binutils 2.36 breaks ar when running from command prompt

[xim]

Just upgraded binutils. All uses of ar result in this message when running from command prompt:

c:\msys64\mingw64\lib\bfd-plugins\libdep.a is either not designed to run on Windows or it contains an error. Try installing the program again using the original installation media or contact your system administrator or the software vendor for support. Error status 0xc000012f.

Minimal reproduction:

# From msys or git bash
touch empty.c
gcc -c -o empty.o empty.c
ar -rc libempty.a empty.o # Great success!
# Then from command prompt in the same folder
ar -rc libempty.a empty.o

Running the command from a git bash / msys 2prompt works. Running it from a cmd window gives the message. Running it in msys2 invoking cmd /c 'ar -rc [...]' works fine, and surprisingly also when invoking \msys64\usr\bin\bash -c "ar -rc [...]" from the command prompt

Downgrading to binutils 2.35.1-3 resolves the issue. Both 2.36-1 and 2.36-3 exhibit this behaviour.

[Biswa96]

What is your current working directory aka. $PWD? How do you able to access ar from cmd? Did you add anything to $PATH or %PATH%?

[xim]

It happens in any folder I run it (%TEMP%, C:\Users\xim\Desktop...) and regardless of whether or not I have ar in my PATH or execute it using full path.

I moved ar.exe to ar_.exe and made this horrible .bat file that I placed as \msys64\mingw64\bin\ar.bat to work around:

@set dirname=%~dp0
@set dirname=%dirname:\=/%
@set args=%*
@set args=%args:\=/%
@%dirname%..\..\usr\bin\bash -c "exec %dirname%ar_ %args%"
@if errorlevel 1 exit 1

[xim]

Actually, just removing the bfd-plugins folder also works. Don't know if I'm missing out on anything important when I remove it, though?
Edit: Apparently, I don't use libdep

[lazka]

I can't reproduce, this works

set PATH=C:/msys64/mingw64/bin;%PATH
ar -rc libempty.a empty.o

[oltolm]

Can confirm.

[Astrum-polaris]

libdep is a new plugin that is only present in binutils 2.36 (not exists in binutils 2.35)

Actually, just removing the bfd-plugins folder also works. Don't know if I'm missing out on anything important when I remove it, though?

bfd-plugins folder also contains the lto plugin, so removing the entire folder may break lto

I can confirm removing /mingw64/lib/bfd-plugins/libdep.a solves this problem

If I remove --disable-shared in binutils PKGBUILD and rebuild, libdep.dll and libdep.dll.a are installed instead of libdep.a

I guess if you try to run ar in command prompt, files in /mingw64/lib/bfd-plugins are loaded as dll, so if something that is not dll presents in that directory, it will fail with a error message like you posted.

[xim]

bfd-plugins folder also contains the lto plugin, so removing the entire folder may break lto

Good that you pointed that out for those that use lto =)

We have a decent workaround, then, as it isn't likely that many use libdep yet.

[revelator]

hmm cant reproduce either though after the upgrade i now get a lot of warnings about dllwrap being deprecated especially when building python packages.

[PBfordev]

I confirm the issue.

[xim]

I don't have a bunch of Windows machines lying around, but the one I do have is a Windows 10 virtual machine with Windows 10 Enterprise version 20H2 build 19042.746. It's a fairly minimal install, and has the very latest MSYS64 updates. I can provide additional details as requested.

[zufuliu]

libdep.a is still in lib\bfd-plugins folder for mingw-w64-x86_64-binutils-2.36.1-1.
Reproduce the Windows error message dialog (in command prompt, Win10 20H2 19042.746):

git clone --depth=1 https://github.com/zufuliu/notepad2.git
cd build\mingw
mingw32-make -j4

[lazka]

Removed that plugin now. Sorry for the delay.

[abrodkin]

FWIW that's an entry in Bintuils' bug-tracker - https://sourceware.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=27113.

[abrodkin]

And here you are - upstream fix (to be a part of the next 2.37 release): https://sourceware.org/git/gitweb.cgi?p=binutils-gdb.git;h=22604fe675b25b3ffca56e44f2c0ff378e5c6104.

[lazka]

Thanks