how to generate DLL from cuda example code

Accelerated Computing CUDA CUDA Programming and Performance
3

Here is an extremely simple example, using three source files: cuda_dll.cu contains the DLL source code, cuda_dll.h exports a simple C-style API, and cuda_main.cu calls the DLL. This example uses the CUDA runtime.

cuda_dll.h:

#ifdef CUDADLL_EXPORTS
#define DLLEXPORT __declspec(dllexport)
#else
#define DLLEXPORT __declspec(dllimport)
#endif

extern "C" DLLEXPORT void wrapper (int n);

cuda_dll.cu:

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include "cuda_dll.h"

__global__ void kernel (int n)
{
    printf ("kernel: n = %d\n", n);
}

void wrapper (int n)
{
    printf ("wrapper: calling kernel()\n");
    kernel<<<1,1>>>(n);
    cudaDeviceSynchronize();
}

cuda_main.cu:

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include "cuda_dll.h"

int main (void)
{
    printf ("main: calling wrapper()\n");
    wrapper (5);
    fflush (stdout);
    return EXIT_SUCCESS;
}

Build the DLL, which creates two files (as is the custom on Windows): actual shared library cuda_dll.dll and interface stub library cuda_dll.lib:

nvcc --shared -DCUDADLL_EXPORTS -o cuda_dll.dll cuda_dll.cu

Build the main app and link with the stub library:

nvcc -o cuda_main.exe cuda_main.cu cuda_dll.lib

Run the app:

main: calling wrapper()
wrapper: calling kernel()
kernel: n = 5

Don’t ask me how to do this with the MSVS IDE. I have never used the IDE, so I don’t know. You do not have to build the calling app from CUDA source code compiled with nvcc. You can also call the DLL from regular C++ code compiled with MSVC. Simply copy cuda_main.cu to cpp_main.cpp, then build the main app like so:

cl /Fecpp_main.exe cpp_main.cpp cuda_dll.lib