WIDL(1)

NAME
widl - Wine Interface Definition Language (IDL) compiler

SYNOPSIS
widl [options] IDL_file
widl [options] --dlldata-only name1 [name2...]

DESCRIPTION
When no options are used the program will generate a header file, and possibly client and server stubs, proxy and dlldata files, a typelib, and a UUID file, depending on the contents of the IDL file. If any of the options -c, -h, -p, -s, -t, -u or --local-stubs is given, widl will only generate the requested files, and no others. When run with --dlldata-only, widl will only generate a dlldata file, and it will contain a list of the names passed as arguments. Usually the way this file is updated is that each time widl is run, it reads any existing dlldata file, and if necessary regenerates it with the same list of names, but with the present proxy file included.

When run without any arguments, widl will print a help message.

OPTIONS

General options:

-V  Print version number and exit.

-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. If a full file name with extension is specified, only that file is generated.

-b, --target=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.

-m32, -m64, --win32, --win64
    Force the target architecture to 32-bit or 64-bit.

--sysroot=dir
    Prefix the standard include paths with dir.

--nostdinc
    Do not search standard include paths like /usr/include and /usr/local/include.

Header options:

-h  Generate header files. The default output filename is infile.h.

--oldnames
    Use old naming conventions.

Type library options:

-t  Generate a type library. The default output filename is infile.tlb. If the output file name ends in .res, a binary resource file containing the type library is generated instead.

-L path
    Add a directory to the library search path for imported typelibs. The option can be specified multiple times.

--oldtlb
    Generate a type library in the old format (SLTG format).

UUID file options:

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

Proxy/stub generation options:

--align=n, --packing=n
    Set the structure packing to n. Supported values are 2, 4, and 8.

-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. This is the default.

-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.

--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.

--winrt
    Enable Windows Runtime mode.

--ns_prefix
    Prefix namespaces with ABI namespace.

Registration script options:

-r  Generate a registration script. The default output filename is infile_r.rgs. 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.

Metadata file options:

--winmd
    Generate a Windows Runtime Metadata file. This implies the --winrt mode. The default output filename is infile.winmd.

Preprocessor options:

-I path
    Add a directory to the include search path. Multiple include directories are allowed.

-D id[=val]
    Define preprocessor macro id with value val.

-E  Preprocess only.

-N  Do not preprocess input.

Debug options:

-W  Enable pedantic warnings.

-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.

--acf=file
    Use specified application configuration file.

--local-stubs=file
    Generate empty stubs for call_as/local methods in an object interface and write them to file.

DEBUG
Debug level n is a bitmask with the following meaning:
  - 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

BUGS
Bugs can be reported on the Wine bug tracker (https://bugs.winehq.org).

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.

AVAILABILITY
widl is part of the Wine distribution, which is available through WineHQ, the Wine development headquarters (https://www.winehq.org/).

SEE ALSO
Wine documentation and support (https://www.winehq.org/help).