[fpc-pascal] Porting discussion

[Rainer Stratmann]

Am Montag, 8. Dezember 2008 10:50 schrieb Marco van de Voort:
> In our previous episode, Rainer Stratmann said:
> > To increaase compatibility to Linux it would be great if it is possible
> > to create a keyword which it makes possible to include C-headers and then
> > do automatically the binding stuff.
> >
> > That means that fpc woul be able to parse C-code (headers).
> >
> > If that is possible.
>
> Not, or at least not enough to be robust. A lot of C headers is based on
> (macro,define) substitution, IOW it needs context of use to obtain the full
> meaning.
>
> This is also why the header conversion tool only works to a certain degree.
> If headers are reasonably clean it can work ok. If you have hundreds of
> macros and special constructs it needs manual work. (for which I can't
> imagine a solution, even in theory).

May it would be a solution if the C-compiler which compiles the library 
generates a 'generic library interface file' or something similar with all 
necessary information. Because the compiler has all the information.

From this 'generic library interface file' it will be easier to convert a 
pascal header interface file. Or the C-compiler generates it directly for 
pascal. ---> 'pascal library interface file' or similar...

That I can imagine could be a solution, but the C-compiler programmers have to 
implement this function.

The full meaning-context can be read in the original C-header file then.
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