Borland support: Wrapping it all up
Helmut Giese
it's great, that the Borland compiler will be supported as of Tcl8.4.
However, as some recent postings on clt showed, there are some loose
ends, making it - for a newcomer - unnecessarily complicated to
actually using this compiler with the ActiveState distro.
Technical background for the following:
1) No DLL contained in the distro can be used directly by Borland
users.
2) No .lib file contained in the distro can be used by Borland users.
As for (1): There is this little tcl script I wrote some time ago,
which makes it a snap to overcome this obstacle. I suggest to include
it in the distro (see 'alias' below).
As for (2): That's just the way it is. If someone needs a .lib file
(say, for statically linking Tcl) he will just have to get the sources
and build it himself.
BUT there is one exception IMHO: The stub libraries.
- We encourage users to use the stub interface.
- There are examples for extensions that work this way.
- New users, when presented with the right material, will probably go
this way.
Now, getting and installing the whole source and fiddling with a
makefile just to create a library consisting of *exactly one* .obj
file might be a rather steep hurdle for some users. I would therefore
plead for adding the (Borland) stub libs for Tcl and TK into the
distro. That's it, nothing more. Anybody, who wants to go beyond will
have to get the sources.
The best way would of course to have tclstub84bc.lib built by
ActiveState and thus get it included automatically in any distro. This
way, should tclstub.c ever change, this change would be immediately
reflected in the next distro.
Second best would be for me to include those stub libs in the "Borland
Support Pack" described next - but then there is this chance for a
(future) mismatch in versions.
The "Borland Support Pack"
In order to give Borland users a good start, I imagine putting all
necessary information together:
- Where to get the free compiler and some links on how to set it up.
- alias.tcl (see above), so that all DLLs become usable for the
Borland compiler.
- Some sample makefiles to make it easy to build extensions.
- The Borland stub libs - if necessary.
- An example or two for building simple extensions.
- Some aditional odds and ends which will surely come up in assembling
all those pieces.
- Links to other topics that might interest a C programmer.
- Anything important I forgot ???
I would put all this together as "borland support.zip" - and then,
what do I do with it? Would it be possible to have this zip file
included with the distro?
Lots of comments, please. :)
Best regards
Helmut
Michael Schlenker
[snip]
> The "Borland Support Pack"
>
> In order to give Borland users a good start, I imagine putting all
> necessary information together:
> - Where to get the free compiler and some links on how to set it up.
> - alias.tcl (see above), so that all DLLs become usable for the
> Borland compiler.
> - Some sample makefiles to make it easy to build extensions.
> - The Borland stub libs - if necessary.
> - An example or two for building simple extensions.
> - Some aditional odds and ends which will surely come up in assembling
> all those pieces.
> - Links to other topics that might interest a C programmer.
> - Anything important I forgot ???
>
> I would put all this together as "borland support.zip" - and then,
> what do I do with it? Would it be possible to have this zip file
> included with the distro?
a) write a wiki page on the subject, so we can point newbies to the wiki
:-), i didn't find borland mentioned on the wiki.
b) Put it on sourceforge, in the tcl download area/documentation area as
appropriate, so it gets visible there
c) Ask ActiveState to provide it with their distro.
Michael Schlenker
lvi...@yahoo.com
According to Helmut Giese <hgi...@ratiosoft.com>:
:As for (2): That's just the way it is. If someone needs a .lib file
:(say, for statically linking Tcl) he will just have to get the sources
:and build it himself.
So has anyone considered putting together a source distribution that
corresponds to ActiveTcl - so that someone wanting to deploy an application
onto desktopus using ActiveTcl can build these libraries?
:I would put all this together as "borland support.zip" - and then,
:what do I do with it? Would it be possible to have this zip file
:included with the distro?
At the very least, it seems to me that this stuff would be great to have
on tcl.sf.net .
Perhaps someone would consider building a .zip of all the sources as well,
making a truly useful combo for Borland developers.
--
Tcl'2002 Sept 16, 2002, Vancouver, BC http://www.tcl.tk/community/tcl2002/
Even if explicitly stated to the contrary, nothing in this posting
should be construed as representing my employer's opinions.
<URL: mailto:lvi...@yahoo.com > <URL: http://www.purl.org/NET/lvirden/ >
lvi...@yahoo.com
According to Michael Schlenker <sch...@uni-oldenburg.de>:
:a) write a wiki page on the subject, so we can point newbies to the wiki
There's a few pages on <URL: http://wiki.tcl.tk/ > that mention Borland -but
info such as the original poster put here would be a wonderful addition
to the wiki.
In fact, it would be wonderful if ALL developers would update the wiki
with tips, tricks, and gotchas regarding the building of tcl/tk/other
extensions on their platforms.
Helmut Giese
>:I would put all this together as "borland support.zip" - and then,
>:what do I do with it? Would it be possible to have this zip file
>:included with the distro?
>
>At the very least, it seems to me that this stuff would be great to have
>on tcl.sf.net .
For a start I'll put it there - once it's ready.
>Perhaps someone would consider building a .zip of all the sources as well,
>making a truly useful combo for Borland developers.
Maybe I misunderstand something here, but the ActiveState distro is
fine as it is:
Want to build an extension using Borland ? Just add (from whereever)
tclstub84bc.lib (and tkstub84bc.lib) and off you go.
Want to embed Tcl using Borland ?
a) If it's ok to use the original tcl84.dll create a Borland
compatible .lib file for it (this will be documented). No sources
needed.
b) If they want to statically link Tcl then they need the sources.
What did you have in mind?
Helmut
Helmut Giese
<sch...@uni-oldenburg.de> wrote:
[snip]
>a) write a wiki page on the subject, so we can point newbies to the wiki
>:-), i didn't find borland mentioned on the wiki.
>
>b) Put it on sourceforge, in the tcl download area/documentation area as
>appropriate, so it gets visible there
>
>c) Ask ActiveState to provide it with their distro.
Thanks
Helmut
S. C. M.
Great :) !!!!!!
Best regards.