Compiling libffi with VS2012 fails with fatal error LNK1281: Unable to generate SAFESEH image

Question

Compiling libffi with VS11 gives the following linker error

libffi\libffi-3.0.9\ms\Win32\Debug\ffi.dll : fatal error LNK1281: Unable to generate SAFESEH image.

The same project was compiling fine with VS10, but after an auto upgrade with VS2012, it started giving linker error

The Explanation in MSDN is too cryptic and least helpful

I might rebuild with /SAFESEH:NO , but I am unsure of the implication.

Please advise what might go wrong.

Answer 1

The main implication of not having SAFESEH is that your application won't be accepted for the Windows 8 store, or for Windows 8 desktop certification. If that's not an issue for you then feel free to use /SAFESEH:NO.

The documentation says:

The most common reason for the linker not to be able to produce an image is because one or more of the input files (modules) to the linker was not compatible with the safe exception handlers feature. A common reason for a module to not be compatible with safe exception handlers is because it was created with a compiler from a previous version of Visual C++.

Is it possible that the project upgrade to VS2012 changed the setting to /SAFESEH:YES. Perhaps you've never been building with SAFESEH.