<MY_RUST_PROJECT_PATH>\target\release\build\libffi-sys-bcfb47f615dc8bff\build-script-build` (exit code:101)
  --- stderr
  thread 'main' panicked at 'Copying libffi into the build directory: Os { code: 2, kind: NotFound, message: "The system cannot find the file specified." }', <...>\rust-lang\.cargo\registry\src\g.yxqyang.asia-1285ae84e5963aae\libffi-sys-1.1.0\build\common.rs:8:26
  note: run with `RUST_BACKTRACE=1` environment variable to display a backtrace

This looks similar to this issue:
tov/libffi-sys-rs#16

Shell command:

$> cargo +nightly-i686-pc-windows-gnu build --release --verbose --all --jobs 1 --target i686-pc-windows-gnu

My setup:

$> cargo -Vv

cargo 1.51.0 (43b129a20 2021-03-16)
release: 1.51.0
commit-hash: 43b129a20fbf1ede0df411396ccf0c024bf34134
commit-date: 2021-03-16

$> rustc -Vv

rustc 1.51.0 (2fd73fabe 2021-03-23)
binary: rustc
commit-hash: 2fd73fabe469357a12c2c974c140f67e7cdd76d0
commit-date: 2021-03-23
host: x86_64-pc-windows-gnu
release: 1.51.0
LLVM version: 11.0.1

GCC version:

gcc (i686-win32-dwarf-rev0, Built by MinGW-W64 project) 8.1.0
i686-8.1.0-win32-dwarf-rt_v6-rev0

The text was updated successfully, but these errors were encountered:

yorickpeterse · 2021-04-29T11:18:41Z

@cher-nov Could you re-run the command with RUST_BACKTRACE=1 set? That may help determining what step exactly fails.

I suspect it's due to the custom target being specified, IIRC libffi uses slightly different names for some of them, but I'm not certain if that's the case here.

cher-nov · 2021-04-29T13:05:09Z

@cher-nov Could you re-run the command with RUST_BACKTRACE=1 set?

Sure.

RUST_BACKTRACE=1

   Compiling libffi-sys v1.1.0
     Running `<MY_RUST_PROJECT_PATH>\target\release\build\libffi-sys-bcfb47f615dc8bff\build-script-build`
error: failed to run custom build command for `libffi-sys v1.1.0`

Caused by:
  process didn't exit successfully: `<MY_RUST_PROJECT_PATH>\target\release\build\libffi-sys-bcfb47f615dc8bff\build-script-build` (exit code:101)
  --- stderr
  thread 'main' panicked at 'Copying libffi into the build directory: Os { code: 2, kind: NotFound, message: "The system cannot find the file specified." }', <...>\rust-lang\.cargo\registry\src\g.yxqyang.asia-1285ae84e5963aae\libffi-sys-1.1.0\build\common.rs:8:26
  stack backtrace:
     0: rust_begin_unwind
               at /rustc/f5f33ec0e0455eefa72fc5567eb1280a4d5ee206\/library\std\src/panicking.rs:493:5
     1: core::panicking::panic_fmt
               at /rustc/f5f33ec0e0455eefa72fc5567eb1280a4d5ee206\/library\core\src/panicking.rs:92:14
     2: core::option::expect_none_failed
               at /rustc/f5f33ec0e0455eefa72fc5567eb1280a4d5ee206\/library\core\src/option.rs:1329:5
     3: core::result::Result<T,E>::expect
     4: build_script_build::common::run_command
     5: build_script_build::not_msvc::build_and_link
     6: build_script_build::main
     7: core::ops::function::FnOnce::call_once
  note: Some details are omitted, run with `RUST_BACKTRACE=full` for a verbose backtrace.

RUST_BACKTRACE=full

   Compiling libffi-sys v1.1.0
     Running `<MY_RUST_PROJECT_PATH>\target\release\build\libffi-sys-bcfb47f615dc8bff\build-script-build`
error: failed to run custom build command for `libffi-sys v1.1.0`

Caused by:
  process didn't exit successfully: `<MY_RUST_PROJECT_PATH>\target\release\build\libffi-sys-bcfb47f615dc8bff\build-script-build` (exit code:101)
  --- stderr
  thread 'main' panicked at 'Copying libffi into the build directory: Os { code: 2, kind: NotFound, message: "The system cannot find the file specified." }', <...>\rust-lang\.cargo\registry\src\g.yxqyang.asia-1285ae84e5963aae\libffi-sys-1.1.0\build\common.rs:8:26
  stack backtrace:
     0:   0x49d94c - core::fmt::write::h45d755886b411a7f
                         at /rustc/f5f33ec0e0455eefa72fc5567eb1280a4d5ee206\/library\core\src\fmt/mod.rs:1092:17
     1:   0x433df5 - std::io::Write::write_fmt::h50f1ae2e2b5af5a5
                         at /rustc/f5f33ec0e0455eefa72fc5567eb1280a4d5ee206\/library\std\src\io/mod.rs:1572:15
     2:   0x441f06 - std::sys_common::backtrace::_print::h6f45af8a3a49fb2b
                         at /rustc/f5f33ec0e0455eefa72fc5567eb1280a4d5ee206\/library\std\src\sys_common/backtrace.rs:49:5
     3:   0x441f06 - std::sys_common::backtrace::print::h3349ab0ff253cbcb
                         at /rustc/f5f33ec0e0455eefa72fc5567eb1280a4d5ee206\/library\std\src\sys_common/backtrace.rs:36:9
     4:   0x441f06 - std::panicking::default_hook::{{closure}}::h80d289dc75de3eac
                         at /rustc/f5f33ec0e0455eefa72fc5567eb1280a4d5ee206\/library\std\src/panicking.rs:208:50
     5:   0x441b6a - std::panicking::default_hook::h011eecf8cd077bb8
                         at /rustc/f5f33ec0e0455eefa72fc5567eb1280a4d5ee206\/library\std\src/panicking.rs:225:9
     6:   0x4425d9 - std::panicking::rust_panic_with_hook::he132815485403a02
                         at /rustc/f5f33ec0e0455eefa72fc5567eb1280a4d5ee206\/library\std\src/panicking.rs:591:17
     7:   0x442221 - std::panicking::begin_panic_handler::{{closure}}::h1ffe0aa8bb6b2211
                         at /rustc/f5f33ec0e0455eefa72fc5567eb1280a4d5ee206\/library\std\src/panicking.rs:497:13
     8:   0x43f97d - std::sys_common::backtrace::__rust_end_short_backtrace::h9a1d800141b9d571
                         at /rustc/f5f33ec0e0455eefa72fc5567eb1280a4d5ee206\/library\std\src\sys_common/backtrace.rs:141:18
     9:   0x442193 - rust_begin_unwind
                         at /rustc/f5f33ec0e0455eefa72fc5567eb1280a4d5ee206\/library\std\src/panicking.rs:493:5
    10:   0x499fd9 - core::panicking::panic_fmt::hc659c839484d8b17
                         at /rustc/f5f33ec0e0455eefa72fc5567eb1280a4d5ee206\/library\core\src/panicking.rs:92:14
    11:   0x499cd9 - core::option::expect_none_failed::h1d03a3c6f83f5ef5
                         at /rustc/f5f33ec0e0455eefa72fc5567eb1280a4d5ee206\/library\core\src/option.rs:1329:5
    12:   0x40a49b - core::result::Result<T,E>::expect::hfd77310ed7808ebf
    13:   0x4048a8 - build_script_build::common::run_command::h7ed65e0df45acd13
    14:   0x40b722 - build_script_build::not_msvc::build_and_link::hecd7ce69742a0ea3
    15:   0x407e98 - build_script_build::main::h44527b5110fc88ee
    16:   0x403b79 - core::ops::function::FnOnce::call_once::h9c8ac8cc0ab270d2
    17:   0x405581 - std::sys_common::backtrace::__rust_begin_short_backtrace::h2e450a038ec305be
    18:   0x409433 - std::rt::lang_start::{{closure}}::h3e783aadfcea1a8a
    19:   0x442808 - core::ops::function::impls::<impl core::ops::function::FnOnce<A> for &F>::call_once::h2865305cb22c3481
                         at /rustc/f5f33ec0e0455eefa72fc5567eb1280a4d5ee206\library\core\src\ops/function.rs:259:13
    20:   0x442808 - std::panicking::try::do_call::h4df39ca3691a3422
                         at /rustc/f5f33ec0e0455eefa72fc5567eb1280a4d5ee206\/library\std\src/panicking.rs:379:40
    21:   0x442808 - std::panicking::try::h614371d718617389
                         at /rustc/f5f33ec0e0455eefa72fc5567eb1280a4d5ee206\/library\std\src/panicking.rs:343:19
    22:   0x442808 - std::panic::catch_unwind::ha3f10f4df56e4864
                         at /rustc/f5f33ec0e0455eefa72fc5567eb1280a4d5ee206\/library\std\src/panic.rs:431:14
    23:   0x442808 - std::rt::lang_start_internal::h9eb8338eb9035461
                         at /rustc/f5f33ec0e0455eefa72fc5567eb1280a4d5ee206\/library\std\src/rt.rs:51:25
    24:   0x40940d - std::rt::lang_start::h35f31df2ec200e9a
    25:   0x407ed3 - _main
    26:   0x40138b - ___tmainCRTStartup
    27: 0x760b343d - <unknown>
    28: 0x77529812 - <unknown>
    29: 0x775297e5 - <unknown>

yorickpeterse · 2021-04-29T16:38:32Z

@cher-nov It looks like the build script is running the build process for Unix systems. If you're not running inside something like MSYS2, that won't work. In this case it's failing because (I'm guessing) it can't find the cp command. I'm guessing this is because you're using cargo +nightly-i686-pc-windows-gnu, which results in target_env not being set to msvc, resulting in the build script failing as it does above.

In short, I don't think you can build libffi-rs using a GNU style Rust build while running inside a regular Windows/MSVC environment. Either you have to use a GNU style Rust build inside a Linux-like environment (e.g. MSYS2), or use an MSVC Rust build inside an MSVC environment. I'm not sure if there's a way we can support mixing the two.

cher-nov · 2021-04-30T09:21:12Z

Well, then support for the GNU style Rust on Windows in this crate would be very nice, I believe.
You can consider it as a feature request. :)

yorickpeterse · 2021-04-30T12:11:09Z

@cher-nov Support for it would indeed be nice. Unfortunately, I'm not familiar enough with Windows to actually implement it :/

cher-nov · 2021-05-27T17:51:40Z

If using \usr\bin from Git for Windows installation folder, which contains some bits of coreutils including the cp utility, then it fails with another error:

$> set PATH="C:\Program Files\Git\usr\bin";%PATH%
$> set RUST_BACKTRACE=full

$> cargo +nightly build --target=i686-pc-windows-gnu --jobs 1 --verbose --all

   Compiling libffi-sys v1.1.1
     Running `<MY_RUST_PROJECT_PATH>\target\debug\build\libffi-sys-33e772ea77311f3b\build-script-build`
error: failed to run custom build command for `libffi-sys v1.1.1`

Caused by:
  process didn't exit successfully: `<MY_RUST_PROJECT_PATH>\target\debug\build\libffi-sys-33e772ea77311f3b\build-script-build` (exit code: 101)
  --- stderr
  autogen.sh: line 2: exec: autoreconf: not found
  thread 'main' panicked at 'Generating configure', <...>\rust-lang\.cargo\registry\src\g.yxqyang.asia-1ecc6299db9ec823\libffi-sys-1.1.1\build\common.rs:8:5
  stack backtrace:
     0:           0x43f7ab - std::backtrace_rs::backtrace::dbghelp::trace::hebd11b225b5f28bf
                                 at /rustc/ff2c947c00f867b9f012e28ba88cecfbe556f904\/library\std\src\..\..\backtrace\src\backtrace/dbghelp.rs:98:5
     1:           0x43f7ab - std::backtrace_rs::backtrace::trace_unsynchronized::h1b8b137891cb3a95
                                 at /rustc/ff2c947c00f867b9f012e28ba88cecfbe556f904\/library\std\src\..\..\backtrace\src\backtrace/mod.rs:66:5
     2:           0x43f7ab - std::sys_common::backtrace::_print_fmt::h6c6d4d830d8b6265
                                 at /rustc/ff2c947c00f867b9f012e28ba88cecfbe556f904\/library\std\src\sys_common/backtrace.rs:67:5
     3:           0x43f7ab - <std::sys_common::backtrace::_print::DisplayBacktrace as core::fmt::Display>::fmt::h8ed754dab6c10796
                                 at /rustc/ff2c947c00f867b9f012e28ba88cecfbe556f904\/library\std\src\sys_common/backtrace.rs:46:22
     4:           0x4a92fa - core::fmt::write::hc5ea6ea83086129b
                                 at /rustc/ff2c947c00f867b9f012e28ba88cecfbe556f904\/library\core\src\fmt/mod.rs:1110:17
     5:           0x432982 - std::io::Write::write_fmt::h4b25832ee2466f6b
                                 at /rustc/ff2c947c00f867b9f012e28ba88cecfbe556f904\/library\std\src\io/mod.rs:1588:15
     6:           0x443410 - std::sys_common::backtrace::_print::h0afdd3d6700e4a72
                                 at /rustc/ff2c947c00f867b9f012e28ba88cecfbe556f904\/library\std\src\sys_common/backtrace.rs:49:5
     7:           0x443410 - std::sys_common::backtrace::print::h6cc9cca470e70206
                                 at /rustc/ff2c947c00f867b9f012e28ba88cecfbe556f904\/library\std\src\sys_common/backtrace.rs:36:9
     8:           0x443410 - std::panicking::default_hook::{{closure}}::hdea900a8fcd7d1a0
                                 at /rustc/ff2c947c00f867b9f012e28ba88cecfbe556f904\/library\std\src/panicking.rs:208:50
     9:           0x442fc4 - std::panicking::default_hook::h2b10cc1280948111
                                 at /rustc/ff2c947c00f867b9f012e28ba88cecfbe556f904\/library\std\src/panicking.rs:225:9
    10:           0x443b85 - std::panicking::rust_panic_with_hook::h2d579876e65be76b
                                 at /rustc/ff2c947c00f867b9f012e28ba88cecfbe556f904\/library\std\src/panicking.rs:622:17
    11:           0x4437c9 - std::panicking::begin_panic_handler::{{closure}}::h0bb2553d77f59f04
                                 at /rustc/ff2c947c00f867b9f012e28ba88cecfbe556f904\/library\std\src/panicking.rs:519:13
    12:           0x44019f - std::sys_common::backtrace::__rust_end_short_backtrace::h0e94d11a0572b51f
                                 at /rustc/ff2c947c00f867b9f012e28ba88cecfbe556f904\/library\std\src\sys_common/backtrace.rs:141:18
    13:           0x443729 - rust_begin_unwind
                                 at /rustc/ff2c947c00f867b9f012e28ba88cecfbe556f904\/library\std\src/panicking.rs:515:5
    14:           0x4436dc - std::panicking::begin_panic_fmt::h23de7ee8c3522530
                                 at /rustc/ff2c947c00f867b9f012e28ba88cecfbe556f904\/library\std\src/panicking.rs:457:5
    15:           0x40480b - build_script_build::common::run_command::hf376ac9835a660f7
                                 at <...>\rust-lang\.cargo\registry\src\g.yxqyang.asia-1ecc6299db9ec823\libffi-sys-1.1.1/<...>\rust-lang\.cargo\registry\src\g.yxqyang.asia-1ecc6299db9ec823\libffi-sys-1.1.1\build/common.rs:8:5
    16:           0x40e0e7 - build_script_build::not_msvc::autogen::h85371b3071953cc8
                                 at <...>\rust-lang\.cargo\registry\src\g.yxqyang.asia-1ecc6299db9ec823\libffi-sys-1.1.1/<...>\rust-lang\.cargo\registry\src\g.yxqyang.asia-1ecc6299db9ec823\libffi-sys-1.1.1\build/not_msvc.rs:111:5
    17:           0x40d4e8 - build_script_build::not_msvc::build_and_link::h4d3f894b5f19a8a1
                                 at <...>\rust-lang\.cargo\registry\src\g.yxqyang.asia-1ecc6299db9ec823\libffi-sys-1.1.1/<...>\rust-lang\.cargo\registry\src\g.yxqyang.asia-1ecc6299db9ec823\libffi-sys-1.1.1\build/not_msvc.rs:25:5
    18:           0x40bca9 - build_script_build::main::he2cd94afdeade2a8
                                 at <...>\rust-lang\.cargo\registry\src\g.yxqyang.asia-1ecc6299db9ec823\libffi-sys-1.1.1/<...>\rust-lang\.cargo\registry\src\g.yxqyang.asia-1ecc6299db9ec823\libffi-sys-1.1.1\build/build.rs:16:9
    19:           0x4050ab - core::ops::function::FnOnce::call_once::he1987f806fad615d
                                 at /rustc/ff2c947c00f867b9f012e28ba88cecfbe556f904\library\core\src\ops/function.rs:227:5
    20:           0x4071de - std::sys_common::backtrace::__rust_begin_short_backtrace::h2f02d27f7438f027
                                 at /rustc/ff2c947c00f867b9f012e28ba88cecfbe556f904\library\std\src\sys_common/backtrace.rs:125:18
    21:           0x40b181 - std::rt::lang_start::{{closure}}::h4ea01d9800778be3
                                 at /rustc/ff2c947c00f867b9f012e28ba88cecfbe556f904\library\std\src/rt.rs:49:18
    22:           0x443fef - core::ops::function::impls::<impl core::ops::function::FnOnce<A> for &F>::call_once::h7cdffb37b47f9ec7
                                 at /rustc/ff2c947c00f867b9f012e28ba88cecfbe556f904\library\core\src\ops/function.rs:259:13
    23:           0x443fef - std::panicking::try::do_call::hd47cf9f3135aee1a
                                 at /rustc/ff2c947c00f867b9f012e28ba88cecfbe556f904\/library\std\src/panicking.rs:401:40
    24:           0x443fef - std::panicking::try::h5ced30deeb1c85b1
                                 at /rustc/ff2c947c00f867b9f012e28ba88cecfbe556f904\/library\std\src/panicking.rs:365:19
    25:           0x443fef - std::panic::catch_unwind::h30f61ae6d8f1ad0a
                                 at /rustc/ff2c947c00f867b9f012e28ba88cecfbe556f904\/library\std\src/panic.rs:433:14
    26:           0x443fef - std::rt::lang_start_internal::h645c8fd9187892d2
                                 at /rustc/ff2c947c00f867b9f012e28ba88cecfbe556f904\/library\std\src/rt.rs:34:21
    27:           0x40b15f - std::rt::lang_start::h5cdb4cbd21ed3bd4
                                 at /rustc/ff2c947c00f867b9f012e28ba88cecfbe556f904\library\std\src/rt.rs:48:5
    28:           0x40bcdc - main
    29:           0x4013c7 - __tmainCRTStartup
    30:           0x4014fb - mainCRTStartup
    31:         0x7795556d - <unknown>
    32:         0x77ab372d - <unknown>

Thus, it seems the only proper option to operate with Rust's GNU toolchain on Windows is by using the MSYS2 environment. I always wanted to avoid that because I prefer to use native tools where possible and separate installations of Git and mingw-w64, but unfortunately there's no other way at least for now.

yorickpeterse · 2021-05-27T19:26:53Z

@cher-nov You should be able to use libffi-rs just fine under a proper vistual studio setup. I've been using it there successfully without trouble.

Where things can go wrong is when you start mixing regular Windows tools and GNU tools. For example, if you use the Rust GNU toolchain then IIRC you also must run inside MSYS2 or similar; otherwise the build script and/or libffi itself get confused. Similarly, if you use a Vistual Studio toolchain inside MSYS2 or similar, I think Rust ends up using the wrong linker (at least I remember running into something like that).

Unfortunately, I never figured out how to solve these issues 😕

cher-nov · 2021-05-27T19:40:35Z

@cher-nov You should be able to use libffi-rs just fine under a proper vistual studio setup. I've been using it there successfully without trouble.

Of course, but that's definitely what I'm trying to avoid as I don't like MSVC. :)
I posted a MSYS2 mention just to let others know how to deal with such situation.

oli-obk · 2022-09-21T09:26:11Z

I believe this is related to the issues we're seeing in rust-lang/rust#102028 (comment) as it's solely mingw builds that are failing.

yorickpeterse · 2022-09-21T14:52:39Z

@oli-obk Any help with this would be much appreciated, as my understanding of developing on Windows is very limited, and last time I looked into this I wasn't able to figure out why it fails.

ArchGuyWu · 2022-09-22T06:39:22Z

Is there anyone still fail to build libffi-sys on windows?You may need to install [mingw-w64-x86_64-autotools] to get it work.

oli-obk · 2022-09-22T07:15:49Z

I don't believe it's missing tooling, unless some other errors are hidden. The error we see is

readelf: Error: Not an ELF file - it has the wrong magic bytes at the start

@oli-obk Any help with this would be much appreciated, as my understanding of developing on Windows is very limited, and last time I looked into this I wasn't able to figure out why it fails.

yea, it's on the low priority list, but we definitely want to fix this

ArchGuyWu · 2022-09-22T12:35:53Z

@oli-obk Only this error?I also got another error "Program not found".

ArchGuyWu · 2022-09-22T12:47:07Z

It got compiled after installing autotools.

yorickpeterse · 2022-09-22T13:25:00Z

@ArchGuyWu Autotools is supposed to not be necessary since we bundle the necessary files, and we don't use it ourselves. It's possible the generated Makefile somehow still depends on something provided by it on MSYS2, in which case that should be resolved.

ArchGuyWu · 2022-09-22T14:01:56Z

Autotools is a meta package,which just pulls in other packages,so we can try to figure out the Makefile exactly depends on which package.

yorickpeterse · 2025-04-08T21:26:18Z

Per CI (example) we seem to build just fine now on MSVC and GNU platforms, provided MSYS2 is used for GNU targets. We also don't install additional packages such as autotools (unless that's installed by default by the MSYS action).

Based on this, I think all should be fine now? If not, feel free to reopen the issue with more details.

yorickpeterse added the help wanted label May 6, 2021

eliassjogreen mentioned this issue Jun 27, 2021

feat: ffi to replace plugins denoland/deno#11152

Merged

cher-nov mentioned this issue Oct 5, 2021

Add rust-toolchain.toml, add compatibility info to README OpenGMK/OpenGMK#124

Merged

yorickpeterse closed this as completed Apr 8, 2025

libffi-sys refuses to build with gnu toolchain on Windows #20

libffi-sys refuses to build with gnu toolchain on Windows #20

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cher-nov commented Apr 29, 2021 •

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cher-nov commented Apr 29, 2021 •

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cher-nov commented May 27, 2021 •

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ArchGuyWu commented Sep 22, 2022 •

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