Is direct calling "iconv.dll" really needed in Win32?

Carlo Luciano Bianco clbianco at tiscalinet.it
Fri Nov 19 11:04:47 CET 2004


Zuxy <zuxy.meng at gmail.com> wrote in news:a18e06b404111819224e166060__
15581.9667656489$1100835276$gmane$org at mail.gmail.com:

> Simply because iconv.dll is not yet installed in most Windows
> desktops, so it's better for gnupg to check if it really exists.

Well... OK, but this is not exactly my point.

The code I cut away is not only to check if iconv.dll is present, but also 
to use its functions via a direct call and without actually linking the 
gpg.exe to libiconv.

My question is why the Win32 version should have such a strange behavior, 
instead of just linking with libiconv and stop?

With a plain link the check for iconv.dll presence is done by the OS 
itself...

[...]
> Most people here work under GNU/Linux and therefore they may consider
> a statically linked version as unnecessary.

I agree, I do not like static versions too, that's why I have not put a 
"LDFLAGS='-static'" in the instructions on my web page...

> And most people here speak
> Western languages with only 26 letters and therefore they don't really
> need iconv.dll at all!

So, let me understand: Is all this code just to allow some Win32 users to 
use their gpg.exe without having an iconv.dll installed if they do not need 
it?

-- 
| Carlo Luciano Bianco | ICQ UIN: 109517158                              |
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