Is this a bug in the Visual Studio 2012 linker when using / manifest: embed?

Question

Is this a bug in the Visual Studio 2012 linker when using / manifest: embed?

I noticed that a small program takes ~ 15 ms to call when compiling with vs2012 than in 2010. This does not seem like much, but it can be called many times, and we observe a ~ 2x slowdown due to this additional 15 ms.

I found a workaround that I provided below, but my question is that this is what I am doing wrong, or if I see an error in how Visual Studio 2012 implemented the / MANIFEST: embed option, Sorry for following below, but it’s hard for me to be both thorough and concise at the same time.

About my environment:

Windows 7 Enterprise x64 + Service Pack 1

c:\tmp>cl
Microsoft (R) C/C++ Optimizing Compiler Version 17.00.60610.1 for x86
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation.  All rights reserved.

usage: cl [ option... ] filename... [ /link linkoption... ]

c:\tmp>mt
Microsoft (R) Manifest Tool version 6.2.9200.16384
Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation 2012.
All rights reserved.

I can play by running a new empty console console. One source file with this simple code:

#include <iostream>
#include <string>

int main()
{
    std::string buf;
    while(std::cin >> buf)
    {
        std::cout << buf;
        buf="";
    }
}

VS, ( vs , VS2012) - test.cpp, Developer Command Prompt VS 2012, :

CL.exe /c /Zi /nologo /W3 /WX- /sdl /O2 /Oi /Oy- /GL /D WIN32 /D NDEBUG /D _CONSOLE /D _UNICODE /D UNICODE /Gm- /EHsc /MD /GS /Gy /fp:precise /Zc:wchar_t /Zc:forScope /Fd"test.pdb" /Gd /TP /analyze- /errorReport:prompt test.cpp

link.exe /ERRORREPORT:PROMPT /OUT:test.exe /INCREMENTAL:NO /NOLOGO kernel32.lib user32.lib gdi32.lib winspool.lib comdlg32.lib advapi32.lib shell32.lib ole32.lib oleaut32.lib uuid.lib odbc32.lib odbccp32.lib /MANIFEST /MANIFESTUAC:"level='asInvoker' uiAccess='false'" /manifest:embed /DEBUG /PDB:"test.pdb" /SUBSYSTEM:CONSOLE /OPT:REF /OPT:ICF /LTCG /TLBID:1 /DYNAMICBASE /NXCOMPAT /IMPLIB:"test.lib" /MACHINE:X86 /SAFESEH test.obj

test.exe , , :

<assembly xmlns='urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1' manifestVersion='1.0'>
  <trustInfo xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v3">
    <security>
      <requestedPrivileges>
        <requestedExecutionLevel level='asInvoker' uiAccess='false' />
      </requestedPrivileges>
    </security>
  </trustInfo>
</assembly>

bat , 100 : echo "Hello" | test.exe , 4.5s ( cygwin, )

$ time ./test.bat
"Hello""Hello""Hell
o""Hello""Hello""He
llo""Hello""Hello""
real    0m4.523s
user    0m0.015s
sys     0m0.015s

, /: , test.exe.manifest

link.exe /ERRORREPORT:PROMPT /OUT:test.exe /INCREMENTAL:NO /NOLOGO kernel32.lib user32.lib gdi32.lib winspool.lib comdlg32.lib advapi32.lib shell32.lib ole32.lib oleaut32.lib uuid.lib odbc32.lib odbccp32.lib /MANIFEST /MANIFESTUAC:"level='asInvoker' uiAccess='false'" /DEBUG /PDB:"test.pdb" /SUBSYSTEM:CONSOLE /OPT:REF /OPT:ICF /LTCG /TLBID:1 /DYNAMICBASE /NXCOMPAT /IMPLIB:"test.lib" /MACHINE:X86 /SAFESEH test.obj

VS2010 . , test.exe.manifest:

<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8' standalone='yes'?>
<assembly xmlns='urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1' manifestVersion='1.0'>
  <trustInfo xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v3">
    <security>
      <requestedPrivileges>
        <requestedExecutionLevel level='asInvoker' uiAccess='false' />
      </requestedPrivileges>
    </security>
  </trustInfo>
</assembly>

, exe . , , , test.exe . test.exe.manifest,

mt.exe -outputresource:test.exe;#1 -manifest test.exe.manifest

, test.exe , requestExecutionLevel - , . xml, <key></key>, <key... \>, .

<assembly xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1" manifestVersion="1.0">
  <trustInfo xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v3">
    <security>
      <requestedPrivileges>
        <requestedExecutionLevel level="asInvoker" uiAccess="false"></requestedExecutionLevel>
      </requestedPrivileges>
    </security>
  </trustInfo>
</assembly>

100 bat bat 1,5

$ time ./test.bat
"Hello""Hello""Hell
o""Hello""Hello""He
llo""Hello""Hello""
real    0m3.095s
user    0m0.015s
sys     0m0.000s

, , <requestedExecutionLevel level=.... \> <requestedExecutionLevel level=... ></requestedExecutionLevel>

- , mt.exe , ?

test.exe , " " "" "-" > " ". " " $(IntDir) $(TargetName) $(TargetExt).intermediate.manifest( , Linker > Manifest File > " " ). " " , "" > " " " " /outputresource:"$(TargetDir)$(TargetName)$(TargetExt);#1"

CMAKE , , CMAKE.

mt.exe , , , . , , , , , , . dummy.manifest UAC.

dummy.manifest:

?<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<assembly xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1" manifestVersion="1.0">
  <trustInfo xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v3">
  </trustInfo>
</assembly>

:

IF(WIN32)
ADD_CUSTOM_COMMAND(TARGET test
                   POST_BUILD
                   COMMAND "mt.exe" "-inputresource:\"$(TargetDir)\\$(TargetFileName);#1\" -out:\"${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/$(TargetFileName).fix.manifest\""
                   COMMAND "mt.exe" "-outputresource:\"$(TargetDir)\\$(TargetFileName);#1\" -manifest \"${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/dummy.manifest\""
                   COMMAND "mt.exe" "-outputresource:\"$(TargetDir)\\$(TargetFileName);#1\" -manifest \"${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/$(TargetFileName).fix.manifest\""
                   COMMENT "Fixing bad manifest file"
                   )
ENDIF(WIN32)