Rustdoc: `fatal error LNK1181: cannot open input file 'windows.lib'` on windows

[btielen]

While working with rustdoc I have a markdown file with the following contents:

Some docs

extern crate tokio;

#[tokio::main]
async fn main() { }

running rustdoc src/some_docs.md --test --edition 2018 -L target/debug/deps

produces the error

= note: LINK : fatal error LNK1181: cannot open input file 'windows.lib'

This happens when I am using the Tokio crate. On Ubuntu and MacOS everything works as expected, on Windows the tests fail in a linking error. Did I do something wrong?

Steps to reproduce

A minimal example:

• git clone https://github.com/btielen/rustdocwindows.git
• cd rustdocwindows
• cargo build
• rustdoc src/some_docs.md --test --edition 2018 -L target/debug/deps

Environment

• Windows 10
• stable-x86_64-pc-windows-msvc (default)
• rustdoc 1.62.0 (a8314ef 2022-06-27)
• rustc 1.62.0 (a8314ef 2022-06-27)

[jyn514]

This is fascinating, I've wanted to add links in markdown files for ages and never thought of using -L. Added a note to #77974.

I'm not sure why this would fail and I don't have a windows crate to test - can you rerun rustdoc with RUSTDOC_LOG=rustc_metadata=info so I can see why windows.lib is being loaded?

[jyn514]

also if you can find some way to show the linker command that's being invoked, that would be helpful - I think -v may do it?

[btielen]

@jyn514

Not sure how I get the rustc_metadata, but here is the complete error:

running 1 test
test src/some_docs.md - _::Error (line 14) ... FAILED

failures:

---- src/some_docs.md - _::Error (line 14) stdout ----
error: linking with `link.exe` failed: exit code: 1181
  |
  = note: "C:\\Program Files\\Microsoft Visual Studio\\2022\\Community\\VC\\Tools\\MSVC\\14.32.31326\\bin\\HostX64\\x64\\link.exe" 
"/NOLOGO" "C:\\Users\\BENNO~1.LAP\\AppData\\Local\\Temp\\rustckeLD8R\\symbols.o" 
"C:\\Users\\BENNO~1.LAP\\AppData\\Local\\Temp\\rustdoctesteriAMV\\rust_out.rust_out.921f0e3c-cgu.0.rcgu.o" 
"C:\\Users\\BENNO~1.LAP\\AppData\\Local\\Temp\\rustdoctesteriAMV\\rust_out.4jh3562snej2r6lm.rcgu.o" 
"/LIBPATH:target/debug/deps"
 "/LIBPATH:C:\\Users\\Benno.LAPTOP-SOMENAME\\.rustup\\toolchains\\stable-x86_64-pc-windows-msvc\\lib\\rustlib\\x86_64-pc-windows-msvc\\lib"
 "C:\\Users\\Benno.LAPTOP-SOMENAME\\source\\repos\\rustdocwindows\\target\\debug\\deps\\libtokio-475c740a026df197.rlib"
 "C:\\Users\\Benno.LAPTOP-SOMENAME\\source\\repos\\rustdocwindows\\target\\debug\\deps\\libnum_cpus-a41762073fbff5e0.rlib"
 "C:\\Users\\Benno.LAPTOP-SOMENAME\\source\\repos\\rustdocwindows\\target\\debug\\deps\\libsocket2-af2374001ac84e76.rlib"
 "C:\\Users\\Benno.LAPTOP-SOMENAME\\source\\repos\\rustdocwindows\\target\\debug\\deps\\libmemchr-2d2995cb1b206dfc.rlib"
 "C:\\Users\\Benno.LAPTOP-SOMENAME\\source\\repos\\rustdocwindows\\target\\debug\\deps\\libonce_cell-c715be824e7a7cac.rlib"
 "C:\\Users\\Benno.LAPTOP-SOMENAME\\source\\repos\\rustdocwindows\\target\\debug\\deps\\libbytes-886dc47712887a58.rlib"
 "C:\\Users\\Benno.LAPTOP-SOMENAME\\source\\repos\\rustdocwindows\\target\\debug\\deps\\libmio-d5c1842815a5b615.rlib"
 "C:\\Users\\Benno.LAPTOP-SOMENAME\\source\\repos\\rustdocwindows\\target\\debug\\deps\\liblog-80e233060601556d.rlib"
 "C:\\Users\\Benno.LAPTOP-SOMENAME\\source\\repos\\rustdocwindows\\target\\debug\\deps\\libpin_project_lite-e6398ca62c762a3b.rlib"
 "C:\\Users\\Benno.LAPTOP-SOMENAME\\source\\repos\\rustdocwindows\\target\\debug\\deps\\libwinapi-dd92b06c44063101.rlib"
 "C:\\Users\\Benno.LAPTOP-SOMENAME\\source\\repos\\rustdocwindows\\target\\debug\\deps\\libparking_lot-c9e40f63faa54b0e.rlib" 
"C:\\Users\\Benno.LAPTOP-SOMENAME\\source\\repos\\rustdocwindows\\target\\debug\\deps\\libparking_lot_core-38a0cc33576f5a1c.rlib"
 "C:\\Users\\Benno.LAPTOP-SOMENAME\\source\\repos\\rustdocwindows\\target\\debug\\deps\\libwindows_sys-0f71026276f686a8.rlib"
 "C:\\Users\\Benno.LAPTOP-SOMENAME\\source\\repos\\rustdocwindows\\target\\debug\\deps\\libcfg_if-5321058e3340cc33.rlib"
 "C:\\Users\\Benno.LAPTOP-SOMENAME\\source\\repos\\rustdocwindows\\target\\debug\\deps\\libsmallvec-0ad84c6b5cb41103.rlib" 
"C:\\Users\\Benno.LAPTOP-SOMENAME\\source\\repos\\rustdocwindows\\target\\debug\\deps\\liblock_api-b2ed4988a48945ef.rlib"
 "C:\\Users\\Benno.LAPTOP-SOMENAME\\source\\repos\\rustdocwindows\\target\\debug\\deps\\libscopeguard-fa0df20a1b9200d1.rlib" 
"C:\\Users\\Benno.LAPTOP-SOMENAME\\.rustup\\toolchains\\stable-x86_64-pc-windows-msvc\\lib\\rustlib\\x86_64-pc-windows-msvc\\lib\\libstd-1cd530251ef8500f.rlib"
 "C:\\Users\\Benno.LAPTOP-SOMENAME\\.rustup\\toolchains\\stable-x86_64-pc-windows-msvc\\lib\\rustlib\\x86_64-pc-windows-msvc\\lib\\libpanic_unwind-8749f5778873ad0b.rlib"
 "C:\\Users\\Benno.LAPTOP-SOMENAME\\.rustup\\toolchains\\stable-x86_64-pc-windows-msvc\\lib\\rustlib\\x86_64-pc-windows-msvc\\lib\\librustc_demangle-952a244e6b15fd3d.rlib"
 "C:\\Users\\Benno.LAPTOP-SOMENAME\\.rustup\\toolchains\\stable-x86_64-pc-windows-msvc\\lib\\rustlib\\x86_64-pc-windows-msvc\\lib\\libstd_detect-d590b5e29f586f0c.rlib"
 "C:\\Users\\Benno.LAPTOP-SOMENAME\\.rustup\\toolchains\\stable-x86_64-pc-windows-msvc\\lib\\rustlib\\x86_64-pc-windows-msvc\\lib\\libhashbrown-157899a56f45c8e0.rlib"
 "C:\\Users\\Benno.LAPTOP-SOMENAME\\.rustup\\toolchains\\stable-x86_64-pc-windows-msvc\\lib\\rustlib\\x86_64-pc-windows-msvc\\lib\\libminiz_oxide-7b45cc2f3e360e16.rlib"
 "C:\\Users\\Benno.LAPTOP-SOMENAME\\.rustup\\toolchains\\stable-x86_64-pc-windows-msvc\\lib\\rustlib\\x86_64-pc-windows-msvc\\lib\\libadler-20c8aee5cf2ca628.rlib"
 "C:\\Users\\Benno.LAPTOP-SOMENAME\\.rustup\\toolchains\\stable-x86_64-pc-windows-msvc\\lib\\rustlib\\x86_64-pc-windows-msvc\\lib\\librustc_std_workspace_alloc-601e4def09298a16.rlib" "C:\\Users\\Benno.LAPTOP-SOMENAME\\.rustup\\toolchains\\stable-x86_64-pc-windows-msvc\\lib\\rustlib\\x86_64-pc-windows-msvc\\lib\\libunwind-6bfe55bee864f405.rlib"
 "C:\\Users\\Benno.LAPTOP-SOMENAME\\.rustup\\toolchains\\stable-x86_64-pc-windows-msvc\\lib\\rustlib\\x86_64-pc-windows-msvc\\lib\\libcfg_if-2dcf1993985aac9f.rlib"
 "C:\\Users\\Benno.LAPTOP-SOMENAME\\.rustup\\toolchains\\stable-x86_64-pc-windows-msvc\\lib\\rustlib\\x86_64-pc-windows-msvc\\lib\\liblibc-df8a6f52e5519032.rlib" 
"C:\\Users\\Benno.LAPTOP-SOMENAME\\.rustup\\toolchains\\stable-x86_64-pc-windows-msvc\\lib\\rustlib\\x86_64-pc-windows-msvc\\lib\\liballoc-170085950b44d410.rlib"
 "C:\\Users\\Benno.LAPTOP-SOMENAME\\.rustup\\toolchains\\stable-x86_64-pc-windows-msvc\\lib\\rustlib\\x86_64-pc-windows-msvc\\lib\\librustc_std_workspace_core-4f71a076c7db927f.rlib"
 "C:\\Users\\Benno.LAPTOP-SOMENAME\\.rustup\\toolchains\\stable-x86_64-pc-windows-msvc\\lib\\rustlib\\x86_64-pc-windows-msvc\\lib\\libcore-d75ffa8a17ba1137.rlib" 
"C:\\Users\\Benno.LAPTOP-SOMENAME\\.rustup\\toolchains\\stable-x86_64-pc-windows-msvc\\lib\\rustlib\\x86_64-pc-windows-msvc\\lib\\libcompiler_builtins-6f60f6a23a58b163.rlib"
 "ntdll.lib" "advapi32.lib" "cfgmgr32.lib" "fwpuclnt.lib" "gdi32.lib" "kernel32.lib" "msimg32.lib" "ntdll.lib"
 "opengl32.lib" "user32.lib" "winspool.lib" "ws2_32.lib" "windows.lib" "advapi32.lib" "userenv.lib" "kernel32.lib" "ws2_32.lib" "bcrypt.lib" "msvcrt.lib"
 "/NXCOMPAT" "/LIBPATH:C:\\Users\\Benno.LAPTOP-SOMENAME\\.rustup\\toolchains\\stable-x86_64-pc-windows-msvc\\lib\\rustlib\\x86_64-pc-windows-msvc\\lib" 
"/OUT:C:\\Users\\BENNO~1.LAP\\AppData\\Local\\Temp\\rustdoctesteriAMV\\rust_out"
 "/OPT:REF,NOICF" "/DEBUG" 
"/NATVIS:C:\\Users\\Benno.LAPTOP-SOMENAME\\.rustup\\toolchains\\stable-x86_64-pc-windows-msvc\\lib\\rustlib\\etc\\intrinsic.natvis" 
"/NATVIS:C:\\Users\\Benno.LAPTOP-SOMENAME\\.rustup\\toolchains\\stable-x86_64-pc-windows-msvc\\lib\\rustlib\\etc\\liballoc.natvis"
 "/NATVIS:C:\\Users\\Benno.LAPTOP-SOMENAME\\.rustup\\toolchains\\stable-x86_64-pc-windows-msvc\\lib\\rustlib\\etc\\libcore.natvis"
 "/NATVIS:C:\\Users\\Benno.LAPTOP-SOMENAME\\.rustup\\toolchains\\stable-x86_64-pc-windows-msvc\\lib\\rustlib\\etc\\libstd.natvis"
  = note: LINK : fatal error LNK1181: cannot open input file 'windows.lib'

Edit: added some enters for readability.

[tyranron]

Any news on this? This is reproducible in GitHub Actions on windows-latest.

[ChrisDenton]

So I guess this is because rustdoc is being used directly instead of via cargo so the Windows crate's build script doesn't get to add the library's directory to the linker search path.

You'd need to add it manually. It'll be something like:
CARGO_HOME\registry\src\github.com-1ecc6299db9ec823\windows_x86_64_msvc-0.32.0\lib

Where CARGO_HOME is cargo's home directory and the github.com- part may differ. You can probably get the crate's manifest directory via cargo metadata and then append lib.

[tyranron]

@ChrisDenton

You can probably get the crate's manifest directory via cargo metadata and then append lib.

Thanks! That did the trick:

rustdoc src/some_docs.md --test --edition 2018 -L target/debug/deps \
  $(cargo metadata -q | jq -r '.packages[] | select(.name == "windows_x86_64_msvc") | .manifest_path' | sed -e 's/^/-L /' -e 's/Cargo.toml/lib/')

[jyn514]

Sounds like this isn't a bug.