BPLDeps - BPL Dependency Analyzer

A command-line utility to analyze runtime dependencies of Delphi BPL (Borland Package Library) files.

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Features

• Direct dependencies: Shows only packages that the BPL imports directly
• Recursive dependencies: Shows all transitive dependencies (default)
• Tree view: Visualizes the complete dependency hierarchy
• Verbose mode: Shows full paths and found/not found summary
• Automatic search: Can find BPL files in common paths if you only provide the name

Why BPLDeps?

When working with Delphi packages, the IDE's "Project Information" dialog shows all dependencies but:

• ❌ You cannot copy/paste the list
• ❌ It's not automatable
• ❌ It doesn't show where each BPL is located
• ❌ It doesn't distinguish between found and missing dependencies

BPLDeps solves all these problems by reading the PE Import Table directly and providing:

• ✅ Copyable/pasteable output
• ✅ Scriptable for CI/CD
• ✅ Full path information for each dependency
• ✅ Clear identification of missing dependencies
• ✅ Statistics (total/found/not found)

Installation

Pre-built Binary

Download the latest release from Releases and extract BPLDeps.exe to a directory in your PATH.

Build from Source

Requires Embarcadero Delphi 12 (Athens) or later.

git clone https://github.com/yourusername/bpldeps.git
cd bpldeps
msbuild BPLDeps.dproj /p:Config=Release

The compiled executable will be in the project directory.

Usage

BPLDeps <file.bpl> [options]

Options

• -r - Show recursive dependencies (default)
• -d - Show only direct dependencies
• -t - Show as tree
• -v - Verbose mode (show paths and summary)

Examples

1. Basic analysis (recursive)

BPLDeps rtl290.bpl

Output:

Analyzing: rtl290.bpl
Full path: C:\Program Files (x86)\Embarcadero\Studio\23.0\bin\rtl290.bpl

All dependencies (0):

2. Direct dependencies only

BPLDeps MyPackage.bpl -d

Shows only packages that MyPackage imports directly, without transitive dependencies.

3. Tree view

BPLDeps MyPackage.bpl -t

Output:

Dependency tree:

MyPackage.bpl
  rtl290.bpl
  vcl290.bpl
    rtl290.bpl
  dbrtl290.bpl
    rtl290.bpl

4. Verbose mode (with paths and summary)

BPLDeps MyPackage.bpl -v

Output:

Analyzing: MyPackage.bpl
Full path: W:\BPL\290\MyPackage.bpl

All dependencies (73):

  BaseMAX290.bpl
    -> W:\BPL\290\BaseMAX290.bpl
  CustomPackage.bpl
    -> NOT FOUND
  rtl290.bpl
    -> C:\Program Files (x86)\Embarcadero\Studio\23.0\bin\rtl290.bpl
  ...

Summary:
  Total dependencies: 73
  Found: 72
  Not found: 1

5. With full path

BPLDeps "C:\Program Files (x86)\Embarcadero\Studio\23.0\bin\vcl290.bpl"

6. Just filename (automatic search)

BPLDeps rtl290.bpl

The tool automatically searches in:

• Current directory
• Executable directory
• RAD Studio bin directories
• System PATH

Use Cases

1. Verify package installation requirements

BPLDeps MyPackage.bpl -v > dependencies.txt

Get the complete list of required BPL files for deployment.

2. Find circular dependencies

BPLDeps PackageA.bpl -t

If you see PackageA → PackageB → PackageA, you have a circular dependency.

3. Analyze impact of changes

If you modify BaseMAX, you can see which packages depend on it:

for bpl in *.bpl; do
  echo "Checking $bpl..."
  BPLDeps "$bpl" | grep -q "BaseMAX" && echo "  → Depends on BaseMAX"
done

4. Compare with requires declaration

The .dpk file only lists direct requires. Use BPLDeps to see the complete real list:

# See what the code says
grep "requires" MyPackage.dpk

# See what the compiled BPL really needs
BPLDeps MyPackage.bpl

5. CI/CD Integration

# Check for missing dependencies in CI
BPLDeps MyPackage.bpl -v | grep "NOT FOUND" && exit 1

Technical Notes

• Uses Windows ImageHlp API to read the PE Import Table
• Only analyzes .bpl file dependencies (ignores system DLLs)
• Requires dependent BPLs to be accessible for recursive analysis
• If a BPL is not found, it reports it but continues with others
• Thread-safe and handles locked files

How It Works

BPLDeps directly parses the PE32 (Portable Executable) format:

1. Reads the DOS header
2. Locates the NT headers
3. Finds the Import Directory
4. Iterates through Import Descriptors
5. Filters only .bpl files
6. Recursively analyzes each found dependency

This approach is more reliable than parsing text files and shows the actual runtime dependencies, not just what's declared in source code.

Standard Output

All output goes to stdout, allowing:

# Save to file
BPLDeps MyPackage.bpl > deps.txt

# Count dependencies
BPLDeps MyPackage.bpl | grep -c "\.bpl"

# Filter specific packages
BPLDeps MyPackage.bpl | grep "rtl\|vcl"

# Pipeline with other tools
BPLDeps *.bpl | sort | uniq

Differences from IDE

Feature	IDE Dialog	BPLDeps
Copy/Paste	❌	✅
Show Paths	❌	✅ (with -v)
Identify Missing	❌	✅ (with -v)
Scriptable	❌	✅
Tree View	❌	✅ (with -t)
Statistics	❌	✅ (with -v)
Direct vs All	❌	✅

Requirements

• Windows (uses Windows PE format)
• No external DLLs required (standalone executable)
• Works with any Delphi version (analyzes compiled BPLs, not source)

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

License

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details.

Author

Created for the Delphi development community.

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Version: 1.0.0 Last Updated: 2025-10-29