What's a “.dll.a” file?

Question

I'm trying to use a open source library from a Windows application, and the only pre-built version I can find comes as a file called "lib.dll.a"

What format is this, and can I convert it to a normal dll file?

Answer 1

Naming the output file libjvm.dll.a will allow gcc to recognize it as a library named jvm. The .dll.a suffix indicates (by convention) that it is an import library, rather than a static library (which would simply be named libjvm.a, again by convention).