[Vm-dev] Re: adding external plugins to Squeak 4.2 on the Mac

[Craig Latta]

Hi--

     Igor writes:

> > I'm adapting the Spoon remote-browsing support for Squeak 4.2. I
> > use an external plugin (Flow). On the Mac, if I build a stock 4.2 VM
> > myself and add my Flow bundle to the Resources folder, it works. If
> > I add the Flow bundle to the Resource folder of the offically-built
> > VM, it doesn't work.
>
> do you rename you plugin? because if i remember correctly there's a
> check that module name (compiled into a plugin) should be same as
> library file name. Otherwise VM refuses to use it.

     Well, that wouldn't explain why the unmodified 4.2 VM that I built
myself works; it's the same external primitives code.

> And again, problem with loading plugins is pain in the ass. We should
> create an interface where language side could instruct VM to load
> modules explicitly with good error reporting (if plugin cannot be
> loaded).

     Yeah, there actually is decent error-reporting code in the Mac VM,
but it requires a rather obscure flag to be set in order to run. When I
build a VM I always remove the check and force it to run all the time.

     Well, I guess I need the very person who built the release VM to
tell me why it won't load my plugin (by using a debugger with access to
the source file paths mentioned in the debugging symbols). This appears
to be John McIntosh. John, would you please grab [1] and let me know?


     thanks!

-C

[1] http://dl.dropbox.com/u/15188004/Flow%20test.zip

--
Craig Latta
www.netjam.org/resume
+31   6 2757 7177
+ 1 415  287 3547