Struggling with libssh on Windows

Question

The problem

I'm trying to build a project in Visual Studio 2015 on Win10 that makes use of libssh, but I'm having no luck getting it to work. I feel like I'm losing my mind here. I'm either completely blanking out or missing something incredibly obvious.

I've tried using the installer libssh-0.7.2-msvc.exe from the files section at https://red.libssh.org/projects/libssh/files. I then linked it to a test C++ project in VS2015. Using the sample code I'm able to compile it:

#include <iostream>

#define LIBSSH_STATIC
#include <libssh/libssh.h>

int main() {
    std::cout << "Starting libssh test" << std::endl;

    ssh_session my_ssh_session = ssh_new();

    if (my_ssh_session == NULL) {
        std::cout << "Failed to initialize" << std::endl;
    }

    ssh_free(my_ssh_session);

    return 0;
}

(Note: I've tried both #define LIBSSH_STATIC and #define LIBSSH_STATIC 1 based on posts I've seen from my initial search for answers. I've even tried adding it to the preprocessor definitions in project properties.)

I can only compile it if my project is set to 32-bit, but I can't run the resulting executable. Doing so results in an error: "The code execution cannot proceed because ssh.dll was not found. Reinstalling the program may fix this problem." I'm statically linking ssh.lib, though, so I'm not sure why I'm even getting that error.

So I tried compiling libssh myself as 64-bit. It took some more tinkering than I expected (I had some issues with zlib, which eventually I just omitted since it's optional). I can compile my project as a 64-bit executable successfully, but once again, I can't actually run it. I get the same error about ssh.dll being missing.

For the sake of trying it, I removed the LIBSSH_STATIC define and tried to link just to the DLL. Copying the ssh.dll from the libssh distribution into my program folder and trying to run it, I get the error: "The application was unable to start correctly (0xc000007b). Click OK to close the application."

I'm not sure what I'm missing here, but I'm sure it's dumb and I'm overthinking it.

Project settings (all configurations, all platforms)

libssh is installed to G:\Libraries\libssh_0.7.2 on my machine.

Configuration Properties > VC++ Directories > Include Directories

• G:\Libraries\libssh_0.7.2\include;$(IncludePath)

Configuration Properties > VC++ Directories > Library Directories

• G:\Libraries\libssh_0.7.2\lib;$(LibraryPath)

Configuration Properties > Linker > Input > Additional Dependencies

• ssh.lib;%(AdditionalDependencies)

libssh path summary

• libssh_0.7.2
  • bin
    • ssh.dll
  • include
    • libssh
      • callbacks.h
      • legacy.h
      • libssh.h
      • libsshpp.hpp
      • server.h
      • sftp.h
      • ssh2.h
  • lib
    • ssh.lib

Answer 1

1. Install vkpkg

2. ? Win+X and open the powershell

3. Input vckpg install libssh:x64-windows

4. Integrate into Visual Studio: vcpkg integrate install

Then you can include <libssh.h> in Visual Studio.