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Use the same ABI for static and shared libraries on non-Windows platforms #12983

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Romain-Geissler-1A
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Hi,

It seems that until last year, the logic behind PROTOBUF_USE_DLLS was for Windows (MSCV) only. It was changed to all platforms here in 5a0887f

Last month, the generated pkg config files were updated to reflect the protobuf build-time value of PROTOBUF_USE_DLLS as it was indeed noted that it changes the ABI. This was done in #12700 In the commit message it is mentionned that most likely we shall rather have a stable ABI.

Finally in #12746 which at some point mentions https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/283987730#comment7 where a Google employee hits the linker issue:

undefined reference to `google::protobuf::internal::ThreadSafeArena::thread_cache_'

which denotes a mix of some .o or libs built PROTOBUF_USE_DLLS defined and some others build with PROTOBUF_USE_DLLS undefined, resulting in ABI incompatibilities.

I also hit this issue while trying to include protobuf in a corporate environment using it's own proprietary build system in which it is expected that .a and .so use a compatible ABI.

From my own understanding, ideally we should always use thread_local variables, but experience has shown that:

  • old iOS (iOS < 9) didn't seem to accept thread_local, leading to the GOOGLE_PROTOBUF_NO_THREADLOCAL macro later renamed PROTOBUF_NO_THREADLOCAL which allowed to disable this, but it is not set anywhere in the protobuf code base. Also I doubt you still want to support such old iOS now, so maybe you should consider removing all PROTOBUF_NO_THREADLOCAL related code paths (this pull request doesn't do this).
  • MSVC's DLL interface doesn't seem to accept exporting thread local variables (at least from what I understood, I know absolutely nothing about the Windows ecosystem), yet we can "hide" a thread local variable in a static function using a thread local variable. However in that case the access to TLS variable is not inlined, leading to worse performances, this hack shall be done only for Windows (actually when using MSVC) AND we build a shared library.
  • In all other cases, a classical thread_local shall be used, no matter if we build a static or a shared library. In particular on Linux which I guess is the target Google cares the more about for its own production. This pull request achieves this.

Am I right in my conclusion ?

@Romain-Geissler-1A Romain-Geissler-1A requested a review from a team as a code owner June 5, 2023 20:40
@Romain-Geissler-1A Romain-Geissler-1A requested review from fowles and removed request for a team June 5, 2023 20:40
@fowles fowles added 🅰️ safe for tests Mark a commit as safe to run presubmits over c++ labels Jun 5, 2023
@fowles fowles added 🅰️ safe for tests Mark a commit as safe to run presubmits over customer issue and removed 🅰️ safe for tests Mark a commit as safe to run presubmits over labels Jun 6, 2023
@fowles fowles added 🅰️ safe for tests Mark a commit as safe to run presubmits over and removed 🅰️ safe for tests Mark a commit as safe to run presubmits over labels Jun 6, 2023
@copybara-service copybara-service bot closed this in 4329fde Jun 6, 2023
fowles pushed a commit to fowles/protobuf that referenced this pull request Jun 7, 2023
…orms (protocolbuffers#12983)

Hi,

It seems that until last year, the logic behind `PROTOBUF_USE_DLLS` was for Windows (MSCV) only. It was changed to all platforms here in protocolbuffers@5a0887f

Last month, the generated pkg config files were updated to reflect the protobuf build-time value of `PROTOBUF_USE_DLLS` as it was indeed noted that it changes the ABI. This was done in protocolbuffers#12700 In the commit message it is mentionned that most likely we shall rather have a stable ABI.

Finally in protocolbuffers#12746 which at some point mentions https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/283987730#comment7 where a Google employee hits the linker issue:
```
undefined reference to `google::protobuf::internal::ThreadSafeArena::thread_cache_'
```
which denotes a mix of some .o or libs built `PROTOBUF_USE_DLLS` defined and some others build with `PROTOBUF_USE_DLLS` undefined, resulting in ABI incompatibilities.

I also hit this issue while trying to include protobuf in a corporate environment using it's own proprietary build system in which it is expected that .a and .so use a compatible ABI.

From my own understanding, ideally we should always use `thread_local` variables, but experience has shown that:
 - old iOS (iOS < 9) didn't seem to accept `thread_local`, leading to the `GOOGLE_PROTOBUF_NO_THREADLOCAL` macro later renamed `PROTOBUF_NO_THREADLOCAL` which allowed to disable this, but it is not set anywhere in the protobuf code base. Also I doubt you still want to support such old iOS now, so maybe you should consider removing all `PROTOBUF_NO_THREADLOCAL` related code paths (this pull request doesn't do this).
  - MSVC's DLL interface doesn't seem to accept exporting thread local variables (at least from what I understood, I know absolutely nothing about the Windows ecosystem), yet we can "hide" a thread local variable in a static function using a thread local variable. However in that case the access to TLS variable is not inlined, leading to worse performances, this hack shall be done only for Windows (actually when using MSVC) *AND* we build a shared library.
  - In all other cases, a classical `thread_local` shall be used, no matter if we build a static or a shared library. In particular on Linux which I guess is the target Google cares the more about for its own production. This pull request achieves this.

Am I right in my conclusion ?

Closes protocolbuffers#12983

COPYBARA_INTEGRATE_REVIEW=protocolbuffers#12983 from Romain-Geissler-1A:stable-abi-use-dll-non-windows dc23ff5
PiperOrigin-RevId: 538230923
BewareMyPower added a commit to BewareMyPower/pulsar-client-cpp that referenced this pull request Jun 21, 2023
### Motivation

The current CMakeLists.txt does not work with the latest Protobuf
(23.3.0). It's because currently the Module mode is used to find
Protobuf, while the `FindProtobuf.cmake` is not updated to find the
Abseil dependency.

See protocolbuffers/protobuf#12292 (comment)

### Modifications

For macOS, use the Config mode to find Protobuf. It's because in other
systems, the Module mode works well. Besides, enable `PROTOBUF_USE_DLLS`
as a workaround for
protocolbuffers/protobuf#12983 is not released.
BewareMyPower added a commit to BewareMyPower/pulsar-client-cpp that referenced this pull request Jun 21, 2023
### Motivation

The current CMakeLists.txt does not work with the latest Protobuf
(23.3.0). It's because currently the Module mode is used to find
Protobuf, while the `FindProtobuf.cmake` is not updated to find the
Abseil dependency.

See protocolbuffers/protobuf#12292 (comment)

### Modifications

For macOS, use the Config mode to find Protobuf. It's because in other
systems, the Module mode works well. Besides, enable `PROTOBUF_USE_DLLS`
as a workaround for
protocolbuffers/protobuf#12983 is not released.
BewareMyPower added a commit to BewareMyPower/pulsar-client-cpp that referenced this pull request Jun 25, 2023
### Motivation

The current CMakeLists.txt does not work with the latest Protobuf
(23.3.0). It's because currently the Module mode is used to find
Protobuf, while the `FindProtobuf.cmake` is not updated to find the
Abseil dependency.

See protocolbuffers/protobuf#12292 (comment)

### Modifications

For macOS, use the Config mode to find Protobuf. It's because in other
systems, the Module mode works well. Besides, enable `PROTOBUF_USE_DLLS`
as a workaround for
protocolbuffers/protobuf#12983 is not released.

Pin the default C++ standard to 17 for macOS so that users don't need to
set the C++ standard manually.
shibd pushed a commit to apache/pulsar-client-cpp that referenced this pull request Jun 26, 2023
### Motivation

The current CMakeLists.txt does not work with the latest Protobuf
(23.3.0). It's because currently the Module mode is used to find
Protobuf, while the `FindProtobuf.cmake` is not updated to find the
Abseil dependency.

See protocolbuffers/protobuf#12292 (comment)

### Modifications

For macOS, use the Config mode to find Protobuf. It's because in other
systems, the Module mode works well. Besides, enable `PROTOBUF_USE_DLLS`
as a workaround for
protocolbuffers/protobuf#12983 is not released.

Pin the default C++ standard to 17 for macOS so that users don't need to
set the C++ standard manually.
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2 participants