cross build --target x86_64-pc-windows-msvc => error: linker `link.exe` not found

[theronic]

Compiling for Windows on OSX seems to require non-zero configuration :).

[PaulRBerg]

Indeed. I am getting the following error log on macOS@10.15.7 and cross@0.2.1:

error[E0463]: can't find crate for `core`
  |
  = note: the `x86_64-pc-windows-msvc` target may not be installed

error: aborting due to previous error

For more information about this error, try `rustc --explain E0463`.
error: could not compile `lazy_static`

To learn more, run the command again with --verbose.
warning: build failed, waiting for other jobs to finish...
error[E0463]: can't find crate for `core`
  |
  = note: the `x86_64-pc-windows-msvc` target may not be installed

error: aborting due to previous error

For more information about this error, try `rustc --explain E0463`.
error[E0463]: can't find crate for `std`
  |
  = note: the `x86_64-pc-windows-msvc` target may not be installed

error: aborting due to previous error

For more information about this error, try `rustc --explain E0463`.
error[E0463]: can't find crate for `std`
  |
  = note: the `x86_64-pc-windows-msvc` target may not be installed

error: aborting due to previous error

For more information about this error, try `rustc --explain E0463`.
error[E0463]: can't find crate for `std`
  |
  = note: the `x86_64-pc-windows-msvc` target may not be installed

error: aborting due to previous error

For more information about this error, try `rustc --explain E0463`.
error[E0463]: can't find crate for `core`
  |
  = note: the `x86_64-pc-windows-msvc` target may not be installed

error: aborting due to previous error

For more information about this error, try `rustc --explain E0463`.
error[E0463]: can't find crate for `core`
  |
  = note: the `x86_64-pc-windows-msvc` target may not be installed

error: aborting due to previous error

For more information about this error, try `rustc --explain E0463`.
error[E0463]: can't find crate for `std`
  |
  = note: the `x86_64-pc-windows-msvc` target may not be installed

error: aborting due to previous error

For more information about this error, try `rustc --explain E0463`.
error: build failed

[schell]

I'm getting this same error trying to cross build --target x86_64-apple-darwin from aarch64-apple-darwin.

[Alexhuszagh]

We don't support images for any of those targets, since we cannot distribute images containing MSVC or the macOS SDK. We now warn you if cross falls back to cargo on the host, and we also have Dockerfiles so you can build images to cross-compile for MSVC and Darwin targets.

[andrewbaxter]

FWIW the warning is the first line of the output and almost immediately gets flushed from the output on a new build by Compiling ... lines.

Just some thoughts:

1. If someone's cross compiling, is it ever desirable to fall back to the local cargo? Maybe (erring on the side of safety) it should fail immediately instead of proceed, with a flag to try with the local cargo if desired?
2. Failing that, logging it at the end might make it more visible.
3. A note up front about windows builds would be great - I came to the readme and saw “Zero setup” cross compilation and “cross testing” of Rust crates and thought "great!", read the getting started steps, and got a build failure. Adding a warning/note about platforms that aren't zero-config prominently in the readme might reduce the surprise of failures and allow people to avoid searching (closed) issues to find the solution.
4. I also checked the wiki, but there's nothing there about windows/msvc AFAICT. Would having a section there be a better place for this information?

[Emilgardis]

Just some thoughts:

1. If someone's cross compiling, is it ever desirable to fall back to the local cargo? Maybe (erring on the side of safety) it should fail immediately instead of proceed, with a flag to try with the local cargo if desired?

I agree, see #1591

2. Failing that, logging it at the end might make it more visible.

yes, this would be easy to implement also.

3. A note up front about windows builds would be great - I came to the readme and saw `“Zero setup” cross compilation and “cross testing” of Rust crates` and thought "great!", read the getting started steps, and got a build failure.  Adding a warning/note about platforms that aren't zero-config prominently in the readme might reduce the surprise of failures and allow people to avoid searching (closed) issues to find the solution.
4. I also checked the wiki, but there's nothing there about windows/msvc AFAICT.  Would having a section there be a better place for this information?

The problem here is that the slightly optimistic claim is only for our supported targets, which we list on the README. Maybe we could add a side-note about unsupported targets but seems unneccessary. I'd be open for further discussion and/or PRs improving but this 3 year old issue is probably not the place for it!

[andrewbaxter]

Oh, #1591 , nice!

Sorry, I searched a bit and thought this was where discussion had ended so I thought this would be the most relevant place. Should I create new issues/discussions for any of them? FWIW I ran into other Windows build issues (not cross related) so I'm kind of exploring other options now, but I keep coming back to Windows builds about once a year so I wanted to open discussion.

[Emilgardis]

Please do 👍🏼