[Help]: Creating libraries to interface DLLs

[Renaud Paquay]

> I need to use DLLs that are not supported by gnu-win32. I have tried to
> use MS based libraries together with GCC in gnu-win32 but have
> failed to get a running application. Is it possible to generate executables
> from a mix of gnu-win32 and MS libraries?

I'm not sure what is the "official" way to do this, but here
is the procedure I used to make it:

You need the ".h" and ".def" file associated to the DLL and the
"dlltool" utility to create the library stub.

Example:
--------
Suppose you have a dll named "mydll.dll" and its corresponding
header "mydll.h", which contains 3 functions (FunctionA, FunctionB 
and FunctionC).

1. Create the follwing DEF file:
---- BEGIN MYDLL.DEF ----
EXPORTS
     FunctionA
     FunctionB
     FunctionC
---- END   MYDLL.DEF ----

2. Execute the following command, which creates "libmydll.a"
dlltool --def mydll.def --dllname mydll.dll --output-lib libmydll.a

3. Compile your C-file with "mydll.h", which contains the
   correct prototypes for FunctionX.
   Do NOT forget to use 'extern "C"' if you're using a C++ compiler.

4. Link your application with "libmydll.a"

5. Be sure "MYDLL.DLL" is in your path or current directory when running
   your application.


Renaud Paquay
Mission Critical
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