[Ecls-list] how to call external C functions? [cvs-dec30, OS X 10.1.2]

[John B. Thiel]

Test objective is create an image linked with an external C  fac.o  and 
call the function from
the lisp image.  eg (fac 20)

fac.o  <-   gcc -c fac.c
fac.c contains:
	int fac (int n)    { if (n <= 1) return 1;  return n * fac(n-1);  }

The developer documentation purports to describe this, but it is 
insufficiently precise, and/or the interface is buggy.  How about a 
step-by-step howto demonstration.  Here follows my simplest test case 
illustration of the errors.


[1]  defentry does not work at all from ecl interactive, and appears to 
be undefined.  (perhaps this is correct?)

 > (defentry fac (int) (int fac))
The variable FAC is unbound.
Top level.
 > (defentry)
The function DEFENTRY is undefined.
Top level.


[2]  Put the above defentry in 'fac-caller.lsp'  and try to compile it.

	ecl -compile fac-caller.lsp -s

;;; Compiling fac-caller.lsp.
;;; Compiling (DEFENTRY FAC ...).
;;; The variable FAC is undefined.
;;; The compiler will assume this variable is a global.
;;; End of Pass 1.
;;; Calling the C compiler...
"gcc -g -O2 -Ddarwin  -O -I/usr/local/lib/ecl//h -w -c fac-caller.c -o 
fac-caller.o"fac-caller.h:21: illegal external declaration, missing `;' 
after `init_FAC'
fac-caller.h:21: illegal method definition, found `('
cpp-precomp: warning: errors during smart preprocessing, retrying in 
basic mode
In file included from fac-caller.c:3:
fac-caller.h:21: parse error before `-'
fac-caller.h:21: method definition not in class context
(SYSTEM "gcc -g -O2 -Ddarwin  -O -I/usr/local/lib/ecl//h -w -c 
fac-caller.c -o fac-caller.o") returned non-zero value 1


[3]  I have also tried first using c:build-program with :ld-flags to 
build an image linking in the fac.o
-- that produced a startable image  (thanks Juanjo)    but defentry 
still failed similarly and I still cannot
access the (fac) function.


[4]   I tried using  (ffi:defentry fac (int) (int fac))    and also  
c::defentry.   These fail compilation with an infinite loop:
ecl -compile fac-caller.lsp -s
;;; Compiling fac-caller.lsp.
The FFI special form FFI:DEFENTRY cannot be used in the interpreter.
;;; Compiling (FFI:DEFENTRY FAC ...).
;;; The macro form (FFI:DEFENTRY ...) was not expanded successfully.
;;; You are recommended to compile again.
;;; The macro form (FFI:DEFENTRY ...) was not expanded successfully.
;;; You are recommended to compile again.
[repeats....]



Let me know if additional details, or the intermediate .c/.h/.data files 
wiIl be helpful for debugging.


-jt