Cross compilation Windows from Linux

Question

Cross compilation Windows from Linux

thomaslepoix opened this issue 4 years ago · comments

I'd like to provide Windows binary and to document the build process from sources.

Arch linux provides several libraries for MinGW, like Qt, Boost, etc. that distributions like Ubuntu does not provide. So here is a container dedicated to cross-compilation for Windows with MinGW : https://hub.docker.com/r/burningdaylight/docker-mingw-qt5

~ $

    sudo docker run -v $PWD/out:/workdir/out -u root -it burningdaylight/docker-mingw-qt5 /bin/bash

        # Install peldd, ldd for Windows executables, as windeployqt replacement
        pacman -S boost
        cd /usr/local/src
        git clone https://github.com/gsauthof/pe-util --recurse-submodules
        mkdir pe-util/build && cd pe-util/build
        cmake ..
        make
        make install
        mkdir /usr/x86_64-w64-mingw32/sys-root
        ln -s /usr/x86_64-w64-mingw32 /usr/x86_64-w64-mingw32/sys-root/mingw
        
        cd /workdir
        git clone https://github.com/thomaslepoix/Qucs-RFlayout
        mkdir Qucs-RFlayout/build && cd Qucs-RFlayout/build
        x86_64-w64-mingw32-cmake ..
        make
        cp `peldd -a ../out/qucsrflayout.exe -w UxTheme.dll -w d3d11.dll -w dxgi.dll -w OPENGL32.dll -w USERENV.dll` /workdir/out
        mkdir /workdir/out/platforms
        cp /usr/x86_64-w64-mingw32/lib/qt/plugins/platforms/qwindows.dll /workdir/out/platforms
        exit

    cd out
    sudo chown -R `whoami` .
    zip -9r qucsrflayout-1.0.0-win64.zip *

The build looks fine but wine crashes when I try to run it in graphic mode. wine qucsrflayout.exe -G

The error messages from popup & console :

This application failed to start because no Qt platform plugin could be initialized. Reinstalling the application may fix this problem.

wine: Call from 0x7bc5b50c to unimplemented function KERNEL32.dll.RaiseFailFastException, aborting

I am wondering if it is a wine misconfiguration or if I am doing something wrong with Qt libraries but I have no Windows installation to check myself.
Plus, what are the commands we have to write in a Windows shell to build it from sources?

@bvernoux may I ask you to take a look? :)

Benjamin Vernoux · Answer 1 · Sun Feb 16 2020 15:55:52 GMT+0800 (China Standard Time)

I have built it on my side see archive qucsrflayout_1.0.0_MinGW64.zip
It is built with QtCreator 4.11.0 on Windows7 Pro with Qt5.12.6 & MinGW64 (mingw730_64) and it works fine see archive containing all dependencies (maybe it is why you have a crash)

Extract of my deployment script used windeployqt_release_Qucs-RFlayout.bat:

set qt_version=5.12.6
set qt_execpath=%cd%\build-Qucs-RFlayout-Desktop_Qt_5_12_6_MinGW_64_bit-Release\release

set qt_execname=Qucs-RFlayout.exe

set qtpath=D:\Qt\%qt_version%\mingw73_64\bin\
set windeployqt_execpath="%qtpath%\windeployqt.exe"
set PATH=%qtpath%;%PATH%

%windeployqt_execpath% --release %qt_execpath%\%qt_execname%
COPY /Y "D:\Qt\%qt_version%\mingw73_64\bin\libstdc++-6.dll" "%qt_execpath%\"
Pause

Thomas Lepoix · Answer 2 · Tue Feb 18 2020 05:35:52 GMT+0800 (China Standard Time)

Thank you!

I miss some dll to run your program, plus if I try to run it with my dll from the process above, I got the same crash as with my executable. So my wine config is probably wrong.

Can you run this one qucsrflayout-1.0.0-win64.zip ?

Benjamin Vernoux · Answer 3 · Wed Feb 19 2020 03:36:42 GMT+0800 (China Standard Time)

I have tested it and it do not launch with error:

This error means you shall create platforms directory which contains file qwindows.dll
You shall add other dependencies like in my release with dependencies solved https://github.com/thomaslepoix/Qucs-RFlayout/files/4209463/qucsrflayout_1.0.0_MinGW64.zip

Note1: My version is a built with stable Qt LTS using Qt5.12.6, yours is based on Qt5.14.1.0 so that explain if you are mixing DLL from different Qt version it crash.
Note2: I confirm I have issue to use windeployqt.exe with Qt5.14.1.0 (like I have done with Qt5.12.x) so It is better to keep LTS version Qt5.12.x

Thomas Lepoix · Answer 4 · Thu Feb 27 2020 09:12:41 GMT+0800 (China Standard Time)

Ok I got it!

I would be kind of relieved if the problem of windeployqt came from recent Qt versions instead of the MinGW version.

As pointed here, peldd I used as replacement can't detect dlls that are conditionally loaded at runtime such as qwindows.dll.

So this runs for me qucsrflayout-1.0.0-win64.zip

Benjamin Vernoux · Answer 5 · Fri Feb 28 2020 01:18:15 GMT+0800 (China Standard Time)

I confirm your latest build qucsrflayout-1.0.0-win64.zip work fine on native Windows7 SP1 64bits
Just for information when launch from icon, it open a additional command window with "GUI mode" which is not very nice

Thomas Lepoix · Answer 6 · Fri Feb 28 2020 03:19:28 GMT+0800 (China Standard Time)

Nice, thank you!

I cannot reproduce with wine, does it resolve it if you use cout instead of log_err here ?

Benjamin Vernoux · Answer 7 · Sun Mar 01 2020 16:47:42 GMT+0800 (China Standard Time)

So far I do not have time (and no space on my SSD) to play with docker/CMake as I'm using Windows Qt Creator with Qt5.12.x which build fine (I just need to modify Qucs-RFlayout.pro to remove TARGET) and the native built exe does not create/open additional command window with "GUI mode" in that case.
If you can provide a new cross compiled exe with cout instead of log_err (or even without any log) I could test.

Thomas Lepoix · Answer 8 · Mon Mar 02 2020 08:10:22 GMT+0800 (China Standard Time)

cout is enabled only with the --vebose flag at runtime but I think I spotted the difference between the QMake and CMake builds : The WIN32 flag of the CMake add_executable() command

Yes, of course, here is the rebuild : qucsrflayout-1.0.0-1-x86_64.zip

Although I think it is now obsolete, why the TARGET = $$PWD/out/qucsrflayout line is problematic for you?

Benjamin Vernoux · Answer 9 · Sat Mar 07 2020 07:25:16 GMT+0800 (China Standard Time)

In fact when I build the source with TARGET = $$PWD/out/qucsrflayout and Qt 5.12.7 I have this error

Makefile.Release:146: *** multiple target patterns. Stop.

If I build the source with TARGET = $$PWD/out/qucsrflayout and Qt 5.14.1 all is ok so it seems this feature is incompatible with Qt LTS 5.12.x and working only since Qt 5.14.x

I confirm your rebuild : qucsrflayout-1.0.0-1-x86_64.zip is ok and no Console windows appears now.

Thomas Lepoix · Answer 10 · Sat Mar 07 2020 07:59:34 GMT+0800 (China Standard Time)

Really nice!

Ok, good to know

Thank you very much for your time! :)