Index: MANIFEST
===================================================================
RCS file: /cvs/public/parrot/MANIFEST,v
retrieving revision 1.562
diff -u -3 -p -u -r1.562 MANIFEST
--- MANIFEST	23 Feb 2004 10:47:15 -0000	1.562
+++ MANIFEST	23 Feb 2004 21:40:01 -0000
@@ -216,6 +216,7 @@ docs/intro.pod                          
 docs/jit.pod                                      [main]doc
 docs/memory_internals.pod                         [main]doc
 docs/mmd.pod                                      [main]doc
+docs/native_exec.pod                              [main]doc
 docs/overview.pod                                 [main]doc
 docs/parrot_assembly.pod                          [main]doc
 docs/parrot.pod                                   [main]doc
Index: config/gen/makefiles/root.in
===================================================================
RCS file: /cvs/public/parrot/config/gen/makefiles/root.in,v
retrieving revision 1.182
diff -u -3 -p -u -r1.182 root.in
--- config/gen/makefiles/root.in	21 Feb 2004 15:36:14 -0000	1.182
+++ config/gen/makefiles/root.in	23 Feb 2004 21:40:01 -0000
@@ -1096,7 +1096,7 @@ exec : $(SRC)/exec_start$(O) $(LIBPARROT
 	$(LINK) ${ld_out}$(EXEC) $(LINKFLAGS) $(EXEC)$(O) $(SRC)/exec_start$(O) $(LIBPARROT) $(C_LIBS)
 
 exec_so : $(SRC)/exec_start$(O) blib/lib/libparrot$(SO)
-	$(LINK) ${ld_out}$(EXEC) $(LINKFLAGS) $(EXEC)$(O) $(SRC)/exec_start$(O) -lparrot $(C_LIBS) -pthread
+	$(LINK) ${ld_out}$(EXEC) $(LINKFLAGS) $(EXEC)$(O) $(SRC)/exec_start$(O) -lparrot $(C_LIBS)
 
 ###### OS depend targets ##########
 # libnci.so used by t/pmc/nci.t
@@ -1130,10 +1130,10 @@ hello.pasm:
 	echo  'end' >> hello.pasm
 
 hello.pbc:	hello.pasm
-	parrot -o hello.pbc hello.pasm
+	./parrot -o hello.pbc hello.pasm
 
 hello$(O):	hello.pbc
-	parrot -o hello$(O) hello.pbc
+	./parrot -o hello$(O) hello.pbc
 
 hello:	hello$(O)
 	$(MAKE) EXEC=hello exec
--- /dev/null	1969-12-31 16:00:00.000000000 -0800
+++ docs/native_exec.pod	2004-02-23 13:38:34.000000000 -0800
@@ -0,0 +1,74 @@
+=head1 TITLE
+
+Parrot Native Object Execution Subsystem
+
+=head1 Overview
+
+On supported platforms, Parrot can use the JIT subsystem to assemble a
+native executable binary from a Parrot program.  This method wraps the
+VM runtime engine and a precompiled Parrot program into a single binary.
+
+=head1 Generating a native executable
+
+Generating a native executable is done in three steps: building a
+packfile, assembling a native object, and then linking the native
+executable.  The packfile is generated in the standard way from .imc or
+.pasm source by IMCC.  For a program in myprog.pasm:
+
+    ./parrot -o myprog.pbc myprog.pasm
+
+This generates the myprog.pbc packfile.  The native object is generated
+similarly:
+
+    ./parrot -o myprog.o myprog.pbc
+
+This creates a native object called myprog.o.  Assembly of the
+executable is done by the "exec" target in the root Makefile like so:
+
+    make EXEC=myprog exec
+
+This generates the "myprog" executable, which runs equivalently to
+
+    ./parrot -j myprog.pbc
+
+minus the time required to JIT-compile the bytecode.
+    
+The "testexec" Makefile target demonstrates this method for a "Hello
+world" program.
+
+=head1 Details
+
+=head2 Platform support
+
+The exec subsystem is enabled if support is determined automatically by
+config/auto/jit.pl, or if --execcapable is explicitly specified to
+Configure.pl.  The platform must support the JIT core, and some
+additional scaffold in the exec* sources must be provided.
+Implementation of such is beyond the scope of this document.
+
+=head2 Native object generation
+
+Native objects are generated by the "exec" run core.  This core uses the
+JIT subsystem to compile a packfile to native instructions, then
+serializes it to the platform's native object format.  This object is
+then loaded at runtime and executed using the normal JIT core.
+
+Unlike the standard cores (switch, computed goto, etc.) which are
+activated by command-line switch, the exec core is invoked by IMCC when
+the output file specified by the -o option has a .o extension.  When
+creating a native object this way, IMCC requires that the input be a
+packfile.  This process therefore must be performed in two steps,
+building the packfile and assembling the native object, as demonstrated
+above.
+
+=head2 Executable generation
+
+A native executable is generated by linking a native object against the
+parrot library and the loader in exec_start.c.  The "exec" target in the
+root Makefile does this with the compile flags used to build parrot
+itself.  Alternatively it may be done by hand, e.g.
+
+    gcc -o myprog myprog.o src/exec_start.o blib/lib/libparrot.a
+
+Additional libraries may need to be included as appropriate for the
+platform.