WINDMC(1)

NAME
windmc - generates Windows message resources

SYNOPSIS
windmc [options] input-file

DESCRIPTION
windmc reads message definitions from an input file (.mc) and translate them into a set of output files. The output files may be of four kinds:

"h" A C header file containing the message definitions.

"rc"
    A resource file compilable by the windres tool.

"bin"
    One or more binary files containing the resource data for a specific message language.

"dbg"
    A C include file that maps message id's to their symbolic name.

The exact description of these different formats is available in documentation from Microsoft.

When windmc converts from the "mc" format to the "bin" format, "rc", "h", and optional "dbg" it is acting like the Windows Message Compiler.

OPTIONS

-a
--ascii_in
    Specifies that the input file specified is ASCII. This is the default behaviour.

-A
--ascii_out
    Specifies that messages in the output "bin" files should be in ASCII format.

-b
--binprefix
    Specifies that "bin" filenames should have to be prefixed by the basename of the source file.

-c
--customflag
    Sets the customer bit in all message id's.

-C codepage
--codepage_in codepage
    Sets the default codepage to be used to convert input file to UTF16. The default is ocdepage 1252.

-d
--decimal_values
    Outputs the constants in the header file in decimal. Default is using hexadecimal output.

-e ext
--extension ext
    The extension for the header file. The default is .h extension.

-F target
--target target
    Specify the BFD format to use for a bin file as output. This is a BFD target name; you can use the --help option to see a list of supported targets. Normally windmc will use the default format, which is the first one listed by the --help option.

-h path
--headerdir path
    The target directory of the generated header file. The default is the current directory.

-H
--help
    Displays a list of command-line options and then exits.

-m characters
--maxlength characters
    Instructs windmc to generate a warning if the length of any message exceeds the number specified.

-n
--nullterminate
    Terminate message text in "bin" files by zero. By default they are terminated by CR/LF.

-o
--hresult_use
    Not yet implemented. Instructs "windmc" to generate an OLE2 header file, using HRESULT definitions. Status codes are used if the flag is not specified.

-O codepage
--codepage_out codepage
    Sets the default codepage to be used to output text files. The default is ocdepage 1252.

-r path
--rcdir path
    The target directory for the generated "rc" script and the generated "bin" files that the resource compiler script includes. The default is the current directory.

-u
--unicode_in
    Specifies that the input file is UTF16.

-U
--unicode_out
    Specifies that messages in the output "bin" file should be in UTF16 format. This is the default behaviour.

-v
--verbose
    Enable verbose mode.

-V
--version
    Prints the version number for windmc.

-x path
--xdgb path
    The path of the "dbg" C include file that maps message id's to the symbolic name. No such file is generated without specifying the switch.

@file
    Read command-line options from file. The options read are inserted in place of the original @file option. If file does not exist, or cannot be read, then the option will be treated literally, and not removed.

    Options in file are separated by whitespace. A whitespace character may be included in an option by surrounding the entire option in either single or double quotes. Any character (including a backslash) may be included by prefixing the character to be included with a backslash. The file may itself contain additional @file options; any such options will be processed recursively.

SEE ALSO
the Info entries for binutils.

COPYRIGHT
Copyright (c) 1991-2026 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, with no Front-Cover Texts, and with no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU Free Documentation License".