Microsoft's recently released service pack 1 for the .Net framework 1.1 breaks Delphi 8 as soon as you compile a project. The problem appears to be that Microsoft added symbols to the framework that Delphi 8 cannot currently handle. Delphi 8 must gather the needed symbols directly from the .Net framework. According to my contacts at Borland, Microsoft is well within their right to add symbols and Borland must come up with a solution compatible with their desire to add symbols. A quick solution for Borland is to add those symbols to a patch for Delphi 8. However, the next time Microsoft adds symbols, boom, everybody is dead in the water waiting for Borland to catch up, again. At this point, probably what's going on is that Borland is enhancing the gathering of the symbols process and making it a more dynamic process. Perhaps they are even asking Microsoft to surface an RTTI or Reflection type API for Borland. Or, perhaps, that functionality is already there and they just need to make use of it. Until then, we Delphi 8 developers have to figure out a solution to keep coding today.
In the original shipping version of Delphi 8, you have this problem if you get the following error:
Required package Borland$ not found
or
[Fatal Error] Project2.dpr(1): Unit Borland.Delphi.System was compiled with a different version of .Borland$.Word
I performed the following procedure to get back up and running with both WinForms and VCL.Net projects. It is a compilation of information from various sources already on the Internet.
Make sure Delphi 8 is not running (exit Delphi 8). Uninstall framework 1.1. This uninstalls framework 1.1 and it's already applied service pack 1. Reinstall framework 1.1. But do NOT install the .Net framework 1.1 service pack 1. [Optional] Go to Microsoft Updates and hide the service pack 1 update so that you don't accidentally apply the update. Next you need to delete "some" of the *.dc* files on your system. Some of these files were installed with Delphi and updated when you compiled and some were put on your system when you created a new project. Open a command prompt by selecting Start | Run | type Cmd, then okay (or just press WinKey + R + cmd + Return). Then, change Directory to the Borland Installation Folder (default is c:\Program Files\Borland\BDS\2.0). Change Directory to the lib folder (cd lib) and delete the *.dc* files (del *.dc*). Change Directory to the debug subfolder (cd debug) and delete the *.dc* files (del *.dc*). Go back to the Borland Installation Folder (use cd.. then cd..). Change Directory to the source folder (cd source) and recreate the assemblies (make default debug). The "make" command along the passed in parameter "default debug" recreates the necessary assemblies. This step is NOT optional even if you do a reinstall! Delete all of the *.dc* files in ALL of your project folders, including those quick demo project folders, with del *.dc*. At this point your WinForms Delphi 8 projects should work fine but your VCL.Net projects are probably still broke and you may even be getting an "Internal error: U1810" error. If so, you need to delete the *.dcpil files in your VCL.Net project folders.
Note: You probably need to "safe" new VCL.Net projects prior to building them. Good luck!
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KEYWORDS: Delphi, Borland, Borland Delphi, 8, Delphi 8, .Net Framework, Service Pack 1, Update 1, Required package Borland$ not found
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