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| author | Igor Pashev <pashev.igor@gmail.com> | 2013-01-27 23:51:56 +0000 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | Igor Pashev <pashev.igor@gmail.com> | 2013-01-27 23:51:56 +0000 |
| commit | 6ab0c0f5bf14ed9c15370407b9ee7e0b4b089ae1 (patch) | |
| tree | 926065cf45450116098db664e3c61dced9e1f21a /doc/files.htm | |
| download | icon-6ab0c0f5bf14ed9c15370407b9ee7e0b4b089ae1.tar.gz | |
Initial upstream version 9.4.3upstream/9.4.3
Diffstat (limited to 'doc/files.htm')
| -rw-r--r-- | doc/files.htm | 182 |
1 files changed, 182 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/doc/files.htm b/doc/files.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..fd7fef0 --- /dev/null +++ b/doc/files.htm @@ -0,0 +1,182 @@ +<!doctype html public "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<HTML> +<HEAD> + <TITLE>File Organization in Version 9.4 of Icon</TITLE> + <LINK REL="STYLESHEET" TYPE="text/css" HREF="istyle.css"> + <LINK REL="SHORTCUT ICON" HREF="shortcut.gif"> +</HEAD> +<BODY> + +<P><A HREF="http://www.cs.arizona.edu/icon/"> <IMG SRC="wwwcube.gif" +ALT="[Icon home]" WIDTH=128 HEIGHT=144 BORDER=0 ALIGN=RIGHT> </A> + +<H1> File Organization in Version 9.4 of Icon </H1> + +<P> Gregg M. Townsend +<BR> <SMALL> Department of Computer Science </SMALL> +<BR> <SMALL> The University of Arizona </SMALL> + +<P> <SMALL> www.cs.arizona.edu/icon/v943/files.htm +<BR> Last updated November 8, 2005 </SMALL> +<!-- $Id: files.htm,v 1.17 2005/11/08 23:24:35 gmt Exp $ --> + +<H2> Introduction </H2> + +<P> Version 9.4 of Icon introduced several changes to the organization +of Icon's files under Unix and the methods for finding them. +These changes, which are described below, simplify the installation +and use of Icon. + +<H2> Library procedure inclusion </H2> + +<P> As Icon evolved, the procedures from the Icon program library +became more important to basic Icon programs, and vital to graphics +programs; yet the IPL had been treated as a separate product. +A complete Icon system required two downloads and two installation +efforts, with proper coordination. + +<P> With Icon 9.4, the complete set of basic and graphics library +procedures is included with every binary Icon distribution. +Also present are the associated <CODE>$include</CODE> files +and a selected few programs from the library — +notably VIB, the visual interface builder. + +<P> Source distributions of Icon 9.4 include the full library, +which also continues to be available separately. + +<H2> Installation directory structure </H2> + +<P> An Icon binary distribution unpacks to produce an <CODE>icon</CODE> +directory containing <CODE>bin</CODE>, <CODE>lib</CODE>, <CODE>man</CODE>, +and <CODE>doc</CODE> subdirectories. +Building Icon from source produces these same directories. + +<P> The <CODE>bin</CODE> directory contains executables of +<CODE>icont</CODE>, the Icon translator; +<CODE>iconx</CODE>, the Icon interpreter; +a few library programs including <CODE>vib</CODE>; +and <CODE>libcfunc.so</CODE>, the loadable C functions. +There is a symbolic link from <CODE>icon</CODE> to <CODE>icont</CODE>. +Files in this directory are system dependent. + +<P> The <CODE>lib</CODE> directory holds <CODE>$include</CODE> files +and "ucode" (<CODE>.u1</CODE>/<CODE>.u2</CODE>) files of +program library procedures. +This directory is system independent. + +<P> The <CODE>man</CODE> directory holds the Unix <CODE>man</CODE> page +for <CODE>icont</CODE>, and the <CODE>doc</CODE> directory holds +HTML (<CODE>.htm</CODE>) documentation files. +These directories are also system independent. + +<P> This structure is similar to that of binary distributions of Icon 9.3. +The main difference is that the <CODE>lib</CODE> directory no longer holds +just a subset of the procedure collection, and the few files from +the former <CODE>include</CODE> directory have moved into <CODE>lib</CODE>. + +<H2> Installation location </H2> + +<P> The <CODE>icon</CODE> directory can be installed in any public or +private area as long as its internal structure is preserved. +When upgrading an existing Icon installation, replacing the previous +Icon directory with the new one may provide the smoothest transition. +Old Icon binaries will continue to function correctly with the new +interpreter. + +<P> In order to consider packaging Icon binaries in Linux RPM files, +or other similar packages, it is necessary to define a "canonical" +location for installing Icon. +The suggested canonical system installation location for Icon is +<CODE>/opt/icon</CODE>. +The <CODE>/opt</CODE> directory is present today on most Unix systems and is +the location recommended by the emerging File Hierarchy Standard (FHS), +<A HREF="http://www.pathname.com/fhs/">www.pathname.com/fhs</A>. + +<P> For convenience of use it may be desirable to provide symbolic +links from a directory such as /opt/bin or /usr/local/bin +to programs in the Icon <CODE>bin</CODE> directory. +If this is done, the list should include at least <CODE>icon</CODE>, +<CODE>icont</CODE>, <CODE>iconx</CODE>, and <CODE>vib</CODE>. + +<H2> Automatic inference of <CODE>iconx</CODE> location </H2> + +<P> Past versions of <CODE>icont</CODE> were configured to know +the location of <CODE>iconx</CODE> in order to embed this in +generated binaries. +The <CODE>iconx</CODE> location was configured by editing +<CODE>src/h/path.h</CODE> in source builds or by using the +<CODE>patchstr</CODE> utility to edit the <CODE>icont</CODE> +executable when installing a binary distribution. + +<P> In version 9.4, <CODE>icont</CODE> deduces its own location, +and from this it infers the location of <CODE>iconx</CODE> +in the same directory. +No configuration of <CODE>icont</CODE> is needed, and the correct +path is embedded automatically, requiring only that +<CODE>icont</CODE> and <CODE>iconx</CODE> reside in the same directory. + +<P> It is still possible to configure a fixed path in +<CODE>icont</CODE> using the <CODE>patchstr</CODE> utility. +If this is done, the configured path is used instead of the +inferred path. + +<H2> Automatic search for iconx at execution </H2> + +<P> The path that <CODE>icont</CODE> embeds in an Icon executable makes +binary distributions of Icon programs difficult because the embedded +path must be edited to match the installed location of <CODE>iconx</CODE>. +The <CODE>ipatch</CODE> utility performed this task when installing +binary distributions of Icon 9.3. + +<P> Icon 9.4 implements a simple search in the shell script that +heads each generated Icon executable. +The new header script searches for <CODE>iconx</CODE> +in these places: + +<OL> + <LI> in the location specified by the ICONX environment variable + <LI> in the same directory as executing binary + <LI> in a location specified in the script itself + (as generated by <CODE>icont</CODE> or as patched later) + <LI> in the command search path ($PATH) +</OL> + +<P> The second item is the key: If there is a copy of <CODE>iconx</CODE> +in the same directory as the executing program, it is found automatically +and used as the interpreter. +An Icon program can now be distributed in binary form +simply by including an <CODE>iconx</CODE> executable +in the same directory as the program executable. + +<P> The <CODE>ipatch</CODE> utility has been modified to recognize +both old and new headers, and can still be used to edit the path +embedded in an Icon executable. + +<H2> Automatic library access </H2> + +<P> The ability to figure out its own location also lets +<CODE>icont</CODE> provide automatic access to library procedures. +The inferred location of the <CODE>lib</CODE> directory is implicitly +appended to the paths, if any, specified by LPATH and IPATH +environment variables. +To use only the standard library files, no environment variables +need be set. + +<P> In a similar manner, <CODE>iconx</CODE> creates or alters the +FPATH environment variable before beginning execution of an Icon +program. This provides transparent access to the library's +loadable C functions without requiring explicit user action. + +<H2> No Setup step </H2> + +<P> With the changes above, the executable files in an Icon binary +distribution are ready for use without modification. +The annoying and error-prone Setup step that was necessary +with previous versions is no longer required. +With Icon 9.4, installation can be as simple as just unpacking the +tar file and adding its <CODE>bin</CODE> directory to the search path. + +<P> <HR> + +</BODY> +</HTML> |