Purpose: Discuss what it takes to create a Tcl extension that can be used by others
- See the Ajuba Solutions team's example extension ftp://ftp.scriptics.com/pub/tcl/examples/tea/
- Read the Tcl Extension Architecture document [L1 ]
- Determine whether extension can and will be cross platform
- Is this relevant to your extension?
- Are you interested in supporting cross platform?
- What needs to be done?
- Decide whether you want a script library extension versus compiled (or mixed) library extension.
- If script only, what are the core issues to consider?
- Portable code - see the Ajuba Solutions style guide
- What installation aids do you provide? Options include:
- Nothing - let the user figure it out
- Text describing what to do
- Tcl script to assist in configuration / installation
- configure / makefile to assist in configuration
- What documentation do you supply? Options include:
- None - let the users read the source *
- Plain text - everyone has an editor these days
- HTML - everyone has a browser these days
- Man pages - it's what everyone considers
- XML - it's the coming thing
- Other formats (TeX, PostScript, PDF, WinHelp, etc.)
- What additional issues can be considered?
- Tools for writing extensions: SWIG, mktclapp [L2 ]
- the so-called RTFS system
LV: What is RTFS? MS: RTF source, I guess.
Building Tcl DLL's for Windows