perlembed - how to embed perl in your C program
PREAMBLE
Do you want to:
Use C from Perl?
Read perlxstut, perlxs, h2xs, perlguts, and perlapi.
Use a Unix program from Perl?
Read about back-quotes and about "system" and "exec"
in perlfunc.
Use Perl from Perl?
Read about "do" in perlfunc and "eval" in perlfunc
and "require" in perlfunc and "use" in perlfunc.
Use C from C?
Rethink your design.
Use Perl from C?
Read on...
ROADMAP [Toc] [Back]
o Compiling your C program
o Adding a Perl interpreter to your C program
o Calling a Perl subroutine from your C program
o Evaluating a Perl statement from your C program
o Performing Perl pattern matches and substitutions
from your C program
o Fiddling with the Perl stack from your C program
o Maintaining a persistent interpreter
o Maintaining multiple interpreter instances
o Using Perl modules, which themselves use C libraries,
from your C program
o Embedding Perl under Win32
Compiling your C program [Toc] [Back]
If you have trouble compiling the scripts in this documentation,
you're not alone. The cardinal rule: COMPILE THE
PROGRAMS IN EXACTLY THE SAME WAY THAT YOUR PERL WAS COMPILED.
(Sorry for yelling.)
Also, every C program that uses Perl must link in the perl
library. What's that, you ask? Perl is itself written in
C; the perl library is the collection of compiled C programs
that were used to create your perl executable
(/usr/bin/perl or equivalent). (Corollary: you can't use
Perl from your C program unless Perl has been compiled on
your machine, or installed properly--that's why you
shouldn't blithely copy Perl executables from machine to
machine without also copying the lib directory.)
When you use Perl from C, your C program will--usually--allocate,
"run", and deallocate a PerlInterpreter
object, which is defined by the perl library.
If your copy of Perl is recent enough to contain this documentation
(version 5.002 or later), then the perl library
(and EXTERN.h and perl.h, which you'll also need) will
reside in a directory that looks like this:
/usr/local/lib/perl5/your_architecture_here/CORE
or perhaps just
/usr/local/lib/perl5/CORE
or maybe something like
/usr/opt/perl5/CORE
Execute this statement for a hint about where to find
CORE:
perl -MConfig -e 'print $Config{archlib}'
Here's how you'd compile the example in the next section,
"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 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
-L/usr/local/lib/perl5/alpha-dec_osf/5.00305/CORE
-L/usr/local/lib
-D__LANGUAGE_C__ -D_NO_PROTO -o interp interp.c -lperl
-lm
How can you figure out what to add? Assuming your Perl is
post-5.001, execute a "perl -V" command and pay special
attention to the "cc" and "ccflags" information.
You'll have to choose the appropriate compiler (cc, gcc,
et al.) for your machine: "perl -MConfig -e 'print $Config{cc}'"
will tell you what to use.
You'll also have to choose the appropriate library directory
(/usr/local/lib/...) for your machine. If your compiler
complains that certain functions are undefined, or
that it can't locate -lperl, then you need to change the
path following the "-L". If it complains that it can't
find EXTERN.h and perl.h, you need to change the path following
the "-I".
You may have to add extra libraries as well. Which ones?
Perhaps those printed by
perl -MConfig -e 'print $Config{libs}'
Provided your perl binary was properly configured and
installed the ExtUtils::Embed module will determine all of
this information for you:
% cc -o interp interp.c `perl -MExtUtils::Embed -e
ccopts -e ldopts`
If the 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/
(If this documentation came from your Perl distribution,
then you're running 5.004 or better and you already have
it.)
The ExtUtils::Embed kit on CPAN also contains all source
code for the examples in this document, tests, additional
examples and other information you may find useful.
Adding a Perl interpreter to your C program [Toc] [Back]
In a sense, perl (the C program) is a good example of
embedding Perl (the language), so I'll demonstrate embedding
with miniperlmain.c, included in the source distribution.
Here's a bastardized, nonportable version of
miniperlmain.c containing the essentials of embedding:
#include <EXTERN.h> /* from the Perl
distribution */
#include <perl.h> /* from the Perl
distribution */
static PerlInterpreter *my_perl; /*** The Perl interpreter ***/
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 "env" pointer. Normally
handed to "perl_parse" as its final argument, "env" here
is replaced by "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;
since PERL_SYS_INIT3() may change "env", it may be more
appropriate to provide "env" as an argument to
perl_parse().
Now compile this program (I'll call it interp.c) into an
executable:
% cc -o interp interp.c `perl -MExtUtils::Embed -e
ccopts -e ldopts`
After a successful compilation, you'll be able to use
interp just like perl itself:
% interp
print "Pretty Good Perl 0;
print "10890 - 9801 is ", 10890 - 9801;
<CTRL-D>
Pretty Good Perl
10890 - 9801 is 1089
or
% interp -e 'printf("%x", 3735928559)'
deadbeef
You can also read and execute Perl statements from a file
while in the midst of your C program, by placing the filename
in argv[1] before calling perl_run.
Calling a Perl subroutine from your C program [Toc] [Back]
To call individual Perl subroutines, you can use any of
the call_* functions documented in perlcall. In this
example we'll use "call_argv".
That's shown below, in a program I'll call showtime.c.
#include <EXTERN.h>
#include <perl.h>
static PerlInterpreter *my_perl;
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() ***/
call_argv("showtime", G_DISCARD | G_NOARGS, args);
perl_destruct(my_perl);
perl_free(my_perl);
PERL_SYS_TERM();
}
where showtime is a Perl subroutine that takes no arguments
(that's the G_NOARGS) and for which I'll ignore the
return value (that's the G_DISCARD). Those flags, and
others, are discussed in perlcall.
I'll define the showtime subroutine in a file called show-
time.pl:
print "I shan't be printed.";
sub showtime {
print time;
}
Simple enough. Now compile and run:
% 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 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 "NULL"-terminated "args" list
passed to call_argv. For other data types, or to examine
return values, you'll need to manipulate the Perl stack.
That's demonstrated in "Fiddling with the Perl stack from
your C program".
Evaluating a Perl statement from your C program [Toc] [Back]
Perl provides two API functions to evaluate pieces of Perl
code. These are "eval_sv" in perlapi and "eval_pv" in
perlapi.
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 "use" in perlfunc,
"require" in perlfunc, and "do" in perlfunc to include
external Perl files.
eval_pv lets us evaluate individual Perl strings, and then
extract variables for coercion into C types. The following
program, string.c, executes three Perl strings,
extracting an "int" from the first, a "float" from the
second, and a "char *" from the third.
#include <EXTERN.h>
#include <perl.h>
static PerlInterpreter *my_perl;
main (int argc, char **argv, char **env)
{
STRLEN n_a;
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 = %d0, SvIV(get_sv("a", FALSE)));
/** Treat $a as a float **/
eval_pv("$a = 3.14; $a **= 2", TRUE);
printf("a = %f0, SvNV(get_sv("a", FALSE)));
/** Treat $a as a string **/
eval_pv("$a = 'rekcaH lreP rehtonA tsuJ'; $a = reverse($a);", TRUE);
printf("a = %s0, SvPV(get_sv("a", FALSE), n_a));
perl_destruct(my_perl);
perl_free(my_perl);
PERL_SYS_TERM();
}
All of those strange functions with sv in their names help
convert Perl scalars to C types. They're described in
perlguts and perlapi.
If you compile and run string.c, you'll see the results of
using SvIV() to create an "int", SvNV() to create a
"float", and SvPV() to create a string:
a = 9
a = 9.859600
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 possible and in most cases a better
strategy to fetch the return value from eval_pv() instead.
Example:
...
STRLEN n_a;
SV *val = eval_pv("reverse 'rekcaH lreP rehtonA tsuJ'",
TRUE);
printf("%s0, SvPV(val,n_a));
...
This way, we avoid namespace pollution by not creating
global variables and we've simplified our code as well.
Performing Perl pattern matches and substitutions from [Toc] [Back]
your C program
The 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: match(), substi-
tute(), and matches().
I32 match(SV *string, char *pattern);
Given a string and a pattern (e.g., "m/clasp/" or
"/4
"/\b\w*\b/"), match() returns 1 if the string matches
the pattern and 0 otherwise.
int substitute(SV **string, char *pattern);
Given a pointer to an "SV" and an "=~" operation (e.g.,
"s/bob/robert/g" or "tr[A-Z][a-z]"), substitute() modifies
the string within the "SV" as according to the operation,
returning the number of substitutions made.
int matches(SV *string, char *pattern, AV **matches);
Given an "SV", a pattern, and a pointer to an empty "AV",
matches() evaluates "$string =~ $pattern" in a list context,
and fills in matches with the array elements,
returning the number of matches found.
Here's a sample program, match.c, that uses all three
(long lines have been wrapped here):
#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;
STRLEN n_a;
PUSHMARK(SP);
eval_sv(sv, G_SCALAR);
SPAGAIN;
retval = POPs;
PUTBACK;
if (croak_on_error && SvTRUE(ERRSV))
croak(SvPVx(ERRSV, n_a));
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(1099, 0), *retval;
STRLEN n_a;
sv_setpvf(command, "my $string = '%s'; $string =~
%s",
SvPV(string,n_a), pattern);
retval = my_eval_sv(command, TRUE);
SvREFCNT_dec(command);
return SvIV(retval);
}
/** substitute(string, pattern)
**
** Used for =~ operations that modify their left-hand
side (s/// and tr///)
**
** Returns the number of successful matches, and
** modifies the input string if there were any.
**/
I32 substitute(SV **string, char *pattern)
{
SV *command = NEWSV(1099, 0), *retval;
STRLEN n_a;
sv_setpvf(command, "$string = '%s'; ($string =~ %s)",
SvPV(*string,n_a), pattern);
retval = my_eval_sv(command, TRUE);
SvREFCNT_dec(command);
*string = get_sv("string", FALSE);
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
**/
I32 matches(SV *string, char *pattern, AV **match_list)
{
SV *command = NEWSV(1099, 0);
I32 num_matches;
STRLEN n_a;
sv_setpvf(command, "my $string = '%s'; @array =
($string =~ %s)",
SvPV(string,n_a), pattern);
my_eval_sv(command, TRUE);
SvREFCNT_dec(command);
*match_list = get_av("array", FALSE);
num_matches = av_len(*match_list) + 1; /** assume $[
is 0 **/
return num_matches;
}
main (int argc, char **argv, char **env)
{
char *embedding[] = { "", "-e", "0" };
AV *match_list;
I32 num_matches, i;
SV *text;
STRLEN n_a;
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;
text = NEWSV(1099,0);
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");
if (match(text, "m/quarter/")) /** Does text contain
'quarter'? **/
printf("match: Text contains the word 'quarter'.0);
else
printf("match: Text doesn't contain the word
'quarter'.0);
if (match(text, "m/eighth/")) /** Does text contain
'eighth'? **/
printf("match: Text contains the word 'eighth'.0);
else
printf("match: Text doesn't contain the word
'eighth'.0);
/** Match all occurrences of /wi../ **/
num_matches = matches(text, "m/(wi..)/g",
&match_list);
printf("matches: m/(wi..)/g found %d matches...0,
num_matches);
for (i = 0; i < num_matches; i++)
printf("match: %s0, SvPV(*av_fetch(match_list, i,
FALSE),n_a));
printf("0);
/** Remove all vowels from text **/
num_matches = substitute(&text, "s/[aeiou]//gi");
if (num_matches) {
printf("substitute: s/[aeiou]//gi...%d substitutions made.0,
num_matches);
printf("Now text is: %s0, SvPV(text,n_a));
}
/** Attempt a substitution **/
if (!substitute(&text, "s/Perl/C/")) {
printf("substitute: s/Perl/C...No substitution
made.0);
}
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 doesn't contain the word 'eighth'.
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/Perl/C...No substitution made.
Fiddling with the Perl stack from your C program [Toc] [Back]
When trying to explain stacks, most computer science textbooks
mumble something about spring-loaded columns of
cafeteria plates: the last thing you pushed on the stack
is the first thing you pop off. That'll do for our purposes:
your C program will push some arguments onto "the
Perl stack", shut its eyes while some magic happens, and
then pop the results--the return value of your Perl subroutine--off
the stack.
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 perlguts and
perlapi.
Then you'll need to know how to manipulate the Perl stack.
That's described in perlcall.
Once you've understood those, embedding Perl in C is easy.
Because C has no builtin function for integer
exponentiation, let's make Perl's ** operator available to
it (this is less useful than it sounds, because Perl
implements ** with C's pow() function). First I'll create
a stub exponentiation function in power.pl:
sub expo {
my ($a, $b) = @_;
return $a ** $b;
}
Now I'll create a C program, power.c, with a function
PerlPower() that contains all the perlguts necessary to
push the two arguments into expo() and to pop the return
value out. Take a deep breath...
#include <EXTERN.h>
#include <perl.h>
static PerlInterpreter *my_perl;
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.0, a, b, POPi);
PUTBACK;
FREETMPS; /* free that return
value */
LEAVE; /* ...and the XPUSHed
"mortal" args.*/
}
int main (int argc, char **argv, char **env)
{
char *my_argv[] = { "", "power.pl" };
PERL_SYS_INIT3(&argc,&argv,&env);
my_perl = perl_alloc();
perl_construct( 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 ***/
perl_destruct(my_perl);
perl_free(my_perl);
PERL_SYS_TERM();
}
Compile and run:
% cc -o power power.c `perl -MExtUtils::Embed -e
ccopts -e ldopts`
% power
3 to the 4th power is 81.
Maintaining a persistent interpreter [Toc] [Back]
When developing interactive and/or potentially long-running
applications, it's a good idea to maintain a persistent
interpreter rather than allocating and constructing a
new interpreter multiple times. The major reason is
speed: since Perl will only be loaded into memory once.
However, you have to be more cautious with namespace and
variable scoping when using a persistent interpreter. In
previous examples we've been using global variables in the
default package "main". We knew exactly what code would
be run, and assumed we could avoid variable collisions and
outrageous symbol table growth.
Let's say your application is a server that will occasionally
run Perl code from some arbitrary file. Your server
has no way of knowing what code it's going to run. Very
dangerous.
If the file is pulled in by "perl_parse()", compiled into
a newly constructed interpreter, and subsequently cleaned
out with "perl_destruct()" afterwards, you're shielded
from most namespace troubles.
One way to avoid namespace collisions in this scenario is
to translate the filename into a guaranteed-unique package
name, and then compile the code into that package using
"eval" in perlfunc. 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 "call_argv" in perlapi,
We'll call the subroutine "Embed::Persistent::eval_file"
which lives in the file "persistent.pl"
and pass the filename and boolean cleanup/cache flag as
arguments.
Note that the process will continue to grow for each file
that it uses. In addition, there might be "AUTOLOAD"ed
subroutines and other conditions that cause Perl's symbol
table to grow. You might want to add some logic that
keeps track of the process size, or restarts itself after
a certain number of requests, to ensure that memory consumption
is minimized. You'll also want to scope your
variables with "my" in perlfunc whenever possible.
package Embed::Persistent;
#persistent.pl
use strict;
our %Cache;
use Symbol qw(delete_package);
sub valid_package_name {
my($string) = @_;
$string =~ s/([^A-Za-z0-9])/sprintf("_%2x",unpack("C",$1))/eg;
# second pass only for words starting with a digit
$string =~ s|/()|sprintf("/_%2x",unpack("C",$1))|eg;
# Dress it up as a real package name
$string =~ s|/|::|g;
return "Embed" . $string;
}
sub eval_file {
my($filename, $delete) = @_;
my $package = valid_package_name($filename);
my $mtime = -M $filename;
if(defined $Cache{$package}{mtime}
&&
$Cache{$package}{mtime} <= $mtime)
{
# we have compiled this subroutine already,
# it has not been updated on disk, nothing left to
do
print STDERR "already compiled $package->handler0;
}
else {
local *FH;
open FH, $filename or die "open '$filename' $!";
local($/) = undef;
my $sub = <FH>;
close FH;
#wrap the code into a subroutine inside our unique
package
my $eval = qq{package $package; sub handler {
$sub; }};
{
# hide our variables within this block
my($filename,$mtime,$package,$sub);
eval $eval;
}
die $@ if $@;
#cache it unless we're cleaning out each time
$Cache{$package}{mtime} = $mtime unless $delete;
}
eval {$package->handler;};
die $@ if $@;
delete_package($package) if $delete;
#take a look if you want
#print Devel::Symdump->rnew($package)->as_string, $/;
}
1;
__END__
/* persistent.c */
#include <EXTERN.h>
#include <perl.h>
/* 1 = clean out filename's symbol table after each request, 0 = don't */
#ifndef DO_CLEAN
#define DO_CLEAN 0
#endif
#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[BUFFER_SIZE];
int exitstatus = 0;
STRLEN n_a;
PERL_SYS_INIT3(&argc,&argv,&env);
if((my_perl = perl_alloc()) == NULL) {
fprintf(stderr, "no memory!");
exit(1);
}
perl_construct(my_perl);
exitstatus = perl_parse(my_perl, NULL, 2, embedding,
NULL);
PL_exit_flags |= PERL_EXIT_DESTRUCT_END;
if(!exitstatus) {
exitstatus = perl_run(my_perl);
while(printf("Enter file name: ") &&
fgets(filename, BUFFER_SIZE, stdin)) {
filename[strlen(filename)-1] = ' '; /* strip
*/
/* call the subroutine, passing it the filename as an argument */
args[0] = filename;
call_argv("Embed::Persistent::eval_file",
G_DISCARD | G_EVAL, args);
/* check $@ */
if(SvTRUE(ERRSV))
fprintf(stderr, "eval error: %s0,
SvPV(ERRSV,n_a));
}
}
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`
Here's an example script file:
#test.pl
my $string = "hello";
foo($string);
sub foo {
print "foo says: @_0;
}
Now run:
% persistent
Enter file name: test.pl
foo says: hello
Enter file name: test.pl
already compiled Embed::test_2epl->handler
foo says: hello
Enter file name: ^C
Execution of END blocks [Toc] [Back]
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
"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 "perl_destruct" will return the
exit value.
Maintaining multiple interpreter instances
Some rare applications will need to create more than one
interpreter during a session. Such an application might
sporadically decide to release any resources associated
with the interpreter.
The program must take care to ensure that this takes place
before the next interpreter is constructed. By default,
when perl is not built with any special options, the
global variable "PL_perl_destruct_level" is set to 0,
since extra cleaning isn't usually needed when a program
only ever creates a single interpreter in its entire lifetime.
Setting "PL_perl_destruct_level" to 1 makes everything
squeaky clean:
while(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);
...
/* let's go do it again! */
}
When perl_destruct() is called, the interpreter's syntax
parse tree and symbol tables are cleaned up, and global
variables are reset. The second assignment to
"PL_perl_destruct_level" is needed because perl_construct
resets it to 0.
Now suppose we have more than one interpreter instance
running at the same time. This is feasible, but only if
you used the Configure option "-Dusemultiplicity" or the
options "-Dusethreads -Duseithreads" when building perl.
By default, enabling one of these Configure options sets
the per-interpreter global variable
"PL_perl_destruct_level" to 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 "-Dusemultiplicity" option otherwise
some interpreter variables may not be initialized correctly
between consecutive runs and your application may
crash.
Using "-Dusethreads -Duseithreads" rather than "-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 <EXTERN.h>
#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 $^X0"
int main(int argc, char **argv, char **env)
{
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
"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`
Run it, Run it:
% multiplicity
Hi, I'm one_perl
Hi, I'm two_perl
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 use()s a Perl module (such as Socket)
which itself uses a C or C++ library, this probably happened:
Can't load module Socket, dynamic loading not available
in this perl.
(You may need to build a new perl executable which either supports
dynamic loading or has the Socket module statically
linked into it.)
What's wrong?
Your interpreter doesn't know how to communicate with
these extensions on its own. A little glue will help. Up
until now you've been calling perl_parse(), handing it
NULL for the second argument:
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 perlmain.c to see how
Perl does this:
static void xs_init (pTHX);
EXTERN_C void boot_DynaLoader (pTHX_ CV* cv);
EXTERN_C void boot_Socket (pTHX_ CV* cv);
EXTERN_C void
xs_init(pTHX)
{
char *file = __FILE__;
/* DynaLoader is a special case */
newXS("DynaLoader::boot_DynaLoader", boot_DynaLoader, file);
newXS("Socket::bootstrap", boot_Socket, file);
}
Simply put: for each extension linked with your Perl executable
(determined during its initial configuration on
your computer or when adding a new extension), a Perl subroutine
is created to incorporate the extension's routines.
Normally, that subroutine is named Module::boot-
strap() and is invoked when you say use Module. In turn,
this hooks into an XSUB, boot_Module, which creates a Perl
counterpart for each of the extension's XSUBs. Don't
worry about this part; leave that to the xsubpp and extension
authors. If your extension is dynamically loaded,
DynaLoader creates Module::bootstrap() for you on the fly.
In fact, if you have a working DynaLoader then there is
rarely any need to link in any other extensions statically.
Once you have this code, slap it into the second argument
of perl_parse():
perl_parse(my_perl, xs_init, argc, my_argv, NULL);
Then compile:
% cc -o interp interp.c `perl -MExtUtils::Embed -e ccopts
-e ldopts`
% interp
use Socket;
use SomeDynamicallyLoadedModule;
print "Now I can use extensions!0'
ExtUtils::Embed can also automate writing the xs_init glue
code.
% perl -MExtUtils::Embed -e xsinit -- -o perlxsi.c
% cc -c perlxsi.c `perl -MExtUtils::Embed -e ccopts`
% cc -c interp.c `perl -MExtUtils::Embed -e ccopts`
% cc -o interp perlxsi.o interp.o `perl -MExtUtils::Embed
-e ldopts`
Consult perlxs, perlguts, and perlapi for more details.
Embedding Perl under Win32 [Toc] [Back] In general, all of the source code shown here should work
unmodified under Windows.
However, there are some caveats about the command-line
examples shown. For starters, backticks won't work under
the Win32 native command shell. The ExtUtils::Embed kit
on CPAN ships with a script called genmake, which generates
a simple makefile to build a program from a single C
source file. It can be used like this:
C:tils-Embed\g> perl genmake interp.c
C:tils-Embed\g> nmake
C:tils-Embed\g> interp -e "print qq{I'm embedded in
Win32!0"
You may wish to use a more robust environment such as the
Microsoft Developer Studio. In this case, run this to
generate perlxsi.c:
perl -MExtUtils::Embed -e xsinit
Create a new project and Insert -> Files into Project:
perlxsi.c, perl.lib, and your own source files, e.g.
interp.c. Typically you'll find perl.lib in
C:erlibRE,
if not, you should see the CORE directory
relative to "perl -V:archlib". The studio will also
need this path so it knows where to find Perl include
files. This path can be added via the Tools -> Options ->
Directories menu. Finally, select Build -> Build
interp.exe and you're ready to go.
If you completely hide the short forms 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 "Background and PERL_IMPLICIT_CONTEXT for the explanation
of the "aTHX_"." in perlguts ) 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.)
You can sometimes write faster code in C, but you can
always write code faster in Perl. Because you can use
each from the other, combine them as you wish.
Jon Orwant <[email protected]> and Doug MacEachern
<[email protected]>, with small contributions from Tim
Bunce, Tom Christiansen, Guy Decoux, Hallvard Furuseth,
Dov Grobgeld, and Ilya Zakharevich.
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.
July 22, 1998
Copyright (C) 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998 Doug MacEachern and
Jon Orwant. All Rights Reserved.
Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim
copies of this documentation provided the copyright notice
and this permission notice are preserved on all copies.
Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions
of this documentation under the conditions for verbatim
copying, provided also that they are marked clearly
as modified versions, that the authors' names and title
are unchanged (though subtitles and additional authors'
names may be added), and that the entire resulting derived
work is distributed under the terms of a permission notice
identical to this one.
Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations
of this documentation into another language, under the
above conditions for modified versions.
perl v5.8.5 2002-11-06 22 [ Back ] |
