[Vm-dev] Re: [squeak-dev] Maintainer of FFI-Package

David T. Lewis lewis at mail.msen.com
Sun Sep 28 19:44:59 UTC 2014


On Sun, Sep 28, 2014 at 09:04:59AM -0400, David T. Lewis wrote:
>  
> On Sun, Sep 28, 2014 at 11:19:30AM +0200, Nicolai Hess wrote:
> > Who is the maintainer of the FFI-Package for
> > Squeak and/or Pharo ?
> > I especially interested in the FFI-Unix examples
> >  and the state on working FFI on linux for current squeak release
> > (AFAIK it does not work with "squeak all in one" 4.5)
> > 
> 
> The FFI package, including the FFI-Unix examples that you mention, is at
> http://source.squeak.org/FFI.
> 
> The primary author was Andreas Raab. Eliot Miranda is the most recent
> contributor, and he is probably the most knowledgeable in this area.
> Currently, the Squeak core developers (those with commit rights to Squeak
> trunk) have commit rights to the FFI project, and can make updates as needed.
> 
> The FFI examples for Unix work with the old FFI plugin, which is still
> present in the interpreter VM. The active development of Squeak FFI is
> taking place in Cog, and I'm not sure if the old FFI examples work with
> the newer plugins (which would be present in the Squeak all-in-one).
> The FFI plugin in the interpreter VM (i.e. trunk VMMaker) needs to be
> updated, and presumably the FFI examples may need some updates as well.

A small but important correction: For the old plugin (currently in the
interpreter VM), FFI works only for a 32-bit VM. It also works for a 64-bit
VM, but only if the patches in http://bugs.squeak.org/view.php?id=7237 have
been applied (in other words, if you compiled it yourself and included
those patches).

This is mainly of historical interest, although it is possible that some
of the 64-bit patches will prove helpful for the newer FFI plugin. But
the emphasis now should be on Eliot's more recent FFI work.

Dave



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