clang "hello, world!" link errors in windows

Question

I just downloaded the CLang sources, made a Visual C++ 10 IDE workspace by using CMake, and built everything from Visual C++ 10.0 (express).

Now I get a bunch of linker errors on hello world:

d:\dev\test> type con >foo.cpp
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
int main() { cout << "Hello, cling-clong world!" << endl; }
^Z

d:\dev\test> clang++ foo.cpp
foo-839435.o : error LNK2019: unresolved external symbol __ZSt4cout referenced in function _main
foo-839435.o : error LNK2019: unresolved external symbol __ZdlPv referenced in function __ZNSt14error_categoryD0Ev
foo-839435.o : error LNK2019: unresolved external symbol __ZSt18uncaught_exceptionv referenced in function __ZNSo6sentry
D2Ev
foo-839435.o : error LNK2019: unresolved external symbol ___cxa_rethrow referenced in function __ZNSt8ios_base5clearEib
foo-839435.o : error LNK2019: unresolved external symbol ___cxa_allocate_exception referenced in function __ZNSt8ios_base5clearEib
foo-839435.o : error LNK2019: unresolved external symbol ___cxa_throw referenced in function __ZNSt8ios_base5clearEib
foo-839435.o : error LNK2019: unresolved external symbol __ZSt17iostream_categoryv referenced in function __ZSt15make_er

So what can I do about it?

Answer 1

If you want to experiment with Clang on Windows, I suggest using a MinGW built version, like the one I provide here (or build it yourself using your favourite MinGW toolchain):

• 32-bit

• 64-bit

You will need both the gcc and clang packages (those without linux/mac/cygwin suffixes) and extract them to the same directory. Clang uses gcc to link, and can link to GCC's libstdc++, pretty much giving you access to the C++ standard library. Exceptions work for the 32-bit version. I haven't had any luck with debug info though.

Work is being done to bring better MS support to Clang, but it's a slowly progressing task.

Answer 2

I think there is a misunderstanding here.

Clang is (slowly) being taught how to parse MFC headers. As far as I know, François Pichet is about alone on this project but there are only a few errors in the whole headers lot (!), and obviously the standard library shipped with VC++ parsing has been completed a long time ago.

However, this is about AST generation, not Code Generation. Clang is currently unable to properly generate code to interact with VC++ libraries. Not only is the name mangling incomplete, but the ABI is still being shaped (there have been numerous patches in the last 2 months to get the right padding/alignment) and there is a long standing issue with exceptions.

If you wish to use Clang on Windows, you should use MinGW or MinGW64, see ruben's answer.