[osg-submissions] Plugin DLL search order fix for Win32

[Luigi Calori]

Robert Osfield wrote:

>Hi Luigi,
>
>On 8/24/07, Luigi Calori <l.calori at cineca.it> wrote:
>  
>
>>lib/<Debug>/osgd.dll
>>lib/<Debug>/osgViewerd.dll
>>....
>>lib/osgPlugins<osgversion>/osgdb_osgd.dll
>>lib/osgPlugins<osgversion>/osgdb_ived.dll
>>....
>>    
>>
>
>Is this before or after your change?
>  
>
After

>  
>
>>I' ll try a hack that have been suggestd on CMake user list to do that,
>>prepending ../Debug to target name, using ../ is not considered the
>>cleanest solution,thoug.
>>If you think it would be viable, I can try to se if it works.
>>    
>>
>
>A few inelegant edges to the internals of the build are worth making
>the final positioning of lib, plugins and bins in a what they is
>easier to get things working out of the box.
>
>  
>
>>>Also is there any way to get the plugins directory to go into the bin
>>>directory under Windows/MSVC?  I presume CMake adds the lib
>>>automatically.  Is there any way such as using ../bin/ preprending the
>>>target to fool it in doing what we want?
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>      
>>>
>>I already tested it, it can be easily done, the only problem is name
>>clashing pr .pdb files that VS produce:
>>osviewer is both a library (.dll and .lib) as well as an executable
>>(.exe) the corresponding .pdb file (debug info for VisualStudio) have
>>the same name osgviewer.pdb for both the application as the library
>>The sam happen for osgtext and osgmanipulator
>>In order to properly build debug under the same bin folder is required
>>to resolve the clashing. my solution was to append _exe to the .exe
>>names (like osgviewer.exe --> osgviewer_exe.exe)
>>I agree having windows build stuff all in the same bin folder   would
>>help running  "out of the box" without adding lib/Debug to PATH and
>>without installing
>>    
>>
>
>Curse windows lack of case sensitivity....
>
>Renaming executables is not so good as all the docs talk about
>osgviewer, we really want all platforms apps called the same thing and
>have as few exceptions as possible.
>
>I guess another crude mod might be to name the core libraries libosg,
>libosgViewer, libosgText etc.  This is how unices do the naming, with
>the lib appear implicitly, and windows doesn't do this, or require it,
>and its not the windows convention, but perhaps its something that
>could help.  This would require lots of users to change their builds
>to handle the new naming though...
>
>  
>
>>>My hope would be that we can build libs and bins all in roughly the
>>>right place, without needing to install.
>>>
>>>
>>>      
>>>
>>If the design seems you to fit, let me know, I can try to test the
>>"one-folder" build layout.
>>    
>>
>
>I'm a bit lots of the design right now... so I'm not sure what to give
>the thumbs up to..
>
>>From my Windows nieve point of view I was thinking that we might be
>able to have on build
>
>
>  lib/
>
>      contains all the libs, debug and release in the same direcgory, d appended
>      to the debug libs to differentiate them
>
>  bin/
>
>     contains executables and dll's.
>
>  bin/osgPlugins-version/
>
>      contains all the debug and release in the same directory
>
>This would then mirror the structure one would expect on install.
>Ideally I'd like it so users don't have to play too many games with
>paths to get things to work.
>
>Would this be possible?  From your email it sounds like name
>collisions will be one of the biggest hurdles.
>  
>
I agree that the layout you suggest  is the cleanest, as far as I know, 
there is no way to direct VisualStudio to generate .lib in lib  and .dll 
in bin.
It is probably possible to add post build commands to copy the stuff in 
the desired place though.
I can try to see if it works, but there will be some copying command 
appended after the build.
We could leave the .pdb and other VisualStudio stuff in place under the 
Debug and Release folders and then copy runtime relevant stuff into your 
layout
This way we mirror part of the install step into the build.

Let me know if this would fit so I can start experiment

Luigi