[fpc-devel] extending fpc for integration

[Hans-Peter Diettrich]

Mattias Gaertner schrieb:

> I did some test with an integrated fpc (e.g. in an IDE) and sharing
> redirecting the file access. For example FPC could use the files
> of the IDE.

IMO most time can be saved by using the directory cache, instead of 
building another one in the compiler.

> This would allow to compile without saving to disk, so the
> compiler could be used for quick syntax checks and similar tasks.

That's an old idea, still viable but never implemented.

> Note: Under Linux the speed up is hardly measurable. But
> maybe Windows can gain a bit.

There's another issue with the .ppu files, that are used by the compiler 
to prevent excessive re-compilation of the same units. But recompilation 
can be forced, with some minor patching.

> I changed a few calls to Assign/Reset/Close to use the TCFileStream
> (e.g. for the ppu reader) and added the possibility to define a custom
> TCFileStream class. An IDE can then redirect the file access.

The scanner already has a configurable file interface, but AFAIR only by 
global hooks, not on a per-file or per-application base (finput.pas: 
tdosinputfile...). No real problems, so far :-)


But there exist other issues, e.g. the compiler currently can compile 
only for a single target, that is incorporated at compile time. One 
solution were a dummy target, that does not create any binary code in 
the IDE compiler version. Or the compiler back-ends are moved into their 
own classes, selectable at runtime. I've explored both approaches 
already :-)

DoDi