Q35539: Libraries Created by IMPLIB Are Different than those from LIB

Article: Q35539
Product(s): See article
Version(s): 5.10
Operating System(s): MS-DOS
Keyword(s): ENDUSER | SR# S880908-4 | mspl13_c
Last Modified: 26-SEP-1988

The only similarity between Libraries created by IMPLIB and libraries
created by LIB is the filename extension ".LIB".

Libraries created by IMPLIB only contain the names of functions and
modules to satisfy the linker. The actual code is brought in later by
loading Dynamic Link Libraries (DLL).

Regular libraries contain all the code for the functions. One or more
functions are contained in a module (e.g. object file). The code for
the entire module containing a called function is statically linked
into the executable file.

You cannot use LIB to get any information about libraries created by
IMPLIB. You cannot combine IMPLIB and LIB libraries. To see what
modules are in an IMPLIB library, use the type command to display the
.LIB file; it is a text file.