Wine cannot load DLLs even though the directory is added to PATH - c++

Question

I am trying to cross-compile Windows software on Linux using mingw32-w64 and running it with wine. However wine cannot load the libstdc++-6.dll library file. I searched online and found out that you have to put the directory that contains the DLL file into the path registry. In my case, that directory is Z:\bin\i686-w64-mingw32\bin.
Then I tried to run the compiled file by using wine executable.exe and the output is:
0100:err:module:import_dll Loading library libstdc++-6.dll (which is needed by L"Z:\\home\\sunnymonster\\dev\\c++\\opengl-tests\\cmake-build-debug\\opengl_tests.exe") failed (error c000007b).
0100:err:module:LdrInitializeThunk Importing dlls for L"Z:\\home\\sunnymonster\\dev\\c++\\opengl-tests\\cmake-build-debug\\opengl_tests.exe" failed, status c0000135
I have verified that I am using the correct wine prefix.
Additional information:
Linux distro: Manjaro Linux 21.2.5
Linux kernel: 5.16.14-1

Answer 1

There're multiple approaches. First, let's formalize the problem:
$ cat test.cpp
#include <iostream>
int main() { std::cout << "hello" << std::endl; }
$ i686-w64-mingw32-g++ test.cpp -o a && WINEDEBUG=-all,err+module wine ./a.exe
0024:err:module:import_dll Library libgcc_s_dw2-1.dll (which is needed by L"Z:\\tmp\\a.exe") not found
0024:err:module:import_dll Library libstdc++-6.dll (which is needed by L"Z:\\tmp\\a.exe") not found
0024:err:module:LdrInitializeThunk Importing dlls for L"Z:\\tmp\\a.exe" failed, status c0000135
Solutions:
Link the core libraries statically:
$ i686-w64-mingw32-g++ test.cpp -o a -static-libgcc -static-libstdc++ -Wl,-Bstatic -lstdc++ -lpthread -Wl,-Bdynamic
$ WINEDEBUG=-all,err+module wine ./a.exe
hello
Use WINEPATH env. variable to tell wine the additional paths to load dlls from. In the example I pass it the location with mingw dlls that wine complains about. It may be different on your system, you might find it by asking package manager to list files in mingw-g++/gcc packages (whatever it's called on your system). Multiple paths should be separated by semicolon.
$ i686-w64-mingw32-g++ test.cpp -o a
$ WINEDEBUG=-all,err+module WINEPATH=/usr/i686-w64-mingw32/sys-root/mingw/bin/ wine ./a.exe
hello
Install a Windows version of MinGW, and then use it to compile the app. However, from what I remember, if you want to distribute the executable produced, you still need to either statically link against MinGW libs, or provide them together with the binary. So the only difference to point 1 is that the binary should work under your WINEPREFIX with no modifications.
Using wineg++. I mention it solely for completeness, I think it's the least useful solution. It produces a Linux file, which in itself might be okay, one could use that for debugging. However, in my tests, I didn't manage to makewineg++ link against a dll, even though mingw links to the same dll without a problem. It seems to link against .so files instead, even though the application you build with it can load .dll files dynamically. Odd utility.
$ wineg++ test.cpp -o a
$ WINEDEBUG=-all,err+module wine ./a.exe
hello