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I’m porting my small C++ project from MinGW + GCC to MSVC 2022 with the Ninja generator. On MinGW everything links fine, but with MSVC I keep getting this:

engine.lib(windows_window.cpp.obj) : error LNK2019:
unresolved external symbol
Honey::OpenGLContext::OpenGLContext(GLFWwindow*)
referenced in Honey::WindowsWindow::init(...)
fatal error LNK1120: 1 unresolved externals

engine is a static lib; opengl_context.cpp is in its source list.

application links: engine glfw glm glad imgui.

Tried duplicate-link trick and /WHOLEARCHIVE:engine.lib → same error.

lib.exe /LIST engine.lib | findstr opengl_context shows nothing (object never archived).

Clean rebuild shows no compile errors for that file.

Why would MSVC skip archiving a compiled .obj while MinGW includes it? Any CMake/MSVC static-lib gotchas I’m missing?

(Happy to share full CMakeLists or logs.)

Link to the GitHub repo: https://github.com/treybertram06/Honey

How I'm linking the library:

add_executable(application src/application.cpp)

# first pass
target_link_libraries(application PRIVATE
    engine               # ← static lib that contains all engine .cpp’s
    glfw glm glad imgui  # external deps
)

# second pass try to make MSVC rescan
target_link_libraries(application PUBLIC engine)

# I’ve also tried, instead of the second scan
target_link_options(application PRIVATE "/WHOLEARCHIVE:engine.lib")

But, opengl_context.cpp.obj never appears in engine.lib (confirmed with lib.exe /LIST engine.lib | findstr opengl_context making no output), so MSVC can’t resolve Honey::OpenGLContext::OpenGLContext.

Improve this question
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  • 1
    You are talking about linking errors, but you don't provide debugging details on how you link the libraries. Commented May 9 at 6:53
  • On an unrelated note, the name MinGW is an abbreviation of Minimalist GNU for Windows. Here GNU implies GCC, so "MinGW + GCC" is like saying "GCC + GCC" which makes no sense. Commented May 9 at 7:12
  • 1
    As for your problem, you search for opengl_context but the symbol name is OpenGLContext. Casing and underscores matter. This mismatch could lead to a false negative. Commented May 9 at 7:14
  • 2
    On github repo, you have CMake which uses static lib for engine, and premake which uses dynamic lib, dllimport/dllexport is required for msvc for dynamic library... Commented May 9 at 7:44
  • Generate a export header for your library and include it when packaging your library. Commented May 9 at 10:45
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