iDynTree MATLAB bindings crash when compiled with Visual Studio 2022 when using a recent libxml2

[traversaro]

In case you really need to build the iDynTree MATLAB bindings with MathWorks when using Visual Studio 2022, make sure that you install a version of libxml2 compatible with the one used inside MATLAB, to avoid the warning:

Warning: program compiled against libxml 213 using older 210

when loading the iDynTree bindings.

[traversaro]

Last successful build: https://github.com/robotology/idyntree/actions/runs/15939515961
First failing build: https://github.com/robotology/idyntree/actions/runs/15950689204

[traversaro]

The diff is quite clear:

--- <unnamed>
+++ <unnamed>
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@
 ca-certificates           2025.6.15            h4c7d964_0    conda-forge
 cairo                     1.18.4               h5782bbf_0    conda-forge
 cmake                     4.0.3                hff78f93_0    conda-forge
-cxx-compiler              1.9.0                h91493d7_0    conda-forge
+cxx-compiler              1.10.0               h1c1089f_0    conda-forge
 dav1d                     1.2.1                hcfcfb64_0    conda-forge
 double-conversion         3.3.1                he0c23c2_0    conda-forge
 eigen                     3.4.0                h91493d7_0    conda-forge
@@ -97,7 +97,7 @@
 libprotobuf               5.29.3               he9d8c4a_1    conda-forge
 libqdldl                  0.1.8                he0c23c2_1    conda-forge
 librsvg                   2.58.4               h5ce5fed_3    conda-forge
-libsqlite                 3.50.1               hf5d6505_7    conda-forge
+libsqlite                 3.50.2               hf5d6505_0    conda-forge
 libssh2                   1.11.1               h9aa295b_0    conda-forge
 libtiff                   4.7.0                h05922d8_5    conda-forge
 libusb                    1.0.29               h1839187_0    conda-forge
@@ -150,7 +150,7 @@
 vc                        14.3                h41ae7f8_26    conda-forge
 vc14_runtime              14.44.35208         h818238b_26    conda-forge
 vs2015_runtime            14.44.35208         h38c0c73_26    conda-forge
-vs2019_win-64             19.29.30139         h7dcff83_26    conda-forge
+vs2022_win-64             19.44.35207         ha74f236_26    conda-forge
 vswhere                   3.1.7                h40126e0_1    conda-forge
 x264                      1!164.3095           h8ffe710_2    conda-forge
 x265                      3.5                  h2d74725_3    conda-forge

realistically, this is a VS2022 regression. Probably we just need to upgrade to newer MATLAB version that support VS2022. However, it seems that 2022a should already support VS2022, see https://www.mathworks.com/content/dam/mathworks/mathworks-dot-com/support/sysreq/files/system-requirements-release-2022a-supported-compilers.pdf . However, deeply investigating this issue may be costly, so if this is solved by just updating matlab version, I would just do that.

[traversaro]

Also newer version fail, see #1252 . As the crash is in the XML parsing code, see:

Stack Trace (from fault):
[  0] 0x00007ffb3fc43020 C:\Program Files\MATLAB\R2023b\bin\win64\MSVCP140.dll+00077856 Thrd_yield+00000272
[  1] 0x00007ffb15097bf1 D:\a\idyntree\idyntree\build\bin\idyntree-modelio-xml.dll+00031729 iDynTree::XMLParser::parseXMLFile+00000081
[  2] 0x00007ffb16fc7496 D:\a\idyntree\idyntree\build\bin\idyntree-modelio.dll+00029846 iDynTree::ModelLoader::loadModelFromFile+00000278
[  3] 0x00007ffb16fc79be D:\a\idyntree\idyntree\build\bin\idyntree-modelio.dll+00031166 iDynTree::ModelLoader::loadReducedModelFromFile+00000158
[  4] 0x00007ffb17785bc8 D:\a\idyntree\idyntree\build\bin\iDynTreeMEX.mexw64+01334216 _wrap_ModelLoader_loadReducedModelFromFile__SWIG_2+00000792
[  5] 0x00007ffb17784931 D:\a\idyntree\idyntree\build\bin\iDynTreeMEX.mexw64+01329457 _wrap_ModelLoader_loadReducedModelFromFile+00000353
[  6] 0x00007ffb1789ace7 D:\a\idyntree\idyntree\build\bin\iDynTreeMEX.mexw64+02469095 mexFunction+00045351
[  7] 0x00007ffb38266f89 C:\Program Files\MATLAB\R2023b\bin\win64\libmex.dll+00683913 mexfile::Inspector::needs_upgrade+00023257
[  8] 0x00007ffb3826a002 C:\Program Files\MATLAB\R2023b\bin\win64\libmex.dll+00696322 MexRetrieveVersion+00009682
[  9] 0x00007ffb3826a177 C:\Program Files\MATLAB\R2023b\bin\win64\libmex.dll+00696695 MexRetrieveVersion+00010055
[ 10] 0x00007ffb3826a327 C:\Program Files\MATLAB\R2023b\bin\win64\libmex.dll+00697127 MexRetrieveVersion+00010487
[ 11] 0x00007ffb3824b2ce C:\Program Files\MATLAB\R2023b\bin\win64\libmex.dll+00570062 mexUnlock+00016942
[ 12] 0x00007ffb389f45a2 C:\Program Files\MATLAB\R2023b\bin\win64\m_dispatcher.dll+01263010 Mfh_file::dispatch_file_common+00000178
[ 13] 0x00007ffb389f3802 C:\Program Files\MATLAB\R2023b\bin\win64\m_dispatcher.dll+01259522 Mfh_error::lookup+00012722
[ 14] 0x00007ffb389f44dd C:\Program Files\MATLAB\R2023b\bin\win64\m_dispatcher.dll+01262813 Mfh_file::dispatch+00000045
[ 15] 0x00007ffb37d1705d C:\Program Files\MATLAB\R2023b\bin\win64\libmwlxemainservices.dll+00421981 mwboost::archive::codecvt_null<wchar_t>::do_max_length+00313389
[ 16] 0x00007ffb37d26c3e C:\Program Files\MATLAB\R2023b\bin\win64\libmwlxemainservices.dll+00486462 mwboost::archive::codecvt_null<wchar_t>::do_max_length+00377870
[ 17] 0x00007ffb32d3a93e C:\Program Files\MATLAB\R2023b\bin\win64\m_lxe.dll+06072638 MathWorks::lxe::ReadOnlyXvaluePtr::operator=+00006318
[ 18] 0x00007ffb32d35964 C:\Program Files\MATLAB\R2023b\bin\win64\m_lxe.dll+06052196 MathWorks::lxe::LXEConstants::NewIrMacro+00008308
[ 19] 0x00007ffb32c71438 C:\Program Files\MATLAB\R2023b\bin\win64\m_lxe.dll+05248056 MathWorks::lxe::XvalueFactory::XvalueDeleter::XvalueDeleter+00212072
[ 20] 0x00007ffb32c8e4b9 C:\Program Files\MATLAB\R2023b\bin\win64\m_lxe.dll+05366969 MathWorks::lxe::XvalueFactory::XvalueDeleter::XvalueDeleter+

I guess that finally the problem of MatLab's using a different libxml2 w.r.t. to conda-forge is finally a problem (see Warning: program compiled against libxml 213 using older 210 error).

[traversaro]

Installing such an old libxml2 is not easy:

   error    libmamba Could not solve for environment specs
      The following packages are incompatible
      ├─ glfw >=3.4 * is installable and it requires
      │  └─ libxkbcommon >=1.6.0,<2.0a0 * with the potential options
      │     ├─ libxkbcommon [1.10.0|1.9.1] would require
      │     │  └─ libxml2 >=2.13.8,<2.14.0a0 *, which can be installed;
      │     ├─ libxkbcommon 1.6.0 would require
      │     │  └─ libxml2 >=2.11.5,<2.14.0a0 *, which can be installed;
      │     ├─ libxkbcommon 1.6.0 would require
      │     │  └─ libxml2 >=2.12.1,<2.14.0a0 *, which can be installed;
      │     ├─ libxkbcommon 1.7.0 would require
      │     │  └─ libxml2 >=2.12.7,<2.14.0a0 *, which can be installed;
      │     ├─ libxkbcommon 1.7.0 would require
      │     │  └─ libxml2 >=2.12.6,<2.14.0a0 *, which can be installed;
      │     ├─ libxkbcommon 1.8.0 would require
      │     │  └─ libxml2 >=2.13.5,<2.14.0a0 *, which can be installed;
      │     ├─ libxkbcommon 1.8.1 would require
      │     │  └─ libxml2 >=2.13.6,<2.14.0a0 *, which can be installed;
      │     └─ libxkbcommon [1.9.0|1.9.1|1.9.2] would require
      │        └─ libxml2 >=2.13.7,<2.14.0a0 *, which can be installed;
      └─ libxml2 =2.10 * is not installable because it conflicts with any installable versions previously reported.

[traversaro]

Indeed, installing the old libxml2 2.10.* solves the issue, see #1252 . This indicates that the error is indeed related to libxml2. This is not easy to solve at all, as we have no control on which libxml2 ships with MATLAB. For the time being, let's disable the CI check now that we identified the actual root issue.