Official Windows executables don't (always?) work -- "side-by-side configuration is incorrect"

[SimonDanisch]

I'm getting:

**PS C:\Users\sdani> tectonic.exe --help
Program 'tectonic.exe' failed to run: The application has failed to start because its side-by-side configuration is
incorrect. Please see the application event log or use the command-line sxstrace.exe tool for more detailAt line:1
char:1
+ C:\Users\sdani\ ...
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~.
At line:1 char:1
+ C:\Users\sdani\ ...
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : ResourceUnavailable: (:) [], ApplicationFailedException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : NativeCommandFailed**

I guess this is due to some missing C++ redistributable package?
I tried the MSVC and the GNU option.

[MichaelHatherly]

Also encountering the same error on a local win10 vm. Interestingly the binaries for windows are running fine in github actions windows runners (https://github.com/MichaelHatherly/Tectonic.jl/runs/2762080655?check_suite_focus=true#step:6:48).

[pkgw]

I'm not very experienced with Windows development and I'm afraid that I have no idea what this message means! I will try to look into it, but if there are any Windows developers out there who are more familiar with these matters, please let me know. (That being said, I literally haven't even Googled this issue yet — I have work things that will keep me busy this week.)

If it is related to redistributables, maybe the split into sub-crates has caused some kind of problem with regards to the crt-static target flag or items along those lines. It's possible that the act of splitting up all of the build scripts has caused some issues there.

[B4rtware]

I also have the same problem. Using sxstrace.exe to capture the errors into a log file and converting it to a txt (mentioned here) the following error gets displayed:

=================
Begin Activation Context Generation.
Input Parameter:
        Flags = 0
        ProcessorArchitecture = AMD64
        CultureFallBacks = en-US;en
        ManifestPath = XXXXXX\tectonic.exe
        AssemblyDirectory = XXXXXXX\
        Application Config File =
-----------------
INFO: Parsing Manifest File XXXXXXX\tectonic.exe.
        INFO: Manifest Definition Identity is Watchexec.Cli.watchexec,type="win32",version="1.15.2.0".
        ERROR: The setting http://schemas.microsoft.com/SMI/2020/WindowsSettings^activeCodePage is not registered.
ERROR: Activation Context generation failed.
End Activation Context Generation.

This leads to this issue: watchexec/watchexec#192
Maybe upgrading watchexec to a version greater than 1.15.2 will help?

[pkgw]

Thank you @B4rtware, excellent sleuthing! My initial investigations suggest that this is indeed the problem. And based on my test runs I think that #782 should fix this problem. I'm not sure if there's a convenient way to update the CI to detect this kind of problem in the future, but I'm very pleased that this appears to be an easy fix! (Knock wood ...)

[batkiz]

Tried 0.5.1, but still got the same error. 😢

[pkgw]

0.5.1 will still be broken. If all goes well, there will be a 0.5.2 soon that fixes it.

[MichaelHatherly]

Latest continuous deployment https://github.com/tectonic-typesetting/tectonic/releases/download/continuous/tectonic-0.5.1+20210608-x86_64-pc-windows-msvc.zip has fixed it for me, thanks.

[SimonDanisch]

I can confirm...Thanks for the quick fix :) Would be nice to see an official released binary soon!

[pkgw]

@SimonDanisch Clearly my release notes have to do an even better job of extolling the virtues of our release automation system! I just initiated a 0.5.2 release, which took me all of five minutes to kick off. The release should be published in an hour or two.

(I developed a novel release automation workflow last summer and a tool to implement it, Cranko, and they have been life-changing.)