bitcoin/build_msvc/README.md
W. J. van der Laan 298fd02e4a
Merge bitcoin/bitcoin#21045: build: adds switch to enable/disable randomized base address in MSVC builds
9bd3f35003 build: adds switch for disabling random base addresses in MSVC (Ethan Heilman)

Pull request description:

  In m4 builds we have the --disable-hardening switch that can be given in `./configure` to turn off randomized addresses. This PR provides a simple way of turning off randomized addresses in MSVC builds.

  This PR:
  * Adds this option the common-init project file so that it can be globally set across the project
  * Documents this switch in msvc build readme

  I have run the following test to verify this works

  I ran the msvc build with `<RandomizedBaseAddress>true</RandomizedBaseAddress>` then checked `bitcoind.exe` and `bitcoin-cli.exe` with `dumpbin.exe`:

  bitcoind
  ```
  > .\dumpbin.exe /headers src/bitcoind.exe
  Microsoft (R) COFF/PE Dumper Version 14.16.27045.0
  ...
  OPTIONAL HEADER VALUES
               20B magic # (PE32+)
             14.28 linker version
            AE4600 size of code
            345C00 size of initialized data
                 0 size of uninitialized data
            6BED74 entry point (00000001406BED74) mainCRTStartup
              1000 base of code
         140000000 image base (0000000140000000 to 0000000140E2DFFF)
              1000 section alignment
               200 file alignment
              6.00 operating system version
              0.00 image version
              6.00 subsystem version
                 0 Win32 version
            E2E000 size of image
               400 size of headers
                 0 checksum
                 3 subsystem (Windows CUI)
              8160 DLL characteristics
                     High Entropy Virtual Addresses
                     Dynamic base
                     NX compatible
                     Terminal Server Aware
  ```

  bitcoin-cli
  ```
  > .\dumpbin.exe /headers src/bitcoin-cli.exe
  Microsoft (R) COFF/PE Dumper Version 14.16.27045.0
  ...
  OPTIONAL HEADER VALUES
               20B magic # (PE32+)
             14.28 linker version
            1E3E00 size of code
             92C00 size of initialized data
                 0 size of uninitialized data
            104384 entry point (0000000140104384) mainCRTStartup
              1000 base of code
         140000000 image base (0000000140000000 to 0000000140279FFF)
              1000 section alignment
               200 file alignment
              6.00 operating system version
              0.00 image version
              6.00 subsystem version
                 0 Win32 version
            27A000 size of image
               400 size of headers
                 0 checksum
                 3 subsystem (Windows CUI)
              8160 DLL characteristics
                     High Entropy Virtual Addresses
                     Dynamic base
                     NX compatible
                     Terminal Server Aware
  ```

  Then I built with `<RandomizedBaseAddress>false</RandomizedBaseAddress>` then checked `bitcoind.exe` and `bitcoin-cli.exe` with `dumpbin.exe` and observed that `Dynamic base` was longer listed in `OPTIONAL HEADER VALUES`

  bitcoind
  ```
  PS C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\Community\VC\Tools\MSVC\14.16.27023\bin\HostX64\x64> .\dumpbin.exe /headers C:\Users\e0\Documents\GitHub\bitcoin021noaslr/src/bitcoind.exe
  Microsoft (R) COFF/PE Dumper Version 14.16.27045.0
  ...
  OPTIONAL HEADER VALUES
               20B magic # (PE32+)
             14.28 linker version
            AE4600 size of code
            33FE00 size of initialized data
                 0 size of uninitialized data
            6BED74 entry point (00000001406BED74) mainCRTStartup
              1000 base of code
         140000000 image base (0000000140000000 to 0000000140E27FFF)
              1000 section alignment
               200 file alignment
              6.00 operating system version
              0.00 image version
              6.00 subsystem version
                 0 Win32 version
            E28000 size of image
               400 size of headers
                 0 checksum
                 3 subsystem (Windows CUI)
              8120 DLL characteristics
                     High Entropy Virtual Addresses
                     NX compatible
                     Terminal Server Aware
  ```

  bitcoin-cli
  ```
  > .\dumpbin.exe /headers src/bitcoin-cli.exe
  Microsoft (R) COFF/PE Dumper Version 14.16.27045.0
  ...
  OPTIONAL HEADER VALUES
               20B magic # (PE32+)
             14.28 linker version
            1E3E00 size of code
             90C00 size of initialized data
                 0 size of uninitialized data
            104384 entry point (0000000140104384) mainCRTStartup
              1000 base of code
         140000000 image base (0000000140000000 to 0000000140277FFF)
              1000 section alignment
               200 file alignment
              6.00 operating system version
              0.00 image version
              6.00 subsystem version
                 0 Win32 version
            278000 size of image
               400 size of headers
                 0 checksum
                 3 subsystem (Windows CUI)
              8120 DLL characteristics
                     High Entropy Virtual Addresses
                     NX compatible
                     Terminal Server Aware
  ```

ACKs for top commit:
  sipsorcery:
    ACK 9bd3f35003.
  practicalswift:
    cr ACK 9bd3f35003: patch looks correct

Tree-SHA512: ddffdb4ff8a09c7cfef61c07a5db2a2828e9e3aa795ad8e5a1bf51ab489a68b40f87f6694518c5e0b8858c0fad4f93bb947b052e6b9d5e55eb38e764b746fc02
2021-04-29 22:14:34 +02:00

5.4 KiB

Building Bitcoin Core with Visual Studio

Introduction

Solution and project files to build the Bitcoin Core applications msbuild or Visual Studio can be found in the build_msvc directory. The build has been tested with Visual Studio 2017 and 2019.

Building with Visual Studio is an alternative to the Linux based cross-compiler build.

Quick Start

The minimal steps required to build Bitcoin Core with the msbuild toolchain are below. More detailed instructions are contained in the following sections.

cd build_msvc
py -3 msvc-autogen.py
msbuild /m bitcoin.sln /p:Platform=x64 /p:Configuration=Release /t:build

Dependencies

A number of open source libraries are required in order to be able to build Bitcoin Core.

Options for installing the dependencies in a Visual Studio compatible manner are:

  • Use Microsoft's vcpkg to download the source packages and build locally. This is the recommended approach.
  • Download the source code, build each dependency, add the required include paths, link libraries and binary tools to the Visual Studio project files.
  • Use nuget packages with the understanding that any binary files have been compiled by an untrusted third party.

The external dependencies required for building are listed in the build_msvc/vcpkg.json file. To ensure msbuild project files automatically install the vcpkg dependencies use:

vcpkg integrate install

Qt

In order to build the Bitcoin Core a static build of Qt is required. The runtime library version (e.g. v141, v142) and platform type (x86 or x64) must also match.

Some prebuilt x64 versions of Qt can be downloaded from here. Please be aware these downloads are NOT officially sanctioned by Bitcoin Core and are provided for developer convenience only. They should NOT be used for builds that will be used in a production environment or with real funds.

To determine which Qt prebuilt version to download open the .appveyor.yml file and note the QT_DOWNLOAD_URL. When extracting the zip file the destination path must be set to C:\. This is due to the way that Qt includes, libraries and tools use internal paths.

To build Bitcoin Core without Qt unload or disable the bitcoin-qt, libbitcoin_qt and test_bitcoin-qt projects.

Building

The instructions below use vcpkg to install the dependencies.

  • Install vcpkg.

  • Use Python to generate *.vcxproj from Makefile

PS >py -3 msvc-autogen.py
  • An optional step is to adjust the settings in the build_msvc directory and the common.init.vcxproj file. This project file contains settings that are common to all projects such as the runtime library version and target Windows SDK version. The Qt directories can also be set.

  • To build from the command line with the Visual Studio 2017 toolchain use:

msbuild /m bitcoin.sln /p:Platform=x64 /p:Configuration=Release /p:PlatformToolset=v141 /t:build
  • To build from the command line with the Visual Studio 2019 toolchain use:
msbuild /m bitcoin.sln /p:Platform=x64 /p:Configuration=Release /t:build
  • Alternatively open the build_msvc/bitcoin.sln file in Visual Studio.

AppVeyor

The .appveyor.yml in the root directory is suitable to perform builds on AppVeyor Continuous Integration servers. The simplest way to perform an AppVeyor build is to fork Bitcoin Core and then configure a new AppVeyor Project pointing to the forked repository.

For safety reasons the Bitcoin Core .appveyor.yml file has the artifact options disabled. The build will be performed but no executable files will be available. To enable artifacts on a forked repository uncomment the lines shown below:

    #- 7z a bitcoin-%APPVEYOR_BUILD_VERSION%.zip %APPVEYOR_BUILD_FOLDER%\build_msvc\%platform%\%configuration%\*.exe
    #- path: bitcoin-%APPVEYOR_BUILD_VERSION%.zip

Security

Base address randomization is used to make Bitcoin Core more secure. When building Bitcoin using the build_msvc process base address randomization can be disabled by editing common.init.vcproj to change RandomizedBaseAddress from true to false and then rebuilding the project.

To check if bitcoind has RandomizedBaseAddress enabled or disabled run

.\dumpbin.exe /headers src/bitcoind.exe

If is it enabled then in the output Dynamic base will be listed in the DLL characteristics under OPTIONAL HEADER VALUES as shown below

            8160 DLL characteristics
                   High Entropy Virtual Addresses
                   Dynamic base
                   NX compatible
                   Terminal Server Aware

This may not disable all stack randomization as versions of windows employ additional stack randomization protections. These protections must be turned off in the OS configuration.