How make "boost::stacktrace" work with Clang on Windows? - c++

Question

I am trying to use boost::stacktrace under Clang on Windows.
While it works with the MSVC compiler, using clang-cl instead it just outputs memory addresses like 0x00007FF63D371D14 in main.exe instead of function names and line numbers like foo at main.cpp:7.
Here is a minimal reproducible example:
main.cpp
#include <boost/stacktrace.hpp>
#include <iostream>
void foo() {
const auto stacktrace = boost::stacktrace::to_string(boost::stacktrace::stacktrace());
std::cout << stacktrace;
}
int main() {
foo();
return 0;
}
CMakeList.txt
cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.20)
project(test_boost_traceback CXX)
set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD 20)
set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD_REQUIRED ON)
find_package(Boost REQUIRED COMPONENTS)
add_executable(main main.cpp)
target_link_libraries(main PRIVATE Boost::boost)
Build commands
CALL "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2022\BuildTools\VC\Auxiliary\Build\vcvars64.bat"
set BOOST_ROOT=C:/Program Files/boost/boost_1_79_0
set PATH=C:\Program Files\CMake\bin;%PATH%
set PATH=C:\Program Files\Ninja;%PATH%
set CC=clang-cl
set CXX=clang-cl
mkdir build_clang_cl_debug
cd build_clang_cl_debug
cmake .. -G Ninja -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug
ninja -v
main.exe
The build for MSVC is the same, just removing the lines that set CC and CXX, and leaving them unset.
Here is the output for MSVC:
[1/2] C:\PROGRA~2\MICROS~2\2022\BUILDT~1\VC\Tools\MSVC\1434~1.319\bin\Hostx64\x64\cl.exe
/nologo /TP -external:I"C:\Program Files\boost\boost_1_79_0" -external:W0
/DWIN32 /D_WINDOWS /EHsc /Zi /Ob0 /Od /RTC1 -MDd -std:c++20 /showIncludes
/FoCMakeFiles\main.dir\main.cpp.obj /FdCMakeFiles\main.dir\
/FS -c test_boost_traceback\main.cpp
[2/2] cmd.exe /C "cd . && "C:\Program Files\CMake\bin\cmake.exe" -E vs_link_exe
--intdir=CMakeFiles\main.dir --rc=C:\PROGRA~2\WI3CF2~1\10\bin\100220~1.0\x64\rc.exe
--mt=C:\PROGRA~2\WI3CF2~1\10\bin\100220~1.0\x64\mt.exe --manifests
-- C:\PROGRA~2\MICROS~2\2022\BUILDT~1\VC\Tools\MSVC\1434~1.319\bin\Hostx64\x64\link.exe
/nologo CMakeFiles\main.dir\main.cpp.obj /out:main.exe /implib:main.lib /pdb:main.pdb
/version:0.0 /machine:x64 /debug /INCREMENTAL /subsystem:console
kernel32.lib user32.lib gdi32.lib winspool.lib shell32.lib ole32.lib
oleaut32.lib uuid.lib comdlg32.lib advapi32.lib && cd ."
0# boost::stacktrace::basic_stacktrace<std::allocator<boost::stacktrace::frame> >
::init at C:\Program Files\boost\boost_1_79_0\boost\stacktrace\stacktrace.hpp:76
1# boost::stacktrace::basic_stacktrace<std::allocator<boost::stacktrace::frame> >
::basic_stacktrace<std::allocator<boost::stacktrace::frame> > at
C:\Program Files\boost\boost_1_79_0\boost\stacktrace\stacktrace.hpp:129
2# foo at test_boost_traceback\main.cpp:6
3# main at test_boost_traceback\main.cpp:13
4# invoke_main at D:\a\_work\1\s\src\vctools\crt\vcstartup\src\startup\exe_common.inl:79
5# __scrt_common_main_seh at D:\a\_work\1\s\src\vctools\crt\vcstartup\src\startup\exe_common.inl:288
6# __scrt_common_main at D:\a\_work\1\s\src\vctools\crt\vcstartup\src\startup\exe_common.inl:331
7# mainCRTStartup at D:\a\_work\1\s\src\vctools\crt\vcstartup\src\startup\exe_main.cpp:17
8# BaseThreadInitThunk in KERNEL32
9# RtlUserThreadStart in ntdll
Here is the build commands and the output for Clang-cl:
[1/2] C:\PROGRA~2\MICROS~2\2022\BUILDT~1\VC\Tools\Llvm\x64\bin\clang-cl.exe
/nologo -TP -imsvc"C:\Program Files\boost\boost_1_79_0"
/DWIN32 /D_WINDOWS /EHsc /Zi /Ob0 /Od /RTC1 -MDd -std:c++20 /showIncludes
/FoCMakeFiles\main.dir\main.cpp.obj /FdCMakeFiles\main.dir\
-c -- test_boost_traceback\main.cpp
[2/2] cmd.exe /C "cd . && "C:\Program Files\CMake\bin\cmake.exe" -E vs_link_exe
--intdir=CMakeFiles\main.dir --rc=C:\PROGRA~2\WI3CF2~1\10\bin\100220~1.0\x64\rc.exe
--mt=C:\PROGRA~2\WI3CF2~1\10\bin\100220~1.0\x64\mt.exe --manifests
-- C:\PROGRA~2\MICROS~2\2022\BUILDT~1\VC\Tools\Llvm\x64\bin\lld-link.exe
/nologo CMakeFiles\main.dir\main.cpp.obj /out:main.exe /implib:main.lib /pdb:main.pdb
/version:0.0 /machine:x64 /debug /INCREMENTAL /subsystem:console
kernel32.lib user32.lib gdi32.lib winspool.lib shell32.lib ole32.lib
oleaut32.lib uuid.lib comdlg32.lib advapi32.lib && cd ."
0# 0x00007FF626A71D24 in test_boost_traceback\build_clang_cl_debug\main.exe
1# 0x00007FF626A71041 in test_boost_traceback\build_clang_cl_debug\main.exe
2# 0x00007FF626A71121 in test_boost_traceback\build_clang_cl_debug\main.exe
3# 0x00007FF626A78059 in test_boost_traceback\build_clang_cl_debug\main.exe
4# 0x00007FF626A7818E in test_boost_traceback\build_clang_cl_debug\main.exe
5# 0x00007FF626A7820E in test_boost_traceback\build_clang_cl_debug\main.exe
6# 0x00007FF626A7822E in test_boost_traceback\build_clang_cl_debug\main.exe
7# 0x00007FFA41D774B4 in C:\Windows\System32\KERNEL32.DLL
8# 0x00007FFA42DA26A1 in C:\Windows\SYSTEM32\ntdll.dll
I tried some of the build options in the boost stacktrace documentation. They all lead to some errors and I am not sure which one applies to Windows and Clang-cl.
How can I make this work?

Answer 1

MSVC uses WinDbg which is shipped with the compiler.
This also works under clang-cl but we need to define the macro BOOST_STACKTRACE_USE_WINDBG and specifically link to ole32.lib and dbgeng.lib as described here.
For CMake we achieved this by adding this (main being our target):
target_link_options(main PRIVATE dbgeng.lib)
target_compile_definitions(main PRIVATE BOOST_STACKTRACE_USE_WINDBG)
The ole32.lib is automatically linked.
This works for both the Debug and RelWithDebInfo. It doesn't work with Release as this strips all the symbols, but that's the same for MSVC.