From: fjh AT cs DOT mu DOT OZ DOT AU (Fergus Henderson)
Subject: Re: DLLTOOL documentation?
27 Mar 1997 08:40:45 -0800
Approved: cygnus DOT gnu-win32 AT cygnus DOT com
Distribution: cygnus
Message-ID: <199703260344.OAA01660.cygnus.gnu-win32@mundook.cs.mu.OZ.AU>
Content-Type: text
Original-To: bjames AT clear DOT net DOT nz (Bruce James)
Original-Cc: gnu-win32 AT cygnus DOT com (gnu-win32)
In-Reply-To: <199703250849.UAA06316@fep2-orange.clear.net.nz> from "Bruce James" at Mar 25, 97 08:52:19 pm
X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4 PL24]
Original-Sender: owner-gnu-win32 AT cygnus DOT com

Bruce James, you wrote:
> 
> 2 x Q's:
> 
> 1. Is there any documentation on DLLTOOL available?

None that I know of, apart from some documentation in the source code
(which I've appended below), and the output of `dlltool --help'.

> 2. What's the Gnu equivalent of Borland's IMPLIB for generating an import
> library from a DLL?

I don't know what Borland's IMPLIB is, but I suspect that dlltool's
`--output-lib' option is probably what you are looking for.

See also <http://www.cs.mu.oz.au/~fjh/gnu-win32/how-to-build-dlls.html>.

Cheers,
	Fergus.

--
Fergus Henderson <fjh AT cs DOT mu DOT oz DOT au>   |  "I have always known that the pursuit
WWW: <http://www.cs.mu.oz.au/~fjh>   |  of excellence is a lethal habit"
PGP: finger fjh AT 128 DOT 250 DOT 37 DOT 3         |     -- the last words of T. S. Garp.

The following comes from src/binutils/dlltool.c from cdk-src.tar.gz.

/*
   This program allows you to build the files necessary to create
   DLLs to run on a system which understands PE format image files.
   (eg, Windows NT)

   See "Peering Inside the PE: A Tour of the Win32 Portable Executable
   File Format", MSJ 1994, Volume 9 for more information.
   Also see "Microsoft Portable Executable and Common Object File Format,
   Specification 4.1" for more information.

   A DLL contains an export table which contains the information
   which the runtime loader needs to tie up references from a
   referencing program. 

   The export table is generated by this program by reading
   in a .DEF file or scanning the .a and .o files which will be in the
   DLL.  A .o file can contain information in special  ".drectve" sections
   with export information.  

   A DEF file contains any number of the following commands:


   NAME <name> [ , <base> ] 
   The result is going to be <name>.EXE

   LIBRARY <name> [ , <base> ]    
   The result is going to be <name>.DLL

   EXPORTS  ( <name1> [ = <name2> ] [ @ <integer> ] [ NONAME ] [CONSTANT] ) *
   Declares name1 as an exported symbol from the
   DLL, with optional ordinal number <integer>

   IMPORTS  ( [ <name> = ] <name> . <name> ) *
   Ignored for compatibility

   DESCRIPTION <string>
   Puts <string> into output .exp file in the .rdata section

   [STACKSIZE|HEAPSIZE] <number-reserve> [ , <number-commit> ]
   Generates --stack|--heap <number-reserve>,<number-commit>
   in the output .drectve section.  The linker will
   see this and act upon it.

   [CODE|DATA] <attr>+
   SECTIONS ( <sectionname> <attr>+ )*
   <attr> = READ | WRITE | EXECUTE | SHARED
   Generates --attr <sectionname> <attr> in the output
   .drectve section.  The linker will see this and act
   upon it.


   A -export:<name> in a .drectve section in an input .o or .a
   file to this program is equivalent to a EXPORTS <name>
   in a .DEF file.



   The program generates output files with the prefix supplied
   on the command line, or in the def file, or taken from the first 
   supplied argument.

   The .exp.s file contains the information necessary to export
   the routines in the DLL.  The .lib.s file contains the information
   necessary to use the DLL's routines from a referencing program.



   Example:

   file1.c: 
   asm (".section .drectve");  
   asm (".ascii \"-export:adef\"");

   adef(char *s)
   {
   printf("hello from the dll %s\n",s);
   }

   bdef(char *s)
   {
   printf("hello from the dll and the other entry point %s\n",s);
   }

   file2.c:
   asm (".section .drectve");
   asm (".ascii \"-export:cdef\"");
   asm (".ascii \"-export:ddef\"");
   cdef(char *s)
   {
   printf("hello from the dll %s\n",s);
   }

   ddef(char *s)
   {
   printf("hello from the dll and the other entry point %s\n",s);
   }

   printf()
   {
   return 9;
   }

   main.c

   main()
   {
   cdef();
   }

   thedll.def

   LIBRARY thedll
   HEAPSIZE 0x40000, 0x2000
   EXPORTS bdef @ 20
   cdef @ 30 NONAME 

   SECTIONS donkey READ WRITE
   aardvark EXECUTE


   # compile up the parts of the dll

   gcc -c file1.c       
   gcc -c file2.c

   # put them in a library (you don't have to, you
   # could name all the .os on the dlltool line)

   ar  qcv thedll.in file1.o file2.o
   ranlib thedll.in

   # run this tool over the library and the def file
   ./dlltool --def thedll.def --output-exp thedll.o --output-lib thedll.a

   # build the dll with the library with file1.o, file2.o and the export table
   ld -o thedll.dll thedll.o thedll.in

   # build the mainline
   gcc -c themain.c 

   # link the executable with the import library
   ld -e main -Tthemain.ld -o themain.exe themain.o thedll.a

 */
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