Is there a way to use devenv.exe on the command line to link-only a project instead of full-build a project?

Question

devenv.exe /? provides the below commands, none of which appear able to link-only a project instead of full-build a project.

/Build /Clean /Command /Deploy /Edit /LCID /Log /NoVSIP /Out /Project /ProjectConfig /Rebuild /ResetAddin /ResetSettings /ResetSkipPkgs /Run /RunExit /SafeMode /Upgrade

I am interested in this because the /LTCG:PGOPTIMIZE phase of profile-guided optimization entails a relink without a recompile.

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 22 '12 at 15:07

I found that vcbuild.exe can be used to perform a link-only using its /forcelink option:

vcbuild.exe PgoProject.vcproj "ReleasePGOptimize|x64" /forcelink

link.exe would also work, though with increased difficulty in getting the arguments right, because link.exe does not accept a .vcproj file containing the linker flags whereas vcbuild.exe does.

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 20 '12 at 22:31

1

You can simply invoke link.exe (the linker) with the appropriate parameters. There's no need to involve devenv.exe.

answered Mar 20 '12 at 22:31

Jon

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3

You'll have to remove "simple". – Hans Passant Mar 21 '12 at 23:56

Is there a way to use devenv.exe on the command line to link-only a project instead of full-build a project?

2 Answers2