Compiling and Linking (FFI 1.0)

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## 6 Compiling and Linking

The `c-generate` procedure takes a library name and an optional preamble. It reads the `library.cdecl` file and writes two `.c` files. The preamble is included at the top of both. It typically contains `#include` C pre-processor directives required by the C library, but could include additional shim code. Here is a short script that generates a shim for the example “Hello, World!” program.

    (load-option 'FFI)
    (c-generate "prhello" "#include <gtk/gtk.h>")

This script will produce three files:

`prhello-shim.c`

  This file contains the trampoline functions — one for each declared C extern or callback. It includes the `mit-scheme.h` header file, found in the `AUXDIR` directory — e.g. `/usr/local/lib/mit-scheme-i386/`.

`prhello-const.c`

  This file contains a C program that creates `prhello-const.scm`. It is compiled and linked as normal for programs using the toolkit, and does not depend on the Scheme machine. It does not actually call any toolkit functions. It just collects information from the compiler about the declared C types and constants.

`prhello-types.bin`

  This file is a fasdumped `c-includes` structure containing all of the types, constants and functions declared in the `.cdecl` file.

The following Makefile rules describe the process of building and installing a shim for the example “Hello, World!” program.

    AUXDIR=/usr/local/lib/mit-scheme-i386

    install: build
    	install -m 644 prhello-types.bin $(AUXDIR)
    	install -m 644 prhello-const.bin $(AUXDIR)
    	install -m 644 prhello-shim.so $(AUXDIR)

    uninstall:
    	rm $(AUXDIR)/prhello-*

    clean:
    	rm prhello-const* prhello-types* prhello-shim*

    build: prhello-shim.so prhello-types.bin prhello-const.bin

    prhello-shim.so: prhello-shim.o
    	$(CC) -shared -fPIC -o $@ $^ `pkg-config --libs gtk+-3.0`

    prhello-shim.o: prhello-shim.c
    	$(CC) -I$(AUXDIR) -Wall -fPIC `pkg-config --cflags gtk+-3.0` -o $@ -c $<

    prhello-shim.c prhello-const.c prhello-types.bin: prhello.cdecl
    	echo '(generate-shim "prhello" "#include <gtk/gtk.h>")' \
    	| mit-scheme --batch-mode

    prhello-const.bin: prhello-const.scm
    	echo '(sf "prhello-const")' | mit-scheme --batch-mode

    prhello-const.scm: prhello-const
    	./prhello-const

    prhello-const: prhello-const.o
    	$(CC) $(CFLAGS) -o $@ $^ $(LDFLAGS) `pkg-config --libs gtk+-3.0`

    prhello-const.o: prhello-const.c
    	$(CC) `pkg-config --cflags gtk+-3.0` $(CFLAGS) -o $@ -c $<

The FFI also supports libraries created by GNU automake (libtool). The source distribution includes several simple plugins. Each uses a portable Makefile.am to build and install its shared object.

Next: Hello World, Previous: Callbacks, Up: Top