Cross platform plugin dev

> Hi Brad,
>
>> I'm going thru the unix configuration doc and files to learn how it  
>> is configured for unix development.
>> However, what if you have only Cross platform plugin files? They  
>> would go into the Cross subdirs. What have others done to create  and
>> build plugins that are cross platform?
>
>
> If you don't need special treatment on Unix then all you need to do  
> is create the Cross/plugins/Whatever/whatever.c file (and any  
> attendant .h files) and run 'autoconf' to recreate the configure  
> script.  Thereafter 'configure' will know about the plugin and will  
> attempt to build it.
>
>> Do you create your own hand-made Makefile (etc)?
>
>
> You only need to do this if you have special compiler flags or header  
> directories that you need to pass to the compiler on Unix.  In that  
> case look at Makefile.inc in one of the other plugin directories to  
> see typical things that you can do.  For very unusual plugins you may  
> even need a complete 'Makefile.in' to replace the automatically  
> generated one entirely.  (The vm has its own Makefile.in, for example.)
>
> You might also (in very demanding plugins) require configuration-time  
> options and tests, or even to disable the plugin entirely if required  
> libraries are not installed.  If you put a file called 'acinclude.m4'  
> in your plugin directory, autoconf will include it in the configure  
> script at the appropriate moment.  (See the other acinclude.m4 files  
> for typical things you can do.)  Of course, you need to run  
> 'autoconf' again after every change to an acinclude.m4 file.
>
> But normally you won't need anything special: put the .c and .h files  
> in Cross/plugins/YourPlugin/ and run autoconf to rebuild the  
> configure script.  See the 'RePlugin' for example, which has no Unix  
> files at all.
>

>
> On 18-Nov-05, at 2:08 PM, Brad Fuller wrote:
>
>> I'm going thru the unix configuration doc and files to learn how it  
>> is configured for unix development.
>> However, what if you have only Cross platform plugin files? They  
>> would go into the Cross subdirs.
>
> Correct. Take a look at plugins like RePlugin and SurfacePlugin. The  
> arrangement is explained in the swiki - http://minnow.cc.gatech.edu/ 
> squeak/2105 - and do please let me know of anything that isn't clear  
> so I can try to improve it.
>
>
>> What have others done to create and build plugins that are cross  
>> platform?
>
> Since pretty much all the plugins are cross platform I'm a touch  
> puzzled by your question.

>
> On 18-Nov-05, at 4:09 PM, Brad Fuller wrote:
>
>
>>
>> But anyway.... Since I don't really have a unix specific plugin, I  
>> want to put it in Cross for now and I'll try that.
>
> Just keep all the completely platform independent c & h files (plus I  
> suppose other resources, though I don't recall needing anything  
> previously) in Cross/plugins/myPluginName.
>
>>
>> Have you used VMMakerTool? If so, how do you use it to generate C  
>> files in the Cross directory?
>
> It doesn't normally generate the code into the same directories as  
> the hand-written files so that it is easy to flush out the stuff that  
> can be generated.

> tim Rowledge wrote:
>
>>
>> On 18-Nov-05, at 2:08 PM, Brad Fuller wrote:
>>
>>> I'm going thru the unix configuration doc and files to learn how it  
>>> is configured for unix development.
>>> However, what if you have only Cross platform plugin files? They  
>>> would go into the Cross subdirs.
>>
>>
>> Correct. Take a look at plugins like RePlugin and SurfacePlugin. The  
>> arrangement is explained in the swiki - http://minnow.cc.gatech.edu/ 
>> squeak/2105 - and do please let me know of anything that isn't clear  
>> so I can try to improve it.
>>
>>
>>> What have others done to create and build plugins that are cross  
>>> platform?
>>
>>
>> Since pretty much all the plugins are cross platform I'm a touch  
>> puzzled by your question.
>
>
> Sorry.. wasn't clear. I should have said:
> How does one generate .c files from slang using VMMakerTool into the
> Cross directory?
>
> What's the thinking behind this:
>    platnames _ vmMaker platformRootDirectory directoryNames
> copyWithoutAll: #('Cross' 'CVS').
>
> in the platformsListMenu method in VMMakerTool? Seems that Cross would
> be an important directory to generate .c files in.
>

>
> On 18-Nov-05, at 5:39 PM, Brad Fuller wrote:
>
>> Another thing about VMMakerTool:
>> How can you work on one plugin (as an example) and create c code  for
>> that one plugin without deleting all of the other plugin dirs?
>
>
> Easy - use the context menu in the external plugins list to generate  
> just that one plugin. Unless I've broken it recently (always some  
> possibility) that is the way to generate your single plugin so that  
> you can cycle round generate-compile-test(since it autoloads)-unload
> (with SmalltalkImage current unloadModule:'myPlugin')-rinse-and-repeat

> tim Rowledge wrote:
> > On 18-Nov-05, at 4:09 PM, Brad Fuller wrote:
> >> Have you used VMMakerTool? If so, how do you use it to generate C  
> >> files in the Cross directory?
> >
> > It doesn't normally generate the code into the same directories as  
> > the hand-written files so that it is easy to flush out the stuff that  
> > can be generated.
>
> To me, 'Cross' would be THE most important directory that VMMakerTool
> would generate files to. Simply because these files would be easily
> prone to Slang and would be less handwritten than platform-dependent
> files. My mind can't understand why the author purposely left 'Cross'
> off the list.  I'm sure there is a very good reason that is going right
> over my head.