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Linker Tools Warning LNK4222

  • Article

exported symbol 'symbol' should not be assigned an ordinal

The following symbols should not be exported by ordinal:

  • DllCanUnloadNow

  • DllGetClassObject

  • DllGetClassFactoryFromClassString

  • DllInstall

  • DllRegisterServer

  • DllRegisterServerEx

  • DllUnregisterServer

These functions are always located by name, using GetProcAddress. The linker warns about this kind of export is because it could result in a larger image. This could happen if the range of your ordinal exports is large with relatively few exports. For example,

EXPORTS
   DllGetClassObject   @1
   MyOtherAPI      @100

will require 100 slots in the export address table with 98 of them (2-99) just filler. On the other hand,

EXPORTS
   DllGetClassObject
   MyOtherAPI      @100

will require two slots. (Be aware that you can also export with the /EXPORT linker option.)