How to use C static libraries in D?

Question

I'm completely stumped on how to get FreeType 2.4.8 compiled as a static lib and usable from within my D application in Windows. I've tried running it over with objconv, coff2omf, and trying extern(C)/extern(System), etc. but nothing seems to work. I'm getting symbol not found errors, access violations and just a bunch of unhelpful errors.

How can I work around this? Am I correct in using pragma lib to link to my static libraries, and how do I reliably convert COFF static libs to OMF which DMD/Optlink can use?

EDIT: Some examples of what I've tried doing:

1. Compiling the FreeType source with VS 2010 as a static lib, linking in my D code with pragma lib. (Returned a "library format unknown" type error)
2. Same as above, but converting to OMF format using objconv and then trying to link with pragma lib. (Linked successfully, but still not able to call functions.)
3. Compiled a DLL of the FreeType source, ran it through implib to create an import library, tried linking with pragma lib. (Linked successfully, but unable to to call any functions due to "attempt to privileged function" or "access violation" errors)
4. I've tried defining function prototypes as all of: extern(System), extern(C), and extern(Windows). The first and third mangle the functions names of the extern-ed functions such that they don't match the static libraries, and the second compiles, but I get access violations during runtime when I actually try and call the functions.

I'm able to get it working via dynamic libraries and symbol loading, but I'd much prefer to not require a bunch of external dependencies when deploying my project.

Answer 1

I'm pretty sure Derelict2 has FreeType bindings: http://www.dsource.org/projects/derelict (See DerelictFT).