Build and static link ZeroMQ on Windows
ZeroMQ ( http://zeromq.org and https://github.com/zeromq/libzmq ) is a library that allows code to communicate between threads, processes, or computers in just a few lines and uses simple, composable patterns (like publish-subscribe and broadcast).
In this post, we’ll build ZeroMQ on Windows as a static library (to take advantage of the “static linking exception” in its license: http://zeromq.org/area:licensing ) and then bake that static library into a simple Windows executable. There are many posts around the web that show you how to do this … here’s one more:
Steps:
- Build Vcpkg ( https://github.com/Microsoft/vcpkg )
- Use vcpkg to build ZeroMQ (
vcpkg install zeromq:x64-windows-static
) - Build an executable that statically links ZeroMQ
Step 1: Build Vcpkg ( https://github.com/Microsoft/vcpkg )
Notes:
- Vcpkg does not manage pre-built binaries (like NuGet or Homebrew)
- Vcpkg manages source code and builds that source code on Windows, Linux, and MacOS.
- At the time of this post, the documentation for Vcpkg was located here:
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/cpp/vcpkg
In a Visual Studio 2017 developer command prompt (with Git installed), execute the following commands:
cd /d C:\ mkdir Repos cd /d C:\Repos\ git clone https://github.com/Microsoft/vcpkg cd /d C:\Repos\vcpkg\ bootstrap-vcpkg.bat
… now, C:\Repos\vcpkg\vcpkg.exe should exist.
Step 2: Use vcpkg to build ZeroMQ ( vcpkg install zeromq:x64-windows-static
)
Note:
- On purpose … to make things more explicit and more difficult in Step 3, we do not execute the following command:
vcpkg integrate install
Now that C:\Repos\vcpkg\vcpkg.exe exists, execute the following commands:
cd /d C:\Repos\vcpkg\ vcpkg install zeromq:x64-windows-static
… now, we should have the following:
- ZeroMQ source code folder: C:\Repos\vcpkg\buildtrees\zeromq\src
- ZeroMQ debug build folder: C:\Repos\vcpkg\buildtrees\zeromq\x64-windows-static-dbg
- ZeroMQ release build folder: C:\Repos\vcpkg\buildtrees\zeromq\x64-windows-static-rel
- ZeroMQ target folder: C:\Repos\vcpkg\packages\zeromq_x64-windows-static
- ZeroMQ target include folder: C:\Repos\vcpkg\packages\zeromq_x64-windows-static\include
- ZeroMQ target debug lib folder: C:\Repos\vcpkg\packages\zeromq_x64-windows-static\debug\lib
- At the time of this post, the static library built was: libzmq-mt-sgd-4_3_1.lib
- Note: The mt and d in libzmq-mt-sgd-4_3_1.lib means multi-threaded debug (requiring the debug executable in the next step to be compiled using /MTd)
- ZeroMQ target release lib folder: C:\Repos\vcpkg\packages\zeromq_x64-windows-static\lib
- At the time of this post, the static library built was: libzmq-mt-s-4_3_1.lib
- Note: The mt in libzmq-mt-s-4_3_1.lib means multi-threaded (requiring the release executable in the next step to be compiled using /MT)
Step 3: Build an executable that statically links ZeroMQ
In Visual Studio 2017, do the following:
- File / New / Project…
- Add / New Item…
- Paste the following code into Source.cpp:
#include <zmq.h> #include <iostream> int main() { int major = 0; int minor = 0; int patch = 0; zmq_version( &major, &minor, &patch ); std::wcout << "Current 0MQ version is " << major << '.' << minor << '.' << patch << '\n'; }
- Change the Solution Platform to x64:
- Select the “ZeroMQ-Version” project, select Project / Properties, change the Configuration to “All Configurations“, select Configuration Properties / C/C++ / General, and then add the following include folder to “Additional Include Directories“:
C:\Repos\vcpkg\packages\zeromq_x64-windows-static\include
- Next, for “All Configurations“, select Configuration Properties / C/C++ / Preprocessor, and then add the following preprocessor definition to “Preprocessor Definitions“:
ZMQ_STATIC
- Next, change the Configuration to “Debug“, select Configuration Properties / C/C++ / Code Generation, and then change the “Runtime Library” to “Multi-threaded Debug (/MTd)“:
- Next, change the Configuration to “Release“, select Configuration Properties / C/C++ / Code Generation, and then change the “Runtime Library” to “Multi-threaded (/MT)“:
- Next, we’ll add the static libraries … and while we could break these up into separate lib folder and lib file entries, I’ll just use each lib’s full file path here.
- First, switch the Configuration back to “Debug“, select Configuration Properties / Linker / Input, and then add the following entries to “Additional Dependencies“:
C:\Repos\vcpkg\packages\zeromq_x64-windows-static\debug\lib\libzmq-mt-sgd-4_3_1.lib
Ws2_32.lib
Iphlpapi.lib
- Second, switch the Configuration back to “Release“, select Configuration Properties / Linker / Input, and then add the following entries to “Additional Dependencies“:
C:\Repos\vcpkg\packages\zeromq_x64-windows-static\lib\libzmq-mt-s-4_3_1.lib
Ws2_32.lib
Iphlpapi.lib
- Build / Rebuild Solution:
- Debug / Start Without Debugging:
Note:
- When building for Debug, my Output window reads:
1>------ Rebuild All started: Project: ZeroMQ-Version, Configuration: Debug x64 ------ 1>Source.cpp 1>ZeroMQ-Version.vcxproj -> C:\Repos\ZeroMQ-Version\x64\Debug\ZeroMQ-Version.exe ========== Rebuild All: 1 succeeded, 0 failed, 0 skipped ==========
- When building for Release, my Output window reads:
1>------ Rebuild All started: Project: ZeroMQ-Version, Configuration: Release x64 ------ 1>Source.cpp 1>Generating code 1>All 3752 functions were compiled because no usable IPDB/IOBJ from previous compilation was found. 1>Finished generating code 1>ZeroMQ-Version.vcxproj -> C:\Repos\ZeroMQ-Version\x64\Release\ZeroMQ-Version.exe ========== Rebuild All: 1 succeeded, 0 failed, 0 skipped ==========
Hope This Helps!
- A New Beginning!
- The C++ Template Interface Pattern (TIP)
ZeroMQ has the best layout of MSBuild files of any project I’ve seen to date. When you clone ZeroMQ, these MSBuild files are located under its
builds/deprecated-msvc/
path. For Visual Studio 2017, the combination of the*.props
file under thebuilds/deprecated-msvc/properties/
path and the files under thebuilds/deprecated-msvc/vs2017/
path contains the magic. Unfortunately, as the path indicates, these MSBuild files are currently deprecated. This is one reason why my instructions above utilized Vcpkg instead of ZeroMQ’s own MSBuild files. Another reason is that Vcpkg is currently essential technology for rapid application development in C++ … esp. for MSBuild-based projects. Ensure you take a look at Vcpkg’s ability to export*.h
/*.hpp
,*.lib
,*.dll
, and*.exe
to a NuGet package that you can then import into your C++ MSBuild projects and your MSBuild-based build systems (like Azure DevOps / VSTS / VSO):… or, in the case of this post:
… and adding the following to the
*.vcxproj
file where you installed this NuGet package (since you’ve exported ax64-windows-static
package):… Note: You’ll still need to add the
ZMQ_STATIC
define, static link the C++ runtimes, and add theWs2_32.lib
andIphlpapi.lib
libraries to your C++ project, but you won’t need to add the ZeroMQ include path nor the ZeroMQ libraries (as the*.targets
files inside that NuGet package you just installed hooked your C++ project up with all those entries).You can read more about
vcpkg export
here:… and here:
Hi there,
this example you shown us is for c language…
what should i do to get the correct c++ libraries?
Thanks in advance.
Best Regards Cris
For portability reasons, the main interface for ZeroMQ is its C interface. Based on that C interface, bindings exists for various languages … including C++. Take note that a binding may bind a previous version of the C interface, not necessarily the current version of the C interface. Because most of C is a subset of C++, the C++ bindings are extremely trivial … so some people just create their own RAII wrappers around those C interfaces; however, ZeroMQ advertises the following C++ bindings:
In addition to the ZeroMQ port, Vcpkg contains ports for the first two C++ bindings mentioned above:
vcpkg install cppzmq:x64-windows-static
vcpkg install azmq:x64-windows-static
Do i need to do any other steps to use in my source files of different projects? I can’t get it to work with an empty project in VS. Also can i use this on other C++ compiler, like devC++ or codeBlocks?
The output of Step 2 above is a Header file (zmq.h) and some Static Libraries (libzmq-mt-sgd-4_3_1.lib for Debug and libzmq-mt-s-4_3_1.lib for Release). These ZeroMQ Static Libraries depend on some Windows Import Libraries that are found in the Windows SDK (like Ws2_32.lib, Iphlpapi.lib, and some of the other common Import Libraries). The Header, Static Libraries, and Import Libraries are all you need to use ZeroMQ in any other project on Windows. Step 3 above is a simple example of this. Since we are using a Static Library, we should use the same version of the compiler/linker toolchain for both Steps 2 and 3.
Sometimes things are clearer if we have another example to compare and contrast things against. In that vein, here’s one of several different ways to build and static link ZeroMQ on Windows using MinGW-w64 (the GCC compiler/linker toolchain on Windows) and CMake:
"C:\Program Files\CMake\bin\cmake-gui.exe"
to launch the CMake GUI with access to those same MinGW-w64 environment variables.C:\Repos\libzmq-4.3.0
and created the build folderC:\Repos\libzmq-4.3.0-build
.MinGW Makefiles
… ensuring that the Use default native compilers radio button is selected … and then press Finish.… in order to kick off the build of ZeroMQ.
C:\Repos\libzmq-4.3.0\include\zmq.h
C:\Repos\libzmq-4.3.0-build\lib\libzmq.a
Source.cpp
file from Step 3 above into that folder. Note: I created the following folder:C:\Repos\ZeroMQ-Version-MinGW
containingC:\Repos\ZeroMQ-Version-MinGW\Source.cpp
.… in order to build and run the
ZeroMQ-Version-MinGW.exe
executable.Note: Based on the choices I noted above, my output was:
Dev-C++ and Code::Blocks are both IDEs, not compiler/linker toolchains. Any IDE that wraps a compiler/linker toolchain with access to the Import Libraries from the Windows SDK will be good to go. If memory serves, both Dev-C++ and Code::Blocks wrap the MinGW toolchain … so if that’s still the case, you should be able to translate the MinGW-w64 steps above to the respective GUI-isms of those IDEs.
Hope This Helps.
Thank you for an amazing step-by-step guide. Tip: avoid the 4.3.2 release due to https://github.com/zeromq/libzmq/issues/3586
Hi there,
Joshua, thank you for the great step-by-step guide. I have three more questions:
1) Is ZeroMQ running stable on Windows 10?
2) Will it be supported in the future?
3) Is there a step-by-step guide for building and installing ZeroMQ as a dynamic library (with visual studio 2017)?
Thank you in advance.
—
Best regards
Alfred
For 1) ZeroMQ was running great on Windows 10 and Windows Server 2016 when I wrote the instructions above. I would check the latest issues ( https://github.com/zeromq/libzmq/issues ) and the ZeroMQ Community ( https://zeromq.org/our-community/ ) to make sure that current builds have remained good to go for Windows 10, Windows Server 2016, and Windows Server 2019. Per the Supported Platforms ( https://github.com/zeromq/libzmq/blob/master/README.md#zeromq ), ZeroMQ is only built and tested on Windows Server 2016 for x86 … so you’ll need to build and run tests in a separate Continuous Integration environment on Windows 10 for x64.
For 2) ZeroMQ has been around for about a decade … and it’s been used by thousands of projects in multiple programming languages … so it’s not going away anytime soon; however, if you want to get a sense of where ZeroMQ is headed, I would ask the Community ( https://zeromq.org/our-community/ ).
For 3) You’ll just need to drop the “-static” portion of the Vcpkg “triplet” to build ZeroMQ as a dynamic link library … and then create a regular C++ project that uses that dynamic link library:
// In a Visual Studio 2017 Command Prompt, do the following:
cd /d E:\Temp
git clone https://github.com/Microsoft/vcpkg.git
cd /d E:\Temp\vcpkg
bootstrap-vcpkg.bat
vcpkg install zeromq:x64-windows
set PATH=E:\Temp\vcpkg\packages\zeromq_x64-windows\debug\bin;E:\Temp\vcpkg\packages\zeromq_x64-windows\bin;%PATH%
devenv
// Note: devenv ( above ) is just used to launch Visual Studio with the new PATH set above
// so that the ZeroMQ DLLs can be found without having to copy those DLLs to a target folder
// while building and debugging your executable using those DLLs in Visual Studio.
… then the Release dynamic link library, program database, and import library are here:
E:\Temp\vcpkg\packages\zeromq_x64-windows\bin\libzmq-mt-4_3_3.dll
E:\Temp\vcpkg\packages\zeromq_x64-windows\bin\libzmq-mt-4_3_3.pdb
E:\Temp\vcpkg\packages\zeromq_x64-windows\lib\libzmq-mt-4_3_3.lib
… the Debug dynamic link library, program database, and import library are here:
E:\Temp\vcpkg\packages\zeromq_x64-windows\debug\bin\libzmq-mt-gd-4_3_3.dll
E:\Temp\vcpkg\packages\zeromq_x64-windows\debug\bin\libzmq-mt-gd-4_3_3.pdb
E:\Temp\vcpkg\packages\zeromq_x64-windows\debug\lib\libzmq-mt-gd-4_3_3.lib
… and the headers are here:
E:\Temp\vcpkg\packages\zeromq_x64-windows\include\
… such as:
E:\Temp\vcpkg\packages\zeromq_x64-windows\include\zmq.h
Note: I prefer using the “E:\Temp\vcpkg\packages\zeromq_x64-windows” folder over the “E:\Temp\vcpkg\installed\x64-windows” folder … but either will work.
For information purposes, here’s the link to the ZeroMQ port for Vcpkg:
https://github.com/microsoft/vcpkg/blob/master/ports/zeromq/CONTROL
Hope This Helps,
Joshua
This pretty much gave me a path forward after a few days of trying to get zeroMQ to work. I’m using Visual Studio 2019, Windows 10 (unfortunately) and zeroMQ 4.3.3. and was able to use this guide to set up sockets locally. Again, thanks so much for sharing.
I concur with Everett Williams. I was totally able to get VisualStudio 2019, Win10 and zeroMQ / cppzmq to totally work with the work shared here. For anyone else using cppzmq, you just combine both includes (zmq and cppzmq) and use zmq libraries. I really wanted to verify that the VCPkg build was whole.
Unfortunately for me, I’m hoping to push to Unreal Game engine (UE4), and there, the project property pages config tool is essentially locked out. I can add includes and libraries manually via third party plugins, but no go (so far) on changing C++ / Code Generation / Runtime Library setting. I’m still trying to understand how that system works.
Joshua, I will say this posting was invaluable to aiding me in understanding what a successful run looks like in Windows. And this confirms the VCPKG build process is right. Again, many thanks for posting…
I am using Windows 10 and Visual Studio 2019. I followed your step-by-step guide, but at the very end, the build and the debug fails. I get an error message that says Cannot open source file “zmq.h”
Any ideas on how to fix this? Thank you!
In order to resolve this, I’d put the following in a batch script and execute ( see additional info below ):
If this batch script executes successfully, you probably just made a typo in Visual Studio when you were working through the post.
Note: This batch script essentially does the same thing that this post does … except using the current version of ZeroMQ from Vcpkg. At the time I’m writing this reply, the current version of ZeroMQ from Vcpkg is version 4.3.4. Since the ZeroMQ static libraries that get built by Vcpkg contain this version number info in their file names, you’ll need to edit the script above when Vcpkg upgrades to a higher version of ZeroMQ. Lastly, this batch script does not contain any error handling … if one command fails, this script just continues to the next command … so add the appropriate error handling for your environment.
When I copied the text above into a batch script named “build-zeromq-on-windows.bat” and ran that script on Windows 10 with Visual Studio 2019 ( version 16.10.0 ), here was its output:
… so both the Debug and Release configurations worked: Both printed “Current 0MQ version is 4.3.4”.
Hope This Helps.
Much appreciated, thank you!
Hi,
After “vcpkg install zeromq:x86-windows-static”, I don’t find the below folders:
ZeroMQ source code folder: C:\Repos\vcpkg\buildtrees\zeromq\src
ZeroMQ debug build folder: C:\Repos\vcpkg\buildtrees\zeromq\x64-windows-static-dbg
ZeroMQ release build folder: C:\Repos\vcpkg\buildtrees\zeromq\x64-windows-static-rel
What am I doing wrong?
Two things:
vcpkg install zeromq:x86-windows-static
will work if the steps are translated appropriately.--binarysource=clear
) in order to ensure those folders exist.After
vcpkg install zeromq:x86-windows-static --binarysource=clear
, the following type of folders should exist:Similar to the script I wrote above that targets x64, here’s a batch script that targets x86 with binary caching disabled ( see additional info below ):
Note: This batch script essentially does the same thing that this post does … except using the current version of ZeroMQ from Vcpkg and building for x86. At the time I’m writing this reply, the current version of ZeroMQ from Vcpkg is version 4.3.4. Since the ZeroMQ static libraries that get built by Vcpkg contain this version number info in their file names, you’ll need to edit the script above when Vcpkg upgrades to a higher version of ZeroMQ. Lastly, this batch script does not contain any error handling … if one command fails, this script just continues to the next command … so add the appropriate error handling for your environment.
When I copied the text above into a batch script named “build-zeromq-for-x86-on-windows.bat” and ran that script on Windows 10 with Visual Studio 2019 ( version 16.11.0 ), here was its output:
… so both the Debug and Release configurations worked for x86: Both printed “Current 0MQ version is 4.3.4”.
Hope This Helps.
Thank you so much! This worked first try.
Had to use this again because ZERO_CHECK randomly disappeared. Worked again. Cheers. 🙂