tao_idl treats -g path as a folder

[alexchandel]

Version

ACE 7.0.11 (with CMake additions)

Host machine and operating system

Win11

Compiler name and version (including patch level)

VS2019 / MSVC

The $ACE_ROOT/ace/config.h file

#include "ace/config-windows.h"

The $ACE_ROOT/include/makeinclude/platform_macros.GNU file

None. Building with CMake / MSBuild.

Contents of $ACE_ROOT/bin/MakeProjectCreator/config/default.features

Unchanged.

AREA/CLASS/EXAMPLE AFFECTED:

Invoking tao_idl to process IDL files.

The problem effects:

ACE/TAO and my application's IDL files.

Synopsis

When tao_idl.exe and ace_gperf.exe are successfully built out-of-source (which is required for multi-target/config support), and tao_idl is invoked with -g path/to/gperf, tao_idl merely reports that GPERF could not be executed and falls back to dynamic hashing (even if I've ordered it not to fall back using -H perfect_hash.

Description

Both `tao_idl.exe -h` and `ace_gperf.exe -h` successfully execute when invoked from the IDL file's directory. There are no DLL issues.

C:\Users\Dev\Git\test\Test_Interface>C:/Users/Dev/Git/test/build/opt/ACE_wrappers/TAO/src/Debug/ace_gperf.exe -h
Usage: C:/Users/Dev/Git/test/build/opt/ACE_wrappers/TAO/src/Debug/ace_gperf.exe [-abBcCdDef[num]gGhH<hashname>i<init>IjJk<keys>K<keyname>lL<language>mMnN<function name>oOprs<size>S<switches>tTvVZ<class name>].
(type C:/Users/Dev/Git/test/build/opt/ACE_wrappers/TAO/src/Debug/ace_gperf.exe -h for help)
-a      Generate ANSI standard C output code, i.e., function prototypes.
-b      Generate code for Linear Search.
-B      Generate code for Binary Search.
-c      Generate comparison code using strncmp rather than strcmp.
-C      Make the contents of generated lookup tables constant, i.e., readonly.
-d      Enables the debugging option (produces verbose output to the standard
        error).
-D      Handle keywords that hash to duplicate values.  This is useful
        for certain highly redundant keyword sets.
-e      Allow user to provide a string containing delimiters used to separate
        keywords from their attributes.  Default is ",\n"
-E      Define constant values using an enum local to the lookup function
        rather than with defines
-f      Generate the gen-perf.hash function ``fast.''  This decreases GPERF's
        running time at the cost of minimizing generated table-size.
        The numeric argument represents the number of times to iterate when
        resolving a collision.  `0' means ``iterate by the number of keywords.''
-F      Provided expression will be used to assign default values in keyword
        table, i.e., the fill value.  Default is "".
-g      Make generated routines use ``inline'' to remove function overhead.
-G      Generate the static table of keywords as a static global variable,
        rather than hiding it inside of the lookup function (which is the
        default behavior).
-h      Prints this message.
-H      Allow user to specify name of generated hash function. Default
        is `hash'.
-i      Provide an initial value for the associate values array.  Default is 0.
-I      Generate comparison code using case insensitive string comparison, e.g.,
        strncasecmp or strcasecmp.
        Setting this value larger helps inflate the size of the final table.
-j      Affects the ``jump value,'' i.e., how far to advance the associated
        character value upon collisions.  Must be an odd number, default is 5.
-J      Skips '#include "ace/OS_NS_string.h"' part in the output.
-k      Allows selection of the key positions used in the hash function.
        The allowable choices range between 1-126, inclusive.  The positions
        are separated by commas, ranges may be used, and key positions may
        occur in any order.  Also, the meta-character '*' causes the generated
        hash function to consider ALL key positions, and $ indicates the
        ``final character'' of a key, e.g., $,1,2,4,6-10.
-K      Allow use to select name of the keyword component in the keyword
        structure.
-l      Compare key lengths before trying a string comparison.  This helps
        cut down on the number of string comparisons made during the lookup.
-L      Generates code in the language specified by the option's argument.
        Languages handled are currently C++ and C.  The default is C.
-m      Avoids the warning about identical hash values. This is valid
        only if the -D option is enabled.
-M      Skips class definition in the output. This is valid only in C++ mode.
-n      Do not include the length of the keyword when computing the hash
        function.
-N      Allow user to specify name of generated lookup function.  Default
        name is `in_word_set.'
-o      Reorders input keys by frequency of occurrence of the key sets.
        This should decrease the search time dramatically.
-O      Optimize the generated lookup function by assuming that all input
        keywords are members of the keyset from the keyfile.
-p      Changes the return value of the generated function ``in_word_set''
        from its default boolean value (i.e., 0 or 1), to type ``pointer
        to wordlist array''  This is most useful when the -t option, allowing
        user-defined structs, is used.
-r      Utilizes randomness to initialize the associated values table.
-s      Affects the size of the generated hash table.  The numeric argument
        for this option indicates ``how many times larger or smaller'' the
        associated value range should be, in relationship to the number of
        keys, e.g. a value of 3 means ``allow the maximum associated value
        to be about 3 times larger than the number of input keys.''
        Conversely, a value of -3 means ``make the maximum associated
        value about 3 times smaller than the number of input keys. A
        larger table should decrease the time required for an unsuccessful
        search, at the expense of extra table space.  Default value is 1.
-S      Causes the generated C code to use a switch statement scheme, rather
        than an array lookup table.  This can lead to a reduction in both
        time and space requirements for some keyfiles.  The argument to
        this option determines how many switch statements are generated.
        A value of 1 generates 1 switch containing all the elements, a value
        of 2 generates 2 tables with 1/2 the elements in each table, etc.
        This is useful since many C compilers cannot correctly generate code
        for large switch statements.
-t      Allows the user to include a structured type declaration for
        generated code. Any text before %% is consider part of the type
        declaration.  Key words and additional fields may follow this, one
        group of fields per line.
-T      Prevents the transfer of the type declaration to the output file.
        Use this option if the type is already defined elsewhere.
-v      Prints out the current version number and exits with a value of 0
-V      Exits silently with a value of 0.
-Z      Allow user to specify name of generated C++ class.  Default
        name is `Perfect_Hash.'

However TAO_IDL prints no information on why it thinks GPERF could not be executed, and its documentation does not mention any diagnostic options.

C:\Users\Dev\Git\test\Test_Interface>"C:\Program Files\CMake\bin\cmake.exe" -E env TAO_ROOT=C:/Users/Dev/Git/test/opt/ACE_wrappers/TAO "PATH=C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\BuildTools\VC\Tools\MSVC\14.29.30133\bin\Hostx64\x64;C:\Windows\system32;C:\Windows;C:\Windows\System32\Wbem;C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\;C:\Windows\System32\OpenSSH\;C:\Program Files\Git\cmd;C:\Program Files\CMake\bin;C:\Program Files\dotnet\;C:\Perl64\bin;C:\Perl\bin;C:\Users\Dev\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps;C:\Users\Dev\AppData\Local\Programs\Microsoft VS Code\bin;C:\Users\Dev\.dotnet\tools" C:/Users/Dev/Git/test/build/opt/ACE_wrappers/TAO/TAO_IDL/Debug/tao_idl.exe -g C:\Users\Dev\Git\test\build\opt\ACE_wrappers\TAO\src\Debug\ace_gperf.exe -Sp -Sd -Sg -Wb,pre_include=ace/pre.h -Wb,post_include=ace/post.h --idl-version 4 -as --unknown-annotations ignore -IC:/Users/Dev/Git/test/opt/ACE_wrappers/TAO -IC:/Users/Dev/Git/test/Test_Interface C:/Users/Dev/Git/test/Test_Interface/vp_core.idl -H perfect_hash
TAO_IDL: warning, GPERF could not be executed
Perfect Hashing or Binary/Linear Search cannot be done without GPERF
Now, using Dynamic Hashing..
To use Perfect Hashing or Binary/Linear Search strategy
        -Build gperf at $ACE_ROOT/apps/gperf/src
        -Set the environment variable $ACE_ROOT appropriately or add $ACE_ROOT/bin to the PATH
        -Refer to Operation Lookup section in the TAO IDL User Guide ($TAO_ROOT/docs/compiler.html) for more details
tao-idli_zBLwo5.cpp

[mitza-oci]

My suggestion would be to run tao_idl in the debugger or use a tool like Sysinternals Process Monitor to watch what's happening when it tries to spawn gperf.

[alexchandel]

@mitza-oci Good call:
CreateFile C:\Users\Dev\Git\vplk\build\opt\ACE_wrappers\TAO\src\Debug\ace_gperf.exe\ace_gperf.exe PATH NOT FOUND.

It treated the -g path as a directory. The documentation says it's a file path:

-g path | To specify the path for the perfect hashing program (GPERF). Default is $ACE_ROOT/bin/ace_gperf.

It should probably check if -g path is the actual ace_gperf file path before appending a file name, especially if ace_gperf was compiled to a different executable name for some crazy reason.

[mitza-oci]

I'm not sure why it's adding a \ace_gperf.exe in be_global.cpp. I've used this before as -g full/path/to/bin/ace_gperf and I think that was on both platforms.

[alexchandel]

Weird. I'm using the ACE+TAO 7.0.11 release. Passing the directory -g C:\Users\Dev\Git\vplk\build\opt\ACE_wrappers\TAO\src\Debug fixed it.

[alexchandel]

Doesn't happen on macOS. Might be Windows-specific. FYI tao_idl reports no error or warning on Windows if the -g path doesn't exist, if it eventually finds GPERF in ACE_ROOT or another fallback location.