LNK2038, iterator mismatch error, need to ignore

Question

I'm getting the linker error LNK2038 when trying to convert a VS2008 project to VS2010. This error occurs when two different projects are compiled in which one is using _DEBUG preprocessor macro, and the other is not. Basically I have a 3rd party library that only has release .libs, so when I try and use that library when building my project in debug mode I get this mismatch.

I understand why Microsoft is giving this error (STL iterator safety), however our project does not use Microsoft's STL, we use STLPort, so this error means nothing to our project. I just need a way to prevent it from doing this check.

Inside of the STL includes there is a file called yvals.h, which includes the #pragma detect_mismatch definition for the various _ITERATOR_DEBUG_LEVEL settings. That set of definitions is wrapped in an #ifndef _ALLOW_ITERATOR_DEBUG_LEVEL_MISMATCH, #endif. However, even if I define _ALLOW_ITERATOR_DEBUG_LEVEL_MISMATCH as a preprocessor macro for my entire project I'm still getting the same linker error. I can even alter yvals.h to define that macro and it does nothing (I'm assuming because the STL itself would need to be recompiled).

So my question is basically, what steps can I take make _ALLOW_ITERATOR_DEBUG_LEVEL_MISMATCH actually work as intended so that my project doesn't do this check anywhere when compiling in VS2010?

EDIT: I know this is a late response but I just found this post and realized I didn't post the solution. As others mentioned there was a mismatch in the libraries. As it turns out VS2010 changes the default directories for certain projects (I found a thread on MSDN at one point full of complaints about it), and that directory change had caused VS2010 to look in the wrong directory for the debug library, and it was finding the release library instead.

Answer 1

You must use the same version of the standard library, compiled with the same options, if you expect to successfully link. If you use STLPort, then you can only link with libraries which use the STLPort, not with libraries which use the VC++ standard implementation. If you mix, either you will fail to link, or you will get strange runtime errors.

The problem is that things like std::vector<>::iterator may be defined completely differently; depending on where and how they are used, you will find yourself using an instance constructed in a different library, with a different layout.