=item B<Use C from Perl?>
-Read L<perlcall> and L<perlxs>.
+Read L<perlxstut>, L<perlxs>, L<h2xs>, L<perlguts>, and L<perlapi>.
=item B<Use a Unix program from Perl?>
=head2 ROADMAP
-L<Compiling your C program>
+=over 5
+
+=item *
+
+Compiling your C program
+
+=item *
+
+Adding a Perl interpreter to your C program
+
+=item *
+
+Calling a Perl subroutine from your C program
+
+=item *
+
+Evaluating a Perl statement from your C program
-There's one example in each of the eight sections:
+=item *
-L<Adding a Perl interpreter to your C program>
+Performing Perl pattern matches and substitutions from your C program
-L<Calling a Perl subroutine from your C program>
+=item *
-L<Evaluating a Perl statement from your C program>
+Fiddling with the Perl stack from your C program
-L<Performing Perl pattern matches and substitutions from your C program>
+=item *
-L<Fiddling with the Perl stack from your C program>
+Maintaining a persistent interpreter
-L<Maintaining a persistent interpreter>
+=item *
-L<Maintaining multiple interpreter instances>
+Maintaining multiple interpreter instances
-L<Using Perl modules, which themselves use C libraries, from your C program>
+=item *
-This documentation is Unix specific; if you have information about how
-to embed Perl on other platforms, please send e-mail to <F<orwant@tpj.com>>.
+Using Perl modules, which themselves use C libraries, from your C program
+
+=item *
+
+Embedding Perl under Win32
+
+=back
=head2 Compiling your C program
perl -MConfig -e 'print $Config{archlib}'
Here's how you'd compile the example in the next section,
-L<Adding a Perl interpreter to your C program>, on my Linux box:
+L</Adding a Perl interpreter to your C program>, on my Linux box:
% gcc -O2 -Dbool=char -DHAS_BOOL -I/usr/local/include
-I/usr/local/lib/perl5/i586-linux/5.003/CORE
-L/usr/local/lib/perl5/i586-linux/5.003/CORE
-o interp interp.c -lperl -lm
-(That's all one line.) On my DEC Alpha running 5.003_05, the incantation
-is a bit different:
+(That's all one line.) On my DEC Alpha running old 5.003_05, the
+incantation is a bit different:
% cc -O2 -Olimit 2900 -DSTANDARD_C -I/usr/local/include
-I/usr/local/lib/perl5/alpha-dec_osf/5.00305/CORE
If the B<ExtUtils::Embed> module isn't part of your Perl distribution,
you can retrieve it from
-http://www.perl.com/perl/CPAN/modules/by-module/ExtUtils::Embed. (If
-this documentation came from your Perl distribution, then you're
+http://www.perl.com/perl/CPAN/modules/by-module/ExtUtils/
+(If this documentation came from your Perl distribution, then you're
running 5.004 or better and you already have it.)
The B<ExtUtils::Embed> kit on CPAN also contains all source code for
In a sense, perl (the C program) is a good example of embedding Perl
(the language), so I'll demonstrate embedding with I<miniperlmain.c>,
-from the source distribution. Here's a bastardized, nonportable
+included in the source distribution. Here's a bastardized, non-portable
version of I<miniperlmain.c> containing the essentials of embedding:
- #include <EXTERN.h> /* from the Perl distribution */
-
#include <perl.h> /* from the Perl distribution */
+ #include <EXTERN.h> /* from the Perl distribution */
+ #include <perl.h> /* from the Perl distribution */
- static PerlInterpreter *my_perl; /*** The Perl interpreter ***/
+ static PerlInterpreter *my_perl; /*** The Perl interpreter ***/
- int main(int argc, char **argv, char **env)
- {
+ int main(int argc, char **argv, char **env)
+ {
+ PERL_SYS_INIT3(&argc,&argv,&env);
my_perl = perl_alloc();
perl_construct(my_perl);
+ PL_exit_flags |= PERL_EXIT_DESTRUCT_END;
perl_parse(my_perl, NULL, argc, argv, (char **)NULL);
perl_run(my_perl);
perl_destruct(my_perl);
perl_free(my_perl);
- }
+ PERL_SYS_TERM();
+ }
Notice that we don't use the C<env> pointer. Normally handed to
C<perl_parse> as its final argument, C<env> here is replaced by
C<NULL>, which means that the current environment will be used.
+The macros PERL_SYS_INIT3() and PERL_SYS_TERM() provide system-specific
+tune up of the C runtime environment necessary to run Perl interpreters;
+they should only be called once regardless of how many interpreters you
+create or destroy. Call PERL_SYS_INIT3() before you create your first
+interpreter, and PERL_SYS_TERM() after you free your last interpreter.
+
+Since PERL_SYS_INIT3() may change C<env>, it may be more appropriate to
+provide C<env> as an argument to perl_parse().
+
+Also notice that no matter what arguments you pass to perl_parse(),
+PERL_SYS_INIT3() must be invoked on the C main() argc, argv and env and
+only once.
+
+Mind that argv[argc] must be NULL, same as those passed to a main
+function in C.
+
Now compile this program (I'll call it I<interp.c>) into an executable:
% cc -o interp interp.c `perl -MExtUtils::Embed -e ccopts -e ldopts`
You can also read and execute Perl statements from a file while in the
midst of your C program, by placing the filename in I<argv[1]> before
-calling I<perl_run()>.
+calling I<perl_run>.
=head2 Calling a Perl subroutine from your C program
-To call individual Perl subroutines, you can use any of the B<perl_call_*>
-functions documented in the L<perlcall> manpage.
-In this example we'll use I<perl_call_argv>.
+To call individual Perl subroutines, you can use any of the B<call_*>
+functions documented in L<perlcall>.
+In this example we'll use C<call_argv>.
That's shown below, in a program I'll call I<showtime.c>.
int main(int argc, char **argv, char **env)
{
char *args[] = { NULL };
+ PERL_SYS_INIT3(&argc,&argv,&env);
my_perl = perl_alloc();
perl_construct(my_perl);
perl_parse(my_perl, NULL, argc, argv, NULL);
+ PL_exit_flags |= PERL_EXIT_DESTRUCT_END;
/*** skipping perl_run() ***/
- perl_call_argv("showtime", G_DISCARD | G_NOARGS, args);
+ call_argv("showtime", G_DISCARD | G_NOARGS, args);
perl_destruct(my_perl);
perl_free(my_perl);
+ PERL_SYS_TERM();
}
where I<showtime> is a Perl subroutine that takes no arguments (that's the
I'll define the I<showtime> subroutine in a file called I<showtime.pl>:
- print "I shan't be printed.";
+ print "I shan't be printed.";
- sub showtime {
- print time;
- }
-
-Simple enough. Now compile and run:
+ sub showtime {
+ print time;
+ }
- % cc -o showtime showtime.c `perl -MExtUtils::Embed -e ccopts -e ldopts`
+Simple enough. Now compile and run:
- % showtime showtime.pl
- 818284590
+ % cc -o showtime showtime.c \
+ `perl -MExtUtils::Embed -e ccopts -e ldopts`
+ % showtime showtime.pl
+ 818284590
yielding the number of seconds that elapsed between January 1, 1970
(the beginning of the Unix epoch), and the moment I began writing this
sentence.
-In this particular case we don't have to call I<perl_run>, but in
-general it's considered good practice to ensure proper initialization
-of library code, including execution of all object C<DESTROY> methods
-and package C<END {}> blocks.
+In this particular case we don't have to call I<perl_run>, as we set
+the PL_exit_flag PERL_EXIT_DESTRUCT_END which executes END blocks in
+perl_destruct.
If you want to pass arguments to the Perl subroutine, you can add
strings to the C<NULL>-terminated C<args> list passed to
-I<perl_call_argv>. For other data types, or to examine return values,
-you'll need to manipulate the Perl stack. That's demonstrated in the
-last section of this document: L<Fiddling with the Perl stack from
-your C program>.
+I<call_argv>. For other data types, or to examine return values,
+you'll need to manipulate the Perl stack. That's demonstrated in
+L</Fiddling with the Perl stack from your C program>.
=head2 Evaluating a Perl statement from your C program
Perl provides two API functions to evaluate pieces of Perl code.
-These are L<perlguts/perl_eval_sv()> and L<perlguts/perl_eval_pv()>.
+These are L<perlapi/eval_sv> and L<perlapi/eval_pv>.
Arguably, these are the only routines you'll ever need to execute
-snippets of Perl code from within your C program. Your code can be
-as long as you wish; it can contain multiple statements; it can employ
-L<perlfunc/use>, L<perlfunc/require> and L<perlfunc/do> to include
-external Perl files.
+snippets of Perl code from within your C program. Your code can be as
+long as you wish; it can contain multiple statements; it can employ
+L<perlfunc/use>, L<perlfunc/require>, and L<perlfunc/do> to
+include external Perl files.
-I<perl_eval_pv()> lets us evaluate individual Perl strings, and then
+I<eval_pv> lets us evaluate individual Perl strings, and then
extract variables for coercion into C types. The following program,
I<string.c>, executes three Perl strings, extracting an C<int> from
the first, a C<float> from the second, and a C<char *> from the third.
- #include <EXTERN.h>
- #include <perl.h>
-
- static PerlInterpreter *my_perl;
-
- main (int argc, char **argv, char **env)
- {
- char *embedding[] = { "", "-e", "0" };
-
- my_perl = perl_alloc();
- perl_construct( my_perl );
-
- perl_parse(my_perl, NULL, 3, embedding, NULL);
- perl_run(my_perl);
-
- /** Treat $a as an integer **/
- perl_eval_pv("$a = 3; $a **= 2", TRUE);
- printf("a = %d\n", SvIV(perl_get_sv("a", FALSE)));
-
- /** Treat $a as a float **/
- perl_eval_pv("$a = 3.14; $a **= 2", TRUE);
- printf("a = %f\n", SvNV(perl_get_sv("a", FALSE)));
-
- /** Treat $a as a string **/
- perl_eval_pv("$a = 'rekcaH lreP rehtonA tsuJ'; $a = reverse($a);", TRUE);
- printf("a = %s\n", SvPV(perl_get_sv("a", FALSE), na));
-
- perl_destruct(my_perl);
- perl_free(my_perl);
- }
-
-All of those strange functions with I<sv> in their names help convert Perl scalars to C types. They're described in L<perlguts>.
+ #include <EXTERN.h>
+ #include <perl.h>
+
+ static PerlInterpreter *my_perl;
+
+ main (int argc, char **argv, char **env)
+ {
+ char *embedding[] = { "", "-e", "0" };
+
+ PERL_SYS_INIT3(&argc,&argv,&env);
+ my_perl = perl_alloc();
+ perl_construct( my_perl );
+
+ perl_parse(my_perl, NULL, 3, embedding, NULL);
+ PL_exit_flags |= PERL_EXIT_DESTRUCT_END;
+ perl_run(my_perl);
+
+ /** Treat $a as an integer **/
+ eval_pv("$a = 3; $a **= 2", TRUE);
+ printf("a = %d\n", SvIV(get_sv("a", 0)));
+
+ /** Treat $a as a float **/
+ eval_pv("$a = 3.14; $a **= 2", TRUE);
+ printf("a = %f\n", SvNV(get_sv("a", 0)));
+
+ /** Treat $a as a string **/
+ eval_pv(
+ "$a = 'rekcaH lreP rehtonA tsuJ'; $a = reverse($a);", TRUE);
+ printf("a = %s\n", SvPV_nolen(get_sv("a", 0)));
+
+ perl_destruct(my_perl);
+ perl_free(my_perl);
+ PERL_SYS_TERM();
+ }
+
+All of those strange functions with I<sv> in their names help convert Perl
+scalars to C types. They're described in L<perlguts> and L<perlapi>.
If you compile and run I<string.c>, you'll see the results of using
I<SvIV()> to create an C<int>, I<SvNV()> to create a C<float>, and
a = Just Another Perl Hacker
In the example above, we've created a global variable to temporarily
-store the computed value of our eval'd expression. It is also
+store the computed value of our eval'ed expression. It is also
possible and in most cases a better strategy to fetch the return value
-from L<perl_eval_pv> instead. Example:
+from I<eval_pv()> instead. Example:
...
- SV *val = perl_eval_pv("reverse 'rekcaH lreP rehtonA tsuJ'", TRUE);
- printf("%s\n", SvPV(val,na));
+ SV *val = eval_pv("reverse 'rekcaH lreP rehtonA tsuJ'", TRUE);
+ printf("%s\n", SvPV_nolen(val));
...
This way, we avoid namespace pollution by not creating global
=head2 Performing Perl pattern matches and substitutions from your C program
-The I<perl_eval_pv()> function lets us evaluate strings of Perl code, so we can
+The I<eval_sv()> function lets us evaluate strings of Perl code, so we can
define some functions that use it to "specialize" in matches and
substitutions: I<match()>, I<substitute()>, and I<matches()>.
- char match(char *string, char *pattern);
+ I32 match(SV *string, char *pattern);
Given a string and a pattern (e.g., C<m/clasp/> or C</\b\w*\b/>, which
in your C program might appear as "/\\b\\w*\\b/"), match()
returns 1 if the string matches the pattern and 0 otherwise.
- int substitute(char *string[], char *pattern);
+ int substitute(SV **string, char *pattern);
-Given a pointer to a string and an C<=~> operation (e.g.,
+Given a pointer to an C<SV> and an C<=~> operation (e.g.,
C<s/bob/robert/g> or C<tr[A-Z][a-z]>), substitute() modifies the string
-according to the operation, returning the number of substitutions
-made.
+within the C<SV> as according to the operation, returning the number of
+substitutions made.
- int matches(char *string, char *pattern, char **matches[]);
+ SSize_t matches(SV *string, char *pattern, AV **matches);
-Given a string, a pattern, and a pointer to an empty array of strings,
-matches() evaluates C<$string =~ $pattern> in an array context, and
-fills in I<matches> with the array elements (allocating memory as it
-does so), returning the number of matches found.
+Given an C<SV>, a pattern, and a pointer to an empty C<AV>,
+matches() evaluates C<$string =~ $pattern> in a list context, and
+fills in I<matches> with the array elements, returning the number of matches
+found.
Here's a sample program, I<match.c>, that uses all three (long lines have
been wrapped here):
- #include <EXTERN.h>
- #include <perl.h>
-
- static PerlInterpreter *my_perl;
-
- /** match(string, pattern)
- **
- ** Used for matches in a scalar context.
- **
- ** Returns 1 if the match was successful; 0 otherwise.
- **/
- char match(char *string, char *pattern)
- {
- char *command;
- command = malloc(sizeof(char) * strlen(string) + strlen(pattern) + 37);
- sprintf(command, "$string = '%s'; $return = $string =~ %s",
- string, pattern);
- perl_eval_pv(command, TRUE);
- free(command);
- return SvIV(perl_get_sv("return", FALSE));
- }
- /** substitute(string, pattern)
- **
- ** Used for =~ operations that modify their left-hand side (s/// and tr///)
- **
- ** Returns the number of successful matches, and
- ** modifies the input string if there were any.
- **/
- int substitute(char *string[], char *pattern)
- {
- char *command;
- STRLEN length;
- command = malloc(sizeof(char) * strlen(*string) + strlen(pattern) + 35);
- sprintf(command, "$string = '%s'; $ret = ($string =~ %s)",
- *string, pattern);
- perl_eval_pv(command, TRUE);
- free(command);
- *string = SvPV(perl_get_sv("string", FALSE), length);
- return SvIV(perl_get_sv("ret", FALSE));
- }
- /** matches(string, pattern, matches)
- **
- ** Used for matches in an array context.
- **
- ** Returns the number of matches,
- ** and fills in **matches with the matching substrings (allocates memory!)
- **/
- int matches(char *string, char *pattern, char **match_list[])
- {
- char *command;
- SV *current_match;
- AV *array;
- I32 num_matches;
- STRLEN length;
- int i;
- command = malloc(sizeof(char) * strlen(string) + strlen(pattern) + 38);
- sprintf(command, "$string = '%s'; @array = ($string =~ %s)",
- string, pattern);
- perl_eval_pv(command, TRUE);
- free(command);
- array = perl_get_av("array", FALSE);
- num_matches = av_len(array) + 1; /** assume $[ is 0 **/
- *match_list = (char **) malloc(sizeof(char *) * num_matches);
- for (i = 0; i <= num_matches; i++) {
- current_match = av_shift(array);
- (*match_list)[i] = SvPV(current_match, length);
- }
+ #include <EXTERN.h>
+ #include <perl.h>
+
+ static PerlInterpreter *my_perl;
+
+ /** my_eval_sv(code, error_check)
+ ** kinda like eval_sv(),
+ ** but we pop the return value off the stack
+ **/
+ SV* my_eval_sv(SV *sv, I32 croak_on_error)
+ {
+ dSP;
+ SV* retval;
+
+
+ PUSHMARK(SP);
+ eval_sv(sv, G_SCALAR);
+
+ SPAGAIN;
+ retval = POPs;
+ PUTBACK;
+
+ if (croak_on_error && SvTRUE(ERRSV))
+ croak(SvPVx_nolen(ERRSV));
+
+ return retval;
+ }
+
+ /** match(string, pattern)
+ **
+ ** Used for matches in a scalar context.
+ **
+ ** Returns 1 if the match was successful; 0 otherwise.
+ **/
+
+ I32 match(SV *string, char *pattern)
+ {
+ SV *command = newSV(0), *retval;
+
+ sv_setpvf(command, "my $string = '%s'; $string =~ %s",
+ SvPV_nolen(string), pattern);
+
+ retval = my_eval_sv(command, TRUE);
+ SvREFCNT_dec(command);
+
+ return SvIV(retval);
+ }
+
+ /** substitute(string, pattern)
+ **
+ ** Used for =~ operations that
+ ** modify their left-hand side (s/// and tr///)
+ **
+ ** Returns the number of successful matches, and
+ ** modifies the input string if there were any.
+ **/
+
+ I32 substitute(SV **string, char *pattern)
+ {
+ SV *command = newSV(0), *retval;
+
+ sv_setpvf(command, "$string = '%s'; ($string =~ %s)",
+ SvPV_nolen(*string), pattern);
+
+ retval = my_eval_sv(command, TRUE);
+ SvREFCNT_dec(command);
+
+ *string = get_sv("string", 0);
+ return SvIV(retval);
+ }
+
+ /** matches(string, pattern, matches)
+ **
+ ** Used for matches in a list context.
+ **
+ ** Returns the number of matches,
+ ** and fills in **matches with the matching substrings
+ **/
+
+ SSize_t matches(SV *string, char *pattern, AV **match_list)
+ {
+ SV *command = newSV(0);
+ SSize_t num_matches;
+
+ sv_setpvf(command, "my $string = '%s'; @array = ($string =~ %s)",
+ SvPV_nolen(string), pattern);
+
+ my_eval_sv(command, TRUE);
+ SvREFCNT_dec(command);
+
+ *match_list = get_av("array", 0);
+ num_matches = av_top_index(*match_list) + 1;
+
return num_matches;
- }
- main (int argc, char **argv, char **env)
- {
+ }
+
+ main (int argc, char **argv, char **env)
+ {
char *embedding[] = { "", "-e", "0" };
- char *text, **match_list;
- int num_matches, i;
- int j;
+ AV *match_list;
+ I32 num_matches, i;
+ SV *text;
+
+ PERL_SYS_INIT3(&argc,&argv,&env);
my_perl = perl_alloc();
- perl_construct( my_perl );
+ perl_construct(my_perl);
perl_parse(my_perl, NULL, 3, embedding, NULL);
- perl_run(my_perl);
+ PL_exit_flags |= PERL_EXIT_DESTRUCT_END;
+
+ text = newSV(0);
+ sv_setpv(text, "When he is at a convenience store and the "
+ "bill comes to some amount like 76 cents, Maynard is "
+ "aware that there is something he *should* do, something "
+ "that will enable him to get back a quarter, but he has "
+ "no idea *what*. He fumbles through his red squeezey "
+ "changepurse and gives the boy three extra pennies with "
+ "his dollar, hoping that he might luck into the correct "
+ "amount. The boy gives him back two of his own pennies "
+ "and then the big shiny quarter that is his prize. "
+ "-RICHH");
- text = (char *) malloc(sizeof(char) * 486); /** A long string follows! **/
- sprintf(text, "%s", "When he is at a convenience store and the bill \
- comes to some amount like 76 cents, Maynard is aware that there is \
- something he *should* do, something that will enable him to get back \
- a quarter, but he has no idea *what*. He fumbles through his red \
- squeezey changepurse and gives the boy three extra pennies with his \
- dollar, hoping that he might luck into the correct amount. The boy \
- gives him back two of his own pennies and then the big shiny quarter \
- that is his prize. -RICHH");
if (match(text, "m/quarter/")) /** Does text contain 'quarter'? **/
- printf("match: Text contains the word 'quarter'.\n\n");
+ printf("match: Text contains the word 'quarter'.\n\n");
else
- printf("match: Text doesn't contain the word 'quarter'.\n\n");
+ printf("match: Text doesn't contain the word 'quarter'.\n\n");
+
if (match(text, "m/eighth/")) /** Does text contain 'eighth'? **/
- printf("match: Text contains the word 'eighth'.\n\n");
+ printf("match: Text contains the word 'eighth'.\n\n");
else
- printf("match: Text doesn't contain the word 'eighth'.\n\n");
+ printf("match: Text doesn't contain the word 'eighth'.\n\n");
+
/** Match all occurrences of /wi../ **/
num_matches = matches(text, "m/(wi..)/g", &match_list);
printf("matches: m/(wi..)/g found %d matches...\n", num_matches);
+
for (i = 0; i < num_matches; i++)
- printf("match: %s\n", match_list[i]);
+ printf("match: %s\n",
+ SvPV_nolen(*av_fetch(match_list, i, FALSE)));
printf("\n");
- for (i = 0; i < num_matches; i++) {
- free(match_list[i]);
- }
- free(match_list);
+
/** Remove all vowels from text **/
num_matches = substitute(&text, "s/[aeiou]//gi");
if (num_matches) {
- printf("substitute: s/[aeiou]//gi...%d substitutions made.\n",
- num_matches);
- printf("Now text is: %s\n\n", text);
+ printf("substitute: s/[aeiou]//gi...%lu substitutions made.\n",
+ (unsigned long)num_matches);
+ printf("Now text is: %s\n\n", SvPV_nolen(text));
}
+
/** Attempt a substitution **/
if (!substitute(&text, "s/Perl/C/")) {
- printf("substitute: s/Perl/C...No substitution made.\n\n");
+ printf("substitute: s/Perl/C...No substitution made.\n\n");
}
- free(text);
+
+ SvREFCNT_dec(text);
+ PL_perl_destruct_level = 1;
perl_destruct(my_perl);
perl_free(my_perl);
- }
+ PERL_SYS_TERM();
+ }
which produces the output (again, long lines have been wrapped here)
- match: Text contains the word 'quarter'.
+ match: Text contains the word 'quarter'.
- match: Text doesn't contain the word 'eighth'.
+ match: Text doesn't contain the word 'eighth'.
- matches: m/(wi..)/g found 2 matches...
- match: will
- match: with
+ matches: m/(wi..)/g found 2 matches...
+ match: will
+ match: with
- substitute: s/[aeiou]//gi...139 substitutions made.
- Now text is: Whn h s t cnvnnc str nd th bll cms t sm mnt lk 76 cnts,
- Mynrd s wr tht thr s smthng h *shld* d, smthng tht wll nbl hm t gt bck
- qrtr, bt h hs n d *wht*. H fmbls thrgh hs rd sqzy chngprs nd gvs th by
- thr xtr pnns wth hs dllr, hpng tht h mght lck nt th crrct mnt. Th by gvs
- hm bck tw f hs wn pnns nd thn th bg shny qrtr tht s hs prz. -RCHH
+ substitute: s/[aeiou]//gi...139 substitutions made.
+ Now text is: Whn h s t cnvnnc str nd th bll cms t sm mnt lk 76 cnts,
+ Mynrd s wr tht thr s smthng h *shld* d, smthng tht wll nbl hm t gt
+ bck qrtr, bt h hs n d *wht*. H fmbls thrgh hs rd sqzy chngprs nd
+ gvs th by thr xtr pnns wth hs dllr, hpng tht h mght lck nt th crrct
+ mnt. Th by gvs hm bck tw f hs wn pnns nd thn th bg shny qrtr tht s
+ hs prz. -RCHH
- substitute: s/Perl/C...No substitution made.
+ substitute: s/Perl/C...No substitution made.
=head2 Fiddling with the Perl stack from your C program
First you'll need to know how to convert between C types and Perl
types, with newSViv() and sv_setnv() and newAV() and all their
-friends. They're described in L<perlguts>.
+friends. They're described in L<perlguts> and L<perlapi>.
Then you'll need to know how to manipulate the Perl stack. That's
described in L<perlcall>.
two arguments into I<expo()> and to pop the return value out. Take a
deep breath...
- #include <EXTERN.h>
- #include <perl.h>
-
- static PerlInterpreter *my_perl;
+ #include <EXTERN.h>
+ #include <perl.h>
- static void
- PerlPower(int a, int b)
- {
- dSP; /* initialize stack pointer */
- ENTER; /* everything created after here */
- SAVETMPS; /* ...is a temporary variable. */
- PUSHMARK(sp); /* remember the stack pointer */
- XPUSHs(sv_2mortal(newSViv(a))); /* push the base onto the stack */
- XPUSHs(sv_2mortal(newSViv(b))); /* push the exponent onto stack */
- PUTBACK; /* make local stack pointer global */
- perl_call_pv("expo", G_SCALAR); /* call the function */
- SPAGAIN; /* refresh stack pointer */
- /* pop the return value from stack */
- printf ("%d to the %dth power is %d.\n", a, b, POPi);
- PUTBACK;
- FREETMPS; /* free that return value */
- LEAVE; /* ...and the XPUSHed "mortal" args.*/
- }
+ static PerlInterpreter *my_perl;
- int main (int argc, char **argv, char **env)
- {
- char *my_argv[2];
+ static void
+ PerlPower(int a, int b)
+ {
+ dSP; /* initialize stack pointer */
+ ENTER; /* everything created after here */
+ SAVETMPS; /* ...is a temporary variable. */
+ PUSHMARK(SP); /* remember the stack pointer */
+ XPUSHs(sv_2mortal(newSViv(a))); /* push the base onto the stack */
+ XPUSHs(sv_2mortal(newSViv(b))); /* push the exponent onto stack */
+ PUTBACK; /* make local stack pointer global */
+ call_pv("expo", G_SCALAR); /* call the function */
+ SPAGAIN; /* refresh stack pointer */
+ /* pop the return value from stack */
+ printf ("%d to the %dth power is %d.\n", a, b, POPi);
+ PUTBACK;
+ FREETMPS; /* free that return value */
+ LEAVE; /* ...and the XPUSHed "mortal" args.*/
+ }
- my_perl = perl_alloc();
- perl_construct( my_perl );
+ int main (int argc, char **argv, char **env)
+ {
+ char *my_argv[] = { "", "power.pl" };
- my_argv[1] = (char *) malloc(10);
- sprintf(my_argv[1], "power.pl");
+ PERL_SYS_INIT3(&argc,&argv,&env);
+ my_perl = perl_alloc();
+ perl_construct( my_perl );
- perl_parse(my_perl, NULL, argc, my_argv, NULL);
- perl_run(my_perl);
+ perl_parse(my_perl, NULL, 2, my_argv, (char **)NULL);
+ PL_exit_flags |= PERL_EXIT_DESTRUCT_END;
+ perl_run(my_perl);
- PerlPower(3, 4); /*** Compute 3 ** 4 ***/
+ PerlPower(3, 4); /*** Compute 3 ** 4 ***/
- perl_destruct(my_perl);
- perl_free(my_perl);
- }
+ perl_destruct(my_perl);
+ perl_free(my_perl);
+ PERL_SYS_TERM();
+ }
the code into that package using L<perlfunc/eval>. In the example
below, each file will only be compiled once. Or, the application
might choose to clean out the symbol table associated with the file
-after it's no longer needed. Using L<perlcall/perl_call_argv>, We'll
+after it's no longer needed. Using L<perlapi/call_argv>, We'll
call the subroutine C<Embed::Persistent::eval_file> which lives in the
file C<persistent.pl> and pass the filename and boolean cleanup/cache
flag as arguments.
#persistent.pl
use strict;
- use vars '%Cache';
+ our %Cache;
+ use Symbol qw(delete_package);
sub valid_package_name {
my($string) = @_;
return "Embed" . $string;
}
- #borrowed from Safe.pm
- sub delete_package {
- my $pkg = shift;
- my ($stem, $leaf);
-
- no strict 'refs';
- $pkg = "main::$pkg\::"; # expand to full symbol table name
- ($stem, $leaf) = $pkg =~ m/(.*::)(\w+::)$/;
-
- my $stem_symtab = *{$stem}{HASH};
-
- delete $stem_symtab->{$leaf};
- }
-
sub eval_file {
my($filename, $delete) = @_;
my $package = valid_package_name($filename);
#include <EXTERN.h>
#include <perl.h>
- /* 1 = clean out filename's symbol table after each request, 0 = don't */
+ /* 1 = clean out filename's symbol table after each request,
+ 0 = don't
+ */
#ifndef DO_CLEAN
#define DO_CLEAN 0
#endif
- static PerlInterpreter *perl = NULL;
+ #define BUFFER_SIZE 1024
+
+ static PerlInterpreter *my_perl = NULL;
int
main(int argc, char **argv, char **env)
{
char *embedding[] = { "", "persistent.pl" };
char *args[] = { "", DO_CLEAN, NULL };
- char filename [1024];
+ char filename[BUFFER_SIZE];
int exitstatus = 0;
- if((perl = perl_alloc()) == NULL) {
+ PERL_SYS_INIT3(&argc,&argv,&env);
+ if((my_perl = perl_alloc()) == NULL) {
fprintf(stderr, "no memory!");
exit(1);
}
- perl_construct(perl);
-
- exitstatus = perl_parse(perl, NULL, 2, embedding, NULL);
+ perl_construct(my_perl);
+ PL_origalen = 1; /* don't let $0 assignment update the
+ proctitle or embedding[0] */
+ exitstatus = perl_parse(my_perl, NULL, 2, embedding, NULL);
+ PL_exit_flags |= PERL_EXIT_DESTRUCT_END;
if(!exitstatus) {
- exitstatus = perl_run(perl);
+ exitstatus = perl_run(my_perl);
- while(printf("Enter file name: ") && gets(filename)) {
+ while(printf("Enter file name: ") &&
+ fgets(filename, BUFFER_SIZE, stdin)) {
- /* call the subroutine, passing it the filename as an argument */
+ filename[strlen(filename)-1] = '\0'; /* strip \n */
+ /* call the subroutine,
+ passing it the filename as an argument */
args[0] = filename;
- perl_call_argv("Embed::Persistent::eval_file",
+ call_argv("Embed::Persistent::eval_file",
G_DISCARD | G_EVAL, args);
/* check $@ */
- if(SvTRUE(GvSV(errgv)))
- fprintf(stderr, "eval error: %s\n", SvPV(GvSV(errgv),na));
+ if(SvTRUE(ERRSV))
+ fprintf(stderr, "eval error: %s\n", SvPV_nolen(ERRSV));
}
}
- perl_destruct_level = 0;
- perl_destruct(perl);
- perl_free(perl);
+ PL_perl_destruct_level = 0;
+ perl_destruct(my_perl);
+ perl_free(my_perl);
+ PERL_SYS_TERM();
exit(exitstatus);
}
Now compile:
- % cc -o persistent persistent.c `perl -MExtUtils::Embed -e ccopts -e ldopts`
+ % cc -o persistent persistent.c \
+ `perl -MExtUtils::Embed -e ccopts -e ldopts`
-Here's a example script file:
+Here's an example script file:
#test.pl
my $string = "hello";
foo says: hello
Enter file name: ^C
+=head2 Execution of END blocks
+
+Traditionally END blocks have been executed at the end of the perl_run.
+This causes problems for applications that never call perl_run. Since
+perl 5.7.2 you can specify C<PL_exit_flags |= PERL_EXIT_DESTRUCT_END>
+to get the new behaviour. This also enables the running of END blocks if
+the perl_parse fails and C<perl_destruct> will return the exit value.
+
+=head2 $0 assignments
+
+When a perl script assigns a value to $0 then the perl runtime will
+try to make this value show up as the program name reported by "ps" by
+updating the memory pointed to by the argv passed to perl_parse() and
+also calling API functions like setproctitle() where available. This
+behaviour might not be appropriate when embedding perl and can be
+disabled by assigning the value C<1> to the variable C<PL_origalen>
+before perl_parse() is called.
+
+The F<persistent.c> example above is for instance likely to segfault
+when $0 is assigned to if the C<PL_origalen = 1;> assignment is
+removed. This because perl will try to write to the read only memory
+of the C<embedding[]> strings.
+
=head2 Maintaining multiple interpreter instances
Some rare applications will need to create more than one interpreter
release any resources associated with the interpreter.
The program must take care to ensure that this takes place I<before>
-the next interpreter is constructed. By default, the global variable
-C<perl_destruct_level> is set to C<0>, since extra cleaning isn't
-needed when a program has only one interpreter.
-
-Setting C<perl_destruct_level> to C<1> makes everything squeaky clean:
+the next interpreter is constructed. By default, when perl is not
+built with any special options, the global variable
+C<PL_perl_destruct_level> is set to C<0>, since extra cleaning isn't
+usually needed when a program only ever creates a single interpreter
+in its entire lifetime.
- perl_destruct_level = 1;
+Setting C<PL_perl_destruct_level> to C<1> makes everything squeaky clean:
while(1) {
...
- /* reset global variables here with perl_destruct_level = 1 */
+ /* reset global variables here with PL_perl_destruct_level = 1 */
+ PL_perl_destruct_level = 1;
perl_construct(my_perl);
...
/* clean and reset _everything_ during perl_destruct */
+ PL_perl_destruct_level = 1;
perl_destruct(my_perl);
perl_free(my_perl);
...
}
When I<perl_destruct()> is called, the interpreter's syntax parse tree
-and symbol tables are cleaned up, and global variables are reset.
+and symbol tables are cleaned up, and global variables are reset. The
+second assignment to C<PL_perl_destruct_level> is needed because
+perl_construct resets it to C<0>.
Now suppose we have more than one interpreter instance running at the
-same time. This is feasible, but only if you used the
-C<-DMULTIPLICITY> flag when building Perl. By default, that sets
-C<perl_destruct_level> to C<1>.
+same time. This is feasible, but only if you used the Configure option
+C<-Dusemultiplicity> or the options C<-Dusethreads -Duseithreads> when
+building perl. By default, enabling one of these Configure options
+sets the per-interpreter global variable C<PL_perl_destruct_level> to
+C<1>, so that thorough cleaning is automatic and interpreter variables
+are initialized correctly. Even if you don't intend to run two or
+more interpreters at the same time, but to run them sequentially, like
+in the above example, it is recommended to build perl with the
+C<-Dusemultiplicity> option otherwise some interpreter variables may
+not be initialized correctly between consecutive runs and your
+application may crash.
+
+See also L<perlxs/Thread-aware system interfaces>.
+
+Using C<-Dusethreads -Duseithreads> rather than C<-Dusemultiplicity>
+is more appropriate if you intend to run multiple interpreters
+concurrently in different threads, because it enables support for
+linking in the thread libraries of your system with the interpreter.
Let's give it a try:
#include <perl.h>
/* we're going to embed two interpreters */
- /* we're going to embed two interpreters */
#define SAY_HELLO "-e", "print qq(Hi, I'm $^X\n)"
int main(int argc, char **argv, char **env)
{
- PerlInterpreter
- *one_perl = perl_alloc(),
- *two_perl = perl_alloc();
+ PerlInterpreter *one_perl, *two_perl;
char *one_args[] = { "one_perl", SAY_HELLO };
char *two_args[] = { "two_perl", SAY_HELLO };
+ PERL_SYS_INIT3(&argc,&argv,&env);
+ one_perl = perl_alloc();
+ two_perl = perl_alloc();
+
+ PERL_SET_CONTEXT(one_perl);
perl_construct(one_perl);
+ PERL_SET_CONTEXT(two_perl);
perl_construct(two_perl);
+ PERL_SET_CONTEXT(one_perl);
perl_parse(one_perl, NULL, 3, one_args, (char **)NULL);
+ PERL_SET_CONTEXT(two_perl);
perl_parse(two_perl, NULL, 3, two_args, (char **)NULL);
+ PERL_SET_CONTEXT(one_perl);
perl_run(one_perl);
+ PERL_SET_CONTEXT(two_perl);
perl_run(two_perl);
+ PERL_SET_CONTEXT(one_perl);
perl_destruct(one_perl);
+ PERL_SET_CONTEXT(two_perl);
perl_destruct(two_perl);
+ PERL_SET_CONTEXT(one_perl);
perl_free(one_perl);
+ PERL_SET_CONTEXT(two_perl);
perl_free(two_perl);
+ PERL_SYS_TERM();
}
+Note the calls to PERL_SET_CONTEXT(). These are necessary to initialize
+the global state that tracks which interpreter is the "current" one on
+the particular process or thread that may be running it. It should
+always be used if you have more than one interpreter and are making
+perl API calls on both interpreters in an interleaved fashion.
+
+PERL_SET_CONTEXT(interp) should also be called whenever C<interp> is
+used by a thread that did not create it (using either perl_alloc(), or
+the more esoteric perl_clone()).
Compile as usual:
- % cc -o multiplicity multiplicity.c `perl -MExtUtils::Embed -e ccopts -e ldopts`
+ % cc -o multiplicity multiplicity.c \
+ `perl -MExtUtils::Embed -e ccopts -e ldopts`
Run it, Run it:
Hi, I'm one_perl
Hi, I'm two_perl
-=head2 Using Perl modules, which themselves use C libraries, from your C program
+=head2 Using Perl modules, which themselves use C libraries, from your C
+program
If you've played with the examples above and tried to embed a script
-that I<use()>s a Perl module (such as I<Socket>) which itself uses a C or C++ library,
-this probably happened:
+that I<use()>s a Perl module (such as I<Socket>) which itself uses a C or C++
+library, this probably happened:
Can't load module Socket, dynamic loading not available in this perl.
perl_parse(my_perl, NULL, argc, my_argv, NULL);
-That's where the glue code can be inserted to create the initial contact between
-Perl and linked C/C++ routines. Let's take a look some pieces of I<perlmain.c>
-to see how Perl does this:
+That's where the glue code can be inserted to create the initial contact
+between Perl and linked C/C++ routines. Let's take a look some pieces of
+I<perlmain.c> to see how Perl does this:
+ static void xs_init (pTHX);
- #ifdef __cplusplus
- # define EXTERN_C extern "C"
- #else
- # define EXTERN_C extern
- #endif
-
- static void xs_init _((void));
-
- EXTERN_C void boot_DynaLoader _((CV* cv));
- EXTERN_C void boot_Socket _((CV* cv));
+ EXTERN_C void boot_DynaLoader (pTHX_ CV* cv);
+ EXTERN_C void boot_Socket (pTHX_ CV* cv);
EXTERN_C void
- xs_init()
+ xs_init(pTHX)
{
char *file = __FILE__;
/* DynaLoader is a special case */
% cc -c interp.c `perl -MExtUtils::Embed -e ccopts`
% cc -o interp perlxsi.o interp.o `perl -MExtUtils::Embed -e ldopts`
-Consult L<perlxs> and L<perlguts> for more details.
+Consult L<perlxs>, L<perlguts>, and L<perlapi> for more details.
+
+=head2 Using embedded Perl with POSIX locales
+(See L<perllocale> for information about these.)
+When a Perl interpreter normally starts up, it tells the system it wants
+to use the system's default locale. This is often, but not necessarily,
+the "C" or "POSIX" locale. Absent a S<C<"use locale">> within the perl
+code, this mostly has no effect (but see L<perllocale/Not within the
+scope of "use locale">). Also, there is not a problem if the
+locale you want to use in your embedded Perl is the same as the system
+default. However, this doesn't work if you have set up and want to use
+a locale that isn't the system default one. Starting in Perl v5.20, you
+can tell the embedded Perl interpreter that the locale is already
+properly set up, and to skip doing its own normal initialization. It
+skips if the environment variable C<PERL_SKIP_LOCALE_INIT> is set (even
+if set to 0 or C<"">). A Perl that has this capability will define the
+C pre-processor symbol C<HAS_SKIP_LOCALE_INIT>. This allows code that
+has to work with multiple Perl versions to do some sort of work-around
+when confronted with an earlier Perl.
+
+=head1 Hiding Perl_
+
+If you completely hide the short forms of the Perl public API,
+add -DPERL_NO_SHORT_NAMES to the compilation flags. This means that
+for example instead of writing
+
+ warn("%d bottles of beer on the wall", bottlecount);
+
+you will have to write the explicit full form
+
+ Perl_warn(aTHX_ "%d bottles of beer on the wall", bottlecount);
+
+(See L<perlguts/"Background and PERL_IMPLICIT_CONTEXT"> for the explanation
+of the C<aTHX_>. ) Hiding the short forms is very useful for avoiding
+all sorts of nasty (C preprocessor or otherwise) conflicts with other
+software packages (Perl defines about 2400 APIs with these short names,
+take or leave few hundred, so there certainly is room for conflict.)
=head1 MORAL
=head1 AUTHOR
-Jon Orwant and <F<orwant@tpj.com>> and Doug MacEachern <F<dougm@osf.org>>,
-with small contributions from Tim Bunce, Tom Christiansen, Hallvard Furuseth,
-Dov Grobgeld, and Ilya Zakharevich.
-
-Check out Doug's article on embedding in Volume 1, Issue 4 of The Perl
-Journal. Info about TPJ is available from http://tpj.com.
-
-April 14, 1997
+Jon Orwant <F<orwant@media.mit.edu>> and Doug MacEachern
+<F<dougm@covalent.net>>, with small contributions from Tim Bunce, Tom
+Christiansen, Guy Decoux, Hallvard Furuseth, Dov Grobgeld, and Ilya
+Zakharevich.
-Some of this material is excerpted from Jon Orwant's book: I<Perl 5
-Interactive>, Waite Group Press, 1996 (ISBN 1-57169-064-6) and appears
-courtesy of Waite Group Press.
+Doug MacEachern has an article on embedding in Volume 1, Issue 4 of
+The Perl Journal ( http://www.tpj.com/ ). Doug is also the developer of the
+most widely-used Perl embedding: the mod_perl system
+(perl.apache.org), which embeds Perl in the Apache web server.
+Oracle, Binary Evolution, ActiveState, and Ben Sugars's nsapi_perl
+have used this model for Oracle, Netscape and Internet Information
+Server Perl plugins.
=head1 COPYRIGHT
-Copyright (C) 1995, 1996, 1997 Doug MacEachern and Jon Orwant. All
+Copyright (C) 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998 Doug MacEachern and Jon Orwant. All
Rights Reserved.
-Although destined for release with the standard Perl distribution,
-this document is not public domain, nor is any of Perl and its
-documentation. Permission is granted to freely distribute verbatim
-copies of this document provided that no modifications outside of
-formatting be made, and that this notice remain intact. You are
-permitted and encouraged to use its code and derivatives thereof in
-your own source code for fun or for profit as you see fit.
+This document may be distributed under the same terms as Perl itself.
https://perl5.git.perl.org / perl5.git / blobdiff