32 and 64 bits libraries: separate file or a single one?

Question

Hi all,

I need to provide 32 and 64 bits version of my .dll for a customer. Do I need to generate 2 files? Or can a single one contain code for both architectures?

And for extra brownie points: does the same question apply for Mac libraries? Or the Universal Binary approach solve that issue?

Thanks in advance

Alex

Answer 1

I believe that you will need to provide two different assemblies.

Answer 2

You will need to provide two different dlls.

Answer 3

It depends on the platform and what is in the code.

With C/C++/... (native code) it will generally require different files, but some platforms may provide a way to package these together.

In "managed/visualised" systems (e.g. Java, .NET) you can have a single file that will work either way (the JIT/runtime handles the processor specific translation), but use of native interfaces (e.g. P/Inkvoke) will possibly fail in this case (e.g. structure field offsets change).