Re: libidn-1.23 bug in lib/Makefile cross-building for Windows

[Simon Josefsson]

René Berber <address@hidden> writes:

> Hello,
>
> I'm trying to cross-build libidn version 1.23, and I seem to have run
> into a bug.
>
> In file lib/Makefile there is:
>
> am__append_5 = -Wl,--output-def,libidn-$(DLL_VERSION).def
> ...
> libidn_la_LDFLAGS = -version-info \
>         $(LT_CURRENT):$(LT_REVISION):$(LT_AGE) -no-undefined \
>         $(am__append_3) $(am__append_4) $(am__append_5)
> ...
> defexec_DATA = libidn-$(DLL_VERSION).def
> ...
> install-defexecDATA: $(defexec_DATA)
>       ...
>
> The last rule depends on the .def file, but libidn_la_LDFLAGS  is not
> used, so the .def file is not built.
>
> Where am I seeing this?  Gentoo Linux, using crossdev with a
> x86_64-w64-mingw32 target.

Hello and thanks for the bug report.  The above code is generated from
this Makefile.am snippet:

if HAVE_LD_OUTPUT_DEF
libidn_la_LDFLAGS += -Wl,--output-def,libidn-$(DLL_VERSION).def
defexecdir = $(bindir)
defexec_DATA = libidn-$(DLL_VERSION).def
DISTCLEANFILES += $(defexec_DATA)
endif

It appears correct in the sense that libidn-X.def will only be installed
if -Wl,--output-def,libidn-X.def was passed when building the library.

Is support for -Wl,--output-def detected properly on your platform?
There should be a message like 'checking if gcc/ld supports
-Wl,--output-def' when you run ./configure.

If you remove lib/libidn.la and type 'make -C lib V=99' how do the
commands look like?  It should pass -Wl,--output-def,libidn-X.def to the
linker.

If the -Wl,--output-def,libidn-X.def parameter is passed to the linker
properly, and the file is not generated, it seems like a bug in the
compiler.

FWIW, I'm cross-compiling the Libidn binaries using MinGW-64 as well,
and I haven't seen this problem before.

Could it be a build ordering issue?  Are you trying to install
libidn-X.def before the library has been built perhaps?

/Simon