[Chicken-users] Foreign functions and const specifier

[Peter Bex]

Hi list,

I was creating Chicken wrapper for a C library, and I came across a very
mysterious phenomenon:

(define-foreign-type epeg-image (pointer "Epeg_Image")) ; not important

(define epeg-file-open
  (foreign-lambda image epeg-image epeg_file_open (const c-string)))

When I (require 'epeg) from csi, and call the function on an existing
file, I got #f.  When I tried it again (calling the same function without
changing ANYTHING), suddenly it returned a valid pointer.

$ csi
<snip>
csi> (require 'epeg)
; loading ./epeg.so ...
csi> (epeg-file-open "test.jpg")                ; test.jpg exists!
#f
csi> (epeg-file-open "test.jpg")
#<pointer 18fe800>
csi> (epeg-file-open "test.jpg")
#f

Doing so repeatedly gives me a valid pointer about 80% of the time, and 
#f the remaining 20%.  I now removed the const specifier:

(define epeg_file_open
  (foreign-lambda image image epeg_file_open c-string))

Suddenly it returned no more #f's, only valid pointers.

Can someone explain to me why this is happening?

Greetz,
Peter Bex
-- 
http://www.student.kun.nl/peter.bex
--
"The process of preparing programs for a digital computer
 is especially attractive, not only because it can be economically
 and scientifically rewarding, but also because it can be an aesthetic
 experience much like composing poetry or music."
                                                        -- Donald Knuth

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