[fpc-devel] Dnamic packages support

[L]

>
> > If you really want to write C plugin, then I can add a unit to the
> > IDEIntf with some common functions without OOP.
> >
> I don't intend to doing that right now.
>
> But one of the most commonly used and supposedly complex and well
> defined plugin systems open to 3rd party providers is Steinberg (Cubase)
> plugins for MIDI/Audio applets.
>
> - the plugin API defines MIDI I/O, Audio I/O, GUI and supposedly some
> more weird stuff like copy protection dongles
> - there are working hosts and plugins for Windows, Linux and Mac
> - there are hundreds of companies providing those plugins (many freeware
> products)
> - there are hosts by several companies. Besides Steinberg products there
> is NI "Core" and even a hardware system (that runs on Linux)
> - I read about projects writing those plugins successfully with free Pascal
>
> So this _is_ a good example of an OS and language independent plugin
> API. Maybe it's a good idea to provide something compatible.

The key point is exporting the api from the executable rather than the dll. Many
people don't understand this basic concept nor know it is possible, nor
understand why it works and how it works.

LazarusRB (arby) demonstrated this years ago with an API called Plugger. It is
no longer in active development since I am very busy with web programming and
consulting, and documenting Powtils project which takes most of my time.

L505