UZDoom openal32.dll versus soft_oal.dll

[Enjay]

Just a quick query to satisfy my enquiring mind. I notice that UZDoom ships with a file called soft_oal.dll. On a quick check, this is the same as openal32.dll. It's the same size and had the same information in the "details" tab in windows as the most recent openal32.dll that I have.

[Edit: I just did an MD5 checksum and they are identical]

So, I was just intrigued why the name is different. Was it just a preference, or does it perhaps reflect some change with how OpenAL names its files, or something else entirely?

No big deal. It just caught my eye.

[drfrag]

Wenas. It's the same file but before it was renamed to openal32.dll. You had to rename them when downloaded from the openal soft github.

[Enjay]

Ah, so openal32.dll was the renamed version and the file is actually named soft_oal.dll when you get it from openAL?

If so, I wonder why it was renamed in the first place? Interesting.

[drfrag]

I think it was the original name for the openal dll from creative. Y wenas.

[Enjay]

Ah, that makes sense. I think it was. Thanks.

[Chris]

Ah, so openal32.dll was the renamed version and the file is actually named soft_oal.dll when you get it from openAL?

If so, I wonder why it was renamed in the first place? Interesting.

Officially, the OpenAL DLL on Windows is OpenAL32.dll (even for 64-bit, oddly). That's what apps are supposed to link to and use. The original redistributable given by Creative Labs provided an OpenAL32.dll that was a "router"; it would look for other *oal.dll "driver" files supporting the OpenAL API and expose their respective devices to apps as a single collective (wrap_oal.dll which is the "wrapper driver" that could either use DirectSound3D or a software mixer, and ct_oal.dll is a hardware driver that directly uses Creative devices, for example; soft_oal.dll is how OpenAL Soft can be added to that set as another driver).

Since each of these drivers is itself just an OpenAL implementation, any one can be named OpenAL32.dll and used directly without the router. There's also nothing stopping an app from loading soft_oal.dll or whatever without renaming it, if it wants. (G/U)ZDoom only officially supports OpenAL Soft (others may work, but can be missing key functionality or run into bugs), and has historically provided an OpenAL32.dll that's OpenAL Soft. I guess UZDoom changed this to load soft_oal.dll instead, but either way is functionally the same.

[Enjay]

Thank you for the detailed reply. I appreciate it.