xref: /openssl/NOTES-WINDOWS.md (revision bf74cf35)
1Notes for Windows platforms
2===========================
3
4 - [Native builds using Visual C++](#native-builds-using-visual-c)
5 - [Native builds using Embarcadero C++Builder](
6   #native-builds-using-embarcadero-cbuilder)
7 - [Native builds using MinGW](#native-builds-using-mingw)
8 - [Linking native applications](#linking-native-applications)
9 - [Hosted builds using Cygwin](#hosted-builds-using-cygwin)
10
11There are various options to build and run OpenSSL on the Windows platforms.
12
13"Native" OpenSSL uses the Windows APIs directly at run time.
14To build a native OpenSSL you can either use:
15
16    Microsoft Visual C++ (MSVC) C compiler on the command line
17or
18    Embarcadero C++Builder
19or
20    MinGW cross compiler
21    run on the GNU-like development environment MSYS2
22    or run on Linux or Cygwin
23
24"Hosted" OpenSSL relies on an external POSIX compatibility layer
25for building (using GNU/Unix shell, compiler, and tools) and at run time.
26For this option, you can use Cygwin.
27
28Native builds using Visual C++
29==============================
30
31The native builds using Visual C++ have a `VC-*` prefix.
32
33Requirement details
34-------------------
35
36In addition to the requirements and instructions listed in `INSTALL.md`,
37these are required as well:
38
39### Perl
40
41We recommend Strawberry Perl, available from <http://strawberryperl.com/>
42Please read NOTES.PERL for more information, including the use of CPAN.
43An alternative is ActiveState Perl, <https://www.activestate.com/ActivePerl>
44for which you may need to explicitly build the Perl module Win32/Console.pm
45via <https://platform.activestate.com/ActiveState> and then download it.
46
47### Microsoft Visual C compiler.
48
49Since these are proprietary and ever-changing we cannot test them all.
50Older versions may not work. Use a recent version wherever possible.
51
52### Netwide Assembler (NASM)
53
54NASM is the only supported assembler. It is available from <https://www.nasm.us>.
55
56Quick start
57-----------
58
59 1. Install Perl
60
61 2. Install NASM
62
63 3. Make sure both Perl and NASM are on your %PATH%
64
65 4. Use Visual Studio Developer Command Prompt with administrative privileges,
66    choosing one of its variants depending on the intended architecture.
67    Or run `cmd` and execute `vcvarsall.bat` with one of the options `x86`,
68    `x86_amd64`, `x86_arm`, `x86_arm64`, `amd64`, `amd64_x86`, `amd64_arm`,
69    or `amd64_arm64`.
70    This sets up the environment variables needed for `nmake.exe`, `cl.exe`,
71    etc.
72    See also
73    <https://docs.microsoft.com/cpp/build/building-on-the-command-line>
74
75 5. From the root of the OpenSSL source directory enter
76    - `perl Configure VC-WIN32`     if you want 32-bit OpenSSL or
77    - `perl Configure VC-WIN64A`    if you want 64-bit OpenSSL or
78    - `perl Configure VC-WIN64-ARM` if you want Windows on Arm (win-arm64)
79       OpenSSL or
80    - `perl Configure VC-WIN64-CLANGASM-ARM` if you want Windows on Arm (win-arm64)
81       OpenSSL with assembly support using clang-cl as assembler or
82    - `perl Configure VC-CLANG-WIN64-CLANGASM-ARM` if you want Windows on Arm (win-arm64)
83       OpenSSL using clang-cl as both compiler and assembler or
84    - `perl Configure VC-WIN32-HYBRIDCRT` if you want 32-bit OpenSSL dependent
85       on the Universal CRT or
86    - `perl Configure VC-WIN64A-HYBRIDCRT` if you want 64-bit OpenSSL dependent
87       on the Universal CRT or
88    - `perl Configure`              to let Configure figure out the platform
89
90 6. `nmake`
91
92 7. `nmake test`
93
94 8. `nmake install`
95
96For the full installation instructions, or if anything goes wrong at any stage,
97check the INSTALL.md file.
98
99Installation directories
100------------------------
101
102On most Unix platforms installation directories are determined at build time via
103constant defines.  On Windows platforms however, installation directories are
104determined via registry keys, as it is common practice to build OpenSSL and
105install it to a variety of locations.
106
107The following keys:
108
109    `\\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\OpenSSL-<version>-<ctx>\OPENSSLDIR`
110    `\\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\OpenSSL-<version>-<ctx>\ENGINESDIR`
111    `\\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\OpenSSL-<version>-<ctx>\MODULESDIR`
112
113Can be administratively set, and openssl will take the paths found there as the
114values for OPENSSLDIR, ENGINESDIR and MODULESDIR respectively.
115
116To enable the reading of registry keys from windows builds, add
117`-DOPENSSL_WINCTX=<string>`to the Configure command line.  This define is used
118at build-time to construct library build specific registry key paths of the
119format:
120`\\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432node\OpenSSL-<version>-<ctx>`
121
122Where `<version>` is the major.minor version of the library being
123built, and `<ctx>` is the value specified by `-DOPENSSL_WINCTX`.  This allows
124for multiple openssl builds to be created and installed on a single system, in
125which each library can use its own set of registry keys.
126
127Note the installer available at <https://github.com/openssl/installer> will set
128these keys when the installer is run.
129
130A summary table of behavior on Windows platforms
131
132|`OSSL_WINCTX`|Registry key|OpenSSL Behavior                          |
133|-------------|------------|------------------------------------------|
134|Defined      | Defined    |OpenSSL Reads Paths from Registry         |
135|Defined      | Undefined  |OpenSSL returns errors on module/conf load|
136|Undefined    | N/A        |OpenSSL uses build time defaults          |
137
138Special notes for Universal Windows Platform builds, aka `VC-*-UWP`
139-------------------------------------------------------------------
140
141 - UWP targets only support building the static and dynamic libraries.
142
143 - You should define the platform type to `uwp` and the target arch via
144   `vcvarsall.bat` before you compile. For example, if you want to build
145   `arm64` builds, you should run `vcvarsall.bat x86_arm64 uwp`.
146
147Native builds using Embarcadero C++Builder
148=========================================
149
150This toolchain (a descendant of Turbo/Borland C++) is an alternative to MSVC.
151OpenSSL currently includes an experimental 32-bit configuration targeting the
152Clang-based compiler (`bcc32c.exe`) in v10.3.3 Community Edition.
153<https://www.embarcadero.com/products/cbuilder/starter>
154
155 1. Install Perl.
156
157 2. Open the RAD Studio Command Prompt.
158
159 3. Go to the root of the OpenSSL source directory and run:
160    `perl Configure BC-32 --prefix=%CD%`
161
162 4. `make -N`
163
164 5. `make -N test`
165
166 6. Build your program against this OpenSSL:
167    * Set your include search path to the "include" subdirectory of OpenSSL.
168    * Set your library search path to the OpenSSL source directory.
169
170Note that this is very experimental. Support for 64-bit and other Configure
171options is still pending.
172
173Native builds using MinGW
174=========================
175
176MinGW offers an alternative way to build native OpenSSL, by cross compilation.
177
178 * Usually the build is done on Windows in a GNU-like environment called MSYS2.
179
180   MSYS2 provides GNU tools, a Unix-like command prompt,
181   and a UNIX compatibility layer for applications.
182   However, in this context it is only used for building OpenSSL.
183   The resulting OpenSSL does not rely on MSYS2 to run and is fully native.
184
185   Requirement details
186
187   - MSYS2 shell, from <https://www.msys2.org/>
188
189   - Perl, at least version 5.10.0, which usually comes pre-installed with MSYS2
190
191   - make, installed using `pacman -S make` into the MSYS2 environment
192
193   - MinGW[64] compiler: `mingw-w64-i686-gcc` and/or `mingw-w64-x86_64-gcc`.
194     These compilers must be on your MSYS2 $PATH.
195     A common error is to not have these on your $PATH.
196     The MSYS2 version of gcc will not work correctly here.
197
198   In the MSYS2 shell do the configuration depending on the target architecture:
199
200       ./Configure mingw ...
201
202   or
203
204       ./Configure mingw64 ...
205
206   or
207
208       ./Configure ...
209
210   for the default architecture.
211
212   Apart from that, follow the Unix / Linux instructions in `INSTALL.md`.
213
214 * It is also possible to build mingw[64] on Linux or Cygwin.
215
216   In this case configure with the corresponding `--cross-compile-prefix=`
217   option. For example
218
219       ./Configure mingw --cross-compile-prefix=i686-w64-mingw32- ...
220
221   or
222
223       ./Configure mingw64 --cross-compile-prefix=x86_64-w64-mingw32- ...
224
225   This requires that you've installed the necessary add-on packages for
226   mingw[64] cross compilation.
227
228Linking native applications
229===========================
230
231This section applies to all native builds.
232
233If you link with static OpenSSL libraries, then you're expected to
234additionally link your application with `WS2_32.LIB`, `GDI32.LIB`,
235`ADVAPI32.LIB`, `CRYPT32.LIB` and `USER32.LIB`. Those developing
236non-interactive service applications might feel concerned about
237linking with `GDI32.LIB` and `USER32.LIB`, as they are justly associated
238with interactive desktop, which is not available to service
239processes. The toolkit is designed to detect in which context it's
240currently executed, GUI, console app or service, and act accordingly,
241namely whether to actually make GUI calls. Additionally, those
242who wish to `/DELAYLOAD:GDI32.DLL` and `/DELAYLOAD:USER32.DLL` and
243actually keep them off service process should consider implementing
244and exporting from .exe image in question own `_OPENSSL_isservice` not
245relying on `USER32.DLL`. E.g., on Windows Vista and later you could:
246
247       __declspec(dllexport) __cdecl BOOL _OPENSSL_isservice(void)
248       {
249           DWORD sess;
250
251           if (ProcessIdToSessionId(GetCurrentProcessId(), &sess))
252               return sess == 0;
253           return FALSE;
254       }
255
256If you link with OpenSSL .DLLs, then you're expected to include into
257your application code a small "shim" snippet, which provides
258the glue between the OpenSSL BIO layer and your compiler run-time.
259See also the OPENSSL_Applink manual page.
260
261Hosted builds using Cygwin
262==========================
263
264Cygwin implements a POSIX/Unix runtime system (`cygwin1.dll`) on top of the
265Windows subsystem and provides a Bash shell and GNU tools environment.
266Consequently, a build of OpenSSL with Cygwin is virtually identical to the
267Unix procedure.
268
269To build OpenSSL using Cygwin, you need to:
270
271 * Install Cygwin, see <https://cygwin.com/>
272
273 * Install Cygwin Perl, at least version 5.10.0
274   and ensure it is in the $PATH
275
276 * Run the Cygwin Bash shell
277
278Apart from that, follow the Unix / Linux instructions in INSTALL.md.
279
280NOTE: `make test` and normal file operations may fail in directories
281mounted as text (i.e. `mount -t c:\somewhere /home`) due to Cygwin
282stripping of carriage returns. To avoid this, ensure that a binary
283mount is used, e.g. `mount -b c:\somewhere /home`.
284