Q83917: PRB: Binding Resources to Executable Increases File Size

Article: Q83917
Product(s): Microsoft Windows Software Development Kit
Version(s): WINDOWS:3.0,3.1
Operating System(s): 
Keyword(s): kb16bitonly
Last Modified: 06-NOV-1999

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The information in this article applies to:

- Microsoft Windows Software Development Kit (SDK) versions 3.0, 3.1 
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SYMPTOMS
========

Using the Resource Compiler (RC) to bind resources to a Windows executable image
file [either an application EXE file or a dynamic- link library (DLL) file], the
size of the output file is much larger than the combined sizes of the input
files.

CAUSE
=====

The Resource Compiler uses the same byte alignment as the linker. By default,
the Microsoft Linker aligns segments on a 512-byte boundary.

RESOLUTION
==========

Use a linker option to specify a smaller byte alignment; specifying a 16-byte
boundary is recommended. With the Microsoft Linker, use the /ALIGN:16
command-line switch.

MORE INFORMATION
================

The resource compiler uses the same byte alignment as the linker to minimize the
time to load the segments of an application. However, one-half the byte
alignment is wasted for each code segment and resource on average. When an
application has a number of small resources, like a string table, specifying a
large alignment value leads to a large amount of wasted space in the file.
Linking the application with a smaller byte alignment eliminates most of the
wasted space.

Additional query words: 3.00 no32bit 3.10

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Keywords          : kb16bitonly 
Technology        : kbAudDeveloper kbWin3xSearch kbSDKSearch kbWinSDKSearch kbWinSDK300 kbWinSDK310
Version           : WINDOWS:3.0,3.1

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