Building on Windows with a focus on generating PDB files

Thu Sep 5 23:00:15 UTC 2019

I also think there might be a pthread thing -- I'm not sure it mixes well
with .NET threads/fibers.

On Thu, Sep 5, 2019 at 5:47 PM David Ing <ding at panopto.com> wrote:

> Yes, you can download PDB files with the published MSVC build for version
> 1.16.0 here:   https://gstreamer.freedesktop.org/download/  I typically
> install the runtime installer and the development installer (the PDB files
> come from one of those).  You will notice that some modules don't have a
> *.pdb files (those are probably built with mingw).
>
> We are eliminating C++ CLI because we are targetting .NET Core and
> migrating to Linux (from Windows).  We are P-Invoking everything because
> C++ CLI isn't friendly with .NET Core (and Linux).  We have observed VS
> Debugger heap corruption, even when using P-Invoke (without any C++ CLI
> whatsoever).  But our errors go away when the VS Debugger is taken out of
> the equation.  And we can use the VS Debugger if Native Code Debugging is
> turned off.  I agree that it might be a "mingw" thing because I am using
> "ucrtbase.dll" and not "msvcrt.dll".
>
>
> On Thu, Sep 5, 2019 at 2:54 PM Ben Rush <ben at ben-rush.net> wrote:
>
>> A few remarks:
>>
>> 1) You said "now that *.pdb files are available", is this when we build
>> it ourselves or are they actually available for download? If they're
>> available for download, I would love to have them as I'm encountering an
>> issue right now that could benefit from the insight a nice stack trace
>> would offer (perhaps I simply missed the PDBs somewhere),
>> 2) In terms of managed code interop'ing with GStreamer: yes, I have
>> noticed this as well. However, I'm not convinced it's simply GStreamer, but
>> I think anything that is perhaps built with mingw, and I'm not sure as
>> though it's simply the debugger, as I have noticed a great many access
>> violations when wrapping Gstreamer in C++ CLR. In fact, I had to rewrite
>> our entire product to be native VC++ from C++ CLR due to the random errors
>> I was getting. The code didn't really change (it was in C++, after all),
>> but it was just no longer accessible from C# and no longer was blowing up
>> randomly.
>>
>> I'm hoping I can help improve this platform for Windows. Because it's a
>> damn cool platform. I just need it to run better on Windows.
>>
>> On Thu, Sep 5, 2019 at 4:26 PM David Ing <ding at panopto.com> wrote:
>>
>>> I have observed that most of the core Gstreamer developers use Fedora
>>> 30, and they don't really have a chance to notice Windows-specific
>>> problems.  I think they tend to focus on Linux (especially Fedora 30).  But
>>> one of the core developers (Nirbheek from Centricular) has done a lot of
>>> work on getting the MSVC build to work.
>>>
>>> Community members (like us) should try to report and help with Windows
>>> stuff.  This is easier now that *.pdb files are available.
>>>
>>> I definitely notice better performance and fewer bugs when I run on
>>> Fedora 30 (compared to Windows).  I am not sure why performance is better
>>> on Linux.  It might have something to do with the ORC (runtime compiler for
>>> inner loops), but I am just guessing.  I have also noticed that the VS
>>> debugger causes some kind of heap corruption when debugging a process which
>>> contains managed together with native gstreamer code (mingw).  Take away
>>> the managed code layer and the heap corruption goes away.  I am not sure
>>> why this happens.
>>>
>>> You should definitely try and work on Fedora 30 if you can.  Here is
>>> some setup for the official build:
>>> https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/gstreamer/gst-ci/tree/master/docker/fedora
>>>
>>> I wonder if this link is related to the official Windows build?
>>> https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/gstreamer/gst-ci/tree/master/docker/windows
>>>
>>> On Thu, Sep 5, 2019 at 1:36 PM Ben Rush <ben at ben-rush.net> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Hi, thanks, David. I really appreciate your response. That clears up a
>>>> lot.
>>>>
>>>> So, this brings me to a straightforward question: is GStreamer
>>>> generally more stable on Linux than Windows? Or at least, more used? I ask
>>>> not to be negative but to essentially confirm a belief I have picked up
>>>> after using it on Windows for a while. Honestly, I have dealt with quite a
>>>> few more ephemeral issues: random access violations, performance issues,
>>>> etc. on Windows than I have on Linux. Also, comments about it taking so
>>>> long to build on Windows, and that there are known bugs that people are
>>>> potentially not tracking, also makes me think Windows isn't as much the
>>>> focus.
>>>>
>>>> None of this is meant to be negative (honest), and I definitely believe
>>>> major products are using it on Windows, but I'm just curious if there is a
>>>> basis for these feelings? That perhaps getting it to work as well on
>>>> Windows as it does on Linux perhaps simply means more work for me.
>>>>
>>>> Thanks again.
>>>>
>>>> On Thu, Sep 5, 2019 at 2:43 PM David Ing <ding at panopto.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> The official Windows binaries are built using this tool:
>>>>> https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/gstreamer/cerbero
>>>>>
>>>>> The official WIndows binaries are built on a Windows machine, although
>>>>> it is possible to build the mingw binaries from Linux using a cross-compile
>>>>> (through cerbero).  The MSVC build is great because it provides *.pdb
>>>>> files, but not all components can be built using msvc, the remainder are
>>>>> built via mingw.  Unfortunately, building on a WIndows machine takes a
>>>>> really really really long time.  (The cross-compile from Linux is much
>>>>> faster.)
>>>>>
>>>>> With Cerbero, the 1.16 branches use a very old version of the mingw
>>>>> toolchain.  The master branch uses a newer version of the mingw toolchain.
>>>>>
>>>>> There are a number of known bugs with the Windows version of gstreamer
>>>>> which do not exist on Linux.  (I do not know if anybody is maintaining a
>>>>> list of those bugs.)
>>>>>
>>>>> On Thu, Sep 5, 2019 at 11:51 AM Ben Rush <ben at ben-rush.net> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> I have a desire to build Gstreamer on Windows, more specifically a
>>>>>> debug build so that I can track down some crashes that are occurring.
>>>>>> Unfortunately, it seems as though this isn't a thing that's well-traveled,
>>>>>> or I'm at least getting conflicting information on forums and blog posts
>>>>>> about the process. I thought I'd ask on here about the latest state of
>>>>>> things since blog posts/forum posts can be depreciated quickly with
>>>>>> updates. I'm cool with RTFM, but some sources I'm reading say the manual
>>>>>> itself is out of date.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> For example, a couple of blog posts (such as this one:
>>>>>> https://cardinalpeak.com/blog/build-gstreamer-on-windows-an-advanced-tutorial/)
>>>>>> that don't appear too old, mention the existing instructions are, and I
>>>>>> quote, "woefully out of date" (presumably when specifically targeting
>>>>>> Windows) and that the task is "fairly complex". There are Windows builds,
>>>>>> and so presumably there is a well-tested method for generating these
>>>>>> binaries on Windows. If so, surely there are well-tested steps out there
>>>>>> for doing what I want. But if instructions available to me (I'm assuming
>>>>>> this blog post meant the official instructions) are out of date, I'd like
>>>>>> to keep that in mind as I'm using them. Or if HE is wrong, I'd like to know
>>>>>> that. And if the official instructions are NOT out of date, I'm wondering
>>>>>> if anyone has had any luck using them to generate any other than release
>>>>>> builds?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Any advice? Pointers? Feedback? Thanks for your time.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
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