On 03/10/2011 11:45 AM, Ed Hartnett wrote:
I have not yet generated the (windows-only) .lib file. Is this file
really needed? Seems like the utilities are accessing the DLLs just fine
without it.
.lib files are confusing on windows.
Static libraries are named .lib. Thus if you're distributing static
libraries.. well, those *are* the static libraries, so you need to
distribute them :)
However, MS also uses .lib for so-called "import libraries". These are
built in tandem with DLLs, and are a distinct binary than the static
libraries, despite sharing the same name. Import libraries are required
for an application to *build against* a DLL, but applications linked to
a DLL have no need for the import libraries.
Hope that clarifies things,
-tom
