Re: [Mingw-users] DLL symbols and bloat

[Mikael A. <mik...@te...>]

Hi !

That's correct, an exe file is almost the same thing as a dll, you can use
LoadLibrary to open an exe file and get symbols from it just as you would
with a dll.

Mikael

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Gisle Vanem" <gv...@br...>
To: <min...@li...>
Sent: Wednesday, September 24, 2003 2:22 PM
Subject: Re: [Mingw-users] DLL symbols and bloat


> "Nick Craig-Wood" <nc...@ax...> said:
>
> > However where I am having trouble is that the drivers need to import
> > functions and data from the main executable.
> >
> > I came to the conclusion that the main code would have to be built as
> > a DLL in order to be able to export things to the drivers - is this
> > correct?
>
> I'm not sure that's needed. An EXE can export symbols nearly as
> easy as a DLL can. I used the following method in my plugin dlls:
>
> 1) Mark all exportable symbols in the main-exe using __declspec.
>   E.g. put this in some common header:
>    #if defined(BUILDING_PLUGIN)
>      #define EC_API __declspec (dllimport)
>    #else
>      #define EC_API __declspec (dllexport)
>    #endif
>   extern EC_API int foo;
>   extern EC_API int bar (void);
>
> 2) Make a .def-file of all these exportables. If they are C++
>   symbols it might be more work (use a script).
>
> 3) Make a import library for the plugins/drivers to link with:
>   EC_IMPORT = ettercap.a
>   $(MAIN_APP) $(EC_IMPORT): $(MAIN_OBJECTS)
>         $(CC) -o $(MAIN_APP) $(MAIN_OBJECTS) $(LFLAGS) $(LIBS)
>         dlltool -l $(EC_IMPORT) -D $(MAIN_APP) -d src/ec_base.def
>
> 4) Compile and link the plugin/driver:
>   plugins/%.dll: %.c
>         $(CC) -o $@ $< $(CFLAGS) -DBUILDING_PLUGIN  -shared $(EC_IMPORT)
>
> Check the .dll with the depends program if LoadLibrary() fails.
>
> > Another problem I'm having is that the drivers (which are C++) seem to
> > import 50k of the C++ runtime library each!
>
> No wonder. The C++ runtime code is not in msvcrt.dll, but statically
> linked from libstdc++.a. You can reduce some space by using
> -fconserve-space -fno-rtti -fno-exceptions in CXXFLAGS.
>
> --gv
>
>
>
> -------------------------------------------------------
> This sf.net email is sponsored by:ThinkGeek
> Welcome to geek heaven.
> http://thinkgeek.com/sf
> _______________________________________________
> MinGW-users mailing list
> Min...@li...
>
> You may change your MinGW Account Options or unsubscribe at:
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/mingw-users