[GSLL-devel] grid, foreign-array, fsbv and libffi

[Liam Healy]

Yes.

I'm in the process of changing FSBV (and GSLL, and to some extent GSD)
with two intertwined goals.  One goal is to have all foreign struct
interface handled in one place, so that e.g. complex-double-c (in GSD)
and sf-result (in GSLL) are handled the same way.  Since this is (for
now) being done in FSBV, it has the effect of splitting FSBV into two
parts, say "FS" (foreign structures) and "FSBV" (foreign structures by
value).   The first part will handle conversions between foreign and
CL objects, as with #'object and #'(setf object).  It happens that GSD
defines complex foreign types but call functions with those arguments
by value; GSLL optionally uses them by value.

The second goal is a long-term one of integrating FSBV into CFFI.
When I do that, the part that just addresses foreign structures (not
by-value calls) will (I'm hoping) be loaded automatically.   Then,
foreign-array will only require CFFI (which it already does).  The "by
value" part will be an optional system for CFFI users,  because it
requires libffi.

I hope the explanation is clear.  To answer your specific question:
I've pushed a new version of FSBV; in that version, you only have to
load pkgdcl.lisp and convert.lisp, and you won't need libffi.  Sorry
for the awkward state; for the time being FSBV is mandatory, but I'm
hoping that goes away in the not-too-distant future.  I didn't make a
separate branch because it does work as-is, and I figured most people
were getting these systems via quicklisp, which already installs the
entire FSBV.

Liam

On Tue, Nov 30, 2010 at 11:58 AM, Sumant Oemrawsingh <soemraws at xs4all.nl> wrote:
> Hi Liam,
>
> Recently, I tried getting foreign-array working on windows (with
> sbcl). I noticed that foreign-array uses fsbv (apparently) and fsbv
> uses libffi. I haven't dug around in the code yet, but I was wondering
> if you have a quick explanation why libffi is used, and why cffi is
> not sufficient. The reason I ask is because I'm wondering if it would
> be possible to hack it under windows so it doesn't need libffi (which
> apparently is quite difficult to get working there).
>
> Thanks,
> Sumant
>
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