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]
               [-y|--output-delaylib 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]
               [--use-nul-prefixed-import-tables]
               [-I|--identify library-file-name] [--identify-strict]
               [-i|--interwork]
               [-n|--nodelete] [-t|--temp-prefix prefix]
               [-v|--verbose]
               [-h|--help] [-V|--version]
               [--no-leading-underscore] [--leading-underscore]
               [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:

                 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 (an
       `import library').  This file can be created by giving the -l option to
       dlltool when it is creating or reading in a .def file.

       If the -y option is specified, dlltool generates a delay-import library
       that can be used instead of the normal import library to allow a
       program to link to the dll only as soon as an imported function is
       called for the first time. The resulting executable will need to be
       linked to the static delayimp library containing __delayLoadHelper2(),
       which in turn will import LoadLibraryA and GetProcAddress from
       kernel32.

       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

       dlltool may also be used to query an existing import library to
       determine the name of the DLL to which it is associated.  See the
       description of the -I or --identify option.

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.

       -y filename
       --output-delaylib filename
           Specifies the name of the delay-import 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
           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.

       --no-leading-underscore
       --leading-underscore
           Specifies whether standard symbol should be forced to be prefixed,
           or not.

       --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.

       --use-nul-prefixed-import-tables
           Specifies that when dlltool is creating the exports and library
           files it should prefix the ".idata4" and ".idata5" by zero an
           element. This emulates old gnu import library generation of
           "dlltool". By default this option is turned off.

       -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 filename
       --identify filename
           Specifies that dlltool should inspect the import library indicated
           by filename and report, on "stdout", the name(s) of the associated
           DLL(s).  This can be performed in addition to any other operations
           indicated by the other options and arguments.  dlltool fails if the
           import library does not exist or is not actually an import library.
           See also --identify-strict.

       --identify-strict
           Modifies the behavior of the --identify option, such that an error
           is reported if filename is associated with more than one DLL.

       -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.

       @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) 1991-2014 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 1.3 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-2.25                     2014-12-23                        DLLTOOL(1)
