Windows build through Windows Subsystem for Linux doesn't work anymore #11814

I am following the instructions of this page: https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/blob/master/doc/build-windows.md

When I get to sudo apt install g++-mingw-w64-x86-64 it fails, because of an unmet dependency. Which this dependency is does not matter, I am following down the chain of unmet dependencies with apt install to the bottom and that's when I find the problem:

Depends: binutils (>= 2.28) but 2.26.1-1ubuntu1~16.04.5 is to be installed

lsb_release -a gives the following output:

No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description:    Ubuntu 16.04.3 LTS
Release:        16.04
Codename:       xenial

While I am new to WSL, I suspect I'm not able to upgrade from xenial. Am I right?
The right solution would be to somehow install newer version of binutils, right? How can I do that?

[ ] Also this issue should not be closed until the documentation had been updated.

Cc @sipsorcery, because you've just worked on the WSL documentation 15 days ago.

@fanquake It's a Linux issue, not a Windows issue.

@nopara73 did you run the apt install command mentioned in the instructions before g++-mingw-w64-x86-64?

sudo apt install build-essential libtool autotools-dev automake pkg-config bsdmainutils curl git

@sipsorcery Yes, as I explained g++-mingw-w64-x86-64 depends on something that depends on something that depends on binutils (>= 2.28), while only 2.26.1 is available at the app store of Ubuntu 16.04.

@nopara73 I have repeated the WSL steps on a different machine and do not get the dependency issue you have described.

• Install ubuntu
• sudo apt update
• sudo apt upgrade
• sudo apt install build-essential libtool autotools-dev automake pkg-config bsdmainutils curl git
• sudo apt install g++-mingw-w64-x86-64

The output from the last step was:

$ sudo apt install g++-mingw-w64-x86-64 Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree Reading state information... Done The following package was automatically installed and is no longer required: libfreetype6 Use 'sudo apt autoremove' to remove it. The following additional packages will be installed: binutils-mingw-w64-x86-64 gcc-mingw-w64-base gcc-mingw-w64-x86-64 mingw-w64-common mingw-w64-x86-64-dev Suggested packages: gcc-5-locales wine64 The following NEW packages will be installed: binutils-mingw-w64-x86-64 g++-mingw-w64-x86-64 gcc-mingw-w64-base gcc-mingw-w64-x86-64 mingw-w64-common mingw-w64-x86-64-dev 0 upgraded, 6 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded. Need to get 57.9 MB of archives. After this operation, 366 MB of additional disk space will be used.

Which shows that the binutils package from the mingw cross chain is going to be installed. The install completed successfully.

Checking the version of the binutils package shows 2.26.1

$ apt search binutils Sorting... Done Full Text Search... Done binutils/xenial-updates,now 2.26.1-1ubuntu1~16.04.5 amd64 [installed,automatic] GNU assembler, linker and binary utilities

I don't believe there are any additional steps required in the WSL build instructions.

@sipsorcery I'm not sure what's going on. My output:

$ sudo apt update
Hit:1 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial InRelease
Hit:2 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-updates InRelease
Hit:3 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-security InRelease
Hit:4 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-backports InRelease
Hit:5 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu zesty InRelease
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
1 package can be upgraded. Run 'apt list --upgradable' to see it.
$
$
$ sudo apt upgrade
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Calculating upgrade... Done
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
$
$
$ sudo apt install build-essential libtool autotools-dev automake pkg-config bsdmainutils curl git
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
automake is already the newest version (1:1.15-4ubuntu1).
autotools-dev is already the newest version (20150820.1).
bsdmainutils is already the newest version (9.0.6ubuntu3).
build-essential is already the newest version (12.1ubuntu2).
libtool is already the newest version (2.4.6-0.1).
pkg-config is already the newest version (0.29.1-0ubuntu1).
curl is already the newest version (7.47.0-1ubuntu2.5).
git is already the newest version (1:2.7.4-0ubuntu1.3).
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 1 not upgraded.
$
$
$ sudo apt install g++-mingw-w64-x86-64
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Some packages could not be installed. This may mean that you have
requested an impossible situation or if you are using the unstable
distribution that some required packages have not yet been created
or been moved out of Incoming.
The following information may help to resolve the situation:

The following packages have unmet dependencies:
 g++-mingw-w64-x86-64 : Depends: gcc-mingw-w64-x86-64 (= 6.2.1-4ubuntu1+19.2) but it is not going to be installed
E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.

Checking the version of the binutils package shows 2.26.1

$ apt search binutils
Sorting... Done
Full Text Search... Done
binutils/xenial-updates,now 2.26.1-1ubuntu1~16.04.5 amd64 [installed]
  GNU assembler, linker and binary utilities

My theory is. In the instructions you have the steps I inserted here, which follows this step: sudo apt install g++-mingw-w64-x86-64. I may have done things in the wrong order. I will reinstall my wsl and see.

sudo apt install software-properties-common
sudo add-apt-repository "deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu zesty universe"
sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade
sudo update-alternatives --config x86_64-w64-mingw32-g++ # Set the default mingw32 g++ compiler option to posix.

Yes, that's what happened. I undone the steps and all worked well.