NAME

    FFI::TinyCC - Tiny C Compiler for FFI

VERSION

    version 0.17

SYNOPSIS

     use FFI::TinyCC;
     use FFI::Platypus::Declare qw( int );
     
     my $tcc = FFI::TinyCC->new;
     
     $tcc->compile_string(q{
       int
       find_square(int value)
       {
         return value*value;
       }
     });
     
     my $address = $tcc->get_symbol('find_square');
     attach [$address => 'find_square'] => [int] => int;
     
     print find_square(4), "\n"; # prints 16

DESCRIPTION

    This module provides an interface to a very small C compiler known as
    TinyCC. It does almost no optimizations, so gcc or clang will probably
    generate faster code, but it is very small and is very fast and thus
    may be useful for some Just In Time (JIT) or Foreign Function Interface
    (FFI) situations.

    For a simpler, but less powerful interface see FFI::TinyCC::Inline.

CONSTRUCTOR

 new

     my $tcc = FFI::TinyCC->new;

    Create a new TinyCC instance.

METHODS

    Methods will generally throw an exception on failure.

 Compile

  set_options

     $tcc->set_options($options);

    Set compiler and linker options, as you would on the command line, for
    example:

     $tcc->set_options('-I/foo/include -L/foo/lib -DFOO=22');

  add_file

     $tcc->add_file('foo.c');
     $tcc->add_file('foo.o');
     $tcc->add_file('foo.so'); # or dll on windows

    Add a file, DLL, shared object or object file.

    On windows adding a DLL is not supported via this interface.

  compile_string

     $tcc->compile_string($c_code);

    Compile a string containing C source code.

  add_symbol

     $tcc->add_symbol($name, $callback);
     $tcc->add_symbol($name, $pointer);

    Add the given given symbol name / callback or pointer combination. See
    example below for how to use this to call Perl from Tiny C code.

    It will accept a FFI::Raw::Callback at a performance penalty. If
    possible pass in the pointer to the C entry point instead.

    If you are using FFI::Platypus you can use FFI::Platypus#cast or
    FFI::Platypus::Declare#cast to get a pointer to a closure:

     use FFI::Platypus::Declare;
     my $clousre = closure { return $_[0]+1 };
     my $pointer = cast '(int)->int' => 'opaque', $closure;
     
     $tcc->add_symbol('foo' => $pointer);

 Preprocessor options

  add_include_path

     $tcc->add_include_path($path);

    Add the given path to the list of paths used to search for include
    files.

  add_sysinclude_path

     $tcc->add_sysinclude_path($path);

    Add the given path to the list of paths used to search for system
    include files.

  set_lib_path

     $tcc->set_lib_path($path);

    Set the lib path

  define_symbol

     $tcc->define_symbol($name => $value);
     $tcc->define_symbol($name);

    Define the given symbol, optionally with the specified value.

  undefine_symbol

     $tcc->undefine_symbol($name);

    Undefine the given symbol.

 Link / run

  set_output_type

     $tcc->set_output_type('memory');
     $tcc->set_output_type('exe');
     $tcc->set_output_type('dll');
     $tcc->set_output_type('obj');

    Set the output type. This must be called before any compilation.

    Output formats may not be supported on your platform. exe is NOT
    supported on *BSD or OS X.

    As a basic baseline at least memory should be supported.

  add_library

     $tcc->add_library($libname);

    Add the given library when linking. Example:

     $tcc->add_library('m'); # equivalent to -lm (math library)

  add_library_path

     $tcc->add_library_path($pathname);

    Add the given directory to the search path used to find libraries.

  run

     my $exit_value = $tcc->run(@arguments);

  get_symbol

     my $pointer = $tcc->get_symbol($symbol_name);

    Return symbol address or undef if not found. This can be passed into
    the FFI::Platypus#function method, FFI::Platypus#attach method,
    FFI::Platypus::Declare#function function or similar interface that
    takes a pointer to a C function.

  output_file

     $tcc->output_file($filename);

    Output the generated code (either executable, object or DLL) to the
    given filename. The type of output is specified by the set_output_type
    method.

  get_ffi_raw

    DEPRECATED

     my $ffi = $tcc->get_ffi_raw($symbol_name, $return_type, @argument_types);

    Given the name of a function, return an FFI::Raw instance that will
    allow you to call it from Perl.

    This method is deprecated, and will be removed from a future version of
    FFI::TinyCC. It will issue a warning if you try to use it. Instead of
    this:

     my $function = $ffi->get_ffi_raw($name, $ret, @args);

    Do this:

     use FFI::Raw;
     my $function = FFI::Raw->new_from_ptr($ffi->get_symbol($name), $ret, @args);

    Or better yet, use FFI::Platypus instead.

EXAMPLES

 Calling Tiny C code from Perl

     use FFI::TinyCC;
     
     my $tcc = FFI::TinyCC->new;
     
     $tcc->compile_string(<<EOF);
     int
     main(int argc, char *argv[])
     {
       puts("hello world");
     }
     EOF
     
     my $r = $tcc->run;
     
     exit $r;

 Calling Perl from Tiny C code

     use FFI::TinyCC;
     use FFI::Platypus::Declare qw( opaque );
     
     my $say = closure { print $_[0], "\n" };
     my $ptr = cast '(string)->void' => opaque => $say;
     
     my $tcc = FFI::TinyCC->new;
     $tcc->add_symbol(say => $ptr);
     
     $tcc->compile_string(<<EOF);
     extern void say(const char *);
     
     int
     main(int argc, char *argv[])
     {
       int i;
       for(i=0; i<argc; i++)
       {
         say(argv[i]);
       }
     }
     EOF
     
     my $r = $tcc->run($0, @ARGV);
     
     exit $r;

 Attaching as a FFI::Platypus function from a Tiny C function

     use FFI::TinyCC;
     use FFI::Platypus::Declare qw( int );
     
     my $tcc = FFI::TinyCC->new;
     
     $tcc->compile_string(q{
       int
       calculate_square(int value)
       {
         return value*value;
       }
     });
     
     my $value = shift @ARGV;
     $value = 4 unless defined $value;
     
     my $address = $tcc->get_symbol('calculate_square');
     
     attach [$address => 'square'] => [int] => int;
     
     print square($value), "\n";

CAVEATS

    Tiny C is only supported on platforms with ARM or Intel processors. All
    features may not be fully supported on all operating systems.

    Tiny C is no longer supported by its original author, though various
    forks seem to have varying levels of support. We use the fork that
    comes with Alien::TinyCC.

SEE ALSO

    FFI::TinyCC::Inline

    Tiny C <http://bellard.org/tcc/>

    Tiny C Compiler Reference Documentation
    <http://bellard.org/tcc/tcc-doc.html>

    FFI::Platypus

    Alien::TinyCC

    C::TinyCompiler

BUNDLED SOFTWARE

    This package also comes with a parser that was shamelessly stolen from
    XS::TCC, which I strongly suspect was itself shamelessly "borrowed"
    from Inline::C::Parser::RegExp

    The license details for the parser are:

    Copyright 2002 Brian Ingerson Copyright 2008, 2010-2012 Sisyphus
    Copyright 2013 Steffen Muellero

    This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
    under the same terms as Perl itself.

AUTHOR

    Graham Ollis <plicease@cpan.org>

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

    This software is copyright (c) 2015 by Graham Ollis.

    This is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under
    the same terms as the Perl 5 programming language system itself.