Building OpenCV 2.1 on Windows with MinGW (in Eclipse)¶

There are several problems building OpenCV with
MinGW.

• libvideoInput.a was built with gcc3.x and will not link under gcc4.x. Symptoms include "[bin/libhighgui210.dll] Error 1" and "undefined reference to @!+gxx_personality_sj0'" from videoInput.cpp. The fix involves replacing libvideoInput.a and editing src/highgui/CMakeLists.txt.
• src/highgui/CMakeLists.txt may omit key libraries
• On SVN but not stable:
  - BUILD_EXAMPLES fails to reference <stdint.h> or such.
  - SSE, SSE2 cause Internal Compiler Errors

This ticket updates Edoardo Bianco's post of 7 May 2010. Bianco reported the problem and described a solution using hints from ollydbg23 of the PyOpenCV project. See References, below. This post uses Eclipse, but the same fixes should apply to command-line MinGW builds, as it has the same errors.

Symptoms:¶

Somewhere after halfway through the build, it fails with errors like:

This should work unless it involves constant data structures referencing symbols from auto-imported DLLs.
C:/OpenCV2.1.0/src/highgui/../../3rdparty/lib/libvideoInput.a(videoInput.o):videoInput.cpp:(.text+0xee): undefined reference to @+gxx_personality_sj0'
C:/OpenCV2.1.0/src/highgui/../../3rdparty/lib/libvideoInput.a(videoInput.o):videoInput.cpp:(.text+0x104): undefined reference to @_Unwind_SjLj_Register'
C:/OpenCV2.1.0/src/highgui/../../3rdparty/lib/libvideoInput.a(videoInput.o):videoInput.cpp:(.text+0x2a6): undefined reference to @_Unwind_SjLj_Unregister'

...

Creating library file: ../../lib/libhighgui210.dll.a
C:/OpenCV2.1.0/src/highgui/../../3rdparty/lib/libvideoInput.a(videoInput.o):videoInput.cpp:(.text+0x6d17): undefined reference to @_Unwind_SjLj_Register'
C:/OpenCV2.1.0/src/highgui/../../3rdparty/lib/libvideoInput.a(videoInput.o):videoInput.cpp:(.text+0x6e1e): undefined reference to @_Unwind_SjLj_Unregister'

...

maker2: * [bin/libhighgui210.dll] Error 1
maker1: [src/highgui/CMakeFiles/highgui.dir/all] Error 2
maker1: Leaving directory @/c/OpenCV2.1.0-work/OpenCV_MinGW/release'
make: ** [all] Error 2

Brief Solution¶

Presuming you already followed the Install Guide and have
OpenCV, Eclipse, CMake, MinGW, etc.
http://opencv.willowgarage.com/wiki/InstallGuide

A. Fix glitches in distribution before (re-)running CMake.
Assuming you downloaded to C:\OpenCV2.1:
- Replace libvideoInput.a.

• cd c:\OpenCV2.1\3rdparry\lib
• mv libvideoInput.a libvideoInput.a.orig (or such)
• wget http://pyopencv.googlecode.com/files/libvideoInput.a
  (Or otherwise download and save that file.)
  - Add windows libraries (ole32 oleaut32 uuid) to src\highgui\CMakeLists.txt.
• cd c:\OpenCV2.1\src\highgui
• cp CMakeLists.txt CMakeLists.txt.orig
• edit CMakeLists.txt
• Replace "videoInput strmiids" with "videoInput strmiids ole32 oleaut32 uuid". [I didn't test this separately.]

B. (Re-)Run Cmake 2.8.1 to configure the project and create the Makefiles.
- Select appropriate root and build directories.
For example: "C:\OpenCV2.1" and "C:\OpenCV2.1\release".
- Click on the Configure button.
- Select "Eclipse CDT4 Unix Makefiles" as the Generator.
(For command-line MinGW builds, select MinGW or maybe MSYS.)
- Select options you like.

• I enabled: BUILD_NEW_PYTHON_SUPPORT, BUILD_TESTS,
  INSTALL_C_EXAMPLES, INSTALL_PYTHON_EXAMPLES,
  OPENCV_BUILD_3RDPARTY_LIBS, USE_FAST_MATH, USE_O3,
  USE_OMIT_FRAME_POINTER
• USE_SSE, USE_SSE2: yes for stable, no for SVN (as defaults).
  In the SVN release, they cause Internal Compiler
  Errors. See the PyOpenCV page for some discussion.
• BUILD_EXAMPLES: yes for stable, no for SVN.
  Enabling in SVN caused some undefined references to standard
  items like "fprintf". Left off. Probably there is a simple fix.
• Set CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE to "Release" [Or just leave blank.]
• Check CMAKE_CONFIGURATION_TYPES is "Debug;Release"
• Check that other values are sensible.
• IPP, TBB: I don't have them, so they're off for me.
  - Click Configure again.
  - Click Generate

C. In Eclipse, (refresh and re-) build the project.
(For command-line builds, call the correct Make command.)

Detailed Solution:¶

Follows and summarizes the Install Guide
http://opencv.willowgarage.com/wiki/InstallGuide

0. Install OpenCV 2.1 into C:\OpenCV2.1
1. Install Eclipse
- Basic Eclipse
- Eclipse CDT 6.0 (Eclipse C++ plugin)
- Cmake Eclipse Editor
2. Install MinGW
- Edoardo's post refers to MinGW-5.1.6.exe + Update gcc_4.5, but the current mingw-get installer seems to work by default.
- Use default C:\MinGW directory!
- Add the following to the PATH:

• C:\MinGW\bin;C:\MinGW\msys\1.0\bin;

3. Install Cmake 2.8.1

4. * Fix glitches *
Perform steps A and B from the Brief Solution, above.

5. Import the new project into Eclipse (or refresh it if there)
- Import project using Menu File->Import
- Select General->Existing projects into workspace:
- Browse to your build tree (e.g. "C:\OpenCV2.1\release" as above)
- Keep "Copy projects into workspace" unchecked.
- You get a fully functional eclipse project!
(See http://www.cmake.org/Wiki/Eclipse_CDT4_Generator)

6. Build the project
- Deselect Project -> Build Automatically (for now at least)
- Right-click on the project and "Refresh" (or press F5)
- Project -> Build Project
Or right-click the project and select "Build Project"
- Wait and watch. Warnings are expected, but it should not have errors.

7. Optional: (also) compile in debug mode instead of release mode
See "Changing Build Configuration to Release",
http://wiki.wxwidgets.org/Eclipse,_CDT_&_MingW_&_MSYS_Setup_Guide#Changing_the_Build_Configuration

8. Test.
- Try to run programs in your release\bin directory.
-> From DOS or Windows, not from cygwin!
- As described at http://opencv.willowgarage.com/wiki/InstallGuide

References¶

Edoardo Bianco's Post:
#71043: http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/OpenCV/message/71043

Documentation for these changes is available here:
http://code.google.com/p/pyopencv/wiki/Installation_OpenCV
http://code.google.com/p/pyopencv/
http://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=2939647&group_id=22870&atid=376677