[This message is Cc:'ed to the zlib-devel list] Dear users of ZLIB.DLL,
I wish to announce that there will be a binary-incompatible change in the DLL interface of zlib. The old ZLIB.DLL suffers from a couple of problems. These are the most important ones: - The old DLL interface required the STDCALL convention, while the static lib uses the CDECL convention. Switching between using the static lib and using the DLL raised many problems with origins that were hard to detect. - Due to an inconsistency between the file "nt/Makefile.nt" and the requirement to define the ZLIB_DLL macro when building the DLL, ZLIB.DLL is circulating in two mutually-incompatible incarnations. When the wrong DLL is present in the system, user applications are doomed to crash disgracefully. There is no easy way to detect what particular build of ZLIB.DLL is needed by a certain application, nor to detect what calling convention is a certain ZLIB.DLL using (other than seeing that the application is crashing, of course). We believe the only way to get out of this mess is to change the calling convention to CDECL (which is now the same as the one used in the static lib), and to build the DLL under a new name. The name used for the new DLL is ZLIB1.DLL. If you are building your own custom DLL, (e.g. the Cygwin people are building their own CYGZ.DLL), then you are probably unaffected. A complete explanation is provided here: http://www.cs.toronto.edu/~cosmin/pngtech/zlib/DLL_FAQ.txt Here is a preview of zlib which builds the new ZLIB1.DLL: http://www.cs.toronto.edu/~cosmin/pngtech/zlib/zlib-1.2.0.f-cos1.tar.gz Please note that the above archive is unofficial; DO NOT DISTRIBUTE. However, the changes will be eventually merged into the official zlib. We will appreciate your comments. Best regards, Cosmin Truta ------------------------------------------------------- This SF.Net email sponsored by: Free pre-built ASP.NET sites including Data Reports, E-commerce, Portals, and Forums are available now. Download today and enter to win an XBOX or Visual Studio .NET. http://aspnet.click-url.com/go/psa00100003ave/direct;at.aspnet_072303_01/01 _______________________________________________ GnuWin32-Users mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/gnuwin32-users
