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] [--add-stdcall-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 pro-
       cesses 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:

		 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.

       -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 be-
	   haviour.  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 spe-
	   cial 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
	   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 all exported symbols.

       --add-stdcall-underscore
	   Specifies  that  when  dlltool is creating the exports file it should prepend an underscore to the names of exported stdcall functions.
	   Variable names and non-stdcall function names are not modified.  This option is useful when creating  GNU-compatible  import  libs  for
	   third party DLLs that were built with MS-Windows tools.

       -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>.

       -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 gen-
	   erated 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.

       @file
	   Read  command-line options from file.  The options read are inserted in place of the original @file option.	If file does not exist, or
	   cannot be read, then the option will be treated literally, and not removed.

	   Options in file are separated by whitespace.  A whitespace character may be included in an option by surrounding the entire	option	in
	   either single or double quotes.  Any character (including a backslash) may be included by prefixing the character to be included with a
	   backslash.  The file may itself contain additional @file options; any such options will be processed recursively.

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, 2006, 2007  Free  Software  Founda-
       tion, 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".

binutils-2.17.90						    2007-08-06								DLLTOOL(1)