NAME

practcl - The Practcl Module

Table Of Contents
Synopsis
Description
Commands
Classes
Bugs, Ideas, Feedback
Keywords
Category
Copyright

SYNOPSIS

package require TclOO 1.0

DESCRIPTION

The Practcl module is a tool for integrating large modules for C API Tcl code that requires custom Tcl types and TclOO objects.

The concept with Practcl is that is a single file package that can assist any tcl based project with distribution, compilation, linking, VFS preparation, executable assembly, and installation. Practcl also allows one project to invoke the build system from another project, allowing complex projects such as a statically linked basekit to be assembled with relative ease.

Practcl ships as a single file, and aside from a Tcl 8.6 interpreter, has no external dependencies.

Making a practcl project

Commands

proc practcl::cat fname

Concatenate a file
proc practcl::docstrip text

Strip the global comments from tcl code. Used to prevent the documentation markup comments from clogging up files intended for distribution in machine readable format.
proc putb ?map? text

Append a line of text to a variable. Optionally apply a string mapping.
proc Proc name arglist body

Generate a proc if no command already exists by that name
proc noop ?args?

A command to do nothing. A handy way of negating an instruction without having to comment it completely out. It's also a handy attachment point for an object to be named later
proc practcl::debug ?args?
proc practcl::doexec ?args?

Drop in a static copy of Tcl
proc practcl::doexec_in path ?args?
proc practcl::dotclexec ?args?
proc practcl::domake path ?args?
proc practcl::domake.tcl path ?args?
proc practcl::fossil path ?args?
proc practcl::fossil_status dir
proc practcl::os
proc practcl::mkzip exename barekit vfspath

Build a zipfile. On tcl8.6 this invokes the native Zip implementation on older interpreters this invokes zip via exec
proc practcl::sort_dict list

Dictionary sort a key/value list. Needed because pre tcl8.6 does not have lsort -stride 2
proc practcl::local_os

Returns a dictionary describing the local operating system. Fields return include:
- download - Filesystem path where fossil repositories and source tarballs are downloaded for the current user
- EXEEXT - The extension to give to executables. (i.e. .exe on windows)
- fossil_mirror - A URI for a local network web server who acts as a fossil repository mirror
- local_install - Filesystem path where packages for local consumption by the current user are installed
- prefix - The prefix as given to the Tcl core/TEA for installation to local_install in ./configure
- sandbox - The file location where this project unpacks external projects
- TEACUP_PROFILE - The ActiveState/Teacup canonical name for this platform (i.e. win32-ix86 macosx10.5-i386-x86_84)
- TEACUP_OS - The local operating system (windows, macosx, openbsd, etc). Gives the same answer as tcl.m4, except that macosx is given as macosx instead of Darwin.
- TEA_PLATFORM - The platform returned by uname -s-uname -r (on Unix), or "windows" on Windows
- TEACUP_ARCH - The processor architecture for the local os (i.e. ix86, x86_64)
- TEACUP_ARCH - The processor architecture for the local os (i.e. ix86, x86_64)
- teapot - Filesystem path where teapot package files are downloaded for the current user
- userhome - File path to store localized preferences, cache download files, etc for the current user
This command uses a combination of local checks with Exec, any tclConfig.sh file that is resident, autoconf data where already computed, and data gleaned from a file named practcl.rc in userhome. The location for userhome varies by platform and operating system:
- Windows: ::env(LOCALAPPDATA)/Tcl
- Macos: ~/Library/Application Support/Tcl
- Other: ~/tcl
proc practcl::config.tcl path

A transparent call to ::practcl::read_configuration to preserve backward compadibility with older copies of Practcl
proc practcl::read_configuration path

Detect local platform. This command looks for data gleaned by autoconf or autosetup in the path specified, or perform its own logic tests if neither has been run. A file named config.site present in the location indicates that this project is cross compiling, and the data stored in that file is used for the compiler and linker.

This command looks for information from the following files, in the following order:
- config.tcl - A file generated by autoconf/configure in newer editions of TEA, encoded as a Tcl script.
- config.site - A file containing cross compiler information, encoded as a SH script
- ::env(VisualStudioVersion) - On Windows, and environmental value that indicates MS Visual Studio is installed
This command returns a dictionary containing all of the data cleaned from the sources above. In the absence of any guidance this command returns the same output as ::practcl::local_os. In this mode, if the environmental variable VisualStudioVersion exists, this command will provide a template of fields that are appropriate for compiling on Windows under Microsoft Visual Studio. The USEMSVC flag in the dictionary is a boolean flag to indicate if this is indeed the case.
proc practcl::tcllib_require pkg ?args?

Try to load a package, and failing that retrieve tcllib
proc practcl::platform::tcl_core_options os

Return the string to pass to ./configure to compile the Tcl core for the given OS.
- windows: --with-tzdata --with-encoding utf-8
- macosx: --enable-corefoundation=yes --enable-framework=no --with-tzdata --with-encoding utf-8
- other: --with-tzdata --with-encoding utf-8
proc practcl::platform::tk_core_options os
proc practcl::read_rc_file filename ?localdat ____?

Read a stylized key/value list stored in a file
proc practcl::read_sh_subst line info

Converts a XXX.sh file into a series of Tcl variables
proc practcl::read_sh_file filename ?localdat ____?
proc practcl::read_Config.sh filename

A simpler form of read_sh_file tailored to pulling data from (tcl|tk)Config.sh
proc practcl::read_Makefile filename

A simpler form of read_sh_file tailored to pulling data from a Makefile
proc practcl::cputs varname ?args?

Append arguments to a buffer The command works like puts in that each call will also insert a line feed. Unlike puts, blank links in the interstitial are suppressed
proc practcl::tcl_to_c body
proc practcl::_tagblock text ?style tcl? ?note ____?
proc practcl::de_shell data
proc practcl::grep pattern ?files ____?

Search for the pattern pattern amongst $files
proc practcl::file_lexnormalize sp
proc practcl::file_relative base dst

Calculate a relative path between base and dst

Example:
```
::practcl::file_relative ~/build/tcl/unix ~/build/tcl/library
> ../library
```
proc practcl::findByPattern basedir patterns
proc practcl::log fname comment

Record an event in the practcl log
proc practcl::_pkgindex_simpleIndex path
proc practcl::_pkgindex_directory path

Return true if the pkgindex file contains any statement other than "package ifneeded" and/or if any package ifneeded loads a DLL
proc practcl::_pkgindex_path_subdir path

Helper function for ::practcl::pkgindex_path
proc practcl::pkgindex_path ?args?

Index all paths given as though they will end up in the same virtual file system
proc practcl::installDir d1 d2

Delete the contents of d2, and then recusively Ccopy the contents of d1 to d2.
proc practcl::copyDir d1 d2 ?toplevel 1?

Recursively copy the contents of d1 to d2
proc practcl::buildModule modpath
proc practcl::installModule modpath DEST

Install a module from MODPATH to the directory specified. dpath is assumed to be the fully qualified path where module is to be placed. Any existing files will be deleted at that path. If the path is symlink the process will return with no error and no action. If the module has contents in the build/ directory that are newer than the .tcl files in the module source directory, and a build/build.tcl file exists, the build/build.tcl file is run. If the source directory includes a file named index.tcl, the directory is assumed to be in the tao style of modules, and the entire directory (and all subdirectories) are copied verbatim. If no index.tcl file is present, all .tcl files are copied from the module source directory, and a pkgIndex.tcl file is generated if non yet exists. I a folder named htdocs exists in the source directory, that directory is copied verbatim to the destination.

proc practcl::trigger ?args?

Trigger build targets, and recompute dependencies

Internals:

::practcl::LOCAL make trigger {*}$args
foreach {name obj} [::practcl::LOCAL make objects] {
  set ::make($name) [$obj do]
}

proc practcl::depends ?args?

Calculate if a dependency for any of the arguments needs to be fulfilled or rebuilt.

Internals:
```
::practcl::LOCAL make depends {*}$args
```
proc practcl::target name info ?action ____?

Declare a build product. This proc is just a shorthand for ::practcl::LOCAL make task $name $info $action

Registering a build product with this command will create an entry in the global array, and populate a value in the global array.

Internals:
```
set obj [::practcl::LOCAL make task $name $info $action]
set ::make($name) 0
set filename [$obj define get filename]
if {$filename ne {}} {
  set ::target($name) $filename
}
```

Classes

Class practcl::doctool

{ set authors {
   {John Doe} {[email protected]}
   {Tom RichardHarry} {[email protected]}
 }
 # Create the object
 ::practcl::doctool create AutoDoc
 set fout [open [file join $moddir module.tcl] w]
 foreach file [glob [file join $srcdir *.tcl]] {
   set content [::practcl::cat [file join $srcdir $file]]
    # Scan the file
    AutoDoc scan_text $content
    # Strip the comments from the distribution
    puts $fout [::practcl::docstrip $content]
 }
 # Write out the manual page
 set manout [open [file join $moddir module.man] w]
 dict set args header [string map $modmap [::practcl::cat [file join $srcdir manual.txt]]]
 dict set args footer [string map $modmap [::practcl::cat [file join $srcdir footer.txt]]]
 dict set args authors $authors
 puts $manout [AutoDoc manpage {*}$args]
 close $manout


}

Tool for build scripts to dynamically generate manual files from comments in source code files

Methods

method constructor
method argspec argspec

Process an argument list into an informational dict. This method also understands non-positional arguments expressed in the notation of Tip 471 https://core.tcl-lang.org/tips/doc/trunk/tip/479.md.

The output will be a dictionary of all of the fields and whether the fields are positional, mandatory, and whether they have a default value.

Example:

my argspec {a b {c 10}}

a {positional 1 mandatory 1} b {positional 1 mandatory 1} c {positional 1 mandatory 0 default 10}
method comment block

Convert a block of comments into an informational dictionary. If lines in the comment start with a single word ending in a colon, all subsequent lines are appended to a dictionary field of that name. If no fields are given, all of the text is appended to the description field.

Example:

my comment {Does something cool} > description {Does something cool}

my comment { title : Something really cool author : Sean Woods author : John Doe description : This does something really cool! } > description {This does something really cool!} title {Something really cool} author {Sean Woods John Doe}
method keyword.Annotation resultvar commentblock type name body
method keyword.Class resultvar commentblock name body

Process an oo::objdefine call that modifies the class object itself
method keyword.class resultvar commentblock name body

Process an oo::define, clay::define, etc statement.
method keyword.Class_Method resultvar commentblock name ?args?

Process a statement for a clay style class method
method keyword.method resultvar commentblock name ?args?

Process a statement for a tcloo style object method
method keyword.proc commentblock name argspec

Process a proc statement
method reset

Reset the state of the object and its embedded coroutine
method Main

Main body of the embedded coroutine for the object
method section.method keyword method minfo

Generate the manual page text for a method or proc
method section.annotation type name iinfo
method section.class class_name class_info

Generate the manual page text for a class
method section.command procinfo

Generate the manual page text for the commands section
method manpage ?header value? ?footer value? ?authors list?

Generate the manual page. Returns the completed text suitable for saving in .man file. The header argument is a block of doctools text to go in before the machine generated section. footer is a block of doctools text to go in after the machine generated section. authors is a list of individual authors and emails in the form of AUTHOR EMAIL ?AUTHOR EMAIL?...
method scan_text text

Scan a block of text
method scan_file filename

Scan a file of text

Class practcl::metaclass

The metaclass for all practcl objects

Methods

method _MorphPatterns
method define submethod ?args?
method graft ?args?
method initialize
method link command ?args?
method morph classname
method script script
method select
method source filename

Class practcl::toolset

Ancestor-less class intended to be a mixin which defines a family of build related behaviors that are modified when targetting either gcc or msvc

Class Methods

classmethod select object

Perform the selection for the toolset mixin

Methods

method config.sh

find or fake a key/value list describing this project
method BuildDir PWD

Compute the location where the product will be built
method MakeDir srcdir

Return where the Makefile is located relative to srcdir. For this implementation the MakeDir is always srcdir.
method read_configuration

Read information about the build process for this package. For this implementation, data is sought in the following locations in the following order: config.tcl (generated by practcl.) PKGConfig.sh. The Makefile

If the Makefile needs to be consulted, but does not exist, the Configure method is invoked
method build-cflags PROJECT DEFS namevar versionvar defsvar

method DEFS This method populates 4 variables: name - The name of the package version - The version of the package defs - C flags passed to the compiler includedir - A list of paths to feed to the compiler for finding headers
method critcl ?args?

Invoke critcl in an external process

Class practcl::toolset.gcc

ancestors: practcl::toolset

Methods

method Autoconf
method BuildDir PWD
method ConfigureOpts
method MakeDir srcdir

Detect what directory contains the Makefile template
method make {} autodetect
method make {} clean
method make {} compile
method make {} install DEST
method build-compile-sources PROJECT COMPILE CPPCOMPILE INCLUDES
method build-Makefile path PROJECT
method build-library outfile PROJECT

Produce a static or dynamic library
method build-tclsh outfile PROJECT ?path auto?

Produce a static executable

Class practcl::toolset.msvc

ancestors: practcl::toolset

Methods

method BuildDir PWD

MSVC always builds in the source directory
method make {} autodetect

Do nothing
method make {} clean
method make {} compile
method make {} install DEST
method MakeDir srcdir

Detect what directory contains the Makefile template
method NmakeOpts

Class practcl::make_obj

ancestors: practcl::metaclass

A build deliverable object. Normally an object file, header, or tcl script which must be compiled or generated in some way

Methods

method constructor module_object name info ?action_body ____?
method do
method check
method output
method reset
method triggers

Class practcl::object

ancestors: practcl::metaclass

A generic Practcl object

Methods

method constructor parent ?args?
method child method
method go

Class practcl::dynamic

Dynamic blocks do not generate their own .c files, instead the contribute to the amalgamation of the main library file

Methods

method cstructure name definition ?argdat ____?

Parser functions
method include header
method include_dir ?args?
method include_directory ?args?
method c_header body
method c_code body
method c_function header body ?info ____?
method c_tcloomethod name body ?arginfo ____?
method cmethod name body ?arginfo ____?

Alias to classic name
method c_tclproc_nspace nspace
method c_tclcmd name body ?arginfo ____?
method c_tclproc_raw name body ?arginfo ____?

Alias to classic name
method tcltype name argdat
method project-compile-products

Module interactions
method implement path
method initialize

Practcl internals
method linktype
method generate-cfile-constant
method generate-cfile-header
method generate-cfile-tclapi

Generate code that provides implements Tcl API calls
method generate-loader-module

Generate code that runs when the package/module is initialized into the interpreter
method Collate_Source CWD
method select

Once an object marks itself as some flavor of dynamic, stop trying to morph it into something else

Class practcl::product

A deliverable for the build system

Class Methods

classmethod select object

Methods

method code section body
method Collate_Source CWD
method project-compile-products
method generate-debug ?spaces ____?
method generate-cfile-constant
method generate-cfile-public-structure

Populate const static data structures
method generate-cfile-header
method generate-cfile-global
method generate-cfile-private-typedef
method generate-cfile-private-structure
method generate-cfile-functions

Generate code that provides subroutines called by Tcl API methods
method generate-cfile-tclapi

Generate code that provides implements Tcl API calls
method generate-hfile-public-define
method generate-hfile-public-macro
method generate-hfile-public-typedef
method generate-hfile-public-structure
method generate-hfile-public-headers
method generate-hfile-public-function
method generate-hfile-public-includes
method generate-hfile-public-verbatim
method generate-loader-external
method generate-loader-module
method generate-stub-function
method IncludeAdd headervar ?args?
method generate-tcl-loader
method generate-tcl-pre

This methods generates any Tcl script file which is required to pre-initialize the C library
method generate-tcl-post
method linktype
method Ofile filename
method project-static-packages

Methods called by the master project
method toolset-include-directory

Methods called by the toolset
method target method ?args?

Class practcl::product.cheader

ancestors: practcl::product

A product which generated from a C header file. Which is to say, nothing.

Methods

method project-compile-products
method generate-loader-module

Class practcl::product.csource

ancestors: practcl::product

A product which generated from a C source file. Normally an object (.o) file.

Methods

method project-compile-products

Class practcl::product.clibrary

ancestors: practcl::product

A product which is generated from a compiled C library. Usually a .a or a .dylib file, but in complex cases may actually just be a conduit for one project to integrate the source code of another

Methods

method linker-products configdict

Class practcl::product.dynamic

ancestors: practcl::dynamic practcl::product

A product which is generated from C code that itself is generated by practcl or some other means. This C file may or may not produce its own .o file, depending on whether it is eligible to become part of an amalgamation

Methods

method initialize

Class practcl::product.critcl

ancestors: practcl::dynamic practcl::product

A binary product produced by critcl. Note: The implementation is not written yet, this class does nothing.

Class practcl::module

ancestors: practcl::object practcl::product.dynamic

In the end, all C code must be loaded into a module This will either be a dynamically loaded library implementing a tcl extension, or a compiled in segment of a custom shell/app

Variable

variable make_object

Methods

method _MorphPatterns
method add ?args?
method install-headers ?args?
method make {} _preamble
method make {} pkginfo
method make {} objects

Return a dictionary of all handles and associated objects
method make {} object name

Return the object associated with handle name
method make {} reset

Reset all deputy objects
method make {} trigger ?args?

Exercise the triggers method for all handles listed
method make {} depends ?args?

Exercise the check method for all handles listed
method make {} filename name

Return the file name of the build product for the listed handle
method make {} target name Info body
method make {} todo

Return a list of handles for object which return true for the do method
method make {} do

For each target exercise the action specified in the action definition if the do method returns true
method child which
method generate-c

This methods generates the contents of an amalgamated .c file which implements the loader for a batch of tools
method generate-h

This methods generates the contents of an amalgamated .h file which describes the public API of this module
method generate-loader
method initialize
method implement path
method linktype

Class practcl::project

ancestors: practcl::module

A toplevel project that is a collection of other projects

Methods

method _MorphPatterns
method constructor ?args?
method add_object object
method add_project pkg info ?oodefine ____?
method add_tool pkg info ?oodefine ____?
method build-tclcore

Compile the Tcl core. If the define tk is true, compile the Tk core as well
method child which
method linktype
method project pkg ?args?

Exercise the methods of a sub-object
method tclcore
method tkcore
method tool pkg ?args?

Class practcl::library

ancestors: practcl::project

A toplevel project that produces a library

Methods

method clean PATH
method project-compile-products
method go
method generate-decls pkgname path
method implement path
method generate-make path

Backward compadible call
method linktype
method package-ifneeded ?args?

Create a "package ifneeded" Args are a list of aliases for which this package will answer to
method shared_library ?filename ____?
method static_library ?filename ____?

Class practcl::tclkit

ancestors: practcl::library

A toplevel project that produces a self-contained executable

Methods

method build-tclkit_main PROJECT PKG_OBJS
method Collate_Source CWD
method wrap PWD exename vfspath ?args?

Wrap an executable

Class practcl::distribution

Standalone class to manage code distribution This class is intended to be mixed into another class (Thus the lack of ancestors)

Class Methods

classmethod Sandbox object
classmethod select object
classmethod claim_option
classmethod claim_object object
classmethod claim_path path

Methods

method scm_info
method DistroMixIn
method Sandbox
method SrcDir
method ScmTag
method ScmClone
method ScmUnpack
method ScmUpdate
method Unpack

Class practcl::distribution.snapshot

ancestors: practcl::distribution

A file distribution from zip, tarball, or other non-scm archive format

Class Methods

classmethod claim_object object
classmethod claim_option
classmethod claim_path path

Methods

method ScmUnpack

Class practcl::distribution.fossil

ancestors: practcl::distribution

A file distribution based on fossil

Class Methods

classmethod claim_object obj

Check for markers in the metadata
classmethod claim_option
classmethod claim_path path

Check for markers in the source root

Methods

method scm_info
method ScmClone

Clone the source
method ScmTag
method ScmUnpack
method ScmUpdate

Class practcl::distribution.git

ancestors: practcl::distribution

A file distribution based on git

Class Methods

classmethod claim_object obj
classmethod claim_option
classmethod claim_path path

Methods

method ScmTag
method ScmUnpack
method ScmUpdate

Class practcl::subproject

ancestors: practcl::module

A subordinate project

Methods

method _MorphPatterns
method BuildDir PWD
method child which
method compile
method go
method install ?args?

Install project into the local build system
method linktype
method linker-products configdict
method linker-external configdict
method linker-extra configdict
method env-bootstrap

Methods for packages/tools that can be downloaded possibly built and used internally by this Practcl process Load the facility into the interpreter
method env-exec

Return a file path that exec can call
method env-install

Install the tool into the local environment
method env-load

Do whatever is necessary to get the tool into the local environment
method env-present

Check if tool is available for load/already loaded
method sources
method update
method unpack

Class practcl::subproject.source

ancestors: practcl::subproject practcl::library

A project which the kit compiles and integrates the source for itself

Methods

method env-bootstrap
method env-present
method linktype