RE: DLLs under Linux

[Rick Genter <RGenter@ibasis.net>]

>>>
-----Original Message-----
From: Steve Baker [mailto:sjbaker1@airmail.net]
Sent: Thursday, October 14, 1999 10:08 AM
To: linuxgames@sunsite.auc.dk
Subject: Re: DLLs under Linux


Felix Kollmann wrote:
> 
> Hi,
> 
> > IIRC you can import particular symbols from DLL (functions) too.
> > But really, DLL is a Windows term, DSO is Unixish. They differ
> > mostly in the fact that DLL exports only specified functions
> > whereas DSO exports all, but I'm not sure whether it has to be
> > always so.
> 
> A very, very important question:
> 
>         Does Visual C++ 6.0 suppoert dlopen()?
>         How to create the .dso files with VC++?

No - but Windoze has equivelent functionality via
it's DLL feature. There is a windoze API call to do
stuff just like the dlopen/dlsym calls and VC++ can
make DLL's just like you'd make DSO's under Linux/UNIX.

Someone needs to write a 10 line portability layer to
hide all that stuff from the application writers.

BTW: Does anyone know if MacOS has similar features?

I might be prepared to support such a portability
layer if I could find someone to do the MacOS code.
<<<

Yes, MacOS has the "Code Fragment Manager". A Code Fragment is similar to a
.DLL, except that the OS also understands things like version numbers and
search paths, so you can load a code fragment and not have to worry about
someone putting a newer, incompatible version in the search path and
breaking things.

Rick
--
Rick Genter
Director, Software Development
iBasis, Inc.
<http://www.ibasis.net>
<mailto:rgenter@ibasis.net>