1PERLEMBED(1) Perl Programmers Reference Guide PERLEMBED(1)
2
6 perlembed - how to embed perl in your C program
7
9 PREAMBLE
10 Do you want to:
11 Use C from Perl?
13 Read perlxstut, perlxs, h2xs, perlguts, and perlapi.
14 Use a Unix program from Perl?
16 Read about back-quotes and about "system" and "exec" in perlfunc.
17 Use Perl from Perl?
19 Read about "do" in perlfunc and "eval" in perlfunc and "require"
20 in perlfunc and "use" in perlfunc.
21 Use C from C?
23 Rethink your design.
24 Use Perl from C?
26 Read on...
27 ROADMAP
29 · Compiling your C program
30 · Adding a Perl interpreter to your C program
32 · Calling a Perl subroutine from your C program
34 · Evaluating a Perl statement from your C program
36 · Performing Perl pattern matches and substitutions from your C
38 program
39 · Fiddling with the Perl stack from your C program
41 · Maintaining a persistent interpreter
43 · Maintaining multiple interpreter instances
45 · Using Perl modules, which themselves use C libraries, from your C
47 program
48 · Embedding Perl under Win32
50 Compiling your C program
52 If you have trouble compiling the scripts in this documentation, you're
53 not alone. The cardinal rule: COMPILE THE PROGRAMS IN EXACTLY THE SAME
54 WAY THAT YOUR PERL WAS COMPILED. (Sorry for yelling.)
55 Also, every C program that uses Perl must link in the perl library.
57 What's that, you ask? Perl is itself written in C; the perl library is
58 the collection of compiled C programs that were used to create your
59 perl executable (/usr/bin/perl or equivalent). (Corollary: you can't
60 use Perl from your C program unless Perl has been compiled on your
61 machine, or installed properly--that's why you shouldn't blithely copy
62 Perl executables from machine to machine without also copying the lib
63 directory.)
64 When you use Perl from C, your C program will--usually--allocate,
66 "run", and deallocate a PerlInterpreter object, which is defined by the
67 perl library.
68 If your copy of Perl is recent enough to contain this documentation
70 (version 5.002 or later), then the perl library (and EXTERN.h and
71 perl.h, which you'll also need) will reside in a directory that looks
72 like this:
73 /usr/local/lib/perl5/your_architecture_here/CORE
75 or perhaps just
77 /usr/local/lib/perl5/CORE
79 or maybe something like
81 /usr/opt/perl5/CORE
83 Execute this statement for a hint about where to find CORE:
85 perl -MConfig -e 'print $Config{archlib}'
87 Here's how you'd compile the example in the next section, "Adding a
89 Perl interpreter to your C program", on my Linux box:
90 % gcc -O2 -Dbool=char -DHAS_BOOL -I/usr/local/include
92 -I/usr/local/lib/perl5/i586-linux/5.003/CORE
93 -L/usr/local/lib/perl5/i586-linux/5.003/CORE
94 -o interp interp.c -lperl -lm
95 (That's all one line.) On my DEC Alpha running old 5.003_05, the
97 incantation is a bit different:
98 % cc -O2 -Olimit 2900 -DSTANDARD_C -I/usr/local/include
100 -I/usr/local/lib/perl5/alpha-dec_osf/5.00305/CORE
101 -L/usr/local/lib/perl5/alpha-dec_osf/5.00305/CORE -L/usr/local/lib
102 -D__LANGUAGE_C__ -D_NO_PROTO -o interp interp.c -lperl -lm
103 How can you figure out what to add? Assuming your Perl is post-5.001,
105 execute a "perl -V" command and pay special attention to the "cc" and
106 "ccflags" information.
107 You'll have to choose the appropriate compiler (cc, gcc, et al.) for
109 your machine: "perl -MConfig -e 'print $Config{cc}'" will tell you what
110 to use.
111 You'll also have to choose the appropriate library directory
113 (/usr/local/lib/...) for your machine. If your compiler complains that
114 certain functions are undefined, or that it can't locate -lperl, then
115 you need to change the path following the "-L". If it complains that
116 it can't find EXTERN.h and perl.h, you need to change the path
117 following the "-I".
118 You may have to add extra libraries as well. Which ones? Perhaps
120 those printed by
121 perl -MConfig -e 'print $Config{libs}'
123 Provided your perl binary was properly configured and installed the
125 ExtUtils::Embed module will determine all of this information for you:
126 % cc -o interp interp.c `perl -MExtUtils::Embed -e ccopts -e ldopts`
128 If the ExtUtils::Embed module isn't part of your Perl distribution, you
130 can retrieve it from
131 http://www.perl.com/perl/CPAN/modules/by-module/ExtUtils/ (If this
132 documentation came from your Perl distribution, then you're running
133 5.004 or better and you already have it.)
134 The ExtUtils::Embed kit on CPAN also contains all source code for the
136 examples in this document, tests, additional examples and other
137 information you may find useful.
138 Adding a Perl interpreter to your C program
140 In a sense, perl (the C program) is a good example of embedding Perl
141 (the language), so I'll demonstrate embedding with miniperlmain.c,
142 included in the source distribution. Here's a bastardized, non-
143 portable version of miniperlmain.c containing the essentials of
144 embedding:
145 #include <EXTERN.h> /* from the Perl distribution */
147 #include <perl.h> /* from the Perl distribution */
148 static PerlInterpreter *my_perl; /*** The Perl interpreter ***/
150 int main(int argc, char **argv, char **env)
152 {
153 PERL_SYS_INIT3(&argc,&argv,&env);
154 my_perl = perl_alloc();
155 perl_construct(my_perl);
156 PL_exit_flags |= PERL_EXIT_DESTRUCT_END;
157 perl_parse(my_perl, NULL, argc, argv, (char **)NULL);
158 perl_run(my_perl);
159 perl_destruct(my_perl);
160 perl_free(my_perl);
161 PERL_SYS_TERM();
162 }
163 Notice that we don't use the "env" pointer. Normally handed to
165 "perl_parse" as its final argument, "env" here is replaced by "NULL",
166 which means that the current environment will be used.
167 The macros PERL_SYS_INIT3() and PERL_SYS_TERM() provide system-specific
169 tune up of the C runtime environment necessary to run Perl
170 interpreters; they should only be called once regardless of how many
171 interpreters you create or destroy. Call PERL_SYS_INIT3() before you
172 create your first interpreter, and PERL_SYS_TERM() after you free your
173 last interpreter.
174 Since PERL_SYS_INIT3() may change "env", it may be more appropriate to
176 provide "env" as an argument to perl_parse().
177 Also notice that no matter what arguments you pass to perl_parse(),
179 PERL_SYS_INIT3() must be invoked on the C main() argc, argv and env and
180 only once.
181 Now compile this program (I'll call it interp.c) into an executable:
183 % cc -o interp interp.c `perl -MExtUtils::Embed -e ccopts -e ldopts`
185 After a successful compilation, you'll be able to use interp just like
187 perl itself:
188 % interp
190 print "Pretty Good Perl \n";
191 print "10890 - 9801 is ", 10890 - 9801;
192 <CTRL-D>
193 Pretty Good Perl
194 10890 - 9801 is 1089
195 or
197 % interp -e 'printf("%x", 3735928559)'
199 deadbeef
200 You can also read and execute Perl statements from a file while in the
202 midst of your C program, by placing the filename in argv[1] before
203 calling perl_run.
204 Calling a Perl subroutine from your C program
206 To call individual Perl subroutines, you can use any of the call_*
207 functions documented in perlcall. In this example we'll use
208 "call_argv".
209 That's shown below, in a program I'll call showtime.c.
211 #include <EXTERN.h>
213 #include <perl.h>
214 static PerlInterpreter *my_perl;
216 int main(int argc, char **argv, char **env)
218 {
219 char *args[] = { NULL };
220 PERL_SYS_INIT3(&argc,&argv,&env);
221 my_perl = perl_alloc();
222 perl_construct(my_perl);
223 perl_parse(my_perl, NULL, argc, argv, NULL);
225 PL_exit_flags |= PERL_EXIT_DESTRUCT_END;
226 /*** skipping perl_run() ***/
228 call_argv("showtime", G_DISCARD | G_NOARGS, args);
230 perl_destruct(my_perl);
232 perl_free(my_perl);
233 PERL_SYS_TERM();
234 }
235 where showtime is a Perl subroutine that takes no arguments (that's the
237 G_NOARGS) and for which I'll ignore the return value (that's the
238 G_DISCARD). Those flags, and others, are discussed in perlcall.
239 I'll define the showtime subroutine in a file called showtime.pl:
241 print "I shan't be printed.";
243 sub showtime {
245 print time;
246 }
247 Simple enough. Now compile and run:
249 % cc -o showtime showtime.c `perl -MExtUtils::Embed -e ccopts -e ldopts`
251 % showtime showtime.pl
253 818284590
254 yielding the number of seconds that elapsed between January 1, 1970
256 (the beginning of the Unix epoch), and the moment I began writing this
257 sentence.
258 In this particular case we don't have to call perl_run, as we set the
260 PL_exit_flag PERL_EXIT_DESTRUCT_END which executes END blocks in
261 perl_destruct.
262 If you want to pass arguments to the Perl subroutine, you can add
264 strings to the "NULL"-terminated "args" list passed to call_argv. For
265 other data types, or to examine return values, you'll need to
266 manipulate the Perl stack. That's demonstrated in "Fiddling with the
267 Perl stack from your C program".
268 Evaluating a Perl statement from your C program
270 Perl provides two API functions to evaluate pieces of Perl code. These
271 are "eval_sv" in perlapi and "eval_pv" in perlapi.
272 Arguably, these are the only routines you'll ever need to execute
274 snippets of Perl code from within your C program. Your code can be as
275 long as you wish; it can contain multiple statements; it can employ
276 "use" in perlfunc, "require" in perlfunc, and "do" in perlfunc to
277 include external Perl files.
278 eval_pv lets us evaluate individual Perl strings, and then extract
280 variables for coercion into C types. The following program, string.c,
281 executes three Perl strings, extracting an "int" from the first, a
282 "float" from the second, and a "char *" from the third.
283 #include <EXTERN.h>
285 #include <perl.h>
286 static PerlInterpreter *my_perl;
288 main (int argc, char **argv, char **env)
290 {
291 char *embedding[] = { "", "-e", "0" };
292 PERL_SYS_INIT3(&argc,&argv,&env);
294 my_perl = perl_alloc();
295 perl_construct( my_perl );
296 perl_parse(my_perl, NULL, 3, embedding, NULL);
298 PL_exit_flags |= PERL_EXIT_DESTRUCT_END;
299 perl_run(my_perl);
300 /** Treat $a as an integer **/
302 eval_pv("$a = 3; $a **= 2", TRUE);
303 printf("a = %d\n", SvIV(get_sv("a", 0)));
304 /** Treat $a as a float **/
306 eval_pv("$a = 3.14; $a **= 2", TRUE);
307 printf("a = %f\n", SvNV(get_sv("a", 0)));
308 /** Treat $a as a string **/
310 eval_pv("$a = 'rekcaH lreP rehtonA tsuJ'; $a = reverse($a);", TRUE);
311 printf("a = %s\n", SvPV_nolen(get_sv("a", 0)));
312 perl_destruct(my_perl);
314 perl_free(my_perl);
315 PERL_SYS_TERM();
316 }
317 All of those strange functions with sv in their names help convert Perl
319 scalars to C types. They're described in perlguts and perlapi.
320 If you compile and run string.c, you'll see the results of using SvIV()
322 to create an "int", SvNV() to create a "float", and SvPV() to create a
323 string:
324 a = 9
326 a = 9.859600
327 a = Just Another Perl Hacker
328 In the example above, we've created a global variable to temporarily
330 store the computed value of our eval'ed expression. It is also
331 possible and in most cases a better strategy to fetch the return value
332 from eval_pv() instead. Example:
333 ...
335 SV *val = eval_pv("reverse 'rekcaH lreP rehtonA tsuJ'", TRUE);
336 printf("%s\n", SvPV_nolen(val));
337 ...
338 This way, we avoid namespace pollution by not creating global variables
340 and we've simplified our code as well.
341 Performing Perl pattern matches and substitutions from your C program
343 The eval_sv() function lets us evaluate strings of Perl code, so we can
344 define some functions that use it to "specialize" in matches and
345 substitutions: match(), substitute(), and matches().
346 I32 match(SV *string, char *pattern);
348 Given a string and a pattern (e.g., "m/clasp/" or "/\b\w*\b/", which in
350 your C program might appear as "/\\b\\w*\\b/"), match() returns 1 if
351 the string matches the pattern and 0 otherwise.
352 int substitute(SV **string, char *pattern);
354 Given a pointer to an "SV" and an "=~" operation (e.g.,
356 "s/bob/robert/g" or "tr[A-Z][a-z]"), substitute() modifies the string
357 within the "SV" as according to the operation, returning the number of
358 substitutions made.
359 int matches(SV *string, char *pattern, AV **matches);
361 Given an "SV", a pattern, and a pointer to an empty "AV", matches()
363 evaluates "$string =~ $pattern" in a list context, and fills in matches
364 with the array elements, returning the number of matches found.
365 Here's a sample program, match.c, that uses all three (long lines have
367 been wrapped here):
368 #include <EXTERN.h>
370 #include <perl.h>
371 static PerlInterpreter *my_perl;
373 /** my_eval_sv(code, error_check)
375 ** kinda like eval_sv(),
376 ** but we pop the return value off the stack
377 **/
378 SV* my_eval_sv(SV *sv, I32 croak_on_error)
379 {
380 dSP;
381 SV* retval;
382 PUSHMARK(SP);
385 eval_sv(sv, G_SCALAR);
386 SPAGAIN;
388 retval = POPs;
389 PUTBACK;
390 if (croak_on_error && SvTRUE(ERRSV))
392 croak(SvPVx_nolen(ERRSV));
393 return retval;
395 }
396 /** match(string, pattern)
398 **
399 ** Used for matches in a scalar context.
400 **
401 ** Returns 1 if the match was successful; 0 otherwise.
402 **/
403 I32 match(SV *string, char *pattern)
405 {
406 SV *command = newSV(0), *retval;
407 sv_setpvf(command, "my $string = '%s'; $string =~ %s",
409 SvPV_nolen(string), pattern);
410 retval = my_eval_sv(command, TRUE);
412 SvREFCNT_dec(command);
413 return SvIV(retval);
415 }
416 /** substitute(string, pattern)
418 **
419 ** Used for =~ operations that modify their left-hand side (s/// and tr///)
420 **
421 ** Returns the number of successful matches, and
422 ** modifies the input string if there were any.
423 **/
424 I32 substitute(SV **string, char *pattern)
426 {
427 SV *command = newSV(0), *retval;
428 sv_setpvf(command, "$string = '%s'; ($string =~ %s)",
430 SvPV_nolen(*string), pattern);
431 retval = my_eval_sv(command, TRUE);
433 SvREFCNT_dec(command);
434 *string = get_sv("string", 0);
436 return SvIV(retval);
437 }
438 /** matches(string, pattern, matches)
440 **
441 ** Used for matches in a list context.
442 **
443 ** Returns the number of matches,
444 ** and fills in **matches with the matching substrings
445 **/
446 I32 matches(SV *string, char *pattern, AV **match_list)
448 {
449 SV *command = newSV(0);
450 I32 num_matches;
451 sv_setpvf(command, "my $string = '%s'; @array = ($string =~ %s)",
453 SvPV_nolen(string), pattern);
454 my_eval_sv(command, TRUE);
456 SvREFCNT_dec(command);
457 *match_list = get_av("array", 0);
459 num_matches = av_len(*match_list) + 1; /** assume $[ is 0 **/
460 return num_matches;
462 }
463 main (int argc, char **argv, char **env)
465 {
466 char *embedding[] = { "", "-e", "0" };
467 AV *match_list;
468 I32 num_matches, i;
469 SV *text;
470 PERL_SYS_INIT3(&argc,&argv,&env);
472 my_perl = perl_alloc();
473 perl_construct(my_perl);
474 perl_parse(my_perl, NULL, 3, embedding, NULL);
475 PL_exit_flags |= PERL_EXIT_DESTRUCT_END;
476 text = newSV(0);
478 sv_setpv(text, "When he is at a convenience store and the "
479 "bill comes to some amount like 76 cents, Maynard is "
480 "aware that there is something he *should* do, something "
481 "that will enable him to get back a quarter, but he has "
482 "no idea *what*. He fumbles through his red squeezey "
483 "changepurse and gives the boy three extra pennies with "
484 "his dollar, hoping that he might luck into the correct "
485 "amount. The boy gives him back two of his own pennies "
486 "and then the big shiny quarter that is his prize. "
487 "-RICHH");
488 if (match(text, "m/quarter/")) /** Does text contain 'quarter'? **/
490 printf("match: Text contains the word 'quarter'.\n\n");
491 else
492 printf("match: Text doesn't contain the word 'quarter'.\n\n");
493 if (match(text, "m/eighth/")) /** Does text contain 'eighth'? **/
495 printf("match: Text contains the word 'eighth'.\n\n");
496 else
497 printf("match: Text doesn't contain the word 'eighth'.\n\n");
498 /** Match all occurrences of /wi../ **/
500 num_matches = matches(text, "m/(wi..)/g", &match_list);
501 printf("matches: m/(wi..)/g found %d matches...\n", num_matches);
502 for (i = 0; i < num_matches; i++)
504 printf("match: %s\n", SvPV_nolen(*av_fetch(match_list, i, FALSE)));
505 printf("\n");
506 /** Remove all vowels from text **/
508 num_matches = substitute(&text, "s/[aeiou]//gi");
509 if (num_matches) {
510 printf("substitute: s/[aeiou]//gi...%d substitutions made.\n",
511 num_matches);
512 printf("Now text is: %s\n\n", SvPV_nolen(text));
513 }
514 /** Attempt a substitution **/
516 if (!substitute(&text, "s/Perl/C/")) {
517 printf("substitute: s/Perl/C...No substitution made.\n\n");
518 }
519 SvREFCNT_dec(text);
521 PL_perl_destruct_level = 1;
522 perl_destruct(my_perl);
523 perl_free(my_perl);
524 PERL_SYS_TERM();
525 }
526 which produces the output (again, long lines have been wrapped here)
528 match: Text contains the word 'quarter'.
530 match: Text doesn't contain the word 'eighth'.
532 matches: m/(wi..)/g found 2 matches...
534 match: will
535 match: with
536 substitute: s/[aeiou]//gi...139 substitutions made.
538 Now text is: Whn h s t cnvnnc str nd th bll cms t sm mnt lk 76 cnts,
539 Mynrd s wr tht thr s smthng h *shld* d, smthng tht wll nbl hm t gt bck
540 qrtr, bt h hs n d *wht*. H fmbls thrgh hs rd sqzy chngprs nd gvs th by
541 thr xtr pnns wth hs dllr, hpng tht h mght lck nt th crrct mnt. Th by gvs
542 hm bck tw f hs wn pnns nd thn th bg shny qrtr tht s hs prz. -RCHH
543 substitute: s/Perl/C...No substitution made.
545 Fiddling with the Perl stack from your C program
547 When trying to explain stacks, most computer science textbooks mumble
548 something about spring-loaded columns of cafeteria plates: the last
549 thing you pushed on the stack is the first thing you pop off. That'll
550 do for our purposes: your C program will push some arguments onto "the
551 Perl stack", shut its eyes while some magic happens, and then pop the
552 results--the return value of your Perl subroutine--off the stack.
553 First you'll need to know how to convert between C types and Perl
555 types, with newSViv() and sv_setnv() and newAV() and all their friends.
556 They're described in perlguts and perlapi.
557 Then you'll need to know how to manipulate the Perl stack. That's
559 described in perlcall.
560 Once you've understood those, embedding Perl in C is easy.
562 Because C has no builtin function for integer exponentiation, let's
564 make Perl's ** operator available to it (this is less useful than it
565 sounds, because Perl implements ** with C's pow() function). First
566 I'll create a stub exponentiation function in power.pl:
567 sub expo {
569 my ($a, $b) = @_;
570 return $a ** $b;
571 }
572 Now I'll create a C program, power.c, with a function PerlPower() that
574 contains all the perlguts necessary to push the two arguments into
575 expo() and to pop the return value out. Take a deep breath...
576 #include <EXTERN.h>
578 #include <perl.h>
579 static PerlInterpreter *my_perl;
581 static void
583 PerlPower(int a, int b)
584 {
585 dSP; /* initialize stack pointer */
586 ENTER; /* everything created after here */
587 SAVETMPS; /* ...is a temporary variable. */
588 PUSHMARK(SP); /* remember the stack pointer */
589 XPUSHs(sv_2mortal(newSViv(a))); /* push the base onto the stack */
590 XPUSHs(sv_2mortal(newSViv(b))); /* push the exponent onto stack */
591 PUTBACK; /* make local stack pointer global */
592 call_pv("expo", G_SCALAR); /* call the function */
593 SPAGAIN; /* refresh stack pointer */
594 /* pop the return value from stack */
595 printf ("%d to the %dth power is %d.\n", a, b, POPi);
596 PUTBACK;
597 FREETMPS; /* free that return value */
598 LEAVE; /* ...and the XPUSHed "mortal" args.*/
599 }
600 int main (int argc, char **argv, char **env)
602 {
603 char *my_argv[] = { "", "power.pl" };
604 PERL_SYS_INIT3(&argc,&argv,&env);
606 my_perl = perl_alloc();
607 perl_construct( my_perl );
608 perl_parse(my_perl, NULL, 2, my_argv, (char **)NULL);
610 PL_exit_flags |= PERL_EXIT_DESTRUCT_END;
611 perl_run(my_perl);
612 PerlPower(3, 4); /*** Compute 3 ** 4 ***/
614 perl_destruct(my_perl);
616 perl_free(my_perl);
617 PERL_SYS_TERM();
618 }
619 Compile and run:
621 % cc -o power power.c `perl -MExtUtils::Embed -e ccopts -e ldopts`
623 % power
625 3 to the 4th power is 81.
626 Maintaining a persistent interpreter
628 When developing interactive and/or potentially long-running
629 applications, it's a good idea to maintain a persistent interpreter
630 rather than allocating and constructing a new interpreter multiple
631 times. The major reason is speed: since Perl will only be loaded into
632 memory once.
633 However, you have to be more cautious with namespace and variable
635 scoping when using a persistent interpreter. In previous examples
636 we've been using global variables in the default package "main". We
637 knew exactly what code would be run, and assumed we could avoid
638 variable collisions and outrageous symbol table growth.
639 Let's say your application is a server that will occasionally run Perl
641 code from some arbitrary file. Your server has no way of knowing what
642 code it's going to run. Very dangerous.
643 If the file is pulled in by "perl_parse()", compiled into a newly
645 constructed interpreter, and subsequently cleaned out with
646 "perl_destruct()" afterwards, you're shielded from most namespace
647 troubles.
648 One way to avoid namespace collisions in this scenario is to translate
650 the filename into a guaranteed-unique package name, and then compile
651 the code into that package using "eval" in perlfunc. In the example
652 below, each file will only be compiled once. Or, the application might
653 choose to clean out the symbol table associated with the file after
654 it's no longer needed. Using "call_argv" in perlapi, We'll call the
655 subroutine "Embed::Persistent::eval_file" which lives in the file
656 "persistent.pl" and pass the filename and boolean cleanup/cache flag as
657 arguments.
658 Note that the process will continue to grow for each file that it uses.
660 In addition, there might be "AUTOLOAD"ed subroutines and other
661 conditions that cause Perl's symbol table to grow. You might want to
662 add some logic that keeps track of the process size, or restarts itself
663 after a certain number of requests, to ensure that memory consumption
664 is minimized. You'll also want to scope your variables with "my" in
665 perlfunc whenever possible.
666 package Embed::Persistent;
668 #persistent.pl
669 use strict;
671 our %Cache;
672 use Symbol qw(delete_package);
673 sub valid_package_name {
675 my($string) = @_;
676 $string =~ s/([^A-Za-z0-9\/])/sprintf("_%2x",unpack("C",$1))/eg;
677 # second pass only for words starting with a digit
678 $string =~ s|/(\d)|sprintf("/_%2x",unpack("C",$1))|eg;
679 # Dress it up as a real package name
681 $string =~ s|/|::|g;
682 return "Embed" . $string;
683 }
684 sub eval_file {
686 my($filename, $delete) = @_;
687 my $package = valid_package_name($filename);
688 my $mtime = -M $filename;
689 if(defined $Cache{$package}{mtime}
690 &&
691 $Cache{$package}{mtime} <= $mtime)
692 {
693 # we have compiled this subroutine already,
694 # it has not been updated on disk, nothing left to do
695 print STDERR "already compiled $package->handler\n";
696 }
697 else {
698 local *FH;
699 open FH, $filename or die "open '$filename' $!";
700 local($/) = undef;
701 my $sub = <FH>;
702 close FH;
703 #wrap the code into a subroutine inside our unique package
705 my $eval = qq{package $package; sub handler { $sub; }};
706 {
707 # hide our variables within this block
708 my($filename,$mtime,$package,$sub);
709 eval $eval;
710 }
711 die $@ if $@;
712 #cache it unless we're cleaning out each time
714 $Cache{$package}{mtime} = $mtime unless $delete;
715 }
716 eval {$package->handler;};
718 die $@ if $@;
719 delete_package($package) if $delete;
721 #take a look if you want
723 #print Devel::Symdump->rnew($package)->as_string, $/;
724 }
725 1;
727 __END__
729 /* persistent.c */
731 #include <EXTERN.h>
732 #include <perl.h>
733 /* 1 = clean out filename's symbol table after each request, 0 = don't */
735 #ifndef DO_CLEAN
736 #define DO_CLEAN 0
737 #endif
738 #define BUFFER_SIZE 1024
740 static PerlInterpreter *my_perl = NULL;
742 int
744 main(int argc, char **argv, char **env)
745 {
746 char *embedding[] = { "", "persistent.pl" };
747 char *args[] = { "", DO_CLEAN, NULL };
748 char filename[BUFFER_SIZE];
749 int exitstatus = 0;
750 PERL_SYS_INIT3(&argc,&argv,&env);
752 if((my_perl = perl_alloc()) == NULL) {
753 fprintf(stderr, "no memory!");
754 exit(1);
755 }
756 perl_construct(my_perl);
757 PL_origalen = 1; /* don't let $0 assignment update the proctitle or embedding[0] */
759 exitstatus = perl_parse(my_perl, NULL, 2, embedding, NULL);
760 PL_exit_flags |= PERL_EXIT_DESTRUCT_END;
761 if(!exitstatus) {
762 exitstatus = perl_run(my_perl);
763 while(printf("Enter file name: ") &&
765 fgets(filename, BUFFER_SIZE, stdin)) {
766 filename[strlen(filename)-1] = '\0'; /* strip \n */
768 /* call the subroutine, passing it the filename as an argument */
769 args[0] = filename;
770 call_argv("Embed::Persistent::eval_file",
771 G_DISCARD | G_EVAL, args);
772 /* check $@ */
774 if(SvTRUE(ERRSV))
775 fprintf(stderr, "eval error: %s\n", SvPV_nolen(ERRSV));
776 }
777 }
778 PL_perl_destruct_level = 0;
780 perl_destruct(my_perl);
781 perl_free(my_perl);
782 PERL_SYS_TERM();
783 exit(exitstatus);
784 }
785 Now compile:
787 % cc -o persistent persistent.c `perl -MExtUtils::Embed -e ccopts -e ldopts`
789 Here's an example script file:
791 #test.pl
793 my $string = "hello";
794 foo($string);
795 sub foo {
797 print "foo says: @_\n";
798 }
799 Now run:
801 % persistent
803 Enter file name: test.pl
804 foo says: hello
805 Enter file name: test.pl
806 already compiled Embed::test_2epl->handler
807 foo says: hello
808 Enter file name: ^C
809 Execution of END blocks
811 Traditionally END blocks have been executed at the end of the perl_run.
812 This causes problems for applications that never call perl_run. Since
813 perl 5.7.2 you can specify "PL_exit_flags |= PERL_EXIT_DESTRUCT_END" to
814 get the new behaviour. This also enables the running of END blocks if
815 the perl_parse fails and "perl_destruct" will return the exit value.
816 $0 assignments
818 When a perl script assigns a value to $0 then the perl runtime will try
819 to make this value show up as the program name reported by "ps" by
820 updating the memory pointed to by the argv passed to perl_parse() and
821 also calling API functions like setproctitle() where available. This
822 behaviour might not be appropriate when embedding perl and can be
823 disabled by assigning the value 1 to the variable "PL_origalen" before
824 perl_parse() is called.
825 The persistent.c example above is for instance likely to segfault when
827 $0 is assigned to if the "PL_origalen = 1;" assignment is removed.
828 This because perl will try to write to the read only memory of the
829 "embedding[]" strings.
830 Maintaining multiple interpreter instances
832 Some rare applications will need to create more than one interpreter
833 during a session. Such an application might sporadically decide to
834 release any resources associated with the interpreter.
835 The program must take care to ensure that this takes place before the
837 next interpreter is constructed. By default, when perl is not built
838 with any special options, the global variable "PL_perl_destruct_level"
839 is set to 0, since extra cleaning isn't usually needed when a program
840 only ever creates a single interpreter in its entire lifetime.
841 Setting "PL_perl_destruct_level" to 1 makes everything squeaky clean:
843 while(1) {
845 ...
846 /* reset global variables here with PL_perl_destruct_level = 1 */
847 PL_perl_destruct_level = 1;
848 perl_construct(my_perl);
849 ...
850 /* clean and reset _everything_ during perl_destruct */
851 PL_perl_destruct_level = 1;
852 perl_destruct(my_perl);
853 perl_free(my_perl);
854 ...
855 /* let's go do it again! */
856 }
857 When perl_destruct() is called, the interpreter's syntax parse tree and
859 symbol tables are cleaned up, and global variables are reset. The
860 second assignment to "PL_perl_destruct_level" is needed because
861 perl_construct resets it to 0.
862 Now suppose we have more than one interpreter instance running at the
864 same time. This is feasible, but only if you used the Configure option
865 "-Dusemultiplicity" or the options "-Dusethreads -Duseithreads" when
866 building perl. By default, enabling one of these Configure options
867 sets the per-interpreter global variable "PL_perl_destruct_level" to 1,
868 so that thorough cleaning is automatic and interpreter variables are
869 initialized correctly. Even if you don't intend to run two or more
870 interpreters at the same time, but to run them sequentially, like in
871 the above example, it is recommended to build perl with the
872 "-Dusemultiplicity" option otherwise some interpreter variables may not
873 be initialized correctly between consecutive runs and your application
874 may crash.
875 See also "Thread-aware system interfaces" in perlxs.
877 Using "-Dusethreads -Duseithreads" rather than "-Dusemultiplicity" is
879 more appropriate if you intend to run multiple interpreters
880 concurrently in different threads, because it enables support for
881 linking in the thread libraries of your system with the interpreter.
882 Let's give it a try:
884 #include <EXTERN.h>
886 #include <perl.h>
887 /* we're going to embed two interpreters */
889 /* we're going to embed two interpreters */
890 #define SAY_HELLO "-e", "print qq(Hi, I'm $^X\n)"
892 int main(int argc, char **argv, char **env)
894 {
895 PerlInterpreter *one_perl, *two_perl;
896 char *one_args[] = { "one_perl", SAY_HELLO };
897 char *two_args[] = { "two_perl", SAY_HELLO };
898 PERL_SYS_INIT3(&argc,&argv,&env);
900 one_perl = perl_alloc();
901 two_perl = perl_alloc();
902 PERL_SET_CONTEXT(one_perl);
904 perl_construct(one_perl);
905 PERL_SET_CONTEXT(two_perl);
906 perl_construct(two_perl);
907 PERL_SET_CONTEXT(one_perl);
909 perl_parse(one_perl, NULL, 3, one_args, (char **)NULL);
910 PERL_SET_CONTEXT(two_perl);
911 perl_parse(two_perl, NULL, 3, two_args, (char **)NULL);
912 PERL_SET_CONTEXT(one_perl);
914 perl_run(one_perl);
915 PERL_SET_CONTEXT(two_perl);
916 perl_run(two_perl);
917 PERL_SET_CONTEXT(one_perl);
919 perl_destruct(one_perl);
920 PERL_SET_CONTEXT(two_perl);
921 perl_destruct(two_perl);
922 PERL_SET_CONTEXT(one_perl);
924 perl_free(one_perl);
925 PERL_SET_CONTEXT(two_perl);
926 perl_free(two_perl);
927 PERL_SYS_TERM();
928 }
929 Note the calls to PERL_SET_CONTEXT(). These are necessary to
931 initialize the global state that tracks which interpreter is the
932 "current" one on the particular process or thread that may be running
933 it. It should always be used if you have more than one interpreter and
934 are making perl API calls on both interpreters in an interleaved
935 fashion.
936 PERL_SET_CONTEXT(interp) should also be called whenever "interp" is
938 used by a thread that did not create it (using either perl_alloc(), or
939 the more esoteric perl_clone()).
940 Compile as usual:
942 % cc -o multiplicity multiplicity.c `perl -MExtUtils::Embed -e ccopts -e ldopts`
944 Run it, Run it:
946 % multiplicity
948 Hi, I'm one_perl
949 Hi, I'm two_perl
950 Using Perl modules, which themselves use C libraries, from your C program
952 If you've played with the examples above and tried to embed a script
953 that use()s a Perl module (such as Socket) which itself uses a C or C++
954 library, this probably happened:
955 Can't load module Socket, dynamic loading not available in this perl.
957 (You may need to build a new perl executable which either supports
958 dynamic loading or has the Socket module statically linked into it.)
959 What's wrong?
961 Your interpreter doesn't know how to communicate with these extensions
963 on its own. A little glue will help. Up until now you've been calling
964 perl_parse(), handing it NULL for the second argument:
965 perl_parse(my_perl, NULL, argc, my_argv, NULL);
967 That's where the glue code can be inserted to create the initial
969 contact between Perl and linked C/C++ routines. Let's take a look some
970 pieces of perlmain.c to see how Perl does this:
971 static void xs_init (pTHX);
973 EXTERN_C void boot_DynaLoader (pTHX_ CV* cv);
975 EXTERN_C void boot_Socket (pTHX_ CV* cv);
976 EXTERN_C void
979 xs_init(pTHX)
980 {
981 char *file = __FILE__;
982 /* DynaLoader is a special case */
983 newXS("DynaLoader::boot_DynaLoader", boot_DynaLoader, file);
984 newXS("Socket::bootstrap", boot_Socket, file);
985 }
986 Simply put: for each extension linked with your Perl executable
988 (determined during its initial configuration on your computer or when
989 adding a new extension), a Perl subroutine is created to incorporate
990 the extension's routines. Normally, that subroutine is named
991 Module::bootstrap() and is invoked when you say use Module. In turn,
992 this hooks into an XSUB, boot_Module, which creates a Perl counterpart
993 for each of the extension's XSUBs. Don't worry about this part; leave
994 that to the xsubpp and extension authors. If your extension is
995 dynamically loaded, DynaLoader creates Module::bootstrap() for you on
996 the fly. In fact, if you have a working DynaLoader then there is
997 rarely any need to link in any other extensions statically.
998 Once you have this code, slap it into the second argument of
1000 perl_parse():
1001 perl_parse(my_perl, xs_init, argc, my_argv, NULL);
1003 Then compile:
1005 % cc -o interp interp.c `perl -MExtUtils::Embed -e ccopts -e ldopts`
1007 % interp
1009 use Socket;
1010 use SomeDynamicallyLoadedModule;
1011 print "Now I can use extensions!\n"'
1013 ExtUtils::Embed can also automate writing the xs_init glue code.
1015 % perl -MExtUtils::Embed -e xsinit -- -o perlxsi.c
1017 % cc -c perlxsi.c `perl -MExtUtils::Embed -e ccopts`
1018 % cc -c interp.c `perl -MExtUtils::Embed -e ccopts`
1019 % cc -o interp perlxsi.o interp.o `perl -MExtUtils::Embed -e ldopts`
1020 Consult perlxs, perlguts, and perlapi for more details.
1022
1024 In general, all of the source code shown here should work unmodified
1025 under Windows.
1026 However, there are some caveats about the command-line examples shown.
1028 For starters, backticks won't work under the Win32 native command
1029 shell. The ExtUtils::Embed kit on CPAN ships with a script called
1030 genmake, which generates a simple makefile to build a program from a
1031 single C source file. It can be used like this:
1032 C:\ExtUtils-Embed\eg> perl genmake interp.c
1034 C:\ExtUtils-Embed\eg> nmake
1035 C:\ExtUtils-Embed\eg> interp -e "print qq{I'm embedded in Win32!\n}"
1036 You may wish to use a more robust environment such as the Microsoft
1038 Developer Studio. In this case, run this to generate perlxsi.c:
1039 perl -MExtUtils::Embed -e xsinit
1041 Create a new project and Insert -> Files into Project: perlxsi.c,
1043 perl.lib, and your own source files, e.g. interp.c. Typically you'll
1044 find perl.lib in C:\perl\lib\CORE, if not, you should see the CORE
1045 directory relative to "perl -V:archlib". The studio will also need
1046 this path so it knows where to find Perl include files. This path can
1047 be added via the Tools -> Options -> Directories menu. Finally, select
1048 Build -> Build interp.exe and you're ready to go.
1049
1051 If you completely hide the short forms forms of the Perl public API,
1052 add -DPERL_NO_SHORT_NAMES to the compilation flags. This means that
1053 for example instead of writing
1054 warn("%d bottles of beer on the wall", bottlecount);
1056 you will have to write the explicit full form
1058 Perl_warn(aTHX_ "%d bottles of beer on the wall", bottlecount);
1060 (See "Background and PERL_IMPLICIT_CONTEXT for the explanation of the
1062 "aTHX_"." in perlguts ) Hiding the short forms is very useful for
1063 avoiding all sorts of nasty (C preprocessor or otherwise) conflicts
1064 with other software packages (Perl defines about 2400 APIs with these
1065 short names, take or leave few hundred, so there certainly is room for
1066 conflict.)
1067
1069 You can sometimes write faster code in C, but you can always write code
1070 faster in Perl. Because you can use each from the other, combine them
1071 as you wish.
1072
1074 Jon Orwant <orwant@media.mit.edu> and Doug MacEachern
1075 <dougm@covalent.net>, with small contributions from Tim Bunce, Tom
1076 Christiansen, Guy Decoux, Hallvard Furuseth, Dov Grobgeld, and Ilya
1077 Zakharevich.
1078 Doug MacEachern has an article on embedding in Volume 1, Issue 4 of The
1080 Perl Journal ( http://www.tpj.com/ ). Doug is also the developer of
1081 the most widely-used Perl embedding: the mod_perl system
1082 (perl.apache.org), which embeds Perl in the Apache web server. Oracle,
1083 Binary Evolution, ActiveState, and Ben Sugars's nsapi_perl have used
1084 this model for Oracle, Netscape and Internet Information Server Perl
1085 plugins.
1086
1088 Copyright (C) 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998 Doug MacEachern and Jon Orwant.
1089 All Rights Reserved.
1090 Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this
1092 documentation provided the copyright notice and this permission notice
1093 are preserved on all copies.
1094 Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this
1096 documentation under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided also
1097 that they are marked clearly as modified versions, that the authors'
1098 names and title are unchanged (though subtitles and additional authors'
1099 names may be added), and that the entire resulting derived work is
1100 distributed under the terms of a permission notice identical to this
1101 one.
1102 Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this
1104 documentation into another language, under the above conditions for
1105 modified versions.
1106perl v5.10.1 2009-04-22 PERLEMBED(1)