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List: webkit-dev
Subject: Re: [webkit-dev] Proposal for a new way to handle porting #ifdefs
From: Mario Bensi <mbensi () pleyo ! com>
Date: 2009-05-06 15:48:08
Message-ID: 200905061748.09382.mbensi () pleyo ! com
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The goal of Origyn Web Browser Abstraction Layer (OWBAL) is to clarify what is
platform dependant and what is not.
In BAL directory you find some modules which split sources per family of
feature:
Database: all files needed for HTML5 Database and Storage.
Events: all events definitions (input events)
Filesystem: methods to access the filesystem
Geolocation: methods to implement the html5 geolocation
ImageDecoder: Interface of ImageDecoder and all implementation (GIF, JPEG,
PNG, BMP, ICO)
Media: Implementation of backend for HTML5 video/audio tag
Network: Implementation of network resource
Types: Base Type used by WebCore
Facilities: misceleanous facilities implementation
Fonts: Font engine implementation
Graphics: Graphic primitive implementation (drawline, ...)
Internationalization: I18N implementation
Memory: memory management implementation
SVG: SVG (graphic part, the parser is in WebCore) implementation
Timer: timer implementation
Widgets: widget implementation
Each Module, when needed, splits WebCore and WTF source for the compilation.
All files in BAL have the prefix "BC" for BAL Concretization and for the suffix
the implementation name ( SDL, Gtk, Qt... ). This is done to avoid confusion
between files in the BAL and WebCore. For example if you have a file
ScrollView.cpp in WebCore, in BAL for SDL implementation it will be :
BCScrollViewSDL.cpp
This way any filename self documents its target implementation.
We have a 2 others directories used for the "BALification" process:
* Base: where stand definition of type and all configuration ( Platform.h,
... ). This makes a single place of information.
*cmake: all definitions needed by cmake (our build mechanism) such as
library check, header include, definitions by option.
you can find this description here : http://www.sand-
labs.org/owb/wiki/OwbalDescription
Mario
Le Tuesday 05 May 2009 17:19:33 Maciej Stachowiak, vous avez écrit :
> On May 4, 2009, at 5:21 AM, Mario Bensi wrote:
> > We pursued the same goal for a couple of years. Since our porting
> > targets are various middleware & CE platforms, we had to identify and
> > adapt WebKit needs at a better grained level than platform.
> > In order to do this we collected all dependencies in a Browser
> > Abstraction Layer (BAL directory). The configuration is handled by a
> > Base directory (definition of types, platform specifications) and we
> > use CMake to define platform specificities (and it's a great cross-
> > platform tool).
> >
> > Sure the BAL model has still improvements ahead of it, but it has the
> > merit of existing, being widely tester on a quite wide range of
> > targets, configurations and libraries.
>
> My understanding is that BAL injects a platform abstration layer under
> the platform abstraction layer that is the "WebCore/platform"
> directory. Also, I gather that BAL tries to do more things via runtime
> indirection and subclasses with virtual methods instead of WebCore's
> compile-time approach. To me, those aspects sound like they may not be
> good fits for our goals. But I would be glad to hear more details
> about BAL, and how it would compare to my proposal.
>
> Regards,
> Maciej
>
> > Regards
> > Mario
> >
> > Le Friday 01 May 2009 01:12:54 Maciej Stachowiak, vous avez écrit :
> >> I think our set of porting macros has become somewhat confused.
> >>
> >> Originally, our idea was that a port represents primarily adaptation
> >> to a particular platform. However, over time it has become clear that
> >> most of what is decided by a port is not platform adaptation, but
> >> rather policy decisions. For example, ports decide to have different
> >> features enabled, or to use different sets of system functionality on
> >> the same underlying OS.
> >>
> >> In addition, I think the catchall top-level PLATFORM create
> >> confusion,
> >> because it is not totally clear if they are policy decisions,
> >> platform
> >> adaptation decisions, or what.
> >>
> >> Third, it seems wrong that the policy choices of every port are
> >> represented as a bunch of ifdef tomfoolery inside a single Platform.h
> >> file.
> >>
> >> And fourth, many ports often run on the same OS, but with a different
> >> set of choices - for example on Mac OS X it is possible to build the
> >> Mac, Chromium, Gtk, Qt and Wx ports (at least).
> >>
> >>
> >> Therefore, I propose that we change as follows:
> >>
> >> 1) Strictly separate platform adaptation (mandatory to run on a given
> >> OS, compiler, or CPU at all) from policy choices (what features to
> >> enable, what optional libraries to use).
> >>
> >> 2) Phase out PLATFORM macros completely - each use should be
> >> converted
> >> to a policy choice, or a platform adaptation decision.
> >>
> >> 3) Instead of ports being defined by a top-level PLATFORM macro, I
> >> propose that each port should have its own header file to define
> >> policy decisions. For example, I'd propose that the system Mac OS X
> >> WebKit should use PortCocoa.h, and the WebKit used by Safari for
> >> Windows should use PortWinCG.h. There may also be a PortIPhone.h.
> >> These port definition headers would live in their own top-level
> >> WebKit
> >> module. Each one would be completely owned by whoever is generally
> >> considered the "owner" of a given port. Because related ports on
> >> different platforms may wish to share policy choices, it's ok for
> >> Port
> >> headers to include shared headers for some choices. For example, all
> >> Apple-maintained ports may include PortApple.h. We could go even
> >> further and have PortDefault.h to make default choices of what
> >> features are enabled, that ports would have to explicitly override.
> >>
> >> 4) Platform adaptation macros would still be defined in Platform.h
> >> based on sniffing the environment, this would include things like the
> >> compiler, the underlying OS, available libc functions, and so forth.
> >>
> >>
> >> Platform adaptation macros would be:
> >>
> >> OS() - underlying operating system; only to be used for mandated low-
> >> level services like virtual memory, not to choose a GUI toolkit
> >> Examples:
> >> OS(UNIX) - Any Unix-like OS
> >> OS(DARWIN) - Underlying OS is the base OS X environment
> >> OS(FREEBSD) - FreeBSD
> >> OS(WIN) - Any version of Windows
> >> OS(WINCE) - The embedded version of Windows
> >>
> >> COMPILER() - the compiler being used to build the project
> >> Examples:
> >> COMPILER(GCC) - GNU Compiler Collection
> >> COMPILER(MSVC) - Microsoft Visual C++
> >> COMPILER(RVCT) - ARM compiler
> >>
> >> HAVE() - specific system features (headers, functions or similar)
> >> that
> >> are present or not
> >> Examples:
> >> HAVE(MMAP) - mmap() function is available
> >> HAVE(ERRNO_H) - errno.h header is available
> >> HAVE(MADV_FREE) - madvise(MADV_FREE) is available
> >>
> >>
> >> Policy decision macros would be:
> >>
> >> USE() - use a particular third-party library or optional OS service
> >> Examples:
> >> USE(SKIA) - Use the Skia graphics library
> >> USE(CG) - Use CoreGraphics
> >> USE(V8) - Use the V8 JavaScript implementation
> >> USE(CFNET) - Use CFNetwork networking
> >> USE(NSURL_NET) - Use NSURLConnection-based networking
> >> USE(APPKIT) - Use AppKit views and events
> >> USE(GTK) - Use Gtk+
> >> USE(QT) - Use Qt
> >> USE(QUICKTIME) - Use the QuickTime media engine
> >> USE(QTKIT) - Use the QuickTime media engine via the Mac QTKit
> >> API
> >> USE(QUICKTIME_WIN) - Use the QuickTime media engine via its
> >> Windows API
> >>
> >> ENABLE() - turn on a specific feature of WebKit
> >> Examples:
> >> ENABLE(ACCESSIBILITY) - Enable support for assistive
> >> technologies (currently wrongly a HAVE)
> >> ENABLE(XSLT) - Include XSLT support
> >> ENABLE(OBJC_MAC_API) - Include Objective C API based on
> >> NSViews (current WebKit Mac)
> >> ENABLE(OBJC_DOM_API) - Include Objective C DOM bindings (may
> >> apply to other ObjC toolkits than AppKit)
> >> ENABLE(JSC) - Enable use of the JavaScriptCore implementation
> >> (inconsistent with V8 because JSC is a WebKit feature but V8 is an
> >> external dependency, even though they serve similar purposes)
> >> ENABLE(VIDEO) - Enable support for the HTML5 Video element
> >> ENABLE(SVG) - Enable support for SVG (Scalable Vector
> >> Graphics)
> >> ENABLE(WML) - Enable support for WML
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> Some macros that would be completely phased out, in favor of platform
> >> and policy decisions:
> >>
> >> PLATFORM(MAC) - A mix of things that should be USE(APPKIT),
> >> USE(NSURL_NET), ENABLE(OBJC_MAC_API) and a host of other things
> >> PLATFORM(WIN) - Hodgepodge of mandatory platform adaptation, optional
> >> platform adaptation, and choices specific to Apple's Mac Port
> >> PLATFORM(GTK) - Most of this would be replaced by USE(GTK) but
> >> perhaps
> >> different policy macros are appropriate in some cases.
> >> PLATFORM(CHROMIUM) - Grab-bag of various policy choices.
> >>
> >>
> >> I believe that with this new proposal, ifdefs in the code would be
> >> much more understandable. Any time something is ifdef'd, it would be
> >> clear why - is this to support a given public API? Is it to support a
> >> particular feature or variant behavior? Is it to make use of an
> >> underlying library? Is it just something you *have* to do on the OS?
> >> As a side effect, it would somewhat discourage scattered trivial
> >> behavior differences, since it would be necessary to name and explain
> >> them instead of just putting them behind a catchall ifdef. I believe
> >> every porter has been an offender on this front, Apple included, and
> >> it's probably best to minimize this sort of thing.
> >>
> >>
> >> This is not a new policy yet. Right now I am just proposing it for
> >> discussion. Thoughts?
> >>
> >>
> >> Regards,
> >> Maciej
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> webkit-dev mailing list
> >> webkit-dev@lists.webkit.org
> >> http://lists.webkit.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/webkit-dev
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