But I don't want that .lib or .exp file for my COM library!

Question

When generating a COM dll with VisualStudio, all I really need is the DllCanUnloadNow symbol (and three related ones) to be exported from the dll itself. Nobody is going to link against my library, so I'm not (at all) interested in a .lib file, nor in an .exp file.

However, I don't manage to inhibit creation of these files. (note: I do know how it's possible to remove them in a post-build step)

These are my linker arguments:

/OUT:"u:/cada-nt/bin/PData.dll" 
/INCREMENTAL:NO 
/NOLOGO 
/DLL 
/MANIFEST:NO 
/DEF:"PData.def" 
/DEBUG 
/PDB:"u:/cada-nt/pdb/PData.pdb" 
/ERRORREPORT:PROMPT kernel32.lib user32.lib gdi32.lib winspool.lib comdlg32.lib 
                    advapi32.lib shell32.lib ole32.lib oleaut32.lib uuid.lib 
                    odbc32.lib odbccp32.lib

The question:

• Has anyone succeeded in not generating the .lib and .exp files?
• Does anyone know why these files are generated?

Answer 1

why is it a problem to generate these files? Surely if people aren't going to link directly to them all you need to do is not distribute those files and simply distribute the DLL only.

Answer 2

Not sure how to turn them off, but you can make a post-build step to remove them, like this:

del $(OutDir)\$(ProjectName).lib
del $(OutDir)\$(ProjectName).exp

(on VS2008 it's [Project]->[Properties], then Configuration Properties->Build Events->Post-Build Events)

(note I realise you know how to do this, but this answer may help the next googler...)

Answer 3

Also you can remade output adresses for both that files to something like that: $(Configuration)\$(TargetName).lib By editing this properties window key: Configuration properties/Linker/Advanced/Import library