Date: Sun, 15 Oct 1995 11:42:11 +0200 (IST)
From: Eli Zaretskii <eliz AT is DOT elta DOT co DOT il>
To: Richard Arbanas <arbanas AT umcc DOT umcc DOT umich DOT edu>
Cc: djgpp AT sun DOT soe DOT clarkson DOT edu
Subject: Re: DJGPP w/Borland library?


On 13 Oct 1995, Richard Arbanas wrote:

> I am attempting to compile C code that contains calls to functions
> defined in a library called "libdde.lib".  This library appears
> to be generated w/ Borland Turbo C++.  I tried the following
> 
> gcc -o test test.o libdde.lib 
> 
> and received the following error:
> 
> libdde.lib: file not recognized:  File format not recognized.

This one's in the FAQ (available as faq102.zip from the same place you 
get DJGPP):

17.4  Q: I have a set of useful functions in a .obj format, but no source
         code.  Can I use them with my DJGPP program?
      Q: I have this ACMELUXE.LIB library of functions which I want to
         use.  I've extracted all the .obj files, but when I try to link
         them with my program, gcc complains: ``File format not
         recognized''.  Can't I use these object files?
      Q: I've got a bunch of .obj files I want to use.  I've ran AR to
         make a Unix-style .a object library, but got an error message
         from gcc saying ``couldn't read symbols: No symbols''.  How can I
         link them with my code?
      A: Sorry, you can't.  The GNU linker called by gcc doesn't
         understand the format of .obj files which other DOS-based
         compilers/assemblers emit.  Unless you can get the source of
         those functions and compile them with gcc, you won't be able to
         use them.  (You can also try using LIB32 librarian from Microsoft
         C8 to convert object files to COFF.)  But don't feel too bad
         about it: most probably, they were written for real-mode
         programs, and without extensive modifications would have crashed
         your program anyway...

In some of the recent developments, an Obj-to-COFF converter is now 
avialable from OULU archive as

ftp://x2ftp.oulu.fi/pub/msdos/programming/converters/o2cv05.arj

It might or might not help, because it requires the Obj files to be 
written with flat model in mind, which your library probably isn't.