SWI(1)                                                                  SWI(1)



NAME
       swipl-ld - Create a SWI-Prolog embedded executable

SYNOPSIS
       swipl-ld options c-files o-files pl-files

DESCRIPTION
       The utility swipl-ld is a front-end for the C-compiler and linker to
       create a stand-alone executable from a series of C/C++ and Prolog input
       files. It extracts information from the SWI-Prolog executable swipl,
       after which it scans the arguments and breaks them into several
       categories.  It then calls the C-compiler to create an executable
       containing the user's C-code and the SWI-Prolog kernel.  After this, it
       will call the development environment to create a Prolog saved state
       from the prolog files and finally it will create the target executable
       by concatenating the state to the emulator.  See also qsave_program/2
       from the SWI-Prolog manual.


   Options
       -pl prolog
              Specifies the prolog version to use.  The default is swipl.
              This flag may be used to choose between different versions
              installed on your system, or to specify a modified version.  A
              modified version should understands the flags -dump-runtime-
              variables -f file -F file -g goal -t toplevel.

       -help  Shows options briefly

       -nostate
              Just relinks the kernel.  The newly linked kernel can only
              function in the presence of the development system.  Any
              supplied prolog sourcefiles are ignored, and so are the options
              -goal -toplevel -initfile.  -class This is the preferred way to
              attach external modules to Prolog if dynamic loading is not
              supported on your system.

       -c     Compile C or C++ source-files into object files.  This turns
              swipl-ld into a replacement for the C or C++ compiler where
              proper options such as the location of the include directory are
              passed automatically to the compiler.

       -E     Invoke the C preprocessor.  Used to make swipl-ld a replacement
              for the C or C++ compiler.

       -shared
              Link C, C++ or object files into a shared object (DLL) that can
              be loaded by the load_foreign_library/1 predicate.  If used with
              -c it sets the proper options to compile a C or C++ file ready
              for linking into a shared object.

       -embed-shared
              Embed SWI-Prolog into a DLL/Shared object rather than an
              executable.  See the reference manual for details.

       -dll   Windows only Same as -embed-shared Backward compatibility.

       -F base
              By default, none is passed to the swipl command to create the
              saved state.  Using -F xpce you can specify loading xpce.rc,
              making XPCE available to the saved state.

       -goal goal
              The goal that is initially executed when the toplevel is started
              using PL_toplevel().  E.i. the default.  -g flag for the new
              executable.

       -toplevel goal
              The goal that is executed as the main toplevel goal.  E.i. the
              default.  -t flag for the new executable.

       -initfile file
              The file that is loaded by the toplevel.  E.i. the default.  -f
              flag for the new executable.

       -class {runtime,kernel,development}
              Set the save-class of the Prolog saved-state that is created.
              If runtime (default), the resulting system leave interpretation
              of all arguments to the application.  If kernel all predicates
              will be locked for the tracer.  Finally, if development the
              state is saved `as-is' and the resulting system processes
              options just as the basic SWI-Prolog executable does.  See also
              qsave_program/2 in the SWI-Prolog reference manual.

       -v     Verbose operation.  This echos the commands before executing
              them.  Note that some commands are printed as shell commands,
              but actually executed by swipl-ld itself for compatibility with
              the Win32 platforms.

       -f     Fake operation.  Together with -v this prints the commands that
              need to be executed without actually doing anything.

       -Ecppargument ...
              If the first option is -E, all subsequent options are appended
              and handed to the program selected by SWI-Prolog configure to
              run cpp.

       -o file
              Specifies the name of the final executable.  The default is
              a.out.

       -cc C-compiler
              Specify the compiler to use for *.c files.  Default is the
              compiler used to compile SWI-Prolog itself, as read from the
              feature c_cc.

       -c++ C++-compiler
              Specify the compiler to use for C++ input files.  If the C-
              compiler is gcc this is g++, otherwise c++ is assumed.

       -ld linker
              Specifies the linker to use.  Default is the C-compiler.  On
              Win32 platforms, the default is link.exe.

       -llibrary
              Specifies a C-library for linking the application.  By default,
              -lswipl as well as the libraries required by the SWI-Prolog
              kernel will be passed to the C-compiler.

       -Llibrary-directory
              Specifies an additional library directory for the C-compiler.
              By default, the runtime directory for the current architecture
              is passed.

       -g|-I*|-D*|-U*|-O*|-W*
              Passed to the compiler as c-flags.  By default, the SWI-Prolog
              include directory is passed as additional include directory.
              The following -D flags are added by swipl-ld: -D__SWI_PROLOG__
              and -D__SWI_EMBEDDED__.

       -pl-options*
              Specify additional options for swipl.  The first character
              following -pl-options determines the option-separator.  The
              remainder of the argument is split using this separator and the
              parts are added to the option list for Prolog.  See also -cc-
              options and -ld-options

       -ld-options*
              Additional options passed to the linker.  For example: -ld-
              options,-Bstatic

       -cc-options*
              Additional options passed to both C- and C++-compiler.

       *.o    Passed as input files to the linker.

       *.c    Compiled using the C-compiler, after which the object-file is
              passed to the linker.  The object file is deleted at cleanup.

       *.cc|*.C|*.cxx|*.cpp
              Compiled using the C++-compiler, after which the object-file is
              passed to the linker.  The object file is deleted at cleanup.

       *.pl|*.qlf
              Passed as Prolog input files

BUGS
       Parsing the options and distributing them over the various programs is
       probably incomplete. Feel free to modify it and please forward
       generally useful modifications to bugs@swi-prolog.org.

       Some care has to be taken that the state created with qsave_program/2
       is self-contained (i.e. contains no references to the Prolog
       libraries).  Also, as the state is created using the development
       environment rather then the user's emulator, the Prolog code cannot use
       directives that rely on the C-code added by the user.

SEE ALSO
       swipl(1) SWI-Prolog Reference Manual, http://www.swi-prolog.org

COPYRIGHT
       Copyright (C) 1991-2010, University of Amsterdam, VU University,
       Amsterdam This program may be used under the terms of the LGPL, version
       2 or later.

AUTHOR
       Jan Wielemaker



                                  Feb 8, 2006                           SWI(1)
