Hacktoberfest 2026: the issues maintainers tagged for October, open and beginner-friendly. Browse Hacktoberfest issues

Cross-compilation with MinGW on Ubuntu 22.04 fails

Open
#403 0 comments 0 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub

Nobody has claimed this yet.

Assessment

Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Newbie friendliness
35/100
Issue type
Bug
Clarity
Mostly clear
Activity status
Stale
Tech stack
cpp
Domain
build-system, operating-systems

Research direction

Start with libs/process/src/ext/exe.cpp and libs/process/src/windows/default_launcher.hpp, where the reported QueryFullProcessImageNameW and STARTUPINFOEXW errors occur; also inspect libs/process/src/environment.cpp. Reproduce the supplied b2 command with the Ubuntu 22.04 MinGW toolchain, comparing the default configuration with _WIN32_WINNT=0x0600. Done means the Process module builds successfully under the reported cross-compilation setup and the requirement is represented appropriately.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Description

When building Process module (develop branch) on Ubuntu 22.04 from WSL on Windows machine with these commands:

git clone --recursive https://github.com/boostorg/boost.git boost-build-process
cd boost-build-process
git checkout develop
git submodule update --init --recursive

echo "using gcc :  : x86_64-w64-mingw32-g++ ;" > "user-config-x64.jam"

./bootstrap.sh
./b2 --with-process --user-config=./user-config-x64.jam --prefix=./boost-x64 target-os=windows address-model=64 variant=debug --debug-configuration install

I get the following errors:

gcc.compile.c++ bin.v2/libs/process/build/gcc-10/debug/x86_64/boost.process.fs-boost/link-static/target-os-windows/threadapi-win32/threading-multi/visibility-hidden/ext/exe.o
/home/vejby/boost-build-process/libs/process/src/ext/exe.cpp: In function ‘boost::filesystem::path boost::process::v2::ext::exe(HANDLE, boost::system::error_code&)’:
/home/vejby/boost-build-process/libs/process/src/ext/exe.cpp:78:9: error: ‘QueryFullProcessImageNameW’ was not declared in this scope
   78 |     if (QueryFullProcessImageNameW(proc, 0, buffer, &size))
      |         ^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    "x86_64-w64-mingw32-g++"   -fvisibility-inlines-hidden -m64 -O0 -fno-inline -Wall -g -fvisibility=hidden  -DBOOST_ALL_NO_LIB=1 -DBOOST_ASIO_NO_DEPRECATED -DBOOST_ATOMIC_STATIC_LINK=1 -DBOOST_FILESYSTEM_NO_LIB=1 -DBOOST_FILESYSTEM_STATIC_LINK=1 -DBOOST_PROCESS_SOURCE=1 -DBOOST_REGEX_NO_LIB=1 -DBOOST_SYSTEM_NO_LIB=1 -DBOOST_SYSTEM_STATIC_LINK=1 -DWIN32_LEAN_AND_MEAN   -I"." -I"/home/vejby/boost-build-process/libs/algorithm/include" -I"/home/vejby/boost-build-process/libs/assert/include" -I"/home/vejby/boost-build-process/libs/bind/include" -I"/home/vejby/boost-build-process/libs/container_hash/include" -I"/home/vejby/boost-build-process/libs/core/include" -I"/home/vejby/boost-build-process/libs/describe/include" -I"/home/vejby/boost-build-process/libs/detail/include" -I"/home/vejby/boost-build-process/libs/filesystem/include" -I"/home/vejby/boost-build-process/libs/function/include" -I"/home/vejby/boost-build-process/libs/function_types/include" -I"/home/vejby/boost-build-process/libs/fusion/include" -I"/home/vejby/boost-build-process/libs/iterator/include" -I"/home/vejby/boost-build-process/libs/move/include" -I"/home/vejby/boost-build-process/libs/mp11/include" -I"/home/vejby/boost-build-process/libs/optional/include" -I"/home/vejby/boost-build-process/libs/predef/include" -I"/home/vejby/boost-build-process/libs/process/include" -I"/home/vejby/boost-build-process/libs/regex/include" -I"/home/vejby/boost-build-process/libs/scope/include" -I"/home/vejby/boost-build-process/libs/smart_ptr/include" -I"/home/vejby/boost-build-process/libs/system/include" -I"/home/vejby/boost-build-process/libs/throw_exception/include" -I"/home/vejby/boost-build-process/libs/tuple/include" -I"/home/vejby/boost-build-process/libs/type_index/include" -I"/home/vejby/boost-build-process/libs/type_traits/include" -I"/home/vejby/boost-build-process/libs/unordered/include" -I"/home/vejby/boost-build-process/libs/variant2/include" -I"/home/vejby/boost-build-process/libs/winapi/include"  -c -o "bin.v2/libs/process/build/gcc-10/debug/x86_64/boost.process.fs-boost/link-static/target-os-windows/threadapi-win32/threading-multi/visibility-hidden/ext/exe.o" "/home/vejby/boost-build-process/libs/process/src/ext/exe.cpp"

...failed gcc.compile.c++ bin.v2/libs/process/build/gcc-10/debug/x86_64/boost.process.fs-boost/link-static/target-os-windows/threadapi-win32/threading-multi/visibility-hidden/ext/exe.o...

gcc.compile.c++ bin.v2/libs/process/build/gcc-10/debug/x86_64/boost.process.fs-boost/link-static/target-os-windows/threadapi-win32/threading-multi/visibility-hidden/windows/default_launcher.o
In file included from /home/vejby/boost-build-process/libs/process/src/windows/default_launcher.cpp:16:
./boost/process/v2/windows/default_launcher.hpp:220:3: error: ‘STARTUPINFOEXW’ does not name a type; did you mean ‘STARTUPINFOW’?
  220 |   STARTUPINFOEXW startup_info{{sizeof(STARTUPINFOEXW), nullptr, nullptr, nullptr,
      |   ^~~~~~~~~~~~~~
      |   STARTUPINFOW
./boost/process/v2/windows/default_launcher.hpp: In member function ‘boost::process::v2::windows::default_launcher::enable_init<Executor, Inits ...> boost::process::v2::windows::default_launcher::operator()(Executor, boost::system::error_code&, const typename std::enable_if<(boost::asio::execution::is_executor<T>::value || boost::asio::is_executor<Executor>::value), boost::filesystem::path>::type&, Args&&, Inits&& ...)’:
./boost/process/v2/windows/default_launcher.hpp:312:10: error: ‘startup_info’ was not declared in this scope
  312 |         &startup_info.StartupInfo,
      |          ^~~~~~~~~~~~
/home/vejby/boost-build-process/libs/process/src/windows/default_launcher.cpp: In static member function ‘static std::size_t boost::process::v2::windows::default_launcher::escape_argv_string(wchar_t*, std::size_t, boost::basic_string_view<wchar_t, std::char_traits<wchar_t> >)’:
/home/vejby/boost-build-process/libs/process/src/windows/default_launcher.cpp:64:16: warning: unused variable ‘end’ [-Wunused-variable]
   64 |     const auto end = itr + sz;
      |                ^~~

    "x86_64-w64-mingw32-g++"   -fvisibility-inlines-hidden -m64 -O0 -fno-inline -Wall -g -fvisibility=hidden  -DBOOST_ALL_NO_LIB=1 -DBOOST_ASIO_NO_DEPRECATED -DBOOST_ATOMIC_STATIC_LINK=1 -DBOOST_FILESYSTEM_NO_LIB=1 -DBOOST_FILESYSTEM_STATIC_LINK=1 -DBOOST_PROCESS_SOURCE=1 -DBOOST_REGEX_NO_LIB=1 -DBOOST_SYSTEM_NO_LIB=1 -DBOOST_SYSTEM_STATIC_LINK=1 -DWIN32_LEAN_AND_MEAN   -I"." -I"/home/vejby/boost-build-process/libs/algorithm/include" -I"/home/vejby/boost-build-process/libs/assert/include" -I"/home/vejby/boost-build-process/libs/bind/include" -I"/home/vejby/boost-build-process/libs/container_hash/include" -I"/home/vejby/boost-build-process/libs/core/include" -I"/home/vejby/boost-build-process/libs/describe/include" -I"/home/vejby/boost-build-process/libs/detail/include" -I"/home/vejby/boost-build-process/libs/filesystem/include" -I"/home/vejby/boost-build-process/libs/function/include" -I"/home/vejby/boost-build-process/libs/function_types/include" -I"/home/vejby/boost-build-process/libs/fusion/include" -I"/home/vejby/boost-build-process/libs/iterator/include" -I"/home/vejby/boost-build-process/libs/move/include" -I"/home/vejby/boost-build-process/libs/mp11/include" -I"/home/vejby/boost-build-process/libs/optional/include" -I"/home/vejby/boost-build-process/libs/predef/include" -I"/home/vejby/boost-build-process/libs/process/include" -I"/home/vejby/boost-build-process/libs/regex/include" -I"/home/vejby/boost-build-process/libs/scope/include" -I"/home/vejby/boost-build-process/libs/smart_ptr/include" -I"/home/vejby/boost-build-process/libs/system/include" -I"/home/vejby/boost-build-process/libs/throw_exception/include" -I"/home/vejby/boost-build-process/libs/tuple/include" -I"/home/vejby/boost-build-process/libs/type_index/include" -I"/home/vejby/boost-build-process/libs/type_traits/include" -I"/home/vejby/boost-build-process/libs/unordered/include" -I"/home/vejby/boost-build-process/libs/variant2/include" -I"/home/vejby/boost-build-process/libs/winapi/include"  -c -o "bin.v2/libs/process/build/gcc-10/debug/x86_64/boost.process.fs-boost/link-static/target-os-windows/threadapi-win32/threading-multi/visibility-hidden/windows/default_launcher.o" "/home/vejby/boost-build-process/libs/process/src/windows/default_launcher.cpp"

...failed gcc.compile.c++ bin.v2/libs/process/build/gcc-10/debug/x86_64/boost.process.fs-boost/link-static/target-os-windows/threadapi-win32/threading-multi/visibility-hidden/windows/default_launcher.o...

gcc.compile.c++ bin.v2/libs/process/build/gcc-10/debug/x86_64/boost.process.fs-boost/link-static/target-os-windows/threadapi-win32/threading-multi/visibility-hidden/environment.o
In file included from ./boost/process/v2/default_launcher.hpp:17,
                 from /home/vejby/boost-build-process/libs/process/src/environment.cpp:13:
./boost/process/v2/windows/default_launcher.hpp:220:3: error: ‘STARTUPINFOEXW’ does not name a type; did you mean ‘STARTUPINFOW’?
  220 |   STARTUPINFOEXW startup_info{{sizeof(STARTUPINFOEXW), nullptr, nullptr, nullptr,
      |   ^~~~~~~~~~~~~~
      |   STARTUPINFOW
./boost/process/v2/windows/default_launcher.hpp: In member function ‘boost::process::v2::windows::default_launcher::enable_init<Executor, Inits ...> boost::process::v2::windows::default_launcher::operator()(Executor, boost::system::error_code&, const typename std::enable_if<(boost::asio::execution::is_executor<T>::value || boost::asio::is_executor<Executor>::value), boost::filesystem::path>::type&, Args&&, Inits&& ...)’:
./boost/process/v2/windows/default_launcher.hpp:312:10: error: ‘startup_info’ was not declared in this scope
  312 |         &startup_info.StartupInfo,
      |          ^~~~~~~~~~~~

    "x86_64-w64-mingw32-g++"   -fvisibility-inlines-hidden -m64 -O0 -fno-inline -Wall -g -fvisibility=hidden  -DBOOST_ALL_NO_LIB=1 -DBOOST_ASIO_NO_DEPRECATED -DBOOST_ATOMIC_STATIC_LINK=1 -DBOOST_FILESYSTEM_NO_LIB=1 -DBOOST_FILESYSTEM_STATIC_LINK=1 -DBOOST_PROCESS_SOURCE=1 -DBOOST_REGEX_NO_LIB=1 -DBOOST_SYSTEM_NO_LIB=1 -DBOOST_SYSTEM_STATIC_LINK=1 -DWIN32_LEAN_AND_MEAN   -I"." -I"/home/vejby/boost-build-process/libs/algorithm/include" -I"/home/vejby/boost-build-process/libs/assert/include" -I"/home/vejby/boost-build-process/libs/bind/include" -I"/home/vejby/boost-build-process/libs/container_hash/include" -I"/home/vejby/boost-build-process/libs/core/include" -I"/home/vejby/boost-build-process/libs/describe/include" -I"/home/vejby/boost-build-process/libs/detail/include" -I"/home/vejby/boost-build-process/libs/filesystem/include" -I"/home/vejby/boost-build-process/libs/function/include" -I"/home/vejby/boost-build-process/libs/function_types/include" -I"/home/vejby/boost-build-process/libs/fusion/include" -I"/home/vejby/boost-build-process/libs/iterator/include" -I"/home/vejby/boost-build-process/libs/move/include" -I"/home/vejby/boost-build-process/libs/mp11/include" -I"/home/vejby/boost-build-process/libs/optional/include" -I"/home/vejby/boost-build-process/libs/predef/include" -I"/home/vejby/boost-build-process/libs/process/include" -I"/home/vejby/boost-build-process/libs/regex/include" -I"/home/vejby/boost-build-process/libs/scope/include" -I"/home/vejby/boost-build-process/libs/smart_ptr/include" -I"/home/vejby/boost-build-process/libs/system/include" -I"/home/vejby/boost-build-process/libs/throw_exception/include" -I"/home/vejby/boost-build-process/libs/tuple/include" -I"/home/vejby/boost-build-process/libs/type_index/include" -I"/home/vejby/boost-build-process/libs/type_traits/include" -I"/home/vejby/boost-build-process/libs/unordered/include" -I"/home/vejby/boost-build-process/libs/variant2/include" -I"/home/vejby/boost-build-process/libs/winapi/include"  -c -o "bin.v2/libs/process/build/gcc-10/debug/x86_64/boost.process.fs-boost/link-static/target-os-windows/threadapi-win32/threading-multi/visibility-hidden/environment.o" "/home/vejby/boost-build-process/libs/process/src/environment.cpp"

...failed gcc.compile.c++ bin.v2/libs/process/build/gcc-10/debug/x86_64/boost.process.fs-boost/link-static/target-os-windows/threadapi-win32/threading-multi/visibility-hidden/environment.o...

Full logs: x64_boost_build.log

As suggested in mailing list, I tested building while setting _WIN32_WINNT to higher version and it seemed to build fine afterwards. From the testing, it seems that Process needs at least _WIN32_WINNT=0x0600 (Windows Vista) and x86_64-w64-mingw32-g++ from Ubuntu 22.04 sets _WIN32_WINNT=0x0502 (Windows XP SP2).

Would it make sense to set such requirement in the Process module itself?

Dominant language
C++
Stars
145
Forks
151
No merged PRs in 30d

Contributor guide

No contributing guide indexed for this repository

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

More from boostorg/process

All issues in boostorg/process

Similar issues

More C++ issues

Get new issues in your inbox

A short digest of beginner-friendly GitHub issues.