Linking failure during build of `gazebo_ros` package on Windows - Unresolved external symbol in `protobuf`

[SENAI-GilmarCorreia]

Hello ROS Developers,

I encountered a linking error while building the gazebo_ros package on Windows. The build process fails with an unresolved external symbol related to Google's protobuf library. Below are the relevant details from the build log:

gazebo_ros_node.vcxproj -> C:\Users\...\build\gazebo_ros\Release\gazebo_ros_node.dll
gazebo_ros_utils.vcxproj -> C:\Users\...\build\gazebo_ros\Release\gazebo_ros_utils.dll
gazebo_ros_factory.vcxproj -> C:\Users\...\build\gazebo_ros\Release\gazebo_ros_factory.dll
gazebo_ros_force_system.vcxproj -> C:\Users\...\build\gazebo_ros\Release\gazebo_ros_force_system.dll
gazebo_ros_init.cpp
   Creating library C:/Users/.../build/gazebo_ros/Release/gazebo_ros_init.lib and object C:/Users/.../build/gazebo_ros/Release/gazebo_ros_init.exp
gazebo_ros_init.obj : error LNK2019: unresolved external symbol "__declspec(dllimport) public: bool __cdecl google::protobuf::MessageLite::ParseFromString(class std::basic_string_view<char,struct std::char_traits<char> >)" 
(__imp_?ParseFromString@MessageLite@protobuf@google@@QEAA_NV?$basic_string_view@DU?$char_traits@D@std@@@std@@@Z), referenced in function "public: virtual bool __cdecl gazebo::transport::CallbackHelperT<class gazebo::msgs::PerformanceMetrics>::HandleData(class std::basic_string<char,struct std::char_traits<char>,class std::allocator<char> > const &,class boost::function<void __cdecl(unsigned int)>,unsigned int)" 
(?HandleData@?$CallbackHelperT@VPerformanceMetrics@msgs@gazebo@@@transport@gazebo@@UEAA_NAEBV?$basic_string@DU?$char_traits@D@std@@V?$allocator@D@2@@std@@V?$function@$$A6AXI@Z@boost@@I@Z) 
[C:\Users\...\build\gazebo_ros\gazebo_ros_init.vcxproj]
C:\Users\...\build\gazebo_ros\Release\gazebo_ros_init.dll : fatal error LNK1120: 1 unresolved externals [C:\Users\...\build\gazebo_ros\gazebo_ros_init.vcxproj]

The error occurs with gazebo_ros_init (gazebo_ros) and gazebo_ros_ray_sensor (gazebo_plugins).

System Information:

• OS: Windows 11 Pro
• ROS 2 Distro: Humble
• Compiler: MSVC (Visual Studio 2019)
• Build Tool: CMake
• Gazebo version: 11.14.0

vcpkg: ignition-msgs5:x64-windows (Version 5.3.0#7) and protobuf:x64-windows (4.25.1#1 )

Steps to Reproduce:

1. Clone the gazebo_ros_pkgs repository.
2. Attempt to build the package using colcon or CMake.
3. Observe the linker error during the build.

Additional Information:
I have installed protobuf using vcpkg and confirmed that the required libraries are available in my system. However, the linker still fails to resolve the MessageLite::ParseFromString symbol.

Any assistance or guidance to resolve this issue would be greatly appreciated.