FFI::Build(3pm)

Usage

 use FFI::Platypus 2.00;
 use FFI::Build;
 
 my $build = FFI::Build->new(
   'frooble',
   source => 'ffi/*.c',
 );
 
 # $lib is an instance of FFI::Build::File::Library
 my $lib = $build->build;
 
 my $ffi = FFI::Platypus->new( api => 2 );
 # The filename will be platform dependant, but something like libfrooble.so or frooble.dll
 $ffi->lib($lib->path);
 
 ... # use $ffi to attach functions in ffi/*.c

Version

version 2.10

Overview

Using libffi based FFI::Platypus is a great alternative to XS for writing library bindings for Perl. Sometimes, however, you need to bundle a little C code with your FFI module, but this has never been that easy to use. Module::Build::FFI was an early attempt to address this use case, but it uses the now out of fashion Module::Build.

This module itself doesn't directly integrate with CPAN installers like ExtUtils::MakeMaker or Module::Build, but there is a light weight layer FFI::Build::MM that will allow you to easily use this module with ExtUtils::MakeMaker. If you are using Dist::Zilla as your dist builder, then there is also Dist::Zilla::Plugin::FFI::Build, which will help with the connections.

There is some functional overlap with ExtUtils::CBuilder, which was in fact used by Module::Build::FFI. For this iteration I have decided not to use that module because although it will generate dynamic libraries that can sometimes be used by FFI::Platypus, it is really designed for building XS modules, and trying to coerce it into a more general solution has proved difficult in the past.

Supported languages out of the box are C, C++ and Fortran. Rust is supported via a language plugin, see FFI::Platypus::Lang::Rust.

Constructor

new

 my $build = FFI::Build->new($name, %options);

Create an instance of this class. The $name argument is used when computing the file name for the library. The actual name will be something like "lib$name.so" or "$name.dll". The following options are supported:

alien: List of Aliens to compile/link against. FFI::Build will work with any Alien::Base based alien, or modules that provide a compatible API.

buildname: Directory name that will be used for building intermediate files, such as object files. This is "_build" by default.

cflags: Extra compiler flags to use. Things like "-I/foo/include" or "-DFOO=1".

dir: The directory where the library will be written. This is "." by default.

export: Functions that should be exported (Windows + Visual C++ only)

file: An instance of FFI::Build::File::Library to which the library will be written. Normally not needed.

libs: Extra library flags to use. Things like "-L/foo/lib -lfoo".

platform: An instance of FFI::Build::Platform. Usually you want to omit this and use the default instance.

source: List of source files. You can use wildcards supported by "bsd_glob" from File::Glob.

verbose

By default this class does not print out the actual compiler and linker commands used in building the library unless there is a failure. You can alter this behavior with this option. Set to one of these values:

zero (0): Default, quiet unless there is a failure.

one (1): Output the operation (compile, link, etc) and the file, but nothing else

two (2): Output the complete commands run verbatim.

If the environment variable "V" is set to a true value then the verbosity will be set to 2 regardless of what is passed in.

Methods

dir

 my $dir = $build->dir;

Returns the directory where the library will be written.

buildname

 my $builddir = $build->builddir;

Returns the build name. This is used in computing a directory to save intermediate files like objects. For example, if you specify a file like "ffi/foo.c", then the object file will be stored in "ffi/_build/foo.o" by default. "_build" in this example (the default) is the build name.

export

 my $exports = $build->export;

Returns a array reference of the exported functions (Windows + Visual C++ only)

file

 my $file = $build->file;

Returns an instance of FFI::Build::File::Library corresponding to the library being built. This is also returned by the "build" method below.

platform

 my $platform = $build->platform;

An instance of FFI::Build::Platform, which contains information about the platform on which you are building. The default is usually reasonable.

verbose

 my $verbose = $build->verbose;

Returns the verbose flag.

cflags

 my @cflags = @{ $build->cflags };

Returns the compiler flags.

cflags_I

 my @cflags_I = @{ $build->cflags_I };

Returns the "-I" cflags.

libs

 my @libs = @{ $build->libs };

Returns the library flags.

libs_L

 my @libs = @{ $build->libs };

Returns the "-L" library flags.

alien

 my @aliens = @{ $build->alien };

Returns a the list of aliens being used.

source

 $build->source(@files);

Add the @files to the list of source files that will be used in building the library. The format is the same as with the "source" attribute above.

build

 my $lib = $build->build;

This compiles the source files and links the library. Files that have already been compiled or linked may be reused without recompiling/linking if the timestamps are newer than the source files. An instance of FFI::Build::File::Library is returned which can be used to get the path to the library, which can be feed into FFI::Platypus or similar.

clean

 $build->clean;

Removes the library and intermediate files.

Copyright and license

This is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as the Perl 5 programming language system itself.

Releases

4 releases since Debian 10 (Buster); the text changed 3 times.

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