From: s2172184@cse.unsw.edu.au ("Ben Constable") Subject: Re: Why is cygwin.dll? 15 Jan 1997 20:52:08 -0800 Approved: cygnus.gnu-win32@cygnus.com Distribution: cygnus Message-ID: <970116031304.4657.cygnus.gnu-win32@cse.unsw.edu.au> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Original-To: "Jeremy Blackman" , "M.Carter" Original-Cc: X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Priority: 3 X-Mailer: Microsoft Internet Mail 4.70.1155 Original-Sender: owner-gnu-win32@cygnus.com > Now, figure on programs like grep.exe (91,648 bytes) having to include > that library in their .EXE...grep is now 3 megs, instead of 91k. No. That is totally wrong. Go compile grep or a similar program with watcom or visual C++. You will find that they do not have to be that big. It is because when you link the program, you only link the bits you need. > Figure on that size increase for every program compiled by the gnu-win32 > kit...INCLUDING THE KIT ITSELF (e.g. everything in the binary > directory). Do the math (120+ files in the binary directory * 3 megs = 360+ > additional megs)... and you'll see that a substantial chunk of your hard > drive has just disappeared. On top of that, add an additional 3 megs to > each executable YOU, as a user, compile with the gnu-win32 kit... Again, it would only be a very small amount for each program, because only a few functions each is only a couple of K for each program. > I know MY hard drive can't handle that. Besides, 1 meg is hefty enough > for an executable for one program I wrote...4 would be pushing the limits > of sanity, distribution-wise. A 4 meg executable would indicate to me that the linker does not do it's job properly. > Isn't it just much nicer to have one .DLL instead of statically linking > the entire cygwin library in? :) It's easy enough to write an Installer > for Win95 or NT which installs cygwin.dll as a shared file (which is what > I did for my program)... one copy of the file for everything that needs > it is much cleaner. ;) I think the good thing about the DLL is that you can update the dll without changing heaps of executable programs. That is the idea with most DLL's. Ben Constable s2172184@cse.unsw.edu.au - For help on using this list, send a message to "gnu-win32-request@cygnus.com" with one line of text: "help".