Topic: Compiling httpd + libapr-2 failed on Windows

[nono303]

Hi,
I currently try to compile httpd with libapr-2 (trunk) "for fun"
It’s seeming to be able to be done (see https://github.com/apache/httpd/blob/trunk/CMakeLists.txt#L35) but I’m facing some issues:

1. Compiling apr trunk with CMake (shared):
- I had to patch CMakeLists.txt to add mysql dbd support
- With APR_MODULAR_DSO=ON, APR_MODULE_DECLARE_DATA not seems to be set with __declspec(dllexport) (for apr_dbd_sqlite3 & apr_dbd_mysql) - working fine with APR_MODULAR_DSO=OFF
- LDAP support (with CMakeLists.txt to patched too) failed with many missing imports

Finally I can have a working release of libapr-2 with this config

[tangent]

I've been tied up lately, so not been able to pick up on your interesting post over building libapr-2 with CMake. At some point this will be directly relevant to the Apache build with CMake How-To script I put together some years ago.

Having built libapr-2 with CMake using the apr-trunk as you did, I forsee problems ahead.

The build evidently checks for a number of support packages, viz:

[nono303]

Thx @tangent for your feedback!
I see that we are more or less at the same point...

Regarding libiconv, I use https://github.com/pffang/libiconv-for-Windows with MSBuild (gnu version iso src, with additional includes - probably coming from a MinGW ./configure)

[Jan-E]

Regarding libiconv: clone https://github.com/winlibs/libiconv
And run this in the MSVC16 dir:

[tangent]

Thanks both for the feedback over libiconv. Much appreciated.

I've spent some time on this too, and since my challenge is to stick with CMake, had landed on the following site: https://github.com/vovythevov/libiconv-cmake

This provided a well structured CMakeLists.txt file as a starting point, albeit for libiconv 1.14, and have since managed to update this to build the latest release 1.17.

I've tried extending this to build iconv.exe, but accepted this relies on a GNU build environment rather than MSVC, so have for now given up. It's not essential, so when I recover I'll try using this libiconv variant to progress building with APR-2.

@nono303 - I notice you've chosen libxml2 over expat for XML support (APR-2 requires you to choose one or the other).

Extract from APR-2 CMakeLists.txt

[nono303]

Hi @tangent,

Was looking at CMake libiconv and found https://github.com/AiMiDi/libiconv_cmake which works fine for on 1.17 (and seems to be active).
I'll stick on it.
Just have issued to apply these 2 patches:

- https://github.com/AiMiDi/libiconv_cmake/issues/3
- https://github.com/AiMiDi/libiconv/issues/1

[James Blond]

Expat is part of apr-util. One of the reasons was mod_proxy_html. At first, it was a standalone project[1] but got integrated into the httpd Apache project. And for that module, you need an XML DOM parser. Expat lags that.

About libiconv, I wonder since Apache has its version[2]


[1] http://apache.webthing.com/mod_proxy_html/
[2] https://apr.apache.org/download.cgi

[tangent]

Hi @nono303,

Re libiconv, despite several attempts I failed to build the variant at https://github.com/AiMiDi/libiconv_cmake, and accepting their CMakeLists.txt file is somewhat complicated, ended up revising the simpler CMakeLists.txt file that came with https://github.com/vovythevov/libiconv-cmake (still at release 1.14).

The variant I have builds the official libiconv-1.17 source release at https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/libiconv, albeit without iconv.exe (am sticking to MSVC rather than a GNU build environment). However, the libraries are all we need for building APR-2 and then in turn HTTPD.

APR-2 then duly built, though I haven't tried to add dbd or sqlite3 as yet.

Concerning item 2 in your original post, compiling HTTPD with libapr-2, I've managed to reproduce the results you got, namely it failed with 'IF_WIN_OS_IS_UNICODE': undeclared identifier. And yes, if you compare apr_arch_misc.h with the variant in apr-1.7.4, it's clear this definition along with a block of related logic has been removed.

So, as it stands, it would appear HTTPD won't build with APR-2 on Windows.

I'm no developer, and so don't feel able to post anything back to the APR contributors on this, but am surprised this issue hasn't been spotted and addressed aleady.

[Steffen]

Is apr_crypto_openssl-1.dll building ?

[nono303]

Hi

@tangent, concerning libiconv:
1. https://github.com/AiMiDi/libiconv_cmake works fine for me building libcharset.dll & libiconv.dll
- The two patch I issued ( https://github.com/AiMiDi/libiconv_cmake/issues?q=is%3Aissue+author%3Anono303 ) were merged at current HEAD ( https://github.com/AiMiDi/libiconv_cmake/commit/efdd10399dc49b047e6a50631e0358474a448288 )
2. for /libiconv submodule (src) you must checkout branch [fix-C2016](https://github.com/AiMiDi/libiconv/tree/fix-C2016) for MSVC build _(see https://github.com/AiMiDi/libiconv/issues/1)_

@steffen, compiling apr2 :
1. apr_crypto_openssl is building (named apr_crypto_openssl-2.dll) when DSO=ON
2. but if DSO=ON, I can’t build apr_dbd_sqlite3-2 and apr_dbd_mysql_driver with:

[James Blond]

APR 1.7 still has IF_WIN_OS_IS_UNICODE [1]
While Trunk doesn't [2]

[1] https://github.com/apache/apr/blob/1.7.x/include/arch/win32/apr_arch_misc.h#L145
[2] https://github.com/apache/apr/blob/trunk/include/arch/win32/apr_arch_misc.h

[James Blond]

I went through the logs and found 3 commits relating to this.

The last one is that removed IF_WIN_OS_IS_UNICODE from the code.

https://github.com/apache/apr/commit/3579ad96307fc536b7e53d8dc81a819655446c71
https://github.com/apache/apr/commit/62285e4db364a86e99699b0a1d13a2f2f3bae49f
https://github.com/apache/apr/commit/fd59a4a0747cf5895c21481acb67f1519b11802a

[nono303]

Hi @here!
Quick update concerning my httpd build attemps with apr2

Using latest apr2 trunk (where CMakeLists.txt had been mostly refactored) I can have a clean release with dso support enabled, ldap disabled and MySQL support (patch is also simpler and working)
See patch and result

Now trying to build httpd...
- I fixed the undeclared identifier by switching APR_INSTALL_PRIVATE_H from ON to OFF in apr2 cmake option
- I'm now facing a libhttpd.lib linking issue

[James Blond]

That function is in APR /include/arch/win32/apr_arch_utf8.h

The "__imp_" is just the call from a so / DLL

it might be a problem with the build order.

[nono303]

The two functions are declared in apr_arch_utf8.h both in apr-1 & apr-2
I don't think it's a build order because compile is working, linking is failing
Difference is APR_DECLARE in apr-1 (valued with __declspec(dllexport)) which is no more present in apr-2
apr-2.lib doesn't contain / export the functions declared in apr_arch_utf8.h

>> APR-1

[Steffen]

Got an answer :


Hi Steffen,

1. It will be much easier if you report to dev@ mailing list with all details: it takes a lot of time to dig to some forum to discover details. Thanks for understanding.
2. libapr-2 is not released and doesn't have a stable API/ABI. It is not supposed to be used.
3. It seems the issue comes because of r1869127. This change broke ABI and this is intentional. See discussion here:
https://lists.apache.org/thread/71h1dn0lpownbybz59bj8lo8k9rp25k8
4. In r1881476 compatibility names were added. So most likely code will compile if proper header files is used.

[nono303]

Thx @Steffen for this feedback!