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3960 :: Embedding .dll in Nim executable

• Serasar (orginal) [2018-06-21T19:15:49+02:00] view original

  I am using dll in my program, and I wonder how can I embed it in my executable? This is possible in C/C++ and since Nim executables can be compiled from them it can be possible in Nim?

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• shashlick (orginal) [2018-06-21T23:04:48+02:00] view original

  I'm working on exactly this as a package. I'll get it posted as soon as possible.

  Here's a gist to get an idea, it has some limitations which I am trying to address in the package.

  https://gist.github.com/genotrance/10fb380f54dc3024c1292d1595aa38a6

  What DLL are you depending on?

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• Serasar (orginal) [2018-06-22T09:10:03+02:00] view original

  libsodium.dll from here https://download.libsodium.org/libsodium/releases/ (Pre-built libraries section)

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• shashlick (orginal) [2018-06-22T20:22:43+02:00] view original

  I just posted nimdeps which can bundle dependencies but it doesn't seem to work for DLL files since Nim loads DLLs much before any nimdeps code runs. I'm checking with the core developers to figure this out but no ideas as of now.

  Details - loadLibrary() runs during PreMainInner() / moduleDatInit() so unless I can do the DLL extraction during nimdepsDatInit() somehow, I don't see how this is possible.

  Any ideas appreciated.

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• twetzel59 (orginal) [2018-06-22T20:35:23+02:00] view original

  Is there a particular reason for "embedding" a DLL? I wonder if you could just link the library statically?

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• twetzel59 (orginal) [2018-06-22T20:35:48+02:00] view original

  Also @shashlick nimdeps looks really nice!

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• shashlick (orginal) [2018-06-22T20:57:17+02:00] view original

  Static linking is ideal but might not always be an option - bass.dll for example. It is definitely an option for Serasar since libsodium does post static files.

  More than DLLs or static linking, I prefer compiling the code in so that there are no separate binary dependencies to download. That's how I've been trying to make most nimgen wrappers so that you get everything you need with a nimble install. Similarly nimpcre which removes the dependency on pcreXX.dll by compiling the code in.

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