dll.exp: file not recognized: File format not recognized

That's not right - first thing I'd try is re-installing Strawberry Perl.
Win32-GUI-1.06 builds fine for me on both 5.10 and 5.12 editions of Strawberry Perl.

Note that, if building Win32-GUI with Strawberry Perl, you miss out on Win32::GUI::AxWindow, Win32::GUI::Bitmap and Win32::GUI::Grid. (You'll see warnings about this during the 'perl Makefile.PL' stage.)
If you want those features, then you should instead install Win32::GUI from the ActiveState ppm repository.

Cheers,
Rob

Hi Rob,

Thanks for looking at this for me.

I tried re-installing Perl, I even tried the ActivePerl version and using "ppm" to install. Neither worked :(

Like I said in a reply above just now, it might have to do with me not having a C compiler. I'm currently installing MinGW as an attempt to fix this.

- Cbeppe

dll.exp should be the list of symbols to export (binary format) that's being created right above with the command dlltool --def Constants.def --output-exp dll.exp.

Other than that, I'm afraid I can't offer much wisdom :)  What does dll.exp contain? Maybe the file is empty because the dlltool command failed for some reason? Interestingly, my version of dlltool doesn't have an option --def, only --input-def or -d ...

Update: a little googling suggests that --def is still understood for compatibility, so this shouldn't be an issue.

No, the file is not empty, however I don't have a program that shows me the real contents. It's at about 730bytes though.

Now, when you mention MinGW, I think my problem might lie there since I never installed anything like that. I'll download it and set it up and try again. Maybe that's why the file type is "unknown"?

We'll see. Thanks for your help.

- Cbeppe

dlltool --def Constants.def --output-exp dll.exp
g++ -o ..\blib\arch\auto\Win32\GUI\Constants\Constants.dll -Wl,--base-
+file -Wl,dll.base -mdll -s -L"C:\strawberry\perl\lib\CORE" -L"C:\stra
+wberry\c\li
b" Constants.o Constants.res -Wl,--image-base,0x370e0000  C:\strawberr
+y\perl\lib\CORE\libperl510.a -lmoldname -lkernel32 -luser32 -lgdi32 -
+lwinspool -
lcomdlg32 -ladvapi32 -lshell32 -lole32 -loleaut32 -lnetapi32 -luuid -l
+ws2_32 -lmpr -lwinmm -lversion -lodbc32 -lodbccp32 dll.exp
dll.exp: file not recognized: File format not recognized
collect2: ld returned 1 exit status
dmake:  Error code 129, while making '..\blib\arch\auto\Win32\GUI\Cons
+tants\Constants.dll'
dmake:  Error code 255, while making 'subdirs'
[download]

Alright... I just installed MinGW to no avail

But you already had MinGW - it's in the Strawberry/c/ folder.
Can you post the output of gcc -v ? With StrawberryPerl-5.10, mine looks like this:

C:\>gcc -v
Reading specs from C:/strawberry/c/bin/../lib/gcc/mingw32/3.4.5/specs
Configured with: ../gcc-3.4.5-20060117-3/configure --with-gcc --with-g
+nu-ld --with-gnu-as --host=mingw32 --target=mingw32 --prefix=/mingw -
+-enable-threads --disable-nls --enable-languages=c,c++,f77,ada,objc,j
+ava --disable-win32-registry --disable-shared --enable-sjlj-exception
+s --enable-libgcj --disable-java-awt --without-x --enable-java-gc=boe
+hm --disable-libgcj-debug --enable-interpreter --enable-hash-synchron
+ization --enable-libstdcxx-debug
Thread model: win32
gcc version 3.4.5 (mingw-vista special r3)
[download]

You should see something similar.
Something is seriously broken ... probably, but not necessarily, MinGW.

Cheers,
Rob

Here is the result:

Reading specs from C:/strawberry/c/bin/../lib/gcc/mingw32/3.4.5/specs
Configured with: ../gcc-3.4.5-20060117-3/configure --with-gcc --with-g
+nu-ld --with-gnu-as --host=mingw32 --target=mingw32 --prefix=/mingw -
+-enable-thr
eads --disable-nls --enable-languages=c,c++,f77,ada,objc,java --disabl
+e-win32-registry --disable-shared --enable-sjlj-exceptions --enable-l
+ibgcj --dis
able-java-awt --without-x --enable-java-gc=boehm --disable-libgcj-debu
+g --enable-interpreter --enable-hash-synchronization --enable-libstdc
+xx-debug
Thread model: win32
gcc version 3.4.5 (mingw-vista special r3)
[download]

Seriously broken.... hmm. That a good thing? :D
- Cbeppe

Ok, so I gave up on Win32::GUI, and installed ActivePerl from activestate. I also downloaded their Tcl and Tkx, which does very much the same as Win32::Gui.

I'd just like to thank everyone who helped me out here. I see myself becoming a member of this forum as soon as I get an account.

Thanks :)
- Cbeppe

I'm running Windows 7 64bit (Could that be a problem?) and Strawberry Perl 5.10.1.3.

The result for the new MinGW compiler is this:

Using built-in specs.
COLLECT_GCC=gcc
Target: mingw32
Configured with: ../gcc-4.5.0/configure --enable-languages=c,c++,ada,f
+ortran,objc,obj-c++ --disable-sjlj-exceptions --with-dwarf2 --enable-
+shared --en
able-libgomp --disable-win32-registry --enable-libstdcxx-debug --enabl
+e-version-specific-runtime-libs --disable-werror --build=mingw32 --pr
+efix=/mingw

Thread model: win32
gcc version 4.5.0 (GCC)
[download]

As you can see, the new MinGW is a later version than the one shipped with Perl.
I ran the commands you mentioned, but it still returns the same errors on dmake. Dmake realclean does not return an error, but doesn't seem to affect the install in any other way though.

- Cbeppe

I'm running Windows 7 64bit (Could that be a problem?) and Strawberry Perl 5.10.1.3

I'm running Windows Vista 64 bit with both 32-bit and 64-bit builds of Strawberry Perl, and there's no problem.
I guess there could be some Windows7-specific issue involved ... but I've not heard of any such thing.

The compilers you're using are 32-bit compilers, which should be fine as long as your build of Strawberry Perl is also 32-bit. I don't think Strawberry Perl even provides a 64-bit build of perl 5.10.
Anyway, just check that perl -V:archname reports MSWin32-x86-multi-thread, not MSWin32-x64-multi-thread

Can't really think of anything else ...

Cheers,
Rob

Avoid mixing Strawberry perl with your own mingw installation unless you exactly know what can happen. I recommend to remove all the other mingws from your PATH when building Win32::GUI in strawberry perl.

Also assure that you do not have some other copy of dmake.exe in your PATH before strawberry's directories (IIRC Win32::GUI generate slightly strange Makefile which can be refused by the original dmake - e.g. https://rt.cpan.org/Public/Bug/Display.html?id=53721)

Win32::GUI should build fine with Strawberry perl 5.10.1 with mingw toolchain included with strawberry perl.

--
kmx

Here's one more idea if someone is willing to help:

Could someone please upload an archive containing the directories that Win32::GUI installs itself into, so that I can do a very manual install? This is definitely a last resort, but it should work unless I need to modify the registry substantially.

I'd really appreciate it if someone would be willing to help out on this.

Thanks. - Cbeppe

This is definitely a last resort, but it should work unless I need to modify the registry substantially

Unfortunately it won't work - if 'dmake' hasn't been run successfully, then you don't have all of the files that are needed for a successful installation.

Haven't grabbed the dll.exp file yet - apparently I need to register in order to be able to download anything ... which is a bit of a nuisance. Sounds like it's probably no good, anyway (given that it's so much smaller than the one my identical compiler produces).

Cheers,
Rob

I just downloaded the 64bit version of Perl, which is still in Beta. I ran the installation process again, and got this error:

In file included from Scintilla.xs:8:
../GUI.h:100: note: #pragma message:
*** Using Preserved Perl context.

In file included from Scintilla.xs:8:
../GUI.h:768: warning: 'ImageList_Duplicate' redeclared without dllimp
+ort attribute: previous dllimport ignored
Scintilla.xs: In function 'CallWndProc':
Scintilla.xs:199: error: 'GWL_USERDATA' undeclared (first use in this 
+function)
Scintilla.xs:199: error: (Each undeclared identifier is reported only 
+once
Scintilla.xs:199: error: for each function it appears in.)
dmake:  Error code 129, while making 'Scintilla.o'
dmake:  Error code 255, while making 'subdirs'
[download]

The error codes are the same, but the file that is causing the trouble is different. Any ideas?

- Cbeppe

Win32::GUI is known to have problems on 64bit Windows
You can try my patched version from:

http://strawberryperl.com/package/kmx/perl-modules-patched/Win32-GUI-1.06_patched2.tar.gz

It builds fine on 64bit Strawberry Perl 5.12.

--
kmx