On 6 January 2012 21:06, Nick Sabalausky <a@a.a> wrote:
Yea, OMF is actually #1 PITA on Windows right now, unfortunately.
The problem: On windows, DMD uses the Optlink linker. Optlink only supports
OMF right now (OMF used to be commonly used by Borland, IIRC). Optlink was
written entirely in asm so changing it is difficult. But Walter has been,
piece-by-piece, porting it to C (and then he'll port it to D). (This is
issue also happens to be the main thing blocking 64-bit on Windows.)
Lame. Surely Optlink is not the only linker in the world...?
I'm also surprised that someone capable of writing a compiler and optimiser for a complex language isn't capable of writing a linker. The link must surely be the simplest+easiest of those 3 jobs...?
There are a few solutions right now (in no particular order):
- Recompile the libs using DMC (the Digital Mars C/C++ compiler). That will
result in an OMF lib file that can be used with DMD.
DMx has inferior code generation, not a chance :) .. And does DMC even support all the features of the language? SSE? No support in D, why would it work in DMC?
- Link with Unilink instead of DMD/Optlink. Unilink can link both OMF and
COFF together just fine. I don't have a link offhand, and it's a little
funky to learn how to use since the docs aren't very good, but I'm sure
someone here will chime in (or you can search the archives, I know comeone
posted a good introduction to it not too long ago).
Why not use this instead of Optlink if it works?
I'll check it out... though VisualD doesn't support this.
- Use the Digital Mars COFF2OMF tool to convert to lib to OMF.
Unfortunately, the tool isn't free, but IIRC it's inexpensive.
Seriously... I just simply won't bother, and write my app in C instead ;)
- Use LDC or GDC instead of DMD. I think those work with COFF.
VisualD doesn't support those compilers (yet).
- If the library comes in a DLL version, you can download the free IMPLIB
tool and use it to generate an OMF import library directly from the DLL
(it'll still actually link to the DLL at runtime).
I could probably build my engine as a DLL... I've been planning to do this for a long time anyway.
Maybe this is the extra bit of motivation I need to do it ;)
The IMPLIB and COFF2OMF tools are here:
http://www.digitalmars.com/download/freecompiler.html IMPLIB is in the free
"Basic Utilities" package, and COFF2OMF is in the "Extended Utilities
Package"
If you feel this is all still a big pain in the ass: Don't worry, everyone
here agrees with you, and the situation will not remain like this forever.
Indeed. The main reason for my post is just to complain, and add my voice ;)
I'd like to insist that this is basically unacceptable... it should be prioritised.