=pod
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DO NOT EDIT. This Pod was generated by Swim v0.1.28.
See http://github.com/ingydotnet/swim-pm#readme
=encoding utf8
=head1 NAME
Inline-FAQ - The Inline FAQ
=head1 DESCRIPTION
Welcome to the official Inline FAQ. In this case, B<FAQ> means: B<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.
=head1 GENERAL INLINE
Since there is only a handful of content so far, all FAQs are currently under
this heading.
=head2 How disposable is a .Inline or _Inline directory?
I probably need to be more emphatic about the role of C<_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 C<~/.Inline/> defined,
Inline will create a new C<./_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 C<./.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 C<[_.]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. :)
=head2 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'
7) Make sure NAME matches your package name ('Foo'), or begins with
'Foo::'.
8) 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.
9) Make sure VERSION matches $Foo::VERSION. This must be a string (not a
number) matching `/^\d\.\d\d$/`
10) Do the perl / make / test / install dance (thanks binkley :)
With Inline 0.41 (or thereabouts) you can skip steps 3 & 4, and just say
C<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 C<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.
=head2 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 C<Inline-
0.40/modules/Math/Simple/>. Here are the steps for converting this into a
binary distribution B<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 C<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<---
So now you have the Perl in one file and the C in the other. The C code must
be in a subdirectory.
3) 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.
4) Run 'perl Makefile.PL'
5) Run 'make test'
6) Get the MD5 key from C<blib/arch/auto/Math/Simple/Simple.inl>
7) Edit C<blib/lib/Math/Simple.pm>. Change C<src/Simple.c> to
C<02c61710cab5b659efc343a9a830aa73> (the MD5 key)
8) Run 'make ppd'
9) Edit 'Math-Simple.ppd'. Fill in AUTHOR and ABSTRACT if you wish.
Then change:
<CODEBASE HREF="" />
to
<CODEBASE HREF="Math-Simple.tar.gz" />
10) Run:
tar cvf Math-Simple.tar blib
gzip --best Math-Simple.tar
11) Run:
tar cvf Math-Simple-1.23.tar Math-Simple.ppd Math-Simple.tar.gz
gzip --best Math-Simple-1.23.tar
12) Distribute Math-Simple-1.23.tar.gz with the following instructions:
A) Run:
gzip -d Math-Simple-1.23.tar.gz
tar xvzf Math-Simple-1.23.tar
B) Run 'ppm install Math-Simple.ppd'
C) Delete Math-Simple.tar and Math-Simple.ppd.
D) 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 B<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
=head2 Why does C<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 L<http://cygwin.com/faq/faq-nochunks.html#faq.using.fixing-fork-failures>
and, if needed, seek further help from the Cygwin mailing list.
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