KB: add a section on Windows install paths and naming conventions #2655
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LGTM |
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cc: @tjwilli58 just for information |
docs/maintainer/knowledge_base.md
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| If a static library is installed as well, it is usually prefixed with `lib` to distinguish it from the import library: | ||
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| - `lib{name}.lib`, the static library |
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We use two conventions in conda-forge. lib{name}.lib and {name}-static.lib. The second is a historical artifact IMO.
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That's why I said "usually" :-). But I can mention the other convention too, no problem with that.
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Added, and rebased.
Now I wonder if there are also package using lib{name}.a.
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Now I wonder if there are also package using
lib{name}.a.
for stuff built by the m2w64-toolchain, yes. There's even libfoo.dll.a, example
Add a short section that covers Windows-specific install paths and library naming conventions. I suppose other people with primarily POSIX background will find this helpful, especially that these conventions are at least partially specific to conda-forge. The variables don't seem to be part of the core documentation, but they were documented in conda-build and rattler-build docs separately. I chose to document the intersection of both. Signed-off-by: Michał Górny <mgorny@quansight.com>
Co-authored-by: Mark Harfouche <mark.harfouche@gmail.com>
Signed-off-by: Michał Górny <mgorny@quansight.com>
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h-vetinari
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Thanks for the PR; some comments below
docs/maintainer/knowledge_base.md
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| Shared libraries on Windows generally follows the MSVC convention, and therefore are distributed as pairs of two files, usually without a `lib` prefix: | ||
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| - `{name}.dll`, the actual dynamic library that is used by compiled executables | ||
| - `{name}.lib`, the so-called import library that is used to link against the dynamic library when building packages |
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I think it's worth mentioning that this is so that -lfoo works in the same way as on unix, provided %LIBRARY_LIB% is on the linker path
docs/maintainer/knowledge_base.md
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| - `lib{name}.lib`, the static library | ||
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| Some packages use `{name}-static.lib` instead, though it is considered a historical artifact. |
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It might be worth a larger discussion, but I don't feel like we should soft-deprecate foo-static.lib like that. The reasons I prefer it are principally:
- import libraries are really effin' weird (for anyone coming from unix at the very least), and using the same file prefix as static libraries is yet another horrible MSVC sin
- matching
foo.dllandfoo.libis an easy enough pattern to remember: a DLL needs its import library, and it just differs by extension - remembering that
libfoo.libis supposed to be static is way less likely to sink in than the obvious-because-it's-on-the-tinfoo-static.lib. - there are cases where (for other historical compatibility reasons)
libfoo.libis not static1. A good example is protobuf, though at least the DLL name matches (libprotobuf.dll&libprotobuf.lib).
Footnotes
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also redundant use of "lib" is redundant ↩
Signed-off-by: Michał Górny <mgorny@quansight.com>
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Okay, I expanded a lot on different conventions. Hopefully I didn't make any mistakes. |
PR Checklist:
Add a short section that covers Windows-specific install paths and library naming conventions. I suppose other people with primarily POSIX background will find this helpful, especially that these conventions are at least partially specific to conda-forge.
The variables don't seem to be part of the core documentation, but they were documented in conda-build and rattler-build docs separately. I chose to document the intersection of both.
CC @isuruf @h-vetinari