Re: ./configure with MSVC + Debug blocks with dialog box (fixed with patch!)

[Bruno Haible <bruno@clisp.org>]

[CCing bug-gnulib]

Hi,

Paul Harris wrote:
> During ./configure, the "intl" configure step tests this condition:
> checking whether printf supports the 'n' directive...
> 
> This fails on MSVC, which is fine on Release builds.
> 
> However, in Debug builds, a GUI Dialog box pops up telling the user about
> an assert failure, and would the user like to Abort,Retry,Ignore.
> 
> This blocks the configuration until the user manually presses a button.
> 
> In gettext-runtime/intl/configure (in the tarball release),
> line 29702 has a call to _set_invalid_parameter_handler()
> This almost does the job, but not quite.
> adding the line: _CrtSetReportMode(_CRT_ASSERT, 0);
> changes the behaviour to fail without the dialog box.
> 
> There are other places in the tarball where
> _set_invalid_parameter_handler() is called, and this line could be added in
> all of those places to be sure, but my tests show it is enough to add it to
> just this one place,
> 
> here is a patch:
> 
> diff -ru gettext-runtime/intl/configure gettext-runtime/intl/configure
> --- gettext-runtime/intl/configure 2023-06-17 19:53:51.000000000 +0800
> +++ gettext-runtime/intl/configure 2024-04-29 10:52:53.723390500 +0800
> @@ -29700,6 +29700,7 @@
>    int count = -1;
>  #ifdef _MSC_VER
>    _set_invalid_parameter_handler (invalid_parameter_handler);
> +  _CrtSetReportMode(_CRT_ASSERT, 0);
>  #endif
>    /* Copy the format string.  Some systems (glibc with _FORTIFY_SOURCE=2)
>       support %n in format strings in read-only memory but not in writable
> 
> 
> These files appear to be generated for the benefit of the tarball, and
> aren't found in the git at all, so I wasn't sure how to patch anywhere else.
> Perhaps this belongs in m4 or coreutils or autoconf ?  I'm not sure.

Thanks for the report and suggestion. The code comes from Gnulib; therefore
I'm fixing it in Gnulib.

The use of _CrtSetReportMode requires a #include <crtdbg.h>, says the Microsoft
documentation. Therefore I'm adding that too. (Older mingw versions don't have
<crtdbg.h>, but since we need the workaround only for MSVC, not for mingw,
this is not a problem.)


2024-04-30  Bruno Haible  <bruno@clisp.org>

	*printf: Avoid a dialog during 'configure' with MSVC in debug mode.
	Suggested by Paul Harris <harris.pc@gmail.com> in
	<https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-gettext/2024-04/msg00005.html>.
	* m4/printf.m4 (gl_PRINTF_DIRECTIVE_N): In the test program, include
	<crtdbg.h> and disable the MSVC reporting for assertion failures.

diff --git a/m4/printf.m4 b/m4/printf.m4
index 0cb14d6f00..220f37cb5e 100644
--- a/m4/printf.m4
+++ b/m4/printf.m4
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 # printf.m4
-# serial 91
+# serial 92
 dnl Copyright (C) 2003, 2007-2024 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
 dnl This file is free software; the Free Software Foundation
 dnl gives unlimited permission to copy and/or distribute it,
@@ -896,6 +896,7 @@ AC_DEFUN([gl_PRINTF_DIRECTIVE_N]
 #include <stdlib.h>
 #include <string.h>
 #ifdef _MSC_VER
+#include <crtdbg.h>
 #include <inttypes.h>
 /* See page about "Parameter Validation" on msdn.microsoft.com.
    <https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/cpp/c-runtime-library/parameter-validation>
@@ -922,6 +923,9 @@ AC_DEFUN([gl_PRINTF_DIRECTIVE_N]
   int count = -1;
 #ifdef _MSC_VER
   _set_invalid_parameter_handler (invalid_parameter_handler);
+  /* Also avoid an Abort/Retry/Ignore dialog in debug builds.
+     <https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/cpp/c-runtime-library/reference/crtsetreportmode>  */
+  _CrtSetReportMode (_CRT_ASSERT, 0);
 #endif
   signal (SIGABRT, abort_handler);
   /* Copy the format string.  Some systems (glibc with _FORTIFY_SOURCE=2)