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Date: Mon, 17 Mar 2014 22:05:03 +0100
To: PHP internals <internals@lists.php.net>
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Subject: PHP could become more embeddable
From: ingwie2000@googlemail.com (Kevin Ingwersen)

Good evening, internals!

I have posted about this just a while ago - I am slightly concerned =
about the current build system.

Nothing against autotools and the current =84phpize=93 system - t runs, =
is stable, and well concepted. But currently, PHP is a program on its =
own, and to me, it is hard to imagine being able to embed it on a system =
- like Windows, where you have nothing like apt, yum, zypper, or =
whatever. I am writing a package manager for that reason=85but it might =
want to integrate PHP for a varity of reasons. But at the current state, =
its hard to implement PHP into anything, without getting a hang on =
itself first.=20

Setting up the deps folder with the required headers and dll=92s, or =
compiling other stuff on UNIX is okay. But to embed PHP, one needs to be =
able to run a proper shell - bash - have make and some headers/libs =
installed, making it rather hard to implement.

I for myself only want to implement parts of PHP. Like the core engine, =
the pthreads PECL extension and using PHP-CPP, I will be making my =
libd0p and others available to PHP too. But if I want to build on =
Windows, I am quite lost.

The build system I deem to use is a script-like system, and it is by =
nature windows compatible. It might not be as direct as make, or not =
even Ninja, but things like the following work quite nicely.

=97
# Builting some librarys and making it into a binary.

target static_lib("d0p") {
	// I could have said "target libd0p.a" - but using a function, I =
can make this cross platform.
	// So it is either .a or .lib, depending on the os.
	rule "static_lib";
	input [files("libd0p/*.cpp")];
	requires [targets("d0p")]; // We can assign tags for easer =
finding
}
target static_lib("canister") {
	rule "static_lib";
	tag "d0p";
	input [files("libcanister/src/*.cpp")];
	CPPFLAGS =3D CPPFLAGS.define("foo=3Dbar"); # Will automaticaly =
set -D or /D and add to the flags
}
target static_lib("bu") {
	rule "static_lib";
	tag "d0p";
	input [
		files("libbu/src/stable/*.cpp"),
		files("libbu/src/experimental/*.cpp"),
		files("libbu/src/unstable/*.cpp")
	];
	CPPFLAGS =3D CPPFLAGS.include("libbu/");
}

target "d0p-tool" {
	rule "exe";
	requires [targets("d0p")];
	input "d0p.cpp";
	CPPFLAGS =3D =
CPPFLAGS.include("libbu/").include("libcanister/src");
}

action "default" {
	build: "d0p";
}
=97

This build system is currently learning configuration (checking for =
headers, functions, libraries, tools), generating and downloading of =
files. After this is done, I hope to replicate PHP=92s main build system =
int hat way - so I can then include the file from a main file. But in =
order to do this, I need to learn as much as I can about the very basic =
PHP building.

But this isnt just useful for me. For anyone who wishes to integrate a =
basic PHP engine, this would be some useful knowledge. What to check =
for, what to generate - and then, what to build - to just get a basic =
thing up and running.

As much as I have searched for now, PHP generates a tiny bit of files:

./ext/date/lib/timelib_config.h
./main/build-defs.h
./main/internal_functions.c
./main/internal_functions_cli.c
./main/php_config.h
./TSRM/tsrm_config.h
./Zend/zend_config.h

But, can=92t this process be simplified? For example:

$ cat TSRM/tsrm_config.h=20
#include <../main/php_config.h>

Why do we even need this file, if it is more or less pointless, as it =
just includes a file at another location?

My goal is to achieve a way to make embedding PHP for others simpler - =
that will incldue adding PHP-CPP. Because its structured so simple, that =
it only comes with a makefile - and you basically could:

g++ -c src/*.cpp -I. -Iinclude
ar rcs libphpcpp.a *.o

Voila, built.



So, to sumarize my points that I somehow tried to explain, but I am not =
very good with wording myself in english - my main language is german.

	- Autotools is not capable of properly including other projects, =
without forcing more configure calls, which check things over and over =
again.
	- Someone may sumarize how to compile the basic PHP by hand - =
like, what files to compile with gcc and which .o=92s to put together =
for a basic libphp5.a?
	- Can the build of PHP be made easier, for embedding purpose - =
by refactoring some generations and checks?

I will keep investigating into this topic, as I really want to use PHP - =
now even more avter finding out about PHP-CPP, which is like, the best =
=84addon=93 to PHP that I have ever, ever seen=85thanks again to the =
person who posted about that, its an amazing finding!

Kind regards, Ingwie=