Faré <...> writes:
My plan for ASDF 1.600 is to rename the (recently) builtin asdf-binary-locations to asdf-output-locations and make a few incompatible changes to it.
- These changes will allow for configuration through an API similar to
the one I introduced for the source-registry in 1.500.
- I don't think many people use bleeding-edge enough ASDF to have the
builtin ABL and these kinds of people would easily adapt anyway
- This API will allow the future common-lisp-controller to plug nicely
into ASDF through a supported API that doesn't break other stuff and isn't broken by it.
- It will also bring all the binary location advantages of
asdf-binary-locations, common-lisp-controller or CL-launch to everyone with a single, well-documented, supported configuration mechanism.
I committed the following document to explain my current plans, and would appreciate comments:
http://common-lisp.net/gitweb?p=projects/xcvb/asdf.git;a=blob;f=README.asdf-...
[ François-René ÐVB Rideau | Reflection&Cybernethics | http://fare.tunes.org ] Wishing without work is like fishing without bait. — Frank Tyger
Thanks for time you're investing in this. I think you could just have appended the writeup to your mail, as it results in one step less people have to take to read it, and it's easier to reply in context.
I'll do so. The PS is README.asdf-output-locations written by Fare.
-T.
PS.
===================== ASDF Output Locations =====================
This file specifies how ASDF stores "binary" outputs for its operations, typically Lisp FASL files, but also any other files that may be generated, e.g. C files and executables from CFFI-GROVEL.
Configurations ==============
Configurations specify mappings from source locations to binary locations.
1- An application may explicitly initialize the binary-locations configuration using the `Configuration API`_ below, in which case this takes precedence. It may itself compute this configuration from the command-line, from a script, from its own configuration file, etc.
2- The source registry will be configured from the environment variable ``ASDF_OUTPUT_LOCATIONS`` if it exists.
3- The source registry will be configured from user configuration file ``~/.config/common-lisp/asdf-output-locations.conf`` if it exists.
4- The source registry will be configured from user configuration directory ``~/.config/common-lisp/asdf-output-locations.conf.d/`` if it exists.
5- The source registry will be configured from system configuration file ``/etc/common-lisp/asdf-output-locations.conf`` if it exists.
6- The source registry will be configured from system configuration directory ``/etc/common-lisp/asdf-output-locations.conf.d/`` if it exists.
Each of these configurations is specified as a SEXP in a trival domain-specific language (defined below). Additionally, a more shell-friendly syntax is available for the environment variable (defined yet below).
Each of these configurations is only used if the previous configuration explicitly or implicitly specifies that it includes its inherited configuration.
Additionally, some implementation-specific directories may be automatically added to whatever mappings are specified in configuration files, no matter if the last one inherits or not.
Backward Compatibility ======================
We purposefully do not provide backward compatibility with earlier versions of asdf-binary-locations (8 Sept 2009), common-lisp-controller (6.17) or cl-launch (2.35), each of which had similar general capabilities.
Future versions of same packages (if any) will hopefully use the new ASDF API as defined below.
Indeed, few people use and customize these packages; these people are experts who can trivially adapt to the new configuration. Other people will experience software that "just works".
Configuration DSL =================
Here is the grammar of the SEXP DSL for asdf-output-locations configuration:
;; A configuration is single SEXP starting with keyword :source-registry ;; followed by a list of directives. CONFIGURATION := (:asdf-output-locations DIRECTIVE ...)
;; A directive is one of the following: DIRECTIVE := ;; add a single directory to be scanned (no recursion) (:map DIRECTORY-DESIGNATOR DIRECTORY-DESIGNATOR) |
(:include PATHNAME-DESIGNATOR)
;; Your configuration expression MUST contain ;; exactly one of either of these: (:inherit-configuration) | ; splices contents of inherited configuration (:ignore-inherited-configuration) ; drop contents of inherited configuration
DIRECTORY-DESIGNATOR := ABSOLUTE-COMPONENT-DESIGNATOR | (ABSOLUTE-COMPONENT-DESIGNATOR RELATIVE-COMPONENT-DESIGNATOR ...)
ABSOLUTE-COMPONENT-DESIGNATOR := STRING ;; namestring (directory is assumed, better be absolute or bust) PATHNAME ;; pathname (better be an absolute directory or bust) :HOME ;; designates the user-homedir-pathname ~/ :USER-CACHE ;; designates the default location for the user cache :SYSTEM-CACHE ;; designates the default location for the system cache :ROOT ;; the root of the filesystem hierarchy
RELATIVE-COMPONENT-DESIGNATOR := STRING ;; namestring (directory is assumed) PATHNAME ;; pathname (better be a directory or bust) :IMPLEMENTATION ;; a directory based on implementation, e.g. sbcl-1.0.32.30-linux-x86-64
Relative components better be either relative or subdirectories of the path before them, or bust.
You may use #+features to customize the configuration file.
Include statements cause the search to recurse with the path specifications from the file specified.
An inherit-configuration statement cause the search to recurse with the path specifications from the next configuration (see section Configurations_ above).
Configuration Directories =========================
Configuration directories consist in files each contains a list of directives without any enclosing ``(:asdf-binary-locations ...)`` form. The files will be sorted by namestring as if by #'string< and the lists of directives of these files with be concatenated in order. An implicit ``:inherit-configuration`` will be included at the end of the list.
This allows for packaging software that has file granularity (e.g. Debian's ``dpkg`` or some future version of ``clbuild``) to easily include configuration information about distributed software.
Directories may be included by specifying a directory pathname or namestring in an ``:include`` directive, e.g.:: (:include "/foo/bar/")
Shell-friendly syntax for configuration =======================================
When considering environment variable ``ASDF_OUTPUT_LOCATIONS`` ASDF will skip to next configuration if it's an empty string. It will ``READ`` the string as a SEXP in the DSL if it begins with a paren ``(`` and it will be interpreted as a colon-separated list of directories. Directories should come in pairs, each pair indicating a :map directive.
The magic ``!`` entry indicates the splicing of inherited configuration rather than one of entry in a mapping pair.
Semantics of Output Location Mappings =====================================
From the specified configuration, a list of mappings is extracted
in a straightforward way: mappings are collected in order, recursing through included or inherited configuration as specified. To this list is prepended some implementation-specific mappings, and is appended a global default.
The list is then compiled to a mapping table as follows: for each entry, in order, resolve the first designated directory into an actual directory pathname for source locations. If no mapping was specified yet for that location, resolve the second designated directory to an output location directory add a mapping to the table mapping the source location to the output location, and add another mapping from the output location to itself (unless a mapping already exists for the output location).
Based on the table, a mapping function is defined, mapping source pathnames to output pathnames: given a source pathname, locate the longest matching prefix in the source column of the mapping table. Replace that prefix by the corresponding output column in the same row of the table, and return the result. If no match is found, return the source pathname. (A global default mapping the filesystem root to itself may ensure that there will always be a match, with same fall-through semantics).
Caching Results ===============
The implementation is allowed to either eagerly compute the information from the configurations and file system, or to lazily re-compute it every time, or to cache any part of it as it goes. To explicitly flush any information cached by the system, use the API below.
Output location API ===================
The specified functions are exported from package ASDF.
(initialize-output-locations) will read the configuration and initialize all internal variables.
(clear-output-locations) undoes any output location configuration and clears any cache for the mapping algorithm. You might want to call that before you dump an image that would be resumed with a different configuration, and return an empty configuration. Note that this does not include clearing information about systems defined in the current image, only about where to look for systems not yet defined.
(ensure-output-locations) checks whether output locations have been initialized. If not, initialize them. This function will be called before any attempt to operate on a system. If your application wants to override the provided defaults, it will have to use the below function process-output-locations.
(process-output-locations X &key inherit collect) If X is a CONS, parse it as a SEXP in the configuration DSL, and extend or override inheritted configuration. If X is a STRING, first parse it into a SEXP as for the ASDF_OUTPUT_LOCATIONS environment variable (see above) then process it. If X is a PATHNAME, read the file as a single SEXP and process it. The inheritted configuration is provided in keyword argument inherit, itself a list of functions that take inherit and collect keyword arguments and defaulting to a list of functions that implements the default behavior.
(translate-output-locations PATHNAME) Applies the configured output location translations to PATHNAME (calls ensure-output-locations for the locations).
Credits =======
Thanks a lot to Bjorn Lindberg and Gary King for ASDF-Binary-Locations, and to Peter van Eynde for Common Lisp Controller.
All bad design ideas and implementation bugs are to mine, not theirs. But so are good design ideas and elegant implementation tricks.
-- Francois-Rene Rideau <...>