# PackageCompilerX on Windows

**URL:** <https://discourse.julialang.org/t/packagecompilerx-on-windows/33935>\
**Category:** General Usage\
**Tags:** question\
**Created:** [January 29, 2020, 2:55pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/packagecompilerx-on-windows/33935 "2020-01-29T14:55:50Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![PGS62](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/pgs62/32/207030_2.png) [@PGS62](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/PGS62)\
**Post date:** [January 29, 2020, 2:55pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/packagecompilerx-on-windows/33935/1 "2020-01-29T14:55:50Z")

</div>

I’ve been keeping an eye on @kristoffer.carlsson’s PackageCompilerX and wondering when to try creating a stand-alone executable for some Julia code I have (after previous failures with PackageCompiler).

The documentation for PackageCompilerX includes an [example](https://kristofferc.github.io/PackageCompilerX.jl/dev/sysimages/#Creating-a-sysimage-using-PackageCompilerX-1) of creating a sysimage that includes the package “Example”.

So I wanted to duplicate the example on my Windows 10 PC, having first installed the minGW compiler toolchain, correctly as far as I can tell.

But I’m seeing an error, as below.

Any suggestions please? Am I jumping the gun by trying to get PackageCompilerX to work on Windows?

```julia
C:\Users\Philip>cd NewSysImageEnv

C:\Users\Philip\NewSysImageEnv>julia -q
julia> Revise loaded by code in C:\Users\Philip\AppData\Local\Julia-1.3.1\etc\julia\startup.jl
julia> using PackageCompilerX

(v1.3) pkg> activate .
Activating new environment at `C:\Users\Philip\NewSysImageEnv\Project.toml`

(NewSysImageEnv) pkg> add Example
  Updating registry at `C:\Users\Philip\.julia\registries\General`
  Updating git-repo `https://github.com/JuliaRegistries/General.git`
 Resolving package versions...
  Updating `C:\Users\Philip\NewSysImageEnv\Project.toml`
  [7876af07] + Example v0.5.3
  Updating `C:\Users\Philip\NewSysImageEnv\Manifest.toml`
  [7876af07] + Example v0.5.3

julia> create_sysimage(:Example; sysimage_path="ExampleSysimage.so")
[ Info: PackageCompilerX: creating system image object file, this might take a while...
c:/mingw/bin/../lib/gcc/mingw32/8.2.0/../../../../mingw32/bin/ld.exe: C:\Users\Philip\AppData\Local\Temp\jl_47B6.tmp.o: member C:\Users\Philip\AppData\Local\Temp\jl_47B6.tmp.o(text.o) in archive is not an object
collect2.exe: error: ld returned 1 exit status
ERROR: failed process: Process(`gcc -m64 -shared '-LC:\Users\Philip\AppData\Local\Julia-1.3.1\bin' -o ExampleSysimage.so -Wl,--whole-archive 'C:\Users\Philip\AppData\Local\Temp\jl_47B6.tmp.o' -Wl,--no-whole-archive -ljulia -Wl,--export-all-symbols`, ProcessExited(1)) [1]

Stacktrace:
 [1] pipeline_error at .\process.jl:525 [inlined]
 [2] #run#565(::Bool, ::typeof(run), ::Cmd) at .\process.jl:440
 [3] run at .\process.jl:438 [inlined]
 [4] create_sysimg_from_object_file(::String, ::String) at C:\Users\Philip\.julia\packages\PackageCompilerX\49oDH\src\PackageCompilerX.jl:364
 [5] #create_sysimage#5(::String, ::String, ::Array{String,1}, ::Array{String,1}, ::Bool, ::Bool, ::Bool, ::String, ::Nothing, ::Bool, ::typeof(create_sysimage), ::Symbol) at C:\Users\Philip\.julia\packages\PackageCompilerX\49oDH\src\PackageCompilerX.jl:336
 [6] (::PackageCompilerX.var"#kw##create_sysimage")(::NamedTuple{(:sysimage_path,),Tuple{String}}, ::typeof(create_sysimage), ::Symbol) at .\none:0
 [7] top-level scope at REPL[4]:1

julia>

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Iulian.Cioarca](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/iulian.cioarca/32/30166_2.png) [@Iulian.Cioarca](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Iulian.Cioarca)\
**Post date:** [January 29, 2020, 7:09pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/packagecompilerx-on-windows/33935/2 "2020-01-29T19:09:16Z")

</div>

I used it for compiling stuff like Plots, CSV, Knet, Images and others on Windows and it worked great. Tried on Julia 1.3 and 1.3.1.  
To be honest every time I compiled the packages from the default environment. But this shouldn’t matter.  
You could try compiling another package, like CSV.  
One notable difference from your setup is that I didn’t bother with mingw.  
I simply installed WinRPM Julia package and then `WinRPM.install("gcc")`. Of course, I had to add the path to `gcc` from `WinRPM` folder in the Windows PATH.  
Also I’m not sure if the `.so` extension, typical for Linux, has anything to do with the code compilation on Windows platform or it could be modified after you get the compiled sysimage.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mwolff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c2a13f/32.png) [@mwolff](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/mwolff)\
**Post date:** [January 29, 2020, 7:24pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/packagecompilerx-on-windows/33935/3 "2020-01-29T19:24:55Z")

</div>

Maybe also a problem with the compiler, since Julia was compiled with gcc 7.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![kristoffer.carlsson](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/kristoffer.carlsson/32/22_2.png) [@kristoffer.carlsson](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/kristoffer.carlsson)\
**Post date:** [January 29, 2020, 8:04pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/packagecompilerx-on-windows/33935/4 "2020-01-29T20:04:13Z")

</div>

> [@PGS62](#):
>
> ```julia
> c:/mingw/bin/../lib/gcc/mingw32/8.2.0/../../../../mingw32/bin/ld.exe: C:\Users\Philip\AppData\Local\Temp\jl_47B6.tmp.o: member C:\Users\Philip\AppData\Local\Temp\jl_47B6.tmp.o(text.o) in archive is not an object collect2.exe: error: ld returned 1 exit status
> 
> ```

I know it is sensitive to what mingw you are using. I think this one worked for me: [Download x86\_64-8.1.0-release-posix-seh-rt\_v6-rev0.7z (MinGW-w64 - for 32 and 64 bit Windows)](https://sourceforge.net/projects/mingw-w64/files/Toolchains%20targetting%20Win64/Personal%20Builds/mingw-builds/8.1.0/threads-posix/seh/x86_64-8.1.0-release-posix-seh-rt_v6-rev0.7z)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![PGS62](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/pgs62/32/207030_2.png) [@PGS62](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/PGS62)\
**Post date:** [January 30, 2020, 9:39am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/packagecompilerx-on-windows/33935/5 "2020-01-30T09:39:11Z")

</div>

Great, thanks to those replies it looks like I’ve got a couple of options to try this morning…

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![PGS62](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/pgs62/32/207030_2.png) [@PGS62](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/PGS62)\
**Post date:** [January 30, 2020, 5:32pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/packagecompilerx-on-windows/33935/6 "2020-01-30T17:32:04Z")

</div>

I’ve made progress thanks to guidance from @kristoffer.carlsson and @Iulian.Cioarca. I chose to follow Iulian’s suggestion of getting a working copy of `gcc.exe` via `WinRPM.install("gcc")`

Good news:

- `create_sysimage` works to create a system image containing the `Example` package.
- `create_sysimage` also works to create a system image containing my own `TestPackage1`.

Not so good news:

- I’m running into an error when trying to use `create_app`. The error (below) makes me think that my PC is still not correctly set up for code compilation since a file `string.h` can’t be found, and whilst no C++ programmer, I think that’s a file that should be part of any C++ “set up”.

Possible solution to try tomorrow:

1. Install MinGW from the link that Kristoffer provided. I’ll find out if that will provide `string.h` and other necessary files…
2. But if you think that won’t do the trick, what else should I try?

Thanks in advance!

The error:

```julia
julia> create_app("TestPackage1","CompiledTestPackage1",precompile_execution_file="c:/Projects/script/Julia/TestPackage1/src/precompile_example.jl",force=true)
┌ Warning: it is not recommended to create an app without a preexisting manifest
└ @ PackageCompilerX C:\Users\Philip\.julia\packages\PackageCompilerX\49oDH\src\PackageCompilerX.jl:485
[ Info: PackageCompilerX: creating base system image (incremental=false)...
[ Info: PackageCompilerX: creating system image object file, this might take a while...
[ Info: PackageCompilerX: creating system image object file, this might take a while...
C:\Users\Philip\.julia\packages\PackageCompilerX\49oDH\src\embedding_wrapper.c:4:10: fatal error: string.h: No such file or directory
    4 | #include <string.h>
      | ^ ~~~~~~~~~
compilation terminated.
ERROR: failed process: Process(`gcc '-DJULIAC_PROGRAM_LIBNAME="TestPackage1.dll"' -m64 -o TestPackage1 'C:\Users\Philip\.julia\packages\PackageCompilerX\49oDH\src\embedding_wrapper.c' TestPackage1.dll -O2 -std=gnu99 '-IC:\Users\philip\AppData\Local\Julia-1.3.1\include\julia' '-LC:\Users\philip\AppData\Local\Julia-1.3.1\bin' -Wl,--stack,8388608 -Wl,--export-all-symbols -ljulia -lopenlibm`, ProcessExited(1)) [1]

Stacktrace:
 [1] pipeline_error at .\process.jl:525 [inlined]
 [2] #run#565(::Bool, ::typeof(run), ::Cmd) at .\process.jl:440
 [3] run at .\process.jl:438 [inlined]
 [4] #create_executable_from_sysimg#9(::String, ::String, ::typeof(PackageCompilerX.create_executable_from_sysimg)) at C:\Users\Philip\.julia\packages\PackageCompilerX\49oDH\src\PackageCompilerX.jl:560
 [5] #create_executable_from_sysimg at .\none:0 [inlined]
 [6] (::PackageCompilerX.var"#7#8"{String,Bool,Bool,String,String})() at C:\Users\Philip\.julia\packages\PackageCompilerX\49oDH\src\PackageCompilerX.jl:536
 [7] cd(::PackageCompilerX.var"#7#8"{String,Bool,Bool,String,String}, ::String) at .\file.jl:93
 [8] #create_app#6(::String, ::Array{String,1}, ::Bool, ::Bool, ::Bool, ::Bool, ::typeof(create_app), ::String, ::String) at C:\Users\Philip\.julia\packages\PackageCompilerX\49oDH\src\PackageCompilerX.jl:510
 [9] (::PackageCompilerX.var"#kw##create_app")(::NamedTuple{(:precompile_execution_file, :force),Tuple{String,Bool}}, ::typeof(create_app), ::String, ::String) at .\none:0
 [10] top-level scope at REPL[18]:1

julia>

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Iulian.Cioarca](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/iulian.cioarca/32/30166_2.png) [@Iulian.Cioarca](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Iulian.Cioarca)\
**Post date:** [January 30, 2020, 5:46pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/packagecompilerx-on-windows/33935/7 "2020-01-30T17:46:26Z")

</div>

I did a quick search in my WinRPM directory. The `string.h` is located,in my case, at:

```julia
C:\Julia-1.3.0\.julia\packages\WinRPM\BfpQI\deps\usr\x86_64-w64-mingw32\sys-root\mingw\lib\gcc\x86_64-w64-mingw32\8.2.0\include\ssp

```

And `stdint.h` at:

```julia
C:\Julia-1.3.0\.julia\packages\WinRPM\BfpQI\deps\usr\x86_64-w64-mingw32\sys-root\mingw\lib\gcc\x86_64-w64-mingw32\8.2.0\include

```

Maybe my approach is not so robust because of all these paths…