[bug-gnu-libiconv] libiconv 1.11.1 - MS VS 2005 and manifest files

[Milan Gornik]

Hello,

I am using libiconv 1.11.1 with Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 and I have 
encountered one problem. Iconv builds fine and works fine until binaries are 
distributed to machine without development environment. On such machine, 
binary built to use libiconv will fail to execute, as it can't bind with CRT 
runtime (MSVCR80.dll). Application will stop with dialogue explaining that 
MSVCR80.dll could not be found. This happens because OS seeks for 
executable's manifest file to determine which CRT to use with the 
executable. In this case, no manifest files are available. When Iconv 
library is built, manifest files are generated for every output file (EXE 
and DLL), but these files are left behind (in source folders). They are not 
installed to output folder. As makefiles are designed for Visual Studio 98 
(v6), there are no special options in makefiles regarding manifest files. 
Linker generates these files by default.

I believe that best option would be to integrate manifests with their 
appropriate output files (EXE files and DLL files). This makes minimal 
impact on how Iconv is built (no additional files, installation phase is not 
affected, build phase is extended with manifest file integration). The 
result will be that every DLL and EXE will contain embedded manifest (and 
will run correctly on machine without development environment). Small 
modification to makefiles is needed to achieve this. I followed 
recommendations in MSDN to do this. I attached diff files to this message.

In order for these modifications to work correctly, Manifest Tool must be in 
PATH when library is built. Manifest Tool is a part of Visual Studio 2005 
and it is available through PATH when Visual Studio 2005 Command Prompt 
(vcvarsall.bat) is executed. This is covered by note in README.woe32 which 
states that vcvarsall.bat should be executed before Iconv build is being 
made.

I hope this will help others to successfully use Iconv with MSVS 2005.

Regards,
Milan Gornik

libiconv3.patch
Description: Binary data

libiconv1.patch
Description: Binary data

libiconv2.patch
Description: Binary data