Trying to build on windows

[moraouf11]

I've been trying for the past 2 days to get the project to successfully build on windows but with no success.
I always get that error even though I searched a lot and set environment path variables and all.
after running :
./dev doctor
I get:

/c/Users/exo_1/go/src/github.com/cockroachdb/cockroach/bin/dev-versions/dev.97 not found, building...
INFO: Analyzed target //pkg/cmd/dev:dev (1 packages loaded, 178 targets configured).
INFO: Found 1 target...
ERROR: C:/users/exo_1/_bazel_others/juspp7cs/external/go_sdk/BUILD.bazel:62:15: GoToolchainBinaryBuild external/go_sdk/builder.exe [for tool] failed: (Exit 1): builder.exe.bat failed: error executing command (from target @go_sdk//:builder) bazel-out\x64_windows-opt-exec-2B5CBBC6-ST-b33d65c724e6\bin\external\go_sdk\builder.exe.bat
go: CC environment variable is relative; must be absolute path: /x-tools/x86_64-w64-mingw32/bin/x86_64-w64-mingw32-cc
ERROR: C:/users/exo_1/_bazel_others/juspp7cs/external/go_sdk/BUILD.bazel:62:15: GoToolchainBinaryBuild external/go_sdk/builder.exe [for tool] failed: (Exit 1): builder.exe.bat failed: error executing command (from target @go_sdk//:builder) bazel-out\x64_windows-opt-exec-2B5CBBC6\bin\external\go_sdk\builder.exe.bat
go: CC environment variable is relative; must be absolute path: /x-tools/x86_64-w64-mingw32/bin/x86_64-w64-mingw32-cc
Target //pkg/cmd/dev:dev failed to build
Use --verbose_failures to see the command lines of failed build steps.
INFO: Elapsed time: 3.880s, Critical Path: 0.25s
INFO: 3 processes: 3 internal.
FAILED: Build did NOT complete successfully

If anyone can help that would be much appreciated.
my go env output:

set GO111MODULE=
set GOARCH=amd64
set GOBIN=
set GOCACHE=C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\go-build
set GOENV=C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\go\env
set GOEXE=.exe
set GOEXPERIMENT=
set GOFLAGS=
set GOHOSTARCH=amd64
set GOHOSTOS=windows
set GOINSECURE=
set GOMODCACHE=C:\Users\username\go\pkg\mod
set GONOPROXY=
set GONOSUMDB=
set GOOS=windows
set GOPATH=C:\Users\username\go
set GOPRIVATE=
set GOPROXY=https://proxy.golang.org/,direct
set GOROOT=G:\Program Files\Go
set GOSUMDB=sum.golang.org
set GOTMPDIR=
set GOTOOLCHAIN=auto
set GOTOOLDIR=G:\Program Files\Go\pkg\tool\windows_amd64
set GOVCS=
set GOVERSION=go1.21.3
set GCCGO=gccgo
set GOAMD64=v1
set AR=ar
set CC=C:\ProgramData\chocolatey\bin\gcc.exe
set CXX=C:\ProgramData\chocolatey\bin\g++.exe
set CGO_ENABLED=1
set GOMOD=NUL
set GOWORK=
set CGO_CFLAGS=-O2 -g
set CGO_CPPFLAGS=
set CGO_CXXFLAGS=-O2 -g
set CGO_FFLAGS=-O2 -g
set CGO_LDFLAGS=-O2 -g
set PKG_CONFIG=pkg-config
set GOGCCFLAGS=-m64 -mthreads -fno-caret-diagnostics -Qunused-arguments -Wl,--no-gc-sections -fmessage-length=0 -ffile-prefix-map=C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Temp\go-build2278917560=/tmp/go-build -gno-record-gcc-switches

[rickystewart]

We essentially never test building on Windows and supporting it is not a priority. I warn you that while you may be able to fix this issue, it is reasonably likely that you will uncover a completely separate issue that then blocks you. To make progress I recommend building on Linux or macOS.

Can you cat .bazelrc.user and tell me what you have there?

In your error message, I see this:

ERROR: C:/users/exo_1/_bazel_others/juspp7cs/external/go_sdk/BUILD.bazel:62:15: GoToolchainBinaryBuild external/go_sdk/builder.exe [for tool] failed: (Exit 1): builder.exe.bat failed: error executing command (from target @go_sdk//:builder) bazel-out\x64_windows-opt-exec-2B5CBBC6-ST-b33d65c724e6\bin\external\go_sdk\builder.exe.bat
go: CC environment variable is relative; must be absolute path: /x-tools/x86_64-w64-mingw32/bin/x86_64-w64-mingw32-cc
ERROR: C:/users/exo_1/_bazel_others/juspp7cs/external/go_sdk/BUILD.bazel:62:15: GoToolchainBinaryBuild external/go_sdk/builder.exe [for tool] failed: (Exit 1): builder.exe.bat failed: error executing command (from target @go_sdk//:builder) bazel-out\x64_windows-opt-exec-2B5CBBC6\bin\external\go_sdk\builder.exe.bat
go: CC environment variable is relative; must be absolute path: /x-tools/x86_64-w64-mingw32/bin/x86_64-w64-mingw32-cc

At some point as part of the toolchain selection process, you ended up using the Windows cross toolchain. This is definitely not correct as the cross toolchains will only run on a Linux machine. I also see the path is incorrect as Windows pathnames should use backslashes and should not start with /.

[Yash-xoxo]

Windows builds aren't officially supported, but the issue is clear - Bazel is trying to use the Linux cross-compilation toolchain instead of native Windows tools.

The problem:

go: CC environment variable is relative; must be absolute path: /x-tools/x86_64-w64-mingw32/bin/x86_64-w64-mingw32-cc

This is a Linux cross-compiler path being used on Windows.

Quick fixes to try:

1. Check .bazelrc.user (as the maintainer asked) - it likely has incorrect toolchain config

2. Set proper CC path:

export CC="C:/ProgramData/chocolatey/bin/gcc.exe"  # Use forward slashes or escaped backslashes

3. Force Windows toolchain in .bazelrc.user:

build --platforms=@io_bazel_rules_go//go/toolchain:windows_amd64

Reality check: As the maintainer said, Windows builds are untested. You'll likely hit more issues. Strongly recommend using WSL2 instead:

wsl --install
# Then build inside WSL

This gives you a Linux environment where builds are fully supported.