Issues with getting fastecdsa working in Windows

[ymgve]

There are some issues getting the module working in Windows - I found fixes, but they aren't very elegant:

• The Microsoft Visual C++ Compiler for Python 2.7 package doesn't seem to support C99 style variables, so I had to move all variable declarations to the start of functions.
• Don't bother trying to get GMP working on Windows, just use MPIR instead.
• If the MPIR library is compiled against a different runtime than fastecdsa (I used VS2015 for compiling MPIR and the previously mentioned VCC for Python 2.7 on fastecdsa), it will mysteriously crash after free()ing the buffer returned from mpz_get_str() - seems to be because memory allocators in different VC runtimes are sometimes incompatible. Changing the free to __gmp_default_free fixed this issue.

[AntonKueltz]

Yes, I suppose it's not explicitly stated in the README (which it probably should be), but the package isn't written with Windows in mind as one of the target OSes. This is precisely because compiling the C extensions on Windows is a major pain, the main issues which you've touched on already (installing GMP on Windows is a nightmare and the C compiler for Python isn't anything to write home about either).

Does MPIR expose the same functions / interface that GMP does or did you have to rewrite all the GMP library calls to MPIR calls?

[ymgve]

MPIR was basically a drop-in replacement - just have to rename mpir.h to gmp.h and mpir.lib to gmp.lib in when you place them in your include/lib directories.

[AntonKueltz]

Understood. I can try to see if I can make the configuration / setup process play nice with Windows, but I can't promise any results. Ideally it would be nice to be able to just pip install fastecdsa on Windows without any further hassle but that seems a bit unrealistic given my experience writing packages for Windows. I'll keep the issue open until a satisfactory resolution is arrived at.

[shikuk]

I try this steps:

1. Download from http://www.mpir.org/downloads.html MPIR-2.6.0.source.bz2, unpack to MPIR-2.6.0

2. Download from http://yasm.tortall.net/Download.html Win32 .exe (for general use on 32-bit Windows) (Not shure it needed)
   rename it to yasm.exe and put to
   C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Local\Programs\Common\Microsoft\Visual C++ for Python\9.0\VC\bin

3. Run cmd.exe, cd to unpacked MPIR-2.6.0 dir

4. run "C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Local\Programs\Common\Microsoft\Visual C++ for Python\9.0\vcvarsall.bat"
   so set Visual C++ for Python\9.0 compiler

5. cd to unpacked MPIR-2.6.0\win dir

6. edit configure.bat
   add

   set ABI=32
   set VCTARGET=x86

   between :exitlp
   and :: ARCH is native ABI
   save and run configure.bat

7. run make.bat
   no errors/warnings

8. /optional/ run make.bat check -> OK
   (make tune and make speed fails)

9. run gen_mpir_h.bat

10. copy MPIR-2.6.0\gmp.h to C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Local\Programs\Common\Microsoft\Visual C++ for Python\9.0\VC\include\gmp.h
    copy(whith rename) MPIR-2.6.0\win\mpir.lib C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Local\Programs\Common\Microsoft\Visual C++ for Python\9.0\VC\lib\gmp.lib

Well, first part done

as ymgve say,

I had to move all variable declarations to the start of functions

after this process
python setup.py build -> builded OK, but have linker "warning LNK4098: defaultlib 'LIBCMT' conflicts with use of other libs; use /NODEFAULTLIB:library"
python setup.py install
check at my project. It works!

[PaulGregor]

Here is pre compiled versions for Windows https://github.com/ChillMagic/MPIR-Binary

[AntonKueltz]

Able to build and install but something is still going wrong -

$ python setup.py build
$ python setup.py install
$ python setup.py test
running test
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "C:\Python27\lib\runpy.py", line 174, in _run_module_as_main
    "__main__", fname, loader, pkg_name)
  File "C:\Python27\lib\runpy.py", line 72, in _run_code
    exec code in run_globals
  File "C:\Users\A\Desktop\fastecdsa\fastecdsa\test.py", line 13, in <module>
    from .ecdsa import sign, verify
  File "fastecdsa\ecdsa.py", line 4, in <module>
    from fastecdsa import _ecdsa
ImportError: DLL load failed: The specified module could not be found.

Continuing to investigate... (as you can probably tell I don't do much development on the Windows platform so if I'm missing something obvious please let me know)

[shikuk]

Probably, "setup.py install" doesn't pack _ecdsa.pyd to egg file or egg file not yet in Lib\site-packages\
I will try to reproduce steps at fresh windows install to refresh my memory

[AntonKueltz]

I'm getting the .pyd files in the install, and indeed ipython recognizes that e.g. curvemath is an importable module, but when I try to import it the DLL load fails. I presume this is because it correctly sees that there is no underlying DLL for curvemath or _ecdsa. I have .exp and .lib and .obj files but I seem to be missing the bin/ folder that would hold the DLLs.

[shikuk]

As I checkout my working machine, _ecdsa.dll not used at all. I have this file only at build dir and after removing this folder, scripts works as usual.
If I remove ecdsa.pyd from Lib\site-packages\fastecdsa-1.6.4-py2.7-win32.egg (7zip helps) scripts fails with
File "d:\Python27\lib\site-packages\pkg_resources_init.py", line 1883, in
_extract_resource
timestamp, size = self._get_date_and_size(self.zipinfo[zip_path])
KeyError: 'fastecdsa\_ecdsa.pyd'
So, it looks like .dll have to be converted to .pyd and .pyd packed to egg

[PaulGregor]

I had the same error. To fix it, just put mpir.dll from MPIR-Binary-master\dll\x64\Release in to the directory of package, C:\Python37\Lib\site-packages\fastecdsa

[shikuk]

Here is somthing interesting - I have not directory of package, .\Lib\site-packages\fastecdsa just egg file in .\Lib\site-packages
Different python build/install systems? How to check it?
Also, no mpir.dll at my machine at all. Have mpir.lib at MPIR build dir copyed to VC\lib\gmp.lib
Attached file is build log from scratch. But, from working machine, were exist working fastecdsa pack
build.log

[PaulGregor]

Here is somthing interesting - I have not directory of package, .\Lib\site-packages\fastecdsa just egg file in .\Lib\site-packages
Different python build/install systems? How to check it?
Also, no mpir.dll at my machine at all. Have mpir.lib at MPIR build dir copyed to VC\lib\gmp.lib
Attached file is build log from scratch. But, from working machine, were exist working fastecdsa pack
build.log

You can just copy fastecdsa from egg directory to site-packages. Also I dont know about python 2.7. I've tested on 3+ only. My steps were:
copy gmp.h to C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0\VC\include
copy mpir.lib to package directory, it could be C:\Python37\Lib\site-packages\fastecdsa or C:\Python37\Lib\site-packages\fastecdsa-1.6.5-py3.7-win-amd64.egg\fastecdsa

[namuyan]

Hello, I encountered same problem, but solved.
I generate gmp.h, gmp.lib, gmp.def and gmp.dll from GMP.
I check what's name of DLL lack by DependencyWalker.
So I copy libgmp-10.dll from gmp.dll.

[naphy0]

You need to have an microsoft visual 2019 and Microsoft c++ in visual studio
to run the fastedcsa. You cannot install it without Microsoft c++. after that follow this instruction.

1. Download https://github.com/ChillMagic/MPIR-Binary
2. Download https://github.com/AntonKueltz/fastecdsa
3. rename mpir.h to gmp.h from MPIR-Binary-master\include and rename mpir.lib to gmp.lib from MPIR-Binary-master\lib\MD\x64\Release
4. Copy and paste gmp.lib C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\BuildTools\VC\Tools\MSVC\14.21.27702\lib\x64
5. Copy and paste gmp.h C:\Phyton3\include
6. I don't remember if I do this ( just put mpir.dll from MPIR-Binary-master\dll\x64\Release in to the directory of package, C:\Python37\Lib\site-packages\fastecdsa ) Do it last if you have error. if not working try to rename it again to gmp.dll But I guess it's not needed to install fastedcsa.
7. Open CMD and cd to where you put your fastecdsa E:\Download\fastecdsa-master
8. when your cmd is in the directory type: python setup.py build
9. after installation type again: python setup.py install
10. Good Luck treasure hunting.