### The DCE IDL Compiler

The DCE IDL compiler idl processes interface definitions written in IDL and generates header files and stub object code. (The compiler generates source code for the stubs in ANSI C.) The code generated from an interface definition by the compiler includes client and server stubs.

The compiler also generates a data structure called the interface specification, which contains identifying and descriptive information about the compiled interface, and creates a companion global variable, the interface handle, which is a reference to the interface specification. Each header file generated by the IDL compiler contains the reference the application code needs to access the interface handle. The interface handle allows the application code to refer to the interface specification in calls to the RPC runtime. Runtime operations obtain required information about the interface, such as its UUID and version numbers, directly from the interface specification.

You run the IDL compiler by issuing the idl command. See the OSF DCE Command Referenceidl(1rpc) reference page for a description of the idl command and its options.

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