Installing on Win10/ActivePerl 5.24.0 hangs

[MarcelVersteeg]

I am trying to install Alient-Libxml2 on my Windows10 computer running ActivePerl 5.24.0 (due to a shared hosting service, I cannot use another version of Perl right now unfortunately), but the installation hangs on the extaction of the downloaded tar.xz.

I created the makefile using the command

perl Makefile.PL

Then started the build using the command

dmake

The output of the dmake command is:

dmake:  makefile:  line 753:  Warning: -- Empty recipe for special or meta target .NOTPARALLEL
dmake:  makefile:  line 755:  Warning: -- Empty recipe for special or meta target .NO_PARALLEL
cp lib/Alien/Libxml2.pm blib\lib/Alien/Libxml2.pm
"D:\Perl64\bin\perl.exe" -MAlien::Build::MM=cmd -e prefix site D:\Perl64\lib D:\Perl64\site\lib
Alien::Build::Plugin::PkgConfig::Negotiate> Using PkgConfig plugin: PkgConfig::PP
main> prefix D:/Perl64/site/lib/auto/share/dist/Alien-Libxml2
"D:\Perl64\bin\perl.exe" -MAlien::Build::MM=cmd -e version 0.19
Alien::Build::Plugin::PkgConfig::Negotiate> Using PkgConfig plugin: PkgConfig::PP
"D:\Perl64\bin\perl.exe" -MAlien::Build::MM=cmd -e download
Alien::Build::Plugin::PkgConfig::Negotiate> Using PkgConfig plugin: PkgConfig::PP
Alien::Build::Plugin::Core::Download> candidate *https://download.gnome.org/sources/libxml2/2.11/libxml2-2.11.4.tar.xz
Alien::Build::Plugin::Core::Download> candidate  https://download.gnome.org/sources/libxml2/2.11/libxml2-2.11.3.tar.xz
Alien::Build::Plugin::Core::Download> candidate  https://download.gnome.org/sources/libxml2/2.11/libxml2-2.11.2.tar.xz
Alien::Build::Plugin::Core::Download> candidate  https://download.gnome.org/sources/libxml2/2.11/libxml2-2.11.1.tar.xz
Alien::Build::Plugin::Core::Download> candidate  https://download.gnome.org/sources/libxml2/2.11/libxml2-2.11.0.tar.xz
Alien::Build::Plugin::Core::Download> candidate  https://download.gnome.org/sources/libxml2/2.10/libxml2-2.10.4.tar.xz
Alien::Build::Plugin::Core::Download> candidate  https://download.gnome.org/sources/libxml2/2.10/libxml2-2.10.3.tar.xz
Alien::Build::Plugin::Core::Download> candidate  https://download.gnome.org/sources/libxml2/2.10/libxml2-2.10.2.tar.xz
Alien::Build::Plugin::Core::Download> candidate  ...
Alien::Build::Plugin::Core::Download> setting version based on archive to 2.11.4
Alien::Build::Plugin::Core::Download> downloaded libxml2-2.11.4.tar.xz
"D:\Perl64\bin\perl.exe" -MAlien::Build::MM=cmd -e build
Alien::Build::Plugin::PkgConfig::Negotiate> Using PkgConfig plugin: PkgConfig::PP
Alien::Build::Plugin::Extract::CommandLine> + tar -xf E:/WebPages/personal/Shared/_test/Alien-Libxml2-0.19/_alien/download_Nv7P/libxml2-2.11.4.tar.xz

And then it stops

[plicease]

What version of tar is in your path? I think on modern windows it is usually bsdtar?

[MarcelVersteeg]

The command tar --help gives the following output:

tar(bsdtar): manipulate archive files
First option must be a mode specifier:
  -c Create  -r Add/Replace  -t List  -u Update  -x Extract
Common Options:
  -b #  Use # 512-byte records per I/O block
  -f <filename>  Location of archive (default \\.\tape0)
  -v    Verbose
  -w    Interactive
Create: tar -c [options] [<file> | <dir> | @<archive> | -C <dir> ]
  <file>, <dir>  add these items to archive
  -z, -j, -J, --lzma  Compress archive with gzip/bzip2/xz/lzma
  --format {ustar|pax|cpio|shar}  Select archive format
  --exclude <pattern>  Skip files that match pattern
  -C <dir>  Change to <dir> before processing remaining files
  @<archive>  Add entries from <archive> to output
List: tar -t [options] [<patterns>]
  <patterns>  If specified, list only entries that match
Extract: tar -x [options] [<patterns>]
  <patterns>  If specified, extract only entries that match
  -k    Keep (don't overwrite) existing files
  -m    Don't restore modification times
  -O    Write entries to stdout, don't restore to disk
  -p    Restore permissions (including ACLs, owner, file flags)
bsdtar 3.5.2 - libarchive 3.5.2 zlib/1.2.5.f-ipp

So it is indeed bsdtar version 3.5.2.
To be complete, my Windows version is Windows 10 22H2 (OS build 19045.3086)

[plicease]

I don't have access to my Windows box right now, but should be able to look at this soon. I've transferred this issue to Alien-Build because it is not specific to Alien::Libxml2.

[plicease]

@MarcelVersteeg can you try this trail version of Alien::Build:
https://cpan.metacpan.org/authors/id/P/PL/PLICEASE/Alien-Build-2.81_01.tar.gz
and then try reinstalling Alien::Libxml2? It should use the Archive::Tar instead of the command line BSD tar to extract the tarball.

[MarcelVersteeg]

@plicease I tried to install that version, but after installing/updating a lot of the required modules for that, I got stuck at installing Compress::Raw::Lzma:

E:\WebPages\personal\Shared\_test\Compress-Raw-Lzma-2.204>dmake
cp lib/Compress/Raw/Lzma.pm blib\lib\Compress\Raw\Lzma.pm
AutoSplitting blib\lib\Compress\Raw\Lzma.pm (blib\lib\auto\Compress\Raw\Lzma)
Running Mkbootstrap for Lzma ()
"D:\Perl64\bin\perl.exe" -MExtUtils::Command -e chmod -- 644 "Lzma.bs"
"D:\Perl64\bin\perl.exe" -MExtUtils::Command::MM -e cp_nonempty -- Lzma.bs blib\arch\auto\Compress\Raw\Lzma\Lzma.bs 644
"D:\Perl64\bin\perl.exe" "D:\Perl64\lib\ExtUtils\xsubpp"  -typemap D:\Perl64\lib\ExtUtils\typemap -typemap E:\WebPages\personal\Shared\_test\Compress-Raw-Lzma-2.204\typemap  Lzma.xs > Lzma.xsc
"D:\Perl64\bin\perl.exe" -MExtUtils::Command -e mv -- Lzma.xsc Lzma.c
D:\Perl64\site\lib\auto\MinGW\bin\gcc.exe -c  -I/usr/local/include      -s -O2 -DWIN32 -DWIN64 -DCONSERVATIVE -DPERL_TEXTMODE_SCRIPTS -DUSE_SITECUSTOMIZE -DPERL_IMPLICIT_CONTEXT -DPERL_IMPLICIT_SYS -fwrapv -fno-strict-aliasing -mms-bitfields -s -O2     -DVERSION=\"2.204\"   -DXS_VERSION=\"2.204\"  "-ID:\Perl64\lib\CORE"  -Wall -Wno-comment Lzma.c
Lzma.xs:18:18: fatal error: lzma.h: No such file or directory
compilation terminated.
dmake:  Error code 129, while making 'Lzma.o'

I cannot compile that one, so I can't install it in order to install the trial version.

[plicease]

This is a problem with AS Perl and/or Compress::Raw::Lzma. (Compress::Raw::Lzma and lzma.h have come with Strawberry Perl for a while I think). If you have a support agreement with AS it might be worth opening a ticket with them. Unfortunately they do not provide downloads of older versions of AS Perl so I have no way of even reproducing this to see if there is a workaround to get the Lzma module installed.

Failing all of that here is a workaround that you can use to get it working for you:

Download the libxml2 package https://download.gnome.org/sources/libxml2/2.11/libxml2-2.11.4.tar.xz into a directory patch in the Alien-Libxml2 dist. Decompress with xz (I believe it is already in your path, that is what is causing the hang with bsdtar).

mkdir patch
cd patch
curl -LO https://download.gnome.org/sources/libxml2/2.11/libxml2-2.11.4.tar.xz
xd -d libxml2-2.11.4.tar.xz

then apply this patch to use the local copy instead of trying to fetch it from gitlab:

diff --git a/alienfile b/alienfile
index dcfb4eb..56ce7f2 100644
--- a/alienfile
+++ b/alienfile
@@ -131,19 +131,9 @@ share {
   # off there.  Turn it on elsewhere as it saves a copy.
   meta->prop->{out_of_source} = $^O eq 'MSWin32' ? 0 : 1;
 
-  plugin 'Download::GitLab' => (
-    gitlab_host     => 'https://gitlab.gnome.org',
-    gitlab_user     => 'GNOME',
-    gitlab_project  => 'libxml2',
-    type            => 'link',
-    format          => 'tar.xz',
-    version_from    => 'tag_name',
-    convert_version => sub {
-      my $version = shift;
-      $version =~ s/^v//;
-      $version;
-    },
-  );
+  start_url './patch/libxml2-2.11.4.tar';
+  plugin 'Download';
+  plugin 'Extract';
 
   if($^O eq 'MSWin32' && $Config{ccname} eq 'cl')
   {

Then try installing as normal.

[MarcelVersteeg]

@plicease Sorry for the late reply, but something else came up inbetween.

I downloaded the file to the patch directory and extracted it, resulting in a file named libxml2-2.11.4.tar. The I applied the patch to the alienfile that is located in the root of the package.

Then I executed dmake again, but it still does not work:

dmake:  makefile:  line 732:  Warning: -- Empty recipe for special or meta target .NOTPARALLEL
dmake:  makefile:  line 734:  Warning: -- Empty recipe for special or meta target .NO_PARALLEL
"D:\Perl64\bin\perl.exe" -MAlien::Build::MM=cmd -e build
Alien::Build::Plugin::PkgConfig::Negotiate> Using PkgConfig plugin: PkgConfig::PP
tried to call extract before download at D:/Perl64/site/lib/Alien/Build.pm line 742.
dmake:  Error code 130, while making '_alien\mm\build'

It says "tried to call extract before download at D:/Perl64/site/lib/Alien/Build.pm line 742."

To make sure, the patch is applied correctly, lines 128-170 of alienfile are as follows now:

share {

  # out of source build is borked on Windows, so we turn it
  # off there.  Turn it on elsewhere as it saves a copy.
  meta->prop->{out_of_source} = $^O eq 'MSWin32' ? 0 : 1;

  start_url './patch/libxml2-2.11.4.tar';
  plugin 'Download';
  plugin 'Extract';

  if($^O eq 'MSWin32' && $Config{ccname} eq 'cl')
  {
    build [
      sub { shift->install_prop->{prefix} =~ s/\//\\/g;},
      'cd win32',
      'cscript configure.js prefix=%{.install.prefix} iconv=no compiler=msvc static=yes',
      'nmake -f Makefile.msvc',
      'nmake -f Makefile.msvc install',
    ];

    plugin 'Gather::IsolateDynamic';

    gather sub {
      my($build) = @_;
      my $prefix = $build->runtime_prop->{prefix};
      $build->runtime_prop->{cflags} = "-I$prefix/include/libxml2";
      $build->runtime_prop->{libs}   = "-L$prefix/lib libxml2_a.lib";
    };
  }
  else
  {
    plugin 'Build::Autoconf' => ();

    build [
      '%{configure} --prefix=%{.install.autoconf_prefix} --without-python --disable-shared --enable-static',
      '%{make}',
      '%{make} install',
    ];

    plugin 'PkgConfig::MakeStatic' => ();
  }

};

[plicease]

@plicease Sorry for the late reply, but something else came up inbetween.

I downloaded the file to the patch directory and extracted it, resulting in a file named libxml2-2.11.4.tar. The I applied the patch to the alienfile that is located in the root of the package.

Then I executed dmake again, but it still does not work:

dmake:  makefile:  line 732:  Warning: -- Empty recipe for special or meta target .NOTPARALLEL
dmake:  makefile:  line 734:  Warning: -- Empty recipe for special or meta target .NO_PARALLEL
"D:\Perl64\bin\perl.exe" -MAlien::Build::MM=cmd -e build
Alien::Build::Plugin::PkgConfig::Negotiate> Using PkgConfig plugin: PkgConfig::PP
tried to call extract before download at D:/Perl64/site/lib/Alien/Build.pm line 742.
dmake:  Error code 130, while making '_alien\mm\build'

It says "tried to call extract before download at D:/Perl64/site/lib/Alien/Build.pm line 742."

Did you re-use the same Alien-Libxml2 extract from before? if so can you try applying to a fresh copy of Alien-Libxml2?

[MarcelVersteeg]

@plicease I indeed used the same Alien-Libxml2 when I encountered the error. I unpacked the CPAN archive again, reapplied the patch and then dmake worked.

What I am wondering though, is it correct that I only have a Libxml2.pm and no binary dll after running dmake? It seems that the only binary compilation is required for testing if I look at the dmake output. I need to know this, because I am compiling/installing it locally and then need to transfer the files to the shared hosing server (running the same version of ActivePerl).

[plicease]

What I am wondering though, is it correct that I only have a Libxml2.pm and no binary dll after running dmake? It seems that the only binary compilation is required for testing if I look at the dmake output. I need to know this, because I am compiling/installing it locally and then need to transfer the files to the shared hosing server (running the same version of ActivePerl).

The libxml2 binaries are installed in a share directory. You can find the path for that share directory using the dist_dir method:

perl -MAlien::Libxml2 -E 'say Alien::Libxml2->dist_dir'