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diff --git a/doc/tm.n b/doc/tm.n new file mode 100644 index 0000000..aef06dd --- /dev/null +++ b/doc/tm.n @@ -0,0 +1,293 @@ +'\" +'\" Copyright (c) 2004-2010 Andreas Kupries <andreas_kupries@users.sourceforge.net> +'\" +'\" See the file "license.terms" for information on usage and redistribution +'\" of this file, and for a DISCLAIMER OF ALL WARRANTIES. +'\" +.so man.macros +.TH tm n 8.5 Tcl "Tcl Built-In Commands" +.BS +'\" Note: do not modify the .SH NAME line immediately below! +.SH NAME +tm \- Facilities for locating and loading of Tcl Modules +.SH SYNOPSIS +.nf +\fB::tcl::tm::path add \fR?\fIpath\fR...? +\fB::tcl::tm::path remove \fR?\fIpath\fR...? +\fB::tcl::tm::path list\fR +\fB::tcl::tm::roots \fR?\fIpath\fR...? +.fi +.BE +.SH DESCRIPTION +This document describes the facilities for locating and loading Tcl +Modules (see \fBMODULE DEFINITION\fR for the definition of a Tcl Module). +The following commands are supported: +.TP +\fB::tcl::tm::path add \fR?\fIpath\fR...? +. +The paths are added at the head to the list of module paths, in order +of appearance. This means that the last argument ends up as the new +head of the list. +.RS +.PP +The command enforces the restriction that no path may be an ancestor +directory of any other path on the list. If any of the new paths +violates this restriction an error will be raised, before any of the +paths have been added. In other words, if only one path argument +violates the restriction then none will be added. +.PP +If a path is already present as is, no error will be raised and no +action will be taken. +.PP +Paths are searched later in the order of their appearance in the +list. As they are added to the front of the list they are searched in +reverse order of addition. In other words, the paths added last are +looked at first. +.RE +.TP +\fB::tcl::tm::path remove \fR?\fIpath\fR...? +. +Removes the paths from the list of module paths. The command silently +ignores all paths which are not on the list. +.TP +\fB::tcl::tm::path list\fR +. +Returns a list containing all registered module paths, in the order +that they are searched for modules. +.TP +\fB::tcl::tm::roots \fR?\fIpath\fR...? +. +Similar to \fBpath add\fR, and layered on top of it. This command +takes a list of paths, extends each with +.QW "\fBtcl\fIX\fB/site-tcl\fR" , +and +.QW "\fBtcl\fIX\fB/\fIX\fB.\fIy\fR" , +for major version \fIX\fR of the +Tcl interpreter and minor version \fIy\fR less than or equal to the +minor version of the interpreter, and adds the resulting set of paths +to the list of paths to search. +.RS +.PP +This command is used internally by the system to set up the +system-specific default paths. +.PP +The command has been exposed to allow a build system to define +additional root paths beyond those described by this document. +.RE +.SH "MODULE DEFINITION" +A Tcl Module is a Tcl Package contained in a single file, and no other +files required by it. This file has to be \fBsource\fRable. In other +words, a Tcl Module is always imported via: +.CS +source module_file +.CE +.PP +The \fBload\fR command is not directly used. This restriction is not +an actual limitation, as some may believe. +Ever since 8.4 the Tcl \fBsource\fR command reads only until the first +^Z character. This allows us to combine an arbitrary Tcl script with +arbitrary binary data into one file, where the script processes the +attached data in any it chooses to fully import and activate the +package. +.PP +The name of a module file has to match the regular expression: +.CS +([_[:alpha:]][:_[:alnum:]]*)-([[:digit:]].*)\e.tm +.CE +.PP +The first capturing parentheses provides the name of the package, the +second clause its version. In addition to matching the pattern, the +extracted version number must not raise an error when used in the +command: +.CS +package vcompare $version 0 +.CE +.PP +.SH "FINDING MODULES" +The directory tree for storing Tcl modules is separate from other +parts of the filesystem and independent of \fBauto_path\fR. +.PP +Tcl Modules are searched for in all directories listed in the result +of the command \fB::tcl::tm::path list\fR. +This is called the \fIModule path\fR. Neither the \fBauto_path\fR nor +the \fBtcl_pkgPath\fR variables are used. +All directories on the module path have to obey one restriction: +.RS +.PP +For any two directories, neither is an ancestor directory of the +other. +.RE +.PP +This is required to avoid ambiguities in package naming. If for +example the two directories +.QW "\fIfoo/\fR" +and +.QW "\fIfoo/cool\fR" +were on +the path a package named \fBcool::ice\fR could be found via the +names \fBcool::ice\fR or \fBice\fR, the latter potentially +obscuring a package named \fBice\fR, unqualified. +.PP +Before the search is started, the name of the requested package is +translated into a partial path, using the following algorithm: +.RS +.PP +All occurrences of +.QW "\fB::\fR" +in the package name are replaced by +the appropriate directory separator character for the platform we are +on. On Unix, for example, this is +.QW "\fB/\fR" . +.RE +.PP +Example: +.RS +.PP +The requested package is \fBencoding::base64\fR. The generated +partial path is +.QW "\fIencoding/base64\fR" . +.RE +.PP +After this translation the package is looked for in all module paths, +by combining them one-by-one, first to last with the partial path to +form a complete search pattern. Note that the search algorithm rejects +all files where the filename does not match the regular expression +given in the section \fBMODULE DEFINITION\fR. For the remaining +files \fIprovide scripts\fR are generated and added to the package +ifneeded database. +.PP +The algorithm falls back to the previous unknown handler when none of +the found module files satisfy the request. If the request was +satisfied the fall-back is ignored. +.PP +Note that packages in module form have \fIno\fR control over the +\fIindex\fR and \fIprovide script\fRs entered into the package +database for them. +For a module file \fBMF\fR the \fIindex script\fR is always: +.CS +package ifneeded \fBPNAME PVERSION\fR [list source \fBMF\fR] +.CE +and the \fIprovide script\fR embedded in the above is: +.CS +source \fBMF\fR +.CE +.PP +Both package name \fBPNAME\fR and package version \fBPVERSION\fR are +extracted from the filename \fBMF\fR according to the definition +below: +.CS +\fBMF\fR = /module_path/\fBPNAME\(fm\fR-\fBPVERSION\fR.tm +.CE +.PP +Where \fBPNAME\(fm\fR is the partial path of the module as defined in +section \fBFINDING MODULES\fR, and translated into \fBPNAME\fR by +changing all directory separators to +.QW "\fB::\fR" , +and \fBmodule_path\fR is the path (from the list of paths to search) +that we found the module file under. +.PP +Note also that we are here creating a connection between package names +and paths. Tcl is case-sensitive when it comes to comparing package +names, but there are filesystems which are not, like NTFS. Luckily +these filesystems do store the case of the name, despite not using the +information when comparing. +.PP +Given the above we allow the names for packages in Tcl modules to have +mixed-case, but also require that there are no collisions when +comparing names in a case-insensitive manner. In other words, if a +package \fBFoo\fR is deployed in the form of a Tcl Module, +packages like \fBfoo\fR, \fBfOo\fR, etc. are not allowed +anymore. +.SH "DEFAULT PATHS" +The default list of paths on the module path is computed by a +\fBtclsh\fR as follows, where \fIX\fR is the major version of the Tcl +interpreter and \fIy\fR is less than or equal to the minor version of +the Tcl interpreter. +.PP +All the default paths are added to the module path, even those paths +which do not exist. Non-existent paths are filtered out during actual +searches. This enables a user to create one of the paths searched when +needed and all running applications will automatically pick up any +modules placed in them. +.PP +The paths are added in the order as they are listed below, and for +lists of paths defined by an environment variable in the order they +are found in the variable. +.SS "SYSTEM SPECIFIC PATHS" +.TP +\fBfile normalize [info library]/../tcl\fIX\fB/\fIX\fB.\fIy\fR +. +In other words, the interpreter will look into a directory specified +by its major version and whose minor versions are less than or equal +to the minor version of the interpreter. +.RS +.PP +For example for Tcl 8.4 the paths searched are: +.CS +\fB[info library]/../tcl8/8.4\fR +\fB[info library]/../tcl8/8.3\fR +\fB[info library]/../tcl8/8.2\fR +\fB[info library]/../tcl8/8.1\fR +\fB[info library]/../tcl8/8.0\fR +.CE +.PP +This definition assumes that a package defined for Tcl \fIX\fB.\fIy\fR +can also be used by all interpreters which have the same major number +\fIX\fR and a minor number greater than \fIy\fR. +.RE +.TP +\fBfile normalize EXEC/tcl\fIX\fB/\fIX\fB.\fIy\fR +. +Where \fBEXEC\fR is \fBfile normalize [info nameofexecutable]/../lib\fR +or \fBfile normalize [::tcl::pkgconfig get libdir,runtime]\fR +.RS +.PP +This sets of paths is handled equivalently to the set coming before, +except that it is anchored in \fBEXEC_PREFIX\fR. +For a build with \fBPREFIX\fR = \fBEXEC_PREFIX\fR the two sets are +identical. +.RE +.SS "SITE SPECIFIC PATHS" +.TP +\fBfile normalize [info library]/../tcl\fIX\fB/site-tcl\fR +. +Note that this is always a single entry because \fIX\fR is always a +specific value (the current major version of Tcl). +.SS "USER SPECIFIC PATHS" +.TP +\fB$::env(TCL\fIX\fB_\fIy\fB_TM_PATH)\fR +. +A list of paths, separated by either \fB:\fR (Unix) or \fB;\fR +(Windows). This is user and site specific as this environment variable +can be set not only by the user's profile, but by system configuration +scripts as well. +.TP +\fB$::env(TCL\fIX\fB.\fIy\fB_TM_PATH)\fR +. +Same meaning and content as the previous variable. However the use of +dot '.' to separate major and minor version number makes this name +less to non-portable and its use is discouraged. Support of this +variable has been kept only for backward compatibility with the +original specification, i.e. TIP 189. +.PP +These paths are seen and therefore shared by all Tcl shells in the +\fB$::env(PATH)\fR of the user. +.PP +Note that \fIX\fR and \fIy\fR follow the general rules set out +above. In other words, Tcl 8.4, for example, will look at these 5 +environment variables: +.CS +\fB$::env(TCL8.4_TM_PATH)\fR \fB$::env(TCL8_4_TM_PATH)\fR +\fB$::env(TCL8.3_TM_PATH)\fR \fB$::env(TCL8_3_TM_PATH)\fR +\fB$::env(TCL8.2_TM_PATH)\fR \fB$::env(TCL8_2_TM_PATH)\fR +\fB$::env(TCL8.1_TM_PATH)\fR \fB$::env(TCL8_1_TM_PATH)\fR +\fB$::env(TCL8.0_TM_PATH)\fR \fB$::env(TCL8_0_TM_PATH)\fR +.CE +.SH "SEE ALSO" +package(n), Tcl Improvement Proposal #189 +.QW "\fITcl Modules\fR" +(online at http://tip.tcl.tk/189.html), Tcl Improvement Proposal #190 +.QW "\fIImplementation Choices for Tcl Modules\fR" +(online at http://tip.tcl.tk/190.html) +.SH "KEYWORDS" +modules, package |