How do I create both a .lib file and an .exe file in Visual C++?

Question

I currently have a console project which creates an .exe file; I want it to also create a .lib file so other projects, compiled as DLLs, would be able to call functions from the original project.

I know it is possible, but I couldn't find how to do that. How do I tell the linker to also link a .lib?

iam3yal · Accepted Answer · 2016-03-19T21:17:41.550

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Posting this just as a reference I know the original post was posted long time ago but this still applies to anyone who needs a solution to this problem.

Go to the project you want to make a .lib file for and follow these steps:

Right click on the project.
Select Properties.
Select Build Events.
Select Pre-Link Event .
Finally in the Command Line paste this:

@ECHO ON @ECHO "$(VC_ExecutablePath_x86)\lib.exe" /out:"$(OutDir)$(ProjectName).lib" "$(IntermediateOutputPath)*.obj" "$(VC_ExecutablePath_x86)\lib.exe" /out:"$(OutDir)$(ProjectName).lib" "$(IntermediateOutputPath)*.obj"

This will call the lib tool to generate the lib file out of the generated object files.

edited Mar 19 '16 at 21:17

answered Mar 19 '16 at 20:55

iam3yal

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Kind of late, but wanted to thank you anyway :) You just made my life a whole lot easier – Joey van Gangelen Apr 15 '17 at 17:07
In my case the default localtion for .obj was in the project folder, so i changed "$(IntermediateOutputPath)*.obj" to "$(SolutionDir)$(ProjectName)\$(Configuration)\*.obj". it works fine, thanks. – elarmando Mar 01 '18 at 17:10
Excellent option, better late than never. Thanks ! – Kazi Hasan Sep 01 '21 at 21:47

score 10 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 17 '10 at 11:42

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It's not possible in general - static libraries and executables are completely different kinds of animal. The way to handle this situation is to create two projects - one for the library, which contains all the functionality. and one for the executable, which is a thin wrapper that simply calls functions in the library.

answered Apr 17 '10 at 11:42

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But right here I have a vcproj file that DOES end up with both an exe and a lib... Yet for the life of me I couldn't find what made it do that. http://svn.corecraft.org/aspire_mirror/trunk/win/VC90/hearthstone-world.vcproj – MoshiBin Apr 17 '10 at 11:51
@Spidey Presumably the project contains two sub-projects. – Apr 17 '10 at 11:53
agreed. Make the exe project depend on the lib project and it'll get automatically recompiled when needed. – f4. Apr 17 '10 at 11:53
I see, one of the projects in the solution was actually a static library which the other used, just like you've suggested. Thanks! :) – MoshiBin Apr 17 '10 at 12:10

score 6 · Answer 3 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:25

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If any symbol in a Application (.exe) project is exported (e.g. with __declspec(dllexport) ), both the .exe and the .lib files will be generated See: Why does my Visual C++ .exe project build create .lib and .exp files?

edited May 23 '17 at 12:25

Community

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answered Mar 10 '11 at 17:16

Gerardo Hernandez

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This is correct w.r.t. the question in the title. However, how would this help with the other question in the body; "be able to call functions from the original [EXE] project"? – MSalters Mar 11 '11 at 13:35
You link against the generated .lib; the .exe behaves as a DLL. i.e. the symbols are loaded at runtime from the .exe. – Gerardo Hernandez Mar 28 '11 at 20:14
I tested what I wrote in the last comment. It sometimes work and sometimes don't with, a "Cannot initialize application (0xC0000005)" error. Using LoadLibrary and GetProcAddress I also end up with memory problems. So actually I do not know how to use the generated .lib properly. – Gerardo Hernandez Apr 07 '11 at 14:30

score 1 · Answer 4 · edited Jun 28 '19 at 22:53

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It is amazing how many contributors arrogantly insists on an answer that is wrong, when they simply don't know the answer.

To generate a .lib associated with your .exe place the following line in Pre-Link Event:

"$(VC_ExecutablePath_x86)\lib.exe" /out:"$(OutDir)$(ProjectName).lib" "$(IntermediateOutputPath)*.obj"

edited Jun 28 '19 at 22:53

quetzalcoatl

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answered Feb 23 '18 at 18:36

user6664090

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score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Apr 17 '10 at 11:43

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You don't "also link a lib", you create a static library project. The latter doesn't call the linker at all -- instead it compiles all your files with cl /c and combines the resulting .objs into a lib using lib.exe.

answered Apr 17 '10 at 11:43

Alex Budovski

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How do I create both a .lib file and an .exe file in Visual C++?

5 Answers5

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