Trouble running npm run tauri dev

[timint]

Hi, following the Development Setup in CONTRIBUTING.md I am at a halt.

git clone https://github.com/axpdev-lab/aeroftp.git
cd aeroftp
npm install
npm run tauri dev

OpenSSL dependency fails to build if Perl is not preinstalled. That could be useful added to the contributing instructions. I installed Strawberry Perl on Windows. With Strawberry Perl that error is gone, but it might be good to point out this stage takes ages to complete. I'm on an i9 cpu and thought the long wait time itself was an error.

warning: openssl-sys@0.9.116: configuring OpenSSL build: Command 'perl' not found. Is perl installed?
warning: openssl-sys@0.9.116: openssl-src: failed to build OpenSSL from source
error: failed to run custom build command for openssl-sys v0.9.116

Caused by:
process didn't exit successfully: E:\Cache\debug\build\openssl-sys-4d857e75ebb9e6f5\build-script-main (exit code: 1)
--- stdout
cargo:rustc-check-cfg=cfg(osslconf, values("OPENSSL_NO_OCB", "OPENSSL_NO_SM4", "OPENSSL_NO_SEED", "OPENSSL_NO_CHACHA", "OPENSSL_NO_CAST", "OPENSSL_NO_IDEA", "OPENSSL_NO_CAMELLIA", "OPENSSL_NO_RC4", "OPENSSL_NO_BF", "OPENSSL_NO_PSK", "OPENSSL_NO_DEPRECATED_3_0", "OPENSSL_NO_SCRYPT", "OPENSSL_NO_SM3", "OPENSSL_NO_RMD160", "OPENSSL_NO_EC2M", "OPENSSL_NO_OCSP", "OPENSSL_NO_CMS", "OPENSSL_NO_COMP", "OPENSSL_NO_SOCK", "OPENSSL_NO_STDIO", "OPENSSL_NO_EC", "OPENSSL_NO_SSL3_METHOD", "OPENSSL_NO_KRB5", "OPENSSL_NO_TLSEXT", "OPENSSL_NO_SRP", "OPENSSL_NO_SRTP", "OPENSSL_NO_RFC3779", "OPENSSL_NO_SHA", "OPENSSL_NO_NEXTPROTONEG", "OPENSSL_NO_ENGINE", "OPENSSL_NO_BUF_FREELISTS", "OPENSSL_NO_RC2"))
cargo:rustc-check-cfg=cfg(openssl)
cargo:rustc-check-cfg=cfg(libressl)
cargo:rustc-check-cfg=cfg(boringssl)
cargo:rustc-check-cfg=cfg(awslc)
cargo:rustc-check-cfg=cfg(awslc_pregenerated)
cargo:rustc-check-cfg=cfg(libressl250)
cargo:rustc-check-cfg=cfg(libressl251)
cargo:rustc-check-cfg=cfg(libressl252)
cargo:rustc-check-cfg=cfg(libressl261)
cargo:rustc-check-cfg=cfg(libressl270)
cargo:rustc-check-cfg=cfg(libressl271)
cargo:rustc-check-cfg=cfg(libressl273)
cargo:rustc-check-cfg=cfg(libressl280)
cargo:rustc-check-cfg=cfg(libressl281)
cargo:rustc-check-cfg=cfg(libressl291)
cargo:rustc-check-cfg=cfg(libressl310)
cargo:rustc-check-cfg=cfg(libressl321)
cargo:rustc-check-cfg=cfg(libressl332)
cargo:rustc-check-cfg=cfg(libressl340)
cargo:rustc-check-cfg=cfg(libressl350)
cargo:rustc-check-cfg=cfg(libressl360)
cargo:rustc-check-cfg=cfg(libressl361)
cargo:rustc-check-cfg=cfg(libressl370)
cargo:rustc-check-cfg=cfg(libressl380)
cargo:rustc-check-cfg=cfg(libressl381)
cargo:rustc-check-cfg=cfg(libressl382)
cargo:rustc-check-cfg=cfg(libressl390)
cargo:rustc-check-cfg=cfg(libressl400)
cargo:rustc-check-cfg=cfg(libressl410)
cargo:rustc-check-cfg=cfg(libressl420)
cargo:rustc-check-cfg=cfg(libressl430)
cargo:rustc-check-cfg=cfg(ossl101)
cargo:rustc-check-cfg=cfg(ossl102)
cargo:rustc-check-cfg=cfg(ossl102f)
cargo:rustc-check-cfg=cfg(ossl102h)
cargo:rustc-check-cfg=cfg(ossl110)
cargo:rustc-check-cfg=cfg(ossl110f)
cargo:rustc-check-cfg=cfg(ossl110g)
cargo:rustc-check-cfg=cfg(ossl110h)
cargo:rustc-check-cfg=cfg(ossl111)
cargo:rustc-check-cfg=cfg(ossl111b)
cargo:rustc-check-cfg=cfg(ossl111c)
cargo:rustc-check-cfg=cfg(ossl111d)
cargo:rustc-check-cfg=cfg(ossl300)
cargo:rustc-check-cfg=cfg(ossl310)
cargo:rustc-check-cfg=cfg(ossl320)
cargo:rustc-check-cfg=cfg(ossl330)
cargo:rustc-check-cfg=cfg(ossl340)
cargo:rustc-check-cfg=cfg(ossl400)
cargo:rerun-if-env-changed=X86_64_PC_WINDOWS_MSVC_OPENSSL_NO_VENDOR
X86_64_PC_WINDOWS_MSVC_OPENSSL_NO_VENDOR unset
cargo:rerun-if-env-changed=OPENSSL_NO_VENDOR
OPENSSL_NO_VENDOR unset
cargo:rerun-if-env-changed=X86_64_PC_WINDOWS_MSVC_OPENSSL_CONFIG_DIR
X86_64_PC_WINDOWS_MSVC_OPENSSL_CONFIG_DIR unset
cargo:rerun-if-env-changed=OPENSSL_CONFIG_DIR
OPENSSL_CONFIG_DIR unset
running "perl" "./Configure" "--prefix=E:/Cache/debug/build/openssl-sys-da9ac18396d4c038/out/openssl-build/install" "--openssldir=SYS$MANAGER:[OPENSSL]" "no-shared" "no-module" "no-tests" "no-comp" "no-zlib" "no-zlib-dynamic" "--libdir=lib" "no-ssl3" "no-md2" "no-rc5" "no-weak-ssl-ciphers" "no-camellia" "no-idea" "no-seed" "no-capieng" "no-asm" "VC-WIN64A"
cargo:warning=configuring OpenSSL build: Command 'perl' not found. Is perl installed?
cargo:warning=openssl-src: failed to build OpenSSL from source

--- stderr

Error configuring OpenSSL build:
Command 'perl' not found. Is perl installed?
Command failed: "perl" "./Configure" "--prefix=E:/Cache/debug/build/openssl-sys-da9ac18396d4c038/out/openssl-build/install" "--openssldir=SYS$MANAGER:[OPENSSL]" "no-shared" "no-module" "no-tests" "no-comp" "no-zlib" "no-zlib-dynamic" "--libdir=lib" "no-ssl3" "no-md2" "no-rc5" "no-weak-ssl-ciphers" "no-camellia" "no-idea" "no-seed" "no-capieng" "no-asm" "VC-WIN64A"

warning: build failed, waiting for other jobs to finish...

I also receive this critical error during build

error: failed to run custom build command for whisper-rs-sys v0.15.0

Caused by:
process didn't exit successfully: E:\Cache\debug\build\whisper-rs-sys-91ebecc29a36d10d\build-script-build (exit code: 101)
--- stdout
cargo:rerun-if-changed=wrapper.h
cargo:rerun-if-env-changed=TARGET
cargo:rerun-if-env-changed=BINDGEN_EXTRA_CLANG_ARGS_x86_64-pc-windows-msvc
cargo:rerun-if-env-changed=BINDGEN_EXTRA_CLANG_ARGS_x86_64_pc_windows_msvc
cargo:rerun-if-env-changed=BINDGEN_EXTRA_CLANG_ARGS
cargo:rerun-if-changed=wrapper.h

--- stderr

thread 'main' (36340) panicked at C:\Users\timmy.cargo\registry\src\index.crates.io-1949cf8c6b5b557f\bindgen-0.72.1\lib.rs:616:27:
Unable to find libclang: "couldn't find any valid shared libraries matching: ['clang.dll', 'libclang.dll'], set the LIBCLANG_PATH environment variable to a path where one of these files can be found (invalid: [])"
note: run with RUST_BACKTRACE=1 environment variable to display a backtrace

Any solutions to this? I'm not sure if it's LLVM, Rust (GNU LLVM), clangd, Winlibs 14.2, or something else that is needed?

I proposed adding something like this to CONTRIBUTING.md:

Software Requirements

• Node version 26+
• RustUp version X+
• Perl version X+ (Strawberry Perl on Windows)
• ...

[axpnet]

Thanks for the detailed report, your diagnosis is correct on both counts.

Why it happens

• ssh2 is built with the vendored-openssl feature, so OpenSSL compiles from source and needs perl on PATH. On Linux/macOS Perl is usually already present; on Windows it is not, hence Command 'perl' not found. Strawberry Perl is exactly the right fix.
• whisper-rs-sys vendors whisper.cpp and runs bindgen, which needs libclang from LLVM. That is the Unable to find libclang error, and it is unrelated to your Rust toolchain choice.

Working setup on Windows

• Install Strawberry Perl (https://strawberryperl.com/).
• Install LLVM (https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/releases). If the build still cannot find it, set LIBCLANG_PATH to the LLVM bin folder, e.g. C:\Program Files\LLVM\bin.
• Use the MSVC Rust toolchain (stable-x86_64-pc-windows-msvc) with Visual Studio Build Tools 2022 ("Desktop development with C++"), not the GNU toolchain.
• Node 20+ is what we build on (CI uses Node 20).

The long wait is expected, not a hang: the first build compiles OpenSSL and whisper.cpp from source and can take several minutes even on a fast CPU. Later builds are incremental.

Fixed: I have added a Prerequisites section to CONTRIBUTING.md covering exactly this (core toolchain + per-platform native build tools + the first-build note) in #346. The patch is applied and ships in the next release (v4.0.8), which is being rolled out shortly. Thanks for pushing us to document it.

[timint]

Thank you, that worked. Here is to get them all: winget install OpenJS.NodeJS Rustlang.Rustup LLVM.LLVM StrawberryPerl.StrawberryPerl.

I unlocked a new error right before the finish line.

Compiling hound v3.5.1
Compiling similar v3.1.1
Compiling xz2 v0.1.7
Compiling unrar v0.5.8
error: linking with link.exe failed: exit code: 1120
...
...
E:\Cache\debug\deps\ftp_client_gui_lib.dll : fatal error LNK1120: 8 unresolved externals␍
error: could not compile aeroftp (lib) due to 1 previous error

See attached file for complete log.
tauridev_log.txt

[axpnet]

Nice, thanks for the winget one-liner, that's a great addition to the docs.

That last one is a separate, known issue, not a gap on your side. All 8 unresolved externals (__imp__aligned_malloc, __imp_fmaxf, __imp_lroundf, __imp_expm1f, ...) come from whisper-rs-sys (the bundled whisper.cpp/ggml): they're UCRT/vcruntime functions that aren't getting linked, an MSVC link drift we've seen before.

Quick unblock: whisper-rs is an optional feature (local-stt), so you can build without the whisper.cpp C/C++ stack entirely:

npm run tauri dev -- --no-default-features --features aerorsync

That should take you straight to a running dev build. The only thing you lose is AeroAgent's local/offline voice input; everything else is intact.

We're root-causing the whisper link failure on a real Windows MSVC setup and will follow up here (and in CONTRIBUTING.md) with either a proper fix or a documented path.

And honestly, thank you so much for wanting to contribute. Reports this careful and well-diagnosed are exactly what move the project forward, and we'd genuinely love to hand you some tasks to work on if that's something you'd be up for. Thanks again, and welcome aboard.