[Vm-dev] How to generate a consistent iOS and Unix VM?

[Stefan Marr]

Hi Mariano:

Sorry, my mail client makes a mess out of your emails, proper quoting seems impossible.


On 22 Apr 2011, at 14:04, Mariano Martinez Peck wrote:

> Yes. This is because thelastes unstable PharoCore was really *unstable*, and hence the problem. This is why in the first post ("Building the VM from scratch using Git and CMakeVMMaker") I say explicitly which pharo image to use (to avoid problems like this one). 
> Pharo guys want to be sure that Hudson can always buid the VM, and if it doesn't (like in this case), be able to detect it and fix it ASAP.
That does not help anyone who uses the snipped you provided as a 'summary'. Perhaps it would be a better idea to stick with fixed links for such blog posts.


> what was not clear in particular ?
From your posts, I have the feeling that at least the naming scheme is inconsistent.
In case CocoaIOSCogConfig is supposed to be an abstract class, then it should tell me that.
And it is not clear form the blog post that only *StackConfig and *JitConfig classes are meant to be used. Thats all I am saying.


> 
> Ok, next problem:
> 
> You customize the following properties:
> 
> resourcesDir:'/Users/mariano/Pharo/vm/git/cogVM2/blessed/macbuild/resources';
> outputDir: '/Users/mariano/binaries/results';
> 
> but they do not seem to exist.
> 
> That was an example just to show that you can customize them and set the directories to whatever place you want. 
> I've added a comment. Anyway, using the "default" behavior (copying the image to a subdirectory of /blessed), you should have not that problem. 
The thing is, in the version of the code that gets loaded by the snippets your provide there is nothing like #resourcesDir: and #outputDir: in the whole image.
Again that is all based on following the snippets in this post:
http://marianopeck.wordpress.com/2011/04/16/building-the-vm-second-part/

All I say here is, that the snippets are buggy/inconsistent with respect to what you provide in the post.





> 
>  
> 
> Ok, lets continue without them.
> 
> Still undecided what I want, I go with CocoaIOSCogConfig:
> 
> CocoaIOSCogStackConfig new
>  srcDir: '/tmp/make-squeak-vm/squeak-src';
>  platformsDir: '/tmp/make-squeak-vm/from_squeak';
>  buildDir: '/tmp/make-squeak-vm/build';
>  generateSources;
>  generate.
> 
> That fails with a very inappropriate error: primCreateDirectory: failed.
> 
> 
> I am not sure why that problem. But this is something expected. In order to customize the paths, you may have such problems. 
> Again, if you don't want to face such problems use the default behavior. And if you find a problem, and have a solution, please submit it. 

> *sigh* lets see what's going on:
> >  self primCreateDirectory: (self fullNameFor: localFileName) asVmPathName
>  inspecting '(self fullNameFor: localFileName) asVmPathName' reveals '/${topDir}' *sigh*

Sorry, my fault. The code I was executing did use CocoaIOSCogConfig instead of CocoaIOSCogStackConfig.
And then again, it fails with an error which looks like some parameter was not probably setup.
However, that is not a problem when the concrete class CocoaIOSCogStackConfig is used.

Again, all I say here is: make CocoaIOSCogConfig abstract and do not fail with strange errors nobody knows where they come from.

Bye the way, my contribution is all this feedback. If you think that is not valuable, and not worth to be considered, well, then it might at least help someone who is googling for advice.



> 
> You should point platformsDir: to the platforms directory of the "platform code".
Why? It does not seem to influence what code is generated at all.
If there is a technical reason why I can't just point it to a directory where I know that eventually the code will be that belongs there, then please tell me.
Otherwise, I think it is a bug, and instead of failing, it should give me a warning and allow me to proceed:
   Because I know Exactly What I am Doing (TM)

> Conclusion for your last problems: use the default/recommended approach:  copy your image to a subdirectory where you downloaded git. And all paths will be set automatically. The only thing you have to do is XXXConf generateWithSources.
> And, if you want to use specific paths, then send a clear mail to the mailing lsit, with a way to reproduce it and hopefully someone will fix it.  
Again: why can't I set platformsDir to a path of my chose, which *eventually* will contain the right code? The code generation does not seem to depend on it.

Best regards
Stefan


-- 
Stefan Marr
Software Languages Lab
Vrije Universiteit Brussel
Pleinlaan 2 / B-1050 Brussels / Belgium
http://soft.vub.ac.be/~smarr
Phone: +32 2 629 2974
Fax:   +32 2 629 3525