The Old New Thing

Understanding errors in classical linking: The delay-load catch-22

Wrapping up our week of understanding the classical model for linking, we'll put together all the little pieces we've learned this week to puzzle out a linker problem: The delay-load catch-22. You do some code cleanup, then rebuild your project, and you get LNK4199: /DELAYLOAD:SHLWAPI ignored; no imports found from SHLWAPI What does ...

Understanding the classical model for linking: Sometimes you don’t want a symbol to come along for a ride

Continuing our study of the classical model for linking, let's take another look at the trick of taking symbols along for the ride. The technique of taking symbols along for the ride is quite handy if that's what you want, but sometimes you don't actually want it. For example, a symbol taken along for the ride may create conflicts or ...

Understanding the classical model for linking: You can override an LIB with another LIB, and a LIB with an OBJ, but you can’t override an OBJ

If you study the classical model for linking, you'll see that OBJ files provided directly to the linker have a special property: They are added to the module even if nobody requests a symbol from them. OBJs bundled into a library are pulled into the module only if they are needed to resolve a needed symbol request. If nobody needs a symbol ...