Version 2 of TEA2

The directory and file structure of a TEA package is basically:

         $exec_prefix
          /       \
        lib       bin
         |         |
   PACKAGEx.y   (dependent .dll files on Windows)
         |
  pkgIndex.tcl (.so|.dll files)

The main dynamic (.so or .dll) library file gets installed in the versioned PACKAGE directory, which is OK on all platforms because it will be directly referenced with by 'load' in the pkgIndex.tcl file. Dependent DLL files on Windows must go in the bin directory (or other directory on the user's PATH) in order for them to be found.

Q: What are the steps one needs to take if one has some C and Tcl code that currently can be loaded as a Tcl extension, if they want to restructure the code to be TEA2 compliant?

A: The easiest way is to grab a copy of the sampleextension module from the Tcl CVS repository [L1 ], and edit Makefile.in and configure.in according to the instructions therein. You'll also need GNU autoconf (and GNU m4, and perhaps a few other dependencies). Run autoconf to generate a configure shell script from configure.in, and distribute it with your package.

If you're familiar with autoconf and make, you might want to write your own configure.in and Makefile.in instead -- the sampleextension Makefile imposes some requirements on the directory layout that might not match your current source setup. tcl.m4 -- the file containing the TEA autoconf macros -- is extremely well commented and fairly easy to follow. I can't say the same for the sampleextension Makefile.in, though :-(

Q: How does one determine thata package is TEA2 compliant?

A: Ask Jeff Hobbs to try building it. If it works for him, the package is compliant :-)

But seriously:

 To be "TEA compliant" ideally means that you use the latest TEA spec,
 which is part of the sample extension in cvs in the Tcl SF project.
 However, it essentially means that your extension will compile with
 'configure ; make' on any platform (including Windows), and that these
 have a standard set of options and targets (like recognizing --with-tcl,
 --enable-threads, --enable-symbols for configure and install-libraries
 and install-binaries targets for make). 
 [http://groups.google.com/groups?as_umsgid=3D8F638D.3060806%40ActiveState.com]