1Inline::FAQ(3) User Contributed Perl Documentation Inline::FAQ(3)
2
6 Inline-FAQ - The Inline FAQ
7
9 Welcome to the official Inline FAQ. In this case, FAQ means: Formerly
10 Answered Questions
11 This is a collection of old, long-winded emails that myself and others
13 have sent to the Inline mailing list. (inline@perl.org) They have been
14 reviewed and edited for general Inline edification. Some of them may be
15 related to a specific language. They are presented here in a
16 traditional FAQ layout.
17
19 Since there is only a handful of content so far, all FAQs are currently
20 under this heading.
21 How disposable is a ".Inline" or "_Inline" directory?
23 I probably need to be more emphatic about the role of "_Inline/" cache
24 directories. Since they are created automatically, they are completely
25 disposable. I delete them all the time. And it is fine to have a
26 different one for each project. In fact as long as you don't have
27 "~/.Inline/" defined, Inline will create a new "./_Inline" directory
28 (unless, you've done something to override this automatic process -
29 such as using the DIRECTORY config option, or using the
30 "PERL_INLINE_DIRECTORY" environment variable). You can move that to
31 "./.Inline" and it will continue to work if you want togive it more
32 longevity and hide it from view. There is a long complicated list of
33 rules about how "[_.]Inline/" directories are used/created. But it was
34 designed to give you the most flexibility/ease-of-use. Never be afraid
35 to nuke 'em. They'll just pop right back next time they're needed. :)
36 What is the best way to package Inline code for CPAN?
38 This distribution includes Inline::MakeMaker, described below, which
39 takes special steps during the installation of your module to make sure
40 the code gets compiled and installed, rather than compiled by users at
41 runtime. But, users of your module need to install Inline and the
42 language support module like Inline::CPP as prerequisites for your
43 module.
44 A better way to distribute your module is with Inline::Module, which
46 takes special steps to remove dependencies on Inline::* and convert it
47 to a plain XS module during the construction of your distribution
48 before you upload it to CPAN. It also integrates easily with
49 Dist::Zilla and other modern authoring tools for a more streamlined
50 authoring experience.
51 Whatever happened to the "SITE_INSTALL" option?
53 "SITE_INSTALL" is gone. I was going to leave it in and change the
54 semantics, but thought it better to remove it, so people wouldn't try
55 to use it the old way. There is now "_INSTALL_" (but you're not
56 supposed to know that :). It works magically through the use of
57 Inline::MakeMaker. I explained this earlier but it's worth going
58 through again because it's the biggest change for 0.40. Here's how to
59 'permanently' install an Inline extension (Inline based module) with
60 0.40:
61 1. Create a module with Inline.
63 2. Test it using the normal / local "_Inline/" cache.
65 3. Create a Makefile.PL (like the one produced by h2xs)
67 4. Change 'use ExtUtils::MakeMaker' to 'use Inline::MakeMaker'
69 5. In the Makefile.PL's WriteMakefile() insert:
71 CONFIGURE_REQUIRES => {
73 'Inline::MakeMaker' => 0.45,
74 'ExtUtils::MakeMaker' => 6.52,
75 },
76 (See the "Writing Modules with Inline" section of Inline.pod for an
78 explanation / elaboration.)
79 6. Change your 'use Inline C => DATA' to 'use Inline C => DATA => NAME
81 => Foo
82 => VERSION => 1.23' + Make sure NAME matches your package name ('Foo'),
84 or => begins with 'Foo::'. + If you want to quiet a harmless warning
85 that will => appear when the module is loaded via "require", do
86 "Inline->init();". See => "Writing Modules with Inline" in the Inline
87 pod for details. + Make sure => VERSION matches $Foo::VERSION. This
88 must be a string (not a number) => matching "/^\d\.\d\d$/" + Do the
89 perl / make / test / install dance => (thanks binkley :)
90 With Inline 0.41 (or thereabouts) you can skip steps 3 & 4, and just
92 say "perl -MInline=INSTALL ./Foo.pm". This will work for non-Inline
93 modules too. It will become the defacto standard (since there is no
94 easy standard) way of installing a Perl module. It will allow
95 Makefile.PL parameters "perl - MInline=INSTALL ./Foo.pm -
96 PREFIX=/home/ingy/perl" and things like that. It will also make use of
97 a MANIFEST if you provide one.
98 How do I create a binary distribution using Inline?
100 I've figured out how to create and install a PPM binary distribution;
101 with or without distributing the C code! And I've decided to share it
102 with all of you :)
103 NOTE: Future versions of Inline will make this process a one line
105 command. But
106 for now just use this simple recipe.
107 The Inline 0.40 distribution comes with a sample extension module
109 called Math::Simple. Theoretically you could distribute this module on
110 CPAN. It has all the necessary support for installation. You can find
111 it in "Inline- 0.40/modules/Math/Simple/". Here are the steps for
112 converting this into a binary distribution without C source code.
113 NOTE: The recipient of this binary distribution will need to have the
115 PPM.pm module installed. This module requires a lot of other CPAN
116 modules. ActivePerl (available for Win32, Linux, and Solaris) has
117 all
118 of these bundled. While ActivePerl isn't required, it makes
119 things (a
120 lot) easier.
121 1. cd "Inline-0.40/Math/Simple/"
123 2. Divide Simple.pm into two files:
125 ---8<--- (Simple.pm)
127 package Math::Simple;
128 use strict;
129 require Exporter;
130 @Math::Simple::ISA = qw(Exporter);
131 @Math::Simple::EXPORT = qw(add subtract);
132 $Math::Simple::VERSION = '1.23';
133 use Inline (C => 'src/Simple.c' =>
135 NAME => 'Math::Simple',
136 VERSION => '1.23',
137 );
138 1;
139 ---8<---
140 ---8<--- (src/Simple.c)
141 int add (int x, int y) {
142 return x + y;
143 }
144 int subtract (int x, int y) {
146 return x - y;
147 }
148 ---8<---
149 3. now you have the Perl in one file and the C in the other. The C
151 code must be
152 in a subdirectory. + Note that I also changed the term 'DATA' to the
154 name of the C file. This will work just as if the C were still inline.
155 + Run 'perl Makefile.PL' + Run 'make test' + Get the MD5 key from
156 "blib/arch/auto/Math/Simple/Simple.inl" + Edit
157 "blib/lib/Math/Simple.pm". Change "src/Simple.c" to
158 "02c61710cab5b659efc343a9a830aa73" (the MD5 key)
159 1. Run 'make ppd'
161 2. Edit 'Math-Simple.ppd'. Fill in AUTHOR and ABSTRACT if you wish.
163 Then
164 change:
166 <CODEBASE HREF="" />
168 to
170 <CODEBASE HREF="Math-Simple.tar.gz" />
172 1. Run:
174 tar cvf Math-Simple.tar blib
176 gzip --best Math-Simple.tar
177 2. Run:
179 tar cvf Math-Simple-1.23.tar Math-Simple.ppd Math-Simple.tar.gz
181 gzip --best Math-Simple-1.23.tar
182 3. Distribute Math-Simple-1.23.tar.gz with the following instructions:
184 1. Run:
186 gzip -d Math-Simple-1.23.tar.gz tar xvzf Math-Simple-1.23.tar
188 2. Run 'ppm install Math-Simple.ppd'
190 3. Delete Math-Simple.tar and Math-Simple.ppd.
192 4. Test with:
194 perl -MMath::Simple -le 'print add(37, 42)'
196 That's it. The process should also work with zip instead of tar, but I
198 haven't tried it.
199 The recipient of the binary must have Perl built with a matching
201 architecture. Luckily, ppm will catch this.
202 For a binary dist with C source code, simply omit steps 2, 3, 6, and 7.
204 If this seems too hard, then in a future version you should be able to
206 just type:
207 make ppm
209 Why does "C/t/09parser.t" fail on Cygwin ?
211 It doesn't always fail on Cygwin, but if you find that it produces
212 "unable to remap .... to same address as parent" errors during the
213 build phase, then it's time for you to run rebaseall.
214 See
216 <http://cygwin.com/faq/faq-nochunks.html#faq.using.fixing-fork-failures>
217 and, if needed, seek further help from the Cygwin mailing list.
218perl v5.38.0 2023-07-20 Inline::FAQ(3)