Calling ghc dll's with MSVC++ code

[Kevin S. Millikin]

>>>>> "Kevin" == Kevin S Millikin <kmillikin@atcorp.com> writes:

    Kevin> I have.  Or rather, I haven't.  The example in Section 11.4
    Kevin> of the User's Guide doesn't work.  The call to
    Kevin> "startupHaskell()" hangs forever (or as long as I'm willing
    Kevin> to wait).

    Kevin> It works fine when the exact same call to startupHaskell is
    Kevin> linked statically.

I've done some rooting around in the GHC sources and tracing in a
debugger, and I know more about *where* it goes wrong.

To recap: the example of Haskell code in a Windows DLL in Section 11.4
of the User's Guide does not work.  The call to startupHaskell(...)
does not return. (On Windows NT, using GHC 5.04.2).

startupHaskell is in rts/RtsStartup.c.  It calls a bunch of stuff,
then calls startVirtTimer(...), which never returns.  startVirtTimer
is in rts/Itimer.c.  It calls some stuff, then calls the Windows SDK
function timeSetEvent(...).

timeSetEvent is in the multimedia DLL WINMM.DLL.  Here's where it gets
fuzzy.  Eventually, WINMM.DLL calls into KERNEL32.DLL.  Eventually
that calls into NTDLL.DLL.  NTDLL issues the x86 instruction:

int 2Eh

Which is an interrupt.  The debugger can't tell me where this tries to
go; it never gets back.  Anyone have any idea what this interrupt is?
Is it a callback to Haskell?

Since this is in one of the Windows NT system DLLs, it's tempting to
call it an "OS" problem, but it doesn't feel like it.

Curiously, the exact same code continues to work perfectly when the
code that contains the call to startupHaskell is linked statically
(and with an explicit call to DllMain).

Perhaps someone with more knowledge of Windows DLLs has some idea.

Or possibly, what is the call to startVirtTimer doing?  Would it be
possible to replace it with some alternative that would work when
linked either statically or dynamically?
-- 
Kevin S. Millikin      Architecture Technology Corporation
Research Scientist     Specialists in Computer Architecture
(952)829-5864 x. 162   http://www.atcorp.com