question about TODO improve parrot-config.imc

[Peter Christopher]

Hi there,

I have a question on the todo item #32365 "TODO improve
parrot-config.imc". I include the text of the TODO at the bottom of this
message. My understanding of this request is this:

a) There is a frozen pmc hash of configuration data which comes from the
build system (after a good build). This data will be called configure
data in the following.

b) the author of the TODO wants a means to associate groups of configure
data to simple command line arguments. So for example one could write

$ c++ `parrot parrot-config.imc --link-time-stuff` parrot_mem.o

rather than

$ c++ -o parrot_mem -Wall parrot_mem.o -Lblib/lib \
-lparrot `parrot parrot-config.imc libs linkflags` \
-licuuc -licudata

c) That this TODO *does not* have to do with collecting more data via
the build system. (I'm confused about the part that reads "But not all
information is there or like the icu-libs a bit scattered" at the
bottom of the ticket).

Thanks for the clarification,
Pete

=======================================================================
parrot-config.imc is able to extract config options from Parrot's
config and print it to stdout. This is e.g. useful for building
Parrot-based programs:

$ cc -Iinclude -c -Wall parrot_mem.c
$ c++ -o parrot_mem -Wall parrot_mem.o -Lblib/lib \
-lparrot `parrot parrot-config.imc libs linkflags` \
-licuuc -licudata

$ ./parrot_mem
sizeof Interp 252
...

But not all information is there or like the icu-libs a bit scattered.
So the goal is to either have the necessary items in config[1] or
provide
some shortcuts in parrot-config.imc to combine all compile and link
settings so that we can e.g.

`./parrot parrot-config.imc --compile_cmd` -c foo.c
`./parrot parrot-config.imc --link_cmd` foo.o -o foo

or some such.

Thanks,
leo
=====================================================================

[Leopold Toetsch]

Peter Christopher <pchr...@chem.utoronto.ca> wrote:
> Hi there,

> I have a question on the todo item #32365 "TODO improve
> parrot-config.imc". I include the text of the TODO at the bottom of this
> message. My understanding of this request is this:

> a) There is a frozen pmc hash of configuration data which comes from the
> build system (after a good build).

Yes

> b) the author of the TODO wants a means to associate groups of configure
> data to simple command line arguments. So for example one could write

> $ c++ `parrot parrot-config.imc --link-time-stuff` parrot_mem.o

Yes. parrot-config.imc can extract individual items from the frozen
config and print these to stdout. The idea is to extend this
functionality to have a tool like "gtk-config" that easily allows to
compile and link extensions to parrot.

> c) That this TODO *does not* have to do with collecting more data via
> the build system. (I'm confused about the part that reads "But not all
> information is there or like the icu-libs a bit scattered" at the
> bottom of the ticket).

Well, I didn't look too close if something is missing ;) It's probably
just a matter of bundling the necessary items.

> Thanks for the clarification,
> Pete

leo