.lib files on Windows are missing

[Faster3ck]

ImageMagick version

7.1.1-30

Operating system, version and so on

Windows

Description

Hello,

Why does ImageMagick for Windows no longer include .lib files for C/C++ development? I discovered, via this git commit to the ImageMagick-Windows repository, that as of a few days ago, these files were intentionally removed from the INNO Setup installation scripts.
Now, the ImageMagick installers only contain the header files, without the libraries.

Is there an alternative way to install the ImageMagick .lib files on Windows?

Greetings,
Francesco

[dlemstra]

We removed them because we did not think anyone would use them. What kind of use case do you have that you would use those .lib files instead of the .dll files?

[simonmurdock]

I actually have this same issue just using VS 2022, the linker is unable to find unresolved external symbol "__declspec(dllimport) void __cdecl Magick::InitializeMagick(char const *)" (__imp_?InitializeMagick@Magick@@YAXPEBD@Z) referenced in function main

I am a C++ noob however and not sure if this is my fault or not. Other libraries I have included to provide a .lib however.
Update - Seems to have been fixed by referencing the modules dir for the linker

[arbmarton]

To link to a .dll on Windows you need the corresponding .lib files. You should revert this commit.

[dlemstra]

There is no need to link those .lib files. You can reference the .dll files instead. The methods that you are using are exported from the .dll files that are provided.

[arbmarton]

Here is a nice description about how linking to dynamic libraries works on Windows using C++: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/7845886/linking-dll-in-visual-studio

With this in mind, can you please elaborate how can I use your distribution for C++ development on Windows? Do you intend people to use LoadLibrary or something like that? I'm personally not used to that kind of workflow, but if you consider yourself an expert in C++ development, please elucidate me on why that is preferable to distributing the .lib files. Thanks!

[dlemstra]

I am not sure why you think I said that I am expert in C++ development. Other people reported that they got it working using just the .dll files. I wasn't aware that those files are used when linking .dll files on Windows. I assumed they were optional and only used for static linking but thanks for pointing out they are not. We will make sure these files will be added again in the next version.