I want to get this info into the help system and/or collaborative book, as
similar questions pop up regularly on the lists.
I compiled every piece of info I could find. The focus in on FFI, with
stubs for other strategies. Please read this *very* rough outline for
missing info and inaccuracies:
FFI
What is FFI and what is it used for? Calling functions in libraries outside
of the image...
FFI, the Squeak Foreign Function Interface, is used to call functions
located in shared libraries that are not part of the Squeak VM nor its
plugins. It also provides means to read and write memory structures that are
associated with the use of those shared libraries. A typical use is to
directly invoke operating system APIs. As such, applications that use FFI
can only be used on the platform(s) that support the particular API being
used. C conventions are used throughout, though the external function could
have been written by any language capable of generating object code that
follows C conventions. FFI is probably the easiest way to do the things it
does. FFI is pretty fast too. Croquet uses FFI calls to OpenGL for all it's
drawing routines.[1]
How does FFI work?
Technically what happens is:
* you define what the interface is - the parameters, types etc.
* when you make the call, the FFI logic assembles the data from the Squeak
Objects into the proper structures according to the routine calling
conventions for your architecture, and of course manages the return values.
So no magic but perhaps just a little assembler in the plugin to properly
deal with all the registers and condition flags.
How do I use it?
1. make a method (whose structure is similar to a named primitive method)
Example:
system: aString "name (by convention is apiXxx: e.g. apiSystem:)"
<apicall: long 'system' (char*) module: 'libSystem.dylib'> "first line
should be the external function specification"
^self externalCallFailed.
Let's take it piece by piece:
system: aString
Method name - by convention named 'apiXxx'
<apicall: long 'system' (char*) module: 'libSystem.dylib'>
Function specification
- should be the first line
- enclosed in angle brackets: < > containing:
1. Calling Convention, either apicall: (Pascal
convention) or cdecl: (C
convention)
- Mac - use either one
- Unix - use cdecl
- Windows - use apical
2. Return Type (see types)
3. External Function Name (literal string)
4. Argument Types (a literal array)
5. Module - "module: " + [filename of the
external library (literal
string)] (see below).
self externalCallFailed.
Failure handler
- normal smalltalk code
- executed if the linking to or calling the external
function fails
- API calls don't know how to communicate failure like
Squeak primitives
do, so:
- it does not tell you whether the external
function succeeded
- the most common code is simply '^self
externalCallFailed.'
Argument Types
- must be names of ExternalTypes, either:
- atomic types (see ExternalType class>>initializeFFIConstants
and
ExternalType class>>initializeAtomicTypes):
void
bool
byte (unsigned)
sbyte (signed)
ushort (16-bit unsigned)
short (16-bit signed)
ulong (32-bit unsigned)
long (32-bit signed)
ulonglong (64-bit unsigned)
longlong (64-bit signed)
char (unsigned)
schar (signed)
float (single-precision float)
double (double-precision float)
Structure Types [4]
- subclass of ExternalStructure
- class>>fields that returns an array of field descriptions
(see below)
- Example:
fields
^#((red 'byte')(green 'byte')(blue
'byte'))
- class>>initialize which includes "self defineFields" (which
must be
called before using the class)
- refer to as MyExternalStructure* (to indicate that the argument or
return
is a pointer to that structure)
Field description [4]
- 2-element array (or three but that does something else, I'm not sure
what):
- first element is the field name
- second is the type
Mac Memory Allocation Issues [4] (not sure about this)
If you allocate external structures, those with memory outside the Squeak
process space, you may need to increase the amount of memory that is
reserved outside the object heap for such use. The Mac OS (9 and previous)
needs this, other platforms may be able to dynamically get more memory from
the OS. To see how much memory is currently reserved printIt 'Smalltalk
extraVMMemory'. To change it, execute 'Smalltalk extraVMMemory:
someNumberofBytes' Then save your image and quit. When you next start up,
the amount of memory you requested will be reserved. (JMM) Note the OSX
versions of the VM ignore extraVMMemory because the memory model for
OS-X/unix applications is quite different.
Module Name
- depends on the platform
- Mac
- pre Snow Leopard: flexible, can eliminate leading lib or
extension e.g.
'libc.dylib' becomes 'libc', 'c.dylib', or 'c'
- Snow Leopard
- file name must be exact including extension (unless
Info.plist is
altered as in 'Library Location' below)
- With pre-mach-o VMs
- For Classic applications, use 'InterfaceLib'
- For Carbon libs, use 'CarbonLib'
Module Location - where the external library file lives
- depends on the platform
- Mac
- pre Snow Leopard
- checks VM path and common library paths
- Snow Leopard
- only looks in VM bundle's Resources file, you
must either [5]:
- store all external libraries there
- ln -s path/to/library
path/to/VM/Resources/library_name
- Change the VM's Info.plist
"SqueakPluginsBuiltInOrLocalOnly" key from
"true" to "false."
Caveats
- security
- malicious users could call arbitrary functions in the OS e.g.
"format
c:" from "system.dll" [7]
- VMs do not protect against buffer overflow from bad
parameters [8]:
"this would require an attacker to execute arbitrary
Smalltalk
code on your server. Of course if they can do that they
own you
anyway, especially if you allow FFi or use the
OSProcess plugin" - John
McIntosh
* difficulty
- if you make a mistake you'll not drop into the debugger but Squeak
will
just crash [2]
- If you crash Squeak when it is running the garbage collector, then you
know your FFI code is leaking bits into object memory [2]
What do I need to use FFI with Squeak?
You need the FFI plugin, which is included with most VM's as of Squeak 3.6
or so.
You can also build the plugin yourself. See VMMaker.
References:
[1] http://wiki.squeak.org/squeak/1414
[2] http://wiki.squeak.org/squeak/2424
[3] http://wiki.squeak.org/squeak/5716
[4] http://wiki.squeak.org/squeak/2426
[5]
http://forum.world.st/squeak-dev-Alien-Squeak-FFI-issues-on-Snow-Leopard-td85608.html
[6] http://wiki.squeak.org/squeak/5846
[7] http://forum.world.st/FFI-Callbacks-td54056.html#a54073
[8] http://forum.world.st/Security-td99624.html#a99635:
Other choices:
In the fall of 2008, Alien the FFI interface (written by Cadence Design
Systems, Inc.) was put into squeaksource:
http://www.squeaksource.com/Alien.html. This API allows the primitive to
call back to Smalltalk Code, and return error code information, and
apparently is much faster due to a less complex call sequence.
* if you need callbacks
* mac-only?
Plugins - write external code and dynamically link it to the VM
Pros:
* safest - users are limited to using the functionality you
provide and
can not call other external functions e.g. system rm /
* fast - faster than FFI
* you can create new functionality that doesn't exist in any
library
Cons:
* harder to write
* plugin must be distributed with the Smalltalk code - there
can be
complications with platforms
Primitive method - invokes behavior in the VM or a plugin [3]
Questions:
* why would you want to build the FFI plugin yourself?
* api prefix or no for method names?
* not sure about pre Snow Leopard library search
* OSProcess - how does this fit into the bigger picture?
* "^self externalCallFailed." or "self externalCallFailed." i.e. return self
or return the result, or doesn't matter?
* why would a field description have three elements?
* Mac Memory Allocation Issues?
--
View this message in context:
http://forum.world.st/FFI-Documentation-tp2225148p2225148.html
Sent from the Pharo Smalltalk mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
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