Zarutian 26. july 2004: So how is it done?
Starkits and their interaction with binary extensions are a bit of magic, but the simpler cases are quite easy to do and understand.
Simple case: Single platform, stubs enabled binary extensions with no external dependencies.
This is the easy case for packages like tdom or tktable, which do not depend on external .so or .dlls to work. Put the .so/.dll in the virtual filesystem and write/use a pkgIndex.tcl file that loads it when a package require is done. For many packages, copying the package subdir of /lib into the $::starkit::topdir/lib dir of the vfs is enough to make it work.
Example:
# binary.tcl package require Tk package require Tktable puts "Loaded ok"
Wrap it and unwrap to create directory:
sdx.kit qwrap binary.tcl sdx.kit unwrap binary.kit
Copy the binary Tktable libs in:
cp /path/to/Tktable2.8 binary.vfs/lib
Rewrap the code:
sdx.kit wrap binary
Medium case: Multiple platform, stubs enabled binary extension with no external dependencies.
Harder case: Single platform, stubs enabled binary extension with external dependencies.
Impossible case: Non stubs enabled, shared library binary extension.
See also sdx.