makefile: How to run a single command in WSL - windows

I'm planning to run make on Windows which has a WSL installed.
Normally, I can run say wsl date in CMD or Powershell to temporally run the single command in WSL, but I can't manage to do the same in a Makefile.
I tried with the plain wsl date, it gives
process_begin: CreateProcess(NLL, wsl date, ...) failed.
make (e=2): The system cannot find the file specified.
I tried with $(wsl) date, it runs the CMD version date, not the Linux version as expected.
Does anyone know the right way to make it work? Thanks!
A minimal case:
##### Call the WSL to run a command
call-wsl:
C:\Windows\System32\wsl.exe date
Run make call-wsl, it gives
C:\Windows\System32\wsl.exe date
process_begin: CreateProcess(NULL, C:\Windows\System32\wsl.exe date, ...) failed.
make (e=2): The system cannot find the file specified.
make: *** [makefile:3: call-wsl] Error 2

GNU Make installed by Chocolatey is a 32-bit program. So we must use C:\Windows\sysnative\wsl.exe to correctly call wsl.exe.

Related

Windows 10 make tool from MinGW returns error 2 (e=2)

i'm trying to make the make utility work on windows through MinGW, but i keep getting error 2 while trying to make the make utility perform a task that isn't a command from MinGW.
test: test.cpp
g++ -o test test.cpp
clean:
rm ./*.exe
compiling works fine, but when i try to run clean, i get an error.
PS D:\Programs\C++\Test> make clean
rm ./*.exe
process_begin: CreateProcess(NULL, rm ./*.exe, ...) failed.
make (e=2): Impossibile trovare il file specificato.
makefile:5: recipe for target 'clean' failed
make: *** [clean] Error 2
but typing rm ./.exe directly into the windows powershell works just fine.
all the examples i could find online were about people calling programs that weren't linked in the windows PATH, but here it's not the problem, since make is linked to the PATH and rm ./.exe works on the powershell. any ideas?
thank you in advance.
The commands you use in Powershell aren't avaliable that way. The ones that are available are from the cmd (cmd.exe) command prompt. The command that removes files in the cmd prompt is erase.
All of this is because programs run as if they were launched in cmd.
For more commands, you should run help on the cmd prompt.
Also rm is just an alias for the legacy erase.

Unable to execute githooks on some windows machines

I had compiled a golang code and got a binary out of it. This binary was the pre-commit git hook.
However this git hook does work on some windows machines and it does not work on some windows machines. I use GitBash for running git commands.
I don't know what the issue might be. I did run it on Windows 10 and it worked on one of the machines and didn't work on another one.
Please make sure your script is executable. To check whether the file is executable, run this in your terminal
ls -l /path/of/file
If you find it as non executable, Use this command for making it as an executable.
chmod +x /path/of/file
If you don't know what is ls -l. Please go through here. https://askubuntu.com/a/528433

CMake-generated MinGW Makefile has quoting errors

I was trying to build zlib with CMake 3.9.0, output set to MinGW Makefiles, and noticed upon trying to call mingw32-make in the output dir that there was a weird error message which very much looks like a quoting error to me.
D:\zlib-1.2-11> mingw32-make
[ 2%] Generating zlib1rc.obj
'C:\Program' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.
C:\Program Files\mingw-w64\x86_64-7.1.0-win32-seh-rt_v5-rev0\mingw64\bin\windres.exe: preprocessing failed.
CMakeFiles\zlib.dir\build.make:60: recipe for target 'zlib1rc.obj' failed
mingw32-make[2]: *** [zlib1rc.obj] Error 1
CMakeFiles\Makefile2:103: recipe for target 'CMakeFiles/zlib.dir/all' failed
mingw32-make[1]: *** [CMakeFiles/zlib.dir/all] Error 2
Makefile:139: recipe for target 'all' failed
mingw32-make: *** [all] Error 2
What could be the cause of this error and how can I fix it? If it were only zlib, I could scrape the net for pre-built binaries, but this has happened with some other builds, too.
This appears to be a bug in MinGW's version of windres.exe, although I'm also going to heap some blame onto CMake for it's appalling method of invoking windres, which is what is causing this to fail.
The Problem
CMake understands that Windows Resource .rc files are a thing, and that they are compiled with the Windows Resource Compiler (aka windres.exe), which it wraps in the default variable CMAKE_RC_COMPILER.
The problem is, that rather than just invoking windres like a normal person, CMake thinks it's being clever by invoking it like so...
cmd.exe /C "cd /D C:\Users\username\zlib-1.2.11\build && "C:\Program Files\mingw-w64\x86_64-7.2.0-posix-seh-rt_v5-rev0\mingw64\bin\windres.exe" -D GCC_WINDRES -I C:/Users/username/zlib-1.2.11 -I C:/Users/username/zlib-1.2.11/build -o C:/Users/username/zlib-1.2.11/build/zlib1rc.obj -i C:/Users/username/zlib-1.2.11/win32/zlib1.rc"
Evidently it doesn't understand the notion of the current working directory, or the system path variable (which it used to find windres in the first place). If we were to simplify the command, it would look like this...
windres -D GCC_WINDRES -I.. -I. -ozlib1rc.obj -i ../win32/zlib1.rc
Those two commands carry the exact same meaning, except the second one actually works.
The Solution
We have to step in and stop CMake from trying to be clever.
cmake .. -DCMAKE_RC_COMPILER=windres
I have MSVC 2017 installed, and CMake assumes that I want to use that by default, despite none of its environment variables being set and it not being in the path (in normal usage, one must invoke the vcvars64.bat file before using MSVC, this behaviour predates CMake). So I have to use -G "MinGW Makefiles", except that I also have sh.exe in my path (because Git), and that just blows CMake's mind, so I need the command...
cmake .. -G"MSYS Makefiles" -DCMAKE_RC_COMPILER=windres
The CMake file author should have quoted strings containing unknown filesystem paths, i.e. variables and the VERBATIM option also avoids headaches:
if(MINGW)
# This gets us DLL resource information when compiling on MinGW.
if(NOT CMAKE_RC_COMPILER)
set(CMAKE_RC_COMPILER windres.exe)
endif()
add_custom_command(OUTPUT "${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/zlib1rc.obj"
COMMAND "${CMAKE_RC_COMPILER}"
-D GCC_WINDRES
-I "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}"
-I "${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}"
-o "${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/zlib1rc.obj"
-i "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/win32/zlib1.rc"
VERBATIM)
set(ZLIB_DLL_SRCS "${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/zlib1rc.obj")
endif(MINGW)

Makefile error make (e=2): The system cannot find the file specified

I am using a makefile in windows to push some files on a Unix server (here a text file "blob.txt" in the same folder of my makefile).
My makefile script is:
setup:
pscp blob.txt username#hostname:/folder/
I start a command prompt, go in the folder where blob.txt and the makefile are present and type:
make setup
Which results in:
pscp blob.txt username#hostname:/folder/
process_begin: CreateProcess(NULL, pscp blob.txt username#hostname:/folder/, ...) failed.
make (e=2): The system cannot find the file specified.
make: *** [setup] Error 2
In a #fail ... whereas if I enter directly the command in the command prompt:
pscp blob.txt username#hostname:/folder/
It works ... I really wonder why.
The error
process_begin: CreateProcess(NULL, pscp blob.txt username#hostname:/folder/, ...) failed.
make (e=2): The system cannot find the file specified.
is almost certainly complaining that Windows cannot find pscp.
This is almost certainly because the value of %PATH% (or whatever) is different when make spawns a shell/console then when you have it open manually.
Compare the values to confirm that. Then either use the full path to pscp in the makefile recipe or ensure that the value of PATH is set correctly for make's usage.
I didn't want to remove GIT's bin folder from the PATH variable (I am using a Windows machine), as I use it quite often. So I looked for a workaround, and here it is:
Add the <git-installation-directory>/usr/bin directory to your PATH variable too. This basically adds the rest of the linux-like commands that come with the "GIT bash" to your environment. After applying this, my makefiles ran normally again. :)
If you are curious about what shell is being invoked by make, just add $(info $(SHELL)) at the beginning of your makefile. The path/name of the shell being invoked is printed to the console as soon as you run make.
I know this is an old question that has been answered, but thought I'd and my experiences for anyone still running into this. I was getting the same cryptic error Colonel Beauvel (though with the windows MOVE command, not pscp):
process_begin: CreateProcess(NULL, move /y foo\bar.c .\baz.c, ...) failed.
make (e=2): The system cannot find the file specified.
Our CI was running the same Makefile and working perfectly. Turns out CI was using mingw32-make and I was using GNU make. Uninstalling GNU make (which got installed as part of an unrelated bulk package) and aliasing mingw32-make to 'make' works perfectly.
#user3869623's solution works for me. I'd like to share some details of mine to complete the picture.
My makefile contains below target:
clean:
#echo '$(OS)'
ifeq ($(OS),Windows_NT)
del /s *.o *.d *.elf *.map *.log
endif
When I run make clean, I see this error:
Since it says something went wrong with echo, so I change my makefile target to below:
clean:
ifeq ($(OS),Windows_NT)
del /s *.o *.d *.elf *.map *.log
endif
This time, make clean gives me this error:
I am surprised to see bash here since I am working in Windows command line.
Then I checked my %PATH%, I see this entry:
C:\DevTools\Git\bin
There's a bash.exe and sh.exe in that path. So I removed this entry, and it works fine now.
BUT I STILL DON'T KNOW WHY BASH GET INTO THIS???
ADD 1
As to why the C:\DevTools\Git\bin shows up in my %PATH%, because I am using Sublime and it always asks me for the Git binaries:
In my case, I had git\bin in my %PATH% which contains bash.exe and sh.exe.
Removing %GIT_HOME%\bin from the PATH worked for me.
To build on user3869623's response.
In my case i had git\bin in my %PATH% which contains bash.exe and sh.exe.. Removing %GIT_HOME%\bin from the PATH worked for me
While this recommendation may allow make to run, it will likely cause issues for git, especially if the makefile is installing software from a git repository.
A better solution is to simply change %GIT_HOME%\bin to %GIT_HOME%\cmd
For those who tried removing the git bin folder from PATH and it didn't work for them, search your PATH variables for any paths containing bash.exe.
In my case I found a variable linking to cygwin bin folder C:\cygwin64\bin, removed it and it worked.
I had the same issue, and this thread really helped me solve it. In my case, it was a conflict between make and the sh.exe that was visible through my path, due to both git and mingw64. To fix my issue, without breaking Git, I added these lines to the top of my batch file that calls make:
set path=%path:git\bin=;%
set path=%path:mingw64\bin=;%
set path=%path:usr\bin=;%
This hides the extra sh.exe instances from make for that instance only.
I ran into this problem recently and this question was one of the top hits for my searches.
None of the other answers here helped me. The fix, for me, was to put the binary name in quotes:
setup:
"pscp" blob.txt username#hostname:/folder/
-"pscp" blob.txt username#hostname:/folder/ # Failure is OK, `-` in front
I'm on windows.
By explicitly setting my compiler to gcc (instead of cl?) it solved my problem.
CC = gcc
I hope some people more knowledgeable than me could explain why changing the compiler would impact the makefile parsing.

Problem setting up github repository, touch not recognized in CMD

When I get to the step:
touch README
I get the error
'touch' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file.
What does this mean?
I'm in Win 7 Home Premium command prompt.
Make sure you're working in git bash, not cmd.
The touch command updates the last-modified timestamp of the file to the current time, or if the file doesn't already exist, creates an empty file with the given name. This command does not exist (by default) in Windows, which is the reason you get that error message.
To get past this step, you can create a file called README in whatever way you feel most comfortable with. For example, you could use notepad.exe if you have no better alternative available.
Use this code in CMD and then touch your file
npm install touch-cli -g

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