WIDL(1)

💖 WIDL(1) — Wine Developers Manual 💖

okay bestie, sit DOWN, because we're about to talk about widl, the Wine Interface Definition Language (IDL) compiler. yes she's a compiler, yes she's iconic, no you don't have to be scared of her. 🎀

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✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

i686-w64-mingw32-widl [options] IDL_file
i686-w64-mingw32-widl [options] --dlldata-only name1 [name2...]

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🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

So here's the vibe. When you run her with no options at all, widl will generate a header file, and possibly client and server stubs, proxy and dlldata files, a typelib, and a UUID file — it all depends on what's actually inside your IDL file. she reads the room, basically. 💅

But if you pass any of -c, -h, -p, -s, -t, -u or --local-stubs, then no cap — widl will generate only the files you asked for, and no others. she's not gonna overdeliver when you gave her a specific assignment. 🫶

Then there's --dlldata-only, where she'll only generate a dlldata file, and it will contain a list of the names you passed as arguments. Usually the way this file gets updated is that every time widl runs, she reads any existing dlldata file, and if necessary regenerates it with the same list of names, but with the present proxy file included. it's giving very "keep the group chat updated" energy fr fr. 😭

And if you run her with no arguments at all? she just prints a help message. that's it. she's helpful like that. ✨

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💅 OPTIONS 💅

General options:

• -V — Print version number and exit. short, sweet, done. 👑
• -o, --output=name — Set the name of the output file. When generating multiple output files, this sets only the base name of the file; the respective output files are then named name.h, name_p.c, etc. one name to rule them all basically.
• -b cpu-manufacturer[-kernel]-os — Set the target architecture when cross-compiling. The target specification is in the standard autoconf format as returned by config.sub. yes bestie, that exact format, don't freestyle it. 🦋

Header options:

• -h — Generate header files. The default output filename is infile.h.
• --oldnames — Use old naming conventions. retro moment. 🌈

Type library options:

• -t — Generate a type library. The default output filename is infile.tlb. But heads up: if the output file name ends in .res, a binary resource file containing the type library is generated instead. plot twist! 😳
• -m32, -m64 — Generate a Win32 or Win64 type library respectively. pick your fighter. ⭐

UUID file options:

• -u — Generate a UUID file. The default output filename is infile_i.c.

Proxy/stub generation options:

• -c — Generate a client stub file. The default output filename is infile_c.c.
• -Os — Generate inline stubs.
• -Oi — Generate old-style interpreted stubs.
• -Oif, -Oic, -Oicf — Generate new-style fully interpreted stubs. yes all three of them, they're a lil trio, don't separate them. 🎀
• -p — Generate a proxy. The default output filename is infile_p.c.
• --prefix-all=prefix — Prefix to put on the name of both client and server stubs. equal opportunity prefixing. 💖
• --prefix-client=prefix — Prefix to put on the name of client stubs.
• --prefix-server=prefix — Prefix to put on the name of server stubs.
• -s — Generate a server stub file. The default output filename is infile_s.c.
• --win32, --win64 — Only generate 32-bit or 64-bit code respectively. and lowkey the default is to generate both 32-bit and 64-bit versions into the same destination file, so yeah, specify if you want just one. 🙈
• --rt — Enable additional language extensions for IDL to support WinRT.

Registration script options:

• -r — Generate a registration script. The default output filename is infile_r.rgs. And again with the plot twist: if the output file name ends in .res, a binary resource file containing the script is generated instead. 😭

Dlldata file options:

• --dlldata-only name1 [name2...] — Regenerate the dlldata file from scratch using the specified proxy names. The default output filename is dlldata.c. from SCRATCH bestie, no leftovers. 🔥

Preprocessor options:

• -I path — Add a header search directory to path. Multiple search directories are allowed. stack 'em up. 🧚
• -D id[=val] — Define preprocessor macro id with value val.
• -E — Preprocess only. that's the whole job.
• -N — Do not preprocess input. hands off. ✋

Debug options:

• -W — Enable pedantic warnings. she WILL be in your business about it, lovingly.
• -d n — Set debug level to the non negative integer n. If prefixed with 0x, it will be interpreted as an hexadecimal number. For the meaning of values, see the DEBUG section. 👀

Miscellaneous options:

• -app_config — Ignored, present for midl compatibility. she's just standing there. menacingly. for compat reasons. 💀
• --local-stubs=file — Generate empty stubs for call_as/local methods in an object interface and write them to file.

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🔍 DEBUG 🔍

Debug level n is a bitmask with the following meaning, bestie — and yes you gotta add them up yourself, it's giving math homework but make it compiler:

• 0x01 Tell which resource is parsed (verbose mode)
• 0x02 Dump internal structures
• 0x04 Create a parser trace (yydebug=1)
• 0x08 Preprocessor messages
• 0x10 Preprocessor lex messages
• 0x20 Preprocessor yacc trace

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😭 BUGS 😭

Bugs can be reported on the Wine bug tracker. (not that she has any, but if she did, you know where to go 🫶)

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👑 AUTHORS 👑

widl was originally written by Ove Kåven. It has been improved by Rob Shearman, Dan Hipschman, and others. For a complete list, see the git commit logs. This man page was originally written by Hannu Valtonen and then updated by Dan Hipschman. legends, all of them. ✨

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🌈 AVAILABILITY 🌈

widl is part of the Wine distribution, which is available through WineHQ, the Wine development headquarters. go get her. 💜

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🦋 SEE ALSO 🦋

Wine documentation and support.

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and that's the whole manpage bestie, you ate that 💅

this has been a MinGW-w64 production, dated October 2007 — yes she's been serving since 2007 and she still slays. periodt. 💖🎀✨