Link external library with MSCV compiler

JonB

@elsa
OK, at least that confirms the unresolveds are indeed from your libraries and not from, say, remaining references somewhere to MinGW functions. FWIW, those are "mangled" names which come from references to C++ functions.

I think you should work through the points I suggested. In particular it's now unclear how come MinGW ever came into it/worked, since the third-party link you provided talked only about MSVC....

elsa

@JonB said in Link external library with MSCV compiler:

Make sure however you configure your project to generate linker lines it's using the right linker and command-line options for whatever the correct files for it are. When you changed over from MinGW to MSVC you must have had to re-configure the makes from scratch I imagine, telling it which compiler/linker you're using, I imagine. I don't know, but those link library lines you show still look a bit gcc rather than msvc/link to me, but I could be mistaken.

how does MSCV linking look like? and by "reconfigure" you mean choosing the new kit/compiler and running qmake or is there something else?

JonB

@elsa
I'm not sure about the MSVC command-line. I was thinking it would use LINK and have something like /LIB and/or mention of blas_win32_MT.LIB, I'm niggled by the suspicion it's still trying to link with MinGW libraries, but I'm not sure. You could look at/show the actual linker line that's being executed?

Yes, you needed to pick new compiler/linker kit and re-run qmake, or similar. It's very important that you cleaned everything out --- perferably restarted in a clean folder --- as you don't want any artefacts left over from old compiler/configuration. If it were me, at this point I'd be tempted to set up a brand new project in a new directory which just makes a couple of calls to those libraries and get it all working with MSVC from scratch.

P.S.
blas_win32_MT, lapack_win32_MT: Apart from the fact that you need to check you're compiling & linking your code with /MT, those must be 32-bit libraries. You are compiling your code for 32-bit too, right?

elsa

@JonB said in Link external library with MSCV compiler:

@elsa
I'm not sure about the MSVC command-line. I was thinking it would use LINK and have something like /LIB and/or mention of blas_win32_MT.LIB, I'm niggled by the suspicion it's still trying to link with MinGW libraries, but I'm not sure. You could look at/show the actual linker line that's being executed?

I thought this is just the line from the .pro file that I linked in the question. Is linking also defined somewhere else?

P.S.
blas_win32_MT, lapack_win32_MT: Apart from the fact that you need to check you're compiling & linking your code with /MT, those must be 32-bit libraries. You are compiling your code for 32-bit too, right?

Okay maybe this is the problem!
BIG UPDATE: The above mentioned errors get produced using the 64bit compiler, which -now that you say it- maybe explains why it doesn't work..
The weird thing is, however, when running the 32 bit compiler I get the following error:

error: LNK1112: module machine type 'x86' conflicts with target machine type 'x64'

so I am confused now. Is 32bit or 64bit correct?

JonB

@elsa

I thought this is just the line from the .pro file that I linked in the question. Is linking also defined somewhere else?

All you have shown is a LIBS += ... line in a .pro file. When you compile (link) it must also show the actual command-line it has constructed and is executing using these, presumably in whatever "compiler output window" it has.

error: LNK1112: module machine type 'x86' conflicts with target machine type 'x64'

so I am confused now. Is 32bit or 64bit correct?

x86 means 32-bit, x64 means 64-bit. Assuming from the names that those libraries you have are compiled 32-bit, you must compile everything else 32-bit (or get/compile 64-bit version of the libraries). The fact that you have a message target machine type 'x64' must indicate that somewhere you have told Qt Creator (the .pro file?) that your target is 64-bit, and that does not look good....

elsa

@JonB

All you have shown is a LIBS += ... line in a .pro file. When you compile (link) it must also show the actual command-line it has constructed and is executing using these, presumably in whatever "compiler output window" it has.

link /NOLOGO /DYNAMICBASE /NXCOMPAT /DEBUG /SUBSYSTEM:WINDOWS "/MANIFESTDEPENDENCY:type='win32' name='Microsoft.Windows.Common-Controls' version='6.0.0.0' publicKeyToken='6595b64144ccf1df' language='*' processorArchitecture='*'" /MANIFEST:embed /OUT:debug\DecaRangeRTLS.exe @C:\Users\FRHMELSA\AppData\Local\Temp\DecaRangeRTLS.exe.10468.50531.jom

x86 means 32-bit, x64 means 64-bit. Assuming from the names that those libraries you have are compiled 32-bit, you must compile everything else 32-bit (or get/compile 64-bit version of the libraries). The fact that you have a message target machine type 'x64' must indicate that somewhere you have told Qt Creator (the .pro file?) that your target is 64-bit, and that does not look good....

yes I have reached that assumption as well, but then how do I change the target machine type? :/

JonB

@elsa
I don't know in Qt Creator, but it can hardly be difficult, presumably you specify it at some point when you set up your project. Google for it.

Unless the error is from one of your libraries already being compiled 64-bit. Check whether those libraries with win32 in them are indeed 32-bit, not 64-bit.

Come on, you can do this, I can't answer!

jsulm

@elsa said in Link external library with MSCV compiler:

but then how do I change the target machine type?

Use Qt for that target machine type

elsa

@JonB @jsulm @mrjj I will try to start doing all the steps from scratch, because I am getting frustrated and cannot get on with the project because of this linker problem..
I am running Qt5.11.1. So what I read is that it only supports up to VS15, so I installed VS15. Qt, however, did not auto-detect the VS 14.0 compiler, so I had to add it manually. I found the path of the compiler .dll file but Qt also wants a make path (where is it?). This is where I am stuck now. Which make executable do I need for the compiler? and what else am I missing? I am sorry if my questions are to confusing or too easy. I am just trying to understand, because I never dealt with compilers and linkers in detail before and this problem came very unexpected.

jsulm

@elsa said in Link external library with MSCV compiler:

So what I read is that it only supports up to VS15

This is wrong - it supports VS17. But since VS15 and VS17 C++ compiler are compatible this does not matter. If you use Qt online installer you will see what compiler Qt 5.11.1 supports.

"but Qt also wants a make path" - can you please tell us exactly what it asks (screen-shot)?

If my understanding is correct the lib you want to use is built for x86, right? Official Qt build for Windows/VS are all x86_64. You will need a x86_64 build of that lib or build it by yourself.

elsa

@jsulm

This is a screenshot of the kit I am using now. This warning made me think that qt only supports VS15, but if it doesn't make a difference, then it's ok. This is now using the autodetected compiler (VS17), so I don't need to set up the path manually.
And yes the library is x86.

jsulm

@elsa OK, you have 32bit Qt, compiler and lib - does it work now?

elsa

@jsulm it produces this error:

f:\dd\vctools\crt\vcstartup\src\gs\gs_report.c:220: error: Debugger encountered an exception: Exception at 0xca9b99, code: 0xc0000409: , flags=0x1 (execution cannot be continued)
f:\dd\vctools\crt\vcstartup\src\gs\gs_report.c:220: error: Debugger encountered an exception: Exception at 0xca9b99, code: 0xc0000409: , flags=0x1 (execution cannot be continued)

jsulm

@elsa But this is when you try to run/debug the app, right?
Building it works?
To debug this error you should build in debug mode.

elsa

@jsulm oh true!! Sorry, I mixed it up. Yes, with the debugger it crashes at the end of one the functions.. I look into it more closely..

elsa

@jsulm
I commented some lines out to find the source of the problem and now it's producing the linking error again -.- This is the compile output:

	C:\Qt\Tools\QtCreator\bin\jom.exe -f Makefile.Debug
	link /NOLOGO /DYNAMICBASE /NXCOMPAT /DEBUG /SUBSYSTEM:WINDOWS "/MANIFESTDEPENDENCY:type='win32' name='Microsoft.Windows.Common-Controls' version='6.0.0.0' publicKeyToken='6595b64144ccf1df' language='*' processorArchitecture='*'" /MANIFEST:embed /OUT:debug\DecaRangeRTLS.exe @C:\Users\FRHMELSA\AppData\Local\Temp\DecaRangeRTLS.exe.5688.156.jom
Qt53DExtrasd.lib(Qt53DExtrasd.dll) : fatal error LNK1112: module machine type 'x86' conflicts with target machine type 'x64'
jom: C:\Users\FRHMELSA\Documents\Projects\build-TREKdisplay-Desktop_Qt_5_11_1_MSVC2017_32bit-Debug\Makefile.Debug [debug\DecaRangeRTLS.exe] Error 1112
jom: C:\Users\FRHMELSA\Documents\Projects\build-TREKdisplay-Desktop_Qt_5_11_1_MSVC2017_32bit-Debug\Makefile [debug] Error 2
15:06:47: The process "C:\Qt\Tools\QtCreator\bin\jom.exe" exited with code 2.
Error while building/deploying project TREKdisplay (kit: Desktop Qt 5.11.1 MSVC2017 32bit)
The kit Desktop Qt 5.11.1 MSVC2017 32bit has configuration issues which might be the root cause for this problem.
When executing step "Make"

So the problem is with Qt3DExtras? Is this library 64bit? But this doesn't make sense right? Because whole Qt is 32bit and this is just part of it.

jsulm

@elsa Delete build folder, run qmake and build again.

elsa

This post is deleted!

JonB

@elsa

Qt53DExtrasd.lib(Qt53DExtrasd.dll) : fatal error LNK1112: module machine type 'x86' conflicts with target machine type 'x64'
So the problem is with Qt3DExtras? Is this library 64bit?

I read this the other way round. I have searched this error and MS docs state it's a "version mismatch" but nowhere clarify which is which in the error message... :(

I believe this is saying: Qt53DExtrasd is a module which is compiled x86 (32-bit), but your overall LINK is targetting x64 (64-bit).

If that's the case, somehow your makefile/compilation/link is still targetting 64-bit when you want it to target 32-bit.... Make 100% sure that whatever the qmake generates (a makefile?) has no references to 64-bit but only to 32-bit, and that everything (of yours) is rebuilt from scratch.

elsa

@jsulm @JonB thank you both a lot for your patience! The deleting of the build folder suggested by @jsulm did it. Now it builds fine, but I still cannot run it :( (see new thread). I will mark this question as solved as the linking is now successful.