inline(3)

NAME

Inline - Write Perl subroutines in other programming lan
guages.

SYNOPSIS

use Inline C;
print "9 + 16 = ", add(9, 16), "0;
print "9 - 16 = ", subtract(9, 16), "0;
__END__
__C__
int add(int x, int y) {
  return x + y;
}
int subtract(int x, int y) {
  return x - y;
}

DESCRIPTION

The Inline module allows you to put source code from other
programming languages directly "inline" in a Perl script
or module. The code is automatically compiled as needed,
and then loaded for immediate access from Perl.

Inline saves you from the hassle of having to write and
compile your own glue code using facilities like XS or
SWIG. Simply type the code where you want it and run your
Perl as normal. All the hairy details are handled for you.
The compilation and installation of your code chunks all
happen transparently; all you will notice is the delay of
compilation on the first run.

The Inline code only gets compiled the first time you run
it (or whenever it is modified) so you only take the per
formance hit once. Code that is Inlined into distributed
modules (like on the CPAN) will get compiled when the mod
ule is installed, so the end user will never notice the
compilation time.

Best of all, it works the same on both Unix and Microsoft
Windows. See Inline-Support for support information.

Why Inline?

Do you want to know "Why would I use other languages in
Perl?" or "Why should I use Inline to do it?"? I'll try to
answer both.

Why would I use other languages in Perl?: The most obvious reason is performance. For an inter
preted language, Perl is very fast. Many people will
say "Anything Perl can do, C can do faster". (They
never mention the development time :-) Anyway, you may
be able to remove a bottleneck in your Perl code by
using another language, without having to write the
entire program in that language. This keeps your over
all development time down, because you're using Perl
for all of the non-critical code.; Another reason is to access functionality from
existing API-s that use the language. Some of this
code may only be available in binary form. But by cre
ating small subroutines in the native language, you
can "glue" existing libraries to your Perl. As a user
of the CPAN, you know that code reuse is a good thing.
So why throw away those Fortran libraries just yet?; If you are using Inline with the C language, then you
can access the full internals of Perl itself. This
opens up the floodgates to both extreme power and
peril.; Maybe the best reason is "Because you want to!".
Diversity keeps the world interesting. TMTOWTDI!
Why should I use Inline to do it?: There are already two major facilities for extending
Perl with C. They are XS and SWIG. Both are similar in
their capabilities, at least as far as Perl is con
cerned. And both of them are quite difficult to learn
compared to Inline.; There is a big fat learning curve involved with set
ting up and using the XS environment. You need to get
quite intimate with the following docs:

* perlxs
* perlxstut
* perlapi
* perlguts
* perlmod
* h2xs
* xsubpp
* ExtUtils::MakeMaker; With Inline you can be up and running in minutes.
There is a C Cookbook with lots of short but complete
programs that you can extend to your real-life prob
lems. No need to learn about the complicated build
process going on in the background. You don't even
need to compile the code yourself. Inline takes care
of every last detail except writing the C code.; Perl programmers cannot be bothered with silly things
like compiling. "Tweak, Run, Tweak, Run" is our way of
life. Inline does all the dirty work for you.; Another advantage of Inline is that you can use it
directly in a script. You can even use it in a Perl
one-liner. With XS and SWIG, you always set up an
entirely separate module. Even if you only have one or
two functions. Inline makes easy things easy, and hard
things possible. Just like Perl.; Finally, Inline supports several programming languages
(not just C and C++). As of this writing, Inline has
support for C, C++, Java, Python, Tcl, Assembler, and
CPR. There are plans to add many more. See Inline-Sup
port for details.

Using the Inline.pm Module

Inline is a little bit different than most of the Perl
modules that you are used to. It doesn't import any func
tions into your namespace and it doesn't have any object
oriented methods. Its entire interface (with two minor
exceptions) is specified through the 'use Inline ...'
command.

This section will explain all of the different ways to
"use Inline". If you want to begin using C with Inline
immediately, see Inline::C-Cookbook.

The Basics

The most basic form for using Inline is:: use Inline X => "X source code";
where 'X' is one of the supported Inline programming lan guages. The second parameter identifies the source code that you want to bind to Perl. The source code can be specified using any of the following syntaxes:
The DATA Keyword.: use Inline Java => 'DATA';; # Perl code goes here ...; __DATA__
__Java__
/* Java code goes here ... */
The easiest and most visually clean way to specify your source code in an Inline Perl program is to use the special "DATA" keyword. This tells Inline to look for a special marker in your "DATA" filehandle's input stream. In this example the special marker is "__Java__", which is the programming language sur rounded by double underscores.
In case you've forgotten, the "DATA" pseudo file is comprised of all the text after the "__END__" or "__DATA__" section of your program. If you're working outside the "main" package, you'd best use the "__DATA__" marker or else Inline will not find your code.
Using this scheme keeps your Perl code at the top, and all the ugly Java stuff down below where it belongs. This is visually clean and makes for more maintainable code. An excellent side benefit is that you don't have to escape any characters like you might in a Perl string. The source code is verbatim. For these rea sons, I prefer this method the most.
The only problem with this style is that since Perl can't read the "DATA" filehandle until runtime, it obviously can't bind your functions until runtime. The net effect of this is that you can't use your Inline functions as barewords (without predeclaring them) because Perl has no idea they exist during compile time.
The FILE and BELOW keywords.: use Inline::Files;
use Inline Java => 'FILE';; # Perl code goes here ...; __JAVA__
/* Java code goes here ... */
This is the newest method of specifying your source code. It makes use of the Perl module "Inline::Files" written by Damian Conway. The basic style and meaning are the same as for the "DATA" keyword, but there are a few syntactic and semantic twists.
First, you must say 'use Inline::Files' before you 'use Inline' code that needs those files. The special '"DATA"' keyword is replaced by either '"FILE"' or '"BELOW"'. This allows for the bad pun idiom of:: use Inline C => 'BELOW';
You can omit the "__DATA__" tag now. Inline::Files is a source filter that will remove these sections from your program before Perl compiles it. They are then available for Inline to make use of. And since this can all be done at compile time, you don't have to worry about the caveats of the 'DATA' keyword.
This module has a couple small gotchas. Since Inline::Files only recognizes file markers with capi tal letters, you must specify the capital form of your language name. Also, there is a startup time penalty for using a source code filter.
At this point Inline::Files is alpha software and use of it is experimental. Inline's integration of this module is also fledgling at the time being. One of things I plan to do with Inline:files is to get line number info so when an extension doesn't compile, the error messages will point to the correct source file and line number.
My best advice is to use Inline::Files for testing (especially as support for it improves), but use DATA for production and distributed/CPAN code.
Strings: use Inline Java => <<'END';; /* Java code goes here ... */
END; # Perl code goes here ...
You also just specify the source code as a single string. A handy way to write the string is to use Perl's "here document" style of quoting. This is ok for small functions but can get unwieldy in the large. It also has the unfortunate consequence that you need to escape any backslash characters.
On the positive side, the string variant probably has the least startup penalty and all functions are bound at compile time.
If you wish to put the string into a scalar variable, please be aware that the "use" statement is a compile time directive. As such, all the variables it uses must also be set at compile time, "before" the 'use Inline' statement. Here is one way to do it:: my $code;
BEGIN {
$code = <<END;; /* Java code goes here ... */
END
}
use Inline Java => $code;; # Perl code goes here ...
The bind() Function: An alternative to using the BEGIN block method is to
specify the source code at run time using the
'Inline->bind()' method. (This is one of the interface exceptions mentioned above) The "bind()" method takes
the same arguments as 'use Inline ...'.

my $code = <<END;

/* Java code goes here ... */
END

Inline->bind(Java => $code);; Although bind() is a powerful feature, it is not rec
ommended for use in Inline based modules. In fact, it
won't work at all for installable modules. See
instructions below for creating modules with Inline.
Other Methods: The source code for Inline can also be specified as an
external filename, a reference to a subroutine that
returns source code, or a reference to an array that
contains lines of source code. These methods are less
frequently used but may be useful in some situations.
Shorthand: If you are using the 'DATA' or 'FILE' methods
described above and there are no extra parameters, you
can omit the keyword altogether. For example:

use Inline 'Java';

# Perl code goes here ...

__DATA__
__Java__
/* Java code goes here ... */; or

use Inline::Files;
use Inline 'Java';

# Perl code goes here ...

__JAVA__
/* Java code goes here ... */
More about the DATA Section
If you are writing a module, you can also use the DATA section for POD and AutoLoader subroutines. Just be sure to put them before the first Inline marker. If you install the helper module "Inline::Filters", you can even use POD inside your Inline code. You just have to specify a filter to strip it out.
You can also specify multiple Inline sections, possibly in different programming languages. Here is another example:: # The module Foo.pm
package Foo;
use AutoLoader;; use Inline C;
use Inline C => DATA => FILTERS => 'Strip_POD';
use Inline Python;; 1;; __DATA__; sub marine {
# This is an autoloaded subroutine; }; =head1 External subroutines; =cut; __C__
/* First C section */; __C__
/* Second C section */
=head1 My C Function; Some POD doc.; =cut; __Python__
"""A Python Section"""
An important thing to remember is that you need to have one "use Inline Foo => 'DATA'" for each "__Foo__" marker, and they must be in the same order. This allows you to apply different configuration options to each section.
Configuration Options
Inline trys to do the right thing as often as possible. But sometimes you may need to override the default actions. This is easy to do. Simply list the Inline con figuration options after the regular Inline parameters. All congiguration options are specified as (key, value) pairs.: use Inline (C => 'DATA',
DIRECTORY => './inline_dir',
LIBS => '-lfoo',
INC => '-I/foo/include',
PREFIX => 'XXX_',
NOWARN => 1,; );
You can also specify the configuration options on a sepa rate Inline call like this:: use Inline (C => Config =>
DIRECTORY => './inline_dir',
LIBS => '-lfoo',
INC => '-I/foo/include',
PREFIX => 'XXX_',
NOWARN => 1,; );
use Inline C => <<'END_OF_C_CODE';
The special keyword 'Config' tells Inline that this is a configuration-only call. No source code will be compiled or bound to Perl.
If you want to specify global configuration options that don't apply to a particular language, just leave the lan guage out of the call. Like this:: use Inline Config => DIRECTORY => './inline_dir';
The Config options are inherited and additive. You can use as many Config calls as you want. And you can apply dif ferent options to different code sections. When a source code section is passed in , Inline will apply whichever options have been specified up to that point. Here is a complex configuration example:: use Inline (Config =>
DIRECTORY => './inline_dir',; );
use Inline (C => Config =>: LIBS => '-lglobal',
);
use Inline (C => 'DATA', # First C Section: LIBS => ['-llocal1', '-llocal2'],
);
use Inline (Config =>: NOWARN => 1,
);
use Inline (Python => 'DATA', # First Python Sec
tion: LIBS => '-lmypython1',
);
use Inline (C => 'DATA', # Second C Section: LIBS => [undef, '-llocal3'],
);
The first "Config" applies to all subsequent calls. The second "Config" applies to all subsequent "C" sections (but not "Python" sections). In the first "C" section, the external libraries "global", "local1" and "local2" are used. (Most options allow either string or array ref forms, and do the right thing.) The "Python" section does not use the "global" library, but does use the same "DIRECTORY", and has warnings turned off. The second "C" section only uses the "local3" library. That's because a value of "undef" resets the additive behaviour.
The "DIRECTORY" and "NOWARN" options are generic Inline options. All other options are language specific. To find out what the "C" options do, see "Inline::C".
NOTE - Versions of Inline prior to 0.30, used a module
called "Inline::Config" to configure Inline. This module
is no longer supported and will no longer work with
Inline. If you have it installed, remove it from your sys
tem to avoid occasional warnings. Everything that you
could do with "Inline::Config" is still possible through
the new configuration syntax.
On and Off
If a particular config option has value options of 1 and 0, you can use the ENABLE and DISABLE modifiers. In other words, this:: use Inline Config =>
FORCE_BUILD => 1,
CLEAN_AFTER_BUILD => 0;
could be reworded as: use Inline Config =>
ENABLE => FORCE_BUILD,
DISABLE => CLEAN_AFTER_BUILD;
Playing 'with' Others
Inline has a special configuration syntax that tells it to get more configuration options from other Perl modules. Here is an example:: use Inline with => 'Event';
This tells Inline to load the module "Event.pm" and ask it for configuration information. Since "Event" has a C API of its own, it can pass Inline all of the information it needs to be able to use "Event" C callbacks seamlessly.
That means that you don't need to specify the typemaps, shared libraries, include files and other information required to get this to work.
You can specify a single module or a list of them. Like:: use Inline with => qw(Event Foo Bar);
Currently, "Event" is the only module that works with Inline.
Inline Shortcuts
Inline lets you set many configuration options from the command line. These options are called 'shortcuts'. They can be very handy, especially when you only want to set the options temporarily, for say, debugging.
For instance, to get some general information about your Inline code in the script "Foo.pl", use the command:: perl -MInline=INFO Foo.pl
If you want to force your code to compile, even if its already done, use:: perl -MInline=FORCE Foo.pl
If you want to do both, use:: perl -MInline=INFO -MInline=FORCE Foo.pl
or better yet:: perl -MInline=INFO,FORCE Foo.pl
The Inline DIRECTORY
Inline needs a place to build your code and to install the results of the build. It uses a single directory named '.Inline/' under normal circumstances. If you create this directory in your home directory, the current directory or in the directory where your program resides, Inline will find and use it. You can also specify it in the environ ment variable "PERL_INLINE_DIRECTORY" or directly in your program, by using the "DIRECTORY" keyword option. If Inline cannot find the directory in any of these places it will create a '_Inline/' directory in either your current directory or the directory where your script resides.
One of the key factors to using Inline successfully, is understanding this directory. When developing code it is usually best to create this directory (or let Inline do it) in your current directory. Remember that there is nothing sacred about this directory except that it holds your compiled code. Feel free to delete it at any time. Inline will simply start from scratch and recompile your code on the next run. If you have several programs that you want to force to recompile, just delete your '.Inline/' directory.
It is probably best to have a separate '.Inline/' direc tory for each project that you are working on. You may want to keep stable code in the <.Inline/> in your home directory. On multi-user systems, each user should have their own '.Inline/' directories. It could be a security risk to put the directory in a shared place like "/tmp/".
Debugging Inline Errors
All programmers make mistakes. When you make a mistake with Inline, like writing bad C code, you'll get a big error report on your screen. This report tells you where to look to do the debugging.
When Inline needs to build something it creates a subdi rectory under your "DIRECTORY/build/" directory. This is where it writes all the components it needs to build your extension. Things like XS files, Makefiles and output log files.
If everything goes OK, Inline will delete this subdirec tory. If there is an error, Inline will leave the direc tory intact and print its location. The idea is that you are supposed to go into that directory and figure out what happened.
Read the doc for your particular Inline language module for more information.
The 'config' Registry File
Inline keeps a cached file of all of the Inline Language Support Module's meta data in a file called "config". This file can be found in your "DIRECTORY" directory. If the file does not exist, Inline creates a new one. It will search your system for any module beginning with "Inline::". It will then call that module's "register()" method to get useful information for future invocations.
Whenever you add a new ILSM, you should delete this file so that Inline will auto-discover your newly installed language module.

Configuration Options

This section lists all of the generic Inline configuration
options. For language specific configuration, see the doc
for that language.

DIRECTORY

The "DIRECTORY" config option is the directory that Inline
uses to both build and install an extension.

Normally Inline will search in a bunch of known places for
a directory called '.Inline/'. Failing that, it will cre
ate a directory called '_Inline/'

If you want to specify your own directory, use this con
figuration option.

Note that you must create the "DIRECTORY" directory your
self. Inline will not do it for you.

NAME

You can use this option to set the name of your Inline extension object module. For example:: use Inline C => 'DATA',
NAME => 'Foo::Bar';
would cause your C code to be compiled in to the object:: lib/auto/Foo/Bar/Bar.so
lib/auto/Foo/Bar/Bar.inl
(The .inl component contains dependency information to make sure the source code is in sync with the executable)
If you don't use NAME, Inline will pick a name for you based on your program name or package name. In this case, Inline will also enable the AUTONAME option which mangles in a small peice of the MD5 fingerprint into your object name, to make it unique.
AUTONAME
This option is enabled whenever the NAME parameter is not specified. To disable it say:: use Inline C => 'DATA',
DISABLE => 'AUTONAME';
AUTONAME mangles in enough of the MD5 fingerprint to make your module name unique. Objects created with AUTONAME will never get replaced. That also means they will never get cleaned up automatically.
AUTONAME is very useful for small throw away scripts. For more serious things, always use the NAME option.
VERSION
Specifies the version number of the Inline extension
object. It is for use only for modules, and it must match
the global variable $VERSION. Additionally, this option
should used if (and only if) a module is being set up to
be installed permanently into the Perl sitelib tree.
Inline will croak if you use it otherwise.
The presence of the VERSION parameter is the official way to let Inline know that your code is an instal lable/installed module. Inline will never generate an object in the temporary cache (_Inline/ directory) if VER SION is set. It will also never try to recompile a module that was installed into someone's Perl site tree.
So the basic rule is develop without VERSION, and deliver with VERSION.
WITH
"WITH" can also be used as a configuration option instead of using the special 'with' syntax. Do this if you want to use different sections of Inline code with different mod ules. (Probably a very rare usage): use Event;
use Inline C => DATA => WITH => 'Event';
Modules specified using the config form of "WITH" will not
be automatically required. You must "use" them yourself.
GLOBAL_LOAD
This option is for compiled languages only. It tells Inline to tell DynaLoader to load an object file in such a way that its symbols can be dynamically resolved by other object files. May not work on all platforms. See the "GLOBAL" shortcut below.
UNTAINT
You must use this option whenever you use Perl's "-T" switch, for taint checking. This option tells Inline to blindly untaint all tainted variables. It also turns on SAFEMODE by default. See the "UNTAINT" shortcut below.
SAFEMODE
Perform extra safety checking, in an attempt to thwart malicious code. This option cannot guarantee security, but it does turn on all the currently implemented checks.
There is a slight startup penalty by using SAFEMODE. Also, using UNTAINT automatically turns this option on. If you need your code to start faster under "-T" (taint) check ing, you'll need to turn this option off manually. Only do this if you are not worried about security risks. See the "UNSAFE" shortcut below.
FORCE_BUILD
Makes Inline build (compile) the source code every time the program is run. The default is 0. See the "FORCE" shortcut below.
CLEAN_AFTER_BUILD
Tells Inline to clean up the current build area if the build was successful. Sometimes you want to DISABLE this for debugging. Default is 1. See the "NOCLEAN" shortcut below.
CLEAN_BUILD_AREA
Tells Inline to clean up the old build areas within the entire Inline DIRECTORY. Default is 0. See the "CLEAN" shortcut below.
PRINT_INFO
Tells Inline to print various information about the source code. Default is 0. See the "INFO" shortcut below.
PRINT_VERSION
Tells Inline to print Version info about itself. Default is 0. See the "VERSION" shortcut below.
REPORTBUG
Puts Inline into 'REPORTBUG' mode, which is what you want if you desire to report a bug.
NOWARN
This option tells Inline to turn off any warnings.
NOTE: It is NOT yet implemented.

Inline Configuration Shortcuts

This is a list of all the shorcut configuration options currently available for Inline. Specify them from the com mand line when running Inline scripts.: perl -MInline=NOCLEAN inline_script.pl
or: perl -MInline=Info,force,NoClean inline_script.pl
You can specify multiple shortcuts separated by commas. They are not case sensitive. You can also specify shorcuts inside the Inline program like this:: use Inline 'Info', 'Force', 'Noclean';
NOTE: If a 'use Inline' statement is used to set short cuts, it can not be used for additional purposes.
CLEAN: Tells Inline to remove any build directories that may
be lying around in your build area. Normally these
directories get removed immediately after a successful
build. Exceptions are when the build fails, or when
you use the NOCLEAN or REPORTBUG options.
FORCE: Forces the code to be recompiled, even if everything
is up to date.
GLOBAL: Turns on the GLOBAL_LOAD option.
INFO: This is a very useful option when you want to know
what's going on under the hood. It tells Inline to
print helpful information to "STDERR". Among the
things that get printed is a list of which Inline
functions were successfully bound to Perl.
NOCLEAN: Tells Inline to leave the build files after compiling.
REPORTBUG: Puts Inline into 'REPORTBUG' mode, which does special
processing when you want to report a bug. REPORTBUG
also automatically forces a build, and doesn't clean
up afterwards. This is so that you can tar and mail
the build directory to me. REPORTBUG will print exact
instructions on what to do. Please read and follow
them carefully.; NOTE: REPORTBUG informs you to use the tar command. If
your system does not have tar, please use the equiva
lent "zip" command.
SAFE: Turns SAFEMODE on. UNTAINT will turn this on automati
cally. While this mode performs extra security check
ing, it does not guarantee safety.
SITE_INSTALL: This parameter used to be used for creating instal
lable Inline modules. It has been removed from Inline
altogether and replaced with a much simpler and more
powerful mechanism, "Inline::MakeMaker". See the sec
tion below on how to create modules with Inline.
UNSAFE: Turns SAFEMODE off. Use this in combination with
UNTAINT for slightly faster startup time under "-T".
Only use this if you are sure the environment is safe.
UNTAINT: Turn the UNTAINT option on. Used with "-T" switch.
VERSION: Tells Inline to report its release version.

Writing Modules with Inline

Writing CPAN modules that use C code is easy with Inline. Let's say that you wanted to write a module called "Math::Simple". Start by using the following command:: h2xs -PAXn Math::Simple
This will generate a bunch of files that form a skeleton of what you need for a distributable module. (Read the h2xs manpage to find out what the options do) Next, modify the "Simple.pm" file to look like this:: package Math::Simple;; use strict;
use vars qw($VERSION @ISA @EXPORT_OK);
require Exporter;
@ISA = qw(Exporter);
@EXPORT_OK = qw(add subtract)
$VERSION = '0.20';; use Inline C => 'DATA',
VERSION => '0.20',
NAME => 'Math::Simple';
1;
__DATA__
=pod
=cut
__C__ int add(int x, int y) {: return x + y;
}
int subtract(int x, int y) {: return x - y;
}
The important things to note here are that you must spec
ify a "NAME" and "VERSION" parameter. The "NAME" must
match your module's package name. The "VERSION" parameter
must match your module's $VERSION variable and they must
be of the form "/^.$/".
NOTE: These are Inline's sanity checks to make sure you know what you're doing before uploading your code to CPAN. They insure that once the module has been installed on someone's system, the module would not get automatically recompiled for any reason. This makes Inline based modules work in exactly the same manner as XS based ones.
Finally, you need to modify the Makefile.PL. Simply change:: use ExtUtils::MakeMaker;
to: use Inline::MakeMaker;
and change:: WriteMakefile(...);
to: WriteInlineMakefile(...);
When the person installing "Math::Simple" does a ""make"", the generated Makefile will invoke Inline in such a way that the C code will be compiled and the executable code will be placed into the "./blib" directory. Then when a ""make install"" is done, the module will be copied into the appropiate Perl sitelib directory (which is where an installed module should go).
Now all you need to do is:: perl Makefile.PL
make dist
That will generate the file "Math-Simple-0.20.tar.gz" which is a distributable package. That's all there is to it.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Although the above steps will produce a workable module, you still have a few more responsibili ties as a budding new CPAN author. You need to write lots of documentation and write lots of tests. Take a look at some of the better CPAN modules for ideas on creating a killer test harness. Actually, don't listen to me, go read these:: perldoc perlnewmod
http://www.cpan.org/modules/04pause.html
http://www.cpan.org/modules/00modlist.long.html

How Inline Works

In reality, Inline just automates everything you would
need to do if you were going to do it by hand (using XS,
etc).

Inline performs the following steps:

1) Receive the Source Code: Inline gets the source code from your script or module
with a statements like the following:

use Inline C => "Source-Code";; or

use Inline;
bind Inline C => "Source-Code";; where "C" is the programming language of the source
code, and "Source-Code" is a string, a file name, an
array reference, or the special 'DATA' keyword.; Since Inline is coded in a ""use"" statement, every
thing is done during Perl's compile time. If anything
needs to be done that will affect the "Source-Code",
it needs to be done in a "BEGIN" block that is before
the ""use Inline ..."" statement. If you really need
to specify code to Inline at runtime, you can use the
"bind()" method.; Source code that is stowed in the 'DATA' section of
your code, is read in by an "INIT" subroutine in
Inline. That's because the "DATA" filehandle is not
available at compile time.
2) Check if the Source Code has been Built: Inline only needs to build the source code if it has
not yet been built. It accomplishes this seemingly
magical task in an extremely simple and straightfor
ward manner. It runs the source text through the
"Digest::MD5" module to produce a 128-bit "finger
print" which is virtually unique. The fingerprint
along with a bunch of other contingency information is
stored in a ".inl" file that sits next to your exe
cutable object. For instance, the "C" code from a
script called "example.pl" might create these files:

example_pl_3a9a.so
example_pl_3a9a.inl; If all the contingency information matches the values
stored in the ".inl" file, then proceed to step 8. (No
compilation is necessary)
3) Find a Place to Build and Install: At this point Inline knows it needs to build the
source code. The first thing to figure out is where to
create the great big mess associated with compilation,
and where to put the object when it's done.; By default Inline will try to build and install under
the first place that meets one of the following condi
tions:

A) The DIRECTORY= config option; if specified
B) The PERL_INLINE_DIRECTORY environment variable;

if set
C) .Inline/ (in current directory); if exists and

$PWD != $HOME
D) bin/.Inline/ (in directory of your script); if

exists
E) ~/.Inline/; if exists
F) ./_Inline/; if exists
G) bin/_Inline; if exists
H) Create ./_Inline/; if possible
I) Create bin/_Inline/; if possible; Failing that, Inline will croak. This is rare and eas
ily remedied by just making a directory that Inline
will use;; If the module option is being compiled for permanent
installation, then Inline will only use "./_Inline/"
to build in, and the $Config{installsitearch} direc
tory to install the executable in. This action is
caused by Inline::MakeMaker, and is intended to be
used in modules that are to be distributed on the
CPAN, so that they get installed in the proper place.
4) Parse the Source for Semantic Cues: Inline::C uses the module "Parse::RecDescent" to parse
through your chunks of C source code and look for
things that it can create run-time bindings to. In "C"
it looks for all of the function definitions and
breaks them down into names and data types. These ele
ments are used to correctly bind the "C" function to a
"Perl" subroutine. Other Inline languages like Python
and Java actually use the "python" and "javac" modules
to parse the Inline code.
5) Create the Build Environment: Now Inline can take all of the gathered information
and create an environment to build your source code
into an executable. Without going into all the
details, it just creates the appropriate directories,
creates the appropriate source files including an XS
file (for C) and a "Makefile.PL".
6) Build the Code and Install the Executable: The planets are in alignment. Now for the easy part.
Inline just does what you would do to install a mod
ule. ""perl Makefile.PL && make && make test && make
install"". If something goes awry, Inline will croak
with a message indicating where to look for more info.
7) Tidy Up: By default, Inline will remove all of the mess created
by the build process, assuming that everything worked.
If the build fails, Inline will leave everything
intact, so that you can debug your errors. Setting the
"NOCLEAN" shortcut option will also stop Inline from
cleaning up.
8) DynaLoad the Executable: For C (and C++), Inline uses the "DynaLoader::boot
strap" method to pull your external module into "Perl"
space. Now you can call all of your external functions
like Perl subroutines.; Other languages like Python and Java, provide their
own loaders.

BUGS AND DEFICIENCIES

Inline.pm is BETA software. Although it is a very powerful
and widely used tool, it is still being developed and
evolved. Inline will go through some stages of non-back
wards compatability. These will be rare and for good rea
son, and will always be discussed on the mailing list.

When reporting a bug, please do the following:: - Put "use Inline REPORTBUG;" at the top of your code, or
use the command line option "perl -MInline=REPORTBUG

...".; - Run your code.
- Follow the printed directions.
Release 0.40 replaces the old method of module validation with a newer and more powerful one. But it is still new code and as such, open to new bugs. If you are using Inline in production, you may wish to stay on the latest 0.3x version until release 0.4x is known to be stable.

AUTHOR

Brian Ingerson <INGY@cpan.org>

Neil Watkiss <NEILW@cpan.org> is the author of
"Inline::CPP", "Inline::Python", "Inline::ASM",
"Inline::Struct" and "Inline::Filters". He is known in the
innermost Inline circles as the "Boy Wonder".

COPYRIGHT

This program is free software; you can redistribute it
and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.

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