cmake: Set process code page to UTF-8 on Windows
What the developer wrote
Authored by Hennadii Stepanov
cmake: Set process code page to UTF-8 on Windows
Additionally, this change adds app manifests to targets that were
previously missing them.
What changed, and why it matters
This commit changes how Bitcoin Core handles text encoding on Windows. It tells Windows programs to use UTF-8 (a universal character encoding) instead of older regional code pages, and adds the same declaration to several helper programs that were missing it. It also makes the main bitcoin program run a setup routine that was previously only used by other entry points. The change is primarily a robustness/correctness fix; it does not by itself create a vulnerability, but it removes a class of bugs where non-English characters in file paths, command-line arguments, or log messages could be misinterpreted. Those misinterpretations could, in some situations, contribute to security-relevant behavior such as wrong file access or corrupted data.
Treat as a hardening/correctness improvement rather than an active vulnerability. Review whether any existing Windows-specific code assumes the legacy ANSI code page, because UTF-8 mode can change behavior of MultiByteToWideChar, std::filesystem paths, and console output. Ensure CI tests Windows builds with non-ASCII paths and arguments. No urgent patch or advisory is indicated by the diff alone.
Security signals we found
Windows code-page mismatch historically causes path/argument encoding bugs
Adds assert that could abort on misconfigured builds, reducing silent failure modes
Expands manifest coverage to auxiliary binaries, reducing inconsistency
No direct memory-safety, cryptographic, or network flaw visible in diff
Evidence from the diff
The patch updates cmake/windows-app.manifest.in to add an activeCodePage UTF-8 directive under the SMI 2019 namespace, forcing the process code page to UTF-8 on modern Windows. It also calls add_windows_application_manifest() for bitcoin-chainstate, bench_bitcoin, test_bitcoin-qt, and fuzz, which previously lacked manifests. In src/bitcoin.cpp, SetupEnvironment() is now invoked at program start. In src/common/system.cpp, SetupEnvironment() gains an assert(GetACP() == CP_UTF8) on Windows before setting console input/output code pages to UTF-8. The assert will abort debug builds if the manifest did not take effect, making the dependency explicit.
Changed components
Windows build manifests (cmake/windows-app.manifest.in)src/bitcoin.cpp main entry pointsrc/common/system.cpp SetupEnvironment()bitcoin-chainstate, bench_bitcoin, test_bitcoin-qt, fuzz Windows executablesInspect captured patch +19 / −1
diff --git a/cmake/windows-app.manifest.in b/cmake/windows-app.manifest.in
index c3bd333a..e0dc2eb8 100644
--- a/cmake/windows-app.manifest.in
+++ b/cmake/windows-app.manifest.in
@@ -1,10 +1,15 @@
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
-<assembly xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1" manifestVersion="1.0">
+<assembly xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1" manifestVersion="1.0" xmlns:asmv3="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v3">
<assemblyIdentity
type="win32"
name="org.bitcoincore.${target}"
version="${CLIENT_VERSION_MAJOR}.${CLIENT_VERSION_MINOR}.${CLIENT_VERSION_BUILD}.0"
/>
+ <asmv3:application>
+ <asmv3:windowsSettings xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/SMI/2019/WindowsSettings">
+ <activeCodePage>UTF-8</activeCodePage>
+ </asmv3:windowsSettings>
+ </asmv3:application>
<trustInfo xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v3">
<security>
<requestedPrivileges>
diff --git a/src/CMakeLists.txt b/src/CMakeLists.txt
index f9934bb5..fdf8799d 100644
--- a/src/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -410,6 +410,7 @@ if(BUILD_UTIL_CHAINSTATE)
add_executable(bitcoin-chainstate
bitcoin-chainstate.cpp
)
+ add_windows_application_manifest(bitcoin-chainstate)
# TODO: The `SKIP_BUILD_RPATH` property setting can be deleted
# in the future after reordering Guix script commands to
# perform binary checks after the installation step.
diff --git a/src/bench/CMakeLists.txt b/src/bench/CMakeLists.txt
index 0bf469c7..e0e03b1d 100644
--- a/src/bench/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/bench/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -56,6 +56,8 @@ add_executable(bench_bitcoin
verify_script.cpp
)
+add_windows_application_manifest(bench_bitcoin)
+
include(TargetDataSources)
target_raw_data_sources(bench_bitcoin NAMESPACE benchmark::data
data/block413567.raw
diff --git a/src/bitcoin.cpp b/src/bitcoin.cpp
index c1a5fce3..5d2b145b 100644
--- a/src/bitcoin.cpp
+++ b/src/bitcoin.cpp
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
#include <clientversion.h>
#include <common/args.h>
+#include <common/system.h>
#include <util/fs.h>
#include <util/exec.h>
#include <util/strencodings.h>
@@ -61,6 +62,8 @@ static void ExecCommand(const std::vector<const char*>& args, std::string_view a
int main(int argc, char* argv[])
{
+ SetupEnvironment();
+
try {
CommandLine cmd{ParseCommandLine(argc, argv)};
if (cmd.show_version) {
diff --git a/src/common/system.cpp b/src/common/system.cpp
index 35a6f441..38337633 100644
--- a/src/common/system.cpp
+++ b/src/common/system.cpp
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@
#include <util/time.h>
#ifdef WIN32
+#include <cassert>
#include <codecvt>
#include <compat/compat.h>
#include <windows.h>
@@ -83,6 +84,7 @@ void SetupEnvironment()
setenv("LC_ALL", "C.UTF-8", 1);
}
#elif defined(WIN32)
+ assert(GetACP() == CP_UTF8);
// Set the default input/output charset is utf-8
SetConsoleCP(CP_UTF8);
SetConsoleOutputCP(CP_UTF8);
diff --git a/src/qt/test/CMakeLists.txt b/src/qt/test/CMakeLists.txt
index 8fe4ea68..af282713 100644
--- a/src/qt/test/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/qt/test/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -14,6 +14,8 @@ add_executable(test_bitcoin-qt
../../init/bitcoin-qt.cpp
)
+add_windows_application_manifest(test_bitcoin-qt)
+
target_link_libraries(test_bitcoin-qt
core_interface
bitcoinqt
diff --git a/src/test/fuzz/CMakeLists.txt b/src/test/fuzz/CMakeLists.txt
index 4d649a73..d32d72d8 100644
--- a/src/test/fuzz/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/test/fuzz/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -134,6 +134,9 @@ add_executable(fuzz
vecdeque.cpp
versionbits.cpp
)
+
+add_windows_application_manifest(fuzz)
+
target_link_libraries(fuzz
core_interface
fuzzer_interface
Why this scored 32/100
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