<html lang="en">
<head>
<title>dlltool - GNU Binary Utilities</title>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html">
<meta name="description" content="GNU Binary Utilities">
<meta name="generator" content="makeinfo 4.13">
<link title="Top" rel="start" href="index.html#Top">
<link rel="prev" href="windres.html#windres" title="windres">
<link rel="next" href="readelf.html#readelf" title="readelf">
<link href="http://www.gnu.org/software/texinfo/" rel="generator-home" title="Texinfo Homepage">
<!--
Copyright (C) 1991-2015 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''.
-->
<meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css">
<style type="text/css"><!--
pre.display { font-family:inherit }
pre.format { font-family:inherit }
pre.smalldisplay { font-family:inherit; font-size:smaller }
pre.smallformat { font-family:inherit; font-size:smaller }
pre.smallexample { font-size:smaller }
pre.smalllisp { font-size:smaller }
span.sc { font-variant:small-caps }
span.roman { font-family:serif; font-weight:normal; }
span.sansserif { font-family:sans-serif; font-weight:normal; }
--></style>
</head>
<body>
<div class="node">
<a name="dlltool"></a>
<p>
Next: <a rel="next" accesskey="n" href="readelf.html#readelf">readelf</a>,
Previous: <a rel="previous" accesskey="p" href="windres.html#windres">windres</a>,
Up: <a rel="up" accesskey="u" href="index.html#Top">Top</a>
<hr>
</div>
<h2 class="chapter">14 dlltool</h2>
<p><a name="index-DLL-143"></a><a name="index-dlltool-144"></a>
<samp><span class="command">dlltool</span></samp> is used to create the files needed to create dynamic
link libraries (DLLs) on systems which understand PE format image
files such as Windows. A DLL contains an export table which contains
information that the runtime loader needs to resolve references from a
referencing program.
<p>The export table is generated by this program by reading in a
<samp><span class="file">.def</span></samp> file or scanning the <samp><span class="file">.a</span></samp> and <samp><span class="file">.o</span></samp> files which
will be in the DLL. A <samp><span class="file">.o</span></samp> file can contain information in
special ‘<samp><span class="samp">.drectve</span></samp>’ sections with export information.
<blockquote>
<em>Note:</em> <samp><span class="command">dlltool</span></samp> is not always built as part of the
binary utilities, since it is only useful for those targets which
support DLLs.
</blockquote>
<!-- man title dlltool Create files needed to build and use DLLs. -->
<pre class="smallexample"> <!-- man begin SYNOPSIS dlltool -->
dlltool [<samp><span class="option">-d</span></samp>|<samp><span class="option">--input-def</span></samp> <var>def-file-name</var>]
[<samp><span class="option">-b</span></samp>|<samp><span class="option">--base-file</span></samp> <var>base-file-name</var>]
[<samp><span class="option">-e</span></samp>|<samp><span class="option">--output-exp</span></samp> <var>exports-file-name</var>]
[<samp><span class="option">-z</span></samp>|<samp><span class="option">--output-def</span></samp> <var>def-file-name</var>]
[<samp><span class="option">-l</span></samp>|<samp><span class="option">--output-lib</span></samp> <var>library-file-name</var>]
[<samp><span class="option">-y</span></samp>|<samp><span class="option">--output-delaylib</span></samp> <var>library-file-name</var>]
[<samp><span class="option">--export-all-symbols</span></samp>] [<samp><span class="option">--no-export-all-symbols</span></samp>]
[<samp><span class="option">--exclude-symbols</span></samp> <var>list</var>]
[<samp><span class="option">--no-default-excludes</span></samp>]
[<samp><span class="option">-S</span></samp>|<samp><span class="option">--as</span></samp> <var>path-to-assembler</var>] [<samp><span class="option">-f</span></samp>|<samp><span class="option">--as-flags</span></samp> <var>options</var>]
[<samp><span class="option">-D</span></samp>|<samp><span class="option">--dllname</span></samp> <var>name</var>] [<samp><span class="option">-m</span></samp>|<samp><span class="option">--machine</span></samp> <var>machine</var>]
[<samp><span class="option">-a</span></samp>|<samp><span class="option">--add-indirect</span></samp>]
[<samp><span class="option">-U</span></samp>|<samp><span class="option">--add-underscore</span></samp>] [<samp><span class="option">--add-stdcall-underscore</span></samp>]
[<samp><span class="option">-k</span></samp>|<samp><span class="option">--kill-at</span></samp>] [<samp><span class="option">-A</span></samp>|<samp><span class="option">--add-stdcall-alias</span></samp>]
[<samp><span class="option">-p</span></samp>|<samp><span class="option">--ext-prefix-alias</span></samp> <var>prefix</var>]
[<samp><span class="option">-x</span></samp>|<samp><span class="option">--no-idata4</span></samp>] [<samp><span class="option">-c</span></samp>|<samp><span class="option">--no-idata5</span></samp>]
[<samp><span class="option">--use-nul-prefixed-import-tables</span></samp>]
[<samp><span class="option">-I</span></samp>|<samp><span class="option">--identify</span></samp> <var>library-file-name</var>] [<samp><span class="option">--identify-strict</span></samp>]
[<samp><span class="option">-i</span></samp>|<samp><span class="option">--interwork</span></samp>]
[<samp><span class="option">-n</span></samp>|<samp><span class="option">--nodelete</span></samp>] [<samp><span class="option">-t</span></samp>|<samp><span class="option">--temp-prefix</span></samp> <var>prefix</var>]
[<samp><span class="option">-v</span></samp>|<samp><span class="option">--verbose</span></samp>]
[<samp><span class="option">-h</span></samp>|<samp><span class="option">--help</span></samp>] [<samp><span class="option">-V</span></samp>|<samp><span class="option">--version</span></samp>]
[<samp><span class="option">--no-leading-underscore</span></samp>] [<samp><span class="option">--leading-underscore</span></samp>]
[object-file ...]
<!-- man end -->
</pre>
<!-- man begin DESCRIPTION dlltool -->
<p><samp><span class="command">dlltool</span></samp> reads its inputs, which can come from the <samp><span class="option">-d</span></samp> and
<samp><span class="option">-b</span></samp> options as well as object files specified on the command
line. It then processes these inputs and if the <samp><span class="option">-e</span></samp> option has
been specified it creates a exports file. If the <samp><span class="option">-l</span></samp> option
has been specified it creates a library file and if the <samp><span class="option">-z</span></samp> option
has been specified it creates a def file. Any or all of the <samp><span class="option">-e</span></samp>,
<samp><span class="option">-l</span></samp> and <samp><span class="option">-z</span></samp> options can be present in one invocation of
dlltool.
<p>When creating a DLL, along with the source for the DLL, it is necessary
to have three other files. <samp><span class="command">dlltool</span></samp> can help with the creation of
these files.
<p>The first file is a <samp><span class="file">.def</span></samp> 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 <samp><span class="command">dlltool</span></samp> can be used
to create it using the <samp><span class="option">-z</span></samp> option. In this case <samp><span class="command">dlltool</span></samp>
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 <samp><span class="file">.def</span></samp> file it creates.
<p>In order to mark a function as being exported from a DLL, it needs to
have an <samp><span class="option">-export:<name_of_function></span></samp> entry in the ‘<samp><span class="samp">.drectve</span></samp>’
section of the object file. This can be done in C by using the
asm() operator:
<pre class="smallexample"> asm (".section .drectve");
asm (".ascii \"-export:my_func\"");
int my_func (void) { ... }
</pre>
<p>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 <samp><span class="option">-e</span></samp> option to
<samp><span class="command">dlltool</span></samp> when it is creating or reading in a <samp><span class="file">.def</span></samp> file.
<p>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 <samp><span class="option">-l</span></samp> option to
dlltool when it is creating or reading in a <samp><span class="file">.def</span></samp> file.
<p>If the <samp><span class="option">-y</span></samp> 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.
<p><samp><span class="command">dlltool</span></samp> builds the library file by hand, but it builds the
exports file by creating temporary files containing assembler statements
and then assembling these. The <samp><span class="option">-S</span></samp> command line option can be
used to specify the path to the assembler that dlltool will use,
and the <samp><span class="option">-f</span></samp> option can be used to pass specific flags to that
assembler. The <samp><span class="option">-n</span></samp> can be used to prevent dlltool from deleting
these temporary assembler files when it is done, and if <samp><span class="option">-n</span></samp> is
specified twice then this will prevent dlltool from deleting the
temporary object files it used to build the library.
<p>Here is an example of creating a DLL from a source file ‘<samp><span class="samp">dll.c</span></samp>’ and
also creating a program (from an object file called ‘<samp><span class="samp">program.o</span></samp>’)
that uses that DLL:
<pre class="smallexample"> 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
</pre>
<p><samp><span class="command">dlltool</span></samp> 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 <samp><span class="option">-I</span></samp> or <samp><span class="option">--identify</span></samp> option.
<!-- man end -->
<!-- man begin OPTIONS dlltool -->
<p>The command line options have the following meanings:
<dl>
<dt><samp><span class="env">-d </span><var>filename</var></samp><dt><samp><span class="env">--input-def </span><var>filename</var></samp><dd><a name="index-input-_002edef-file-145"></a>Specifies the name of a <samp><span class="file">.def</span></samp> file to be read in and processed.
<br><dt><samp><span class="env">-b </span><var>filename</var></samp><dt><samp><span class="env">--base-file </span><var>filename</var></samp><dd><a name="index-base-files-146"></a>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.
<br><dt><samp><span class="env">-e </span><var>filename</var></samp><dt><samp><span class="env">--output-exp </span><var>filename</var></samp><dd>Specifies the name of the export file to be created by dlltool.
<br><dt><samp><span class="env">-z </span><var>filename</var></samp><dt><samp><span class="env">--output-def </span><var>filename</var></samp><dd>Specifies the name of the <samp><span class="file">.def</span></samp> file to be created by dlltool.
<br><dt><samp><span class="env">-l </span><var>filename</var></samp><dt><samp><span class="env">--output-lib </span><var>filename</var></samp><dd>Specifies the name of the library file to be created by dlltool.
<br><dt><samp><span class="env">-y </span><var>filename</var></samp><dt><samp><span class="env">--output-delaylib </span><var>filename</var></samp><dd>Specifies the name of the delay-import library file to be created by dlltool.
<br><dt><samp><span class="env">--export-all-symbols</span></samp><dd>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 <samp><span class="option">--no-default-excludes</span></samp>
option. You may add to the list of symbols to not export by using the
<samp><span class="option">--exclude-symbols</span></samp> option.
<br><dt><samp><span class="env">--no-export-all-symbols</span></samp><dd>Only export symbols explicitly listed in an input <samp><span class="file">.def</span></samp> file or in
‘<samp><span class="samp">.drectve</span></samp>’ sections in the input object files. This is the default
behaviour. The ‘<samp><span class="samp">.drectve</span></samp>’ sections are created by ‘<samp><span class="samp">dllexport</span></samp>’
attributes in the source code.
<br><dt><samp><span class="env">--exclude-symbols </span><var>list</var></samp><dd>Do not export the symbols in <var>list</var>. 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
<samp><span class="option">--export-all-symbols</span></samp> is used.
<br><dt><samp><span class="env">--no-default-excludes</span></samp><dd>When <samp><span class="option">--export-all-symbols</span></samp> is used, it will by default avoid
exporting certain special symbols. The current list of symbols to avoid
exporting is ‘<samp><span class="samp">DllMain@12</span></samp>’, ‘<samp><span class="samp">DllEntryPoint@0</span></samp>’,
‘<samp><span class="samp">impure_ptr</span></samp>’. You may use the <samp><span class="option">--no-default-excludes</span></samp> option
to go ahead and export these special symbols. This is only meaningful
when <samp><span class="option">--export-all-symbols</span></samp> is used.
<br><dt><samp><span class="env">-S </span><var>path</var></samp><dt><samp><span class="env">--as </span><var>path</var></samp><dd>Specifies the path, including the filename, of the assembler to be used
to create the exports file.
<br><dt><samp><span class="env">-f </span><var>options</var></samp><dt><samp><span class="env">--as-flags </span><var>options</var></samp><dd>Specifies any specific command line options to be passed to the
assembler when building the exports file. This option will work even if
the <samp><span class="option">-S</span></samp> 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.
<br><dt><samp><span class="env">-D </span><var>name</var></samp><dt><samp><span class="env">--dll-name </span><var>name</var></samp><dd>Specifies the name to be stored in the <samp><span class="file">.def</span></samp> file as the name of
the DLL when the <samp><span class="option">-e</span></samp> option is used. If this option is not
present, then the filename given to the <samp><span class="option">-e</span></samp> option will be
used as the name of the DLL.
<br><dt><samp><span class="env">-m </span><var>machine</var></samp><dt><samp><span class="env">-machine </span><var>machine</var></samp><dd>Specifies the type of machine for which the library file should be
built. <samp><span class="command">dlltool</span></samp> 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.
<br><dt><samp><span class="env">-a</span></samp><dt><samp><span class="env">--add-indirect</span></samp><dd>Specifies that when <samp><span class="command">dlltool</span></samp> 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!
<br><dt><samp><span class="env">-U</span></samp><dt><samp><span class="env">--add-underscore</span></samp><dd>Specifies that when <samp><span class="command">dlltool</span></samp> is creating the exports file it
should prepend an underscore to the names of <em>all</em> exported symbols.
<br><dt><samp><span class="env">--no-leading-underscore</span></samp><br><dt><samp><span class="env">--leading-underscore</span></samp><dd>Specifies whether standard symbol should be forced to be prefixed, or
not.
<br><dt><samp><span class="env">--add-stdcall-underscore</span></samp><dd>Specifies that when <samp><span class="command">dlltool</span></samp> is creating the exports file it
should prepend an underscore to the names of exported <em>stdcall</em>
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.
<br><dt><samp><span class="env">-k</span></samp><dt><samp><span class="env">--kill-at</span></samp><dd>Specifies that ‘<samp><span class="samp">@<number></span></samp>’ suffixes should be omitted from the names
of stdcall functions that will be imported from the DLL. This is
useful when creating an import library for a DLL which exports stdcall
functions but without the usual ‘<samp><span class="samp">@<number></span></samp>’ symbol name suffix.
<p>This does not change the naming of symbols provided by the import library
to programs linked against it, but only the entries in the import table
(ie the .idata section).
<br><dt><samp><span class="env">-A</span></samp><dt><samp><span class="env">--add-stdcall-alias</span></samp><dd>Specifies that when <samp><span class="command">dlltool</span></samp> is creating the exports file it
should add aliases for stdcall symbols without ‘<samp><span class="samp">@ <number></span></samp>’
in addition to the symbols with ‘<samp><span class="samp">@ <number></span></samp>’.
<br><dt><samp><span class="env">-p</span></samp><dt><samp><span class="env">--ext-prefix-alias </span><var>prefix</var></samp><dd>Causes <samp><span class="command">dlltool</span></samp> 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.
<br><dt><samp><span class="env">-x</span></samp><dt><samp><span class="env">--no-idata4</span></samp><dd>Specifies that when <samp><span class="command">dlltool</span></samp> is creating the exports and library
files it should omit the <code>.idata4</code> section. This is for compatibility
with certain operating systems.
<br><dt><samp><span class="env">--use-nul-prefixed-import-tables</span></samp><dd>Specifies that when <samp><span class="command">dlltool</span></samp> is creating the exports and library
files it should prefix the <code>.idata4</code> and <code>.idata5</code> by zero an
element. This emulates old gnu import library generation of
<code>dlltool</code>. By default this option is turned off.
<br><dt><samp><span class="env">-c</span></samp><dt><samp><span class="env">--no-idata5</span></samp><dd>Specifies that when <samp><span class="command">dlltool</span></samp> is creating the exports and library
files it should omit the <code>.idata5</code> section. This is for compatibility
with certain operating systems.
<br><dt><samp><span class="env">-I </span><var>filename</var></samp><dt><samp><span class="env">--identify </span><var>filename</var></samp><dd>Specifies that <samp><span class="command">dlltool</span></samp> should inspect the import library
indicated by <var>filename</var> and report, on <code>stdout</code>, 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.
<samp><span class="command">dlltool</span></samp> fails if the import library does not exist or is not
actually an import library. See also <samp><span class="option">--identify-strict</span></samp>.
<br><dt><samp><span class="env">--identify-strict</span></samp><dd>Modifies the behavior of the <samp><span class="option">--identify</span></samp> option, such
that an error is reported if <var>filename</var> is associated with
more than one DLL.
<br><dt><samp><span class="env">-i</span></samp><dt><samp><span class="env">--interwork</span></samp><dd>Specifies that <samp><span class="command">dlltool</span></samp> should mark the objects in the library
file and exports file that it produces as supporting interworking
between ARM and Thumb code.
<br><dt><samp><span class="env">-n</span></samp><dt><samp><span class="env">--nodelete</span></samp><dd>Makes <samp><span class="command">dlltool</span></samp> 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.
<br><dt><samp><span class="env">-t </span><var>prefix</var></samp><dt><samp><span class="env">--temp-prefix </span><var>prefix</var></samp><dd>Makes <samp><span class="command">dlltool</span></samp> use <var>prefix</var> when constructing the names of
temporary assembler and object files. By default, the temp file prefix
is generated from the pid.
<br><dt><samp><span class="env">-v</span></samp><dt><samp><span class="env">--verbose</span></samp><dd>Make dlltool describe what it is doing.
<br><dt><samp><span class="env">-h</span></samp><dt><samp><span class="env">--help</span></samp><dd>Displays a list of command line options and then exits.
<br><dt><samp><span class="env">-V</span></samp><dt><samp><span class="env">--version</span></samp><dd>Displays dlltool's version number and then exits.
</dl>
<!-- man end -->
<ul class="menu">
<li><a accesskey="1" href="def-file-format.html#def-file-format">def file format</a>: The format of the dlltool <samp><span class="file">.def</span></samp> file
</ul>
</body></html>