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+=head1 NAME
+
+perlXStut - Tutorial for writing XSUBs
+
+=head1 DESCRIPTION
+
+This tutorial will educate the reader on the steps involved in creating
+a Perl extension. The reader is assumed to have access to L<perlguts>,
+L<perlapi> and L<perlxs>.
+
+This tutorial starts with very simple examples and becomes more complex,
+with each new example adding new features. Certain concepts may not be
+completely explained until later in the tutorial in order to slowly ease
+the reader into building extensions.
+
+This tutorial was written from a Unix point of view. Where I know them
+to be otherwise different for other platforms (e.g. Win32), I will list
+them. If you find something that was missed, please let me know.
+
+=head1 SPECIAL NOTES
+
+=head2 make
+
+This tutorial assumes that the make program that Perl is configured to
+use is called C<make>. Instead of running "make" in the examples that
+follow, you may have to substitute whatever make program Perl has been
+configured to use. Running B<perl -V:make> should tell you what it is.
+
+=head2 Version caveat
+
+When writing a Perl extension for general consumption, one should expect that
+the extension will be used with versions of Perl different from the
+version available on your machine. Since you are reading this document,
+the version of Perl on your machine is probably 5.005 or later, but the users
+of your extension may have more ancient versions.
+
+To understand what kinds of incompatibilities one may expect, and in the rare
+case that the version of Perl on your machine is older than this document,
+see the section on "Troubleshooting these Examples" for more information.
+
+If your extension uses some features of Perl which are not available on older
+releases of Perl, your users would appreciate an early meaningful warning.
+You would probably put this information into the F<README> file, but nowadays
+installation of extensions may be performed automatically, guided by F<CPAN.pm>
+module or other tools.
+
+In MakeMaker-based installations, F<Makefile.PL> provides the earliest
+opportunity to perform version checks. One can put something like this
+in F<Makefile.PL> for this purpose:
+
+ eval { require 5.007 }
+ or die <<EOD;
+ ############
+ ### This module uses frobnication framework which is not available before
+ ### version 5.007 of Perl. Upgrade your Perl before installing Kara::Mba.
+ ############
+ EOD
+
+=head2 Dynamic Loading versus Static Loading
+
+It is commonly thought that if a system does not have the capability to
+dynamically load a library, you cannot build XSUBs. This is incorrect.
+You I<can> build them, but you must link the XSUBs subroutines with the
+rest of Perl, creating a new executable. This situation is similar to
+Perl 4.
+
+This tutorial can still be used on such a system. The XSUB build mechanism
+will check the system and build a dynamically-loadable library if possible,
+or else a static library and then, optionally, a new statically-linked
+executable with that static library linked in.
+
+Should you wish to build a statically-linked executable on a system which
+can dynamically load libraries, you may, in all the following examples,
+where the command "C<make>" with no arguments is executed, run the command
+"C<make perl>" instead.
+
+If you have generated such a statically-linked executable by choice, then
+instead of saying "C<make test>", you should say "C<make test_static>".
+On systems that cannot build dynamically-loadable libraries at all, simply
+saying "C<make test>" is sufficient.
+
+=head1 TUTORIAL
+
+Now let's go on with the show!
+
+=head2 EXAMPLE 1
+
+Our first extension will be very simple. When we call the routine in the
+extension, it will print out a well-known message and return.
+
+Run "C<h2xs -A -n Mytest>". This creates a directory named Mytest,
+possibly under ext/ if that directory exists in the current working
+directory. Several files will be created under the Mytest dir, including
+MANIFEST, Makefile.PL, lib/Mytest.pm, Mytest.xs, t/Mytest.t, and Changes.
+
+The MANIFEST file contains the names of all the files just created in the
+Mytest directory.
+
+The file Makefile.PL should look something like this:
+
+ use ExtUtils::MakeMaker;
+ # See lib/ExtUtils/MakeMaker.pm for details of how to influence
+ # the contents of the Makefile that is written.
+ WriteMakefile(
+ NAME => 'Mytest',
+ VERSION_FROM => 'Mytest.pm', # finds $VERSION
+ LIBS => [''], # e.g., '-lm'
+ DEFINE => '', # e.g., '-DHAVE_SOMETHING'
+ INC => '', # e.g., '-I/usr/include/other'
+ );
+
+The file Mytest.pm should start with something like this:
+
+ package Mytest;
+
+ use 5.008008;
+ use strict;
+ use warnings;
+
+ require Exporter;
+
+ our @ISA = qw(Exporter);
+ our %EXPORT_TAGS = ( 'all' => [ qw(
+
+ ) ] );
+
+ our @EXPORT_OK = ( @{ $EXPORT_TAGS{'all'} } );
+
+ our @EXPORT = qw(
+
+ );
+
+ our $VERSION = '0.01';
+
+ require XSLoader;
+ XSLoader::load('Mytest', $VERSION);
+
+ # Preloaded methods go here.
+
+ 1;
+ __END__
+ # Below is the stub of documentation for your module. You better edit it!
+
+The rest of the .pm file contains sample code for providing documentation for
+the extension.
+
+Finally, the Mytest.xs file should look something like this:
+
+ #include "EXTERN.h"
+ #include "perl.h"
+ #include "XSUB.h"
+
+ #include "ppport.h"
+
+ MODULE = Mytest PACKAGE = Mytest
+
+Let's edit the .xs file by adding this to the end of the file:
+
+ void
+ hello()
+ CODE:
+ printf("Hello, world!\n");
+
+It is okay for the lines starting at the "CODE:" line to not be indented.
+However, for readability purposes, it is suggested that you indent CODE:
+one level and the lines following one more level.
+
+Now we'll run "C<perl Makefile.PL>". This will create a real Makefile,
+which make needs. Its output looks something like:
+
+ % perl Makefile.PL
+ Checking if your kit is complete...
+ Looks good
+ Writing Makefile for Mytest
+ %
+
+Now, running make will produce output that looks something like this (some
+long lines have been shortened for clarity and some extraneous lines have
+been deleted):
+
+ % make
+ cp lib/Mytest.pm blib/lib/Mytest.pm
+ perl xsubpp -typemap typemap Mytest.xs > Mytest.xsc && mv Mytest.xsc Mytest.c
+ Please specify prototyping behavior for Mytest.xs (see perlxs manual)
+ cc -c Mytest.c
+ Running Mkbootstrap for Mytest ()
+ chmod 644 Mytest.bs
+ rm -f blib/arch/auto/Mytest/Mytest.so
+ cc -shared -L/usr/local/lib Mytest.o -o blib/arch/auto/Mytest/Mytest.so \
+ \
+
+ chmod 755 blib/arch/auto/Mytest/Mytest.so
+ cp Mytest.bs blib/arch/auto/Mytest/Mytest.bs
+ chmod 644 blib/arch/auto/Mytest/Mytest.bs
+ Manifying blib/man3/Mytest.3pm
+ %
+
+You can safely ignore the line about "prototyping behavior" - it is
+explained in L<perlxs/"The PROTOTYPES: Keyword">.
+
+If you are on a Win32 system, and the build process fails with linker
+errors for functions in the C library, check if your Perl is configured
+to use PerlCRT (running B<perl -V:libc> should show you if this is the
+case). If Perl is configured to use PerlCRT, you have to make sure
+PerlCRT.lib is copied to the same location that msvcrt.lib lives in,
+so that the compiler can find it on its own. msvcrt.lib is usually
+found in the Visual C compiler's lib directory (e.g. C:/DevStudio/VC/lib).
+
+Perl has its own special way of easily writing test scripts, but for this
+example only, we'll create our own test script. Create a file called hello
+that looks like this:
+
+ #! /opt/perl5/bin/perl
+
+ use ExtUtils::testlib;
+
+ use Mytest;
+
+ Mytest::hello();
+
+Now we make the script executable (C<chmod +x hello>), run the script
+and we should see the following output:
+
+ % ./hello
+ Hello, world!
+ %
+
+=head2 EXAMPLE 2
+
+Now let's add to our extension a subroutine that will take a single numeric
+argument as input and return 0 if the number is even or 1 if the number
+is odd.
+
+Add the following to the end of Mytest.xs:
+
+ int
+ is_even(input)
+ int input
+ CODE:
+ RETVAL = (input % 2 == 0);
+ OUTPUT:
+ RETVAL
+
+There does not need to be whitespace at the start of the "C<int input>"
+line, but it is useful for improving readability. Placing a semi-colon at
+the end of that line is also optional. Any amount and kind of whitespace
+may be placed between the "C<int>" and "C<input>".
+
+Now re-run make to rebuild our new shared library.
+
+Now perform the same steps as before, generating a Makefile from the
+Makefile.PL file, and running make.
+
+In order to test that our extension works, we now need to look at the
+file Mytest.t. This file is set up to imitate the same kind of testing
+structure that Perl itself has. Within the test script, you perform a
+number of tests to confirm the behavior of the extension, printing "ok"
+when the test is correct, "not ok" when it is not.
+
+ use Test::More tests => 4;
+ BEGIN { use_ok('Mytest') };
+
+ #########################
+
+ # Insert your test code below, the Test::More module is use()ed here so read
+ # its man page ( perldoc Test::More ) for help writing this test script.
+
+ is(&Mytest::is_even(0), 1);
+ is(&Mytest::is_even(1), 0);
+ is(&Mytest::is_even(2), 1);
+
+We will be calling the test script through the command "C<make test>". You
+should see output that looks something like this:
+
+ %make test
+ PERL_DL_NONLAZY=1 /usr/bin/perl "-MExtUtils::Command::MM" "-e" "test_harness(0, 'blib/lib', 'blib/arch')" t/*.t
+ t/Mytest....ok
+ All tests successful.
+ Files=1, Tests=4, 0 wallclock secs ( 0.03 cusr + 0.00 csys = 0.03 CPU)
+ %
+
+=head2 What has gone on?
+
+The program h2xs is the starting point for creating extensions. In later
+examples we'll see how we can use h2xs to read header files and generate
+templates to connect to C routines.
+
+h2xs creates a number of files in the extension directory. The file
+Makefile.PL is a perl script which will generate a true Makefile to build
+the extension. We'll take a closer look at it later.
+
+The .pm and .xs files contain the meat of the extension. The .xs file holds
+the C routines that make up the extension. The .pm file contains routines
+that tell Perl how to load your extension.
+
+Generating the Makefile and running C<make> created a directory called blib
+(which stands for "build library") in the current working directory. This
+directory will contain the shared library that we will build. Once we have
+tested it, we can install it into its final location.
+
+Invoking the test script via "C<make test>" did something very important.
+It invoked perl with all those C<-I> arguments so that it could find the
+various files that are part of the extension. It is I<very> important that
+while you are still testing extensions that you use "C<make test>". If you
+try to run the test script all by itself, you will get a fatal error.
+Another reason it is important to use "C<make test>" to run your test
+script is that if you are testing an upgrade to an already-existing version,
+using "C<make test>" ensures that you will test your new extension, not the
+already-existing version.
+
+When Perl sees a C<use extension;>, it searches for a file with the same name
+as the C<use>'d extension that has a .pm suffix. If that file cannot be found,
+Perl dies with a fatal error. The default search path is contained in the
+C<@INC> array.
+
+In our case, Mytest.pm tells perl that it will need the Exporter and Dynamic
+Loader extensions. It then sets the C<@ISA> and C<@EXPORT> arrays and the
+C<$VERSION> scalar; finally it tells perl to bootstrap the module. Perl
+will call its dynamic loader routine (if there is one) and load the shared
+library.
+
+The two arrays C<@ISA> and C<@EXPORT> are very important. The C<@ISA>
+array contains a list of other packages in which to search for methods (or
+subroutines) that do not exist in the current package. This is usually
+only important for object-oriented extensions (which we will talk about
+much later), and so usually doesn't need to be modified.
+
+The C<@EXPORT> array tells Perl which of the extension's variables and
+subroutines should be placed into the calling package's namespace. Because
+you don't know if the user has already used your variable and subroutine
+names, it's vitally important to carefully select what to export. Do I<not>
+export method or variable names I<by default> without a good reason.
+
+As a general rule, if the module is trying to be object-oriented then don't
+export anything. If it's just a collection of functions and variables, then
+you can export them via another array, called C<@EXPORT_OK>. This array
+does not automatically place its subroutine and variable names into the
+namespace unless the user specifically requests that this be done.
+
+See L<perlmod> for more information.
+
+The C<$VERSION> variable is used to ensure that the .pm file and the shared
+library are "in sync" with each other. Any time you make changes to
+the .pm or .xs files, you should increment the value of this variable.
+
+=head2 Writing good test scripts
+
+The importance of writing good test scripts cannot be over-emphasized. You
+should closely follow the "ok/not ok" style that Perl itself uses, so that
+it is very easy and unambiguous to determine the outcome of each test case.
+When you find and fix a bug, make sure you add a test case for it.
+
+By running "C<make test>", you ensure that your Mytest.t script runs and uses
+the correct version of your extension. If you have many test cases,
+save your test files in the "t" directory and use the suffix ".t".
+When you run "C<make test>", all of these test files will be executed.
+
+=head2 EXAMPLE 3
+
+Our third extension will take one argument as its input, round off that
+value, and set the I<argument> to the rounded value.
+
+Add the following to the end of Mytest.xs:
+
+ void
+ round(arg)
+ double arg
+ CODE:
+ if (arg > 0.0) {
+ arg = floor(arg + 0.5);
+ } else if (arg < 0.0) {
+ arg = ceil(arg - 0.5);
+ } else {
+ arg = 0.0;
+ }
+ OUTPUT:
+ arg
+
+Edit the Makefile.PL file so that the corresponding line looks like this:
+
+ 'LIBS' => ['-lm'], # e.g., '-lm'
+
+Generate the Makefile and run make. Change the test number in Mytest.t to
+"9" and add the following tests:
+
+ $i = -1.5; &Mytest::round($i); is( $i, -2.0 );
+ $i = -1.1; &Mytest::round($i); is( $i, -1.0 );
+ $i = 0.0; &Mytest::round($i); is( $i, 0.0 );
+ $i = 0.5; &Mytest::round($i); is( $i, 1.0 );
+ $i = 1.2; &Mytest::round($i); is( $i, 1.0 );
+
+Running "C<make test>" should now print out that all nine tests are okay.
+
+Notice that in these new test cases, the argument passed to round was a
+scalar variable. You might be wondering if you can round a constant or
+literal. To see what happens, temporarily add the following line to Mytest.t:
+
+ &Mytest::round(3);
+
+Run "C<make test>" and notice that Perl dies with a fatal error. Perl won't
+let you change the value of constants!
+
+=head2 What's new here?
+
+=over 4
+
+=item *
+
+We've made some changes to Makefile.PL. In this case, we've specified an
+extra library to be linked into the extension's shared library, the math
+library libm in this case. We'll talk later about how to write XSUBs that
+can call every routine in a library.
+
+=item *
+
+The value of the function is not being passed back as the function's return
+value, but by changing the value of the variable that was passed into the
+function. You might have guessed that when you saw that the return value
+of round is of type "void".
+
+=back
+
+=head2 Input and Output Parameters
+
+You specify the parameters that will be passed into the XSUB on the line(s)
+after you declare the function's return value and name. Each input parameter
+line starts with optional whitespace, and may have an optional terminating
+semicolon.
+
+The list of output parameters occurs at the very end of the function, just
+after the OUTPUT: directive. The use of RETVAL tells Perl that you
+wish to send this value back as the return value of the XSUB function. In
+Example 3, we wanted the "return value" placed in the original variable
+which we passed in, so we listed it (and not RETVAL) in the OUTPUT: section.
+
+=head2 The XSUBPP Program
+
+The B<xsubpp> program takes the XS code in the .xs file and translates it into
+C code, placing it in a file whose suffix is .c. The C code created makes
+heavy use of the C functions within Perl.
+
+=head2 The TYPEMAP file
+
+The B<xsubpp> program uses rules to convert from Perl's data types (scalar,
+array, etc.) to C's data types (int, char, etc.). These rules are stored
+in the typemap file ($PERLLIB/ExtUtils/typemap). This file is split into
+three parts.
+
+The first section maps various C data types to a name, which corresponds
+somewhat with the various Perl types. The second section contains C code
+which B<xsubpp> uses to handle input parameters. The third section contains
+C code which B<xsubpp> uses to handle output parameters.
+
+Let's take a look at a portion of the .c file created for our extension.
+The file name is Mytest.c:
+
+ XS(XS_Mytest_round)
+ {
+ dXSARGS;
+ if (items != 1)
+ Perl_croak(aTHX_ "Usage: Mytest::round(arg)");
+ PERL_UNUSED_VAR(cv); /* -W */
+ {
+ double arg = (double)SvNV(ST(0)); /* XXXXX */
+ if (arg > 0.0) {
+ arg = floor(arg + 0.5);
+ } else if (arg < 0.0) {
+ arg = ceil(arg - 0.5);
+ } else {
+ arg = 0.0;
+ }
+ sv_setnv(ST(0), (double)arg); /* XXXXX */
+ SvSETMAGIC(ST(0));
+ }
+ XSRETURN_EMPTY;
+ }
+
+Notice the two lines commented with "XXXXX". If you check the first section
+of the typemap file, you'll see that doubles are of type T_DOUBLE. In the
+INPUT section, an argument that is T_DOUBLE is assigned to the variable
+arg by calling the routine SvNV on something, then casting it to double,
+then assigned to the variable arg. Similarly, in the OUTPUT section,
+once arg has its final value, it is passed to the sv_setnv function to
+be passed back to the calling subroutine. These two functions are explained
+in L<perlguts>; we'll talk more later about what that "ST(0)" means in the
+section on the argument stack.
+
+=head2 Warning about Output Arguments
+
+In general, it's not a good idea to write extensions that modify their input
+parameters, as in Example 3. Instead, you should probably return multiple
+values in an array and let the caller handle them (we'll do this in a later
+example). However, in order to better accommodate calling pre-existing C
+routines, which often do modify their input parameters, this behavior is
+tolerated.
+
+=head2 EXAMPLE 4
+
+In this example, we'll now begin to write XSUBs that will interact with
+pre-defined C libraries. To begin with, we will build a small library of
+our own, then let h2xs write our .pm and .xs files for us.
+
+Create a new directory called Mytest2 at the same level as the directory
+Mytest. In the Mytest2 directory, create another directory called mylib,
+and cd into that directory.
+
+Here we'll create some files that will generate a test library. These will
+include a C source file and a header file. We'll also create a Makefile.PL
+in this directory. Then we'll make sure that running make at the Mytest2
+level will automatically run this Makefile.PL file and the resulting Makefile.
+
+In the mylib directory, create a file mylib.h that looks like this:
+
+ #define TESTVAL 4
+
+ extern double foo(int, long, const char*);
+
+Also create a file mylib.c that looks like this:
+
+ #include <stdlib.h>
+ #include "./mylib.h"
+
+ double
+ foo(int a, long b, const char *c)
+ {
+ return (a + b + atof(c) + TESTVAL);
+ }
+
+And finally create a file Makefile.PL that looks like this:
+
+ use ExtUtils::MakeMaker;
+ $Verbose = 1;
+ WriteMakefile(
+ NAME => 'Mytest2::mylib',
+ SKIP => [qw(all static static_lib dynamic dynamic_lib)],
+ clean => {'FILES' => 'libmylib$(LIB_EXT)'},
+ );
+
+
+ sub MY::top_targets {
+ '
+ all :: static
+
+ pure_all :: static
+
+ static :: libmylib$(LIB_EXT)
+
+ libmylib$(LIB_EXT): $(O_FILES)
+ $(AR) cr libmylib$(LIB_EXT) $(O_FILES)
+ $(RANLIB) libmylib$(LIB_EXT)
+
+ ';
+ }
+
+Make sure you use a tab and not spaces on the lines beginning with "$(AR)"
+and "$(RANLIB)". Make will not function properly if you use spaces.
+It has also been reported that the "cr" argument to $(AR) is unnecessary
+on Win32 systems.
+
+We will now create the main top-level Mytest2 files. Change to the directory
+above Mytest2 and run the following command:
+
+ % h2xs -O -n Mytest2 ./Mytest2/mylib/mylib.h
+
+This will print out a warning about overwriting Mytest2, but that's okay.
+Our files are stored in Mytest2/mylib, and will be untouched.
+
+The normal Makefile.PL that h2xs generates doesn't know about the mylib
+directory. We need to tell it that there is a subdirectory and that we
+will be generating a library in it. Let's add the argument MYEXTLIB to
+the WriteMakefile call so that it looks like this:
+
+ WriteMakefile(
+ 'NAME' => 'Mytest2',
+ 'VERSION_FROM' => 'Mytest2.pm', # finds $VERSION
+ 'LIBS' => [''], # e.g., '-lm'
+ 'DEFINE' => '', # e.g., '-DHAVE_SOMETHING'
+ 'INC' => '', # e.g., '-I/usr/include/other'
+ 'MYEXTLIB' => 'mylib/libmylib$(LIB_EXT)',
+ );
+
+and then at the end add a subroutine (which will override the pre-existing
+subroutine). Remember to use a tab character to indent the line beginning
+with "cd"!
+
+ sub MY::postamble {
+ '
+ $(MYEXTLIB): mylib/Makefile
+ cd mylib && $(MAKE) $(PASSTHRU)
+ ';
+ }
+
+Let's also fix the MANIFEST file so that it accurately reflects the contents
+of our extension. The single line that says "mylib" should be replaced by
+the following three lines:
+
+ mylib/Makefile.PL
+ mylib/mylib.c
+ mylib/mylib.h
+
+To keep our namespace nice and unpolluted, edit the .pm file and change
+the variable C<@EXPORT> to C<@EXPORT_OK>. Finally, in the
+.xs file, edit the #include line to read:
+
+ #include "mylib/mylib.h"
+
+And also add the following function definition to the end of the .xs file:
+
+ double
+ foo(a,b,c)
+ int a
+ long b
+ const char * c
+ OUTPUT:
+ RETVAL
+
+Now we also need to create a typemap file because the default Perl doesn't
+currently support the const char * type. Create a file called typemap in
+the Mytest2 directory and place the following in it:
+
+ const char * T_PV
+
+Now run perl on the top-level Makefile.PL. Notice that it also created a
+Makefile in the mylib directory. Run make and watch that it does cd into
+the mylib directory and run make in there as well.
+
+Now edit the Mytest2.t script and change the number of tests to "4",
+and add the following lines to the end of the script:
+
+ is( &Mytest2::foo(1, 2, "Hello, world!"), 7 );
+ is( &Mytest2::foo(1, 2, "0.0"), 7 );
+ ok( abs(&Mytest2::foo(0, 0, "-3.4") - 0.6) <= 0.01 );
+
+(When dealing with floating-point comparisons, it is best to not check for
+equality, but rather that the difference between the expected and actual
+result is below a certain amount (called epsilon) which is 0.01 in this case)
+
+Run "C<make test>" and all should be well. There are some warnings on missing tests
+for the Mytest2::mylib extension, but you can ignore them.
+
+=head2 What has happened here?
+
+Unlike previous examples, we've now run h2xs on a real include file. This
+has caused some extra goodies to appear in both the .pm and .xs files.
+
+=over 4
+
+=item *
+
+In the .xs file, there's now a #include directive with the absolute path to
+the mylib.h header file. We changed this to a relative path so that we
+could move the extension directory if we wanted to.
+
+=item *
+
+There's now some new C code that's been added to the .xs file. The purpose
+of the C<constant> routine is to make the values that are #define'd in the
+header file accessible by the Perl script (by calling either C<TESTVAL> or
+C<&Mytest2::TESTVAL>). There's also some XS code to allow calls to the
+C<constant> routine.
+
+=item *
+
+The .pm file originally exported the name C<TESTVAL> in the C<@EXPORT> array.
+This could lead to name clashes. A good rule of thumb is that if the #define
+is only going to be used by the C routines themselves, and not by the user,
+they should be removed from the C<@EXPORT> array. Alternately, if you don't
+mind using the "fully qualified name" of a variable, you could move most
+or all of the items from the C<@EXPORT> array into the C<@EXPORT_OK> array.
+
+=item *
+
+If our include file had contained #include directives, these would not have
+been processed by h2xs. There is no good solution to this right now.
+
+=item *
+
+We've also told Perl about the library that we built in the mylib
+subdirectory. That required only the addition of the C<MYEXTLIB> variable
+to the WriteMakefile call and the replacement of the postamble subroutine
+to cd into the subdirectory and run make. The Makefile.PL for the
+library is a bit more complicated, but not excessively so. Again we
+replaced the postamble subroutine to insert our own code. This code
+simply specified that the library to be created here was a static archive
+library (as opposed to a dynamically loadable library) and provided the
+commands to build it.
+
+=back
+
+=head2 Anatomy of .xs file
+
+The .xs file of L<"EXAMPLE 4"> contained some new elements. To understand
+the meaning of these elements, pay attention to the line which reads
+
+ MODULE = Mytest2 PACKAGE = Mytest2
+
+Anything before this line is plain C code which describes which headers
+to include, and defines some convenience functions. No translations are
+performed on this part, apart from having embedded POD documentation
+skipped over (see L<perlpod>) it goes into the generated output C file as is.
+
+Anything after this line is the description of XSUB functions.
+These descriptions are translated by B<xsubpp> into C code which
+implements these functions using Perl calling conventions, and which
+makes these functions visible from Perl interpreter.
+
+Pay a special attention to the function C<constant>. This name appears
+twice in the generated .xs file: once in the first part, as a static C
+function, then another time in the second part, when an XSUB interface to
+this static C function is defined.
+
+This is quite typical for .xs files: usually the .xs file provides
+an interface to an existing C function. Then this C function is defined
+somewhere (either in an external library, or in the first part of .xs file),
+and a Perl interface to this function (i.e. "Perl glue") is described in the
+second part of .xs file. The situation in L<"EXAMPLE 1">, L<"EXAMPLE 2">,
+and L<"EXAMPLE 3">, when all the work is done inside the "Perl glue", is
+somewhat of an exception rather than the rule.
+
+=head2 Getting the fat out of XSUBs
+
+In L<"EXAMPLE 4"> the second part of .xs file contained the following
+description of an XSUB:
+
+ double
+ foo(a,b,c)
+ int a
+ long b
+ const char * c
+ OUTPUT:
+ RETVAL
+
+Note that in contrast with L<"EXAMPLE 1">, L<"EXAMPLE 2"> and L<"EXAMPLE 3">,
+this description does not contain the actual I<code> for what is done
+is done during a call to Perl function foo(). To understand what is going
+on here, one can add a CODE section to this XSUB:
+
+ double
+ foo(a,b,c)
+ int a
+ long b
+ const char * c
+ CODE:
+ RETVAL = foo(a,b,c);
+ OUTPUT:
+ RETVAL
+
+However, these two XSUBs provide almost identical generated C code: B<xsubpp>
+compiler is smart enough to figure out the C<CODE:> section from the first
+two lines of the description of XSUB. What about C<OUTPUT:> section? In
+fact, that is absolutely the same! The C<OUTPUT:> section can be removed
+as well, I<as far as C<CODE:> section or C<PPCODE:> section> is not
+specified: B<xsubpp> can see that it needs to generate a function call
+section, and will autogenerate the OUTPUT section too. Thus one can
+shortcut the XSUB to become:
+
+ double
+ foo(a,b,c)
+ int a
+ long b
+ const char * c
+
+Can we do the same with an XSUB
+
+ int
+ is_even(input)
+ int input
+ CODE:
+ RETVAL = (input % 2 == 0);
+ OUTPUT:
+ RETVAL
+
+of L<"EXAMPLE 2">? To do this, one needs to define a C function C<int
+is_even(int input)>. As we saw in L<Anatomy of .xs file>, a proper place
+for this definition is in the first part of .xs file. In fact a C function
+
+ int
+ is_even(int arg)
+ {
+ return (arg % 2 == 0);
+ }
+
+is probably overkill for this. Something as simple as a C<#define> will
+do too:
+
+ #define is_even(arg) ((arg) % 2 == 0)
+
+After having this in the first part of .xs file, the "Perl glue" part becomes
+as simple as
+
+ int
+ is_even(input)
+ int input
+
+This technique of separation of the glue part from the workhorse part has
+obvious tradeoffs: if you want to change a Perl interface, you need to
+change two places in your code. However, it removes a lot of clutter,
+and makes the workhorse part independent from idiosyncrasies of Perl calling
+convention. (In fact, there is nothing Perl-specific in the above description,
+a different version of B<xsubpp> might have translated this to TCL glue or
+Python glue as well.)
+
+=head2 More about XSUB arguments
+
+With the completion of Example 4, we now have an easy way to simulate some
+real-life libraries whose interfaces may not be the cleanest in the world.
+We shall now continue with a discussion of the arguments passed to the
+B<xsubpp> compiler.
+
+When you specify arguments to routines in the .xs file, you are really
+passing three pieces of information for each argument listed. The first
+piece is the order of that argument relative to the others (first, second,
+etc). The second is the type of argument, and consists of the type
+declaration of the argument (e.g., int, char*, etc). The third piece is
+the calling convention for the argument in the call to the library function.
+
+While Perl passes arguments to functions by reference,
+C passes arguments by value; to implement a C function which modifies data
+of one of the "arguments", the actual argument of this C function would be
+a pointer to the data. Thus two C functions with declarations
+
+ int string_length(char *s);
+ int upper_case_char(char *cp);
+
+may have completely different semantics: the first one may inspect an array
+of chars pointed by s, and the second one may immediately dereference C<cp>
+and manipulate C<*cp> only (using the return value as, say, a success
+indicator). From Perl one would use these functions in
+a completely different manner.
+
+One conveys this info to B<xsubpp> by replacing C<*> before the
+argument by C<&>. C<&> means that the argument should be passed to a library
+function by its address. The above two function may be XSUB-ified as
+
+ int
+ string_length(s)
+ char * s
+
+ int
+ upper_case_char(cp)
+ char &cp
+
+For example, consider:
+
+ int
+ foo(a,b)
+ char &a
+ char * b
+
+The first Perl argument to this function would be treated as a char and assigned
+to the variable a, and its address would be passed into the function foo.
+The second Perl argument would be treated as a string pointer and assigned to the
+variable b. The I<value> of b would be passed into the function foo. The
+actual call to the function foo that B<xsubpp> generates would look like this:
+
+ foo(&a, b);
+
+B<xsubpp> will parse the following function argument lists identically:
+
+ char &a
+ char&a
+ char & a
+
+However, to help ease understanding, it is suggested that you place a "&"
+next to the variable name and away from the variable type), and place a
+"*" near the variable type, but away from the variable name (as in the
+call to foo above). By doing so, it is easy to understand exactly what
+will be passed to the C function -- it will be whatever is in the "last
+column".
+
+You should take great pains to try to pass the function the type of variable
+it wants, when possible. It will save you a lot of trouble in the long run.
+
+=head2 The Argument Stack
+
+If we look at any of the C code generated by any of the examples except
+example 1, you will notice a number of references to ST(n), where n is
+usually 0. "ST" is actually a macro that points to the n'th argument
+on the argument stack. ST(0) is thus the first argument on the stack and
+therefore the first argument passed to the XSUB, ST(1) is the second
+argument, and so on.
+
+When you list the arguments to the XSUB in the .xs file, that tells B<xsubpp>
+which argument corresponds to which of the argument stack (i.e., the first
+one listed is the first argument, and so on). You invite disaster if you
+do not list them in the same order as the function expects them.
+
+The actual values on the argument stack are pointers to the values passed
+in. When an argument is listed as being an OUTPUT value, its corresponding
+value on the stack (i.e., ST(0) if it was the first argument) is changed.
+You can verify this by looking at the C code generated for Example 3.
+The code for the round() XSUB routine contains lines that look like this:
+
+ double arg = (double)SvNV(ST(0));
+ /* Round the contents of the variable arg */
+ sv_setnv(ST(0), (double)arg);
+
+The arg variable is initially set by taking the value from ST(0), then is
+stored back into ST(0) at the end of the routine.
+
+XSUBs are also allowed to return lists, not just scalars. This must be
+done by manipulating stack values ST(0), ST(1), etc, in a subtly
+different way. See L<perlxs> for details.
+
+XSUBs are also allowed to avoid automatic conversion of Perl function arguments
+to C function arguments. See L<perlxs> for details. Some people prefer
+manual conversion by inspecting C<ST(i)> even in the cases when automatic
+conversion will do, arguing that this makes the logic of an XSUB call clearer.
+Compare with L<"Getting the fat out of XSUBs"> for a similar tradeoff of
+a complete separation of "Perl glue" and "workhorse" parts of an XSUB.
+
+While experts may argue about these idioms, a novice to Perl guts may
+prefer a way which is as little Perl-guts-specific as possible, meaning
+automatic conversion and automatic call generation, as in
+L<"Getting the fat out of XSUBs">. This approach has the additional
+benefit of protecting the XSUB writer from future changes to the Perl API.
+
+=head2 Extending your Extension
+
+Sometimes you might want to provide some extra methods or subroutines
+to assist in making the interface between Perl and your extension simpler
+or easier to understand. These routines should live in the .pm file.
+Whether they are automatically loaded when the extension itself is loaded
+or only loaded when called depends on where in the .pm file the subroutine
+definition is placed. You can also consult L<AutoLoader> for an alternate
+way to store and load your extra subroutines.
+
+=head2 Documenting your Extension
+
+There is absolutely no excuse for not documenting your extension.
+Documentation belongs in the .pm file. This file will be fed to pod2man,
+and the embedded documentation will be converted to the manpage format,
+then placed in the blib directory. It will be copied to Perl's
+manpage directory when the extension is installed.
+
+You may intersperse documentation and Perl code within the .pm file.
+In fact, if you want to use method autoloading, you must do this,
+as the comment inside the .pm file explains.
+
+See L<perlpod> for more information about the pod format.
+
+=head2 Installing your Extension
+
+Once your extension is complete and passes all its tests, installing it
+is quite simple: you simply run "make install". You will either need
+to have write permission into the directories where Perl is installed,
+or ask your system administrator to run the make for you.
+
+Alternately, you can specify the exact directory to place the extension's
+files by placing a "PREFIX=/destination/directory" after the make install.
+(or in between the make and install if you have a brain-dead version of make).
+This can be very useful if you are building an extension that will eventually
+be distributed to multiple systems. You can then just archive the files in
+the destination directory and distribute them to your destination systems.
+
+=head2 EXAMPLE 5
+
+In this example, we'll do some more work with the argument stack. The
+previous examples have all returned only a single value. We'll now
+create an extension that returns an array.
+
+This extension is very Unix-oriented (struct statfs and the statfs system
+call). If you are not running on a Unix system, you can substitute for
+statfs any other function that returns multiple values, you can hard-code
+values to be returned to the caller (although this will be a bit harder
+to test the error case), or you can simply not do this example. If you
+change the XSUB, be sure to fix the test cases to match the changes.
+
+Return to the Mytest directory and add the following code to the end of
+Mytest.xs:
+
+ void
+ statfs(path)
+ char * path
+ INIT:
+ int i;
+ struct statfs buf;
+
+ PPCODE:
+ i = statfs(path, &buf);
+ if (i == 0) {
+ XPUSHs(sv_2mortal(newSVnv(buf.f_bavail)));
+ XPUSHs(sv_2mortal(newSVnv(buf.f_bfree)));
+ XPUSHs(sv_2mortal(newSVnv(buf.f_blocks)));
+ XPUSHs(sv_2mortal(newSVnv(buf.f_bsize)));
+ XPUSHs(sv_2mortal(newSVnv(buf.f_ffree)));
+ XPUSHs(sv_2mortal(newSVnv(buf.f_files)));
+ XPUSHs(sv_2mortal(newSVnv(buf.f_type)));
+ } else {
+ XPUSHs(sv_2mortal(newSVnv(errno)));
+ }
+
+You'll also need to add the following code to the top of the .xs file, just
+after the include of "XSUB.h":
+
+ #include <sys/vfs.h>
+
+Also add the following code segment to Mytest.t while incrementing the "9"
+tests to "11":
+
+ @a = &Mytest::statfs("/blech");
+ ok( scalar(@a) == 1 && $a[0] == 2 );
+ @a = &Mytest::statfs("/");
+ is( scalar(@a), 7 );
+
+=head2 New Things in this Example
+
+This example added quite a few new concepts. We'll take them one at a time.
+
+=over 4
+
+=item *
+
+The INIT: directive contains code that will be placed immediately after
+the argument stack is decoded. C does not allow variable declarations at
+arbitrary locations inside a function,
+so this is usually the best way to declare local variables needed by the XSUB.
+(Alternatively, one could put the whole C<PPCODE:> section into braces, and
+put these declarations on top.)
+
+=item *
+
+This routine also returns a different number of arguments depending on the
+success or failure of the call to statfs. If there is an error, the error
+number is returned as a single-element array. If the call is successful,
+then a 9-element array is returned. Since only one argument is passed into
+this function, we need room on the stack to hold the 9 values which may be
+returned.
+
+We do this by using the PPCODE: directive, rather than the CODE: directive.
+This tells B<xsubpp> that we will be managing the return values that will be
+put on the argument stack by ourselves.
+
+=item *
+
+When we want to place values to be returned to the caller onto the stack,
+we use the series of macros that begin with "XPUSH". There are five
+different versions, for placing integers, unsigned integers, doubles,
+strings, and Perl scalars on the stack. In our example, we placed a
+Perl scalar onto the stack. (In fact this is the only macro which
+can be used to return multiple values.)
+
+The XPUSH* macros will automatically extend the return stack to prevent
+it from being overrun. You push values onto the stack in the order you
+want them seen by the calling program.
+
+=item *
+
+The values pushed onto the return stack of the XSUB are actually mortal SV's.
+They are made mortal so that once the values are copied by the calling
+program, the SV's that held the returned values can be deallocated.
+If they were not mortal, then they would continue to exist after the XSUB
+routine returned, but would not be accessible. This is a memory leak.
+
+=item *
+
+If we were interested in performance, not in code compactness, in the success
+branch we would not use C<XPUSHs> macros, but C<PUSHs> macros, and would
+pre-extend the stack before pushing the return values:
+
+ EXTEND(SP, 7);
+
+The tradeoff is that one needs to calculate the number of return values
+in advance (though overextending the stack will not typically hurt
+anything but memory consumption).
+
+Similarly, in the failure branch we could use C<PUSHs> I<without> extending
+the stack: the Perl function reference comes to an XSUB on the stack, thus
+the stack is I<always> large enough to take one return value.
+
+=back
+
+=head2 EXAMPLE 6
+
+In this example, we will accept a reference to an array as an input
+parameter, and return a reference to an array of hashes. This will
+demonstrate manipulation of complex Perl data types from an XSUB.
+
+This extension is somewhat contrived. It is based on the code in
+the previous example. It calls the statfs function multiple times,
+accepting a reference to an array of filenames as input, and returning
+a reference to an array of hashes containing the data for each of the
+filesystems.
+
+Return to the Mytest directory and add the following code to the end of
+Mytest.xs:
+
+ SV *
+ multi_statfs(paths)
+ SV * paths
+ INIT:
+ AV * results;
+ I32 numpaths = 0;
+ int i, n;
+ struct statfs buf;
+
+ if ((!SvROK(paths))
+ || (SvTYPE(SvRV(paths)) != SVt_PVAV)
+ || ((numpaths = av_len((AV *)SvRV(paths))) < 0))
+ {
+ XSRETURN_UNDEF;
+ }
+ results = (AV *)sv_2mortal((SV *)newAV());
+ CODE:
+ for (n = 0; n <= numpaths; n++) {
+ HV * rh;
+ STRLEN l;
+ char * fn = SvPV(*av_fetch((AV *)SvRV(paths), n, 0), l);
+
+ i = statfs(fn, &buf);
+ if (i != 0) {
+ av_push(results, newSVnv(errno));
+ continue;
+ }
+
+ rh = (HV *)sv_2mortal((SV *)newHV());
+
+ hv_store(rh, "f_bavail", 8, newSVnv(buf.f_bavail), 0);
+ hv_store(rh, "f_bfree", 7, newSVnv(buf.f_bfree), 0);
+ hv_store(rh, "f_blocks", 8, newSVnv(buf.f_blocks), 0);
+ hv_store(rh, "f_bsize", 7, newSVnv(buf.f_bsize), 0);
+ hv_store(rh, "f_ffree", 7, newSVnv(buf.f_ffree), 0);
+ hv_store(rh, "f_files", 7, newSVnv(buf.f_files), 0);
+ hv_store(rh, "f_type", 6, newSVnv(buf.f_type), 0);
+
+ av_push(results, newRV((SV *)rh));
+ }
+ RETVAL = newRV((SV *)results);
+ OUTPUT:
+ RETVAL
+
+And add the following code to Mytest.t, while incrementing the "11"
+tests to "13":
+
+ $results = Mytest::multi_statfs([ '/', '/blech' ]);
+ ok( ref $results->[0]) );
+ ok( ! ref $results->[1] );
+
+=head2 New Things in this Example
+
+There are a number of new concepts introduced here, described below:
+
+=over 4
+
+=item *
+
+This function does not use a typemap. Instead, we declare it as accepting
+one SV* (scalar) parameter, and returning an SV* value, and we take care of
+populating these scalars within the code. Because we are only returning
+one value, we don't need a C<PPCODE:> directive - instead, we use C<CODE:>
+and C<OUTPUT:> directives.
+
+=item *
+
+When dealing with references, it is important to handle them with caution.
+The C<INIT:> block first checks that
+C<SvROK> returns true, which indicates that paths is a valid reference. It
+then verifies that the object referenced by paths is an array, using C<SvRV>
+to dereference paths, and C<SvTYPE> to discover its type. As an added test,
+it checks that the array referenced by paths is non-empty, using the C<av_len>
+function (which returns -1 if the array is empty). The XSRETURN_UNDEF macro
+is used to abort the XSUB and return the undefined value whenever all three of
+these conditions are not met.
+
+=item *
+
+We manipulate several arrays in this XSUB. Note that an array is represented
+internally by an AV* pointer. The functions and macros for manipulating
+arrays are similar to the functions in Perl: C<av_len> returns the highest
+index in an AV*, much like $#array; C<av_fetch> fetches a single scalar value
+from an array, given its index; C<av_push> pushes a scalar value onto the
+end of the array, automatically extending the array as necessary.
+
+Specifically, we read pathnames one at a time from the input array, and
+store the results in an output array (results) in the same order. If
+statfs fails, the element pushed onto the return array is the value of
+errno after the failure. If statfs succeeds, though, the value pushed
+onto the return array is a reference to a hash containing some of the
+information in the statfs structure.
+
+As with the return stack, it would be possible (and a small performance win)
+to pre-extend the return array before pushing data into it, since we know
+how many elements we will return:
+
+ av_extend(results, numpaths);
+
+=item *
+
+We are performing only one hash operation in this function, which is storing
+a new scalar under a key using C<hv_store>. A hash is represented by an HV*
+pointer. Like arrays, the functions for manipulating hashes from an XSUB
+mirror the functionality available from Perl. See L<perlguts> and L<perlapi>
+for details.
+
+=item *
+
+To create a reference, we use the C<newRV> function. Note that you can
+cast an AV* or an HV* to type SV* in this case (and many others). This
+allows you to take references to arrays, hashes and scalars with the same
+function. Conversely, the C<SvRV> function always returns an SV*, which may
+need to be cast to the appropriate type if it is something other than a
+scalar (check with C<SvTYPE>).
+
+=item *
+
+At this point, xsubpp is doing very little work - the differences between
+Mytest.xs and Mytest.c are minimal.
+
+=back
+
+=head2 EXAMPLE 7 (Coming Soon)
+
+XPUSH args AND set RETVAL AND assign return value to array
+
+=head2 EXAMPLE 8 (Coming Soon)
+
+Setting $!
+
+=head2 EXAMPLE 9 Passing open files to XSes
+
+You would think passing files to an XS is difficult, with all the
+typeglobs and stuff. Well, it isn't.
+
+Suppose that for some strange reason we need a wrapper around the
+standard C library function C<fputs()>. This is all we need:
+
+ #define PERLIO_NOT_STDIO 0
+ #include "EXTERN.h"
+ #include "perl.h"
+ #include "XSUB.h"
+
+ #include <stdio.h>
+
+ int
+ fputs(s, stream)
+ char * s
+ FILE * stream
+
+The real work is done in the standard typemap.
+
+B<But> you loose all the fine stuff done by the perlio layers. This
+calls the stdio function C<fputs()>, which knows nothing about them.
+
+The standard typemap offers three variants of PerlIO *:
+C<InputStream> (T_IN), C<InOutStream> (T_INOUT) and C<OutputStream>
+(T_OUT). A bare C<PerlIO *> is considered a T_INOUT. If it matters
+in your code (see below for why it might) #define or typedef
+one of the specific names and use that as the argument or result
+type in your XS file.
+
+The standard typemap does not contain PerlIO * before perl 5.7,
+but it has the three stream variants. Using a PerlIO * directly
+is not backwards compatible unless you provide your own typemap.
+
+For streams coming I<from> perl the main difference is that
+C<OutputStream> will get the output PerlIO * - which may make
+a difference on a socket. Like in our example...
+
+For streams being handed I<to> perl a new file handle is created
+(i.e. a reference to a new glob) and associated with the PerlIO *
+provided. If the read/write state of the PerlIO * is not correct then you
+may get errors or warnings from when the file handle is used.
+So if you opened the PerlIO * as "w" it should really be an
+C<OutputStream> if open as "r" it should be an C<InputStream>.
+
+Now, suppose you want to use perlio layers in your XS. We'll use the
+perlio C<PerlIO_puts()> function as an example.
+
+In the C part of the XS file (above the first MODULE line) you
+have
+
+ #define OutputStream PerlIO *
+ or
+ typedef PerlIO * OutputStream;
+
+
+And this is the XS code:
+
+ int
+ perlioputs(s, stream)
+ char * s
+ OutputStream stream
+ CODE:
+ RETVAL = PerlIO_puts(stream, s);
+ OUTPUT:
+ RETVAL
+
+We have to use a C<CODE> section because C<PerlIO_puts()> has the arguments
+reversed compared to C<fputs()>, and we want to keep the arguments the same.
+
+Wanting to explore this thoroughly, we want to use the stdio C<fputs()>
+on a PerlIO *. This means we have to ask the perlio system for a stdio
+C<FILE *>:
+
+ int
+ perliofputs(s, stream)
+ char * s
+ OutputStream stream
+ PREINIT:
+ FILE *fp = PerlIO_findFILE(stream);
+ CODE:
+ if (fp != (FILE*) 0) {
+ RETVAL = fputs(s, fp);
+ } else {
+ RETVAL = -1;
+ }
+ OUTPUT:
+ RETVAL
+
+Note: C<PerlIO_findFILE()> will search the layers for a stdio
+layer. If it can't find one, it will call C<PerlIO_exportFILE()> to
+generate a new stdio C<FILE>. Please only call C<PerlIO_exportFILE()> if
+you want a I<new> C<FILE>. It will generate one on each call and push a
+new stdio layer. So don't call it repeatedly on the same
+file. C<PerlIO()>_findFILE will retrieve the stdio layer once it has been
+generated by C<PerlIO_exportFILE()>.
+
+This applies to the perlio system only. For versions before 5.7,
+C<PerlIO_exportFILE()> is equivalent to C<PerlIO_findFILE()>.
+
+=head2 Troubleshooting these Examples
+
+As mentioned at the top of this document, if you are having problems with
+these example extensions, you might see if any of these help you.
+
+=over 4
+
+=item *
+
+In versions of 5.002 prior to the gamma version, the test script in Example
+1 will not function properly. You need to change the "use lib" line to
+read:
+
+ use lib './blib';
+
+=item *
+
+In versions of 5.002 prior to version 5.002b1h, the test.pl file was not
+automatically created by h2xs. This means that you cannot say "make test"
+to run the test script. You will need to add the following line before the
+"use extension" statement:
+
+ use lib './blib';
+
+=item *
+
+In versions 5.000 and 5.001, instead of using the above line, you will need
+to use the following line:
+
+ BEGIN { unshift(@INC, "./blib") }
+
+=item *
+
+This document assumes that the executable named "perl" is Perl version 5.
+Some systems may have installed Perl version 5 as "perl5".
+
+=back
+
+=head1 See also
+
+For more information, consult L<perlguts>, L<perlapi>, L<perlxs>, L<perlmod>,
+and L<perlpod>.
+
+=head1 Author
+
+Jeff Okamoto <F<okamoto@corp.hp.com>>
+
+Reviewed and assisted by Dean Roehrich, Ilya Zakharevich, Andreas Koenig,
+and Tim Bunce.
+
+PerlIO material contributed by Lupe Christoph, with some clarification
+by Nick Ing-Simmons.
+
+Changes for h2xs as of Perl 5.8.x by Renee Baecker
+
+=head2 Last Changed
+
+2007/10/11