anyone know how to reduce a win32 c++ dll size?

[Pouncer]

im building the dll in release mode and its 190kb+, i want to make it smaller though, any ideas how?

[CornedBee]

If you're using the STL, not much chance of that. You can try linking to the dynamic version of the runtimes. (It's a project setting, either general or linker.)

[Pouncer]

thanks mate, yep it uses STL string stuff and the linker thing, there is a tickbox saying

'Link incrementally'

thats in projects settings under the 'general' drop down section

i cant find anything else to do witht he linker

[CornedBee]

"Project Options"->"C/C++"->"Code Generation"->"Runtime Library"
Set to "Multi-Threaded Debug DLL" for debug config, "Multi-Threaded DLL" for release config.

Yes, it's a weird place to put this. No wonder I constantly forget where it is.

[Pouncer]

omg, corned bee, you are a absolute genius.

its gone down to 36kb

from 190kb LOL

[CornedBee]

Note that the DLL in question comes with Windows XP if you're using VS.Net 2003 or 2002, with Windows 2000 if you're using VC++6, but with not with earlier versions, and not, I think, if you're using VS.Net 2005, which means that you'll have to distribute that DLL too for those who don't have it.

The DLL is a few MB large, so it might or might not be worth it. Generally, MS spreads these DLLs with their service packs, but there's no guarantee that a particular version will be available on a given computer.