FIX: "fatal error U1073: don't know how to make

The information in this article applies to:

• The Visual Workbench included with: Microsoft Visual C++ 32-bit Edition, version 1.0

SYMPTOMS

Using the Visual WorkBench to build an internal project or to compile a file may cause the following error message to be generated:

    Internal make: fatal error U1073: don't know how to make
    '<filename>'.

Different symptoms occur with Visual C++ 2.0 and 2.1. For more information, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   ARTICLE-ID:Q125494
   TITLE     :BUG: Visual C++ Gives GP Fault If System Date past
              18-Jan-2038

CAUSE

This problem can be caused by having the system date and time set to a value after January 19, 2038, 3:14:07 A.M.

RESOLUTION

Set the system date and time to the current date and time.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Visual WorkBench version 1.1. This problem was fixed in Microsoft Visual C++, 32-bit Edition, version 4.0

MORE INFORMATION

The problem has to do with the fact that the time-related C run-time functions use a type of time_t to represent time values. Currently time_t is defined to be a signed long. The maximum number of seconds that can be stored in a signed long is 2,147,483,647. Because the time- related functions use 00:00:00 (midnight), January 1, 1970 as their base, the maximum time and date that can be represented with a time_t type is January 19, 2038, 3:14:07 A.M.

The internal build engine used by the Visual Workbench attempts to check the last modification time and date when doing a compile or a build. If the modification time and date are past the January 19, 2038, 3:14:07 A.M. value, the Visual WorkBench generates the U1073 error.

Only files that have been saved on the system with the incorrect time and date exhibit this problem. For example, files that are included with the samples provided with the compiler can be successfully compiled and built from within the Visual WorkBench. This is because their last modification time and date was set when they were initially created. However, once the files have been modified and saved on the system with the invalid time and date, they can no longer be compiled from within the Visual WorkBench.