Build infrastructure stuff we need

[Dan Sugalski]

Okay, here's a list of a few things we need in the build infrastructure.

1) A way to portably build a shared library
2) A way to portably probe libraries for functions
3) A way to portably probe for function parameter lists
4) A way to portably probe for type sizes

The first is pretty straightforward--it's about time we were able to
build and load shared PMC classes, amongst other things. We can load
'em, but we can't build 'em, and we should fix that.

#s 2-4 are for building extensions, and are prompted by some stuff
that I ran across upgrading to perl 5.8.0 and reinstalling what seems
like half of CPAN. Curses and Time::Hires are the two biggies here,
but there are a number of modules that feel the need to probe the
environment for the existence of functions in libraries, their
signatures, and the size of various types. There are good reasons for
it, but no general mechanism to do it, and doing it portably in
module code is both difficult and error-prone, so having one standard
way makes more sense.
--
Dan

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