1DLLTOOL(1) GNU Development Tools DLLTOOL(1)
2
6 dlltool - Create files needed to build and use DLLs.
7
9 dlltool [-d|--input-def def-file-name]
10 [-b|--base-file base-file-name]
11 [-e|--output-exp exports-file-name]
12 [-z|--output-def def-file-name]
13 [-l|--output-lib library-file-name]
14 [--export-all-symbols] [--no-export-all-symbols]
15 [--exclude-symbols list]
16 [--no-default-excludes]
17 [-S|--as path-to-assembler] [-f|--as-flags options]
18 [-D|--dllname name] [-m|--machine machine]
19 [-a|--add-indirect]
20 [-U|--add-underscore] [--add-stdcall-underscore]
21 [-k|--kill-at] [-A|--add-stdcall-alias]
22 [-p|--ext-prefix-alias prefix]
23 [-x|--no-idata4] [-c|--no-idata5] [-i|--interwork]
24 [-n|--nodelete] [-t|--temp-prefix prefix]
25 [-v|--verbose]
26 [-h|--help] [-V|--version]
27 [object-file ...]
28
30 dlltool reads its inputs, which can come from the -d and -b options as
31 well as object files specified on the command line. It then processes
32 these inputs and if the -e option has been specified it creates a
33 exports file. If the -l option has been specified it creates a library
34 file and if the -z option has been specified it creates a def file.
35 Any or all of the -e, -l and -z options can be present in one
36 invocation of dlltool.
37 When creating a DLL, along with the source for the DLL, it is necessary
39 to have three other files. dlltool can help with the creation of these
40 files.
41 The first file is a .def file which specifies which functions are
43 exported from the DLL, which functions the DLL imports, and so on.
44 This is a text file and can be created by hand, or dlltool can be used
45 to create it using the -z option. In this case dlltool will scan the
46 object files specified on its command line looking for those functions
47 which have been specially marked as being exported and put entries for
48 them in the .def file it creates.
49 In order to mark a function as being exported from a DLL, it needs to
51 have an -export:<name_of_function> entry in the .drectve section of the
52 object file. This can be done in C by using the asm() operator:
53 asm (".section .drectve");
55 asm (".ascii \"-export:my_func\"");
56 int my_func (void) { ... }
58 The second file needed for DLL creation is an exports file. This file
60 is linked with the object files that make up the body of the DLL and it
61 handles the interface between the DLL and the outside world. This is a
62 binary file and it can be created by giving the -e option to dlltool
63 when it is creating or reading in a .def file.
64 The third file needed for DLL creation is the library file that
66 programs will link with in order to access the functions in the DLL.
67 This file can be created by giving the -l option to dlltool when it is
68 creating or reading in a .def file.
69 dlltool builds the library file by hand, but it builds the exports file
71 by creating temporary files containing assembler statements and then
72 assembling these. The -S command line option can be used to specify
73 the path to the assembler that dlltool will use, and the -f option can
74 be used to pass specific flags to that assembler. The -n can be used
75 to prevent dlltool from deleting these temporary assembler files when
76 it is done, and if -n is specified twice then this will prevent dlltool
77 from deleting the temporary object files it used to build the library.
78 Here is an example of creating a DLL from a source file dll.c and also
80 creating a program (from an object file called program.o) that uses
81 that DLL:
82 gcc -c dll.c
84 dlltool -e exports.o -l dll.lib dll.o
85 gcc dll.o exports.o -o dll.dll
86 gcc program.o dll.lib -o program
87
89 The command line options have the following meanings:
90 -d filename
92 --input-def filename
93 Specifies the name of a .def file to be read in and processed.
94 -b filename
96 --base-file filename
97 Specifies the name of a base file to be read in and processed. The
98 contents of this file will be added to the relocation section in
99 the exports file generated by dlltool.
100 -e filename
102 --output-exp filename
103 Specifies the name of the export file to be created by dlltool.
104 -z filename
106 --output-def filename
107 Specifies the name of the .def file to be created by dlltool.
108 -l filename
110 --output-lib filename
111 Specifies the name of the library file to be created by dlltool.
112 --export-all-symbols
114 Treat all global and weak defined symbols found in the input object
115 files as symbols to be exported. There is a small list of symbols
116 which are not exported by default; see the --no-default-excludes
117 option. You may add to the list of symbols to not export by using
118 the --exclude-symbols option.
119 --no-export-all-symbols
121 Only export symbols explicitly listed in an input .def file or in
122 .drectve sections in the input object files. This is the default
123 behaviour. The .drectve sections are created by dllexport
124 attributes in the source code.
125 --exclude-symbols list
127 Do not export the symbols in list. This is a list of symbol names
128 separated by comma or colon characters. The symbol names should
129 not contain a leading underscore. This is only meaningful when
130 --export-all-symbols is used.
131 --no-default-excludes
133 When --export-all-symbols is used, it will by default avoid
134 exporting certain special symbols. The current list of symbols to
135 avoid exporting is DllMain@12, DllEntryPoint@0, impure_ptr. You
136 may use the --no-default-excludes option to go ahead and export
137 these special symbols. This is only meaningful when
138 --export-all-symbols is used.
139 -S path
141 --as path
142 Specifies the path, including the filename, of the assembler to be
143 used to create the exports file.
144 -f options
146 --as-flags options
147 Specifies any specific command line options to be passed to the
148 assembler when building the exports file. This option will work
149 even if the -S option is not used. This option only takes one
150 argument, and if it occurs more than once on the command line, then
151 later occurrences will override earlier occurrences. So if it is
152 necessary to pass multiple options to the assembler they should be
153 enclosed in double quotes.
154 -D name
156 --dll-name name
157 Specifies the name to be stored in the .def file as the name of the
158 DLL when the -e option is used. If this option is not present,
159 then the filename given to the -e option will be used as the name
160 of the DLL.
161 -m machine
163 -machine machine
164 Specifies the type of machine for which the library file should be
165 built. dlltool has a built in default type, depending upon how it
166 was created, but this option can be used to override that. This is
167 normally only useful when creating DLLs for an ARM processor, when
168 the contents of the DLL are actually encode using Thumb
169 instructions.
170 -a
172 --add-indirect
173 Specifies that when dlltool is creating the exports file it should
174 add a section which allows the exported functions to be referenced
175 without using the import library. Whatever the hell that means!
176 -U
178 --add-underscore
179 Specifies that when dlltool is creating the exports file it should
180 prepend an underscore to the names of all exported symbols.
181 --add-stdcall-underscore
183 Specifies that when dlltool is creating the exports file it should
184 prepend an underscore to the names of exported stdcall functions.
185 Variable names and non-stdcall function names are not modified.
186 This option is useful when creating GNU-compatible import libs for
187 third party DLLs that were built with MS-Windows tools.
188 -k
190 --kill-at
191 Specifies that when dlltool is creating the exports file it should
192 not append the string @ <number>. These numbers are called ordinal
193 numbers and they represent another way of accessing the function in
194 a DLL, other than by name.
195 -A
197 --add-stdcall-alias
198 Specifies that when dlltool is creating the exports file it should
199 add aliases for stdcall symbols without @ <number> in addition to
200 the symbols with @ <number>.
201 -p
203 --ext-prefix-alias prefix
204 Causes dlltool to create external aliases for all DLL imports with
205 the specified prefix. The aliases are created for both external
206 and import symbols with no leading underscore.
207 -x
209 --no-idata4
210 Specifies that when dlltool is creating the exports and library
211 files it should omit the ".idata4" section. This is for
212 compatibility with certain operating systems.
213 -c
215 --no-idata5
216 Specifies that when dlltool is creating the exports and library
217 files it should omit the ".idata5" section. This is for
218 compatibility with certain operating systems.
219 -i
221 --interwork
222 Specifies that dlltool should mark the objects in the library file
223 and exports file that it produces as supporting interworking
224 between ARM and Thumb code.
225 -n
227 --nodelete
228 Makes dlltool preserve the temporary assembler files it used to
229 create the exports file. If this option is repeated then dlltool
230 will also preserve the temporary object files it uses to create the
231 library file.
232 -t prefix
234 --temp-prefix prefix
235 Makes dlltool use prefix when constructing the names of temporary
236 assembler and object files. By default, the temp file prefix is
237 generated from the pid.
238 -v
240 --verbose
241 Make dlltool describe what it is doing.
242 -h
244 --help
245 Displays a list of command line options and then exits.
246 -V
248 --version
249 Displays dlltool's version number and then exits.
250 @file
252 Read command-line options from file. The options read are inserted
253 in place of the original @file option. If file does not exist, or
254 cannot be read, then the option will be treated literally, and not
255 removed.
256 Options in file are separated by whitespace. A whitespace
258 character may be included in an option by surrounding the entire
259 option in either single or double quotes. Any character (including
260 a backslash) may be included by prefixing the character to be
261 included with a backslash. The file may itself contain additional
262 @file options; any such options will be processed recursively.
263
265 The Info pages for binutils.
266
268 Copyright (c) 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999,
269 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 Free Software
270 Foundation, Inc.
271 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
273 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or
274 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
275 Invariant Sections, with no Front-Cover Texts, and with no Back-Cover
276 Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU
277 Free Documentation License".
278binutils-2.19.50.0.1 2009-07-28 DLLTOOL(1)