Most binary distributions created for the Windows platform are built using Microsoft Visual C++. This does not mean that you have to develop or build extensions using this compiler (unless they are exporting C++ symbols!). All you need is a suitable link library and then your [mingw32]-built application can use the same DLLs as everyone else. For information about the native windows version of the GNU C compiler go to
http://www.mingw.org/.

To build a useful mingw32 gcc link library from the Tcl dlls we can either work from the DLL or the .LIB files provided. We need to get hold of a copy of ''sed'' for win32 from somewhere like  http://www.wzw.tu-muenchen.de/~syring/win32/UnxUtils.html
and either use the ''nm'' provided with mingw32 gcc or get ''dumpbin'' from a Microsoft download site.

[Peter Lewerin] (2001-10-25): I have used the sed from the DJGPP package for MS-DOS under Windows.  Go to http://www.delorie.com/djgpp/zip-picker.html, select an ftp server, and look for the file '''pub/simtelnet/gnu/djgpp/v2gnu/sed3028b.zip''' on that server.  You will probably need a minimal install of DJGPP to make it work.

'''Working from a DLL'''

Placing Makefile in your tcl lib directory (...\Tcl\lib) should do what is needed. You need ''dumpbin'' and ''sed'' in your path plus the ''exports.sed'' script given below. Unfortunately ''dumpbin'' is only provided with Microsoft compilers so...

It turns out that you can use mingw32 supplied ''objdump -p'' to get the export symbols from a DLL. You can use the ''dllextract.sed'' script below with ''objdump'' - see the makefile. - [PT]

'''Working from a .LIB file'''

.LIB files are the normal Microsoft compiler link libraries. Edit the Makefile by uncommenting the *.def sections and commenting the alternative .def sections. The dlltool section remains the same.

'''The Tcl Stubs Library'''

The stubs libraries are not DLL's but static libraries. The current mingw32 package (mingw1.1) can cope with the distributed [ActiveTcl] files but they need renaming thus:
  copy tclstub83.lib libtclstub83.a
  copy tkstub83.lib libtkstub83.a

----

 # Makefile - Copyright (C) 2001 Pat Thoyts <Pat.Thoyts@bigfoot.com>
 #
 # How to create a gcc compatible linker library for a DLL from an MSVC 
 # produced .LIB file or DLL. If you want to use the .LIB files, swap over
 # the commented sections and build the .DEF file using the other method.
 
 DLLTOOL=dlltool --kill-at
 
 all: libtcl83.a libtk83.a
 
 #-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 tcl83.def:
 	echo EXPORTS > $@
 	dumpbin /exports ..\bin\tcl83.dll | sed -nf exports.sed >> $@
 #tcl83.def:
 #	echo EXPORTS > $@
 #	nm tcl83.lib | sed -n "/00000000 T/s/\([^_]*_\)//p" >> $@

 #tcl83.def:
 #	echo EXPORTS > $@
 #      objdump -p ..\bin\tcl83.dll | sed -nf dllextract.sed >> $@

 libtcl83.a: tcl83.def
 	$(DLLTOOL) --dllname ../bin/tcl83.dll --input-def $< --output-lib $@
 
 #-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 tk83.def:
 	echo EXPORTS > $@
 	dumpbin /exports ..\bin\tk83.dll | sed -nf exports.sed >> $@
 #tk83.def:
 #	echo EXPORTS > $@
 #	nm tk83.lib | sed -n "/00000000 T/s/\([^_]*_\)//p" >> $@

 #tk83.def:
 #	echo EXPORTS > $@
 #      objdump -p ..\bin\tk83.dll | sed -nf dllextract.sed >> $@

 libtk83.a: tk83.def
 	$(DLLTOOL) --dllname ../bin/tk83.dll --input-def $< --output-lib $@
 
 #-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 clean:
 	@del tcl83.def
 	@del tk83.def
 
 realclean: clean
 	@del libtcl83.a
 	@del libtk83.a
 
 .PHONY: clean realclean
 
 
 #
 # Local variables:
 #   mode: makefile
 # End:
 #
 

----

 # exports.sed - Copyright (C) 2001 Pat Thoyts <Pat.Thoyts@bigfoot.com>
 #
 # Build an exports list from a Windows DLL.
 #
 /[ 	]*ordinal hint/,/^[ 	]*Summary/{
  /^[ 	]\+[0123456789]\+/{
    s/^[ 	]\+[0123456789]\+[ \t]\+[0123456789ABCDEFabcdef]\+[ 	]\+[0123456789ABCDEFabcdef]\+[ 	]\+\(.*\)/\1/p
  }
 }

----

 # dllextract.sed - Copyright (C) 2001 Pat Thoyts <Pat.Thoyts@bigfoot.com>
 #
 # Build an exports list from a Windows DLL using 'objdump -p'
 #
 /^\[Ordinal\/Name Pointer\] Table/,/^$/{
   /^\[Ordinal\/Name Pointer\] Table/d
   /\[/s/[ 	]\+\[[ 	]*\([0123456789]\+\)\] \(.*\)/\2/p
 }

----
[FPX]: I found it annoying that the path to the Tcl and Tk DLLs
was being set to "../bin/". Windows then refused to find the DLLs
through usual means (in PATH or in the current directory). So for
me, I edited the Makefile and changed the --dllname option to read
"--dllname tcl83.dll" instead of "--dllname ../bin/tcl83.dll".
----
Go back to [Building Tcl DLL's for Windows]