FIX #4825: Update User Guide info on DLLs.

[ghc-hetmet.git] / docs / users_guide / win32-dlls.xml

diff --git a/docs/users_guide/win32-dlls.xml b/docs/users_guide/win32-dlls.xml
index f00e1e2..44f589a 100644 (file)
--- a/docs/users_guide/win32-dlls.xml
+++ b/docs/users_guide/win32-dlls.xml
@@ -209,15 +209,6 @@ make-sessions running under cygwin.
 </title>
 
 <para>
 </title>
 
 <para>

-<emphasis>Making Haskell libraries into DLLs doesn't work on Windows at the
-moment; we hope to re-instate this facility in the future
-(see <xref linkend="using-shared-libs"/>).  Note that
-building an entire Haskell application as a single DLL is still supported: it's
-       just multi-DLL Haskell programs that don't work.  The Windows
-       distribution of GHC contains static libraries only.</emphasis></para>
-
-<!--
-<para>

 <indexterm><primary>Dynamic link libraries, Win32</primary></indexterm>
 <indexterm><primary>DLLs, Win32</primary></indexterm>
 On Win32 platforms, the compiler is capable of both producing and using
 <indexterm><primary>Dynamic link libraries, Win32</primary></indexterm>
 <indexterm><primary>DLLs, Win32</primary></indexterm>
 On Win32 platforms, the compiler is capable of both producing and using

@@ -226,6 +217,33 @@ section shows you how to make use of this facility.
 </para>
 
 <para>
 </para>
 
 <para>

+There are two distinct ways in which DLLs can be used:
+<itemizedlist>
+  <listitem>
+    <para>
+      You can turn each Haskell package into a DLL, so that multiple
+      Haskell executables using the same packages can share the DLL files.
+      (As opposed to linking the libraries statically, which in effect
+      creates a new copy of the RTS and all libraries for each executable
+      produced.)
+    </para>
+    <para>
+      That is the same as the dynamic linking on other platforms, and it
+      is described in <xref linkend="using-shared-libs"/>.
+    </para>
+  </listitem>
+  <listitem>
+    <para>
+      You can package up a complete Haskell program as a DLL, to be called
+      by some external (usually non-Haskell) program. This is usually used
+      to implement plugins and the like, and is described below.
+    </para>
+  </listitem>
+</itemizedlist>
+</para>
+
+<!--
+<para>

 Until recently, <command>strip</command> didn't work reliably on DLLs, so you
 should test your version with care, or make sure you have the latest
 binutils. Unfortunately, we don't know exactly which version of binutils
 Until recently, <command>strip</command> didn't work reliably on DLLs, so you
 should test your version with care, or make sure you have the latest
 binutils. Unfortunately, we don't know exactly which version of binutils