pidl/README


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Introduction:
=============
This directory contains the source code of the pidl (Perl IDL) 
compiler for Samba 4. 

The main sources for pidl are available by Subversion on
svn://svnanon.samba.org/samba/branches/SAMBA_4_0/source/pidl

Pidl works by building a parse tree from a .pidl file (a simple 
dump of it's internal parse tree) or a .idl file 
(a file format mostly like the IDL file format midl uses). 
The IDL file parser is in idl.yp (a yacc file converted to 
perl code by yapp)

After a parse tree is present, pidl will call one of it's backends 
(which one depends on the options given on the command-line). Here is 
a list of current backends:

Standalone installation:
========================
Run Makefile.PL to generate the Makefile. 

Then run "make install" (as root) to install.

Internals overview:
===================

-- Generic --
Parse::Pidl::Dump - Converts the parse tree back to an IDL file
Parse::Pidl::Samba4::Header - Generates header file with data structures defined in IDL file
Parse::Pidl::NDR - Generates intermediate datastructures for use by NDR parses/generators
Parse::Pidl::ODL - Generates IDL structures from ODL structures for use in the NDR parser generator
Parse::Pidl::Test - Utility functions for use in pidl's testsuite

-- Samba NDR --
Parse::Pidl::Samba4::NDR::Client - Generates client call functions in C using the NDR parser
Parse::Pidl::Samba4::SWIG - Generates SWIG interface files (.i)
Parse::Pidl::Samba4::NDR::Parser - Generates pull/push functions for parsing NDR
Parse::Pidl::Samba4::NDR::Server - Generates server side implementation in C
Parse::Pidl::Samba4::TDR - Parser generator for the "Trivial Data Representation"
Parse::Pidl::Samba4::Template - Generates stubs in C for server implementation
Parse::Pidl::Samba4::EJS - Generates bindings for Embedded JavaScript (EJS)
Parse::Pidl::Samba4::Python - Generates bindings for Python

-- Samba COM / DCOM --
Parse::Pidl::Samba4::COM::Proxy - Generates proxy object for DCOM (client-side)
Parse::Pidl::Samba4::COM::Stub - Generates stub call handler for DCOM (server-side)
Parse::Pidl::Samba4::COM::Header - Generates headers for COM

-- Wireshark --
Parse::Pidl::Wireshark::NDR - Generates a parser for the Wireshark network sniffer
Parse::Pidl::Wireshark::Conformance - Reads conformance files containing additional data for generating Wireshark parsers

-- Utility modules --
Parse::Pidl::Util - Misc utility functions used by *.pm and pidl.pl
Parse::Pidl::Typelist - Utility functions for keeping track of known types and their representation in C

Tips for hacking on pidl:
 - Look at the pidl's parse tree by using the --keep option and looking 
   at the generated .pidl file. 
 - The various backends have a lot in common, if you don't understand how one 
   implements something, look at the others
 - See pidl(1) and the documentation on midl
 - See 'info bison' and yapp(1) for information on the file format of idl.yp