Hacking mkmf.rb

I’m in the process of replacing RMagick’s configure/make/make install
process with a pure-Ruby solution using just setup.rb or RubyGems and
extconf.rb. I’ve been able to successfully replace configure.ac with
extconf.rb except for two things. First, mkmf.rb does not have a method
that tests for the presence of a specific value in an enum. Second,
mkmf.rb wants to put all its feature symbols (-DHAVE_SOMETHING) on the
gcc command line but RMagick may have upwards of 100 such symbols and
I’m afraid that that many will exceed some system’s limit on the maximum
length of a command’s arguments. I’d rather put these symbols in a
config.h file.

So i’ve added two methods to my extconf.rb. (I’ve added them below). Any
comments on the risks I’m introducing to my extconf.rb and how I might
mitigate them? I’ve tested my extconf.rb with Ruby 1.8.2, 1.8.3, 1.8.4,
1.8.5, and 1.8.6. What about going forward? I would like to minimize the
chances of my having to fix my extconf.rb when Ruby 1.8.7 comes out.

(I learned that my extconf.rb is not compatible with Ruby 1.8.0 or
1.8.1, notably because have_library has a different signature in those
releases. That’s not a problem for me.)

Test for a specific value in an enum type

def have_enum_value(enum, value, headers=nil, &b)
checking_for “#{enum}.#{value}” do
if try_compile(<<“SRC”, &b)
#{COMMON_HEADERS}
#{cpp_include(headers)}
/top/
int main(){ #{enum} x = #{value}; x = x; return 0; }
SRC
$defs.push(format("-DHAVE_%s", value.upcase))
true
else
false
end
end
end

Create a config.h file from the $defs array.

def create_config_file(file)
message “creating #{file}\n”
File.open(file, “w”) do |f|
while (sym = $defs.shift)
define = sym.sub(/\A-D/, ‘#define ‘)
if define[’=’]
define[’=’] = ’ ’ # symbols with values
else
define << ’ 1’ # symbols without values
end
f.puts define
end
end
end

On Apr 1, 4:34 pm, Timothy H. [email protected] wrote:

I’m in the process of replacing RMagick’s configure/make/make install
process with a pure-Ruby solution using just setup.rb or RubyGems and
extconf.rb. I’ve been able to successfully replace configure.ac with
extconf.rb except for two things. First, mkmf.rb does not have a method
that tests for the presence of a specific value in an enum. Second,
mkmf.rb wants to put all its feature symbols (-DHAVE_SOMETHING) on the
gcc command line but RMagick may have upwards of 100 such symbols and
I’m afraid that that many will exceed some system’s limit on the maximum
length of a command’s arguments. I’d rather put these symbols in a
config.h file.

I requested have_enum_member two years ago:

http://rubyforge.org/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=1486&group_id=426&atid=1700.

That eventually turned into have_const:

http://blade.nagaokaut.ac.jp/cgi-bin/scat.rb/ruby/ruby-core/4430.

Note that “checking_for type” should be “checking_for const”. I think
it just got lost in the shuffle. I’ll bring it up again on ruby-core.

Test for a specific value in an enum type

else
  define = sym.sub(/\A-D/, '#define ')
  if define['=']
    define['='] = ' '   # symbols with values
  else
    define << ' 1'      # symbols without values
  end
  f.puts define
end

end
end

create_config_file looks reasonable to me.

Regards,

Dan

Timothy H. wrote:

Second, mkmf.rb wants to put all its feature symbols
(-DHAVE_SOMETHING) on the gcc command line but RMagick may have
upwards of 100 such symbols and I’m afraid that that many will exceed
some system’s limit on the maximum length of a command’s arguments.
I’d rather put these symbols in a config.h file.
I’ve just found the create_header method in mkmf.rb. This looks like it
does everything I need.