Im developing a MFC DLL project in VS2008.
The dll compiles OK and I can call it fine from an GUI exe that a contractor has developed for me. Visual C++ Redistributables are required to be installed for my dll (and maybe the exe which is developed in C++ too)
Another company wants to licence my dll to use with their C++ exe. They have requested that my dll have no external dependencies. Is it possible to compile my dll to remove all external dependencies like the Visual C++ Redistributables?
Does setting /MT do this?
I have read Should I compile with /MD or /MT? which makes some sense but I am concerned about dll hell.
Can this create issues with exe calling my dll? I read somewhere about that the exe and dll need to be using the same Visual C++ Redistributables or something.
I am somewhat new to C++. Any advice appreciated.
You can link with the static version of the CRT (yes, /MT) but it is quite dangerous. You'll have to carefully review your exports. Make very sure that none of them return C++ objects, not even an std::string (or CString). Or any pointers that the client code has to release. This will go wrong badly because the client will have its own CRT copy and use a different heap. That will leak the returned object/pointer, crash the program on Vista and Win7 when their secure heap manager detects that the pointer doesn't belong to the heap.
It might be a matter of debate what exactly an 'external dependency' means. Having a dependency on the CRT is not exactly external. You will however have to supply them with a version of the DLL that was built on the same version of Visual Studio that they use. The CRT can only be shared if the version matches.
Why not you package all the dependent dlls into a installer package and release to your customer?
I have seen some of the software package does include the vc's dependent libraries....
