How Can I Export All Symbols from a DLL in CMake Without Manually Defining Them?

How to Export All Symbols When Creating a DLL

In Visual Studio 2005, exporting all symbols from a DLL without manually adding __declspec(dllexport) or creating .def files poses a challenge. Fortunately, this can now be achieved with the latest CMake version (cmake-3.3.20150721-g9cd2f-win32-x86.exe or higher).

Short Answer

To automatically export all symbols in a DLL, set CMAKE_WINDOWS_EXPORT_ALL_SYMBOLS to ON in your CMake project:

set(CMAKE_WINDOWS_EXPORT_ALL_SYMBOLS ON)

Long Answer

1. Export Symbols Using __declspec(dllexport)

• Add __declspec(dllexport) to classes and methods to export.
• Export as C functions using extern "C" if using a C compiler to export C functions.

2. Create a Module Definition (.def) File

• Export C functions by adding function declarations in the .def file.
• Export symbols from a static library using dumpbin/LINKERMEMBER to parse the output and create a .def file.

• Export symbols from .obj files using CMake:

  • Use set(CMAKE_WINDOWS_EXPORT_ALL_SYMBOLS ON) in your CMake project.
  • CMake will extract symbols from .obj files and create a .def file dynamically during the Pre-Link event.

Without CMake:

• Parse .obj files manually to extract symbols and create a .def file.

Note: Disable Whole Program Optimization (/GL) when using the CMake method to export symbols.

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