Add win_subsystem kwarg. Closes #7765.

docs/markdown/Reference-manual.md

@@ -599,8 +599,9 @@ be passed to [shared and static libraries](#library).
 - `extra_files`: not used for the build itself but are shown as
   source files in IDEs that group files by targets (such as Visual
   Studio)
-- `gui_app`: when set to true flags this target as a GUI application on
-  platforms where this makes a difference (e.g. Windows).
+- `gui_app`: when set to true flags this target as a GUI application
+  on platforms where this makes a differerence, **deprecated** since
+  0.56.0, use `win_subsystem` instead.
 - `link_args`: flags to use during linking. You can use UNIX-style
   flags here for all platforms.
 - `link_depends`: strings, files, or custom targets the link step
@@ -677,6 +678,12 @@ be passed to [shared and static libraries](#library).
 - `pie` *(since 0.49.0)*: build a position-independent executable
 - `native`: is a boolean controlling whether the target is compiled for the
   build or host machines. Defaults to false, building for the host machine.
+- `win_subsystem` *(since 0.56.0)* specifies the subsystem type to use
+  on the Windows platform. Typical values include `console` for text
+  mode programs and `windows` for gui apps. The value can also contain
+  version specification such as `windows,6.0'. See [MSDN
+  documentation](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/cpp/build/reference/subsystem-specify-subsystem)
+  for the full list. The default value is `console`.
 
 The list of `sources`, `objects`, and `dependencies` is always
 flattened, which means you can freely nest and add lists while

docs/markdown/snippets/winsubsystem.md

@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+## Add support for all Windows subsystem types
+
+It is now possible to build things like Windows kernel drivers with
+the new `win_subsystem` keyword argument. This replaces the old
+`gui_app` keyword argument, which is now deprecated. You should update
+your project to use the new style like this:
+
+```meson
+# Old way
+executable(..., gui_app: 'true')
+# New way
+executable(..., win_subsystem: 'windows')
+```
+
+The argument supports versioning [as described on MSDN
+documentation](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/cpp/build/reference/subsystem-specify-subsystem).
+Thus to build a Windows kernel driver with a specific version you'd
+write something like this:
+
+```meson
+executable(..., win_subsystem: 'native,6.02')
+```

mesonbuild/backend/ninjabackend.py

@@ -2587,7 +2587,10 @@ def get_target_type_link_args_post_dependencies(self, target, linker):
             # If gui_app is significant on this platform, add the appropriate linker arguments.
             # Unfortunately this can't be done in get_target_type_link_args, because some misguided
             # libraries (such as SDL2) add -mwindows to their link flags.
-            commands += linker.get_gui_app_args(target.gui_app)
+            if target.gui_app is not None:
+                commands += linker.get_gui_app_args(target.gui_app)
+            else:
+                commands += linker.get_win_subsystem_args(target.win_subsystem)
         return commands
 
     def get_link_whole_args(self, linker, target):

mesonbuild/backend/vs2010backend.py

@@ -754,8 +754,13 @@ def gen_vcxproj(self, target, ofname, guid):
         self.handled_target_deps[target.get_id()] = []
         if isinstance(target, build.Executable):
             conftype = 'Application'
-            if not target.gui_app:
-                subsystem = 'Console'
+            if target.gui_app is not None:
+                if not target.gui_app:
+                    subsystem = 'Console'
+            else:
+                # If someone knows how to set the version properly,
+                # please send a patch.
+                subsystem = target.win_subsystem.split(',')[0]
         elif isinstance(target, build.StaticLibrary):
             conftype = 'StaticLibrary'
         elif isinstance(target, build.SharedLibrary):

mesonbuild/build.py

@@ -88,6 +88,7 @@
     'sources',
     'gnu_symbol_visibility',
     'link_language',
+    'win_subsystem',
 ])
 
 known_build_target_kwargs = (
@@ -924,11 +925,21 @@ def process_kwargs(self, kwargs, environment):
             raise InvalidArguments('Main class must be a string')
         self.main_class = main_class
         if isinstance(self, Executable):
-            self.gui_app = kwargs.get('gui_app', False)
-            if not isinstance(self.gui_app, bool):
-                raise InvalidArguments('Argument gui_app must be boolean.')
+            # This kwarg is deprecated. The value of "none" means that the kwarg
+            # was not specified and win_subsystem should be used instead.
+            self.gui_app = None
+            if 'gui_app' in kwargs:
+                mlog.deprecation('The gui_app kwarg is deprecated, use win_subsystem instead.')
+                if 'win_subsystem' in kwargs:
+                    raise InvalidArguments('Can specify only gui_app or win_subsystem for a target, not both.')
+                self.gui_app = kwargs['gui_app']
+                if not isinstance(self.gui_app, bool):
+                    raise InvalidArguments('Argument gui_app must be boolean.')
+            self.win_subsystem = self.validate_win_subsystem(kwargs.get('win_subsystem', 'console'))
         elif 'gui_app' in kwargs:
             raise InvalidArguments('Argument gui_app can only be used on executables.')
+        elif 'win_subsystem' in kwargs:
+            raise InvalidArguments('Argument win_subsystem can only be used on executables.')
         extra_files = extract_as_list(kwargs, 'extra_files')
         for i in extra_files:
             assert(isinstance(i, File))
@@ -1000,6 +1011,12 @@ def process_kwargs(self, kwargs, environment):
             if self.gnu_symbol_visibility not in permitted:
                 raise InvalidArguments('GNU symbol visibility arg {} not one of: {}'.format(self.symbol_visibility, ', '.join(permitted)))
 
+    def validate_win_subsystem(self, value: str) -> str: 
+        value = value.lower()
+        if re.fullmatch(r'(boot_application|console|efi_application|efi_boot_service_driver|efi_rom|efi_runtime_driver|native|posix|windows)(,\d+(\.\d+)?)?', value) is None:
+            raise InvalidArguments('Invalid value for win_subsystem: {}.'.format(value))
+        return value
+
     def _extract_pic_pie(self, kwargs, arg):
         # Check if we have -fPIC, -fpic, -fPIE, or -fpie in cflags
         all_flags = self.extra_args['c'] + self.extra_args['cpp']

mesonbuild/compilers/compilers.py

@@ -878,6 +878,13 @@ def gnu_symbol_visibility_args(self, vistype: str) -> T.List[str]:
     def get_gui_app_args(self, value: bool) -> T.List[str]:
         return []
 
+    def get_win_subsystem_args(self, value: str) -> T.List[str]:
+        # This returns an empty array rather than throws to simplify the code.
+        # Otherwise we would have to check whenever calling this function whether
+        # the target is for Windows. There are also many cases where this is
+        # a meaningless choice, such as with Jave or C#.
+        return []
+
     def has_func_attribute(self, name: str, env: 'Environment') -> T.Tuple[bool, bool]:
         raise EnvironmentException(
             'Language {} does not support function attributes.'.format(self.get_display_language()))

mesonbuild/compilers/mixins/gnu.py

@@ -219,6 +219,20 @@ def get_gui_app_args(self, value: bool) -> T.List[str]:
             return ['-mwindows' if value else '-mconsole']
         return []
 
+    def get_win_subsystem_args(self, value: str) -> T.List[str]:
+        args = []
+        if self.info.is_windows() or self.info.is_cygwin():
+            if 'windows' in value:
+                args = ['-Wl,--subsystem,windows']
+            elif 'console' in value:
+                args = ['-Wl,--subsystem,console']
+            else:
+                raise mesonlib.MesonException('Only "windows" and "console" are supported for win_subsystem with MinGW, not "{}".'.format(value))
+        if ',' in value:
+            args[-1] = args[-1] + ':' + value.split(',')[1]
+        return args
+
+
     def compute_parameters_with_absolute_paths(self, parameter_list: T.List[str], build_dir: str) -> T.List[str]:
         for idx, i in enumerate(parameter_list):
             if i[:2] == '-I' or i[:2] == '-L':

mesonbuild/compilers/mixins/visualstudio.py

@@ -205,6 +205,9 @@ def get_gui_app_args(self, value: bool) -> T.List[str]:
         else:
             return ['/SUBSYSTEM:CONSOLE']
 
+    def get_win_subsystem_args(self, value: str) -> T.List[str]:
+        return ['/SUBSYSTEM:' + value.upper()]
+
     def get_pic_args(self) -> T.List[str]:
         return [] # PIC is handled by the loader on Windows
 

test cases/windows/16 gui app/meson.build

@@ -6,16 +6,21 @@ project('gui_app_test', 'c')
 #
 
 console_lib = static_library('main', 'console_prog.c')
-executable('console', 'dummy.c', link_with: console_lib, gui_app: false)
+executable('console', 'dummy.c', link_with: console_lib, win_subsystem: 'console')
+executable('console2', 'dummy.c', link_with: console_lib, gui_app: false)
 
 #
 # also verify that the correct subsystem is set by executable(gui_app:)
 #
 
-gui_prog = executable('gui_prog', 'gui_prog.c', gui_app: true)
-console_prog = executable('console_prog', 'console_prog.c', gui_app: false)
+gui_prog = executable('gui_prog', 'gui_prog.c', win_subsystem: 'windows,6.0')
+gui_prog2 = executable('gui_prog2', 'gui_prog.c', gui_app: true)
+console_prog = executable('console_prog', 'console_prog.c', win_subsystem: 'console')
+console_prog2 = executable('console_prog2', 'console_prog.c', gui_app: false)
 
 tester = find_program('gui_app_tester.py')
 
 test('is_gui', tester, args: [gui_prog, '2'])
+test('is_gui2', tester, args: [gui_prog2, '2'])
 test('not_gui', tester, args: [console_prog, '3'])
+test('not_gui2', tester, args: [console_prog2, '3'])