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.

'''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.

----

 # 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" >> $@
 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" >> $@
 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
  }
 }
----
Go back to [Building Tcl DLL's for Windows]