ExifTool Forum

ExifTool => Bug Reports / Feature Requests => Topic started by: johnrellis on November 23, 2020, 07:23:16 PM

Title: "Compilation failed" running "exiftool.exe"
Post by: johnrellis on November 23, 2020, 07:23:16 PM
My Lightroom plugin installs "exiftool.exe" (currently 12.08) in a plugin folder and executes it from that folder by a fully qualified path. I've got a non-technical customer for whom "exiftool.exe" is failing in a weird way:

(https://www.dropbox.com/s/it1s0hmoj2e63y8/exiftool-compilation-error.2020.11.23.jpg?dl=1)

Isn't the ActiveState packager supposed to encapsulate all dependencies and not interact with C:\Perl if it's installed? 

The customer is non-technical and has no idea why C:\Perl is installed and what installed apps or services might depend on it.  I tried installing the most recent ActiveState (C:\Perl64) on my computer and of course couldn't reproduce the problem.  I'm assuming C:\Perl is an old 32-bit installation?

Any thoughts about how I might troubleshoot this / workaround it? The customer is remote and I've already taxed his willingness to help troubleshoot for a $9.95 product.  This is the first report I've had of this, in thousands of installations over the years.

Title: Re: "Compilation failed" running "exiftool.exe"
Post by: Phil Harvey on November 23, 2020, 07:28:03 PM
This may happen if ExifTool is interrupted during the self-extraction the first time it is run.  To fix this, delete the temporary files (see note c here (https://exiftool.org/install.html#Windows)).

- Phil

Edit: My answer is based on your topic title.  I can't see the image you tried to post
Title: Re: "Compilation failed" running "exiftool.exe"
Post by: johnrellis on November 23, 2020, 07:29:51 PM
Thanks very much, I'll work with the customer on that.
Title: Re: "Compilation failed" running "exiftool.exe"
Post by: johnrellis on November 23, 2020, 07:56:38 PM
Interesting that I can see the included image.  I've attached it.

Title: Re: "Compilation failed" running "exiftool.exe"
Post by: johnrellis on November 24, 2020, 07:46:32 PM
Deleting the temp files solved the problem, thanks.  For reference by anyone else encountering this, here's the command line I gave to the customer to copy and paste:

for /D %d in (%TEMP%\par-*) do rmdir /s /q %d

(That's easier and more reliable than trying to explain to a non-technical person how to use Explorer to find a hidden Appdata folder and delete particular entries.)
Title: Re: "Compilation failed" running "exiftool.exe"
Post by: Phil Harvey on November 24, 2020, 08:52:18 PM
Glad that worked.  Thanks for the command, I may add that to the documentation.

- Phil