Is there a way to programatically check dependencies of an EXE?

Posted by Mason Wheeler on Stack Overflow See other posts from Stack Overflow or by Mason Wheeler
Published on 2013-06-30T16:05:41Z Indexed on 2013/06/30 16:21 UTC
Read the original article Hit count: 329

Filed under:

winapi

|

language-agnostic

I've got a certain project that I build and distribute to users. I have two build configurations, Debug and Release. Debug, obviously, is for my use in debugging, but there's an additional wrinkle: the Debug configuration uses a special debugging memory manager, with a dependency on an external DLL.

There's been a few times when I've accidentally built and distributed an installer package with the Debug configuration, and it's then failed to run once installed because the users don't have the special DLL. I'd like to be able to keep that from happening in the future.

I know I can get the dependencies in a program by running Dependency Walker, but I'm looking for a way to do it programatically. Specifically, I have a way to run scripts while creating the installer, and I want something I can put in the installer script to check the program and see if it has a dependency on this DLL, and if so, cause the installer-creation process to fail with an error. I know how to create a simple CLI program that would take two filenames as parameters, and could run a DependsOn function and create output based on the result of it, but I don't know what to put in the DependsOn function. Does anyone know how I'd go about writing it?

© Stack Overflow or respective owner

Related posts about winapi

C: WinAPI CreateDIBitmap() from byte[] problem

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
I have been working on this problem for a while now. I am trying to add JPEG support to a program with libjpeg. For the most part, it is working fairly well, But for some JPEGs, they show up like the picture on the left. It may not be obvious, but the background shows up with alternating red green… >>> More
mouse_event WinAPI call not working when cursor is over Flash

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
Hi, I am writing a small program which can simulate mouse clicks at specified positions. Using the Win32 API call mouse_event like so: [DllImport("user32.dll", CharSet = CharSet.Auto, CallingConvention = CallingConvention.StdCall)] public static extern void mouse_event(uint dwFlags, uint dx, uint… >>> More
Custom form designer, move/resize controls using WinAPI

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
I have to fix some problems and enchance form designer written long ago for a database project. In Design Panel class code I encountered these lines private void DesignPanel_MouseDown(object sender, MouseEventArgs e) { if (e.Button == MouseButtons.Left) { (sender as Control).Capture… >>> More
winapi c - read/write mbr of system drive

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
Does anyone have any example code that shows how to identify the system boot harddisk, and read/write the mbr from the harddisk in windows xp and vista? I know createfile can be used. But I do not know how to properly identify which device is the boot device. Like how do you find out which ones… >>> More
How to use WINAPI from newer SDK but still using the old SDK in WindowsMobile.

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
Specifically, I want to use Point-to-point Message Queue but because I am still using legacy codes in eVC++ 4 and it only support until PocketPC 2003SE SDK, I cannot find CreateMsgQueue and friends in the headers (the port to newer VisualStudio is still in progess) I am using the Message Queue to… >>> More

Related posts about language-agnostic

Are there any language agnostic unit testing frameworks?

as seen on Programmers - Search for 'Programmers'
I have always been skeptical of rewriting working code - porting code is no exception to this. However, with the advent of TDD and automated testing it is much more reasonable to rewrite and refactor code. Does anyone know if there is a TDD tool that can be used for porting old code? Ideally you… >>> More
Language Agnostic Basic Programming Question

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
This is very basic question from programming point of view but as I am in learning phase, I thought I would better ask this question rather than having a misunderstanding or narrow knowledge about the topic. So do excuse me if somehow I mess it up. Question: Let's say I have class A,B,C and D… >>> More
Language-agnostic term for typed things that need memory

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
Is there an accepted general term that subsumes the concepts of variables, class instances and arrays? Basically "any typed thing that needs memory". In C++, such a thing is called an object, but I'm looking for a more language-agnostic term. § 1.8 The C++ object model 1 The constructs in… >>> More
Deprecated Methods in Code Base

as seen on Programmers - Search for 'Programmers'
A lot of the code I've been working on recently, both professionally (read: at work) and in other spheres (read: at home, for friends/family/etc, or NOT FOR WORK), has been worked on, redesigned and re-implemented several times - where possible/required. This has been in an effort to make things smaller… >>> More
Coding Competition, language agnostic guidelines?

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
Hi there: I might be doing a coding competition soon, I was wondering if anyone made one and what where the guidelines/ process. I'd like to make the competition appealing to all devs, and I m trying to come up with ideas as to how. the scenario is: There is an event running and we(of the coding… >>> More