[zlib] Build error on x64-windows when installing qt

[spapiernik]

Package: zlib:x64-windows@1.3.1

Host Environment

• Host: x64-windows
• Compiler: MSVC 19.44.35215.0
• vcpkg-tool version: 2025-07-21-d4b65a2b83ae6c3526acd1c6f3b51aff2a884533
  vcpkg-scripts version: b1b1930 2025-08-30 (3 days ago)

To Reproduce

vcpkg install qt

Failure logs

-- Using cached madler-zlib-v1.3.1.tar.gz
-- Cleaning sources at C:/Program Files/vcpkg/buildtrees/zlib/src/v1.3.1-2e5db616bf.clean. Use --editable to skip cleaning for the packages you specify.
-- Extracting source C:/Program Files/vcpkg/downloads/madler-zlib-v1.3.1.tar.gz
-- Applying patch 0001-Prevent-invalid-inclusions-when-HAVE_-is-set-to-0.patch
-- Applying patch 0002-build-static-or-shared-not-both.patch
-- Applying patch 0003-android-and-mingw-fixes.patch
-- Using source at C:/Program Files/vcpkg/buildtrees/zlib/src/v1.3.1-2e5db616bf.clean
-- Configuring x64-windows
-- Building x64-windows-dbg
CMake Error at scripts/cmake/vcpkg_execute_build_process.cmake:134 (message):
    Command failed: C:/msys64/ucrt64/bin/cmake.exe --build . --config Debug --target install -- -v -j17
    Working Directory: C:/Program Files/vcpkg/buildtrees/zlib/x64-windows-dbg
    See logs for more information:
      C:\Program Files\vcpkg\buildtrees\zlib\install-x64-windows-dbg-out.log

Call Stack (most recent call first):
  installed/x64-windows/share/vcpkg-cmake/vcpkg_cmake_build.cmake:74 (vcpkg_execute_build_process)
  installed/x64-windows/share/vcpkg-cmake/vcpkg_cmake_install.cmake:16 (vcpkg_cmake_build)
  ports/zlib/portfile.cmake:26 (vcpkg_cmake_install)
  scripts/ports.cmake:206 (include)

C:\Program Files\vcpkg\buildtrees\zlib\install-x64-windows-dbg-out.log

Change Dir: 'C:/Program Files/vcpkg/buildtrees/zlib/x64-windows-dbg'

Run Build Command(s): "C:/Program Files/vcpkg/downloads/tools/ninja/1.12.1-windows/ninja.exe" -v -v -j17 install
[1/18] RC "C:\Program Files\vcpkg\buildtrees\zlib\src\v1.3.1-2e5db616bf.clean\win32\zlib1.rc" CMakeFiles\zlib.dir\win32\zlib1.rc.res.d CMakeFiles\zlib.dir\win32\zlib1.rc.res "Note: including file: " "C:/Program Files/Microsoft Visual Studio/2022/Community/VC/Tools/MSVC/14.44.35207/bin/Hostx64/x64/cl.exe" C:\PROGRA~2\WI3CF2~1\10\bin\100261~1.0\x64\rc.exe -DNO_FSEEKO -DZLIB_DLL -D_CRT_NONSTDC_NO_DEPRECATE -D_CRT_SECURE_NO_DEPRECATE -I "C:\Program Files\vcpkg\buildtrees\zlib\src\v1.3.1-2e5db616bf.clean" -I "C:\Program Files\vcpkg\buildtrees\zlib\x64-windows-dbg" -c65001 /DWIN32 -D_DEBUG /fo CMakeFiles\zlib.dir\win32\zlib1.rc.res "C:\Program Files\vcpkg\buildtrees\zlib\src\v1.3.1-2e5db616bf.clean\win32\zlib1.rc"
FAILED: CMakeFiles/zlib.dir/win32/zlib1.rc.res 
RC "C:\Program Files\vcpkg\buildtrees\zlib\src\v1.3.1-2e5db616bf.clean\win32\zlib1.rc" CMakeFiles\zlib.dir\win32\zlib1.rc.res.d CMakeFiles\zlib.dir\win32\zlib1.rc.res "Note: including file: " "C:/Program Files/Microsoft Visual Studio/2022/Community/VC/Tools/MSVC/14.44.35207/bin/Hostx64/x64/cl.exe" C:\PROGRA~2\WI3CF2~1\10\bin\100261~1.0\x64\rc.exe -DNO_FSEEKO -DZLIB_DLL -D_CRT_NONSTDC_NO_DEPRECATE -D_CRT_SECURE_NO_DEPRECATE -I "C:\Program Files\vcpkg\buildtrees\zlib\src\v1.3.1-2e5db616bf.clean" -I "C:\Program Files\vcpkg\buildtrees\zlib\x64-windows-dbg" -c65001 /DWIN32 -D_DEBUG /fo CMakeFiles\zlib.dir\win32\zlib1.rc.res "C:\Program Files\vcpkg\buildtrees\zlib\src\v1.3.1-2e5db616bf.clean\win32\zlib1.rc"
Microsoft (R) Windows (R) Resource Compiler Version 10.0.10011.16384


Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation.  All rights reserved.




fatal error RC1107: invalid usage; use RC /? for Help


[2/18] C:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~4\2022\COMMUN~1\VC\Tools\MSVC\1444~1.352\bin\Hostx64\x64\cl.exe   -DNO_FSEEKO -DZLIB_DLL -D_CRT_NONSTDC_NO_DEPRECATE -D_CRT_SECURE_NO_DEPRECATE -I"C:\Program Files\vcpkg\buildtrees\zlib\src\v1.3.1-2e5db616bf.clean" -I"C:\Program Files\vcpkg\buildtrees\zlib\x64-windows-dbg" /nologo /DWIN32 /D_WINDOWS /utf-8 /MP  /MDd /Z7 /Ob0 /Od /RTC1  -MDd /showIncludes /FoCMakeFiles\zlib.dir\uncompr.c.obj /FdCMakeFiles\zlib.dir\ /FS -c "C:\Program Files\vcpkg\buildtrees\zlib\src\v1.3.1-2e5db616bf.clean\uncompr.c"
[3/18] C:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~4\2022\COMMUN~1\VC\Tools\MSVC\1444~1.352\bin\Hostx64\x64\cl.exe   -DNO_FSEEKO -DZLIB_DLL -D_CRT_NONSTDC_NO_DEPRECATE -D_CRT_SECURE_NO_DEPRECATE -I"C:\Program Files\vcpkg\buildtrees\zlib\src\v1.3.1-2e5db616bf.clean" -I"C:\Program Files\vcpkg\buildtrees\zlib\x64-windows-dbg" /nologo /DWIN32 /D_WINDOWS /utf-8 /MP  /MDd /Z7 /Ob0 /Od /RTC1  -MDd /showIncludes /FoCMakeFiles\zlib.dir\compress.c.obj /FdCMakeFiles\zlib.dir\ /FS -c "C:\Program Files\vcpkg\buildtrees\zlib\src\v1.3.1-2e5db616bf.clean\compress.c"
[4/18] C:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~4\2022\COMMUN~1\VC\Tools\MSVC\1444~1.352\bin\Hostx64\x64\cl.exe   -DNO_FSEEKO -DZLIB_DLL -D_CRT_NONSTDC_NO_DEPRECATE -D_CRT_SECURE_NO_DEPRECATE -I"C:\Program Files\vcpkg\buildtrees\zlib\src\v1.3.1-2e5db616bf.clean" -I"C:\Program Files\vcpkg\buildtrees\zlib\x64-windows-dbg" /nologo /DWIN32 /D_WINDOWS /utf-8 /MP  /MDd /Z7 /Ob0 /Od /RTC1  -MDd /showIncludes /FoCMakeFiles\zlib.dir\adler32.c.obj /FdCMakeFiles\zlib.dir\ /FS -c "C:\Program Files\vcpkg\buildtrees\zlib\src\v1.3.1-2e5db616bf.clean\adler32.c"
[5/18] C:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~4\2022\COMMUN~1\VC\Tools\MSVC\1444~1.352\bin\Hostx64\x64\cl.exe   -DNO_FSEEKO -DZLIB_DLL -D_CRT_NONSTDC_NO_DEPRECATE -D_CRT_SECURE_NO_DEPRECATE -I"C:\Program Files\vcpkg\buildtrees\zlib\src\v1.3.1-2e5db616bf.clean" -I"C:\Program Files\vcpkg\buildtrees\zlib\x64-windows-dbg" /nologo /DWIN32 /D_WINDOWS /utf-8 /MP  /MDd /Z7 /Ob0 /Od /RTC1  -MDd /showIncludes /FoCMakeFiles\zlib.dir\zutil.c.obj /FdCMakeFiles\zlib.dir\ /FS -c "C:\Program Files\vcpkg\buildtrees\zlib\src\v1.3.1-2e5db616bf.clean\zutil.c"
[6/18] C:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~4\2022\COMMUN~1\VC\Tools\MSVC\1444~1.352\bin\Hostx64\x64\cl.exe   -DNO_FSEEKO -DZLIB_DLL -D_CRT_NONSTDC_NO_DEPRECATE -D_CRT_SECURE_NO_DEPRECATE -I"C:\Program Files\vcpkg\buildtrees\zlib\src\v1.3.1-2e5db616bf.clean" -I"C:\Program Files\vcpkg\buildtrees\zlib\x64-windows-dbg" /nologo /DWIN32 /D_WINDOWS /utf-8 /MP  /MDd /Z7 /Ob0 /Od /RTC1  -MDd /showIncludes /FoCMakeFiles\zlib.dir\gzread.c.obj /FdCMakeFiles\zlib.dir\ /FS -c "C:\Program Files\vcpkg\buildtrees\zlib\src\v1.3.1-2e5db616bf.clean\gzread.c"
[7/18] C:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~4\2022\COMMUN~1\VC\Tools\MSVC\1444~1.352\bin\Hostx64\x64\cl.exe   -DNO_FSEEKO -DZLIB_DLL -D_CRT_NONSTDC_NO_DEPRECATE -D_CRT_SECURE_NO_DEPRECATE -I"C:\Program Files\vcpkg\buildtrees\zlib\src\v1.3.1-2e5db616bf.clean" -I"C:\Program Files\vcpkg\buildtrees\zlib\x64-windows-dbg" /nologo /DWIN32 /D_WINDOWS /utf-8 /MP  /MDd /Z7 /Ob0 /Od /RTC1  -MDd /showIncludes /FoCMakeFiles\zlib.dir\crc32.c.obj /FdCMakeFiles\zlib.dir\ /FS -c "C:\Program Files\vcpkg\buildtrees\zlib\src\v1.3.1-2e5db616bf.clean\crc32.c"
[8/18] C:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~4\2022\COMMUN~1\VC\Tools\MSVC\1444~1.352\bin\Hostx64\x64\cl.exe   -DNO_FSEEKO -DZLIB_DLL -D_CRT_NONSTDC_NO_DEPRECATE -D_CRT_SECURE_NO_DEPRECATE -I"C:\Program Files\vcpkg\buildtrees\zlib\src\v1.3.1-2e5db616bf.clean" -I"C:\Program Files\vcpkg\buildtrees\zlib\x64-windows-dbg" /nologo /DWIN32 /D_WINDOWS /utf-8 /MP  /MDd /Z7 /Ob0 /Od /RTC1  -MDd /showIncludes /FoCMakeFiles\zlib.dir\gzclose.c.obj /FdCMakeFiles\zlib.dir\ /FS -c "C:\Program Files\vcpkg\buildtrees\zlib\src\v1.3.1-2e5db616bf.clean\gzclose.c"
[9/18] C:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~4\2022\COMMUN~1\VC\Tools\MSVC\1444~1.352\bin\Hostx64\x64\cl.exe   -DNO_FSEEKO -DZLIB_DLL -D_CRT_NONSTDC_NO_DEPRECATE -D_CRT_SECURE_NO_DEPRECATE -I"C:\Program Files\vcpkg\buildtrees\zlib\src\v1.3.1-2e5db616bf.clean" -I"C:\Program Files\vcpkg\buildtrees\zlib\x64-windows-dbg" /nologo /DWIN32 /D_WINDOWS /utf-8 /MP  /MDd /Z7 /Ob0 /Od /RTC1  -MDd /showIncludes /FoCMakeFiles\zlib.dir\inftrees.c.obj /FdCMakeFiles\zlib.dir\ /FS -c "C:\Program Files\vcpkg\buildtrees\zlib\src\v1.3.1-2e5db616bf.clean\inftrees.c"
[10/18] C:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~4\2022\COMMUN~1\VC\Tools\MSVC\1444~1.352\bin\Hostx64\x64\cl.exe   -DNO_FSEEKO -DZLIB_DLL -D_CRT_NONSTDC_NO_DEPRECATE -D_CRT_SECURE_NO_DEPRECATE -I"C:\Program Files\vcpkg\buildtrees\zlib\src\v1.3.1-2e5db616bf.clean" -I"C:\Program Files\vcpkg\buildtrees\zlib\x64-windows-dbg" /nologo /DWIN32 /D_WINDOWS /utf-8 /MP  /MDd /Z7 /Ob0 /Od /RTC1  -MDd /showIncludes /FoCMakeFiles\zlib.dir\infback.c.obj /FdCMakeFiles\zlib.dir\ /FS -c "C:\Program Files\vcpkg\buildtrees\zlib\src\v1.3.1-2e5db616bf.clean\infback.c"
[11/18] C:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~4\2022\COMMUN~1\VC\Tools\MSVC\1444~1.352\bin\Hostx64\x64\cl.exe   -DNO_FSEEKO -DZLIB_DLL -D_CRT_NONSTDC_NO_DEPRECATE -D_CRT_SECURE_NO_DEPRECATE -I"C:\Program Files\vcpkg\buildtrees\zlib\src\v1.3.1-2e5db616bf.clean" -I"C:\Program Files\vcpkg\buildtrees\zlib\x64-windows-dbg" /nologo /DWIN32 /D_WINDOWS /utf-8 /MP  /MDd /Z7 /Ob0 /Od /RTC1  -MDd /showIncludes /FoCMakeFiles\zlib.dir\trees.c.obj /FdCMakeFiles\zlib.dir\ /FS -c "C:\Program Files\vcpkg\buildtrees\zlib\src\v1.3.1-2e5db616bf.clean\trees.c"
[12/18] C:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~4\2022\COMMUN~1\VC\Tools\MSVC\1444~1.352\bin\Hostx64\x64\cl.exe   -DNO_FSEEKO -DZLIB_DLL -D_CRT_NONSTDC_NO_DEPRECATE -D_CRT_SECURE_NO_DEPRECATE -I"C:\Program Files\vcpkg\buildtrees\zlib\src\v1.3.1-2e5db616bf.clean" -I"C:\Program Files\vcpkg\buildtrees\zlib\x64-windows-dbg" /nologo /DWIN32 /D_WINDOWS /utf-8 /MP  /MDd /Z7 /Ob0 /Od /RTC1  -MDd /showIncludes /FoCMakeFiles\zlib.dir\gzwrite.c.obj /FdCMakeFiles\zlib.dir\ /FS -c "C:\Program Files\vcpkg\buildtrees\zlib\src\v1.3.1-2e5db616bf.clean\gzwrite.c"
[13/18] C:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~4\2022\COMMUN~1\VC\Tools\MSVC\1444~1.352\bin\Hostx64\x64\cl.exe   -DNO_FSEEKO -DZLIB_DLL -D_CRT_NONSTDC_NO_DEPRECATE -D_CRT_SECURE_NO_DEPRECATE -I"C:\Program Files\vcpkg\buildtrees\zlib\src\v1.3.1-2e5db616bf.clean" -I"C:\Program Files\vcpkg\buildtrees\zlib\x64-windows-dbg" /nologo /DWIN32 /D_WINDOWS /utf-8 /MP  /MDd /Z7 /Ob0 /Od /RTC1  -MDd /showIncludes /FoCMakeFiles\zlib.dir\deflate.c.obj /FdCMakeFiles\zlib.dir\ /FS -c "C:\Program Files\vcpkg\buildtrees\zlib\src\v1.3.1-2e5db616bf.clean\deflate.c"
[14/18] C:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~4\2022\COMMUN~1\VC\Tools\MSVC\1444~1.352\bin\Hostx64\x64\cl.exe   -DNO_FSEEKO -DZLIB_DLL -D_CRT_NONSTDC_NO_DEPRECATE -D_CRT_SECURE_NO_DEPRECATE -I"C:\Program Files\vcpkg\buildtrees\zlib\src\v1.3.1-2e5db616bf.clean" -I"C:\Program Files\vcpkg\buildtrees\zlib\x64-windows-dbg" /nologo /DWIN32 /D_WINDOWS /utf-8 /MP  /MDd /Z7 /Ob0 /Od /RTC1  -MDd /showIncludes /FoCMakeFiles\zlib.dir\inffast.c.obj /FdCMakeFiles\zlib.dir\ /FS -c "C:\Program Files\vcpkg\buildtrees\zlib\src\v1.3.1-2e5db616bf.clean\inffast.c"
[15/18] C:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~4\2022\COMMUN~1\VC\Tools\MSVC\1444~1.352\bin\Hostx64\x64\cl.exe   -DNO_FSEEKO -DZLIB_DLL -D_CRT_NONSTDC_NO_DEPRECATE -D_CRT_SECURE_NO_DEPRECATE -I"C:\Program Files\vcpkg\buildtrees\zlib\src\v1.3.1-2e5db616bf.clean" -I"C:\Program Files\vcpkg\buildtrees\zlib\x64-windows-dbg" /nologo /DWIN32 /D_WINDOWS /utf-8 /MP  /MDd /Z7 /Ob0 /Od /RTC1  -MDd /showIncludes /FoCMakeFiles\zlib.dir\gzlib.c.obj /FdCMakeFiles\zlib.dir\ /FS -c "C:\Program Files\vcpkg\buildtrees\zlib\src\v1.3.1-2e5db616bf.clean\gzlib.c"
[16/18] C:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~4\2022\COMMUN~1\VC\Tools\MSVC\1444~1.352\bin\Hostx64\x64\cl.exe   -DNO_FSEEKO -DZLIB_DLL -D_CRT_NONSTDC_NO_DEPRECATE -D_CRT_SECURE_NO_DEPRECATE -I"C:\Program Files\vcpkg\buildtrees\zlib\src\v1.3.1-2e5db616bf.clean" -I"C:\Program Files\vcpkg\buildtrees\zlib\x64-windows-dbg" /nologo /DWIN32 /D_WINDOWS /utf-8 /MP  /MDd /Z7 /Ob0 /Od /RTC1  -MDd /showIncludes /FoCMakeFiles\zlib.dir\inflate.c.obj /FdCMakeFiles\zlib.dir\ /FS -c "C:\Program Files\vcpkg\buildtrees\zlib\src\v1.3.1-2e5db616bf.clean\inflate.c"
ninja: build stopped: subcommand failed.

[spapiernik]

I figured out the cause of the build failure. It wasn’t actually a problem with zlib or vcpkg itself, but with which CMake binary was being picked up.

On my machine I had two different cmake.exe installations:

• C:\msys64\ucrt64\bin\cmake.exe (MSYS2, v4.1.0.0)
• C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\2022\Community\Common7\IDE\CommonExtensions\Microsoft\CMake\CMake\bin\cmake.exe (Visual Studio, v3.31.6.0)

Since vcpkg just runs the first cmake.exe found in PATH, it was using the MSYS2 one, which doesn’t work with the Visual Studio toolchain triplets like x64-windows. That’s why the build failed.

Fix

The only reliable fix is to adjust PATH so that Visual Studio’s CMake comes first. To make this less painful, I defined an environment variable with the path to the VS cmake binary:

$Env:VS_CMAKE="C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\2022\Community\Common7\IDE\CommonExtensions\Microsoft\CMake\CMake\bin"

Then, before running vcpkg:

$Env:PATH="$env:VS_CMAKE;$env:PATH"

Now Get-Command -All cmake shows the VS version first, and vcpkg install zlib works correctly.

[greenozon]

there might be also 3rd cmake :)
used by vcpkg itself

[dg0yt]

there might be also 3rd cmake :) used by vcpkg itself

vcpkg would download and use a pristine version which is tested in vcpkg CI.
Only the versions distributed by msys2 are troublesome, because they are not ignored by vcpkg when deciding whether it is necessary to download a pristine version.