Hello, all!
I created a command line tool that uses dynamic libraries to do different kinds
of text processing so you can create a processor in your own tree.
Getting nimble to package it was workable but kind of nontrivial so I thought
I'd share. I've got a plugin folder with .nimf files that will expose an
interface, and the following .nimble
# mytool.nimble
version = "0.1.0"
author = "Me Myself I"
description = "A command line tool with some build in dynamic libraries"
license = "MIT"
bin = @["mytool"]
backend = "c"
installExt = @["nim", "nimf", "nims", "so", "dylib", "dll"]
requires "nim >= 1.0.0"
import os, strutils
before build:
for file in listFiles( "plugins" ):
if file[^5 .. ^1] == ".nimf":
echo "Building " & file
let cmd = "nim " & backend & " --app:lib" & " -o:" & (DynlibFormat %
("mytool" & lastPathPart(file)[0 .. ^6])) & " " & file
echo cmd
exec cmd
Run
So now dynamic lib is built and installed alongside the binary (but not
symlinked anywhere). On Windows that's all there is to it, but linux and OSX
need some linker options in the main binary so its directory is in the load path
# mytool.nims
when defined(macosx):
switch("passL", "-rpath @loader_path") # researched but untested, can you
confirm?
elif defined(posix):
switch("passL", "-Wl,-rpath,\\$ORIGIN")
Run
I believe the nim core developers have a very long to do list that is
occasionally made even longer by interesting ideas from the commun ity. I am
happy to oblige! :)
* I would love to have a nim switch that will generate platform specific
linker options to load dynlibs from binary's location, like on
Windows. This could be considered as default behavior for nim programs.
* I would love to have a dynlib build target, analogous to binary, that
builds and copies but does not link dynlibs, and a well-known lo
cation in the directory structure
Thanks for reading! Carlo
