MantisBT - CMake
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IDProjectCategoryView StatusDate SubmittedLast Update
0014062CMakeCMakepublic2013-04-04 17:362014-02-18 09:58
ReporterRobert McMillan 
Assigned ToBrad King 
PriorityhighSeveritymajorReproducibilityalways
StatusclosedResolutionfixed 
PlatformWindowsOSWindowsOS VersionAll
Product VersionCMake 2.8.10 
Target VersionCMake 2.8.12Fixed in VersionCMake 2.8.12 
Summary0014062: Setting Compiler and Linker PDB to the same path in Visual Studio is unsupported.
DescriptionI just got conformation from Calvin Clark, a Senior Consultant with Microsoft, that CMake's practice of setting the Compiler and Linker PDB to the same file is unsupported. It can caused corruption of the PDB during incremental linking, and it can cause very severe linker/build performance degradation for large projects. We have been experiencing a 4X increase in link times due to this issue, and when you multiply that by 100 projects in our app, times 100 developers on our project, it adds up to a very significant loss of productivity. We are considering making a local build of CMake to fix the issue, it is very serious.

The feature in 2.8.10 to override the PDB location is not sufficient, because this will change the location for both the compiler and linker PDB.

Also, users who are experiencing the issue have no idea why their build times are slow, and that the PDB location is the cause of the problem.

The correct fix would really be to NOT SET THE COMPILER PDB LOCATION AT ALL!

This will result in a vc100.pdb file being created automatically in the intermediate directory, as Microsoft intended. The compiler PDB is truly an intermediate file, and is not supposed to be a permanent artifact of the build, unlike the linker PDB. They are fundamentally different animals.

I can put you in touch with Microsoft if you want direct confirmation of my findings.
Steps To ReproduceGenerate any Visual Studio project using Cmake.

The Compiler and Linker PDB location is the same, this is unsupported and causes problems.
Additional Information
TagsNo tags attached.
Relationships
related to 0011899closed Brad King Put compiler's program database files into intermediate directory rather than output one for VS 2005 
related to 0010830closed Brad King Add option to specify output of Visual Studio .pdb files (Debug symbols) 
has duplicate 0014158closed  CMake generated project doesn't create PDB files in the right place. 
related to 0014577closed Brad King Need to map /Fd to ProgramDataBaseFileName in VS 7,8,9 
related to 0014600closed Brad King Document PDB behavior w.r.t. static libraries 
related to 0014763closed Brad King Add target properties to specify MS compiler PDB files 
Attached Files
Issue History
Date ModifiedUsernameFieldChange
2013-04-04 17:36Robert McMillanNew Issue
2013-04-05 07:58Brad KingRelationship addedrelated to 0011899
2013-04-05 07:58Brad KingRelationship addedrelated to 0010830
2013-04-05 08:06Brad KingNote Added: 0032760
2013-04-05 08:09Brad KingNote Added: 0032761
2013-04-05 09:02Robert McMillanNote Added: 0032762
2013-04-05 09:04Robert McMillanNote Edited: 0032762bug_revision_view_page.php?bugnote_id=32762#r1101
2013-04-05 11:59Brad KingNote Added: 0032766
2013-04-05 11:59Brad KingAssigned To => Brad King
2013-04-05 11:59Brad KingStatusnew => assigned
2013-04-05 13:16Robert McMillanNote Added: 0032767
2013-04-05 13:25Brad KingNote Added: 0032768
2013-04-09 17:34Robert McMillanNote Added: 0032793
2013-04-12 11:53Brad KingNote Added: 0032818
2013-04-12 11:53Brad KingStatusassigned => resolved
2013-04-12 11:53Brad KingResolutionopen => fixed
2013-05-20 08:51Brad KingFixed in Version => CMake 2.8.12
2013-05-20 08:51Brad KingTarget Version => CMake 2.8.12
2013-05-23 08:33Brad KingRelationship addedhas duplicate 0014158
2013-10-07 10:09Robert MaynardNote Added: 0034057
2013-10-07 10:09Robert MaynardStatusresolved => closed
2013-11-18 08:35Brad KingRelationship addedrelated to 0014577
2013-11-27 10:29Brad KingRelationship addedrelated to 0014600
2014-02-18 09:58Brad KingRelationship addedrelated to 0014763

Notes
(0032760)
Brad King   
2013-04-05 08:06   
It looks like the compiler pdb setting (ProgramDataBaseFileName) was first added way back when the VS 7 generator was first written:

 http://cmake.org/gitweb?p=cmake.git;a=commitdiff;h=f5e672fe [^]

Later the /Fd option was added to the CMAKE_<LANG>_COMPILE_OBJECT build rules for MSVC so that Makefile builds would use it too:

 http://cmake.org/gitweb?p=cmake.git;a=commitdiff;h=e6ef33f5 [^]

There is related discussion in issue 0011899 and I suspect both can be solved with the same fix.
(0032761)
Brad King   
2013-04-05 08:09   
There is confusion about the need for the /Fd option when compiling for STATIC libraries. While the linker may generate the .pdb file for a SHARED library (.dll), what does the librarian do for STATIC libraries (.lib)? Why is the /Fd option available if it should never be used?
(0032762)
Robert McMillan   
2013-04-05 09:02   
(edited on: 2013-04-05 09:04)
The Microsoft Wizard output should probably be a guideline. Static lib output is similar to shared lib output - i.e. /Fd is set to $(IntDir)vc$(PlatformToolsetVersion).pdb, /PDB is set to $(TargetDir)$(TargetName).pdb. Maybe my statement about 'not setting this option' was too strong, at a minimum the compiler .pdb should always be placed in the IntDir. If you do clear the /Fd setting completely, you will still get a vc100.pdb, but it will be placed in the project directory, so it's probably preferable to set the option but use the intermediate directory. To avoid confusion with the Target PDB, it's probably a good idea to follow Microsoft's naming convention, or use a different name than the Target PDB.
(0032766)
Brad King   
2013-04-05 11:59   
Okay, please try out this patch:

 http://cmake.org/gitweb?p=cmake.git;a=commitdiff;h=42ba1b08 [^]
(0032767)
Robert McMillan   
2013-04-05 13:16   
Ok, we have never built CMake before, we have a group at one of our sites that was going to try to figure it out and make their own fix for this issue, I need to check with them and see if they can try building this patch.

Thank you very much for the quick turnaround though, we really appreciate it!
(0032768)
Brad King   
2013-04-05 13:25   
Re 0014062:0032767: The fix should be available in the next nightly build to appear here:

 http://www.cmake.org/files/dev/?C=M;O=D [^]
(0032793)
Robert McMillan   
2013-04-09 17:34   
We pulled down the latest build and verified that this change results in the desired behavior, at least for Visual Studio 2010. The behavior is now the same as you get with the Visual Studio wizards, which is great. I really appreciate you taking the time to work on this issue, we will probably move to this version as we need to start thinking about moving to VS2012 anyway. If we do run into any issues with the new version, I will let you know. Thanks again!
(0032818)
Brad King   
2013-04-12 11:53   
Okay, I've gotten this and related fixes through our nightly testing cleanly. Here are the commits:

 VS: Separate compiler and linker PDB files (0011899, 0014062)
 http://cmake.org/gitweb?p=cmake.git;a=commitdiff;h=42ba1b08 [^]

 MSVC: Invoke 'link' directly for executables
 http://cmake.org/gitweb?p=cmake.git;a=commitdiff;h=fb9f73de [^]

 Ninja: Fix OBJECT_DIR placeholder path conversion
 http://cmake.org/gitweb?p=cmake.git;a=commitdiff;h=87c0d16a [^]
(0034057)
Robert Maynard   
2013-10-07 10:09   
Closing resolved issues that have not been updated in more than 4 months.