MirBSD manpage: dlltool(1)


DLLTOOL(1)            GNU Development Tools            DLLTOOL(1)

NAME

     dlltool - Create files needed to build and use DLLs.

SYNOPSIS

     dlltool [-d|--input-def def-file-name]
             [-b|--base-file base-file-name]
             [-e|--output-exp exports-file-name]
             [-z|--output-def def-file-name]
             [-l|--output-lib library-file-name]
             [--export-all-symbols] [--no-export-all-symbols]
             [--exclude-symbols list]
             [--no-default-excludes]
             [-S|--as path-to-assembler] [-f|--as-flags options]
             [-D|--dllname name] [-m|--machine machine]
             [-a|--add-indirect] [-U|--add-underscore]
     [-k|--kill-at]
             [-A|--add-stdcall-alias]
             [-p|--ext-prefix-alias prefix]
             [-x|--no-idata4] [-c|--no-idata5] [-i|--interwork]
             [-n|--nodelete] [-t|--temp-prefix prefix]
             [-v|--verbose]
             [-h|--help] [-V|--version]
             [object-file ...]

DESCRIPTION

     dlltool reads its inputs, which can come from the -d and -b
     options as well as object files specified on the command
     line.  It then processes these inputs and if the -e option
     has been specified it creates a exports file.  If the -l
     option has been specified it creates a library file and if
     the -z option has been specified it creates a def file.  Any
     or all of the -e, -l and -z options can be present in one
     invocation of dlltool.

     When creating a DLL, along with the source for the DLL, it
     is necessary to have three other files.  dlltool can help
     with the creation of these files.

     The first file is a .def file which specifies which
     functions are exported from the DLL, which functions the DLL
     imports, and so on.  This is a text file and can be created
     by hand, or dlltool can be used to create it using the -z
     option.  In this case dlltool will scan the object files
     specified on its command line looking for those functions
     which have been specially marked as being exported and put
     entries for them in the .def file it creates.

     In order to mark a function as being exported from a DLL, it
     needs to have an -export:<name_of_function> entry in the
     .drectve section of the object file.  This can be done in C
     by using the asm() operator:

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               asm (".section .drectve");
               asm (".ascii \"-export:my_func\"");

               int my_func (void) { ... }

     The second file needed for DLL creation is an exports file.
     This file is linked with the object files that make up the
     body of the DLL and it handles the interface between the DLL
     and the outside world.  This is a binary file and it can be
     created by giving the -e option to dlltool when it is
     creating or reading in a .def file.

     The third file needed for DLL creation is the library file
     that programs will link with in order to access the
     functions in the DLL.  This file can be created by giving
     the -l option to dlltool when it is creating or reading in a
     .def file.

     dlltool builds the library file by hand, but it builds the
     exports file by creating temporary files containing
     assembler statements and then assembling these.  The -S
     command line option can be used to specify the path to the
     assembler that dlltool will use, and the -f option can be
     used to pass specific flags to that assembler.  The -n can
     be used to prevent dlltool from deleting these temporary
     assembler files when it is done, and if -n is specified
     twice then this will prevent dlltool from deleting the
     temporary object files it used to build the library.

     Here is an example of creating a DLL from a source file
     dll.c and also creating a program (from an object file
     called program.o) that uses that DLL:

               gcc -c dll.c
               dlltool -e exports.o -l dll.lib dll.o
               gcc dll.o exports.o -o dll.dll
               gcc program.o dll.lib -o program

OPTIONS

     The command line options have the following meanings:

     -d filename
     --input-def filename
         Specifies the name of a .def file to be read in and
         processed.

     -b filename
     --base-file filename
         Specifies the name of a base file to be read in and
         processed.  The contents of this file will be added to
         the relocation section in the exports file generated by
         dlltool.

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     -e filename
     --output-exp filename
         Specifies the name of the export file to be created by
         dlltool.

     -z filename
     --output-def filename
         Specifies the name of the .def file to be created by
         dlltool.

     -l filename
     --output-lib filename
         Specifies the name of the library file to be created by
         dlltool.

     --export-all-symbols
         Treat all global and weak defined symbols found in the
         input object files as symbols to be exported.  There is
         a small list of symbols which are not exported by
         default; see the --no-default-excludes option.  You may
         add to the list of symbols to not export by using the
         --exclude-symbols option.

     --no-export-all-symbols
         Only export symbols explicitly listed in an input .def
         file or in .drectve sections in the input object files.
         This is the default behaviour.  The .drectve sections
         are created by dllexport attributes in the source code.

     --exclude-symbols list
         Do not export the symbols in list.  This is a list of
         symbol names separated by comma or colon characters.
         The symbol names should not contain a leading
         underscore.  This is only meaningful when
         --export-all-symbols is used.

     --no-default-excludes
         When --export-all-symbols is used, it will by default
         avoid exporting certain special symbols.  The current
         list of symbols to avoid exporting is DllMain@12,
         DllEntryPoint@0, impure_ptr.  You may use the
         --no-default-excludes option to go ahead and export
         these special symbols.  This is only meaningful when
         --export-all-symbols is used.

     -S path
     --as path
         Specifies the path, including the filename, of the
         assembler to be used to create the exports file.

     -f options
     --as-flags options

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         Specifies any specific command line options to be passed
         to the assembler when building the exports file.  This
         option will work even if the -S option is not used.
         This option only takes one argument, and if it occurs
         more than once on the command line, then later
         occurrences will override earlier occurrences.  So if it
         is necessary to pass multiple options to the assembler
         they should be enclosed in double quotes.

     -D name
     --dll-name name
         Specifies the name to be stored in the .def file as the
         name of the DLL when the -e option is used.  If this
         option is not present, then the filename given to the -e
         option will be used as the name of the DLL.

     -m machine
     -machine machine
         Specifies the type of machine for which the library file
         should be built.  dlltool has a built in default type,
         depending upon how it was created, but this option can
         be used to override that.  This is normally only useful
         when creating DLLs for an ARM processor, when the
         contents of the DLL are actually encode using Thumb
         instructions.

     -a
     --add-indirect
         Specifies that when dlltool is creating the exports file
         it should add a section which allows the exported
         functions to be referenced without using the import
         library.  Whatever the hell that means!

     -U
     --add-underscore
         Specifies that when dlltool is creating the exports file
         it should prepend an underscore to the names of the
         exported functions.

     -k
     --kill-at
         Specifies that when dlltool is creating the exports file
         it should not append the string @ <number>.  These
         numbers are called ordinal numbers and they represent
         another way of accessing the function in a DLL, other
         than by name.

     -A
     --add-stdcall-alias
         Specifies that when dlltool is creating the exports file
         it should add aliases for stdcall symbols without @
         <number> in addition to the symbols with @ <number>.

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     -p
     --ext-prefix-alias prefix
         Causes dlltool to create external aliases for all DLL
         imports with the specified prefix.  The aliases are
         created for both external and import symbols with no
         leading underscore.

     -x
     --no-idata4
         Specifies that when dlltool is creating the exports and
         library files it should omit the ".idata4" section.
         This is for compatibility with certain operating
         systems.

     -c
     --no-idata5
         Specifies that when dlltool is creating the exports and
         library files it should omit the ".idata5" section.
         This is for compatibility with certain operating
         systems.

     -i
     --interwork
         Specifies that dlltool should mark the objects in the
         library file and exports file that it produces as
         supporting interworking between ARM and Thumb code.

     -n
     --nodelete
         Makes dlltool preserve the temporary assembler files it
         used to create the exports file.  If this option is
         repeated then dlltool will also preserve the temporary
         object files it uses to create the library file.

     -t prefix
     --temp-prefix prefix
         Makes dlltool use prefix when constructing the names of
         temporary assembler and object files.  By default, the
         temp file prefix is generated from the pid.

     -v
     --verbose
         Make dlltool describe what it is doing.

     -h
     --help
         Displays a list of command line options and then exits.

     -V
     --version
         Displays dlltool's version number and then exits.

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SEE ALSO

     The Info pages for binutils.

COPYRIGHT

     Copyright (c) 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997,
     1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 Free Software
     Foundation, Inc.

     Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this
     document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation
     License, Version 1.1 or any later version published by the
     Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, with
     no Front-Cover Texts, and with no Back-Cover Texts.  A copy
     of the license is included in the section entitled ``GNU
     Free Documentation License''.

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