Visual Studio 9 including the wrong CRT assembly.

Chris Becke

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Mar 29, 2010, 9:34:44 AM3/29/10

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Visual Studio 9 seems to have two parallel, but conflicting systems, for
defining the CRT assembly to link in.

With VS9 SP1 installed:

_BIND_TO_CURRENT_CRT version drives the definition of
_CRT_ASSEMBLY_VERSION, which is used in a #pragma to set a
/manifestdependency linker option.

// snip from crtassem.h
#ifndef _CRT_ASSEMBLY_VERSION
#if _BIND_TO_CURRENT_CRT_VERSION
#define _CRT_ASSEMBLY_VERSION "9.0.30729.1"
#else
#define _CRT_ASSEMBLY_VERSION "9.0.21022.8"
#endif
#endif

It ALSO drives the inclusion of a #pragma that does a /INCLUDE on
_forceCRTManifestRTM or _forceCRTManifestCUR - which link in object code
containing an embedded /manifestdependency entry.

Now, the problem is, There was a security fix, and the current version
of the VC9 runtime is "9.0.30729.4148".

We added '_CRT_ASSEMBLY_VERSION=\"9.0.30729.4148\"' to our project
settings, which causes the resulting app manifest to contain references
to both the 9.0.21022.8 AND 9.0.30729.4148 runtimes.

(Setting _BIND_TO_CURRENT_CRT_VERSION just changes the problem to be
both 9.0.30729.1 and 9.0.30729.4148).

The only way to "fix" this issue so far is to add

extern "C" int _forceCRTManifestRTM=0;
extern "C" int _forceCRTManifestCUR=0;

to one of our cpp files to ... unforce the inclusion of the cpp files
containing the dodgey #pragma's.

The other option is to turn off manifest generation, and simply include
a hand crafted one, but given the number of settings in manifests
nowadays that are configured via property pages, bypassing the
generation seems a very bad long term solution.

It is important to us to have the manifest file explicitly ask for the
4148 build as we are shipping the runtime as a private assembly, and we
obviously want to ship the latest version. (Version checks are done for
private assemblies.)

Am I missing something, or is this hackish solution really the only way
to get the generated manifests to link vs the correct "Microsoft.VC90"
assembly?

Chris Becke

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Apr 7, 2010, 10:17:14 AM4/7/10

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um, so, how are we supposed to target the Microsoft.VC90.CRT SP1.1
runtime then?

(Is this the wrong newsgroup for this question? The managed groups don't
list nntp forums for Visual C++ support, and the email address im using
here IS my msdn subscriber registered one).

Chris Becke

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Apr 28, 2010, 7:49:13 AM4/28/10

to Chris Becke

perhaps if I use a different email address.

Chris Becke

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Apr 28, 2010, 10:47:52 AM4/28/10

to

On 07/04/2010 16:17, Chris Becke wrote:

O@discussions.microsoft.com Steven O

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Jun 24, 2010, 12:25:49 PM6/24/10

to

Chris,

Did you ever find a solution to this problem? I also need to target the
9.0.30729.4148, and I am having the same problem. I am setting
_BIND_TO_CURRENT_CRT, and I am seeing the same problem.

The manifest inside of my executables reveals that it is depending on both
9.0.30729.4148 and 9.0.30729.1.

Thanks!

"Chris Becke" wrote:

> .
>

Steven O

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Jun 24, 2010, 2:54:50 PM6/24/10

to

I figured it out. Here's what I did. I'm using Vista 32-bit. I build
64-bit executables, so the procedure should work on 64-bit OS's as well.

1. Uninstalled Visual Studio.

2. Uninstalled the KB97324 redistributable update.

3. Reinstalled Visual Studio.

4. Installed Visual Studio SP1:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=FBEE1648-7106-44A7-9649-6D9F6D58056E&displaylang=en

5. Check for Windows updates. Got these updates:
--Security Update for Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 Service Pack 1 (KB971092)
--Security Update for Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 Service Pack 1 (KB972222)
--Security Update for Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 Service Pack 1 ATL for
Smart Devices(KB973675)
--Security Update for Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable
Package(KB973924)

6. Open Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\VC\include\crtassem.h.
You should see these lines:
#ifndef _CRT_ASSEMBLY_VERSION
#if _BIND_TO_CURRENT_CRT_VERSION
#define _CRT_ASSEMBLY_VERSION "9.0.30729.4148"

#else
#define _CRT_ASSEMBLY_VERSION "9.0.21022.8"
#endif
#endif

7.Make sure that _BIND_TO_CURRENT_CRT_VERSION is defined in your project.
This is the only define you'll need.

8.Now, your manifest should contain a reference to CRT version
9.0.30729.4148. No other versions should be referenced.

If you are still seeing more than one CRT reference, try to create a simple
"Hello world" console app, and check its manifest. If the console app comes
up clean, your project may be linking with a static library that was built
with a different CRT version. If so, you'll have to rebuild the static
library with 9.0.30729.4148.

I hope this helps all of you guys in search engine land.

Steven