How to use Cryptolens C library in Zig | Zig Programming Language | Page 1

cosmic lance Nov 20, 2023, 1:01 AM

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I have the Cryptolens.lib file.

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Okay i got this so far

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lib.addLibraryPath(.{ .path = "include/cryptolens" });
lib.linkSystemLibrary("Cryptolens");

Building fine, but how can i access the library from my code?

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do i need more than just the lib file

cosmic lance Nov 20, 2023, 1:50 AM

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Fail

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well, i give up.

lament nova Nov 20, 2023, 2:14 AM

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If you want to include the headers vis @cImport then you need to tell the build system where the header files are via addIncludePath(.{ .path = "include/cryptolens" }).

cosmic lance Nov 20, 2023, 2:17 AM

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i did that

lament nova Nov 20, 2023, 2:18 AM

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Oh, well what is your full build.zig then? You probably don't want addLibraryPath to point at include/cryptolens unless you also put the library file there.

cosmic lance Nov 20, 2023, 2:19 AM

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that’s where I put the Cryptolens.lib. yes

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its mixed in with the headers

cosmic lance Nov 20, 2023, 2:23 AM

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cosmic lance Fail

Think it has something to do with this error. I don’t think it’s me doing something wrong rather than me simply not doing something required

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can anyone reproduce in a sandbox project? its a relatively simple lib to include

lament nova Nov 20, 2023, 2:28 AM

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Where did the library file come from? Just restating the error, but it seems that a COFF file is expected and you have something else. I'm not a windows person though.

cosmic lance Nov 20, 2023, 2:51 AM

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lament nova Where did the library file come from? Just restating the error, but it seems tha...

I followed the instructions on the readme

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Opened the solution in VS and built

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It gave me the Cryptolens.lib file output.

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The library is kind of strangely designed honestly

lament nova Nov 20, 2023, 3:08 AM

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I believe that zig by default uses x86_64-windows-gnu by default, maybe try the msvc target? E.g. use -Dtarget=x86_64-windows-msvc

cosmic lance Nov 20, 2023, 5:04 PM

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It still wont compile..

cosmic lance Nov 23, 2023, 12:40 AM

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Bunp please..

steep saffron Nov 23, 2023, 1:03 AM

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you can see what files you need to build it in the CMakeLists

cosmic lance Nov 23, 2023, 1:03 AM

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the origin of this issue is probably me not knowing anything about building C/C++ projects at all

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CMake, gcc....

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zig was really my intro to low level programming

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I'll check that file

steep saffron Nov 23, 2023, 1:04 AM

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oh then this is not a trivial thing to learn

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imo build systems are just difficult to learn. Only just starting to get a mental understand of how the zig one works

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i could probably throw together a build.zig that builds this

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but the problem is this ->
crypto ssl curl

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target_link_libraries (cryptolens crypto ssl curl)

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it links libcrypto, libssl and libcurl

cosmic lance Nov 23, 2023, 1:08 AM

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Cryptolens has a lot of client libraries for different languages, none for Zig yet (understandable why it wouldn't) but there's the C one so I figured, well I can just use that

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all i did was copy the source files and headers files into the include subdirectory of my project, then added csource files so yeah makes sense why it wouldnt work out of the box

steep saffron Nov 23, 2023, 1:10 AM

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nah thats not how it works

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it sometimes is but its not in this case

cosmic lance Nov 23, 2023, 1:11 AM

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I should've known to look at the CMakeLists file after realizing that the project structure looked kinda non-standard

steep saffron Nov 23, 2023, 1:11 AM

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well the readme also points out the build instructions

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But you are going to need to get libcrpyto and libssl and libcurl somehow

cosmic lance Nov 23, 2023, 1:11 AM

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The Cryptolens.lib file can then be used in another project, together with the include files in the include/ directory.

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I have the lib file built. does that include libcrypto,ssl,curl or no?

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Sorry if that's a dumb question

steep saffron Nov 23, 2023, 1:12 AM

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oh you already have it built

cosmic lance Nov 23, 2023, 1:12 AM

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Yeah I tried both ways

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I tried building it from source files using Zig build system, and also tried to use Cryptolens.lib file with only the headers

steep saffron Nov 23, 2023, 1:12 AM

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its not a dumb question i think it shouldn't need more stuff then

cosmic lance Nov 23, 2023, 1:12 AM

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I'll try to create a small repro of my problem

steep saffron Nov 23, 2023, 1:12 AM

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you should be able to link the lib file you build directly to your project

cosmic lance Nov 23, 2023, 1:13 AM

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i first used addLibraryPath to let it find Cryptolens.lib

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lemme pull up the code

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lib.addLibraryPath(.{ .path = "include/cryptolens" });

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lib.linkSystemLibrary("Cryptolens");

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Cryptolens.lib is in the folder

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and it builds fine actually but i can't use it via cimprot

steep saffron Nov 23, 2023, 1:14 AM

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you need to add the include folders to your own exe

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post the whole build.zig

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not just this

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put it on zigbin

cosmic lance Nov 23, 2023, 1:14 AM

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okay it's sort of a mess

steep saffron Nov 23, 2023, 1:14 AM

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doesnt matter

cosmic lance Nov 23, 2023, 1:14 AM

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i have stbimage in here and also imgui

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1 sec

steep saffron Nov 23, 2023, 1:15 AM

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are you using the package manager to fetch the cryptolens include directory or did you just copy paste the files into your project

cosmic lance Nov 23, 2023, 1:15 AM

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copy..

steep saffron Nov 23, 2023, 1:15 AM

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okay then it should be fairly straightforward

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whats the dir structure like.
Persumably:
/src/
/include/cryoptolens/crytolens.lib?

cosmic lance Nov 23, 2023, 1:17 AM

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now that i look at the build.zig it's not as messy as i thought, one sec i'm about to send zigbin paste and a screenshot of dir structure

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https://zigbin.io/b70fe2

cosmic lance Nov 23, 2023, 1:18 AM

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cosmic lance ``lib.addLibraryPath(.{ .path = "include/cryptolens" });``

the only 2 relevant lines to cryptolens are these though

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and this won't even build, ive got error: lld-link: x64\Release\error.obj: is not a native COFF file. Recompile without /GL?

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I built the project using VS2022 first, release x64 configuration to get the .lib file

gusty oracle Nov 23, 2023, 1:19 AM

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I can try building it using zig build system later

steep saffron Nov 23, 2023, 1:20 AM

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if you want to cimport it then you need to use lib.addIncludePath(.{ .path = "include/cryptolens" });

cosmic lance Nov 23, 2023, 1:21 AM

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yep i had that line before

cosmic lance Nov 23, 2023, 1:22 AM

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cosmic lance and this won't even build, ive got ``error: lld-link: x64\Release\error.obj: is ...

i removed it for the sake of simplifying things because i'm still getting the err just trying too link the librayr

steep saffron Nov 23, 2023, 1:22 AM

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Also:

.obj files produced by /GL and precompiled header files shouldn't be used to build a .lib file unless the .lib file is linked on the same machine that produced the /GL .obj file. Information from the .obj file's precompiled header file is needed at link time.
So persumably you should disable this on the .slon

cosmic lance Nov 23, 2023, 1:22 AM

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not even using it yet

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unless the .lib file is linked on the same machine that produced the /GL .obj file
Hm i see but i am on the same machine..

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but yeah i should get rid of that i suppose

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would make it not work for others

steep saffron Nov 23, 2023, 1:23 AM

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not exactly

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it wont work for you either

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it will only work for exactly the visual studio that built it

cosmic lance Nov 23, 2023, 1:23 AM

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ohhh

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this a PCH issue?

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should i disable pch

steep saffron Nov 23, 2023, 1:23 AM

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The format of files produced with /GL in the current version often isn't readable by later versions of Visual Studio and the MSVC toolset. Unless you're willing to ship copies of the .lib file for all versions of Visual Studio you expect your users to use, now and in the future, don't ship a .lib file made up of .obj files produced by /GL . For more information, see Restrictions on binary compatibility.

cosmic lance Nov 23, 2023, 1:24 AM

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Okay so this is why it wouldn't work with Zig build system even on my same machine

steep saffron Nov 23, 2023, 1:24 AM

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no not precompiled headers

cosmic lance Nov 23, 2023, 1:25 AM

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get rid of /GL compile flag

steep saffron Nov 23, 2023, 1:25 AM

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yea

cosmic lance Nov 23, 2023, 1:25 AM

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i mean im kinda dumb that's what the error said to do

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didn't know what it meant

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thank you for that

steep saffron Nov 23, 2023, 1:26 AM

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well try it, once it builds you might run into different issues

steep saffron Nov 23, 2023, 1:28 AM

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cosmic lance would make it not work for others

note though the main issue with building the lib in Visual studio and then putting the .lib file into your folder is that it complicates other people using your library a lot. Unless they go and fetch themselves their own statically linked cryptolens.lib file.

cosmic lance Nov 23, 2023, 1:28 AM

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now it builds

cosmic lance Nov 23, 2023, 1:28 AM

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steep saffron note though the main issue with building the lib in Visual studio and then putti...

ah i see thank you i did not know

cosmic lance Nov 23, 2023, 1:28 AM

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steep saffron if you want to cimport it then you need to use `lib.addIncludePath(.{ .path = "i...

now i assume i can just do this right

steep saffron Nov 23, 2023, 1:28 AM

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yes

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then you should be able to CImport clnclude the headers

cosmic lance Nov 23, 2023, 1:29 AM

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wow i didn't know it was that simple

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thanks a ton

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😄

steep saffron Nov 23, 2023, 1:29 AM

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cheers

cosmic lance Nov 23, 2023, 3:58 AM

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@steep saffron hello, sorry for pinging you but of course I got more linking issues I think with windows http library

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Am i just missing a lib.linkSystemLibrary(...) here

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only appears after trying to compile with my source code calling a function that needs to make an http request

steep saffron Nov 23, 2023, 3:59 AM

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winhttpconnect is in windows.h

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oh wait it not

cosmic lance Nov 23, 2023, 3:59 AM

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winhttp.h?

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unrelated but i didn't think the Cryptolens.lib file would contain debug info on release build

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it leaks folder path from my PC

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can i disable that when I build Cryptolens.lib?

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strip debug info

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or would that be a redundant step if im stripping debug info from my Zig project build

steep saffron Nov 23, 2023, 4:02 AM

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idk but the problem here is that

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your cryptolens thingy requires this library called winhttp.dll

cosmic lance Nov 23, 2023, 4:02 AM

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__declspec(dllimport)

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cause it's static library not dynamic right

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i don't know how to include winhttp.dll

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Oh wait

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I think I might know

steep saffron Nov 23, 2023, 4:04 AM

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heres a random shot in the dark, but try this:
copy paste it from system32 and put it into the same folder as your binary

cosmic lance Nov 23, 2023, 4:04 AM

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So when I was messing around trying to get Cryptolens.lib to work, I changed the build configuration to build as a dll Cryptolens.dll but it wouldn't work (also gave me winhttp linking errors) until I added this line #pragma comment(lib, "winhttp.lib")

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Is this helpful?

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and fwiw i'm building my zig project as dynamic library aswel

steep saffron Nov 23, 2023, 4:05 AM

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by it i mean winhttp.dll

cosmic lance Nov 23, 2023, 4:06 AM

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steep saffron heres a random shot in the dark, but try this: copy paste it from system32 and p...

is this gonna statically put the used winhttp funcs into the binary and increase file size?

steep saffron Nov 23, 2023, 4:06 AM

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C:\Windows\System32\winhttp.dll and put it in the bin directory

cosmic lance Nov 23, 2023, 4:06 AM

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sorry if idk what i'm saying

steep saffron Nov 23, 2023, 4:06 AM

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no its a dll

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but it might need to be together with the bin

cosmic lance Nov 23, 2023, 4:06 AM

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yeah i know but I'm wondering why System32 is not a default include path

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okay i'll try it

cosmic lance Nov 23, 2023, 4:07 AM

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steep saffron heres a random shot in the dark, but try this: copy paste it from system32 and p...

Nah the problem is that i can't even build the binary

steep saffron Nov 23, 2023, 4:07 AM

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cause is the message you put a runtime error?

cosmic lance Nov 23, 2023, 4:07 AM

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This isn't a runtime error

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Should have been more specific

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My fault

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lib.linkSystemLibrary("winhttp");

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this helped

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now there's only 2

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__stdio_common_vsprintf

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need to find the library this is from

steep saffron Nov 23, 2023, 4:09 AM

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ya know what this nonsense shouldnt be happening

cosmic lance Nov 23, 2023, 4:09 AM

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error: lld-link: undefined symbol: __declspec(dllimport) __stdio_common_vsprintf
    note: referenced by C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\Include\10.0.22621.0\ucrt\stdio.h:1776
    note:               Cryptolens.lib(cJSON.obj):($LN8)
error: lld-link: undefined symbol: __declspec(dllimport) __stdio_common_vsscanf
    note: referenced by C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\Include\10.0.22621.0\ucrt\stdio.h:2251
    note:               Cryptolens.lib(cJSON.obj):($LN6)

steep saffron Nov 23, 2023, 4:10 AM

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the Cryptolens should be statically linked

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is it not?

cosmic lance Nov 23, 2023, 4:10 AM

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it is

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include/cryptolens folder has the headers as well as Cryptolens.lib

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and in build.zig:

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lib.addLibraryPath(.{ .path = "include/cryptolens" });
    lib.addIncludePath(.{ .path = "include/cryptolens" });

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lib.linkSystemLibrary("Cryptolens");```

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const cryptolens = @cImport({
    @cInclude("cryptolens.h");
});
//...

steep saffron Nov 23, 2023, 4:11 AM

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the problem is more in the lines of the visual studio project settings

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this cryptolens thing doesnt have all the symbols it needs in it

cosmic lance Nov 23, 2023, 4:12 AM

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tbf the only thing i did was click Yes when I opened the project for the first time in VS to upgrading it

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from an older version

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since the lib is like 4 yrrs old

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i don't know if that would have changed smtn

steep saffron Nov 23, 2023, 4:12 AM

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no but like you might need to change something

cosmic lance Nov 23, 2023, 4:12 AM

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if not, i don't know which settings would be relevant

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what do you think i should checK?

steep saffron Nov 23, 2023, 4:12 AM

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idk maybe hop in a call and let me see the settings

cosmic lance Nov 23, 2023, 4:13 AM

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i could

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1 sec

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can you see

steep saffron Nov 23, 2023, 4:18 AM

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is my audio broken?

cosmic lance Nov 23, 2023, 4:18 AM

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oh im defeaned

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sorry

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es

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yes

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like a different version of VS to compile with?

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no hang on

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the file's the same size now 430kb as before

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error: lld-link: undefined symbol: __declspec(dllimport) __stdio_common_vsprintf
    note: referenced by C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\Include\10.0.22621.0\ucrt\stdio.h:1776
    note:               Cryptolens.lib(cJSON.obj):($LN8)
error: lld-link: undefined symbol: __declspec(dllimport) __stdio_common_vsscanf
    note: referenced by C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\Include\10.0.22621.0\ucrt\stdio.h:2251
    note:               Cryptolens.lib(cJSON.obj):($LN6)

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lib.linkLibC();
    lib.linkLibCpp();

cosmic lance Nov 23, 2023, 4:43 AM

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1 sec

cosmic lance Nov 23, 2023, 5:01 AM

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comptime {
    @export(..., .{ .name = "__stdio_common_vsprintf", .linkage = .Strong });
    @export(..., .{ .name = "__stdio_common_vsscanf", .linkage = .Strong });
}

steep saffron Nov 23, 2023, 5:02 AM

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extern "c" sprintf([*c]u8, [*c]u8, ...);

cosmic lance Nov 23, 2023, 5:04 AM

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extern "c" fn sprintf([*c]u8, [*c]u8, ...) void;

steep saffron Nov 23, 2023, 5:04 AM

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extern "c" fn sprintf([*c]u8, [*c]u8, ...) c_int;

cosmic lance Nov 23, 2023, 5:05 AM

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extern "c" fn sprintf([*c]u8, [*c]u8, ...) callconv(.C) c_int;

comptime {
    @export(sprintf, .{ .name = "__stdio_common_vsprintf", .linkage = .Strong });
}

steep saffron Nov 23, 2023, 5:06 AM

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extern "c" fn sscanf([*c] const u8, [*c] const u8, ...) callconv(.C) c_int;

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extern "c" fn sprintf([*c]u8, [*c]const u8, ...) callconv(.C) c_int;

cosmic lance Nov 23, 2023, 5:07 AM

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hmm thinkgun

steep saffron Nov 23, 2023, 5:11 AM

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Apparently _NO_CRT_STDIO_INLINE is a preprocessor definition you need included in your visual studio project

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becuase those two functions are marked inline and hence generate no code

cosmic lance Nov 23, 2023, 5:20 AM

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steep saffron Apparently _NO_CRT_STDIO_INLINE is a preprocessor definition you need included i...

how to include that?

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in project settings right?

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or is this in source code

steep saffron Nov 23, 2023, 5:26 AM

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either i think

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pretty sure it would work better though if you define it in the project settings

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like this picture i stole off the internet

#How to use Cryptolens C library in Zig