Inline::FAQ(3) User Contributed Perl Documentation Inline::FAQ(3)
NAME
Inline-FAQ - The Inline FAQ
DESCRIPTION
Welcome to the official Inline FAQ. In this case, FAQ means: Formerly
Answered Questions
This is a collection of old, long-winded emails that myself and others
have sent to the Inline mailing list. (inline@perl.org) They have been
reviewed and edited for general Inline edification. Some of them may be
related to a specific language. They are presented here in a
traditional FAQ layout.
GENERAL INLINE
Since there is only a handful of content so far, all FAQs are currently
under this heading.
How disposable is a ".Inline" or "_Inline" directory?
I probably need to be more emphatic about the role of "_Inline/" cache
directories. Since they are created automatically, they are completely
disposable. I delete them all the time. And it is fine to have a
different one for each project. In fact as long as you don't have
"~/.Inline/" defined, Inline will create a new "./_Inline" directory
(unless, you've done something to override this automatic process -
such as using the DIRECTORY config option, or using the
"PERL_INLINE_DIRECTORY" environment variable). You can move that to
"./.Inline" and it will continue to work if you want togive it more
longevity and hide it from view. There is a long complicated list of
rules about how "[_.]Inline/" directories are used/created. But it was
designed to give you the most flexibility/ease-of-use. Never be afraid
to nuke 'em. They'll just pop right back next time they're needed. :)
What is the best way to package Inline code for CPAN?
This distribution includes Inline::MakeMaker, described below, which
takes special steps during the installation of your module to make sure
the code gets compiled and installed, rather than compiled by users at
runtime. But, users of your module need to install Inline and the
language support module like Inline::CPP as prerequisites for your
module.
A better way to distribute your module is with Inline::Module, which
takes special steps to remove dependencies on Inline::* and convert it
to a plain XS module during the construction of your distribution
before you upload it to CPAN. It also integrates easily with
Dist::Zilla and other modern authoring tools for a more streamlined
authoring experience.
Whatever happened to the "SITE_INSTALL" option?
"SITE_INSTALL" is gone. I was going to leave it in and change the
semantics, but thought it better to remove it, so people wouldn't try
to use it the old way. There is now "_INSTALL_" (but you're not
supposed to know that :). It works magically through the use of
Inline::MakeMaker. I explained this earlier but it's worth going
through again because it's the biggest change for 0.40. Here's how to
'permanently' install an Inline extension (Inline based module) with
0.40:
1. Create a module with Inline.
2. Test it using the normal / local "_Inline/" cache.
3. Create a Makefile.PL (like the one produced by h2xs)
4. Change 'use ExtUtils::MakeMaker' to 'use Inline::MakeMaker'
5. In the Makefile.PL's WriteMakefile() insert:
CONFIGURE_REQUIRES => {
'Inline::MakeMaker' => 0.45,
'ExtUtils::MakeMaker' => 6.52,
},
(See the "Writing Modules with Inline" section of Inline.pod for an
explanation / elaboration.)
6. Change your 'use Inline C => DATA' to 'use Inline C => DATA => NAME
=> Foo
=> VERSION => 1.23' + Make sure NAME matches your package name ('Foo'),
or => begins with 'Foo::'. + If you want to quiet a harmless warning
that will => appear when the module is loaded via "require", do
"Inline->init();". See => "Writing Modules with Inline" in the Inline
pod for details. + Make sure => VERSION matches $Foo::VERSION. This
must be a string (not a number) => matching "/^\d\.\d\d$/" + Do the
perl / make / test / install dance => (thanks binkley :)
With Inline 0.41 (or thereabouts) you can skip steps 3 & 4, and just
say "perl -MInline=INSTALL ./Foo.pm". This will work for non-Inline
modules too. It will become the defacto standard (since there is no
easy standard) way of installing a Perl module. It will allow
Makefile.PL parameters "perl - MInline=INSTALL ./Foo.pm -
PREFIX=/home/ingy/perl" and things like that. It will also make use of
a MANIFEST if you provide one.
How do I create a binary distribution using Inline?
I've figured out how to create and install a PPM binary distribution;
with or without distributing the C code! And I've decided to share it
with all of you :)
NOTE: Future versions of Inline will make this process a one line
command. But
for now just use this simple recipe.
The Inline 0.40 distribution comes with a sample extension module
called Math::Simple. Theoretically you could distribute this module on
CPAN. It has all the necessary support for installation. You can find
it in "Inline- 0.40/modules/Math/Simple/". Here are the steps for
converting this into a binary distribution without C source code.
NOTE: The recipient of this binary distribution will need to have the
PPM.pm module installed. This module requires a lot of other CPAN
modules. ActivePerl (available for Win32, Linux, and Solaris) has
all
of these bundled. While ActivePerl isn't required, it makes
things (a
lot) easier.
1. cd "Inline-0.40/Math/Simple/"
2. Divide Simple.pm into two files:
---8<--- (Simple.pm)
package Math::Simple;
use strict;
require Exporter;
@Math::Simple::ISA = qw(Exporter);
@Math::Simple::EXPORT = qw(add subtract);
$Math::Simple::VERSION = '1.23';
use Inline (C => 'src/Simple.c' =>
NAME => 'Math::Simple',
VERSION => '1.23',
);
1;
---8<---
---8<--- (src/Simple.c)
int add (int x, int y) {
return x + y;
}
int subtract (int x, int y) {
return x - y;
}
---8<---
3. now you have the Perl in one file and the C in the other. The C
code must be
in a subdirectory. + Note that I also changed the term 'DATA' to the
name of the C file. This will work just as if the C were still inline.
+ Run 'perl Makefile.PL' + Run 'make test' + Get the MD5 key from
"blib/arch/auto/Math/Simple/Simple.inl" + Edit
"blib/lib/Math/Simple.pm". Change "src/Simple.c" to
"02c61710cab5b659efc343a9a830aa73" (the MD5 key)
1. Run 'make ppd'
2. Edit 'Math-Simple.ppd'. Fill in AUTHOR and ABSTRACT if you wish.
Then
change:
to
1. Run:
tar cvf Math-Simple.tar blib
gzip --best Math-Simple.tar
2. Run:
tar cvf Math-Simple-1.23.tar Math-Simple.ppd Math-Simple.tar.gz
gzip --best Math-Simple-1.23.tar
3. Distribute Math-Simple-1.23.tar.gz with the following instructions:
1. Run:
gzip -d Math-Simple-1.23.tar.gz tar xvzf Math-Simple-1.23.tar
2. Run 'ppm install Math-Simple.ppd'
3. Delete Math-Simple.tar and Math-Simple.ppd.
4. Test with:
perl -MMath::Simple -le 'print add(37, 42)'
That's it. The process should also work with zip instead of tar, but I
haven't tried it.
The recipient of the binary must have Perl built with a matching
architecture. Luckily, ppm will catch this.
For a binary dist with C source code, simply omit steps 2, 3, 6, and 7.
If this seems too hard, then in a future version you should be able to
just type:
make ppm
Why does "C/t/09parser.t" fail on Cygwin ?
It doesn't always fail on Cygwin, but if you find that it produces
"unable to remap .... to same address as parent" errors during the
build phase, then it's time for you to run rebaseall.
See
and, if needed, seek further help from the Cygwin mailing list.
perl v5.34.0 2022-01-21 Inline::FAQ(3)