Re: [Bug-apl] SQL interface needs a workspace

[Juergen Sauermann]

Hi,

first of all, the search path for )LOAD, )SAVE, and friends is configurable in the GNU APL preferences file
as LIBREF-0 ... 9.

Shared libraries are installed in an own directory which is usually /usr/lib/apl or /usr/local/lib/apl.
The exact location is determined by (and can also be changed via) ./configure.

Currently no default values are provided for LIBREF-0 ... 9 and then a directory scheme similar to IBM APL2
is chosen. However, that scheme is more suitable for (single-user) Windows than for linux. In a linux environment
we should have some directories whose structure is user related (following the user/group/all paradigm) and
others that are system related (usr/lib/apl).

I believe that the case where a user did not install is not so important because normal users (as opposed to
library developers) should install and then everything should be fine. Those who don't want to install can change
their preferences file accordingly.

I could change the preferences file so that it uses the same prefix as the shared libs for workspaces shipped with GNU APL.
Workspaces developed out-of-tree can do the same trick but would require their own ./configure. Right now the workspace
directories exist in the GNU APL package (workspaces, wslib1 ... wslib9) but are not installed.

/// Jürgen



On 05/15/2014 05:18 PM, Elias Mårtenson wrote:

Actually, I have already mentioned to Jürgen that we need some way of specifying a default serach path for )LOAD and friends. However, I have not seen it as particularly important yet since we don't have a completed package manager yet.

I personally dislike workspaces and I know I'm not alone in the desire to have plain source files instead of an opaque format. Therefore, I don't really have any particular drive to make it. But, go right ahead and make one if you feel that would be useful.

Regards,

Elias

On 15 May 2014 22:30, Blake McBride <address@hidden> wrote:

Greetings,

I am in the process of writing a proposed README.txt file for the SQL interface to GNU APL.  That package comes with a file named sql.apl that is a shell script to startup GNU APL with the SQL shared library and APL routines already loaded.

IMO, that method of loading it has a few problems.  It only works from the distribution directory unless the user knows (without understanding the pieces) what paths need to be changed - which is undocumented.  It is further complicated by the need for the startup path of APL and its relation to the workspaces directory used by APL.  All this is way too much for a newbie.

The second problem is that that script pre-loads needed APL functions.  Again, when a newbie loads their own workspace, they will lose the APL routines.

My suggestion, without necessarily removing sql.apl, is to have that package include an actual workspace that can be loaded.  That workspace would be a copy of sql.apl except that:

1.  sql∆∆load_library world be renamed to SQL∆LoadLibrary to be consistent with the other functions in that workspace.

2.  SQL∆LoadLibrary will take an argument specifying the full path of lib_sql.so rather than having it hard-coded.

Along with some documentation, I think this will make the SQL library a lot easier to use for newbies.

Thanks.

Blake