CoreConsole fails if there is a space in the main EXE location

[wjk]

I am using CoreConsole as the basis of a custom CoreCLR entry-point for my GUI app. I have patched it to use _tWinMain instead of wmain, and it actually works. However, I find that if there is a space in the full path to the main executable (regardless of the actual value of argv[0]), then either CoreConsole or CoreCLR gets horribly confused. For example, if argv[0] is C:\Users\wjk\Documents\Visual Studio 2015\Projects\MyProject\MyProject.exe, then I get the error Cannot load "Visual.dll". Moving the main executable to a path containing no spaces solves the problem, but is not scalable. Once I install my program into C:\Program Files\MyProgram (and I plan on doing so), it will break again unless this bug is fixed.

I am not familiar enough with the CoreCLR codebase to triage the issue any further. Any pointers?

[wtgodbe]

Hi,

I am not able to get a repro of this problem - out of curiosity, what happens when you install your program to C:\Program Files\MyProgram and run it from there?

[wjk]

@wtgodbe Unfortunately, I cannot currently tell you the answer to this. Due to dotnet/cli#948 et al, I cannot successfully build my app to test this issue or anything else.

[wtgodbe]

@wjk are you able to repro this locally yet?

[wjk]

Not yet. I'm sorry. Even though dotnet/cli#948 has been resolved, I still cannot build my app. I'll get back to you once I can.

[wjk]

@wtgodbe I got it to work! 😄 When I copy my program into this directory: C:\Users\William\Documents\Visual Studio 2015\Projects\VSU\VisualStudioUninstaller.exe, and I run it, the program exits immediately. Running it from the Command Prompt enables me to see the following error message:

Unhandled Exception: System.IO.FileNotFoundException: Could not load file or assembly 'Visual.dll' or one of its dependencies. The system cannot find the file specified.

Unfortunately, I don't know which DLL it is trying to load, only that it loaded CoreCLR successfully, thanks to the .NET exception diagnostic being shown. However, my app uses no reflection; all assemblies are referenced via dnx project references, and this should be looked for by the CoreCLR dynamic loader equivalent.

[wtgodbe]

Alright, my suspicion is that it's trying to load "Visual.dll" because the first space in the path to your executable comes after the word "Visual" - did you draw the same conclusion? To confirm, can you move it to a different directory with a space after some other word?

[wjk]

I have tried running the program inside the directory C:\Users\William\Documents\GitHub\My Uninstaller App, but the only difference is that it now can't find My.dll.

[wtgodbe]

OK that confirms my suspicion - just to be sure, when you run from the command line, what exactly are you entering into the command prompt? Are you surrounding it with quotes? (i.e., you should be running "C:\Users\William\Documents\GitHub\My Uninstaller App")

[wjk]

What I usually do is cd into the directory using a Command Prompt and then run the program from inside this directory; however, typing the full, absolute path to the .EXE file, in quotes, makes no difference.

[wtgodbe]

Interesting. I'll see if I can get a repro on my end.

[wtgodbe]

Would it be possible for you to provide a stack trace? I still can't get a repro - the same scenario works fine on my system

[wjk]

@wtgodbe How should I do that? All I see when I try to run the program is the exception message.

[wtgodbe]

Actually, it might be easier if you share your app/environment with me - do you think you could host the directory you're running your app from on github, and I can try to get a repro that way?

[wtgodbe]

Also, could you give me the exact steps you're using to reproduce the error (command prompts and all)?