fopen deprecated warning

Question

On Visual Studio 2005 C++ compiler, I get the following warning when my code uses the fopen and such calls.

1>foo.cpp(5) : warning C4996: 'fopen' was declared deprecated
1>        c:\program files\microsoft visual studio 8\vc\include\stdio.h(234) : see declaration of 'fopen'
1>        Message: 'This function or variable may be unsafe. Consider using fopen_s instead. To disable deprecation, use _CRT_SECURE_NO_DEPRECATE. See online help for details.'

How do I prevent this?

Answer 1

It looks like Microsoft has deprecated lots of calls which use buffers to improve code security. However, the solutions they're providing aren't portable. Anyway, if you aren't interested in using the secure version of their calls (like fopen_s), you need to place a definition of _CRT_SECURE_NO_DEPRECATE before your included header files. For example:

#define _CRT_SECURE_NO_DEPRECATE
#include <stdio.h>

The preprocessor directive can also be added to your project settings to effect it on all the files under the project. To do this add _CRT_SECURE_NO_DEPRECATE to Project Properties -> Configuration Properties -> C/C++ -> Preprocessor -> Preprocessor Definitions.

Answer 2

Well you could add a:

#pragma warning (disable : 4996)

before you use fopen, but have you considered using fopen_s as the warning suggests? It returns an error code allowing you to check the result of the function call.

The problem with just disabling deprecated function warnings is that Microsoft may remove the function in question in a later version of the CRT, breaking your code (as stated below in the comments, this won't happen in this instance with fopen because it's part of the C & C++ ISO standards).

Answer 3

This is just Microsoft being cheeky. "Deprecated" implies a language feature that may not be provided in future versions of the standard language / standard libraries, as decreed by the standards committee. It does not, or should not mean, "we, unilaterally, don't think you should use it", no matter how well-founded that advice is.

Answer 4

If you code is intended for a different OS (like Mac OS X, Linux) you may use following:

#ifdef _WIN32
#define _CRT_SECURE_NO_DEPRECATE
#endif

Answer 5

Consider using a portability library like glib or the apache portable runtime. These usually provide safe, portable alternatives to calls like these. It's a good thing too, because these insecure calls are deprecated in most modern environments.

Answer 6

I'am using VisualStdio 2008. In this case I often set Preprocessor Definitions

Menu \ Project \ [ProjectName] Properties... Alt+F7

If click this menu or press Alt + F7 in project window, you can see "Property Pages" window.

Then see menu on left of window.

Configuration Properties \ C/C++ \ Preprocessor

Then add _CRT_SECURE_NO_WARNINGS to \ Preprocessor Definitions.

Answer 7

If you want it to be used on many platforms, you could as commented use defines like:

#if defined(_MSC_VER) || defined(WIN32)  || defined(_WIN32) || defined(__WIN32__) \
                        || defined(WIN64)    || defined(_WIN64) || defined(__WIN64__) 

        errno_t err = fopen_s(&stream,name, "w");

#endif

#if defined(unix)        || defined(__unix)      || defined(__unix__) \
                        || defined(linux)       || defined(__linux)     || defined(__linux__) \
                        || defined(sun)         || defined(__sun) \
                        || defined(BSD)         || defined(__OpenBSD__) || defined(__NetBSD__) \
                        || defined(__FreeBSD__) || defined __DragonFly__ \
                        || defined(sgi)         || defined(__sgi) \
                        || defined(__MACOSX__)  || defined(__APPLE__) \
                        || defined(__CYGWIN__) 

        stream = fopen(name, "w");

#endif

Answer 8

For those who are using Visual Studio 2017 version, it seems like the preprocessor definition required to run unsafe operations has changed. Use instead:

#define _CRT_SECURE_NO_WARNINGS

It will compile then.

Answer 9

Many of Microsoft's secure functions, including fopen_s(), are part of C11, so they should be portable now. You should realize that the secure functions differ in exception behaviors and sometimes in return values. Additionally you need to be aware that while these functions are standardized, it's an optional part of the standard (Annex K) that at least glibc (default on Linux) and FreeBSD's libc don't implement.

However, I fought this problem for a few years. I posted a larger set of conversion macros here., For your immediate problem, put the following code in an include file, and include it in your source code:

#pragma once
#if !defined(FCN_S_MACROS_H)
   #define   FCN_S_MACROS_H

   #include <cstdio>
   #include <string> // Need this for _stricmp
   using namespace std;

   // _MSC_VER = 1400 is MSVC 2005. _MSC_VER = 1600 (MSVC 2010) was the current
   // value when I wrote (some of) these macros.

   #if (defined(_MSC_VER) && (_MSC_VER >= 1400) )

      inline extern
      FILE*   fcnSMacro_fopen_s(char *fname, char *mode)
      {  FILE *fptr;
         fopen_s(&fptr, fname, mode);
         return fptr;
      }
      #define fopen(fname, mode)            fcnSMacro_fopen_s((fname), (mode))

   #else
      #define fopen_s(fp, fmt, mode)        *(fp)=fopen( (fmt), (mode))

   #endif //_MSC_VER

#endif // FCN_S_MACROS_H

Of course this approach does not implement the expected exception behavior.

Answer 10

I also got the same problem. When I try to add the opencv library

#include <opencv\cv.h>

I got not a warning but an error.

error C4996: 'fopen': This function or variable may be unsafe. Consider using fopen_s instead. To disable deprecation, use _CRT_SECURE_NO_WARNINGS. See online help for details.    c:\program files (x86)\opencv\build\include\opencv2\flann\logger.h  

I also used the preprocessor directives as mentioned. But that didn't solve the problem.

I solved it by doing as follows:

• Go to Properties -> C/C++ -> Precompiled Headers -> Choose Not Using Precompiled Headers in Precompiled Header.