1 NOTES FOR WINDOWS PLATFORMS
2 ===========================
4 (This file, like the others, is in "markdown" format, but has a ".txt"
5 extension to make it easier to view/edit on Windows.)
7 There are various options to build and run OpenSSL on the Windows platforms.
9 "Native" OpenSSL uses the Windows APIs directly at run time.
10 To build a native OpenSSL you can either use:
12 Microsoft Visual C++ (MSVC) C compiler on the command line
15 run on the GNU-like development environment MSYS2
16 or run on Linux or Cygwin
18 "Hosted" OpenSSL relies on an external POSIX compatibility layer
19 for building (using GNU/Unix shell, compiler, and tools) and at run time.
20 For this option you can use Cygwin.
22 Visual C++ native builds, aka VC-*
23 =====================================
28 In addition to the requirements and instructions listed in INSTALL.md,
29 these are required as well:
32 We recommend Strawberry Perl, available from <http://strawberryperl.com/>
33 Please read NOTES.PERL for more information, including the use of CPAN.
34 An alternative is ActiveState Perl, <https://www.activestate.com/ActivePerl>
35 for which you may need to explicitly build the Perl module Win32/Console.pm
36 via <https://platform.activestate.com/ActiveState> and then download it.
38 - Microsoft Visual C compiler.
39 Since these are proprietary and ever-changing we cannot test them all.
40 Older versions may not work. Use a recent version wherever possible.
42 - Netwide Assembler (NASM), available from <https://www.nasm.us>
43 Note that NASM is the only supported assembler.
52 3. Make sure both Perl and NASM are on your %PATH%
54 4. Use Visual Studio Developer Command Prompt with administrative privileges,
55 choosing one of its variants depending on the intended architecture.
56 Or run "cmd" and execute "vcvarsall.bat" with one of the options x86,
57 x86_amd64, x86_arm, x86_arm64, amd64, amd64_x86, amd64_arm, or amd64_arm64.
58 This sets up the environment variables needed for nmake.exe, cl.exe, etc.
60 <https://docs.microsoft.com/cpp/build/building-on-the-command-line>
62 5. From the root of the OpenSSL source directory enter
63 perl Configure VC-WIN32 if you want 32-bit OpenSSL or
64 perl Configure VC-WIN64A if you want 64-bit OpenSSL or
65 perl Configure to let Configure figure out the platform
73 For the full installation instructions, or if anything goes wrong at any stage,
74 check the INSTALL.md file.
76 Installation directories
77 ------------------------
79 The default installation directories are derived from environment
82 For VC-WIN32, the following defaults are use:
84 PREFIX: %ProgramFiles(86)%\OpenSSL
85 OPENSSLDIR: %CommonProgramFiles(86)%\SSL
87 For VC-WIN64, the following defaults are use:
89 PREFIX: %ProgramW6432%\OpenSSL
90 OPENSSLDIR: %CommonProgramW6432%\SSL
92 Should those environment variables not exist (on a pure Win32
93 installation for examples), these fallbacks are used:
95 PREFIX: %ProgramFiles%\OpenSSL
96 OPENSSLDIR: %CommonProgramFiles%\SSL
98 ALSO NOTE that those directories are usually write protected, even if
99 your account is in the Administrators group. To work around that,
100 start the command prompt by right-clicking on it and choosing "Run as
101 Administrator" before running 'nmake install'. The other solution
102 is, of course, to choose a different set of directories by using
103 --prefix and --openssldir when configuring.
105 Special notes for Universal Windows Platform builds, aka VC-*-UWP
106 --------------------------------------------------------------------
108 - UWP targets only support building the static and dynamic libraries.
110 - You should define the platform type to "uwp" and the target arch via
111 "vcvarsall.bat" before you compile. For example, if you want to build
112 "arm64" builds, you should run "vcvarsall.bat x86_arm64 uwp".
114 Native OpenSSL built using MinGW
115 ================================
117 MinGW offers an alternative way to build native OpenSSL, by cross compilation.
119 * Usually the build is done on Windows in a GNU-like environment called MSYS2.
121 MSYS2 provides GNU tools, a Unix-like command prompt,
122 and a UNIX compatibility layer for applications.
123 However, in this context it is only used for building OpenSSL.
124 The resulting OpenSSL does not rely on MSYS2 to run and is fully native.
128 - MSYS2 shell, from <https://www.msys2.org/>
130 - Perl, at least version 5.10.0, which usually comes pre-installed with MSYS2
132 - make, installed using "pacman -S make" into the MSYS2 environment
134 - MinGW[64] compiler: mingw-w64-i686-gcc and/or mingw-w64-x86_64-gcc.
135 These compilers must be on your MSYS2 $PATH.
136 A common error is to not have these on your $PATH.
137 The MSYS2 version of gcc will not work correctly here.
139 In the MSYS2 shell do the configuration depending on the target architecture:
141 ./Configure mingw ...
143 ./Configure mingw64 ...
146 for the default architecture.
148 Apart from that, follow the Unix / Linux instructions in INSTALL.md.
150 * It is also possible to build mingw[64] on Linux or Cygwin.
152 In this case configure with the corresponding --cross-compile-prefix= option.
155 ./Configure mingw --cross-compile-prefix=i686-w64-mingw32- ...
157 ./Configure mingw64 --cross-compile-prefix=x86_64-w64-mingw32- ...
159 This requires that you've installed the necessary add-on packages for
160 mingw[64] cross compilation.
162 Linking your application
163 ========================
165 This section applies to all "native" builds.
167 If you link with static OpenSSL libraries then you're expected to
168 additionally link your application with WS2_32.LIB, GDI32.LIB,
169 ADVAPI32.LIB, CRYPT32.LIB and USER32.LIB. Those developing
170 non-interactive service applications might feel concerned about
171 linking with GDI32.LIB and USER32.LIB, as they are justly associated
172 with interactive desktop, which is not available to service
173 processes. The toolkit is designed to detect in which context it's
174 currently executed, GUI, console app or service, and act accordingly,
175 namely whether or not to actually make GUI calls. Additionally those
176 who wish to /DELAYLOAD:GDI32.DLL and /DELAYLOAD:USER32.DLL and
177 actually keep them off service process should consider implementing
178 and exporting from .exe image in question own _OPENSSL_isservice not
179 relying on USER32.DLL. E.g., on Windows Vista and later you could:
181 __declspec(dllexport) __cdecl BOOL _OPENSSL_isservice(void)
185 if (ProcessIdToSessionId(GetCurrentProcessId(), &sess))
190 If you link with OpenSSL .DLLs, then you're expected to include into
191 your application code a small "shim" snippet, which provides
192 the glue between the OpenSSL BIO layer and your compiler run-time.
193 See also the OPENSSL_Applink manual page.
195 Hosted OpenSSL built using Cygwin
196 =================================
198 Cygwin implements a POSIX/Unix runtime system (cygwin1.dll) on top of the
199 Windows subsystem and provides a Bash shell and GNU tools environment.
200 Consequently, a build of OpenSSL with Cygwin is virtually identical to the
203 To build OpenSSL using Cygwin, you need to:
205 * Install Cygwin, see <https://cygwin.com/>
207 * Install Cygwin Perl, at least version 5.10.0
208 and ensure it is in the $PATH
210 * Run the Cygwin Bash shell
212 Apart from that, follow the Unix / Linux instructions in INSTALL.md.
214 NOTE: "make test" and normal file operations may fail in directories
215 mounted as text (i.e. mount -t c:\somewhere /home) due to Cygwin
216 stripping of carriage returns. To avoid this ensure that a binary
217 mount is used, e.g. mount -b c:\somewhere /home.