Request: make coff2omf free

[John Reimer]

On Sun, 25 Feb 2007 06:14:19 +0900, Bill Baxter wrote:

> torhu wrote:
>> I'm working on translating headers for a C lib called allegroGL to D. 
>> The C lib isn't set up for building DLLs on windows, only libs for 
>> static linking.  So I'm stuck with mingw or msvc lib files that I can't 
>> link with my D objects.
>> 
>> Getting this library to compile to a DLL requires adapting the source, 
>> creating .def files, etc.  I'm not too keen on that.
>> 
>> So Mr. Bright: I'm wondering if you could make coff2omf available as 
>> part of the basic utility package, like implib already is.  I think it's 
>> fair to say that this is in the interest of encouraging adoptation of D. :)
> 
> I asked about coff2omf a while back and the response I got from someone 
> on the newsgroup here was "it's hit or miss".  Apparently it doesn't 
> always work.  Now maybe the gentleman telling me that was wrong, but I'm 
> certainly not going to *pay* for it just to find out that it doesn't 
> actually work.  And I think most people are in a situation like you 
> where they have basically ONE library they want to convert ONE time, and 
>   really no need for the rest of the things in the EUP.
> 
> So in short, I agree with you, it should be part of the bup.  I can't 
> imagine it's making a huge revenue stream for Walter, anyway.
> 
> Or if it is then maybe Walter should provide a web-based coff2omf 
> service.  $2 a pop, and if it doesn't work you don't pay.  Or something 
> like that.  I might give that a try.  :-)
> 
> --bb


It's "hit and miss" precisely for the reason that Walter has said he
avoids moving to the coff format for his tools: coff versions and
variations seem to have added subtle incompatibilities with each other
over the years.  It's never as simple as using the coff2omf tool on an
object just because it claims to be "coff". Ever tried getting coff
objects from multiple vendors interoperating? It's not likely to work
either.

In the past, if you wanted to give coff2omf.exe a fighting chance with
understanding an unsupported MS coff object file, you had to find a
certain version of the MS linker to convert it for you with a
obscure switch (this linker was sometimes only found in a certain hard to
find MS SDK). Even then, it seems it was "hit and miss". In the end, it
seems the coff2omf tool is only useful for a certain version of MS coff
libraries/objects. And if it works, then you were just lucky.

-JJR