Purpose: collect information, pointers, etc. regarding issues
relating to Tcl and dynamic libraries.

Dynamic libraries - in Windows known as DLLs and in Unix often called
shared libraries - are bodies of C code compiled and linked in
a manner that make it possible for the code to be read into
memory and made a part of running [processes].  

In Tcl, if the appropriate C code is provided,
and the code is compiled properly,
one can make use of Tcl's [load] command to load a dynamic library into
an interpreter creating one or more new tcl commands.

When configuing tcl, one seems to need to make certain that one specifies --enable-shared and not specify --disable-load .

Anyone know ''why'' the flags are two different words?  Is shared and load
really two different conditions?

[DGP] Yes, those configuration options specify two different
things. ''--enable-shared'' (default) vs. ''--disable-shared''
determines whether or not the Tcl library you build is a
shared library or a static library.  ''--enable-load'' (default)
vs. ''--disable-load'' determines whether or not the Tcl library
you build supports a working [load] command.

[LV] When you say "[[...] supports a working load command", do you mean
that --disable-load results in a Tcl library which does not recognize load
as a valid command? 

[DGP] No.  When a ''--disable-load'' configuration of the Tcl
library is built, it contains a [load] command that is the
functional equivalent of the command
[[error "dynamic loading is not currently available on this system"]]
`
In other words, when building a Tcl extension, that
--enable-load/--disable-load flag probably won't be relevant, and may not even be recognized.
However, the --enable-shared/--disable-shared , at least if present, would
indicate that the extension (or, in the case of Tcl itself, the base Tcl
library) that is generated will be able to be ''load''ed.  Right? 

[DGP] I don't understand the rest of your question.

[[Are there any wiki or non-wiki web references which could be inserted here
that discuss the approrpriate calls one must make in a library for this?]]

[[What other wiki and non-wiki references would be useful here?]]

What about [Direct Shared Library Use for Tcl9]?

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[Category Internals]