October 2009 - MacRuby-devel - lists.macosforge.org

macruby on iphone (again) - options and way forward
by John Shea 11 Oct '09

11 Oct '09

Hello everyone. So I think this topic is going to rear its ugly/pretty head until a solution becomes available, and I myself would really like to be able to use macruby code on the iphone. So I have put down my naive thoughts as to what are the issues. I am a complete novice when it comes to GC, so I am sorry if this is all obvious or erroneous - but the important part is the discussion - which i hope many of you will add to. Anyway it could be that I don't know enough about the subject to make sense of it. But a way to perhaps getting more people to work on getting macruby on the phone could be: 1. Describe the current GC situation on the mac & macruby in terms of architecture. 2. Describe an appropriate architecture for how GC would work on the iphone, how the programmer interacts with it in coding or compiling. 3. Describe the various parts of work that have to be done to to implement 2. 4. Make some suggestions of similar coding efforts or current code files or other references that people can use/copy to build a proof of principle The following are my versions of 1 and 2: Point 1: My assumption is that currently macruby hooks into objective c's GC - autozone (this one ? http://www.opensource.apple.com/source/autozone/autozone-77.1/) via ruby's ObjectSpace. Point 2: The iphone does not have GC so therefore in order to run macruby something needs to collect the garbage. My other assumption is that you cannot run interpreted code on the iphone (or iphone simulator) so when developing for iphone the ruby code would need to be compiled during the build phase. So I can think of two ways to do collect the garbage. Firstly port autozone to the iphone - integrate macruby more or less as now - include it as a framework or something. However, - i am concerned that the separate autozone thread(s) may not play well with the iphone processor - in addition the threads need to be interruptible, when phone calls come in or the home button is pressed - i can imagine including the autozone controller in the responder chain (in order to receive the shutdown command) would not be trivial. I am wondering if the above complexity is why Laurent always refers to "emulating" autozone rather than including it or porting it. The other option i can think of is in the build phase insert the necessary retains, releases and autoreleases into the code. By either: i) the developer including the calls manually, which are then compiled/translated to the appropriate C/ObjC commands. (I have gone off this idea a bit because the code would be hard to test in isolation (unless there were special compiler codes normally ignored by the ruby interpreter), and would make it hard to drop in any nice ruby code/libraries, and later on hard to fix code if an official GC ever arrives). ii) have a script which traverses the ruby code - and adds dealloc methods for instance methods, adds releases to scope bound variables etc, etc. (I like this option the best, though i have little idea how to implement) So do you all think i have described the situation properly? If so perhaps someone (more knowledgeable) could provide some hints to points 3 and 4 above? Or if i haven't described the situation properly then the whole stack of points 1-4 would (I think) help us move forward - and help people contribute to a solution. Cheers, John

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[MacRuby] #370: Inconsistency between macruby and ruby in a simple class
by MacRuby 11 Oct '09

11 Oct '09

#370: Inconsistency between macruby and ruby in a simple class -----------------------------------+---------------------------------------- Reporter: kfowler@… | Owner: lsansonetti@… Type: defect | Status: new Priority: major | Milestone: MacRuby 0.5 Component: MacRuby | Keywords: -----------------------------------+---------------------------------------- running this script: {{{ class W def initialize(w) @w = w end end class M def initialize(m) @m = m end end printf("%s\n" , W.new(W.new(1)).inspect) printf("%s\n" , M.new(M.new(1)).inspect) printf("%s\n" , W.new(M.new(1)).inspect) printf("%s\n" , M.new(W.new(1)).inspect) }}} on ruby1.9 from mac ports (ruby 1.9.1p243 (2009-07-16 revision 24175) [i386-darwin10]) yields this: {{{ #<W:0x0000010084ecd8 @w=#<W:0x0000010084edf0 @w=1>> #<M:0x0000010084e370 @m=#<M:0x0000010084e3e0 @m=1>> #<W:0x0000010084dd88 @w=#<M:0x0000010084de30 @m=1>> #<M:0x0000010084d618 @m=#<W:0x0000010084d7a0 @w=1>> }}} on macruby 0.5 (MacRuby version 0.5 (ruby 1.9.0) [universal-darwin10.0, x86_64]) built from source (http://svn.macosforge.org/repository/ruby/MacRuby/trunk@2771) against llvm (https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/llvm/trunk@82747) yields this: {{{ ##-<W:0x20001cc00 @w=1> ##-<M:0x20001cfe0 @m=1> ##-<W:0x20001d260 @w=##-<M:0x20001d2a0 @m=1>> ##-<M:0x2000162a0 @m=##-<W:0x2000162e0 @w=1>> }}} Ruby 1.8.7 from 10.6: {{{ #<W:0x1001558c8 @w=#<W:0x1001558f0 @w=1>> #<M:0x100155788 @m=#<M:0x1001557b0 @m=1>> #<W:0x100155670 @w=#<M:0x100155698 @m=1>> #<M:0x100155558 @m=#<W:0x100155580 @w=1>> }}} jruby 1.3.1: {{{ #<W:0x141dddba @w=#<W:0x6d732ed2 @w=1>> #<M:0x60c9630a @m=#<M:0x4585572a @m=1>> #<W:0x351daa0e @w=#<M:0x2e879860 @m=1>> #<M:0x4824de7d @m=#<W:0x6c8b058b @w=1>> }}} -- Ticket URL: <http://www.macruby.org/trac/ticket/370> MacRuby <http://macruby.org/>

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[MacRuby] #379: Nil symbol error.
by MacRuby 10 Oct '09

10 Oct '09

#379: Nil symbol error. ---------------------------------------+------------------------------------ Reporter: hungerandthirst@… | Owner: lsansonetti@… Type: defect | Status: new Priority: minor | Milestone: MacRuby 0.5 Component: MacRuby | Keywords: nil, symbol error, selector ---------------------------------------+------------------------------------ When trying to use beginSheet method in this fashion: {{{ NSApp.beginSheet(@bookmarkSheet, modalForWindow:@mainWindow, modalDelegate:self, didEndSelector:"bookmark_created", contextInfo:nil) }}} when the containing method is run, I get an error: '''nil is not a symbol''' I have defined {{{ attr_accessor :bookmarkSheet, :mainWindow }}} and have linked them in IB. Workaround is to create a dummy selector/method for the didEndSelector: parameter. Will work fine then. -- Ticket URL: <http://www.macruby.org/trac/ticket/379> MacRuby <http://macruby.org/>

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Flash on the iPhone via LLVM
by B. Ohr 10 Oct '09

10 Oct '09

Hi, I found this interesting article http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/09/10/06/html5_assault_on_adobe_flash_… , describing how Adobe plans to port it's Flash to the iPhone via LLVM. I have never programmed for Flash (I hate Flash), but I know, that they are using garbage collection for their ActionScript. They are planning a first release for end of the year, so I think they are running already gc-Code on the iPhone. That means: it is time for the first port of MacRuby for the iPhone! Bernd

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[MacRuby] #371: Module methods included in the class Module are not visible to other classes.
by MacRuby 10 Oct '09

10 Oct '09

#371: Module methods included in the class Module are not visible to other classes. ---------------------------------+------------------------------------------ Reporter: mred@… | Owner: lsansonetti@… Type: defect | Status: new Priority: blocker | Milestone: Component: MacRuby | Keywords: ---------------------------------+------------------------------------------ {{{ module A def b puts 'b' end end class Module include A end class C b() end }}} Running the above on Ruby 1.9 prints out 'b'. Running it on MacRuby 0.5 generates an "undefined method `b' for C:Class (NoMethodError)" -- Ticket URL: <http://www.macruby.org/trac/ticket/371> MacRuby <http://macruby.org/>

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[MacRuby] #374: Adding a binding (in IB) prevents instance variables
by MacRuby 10 Oct '09

10 Oct '09

#374: Adding a binding (in IB) prevents instance variables -------------------------------------+-------------------------------------- Reporter: parzival@… | Owner: lsansonetti@… Type: defect | Status: new Priority: major | Milestone: Component: MacRuby | Keywords: -------------------------------------+-------------------------------------- I've got a (MacRuby) subclass of NSWindowController. If a binding is added using Interface Builder, it becomes impossible to have any instance variables in my subclass. What's kind of strange, too, is that removing the binding doesn't fix it; so far it seems necessary to delete the object in IB and then re-create it. I'm using r2771, on a MBP(2007) running 10.6.1. This was working at some point in 0.4, but I think it's been broken for at least a couple weeks or more. Here's some code in my class to demonstrate. This gets called in awakeFromNib, though I tried adding an instance variable in initWithWindow and it came back nil as well : {{{ testSPC = SourcePaneController.new puts "testSPC:" p testSPC @testSPC_iv = SourcePaneController.new puts "@testSPC_iv:" p @testSPC_iv testInt = 3 puts "testInt:" p testInt @testInt_iv = 5 puts "@testInt_iv:" p @testInt puts "Instance variables are :" p self.instance_variables }}} And the output: {{{ in MainWinController.initWithWindow in SourcePaneController.init testSPC: #<SourcePaneController:0x2003df0a0> in SourcePaneController.init @testSPC_iv: nil testInt: 3 @testInt_iv: nil Instance variables are : [] }}} As can be seen, the calls to my other class's initializer are working, but it's not getting assigned to the instance variable. A potentially revealing error occurred when I mistyped one of my test variable names. This is what happens after ' @testSPC_iv = nothing' (where 'nothing' is an unassigned variable) : {{{ 2009-10-09 12:22:01.975 resynch[1015:a0f] +[MainWinController _getValue:forKey:]: unrecognized selector sent to class 0x200238940 2009-10-09 12:22:01.978 resynch[1015:a0f] +[MainWinController _getValue:forKey:]: unrecognized selector sent to class 0x200238940 2009-10-09 12:22:01.979 resynch[1015:a0f] An uncaught exception was raised 2009-10-09 12:22:01.979 resynch[1015:a0f] +[MainWinController _getValue:forKey:]: unrecognized selector sent to class 0x200238940 2009-10-09 12:22:01.981 resynch[1015:a0f] *** Terminating app due to uncaught exception 'NSInvalidArgumentException', reason: '+[MainWinController _getValue:forKey:]: unrecognized selector sent to class 0x200238940' *** Call stack at first throw: ( 0 CoreFoundation 0x00007fff83dbf5a4 __exceptionPreprocess + 180 1 libobjc.A.dylib 0x00007fff87c7c313 objc_exception_throw + 45 2 CoreFoundation 0x00007fff83e18330 __CFFullMethodName + 0 3 CoreFoundation 0x00007fff83d9230f ___forwarding___ + 751 4 CoreFoundation 0x00007fff83d8e458 _CF_forwarding_prep_0 + 232 5 CoreFoundation 0x00007fff83d53ffd CFDictionaryGetValueIfPresent + 93 6 libmacruby.dylib 0x000000010010b4ee classname + 126 7 libmacruby.dylib 0x000000010010b728 rb_class_path + 24 8 libmacruby.dylib 0x000000010010ba3e rb_obj_classname + 46 9 libmacruby.dylib 0x000000010006f89f rb_any_to_string + 15 10 libmacruby.dylib 0x000000010015f697 rb_vm_call_with_cache2 + 4663 11 libmacruby.dylib 0x0000000100121199 rb_funcall + 425 12 libmacruby.dylib 0x000000010015f697 rb_vm_call_with_cache2 + 4663 13 libmacruby.dylib 0x0000000100121199 rb_funcall + 425 14 libmacruby.dylib 0x000000010006a8f6 rb_inspect + 22 15 libmacruby.dylib 0x000000010003e2a1 name_err_mesg_to_str + 161 16 libmacruby.dylib 0x0000000100162d6f rb_vm_call + 4783 17 libmacruby.dylib 0x0000000100070df9 rb_convert_type + 121 18 libmacruby.dylib 0x00000001000f010b rb_string_value + 107 19 libmacruby.dylib 0x000000010003c62e name_err_to_s + 78 20 libmacruby.dylib 0x000000010015f697 rb_vm_call_with_cache2 + 4663 21 libmacruby.dylib 0x0000000100121199 rb_funcall + 425 22 libmacruby.dylib 0x0000000100162d6f rb_vm_call + 4783 23 libmacruby.dylib 0x0000000100175e23 rb_vm_print_current_exception + 99 24 libmacruby.dylib 0x0000000100176108 macruby_main + 392 25 resynch 0x0000000100000e3e main + 40 26 resynch 0x0000000100000ad8 start + 52 27 ??? 0x0000000000000001 0x0 + 1 ) terminate called after throwing an instance of 'NSException' Program received signal: “SIGABRT”. }}} -- Ticket URL: <http://www.macruby.org/trac/ticket/374> MacRuby <http://macruby.org/>

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Do the nightly builds continue from the latest beta
by Paul Howson 10 Oct '09

10 Oct '09

This might be an obvious question, but are the nightly builds (and the nightly build installers) an evolution from whatever is the latest beta? In other words, are the official betas just particular snapshots of the ongoing nightly build process? ---------------------------------------------------------------- Paul Howson Warwick Qld Australia

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MacRuby gem only
by Matt Aimonetti 09 Oct '09

09 Oct '09

Any idea how we should flag gems that are MacRuby only like textorize-mr? I don't think the platform flag is legit so I'm not sure what to use. Any ideas? - Matt

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Empty Ruby Template
by Jesse Read 09 Oct '09

09 Oct '09

I saw in the trunk status update, this line: "- Added an empty Ruby template file" Which I believes corresponds to this<https://www.macruby.org/trac/changeset/2721> changeset on Trac, where Matt added an Xcode Ruby file template. I manually installed the template, but are there any plans to add these into the installers, either for 0.5b2 or the nightlies? I doubt much will change with them, but other would probably enjoy them if they see them installed. Thanks, and keep up the great work! — Jesse

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Default Test Framework
by Josh Ballanco 09 Oct '09

09 Oct '09

Hey all! So, as I've been working on a recipe for testing with MacRuby, I realized that it would probably be good to discuss the topic of "blessing" a particular test suite. Obviously, with macgem all of the Ruby test suites are available to use, but for the purposes of tutorials and whatnot, having one default that ships with MacRuby would help reduce confusion and at least get people started on the road to testing. Personally, I think whatever ships with MacRuby should ideally be light-weight, extensible, and integrated. In other words, the heavy hitters like Test::Unit, RSpec, and Shoulda are out. That leaves: -- minitest: The "blessed" test library of Matz Ruby. It's very minimal, but documentation is somewhat lacking. I also couldn't find an easy spot to hook into the API to customize output format. Still, if it's good enough for Matz Ruby... -- bacon: Small, and output is easily customized. I'm currently looking at what would be required to get bacon's output to play nicer with Xcode. The one unknown (for me, at least) is popularity/ familiarity in the larger Ruby community. -- OCUnit: This is the Objective C test library that ships with Xcode. We could put a thin wrapper around it, and then not worry about having to ship a separate test library. The major downside to OCUnit is that it's not very "Ruby-ish". I'm quite enamored with bacon, but I'm worried about the possibility that developers coming from Matz Ruby might start to expect minitest to be included. That might be a remote possibility, though, as it seems like minitest isn't currently that popular. If there are others I missed, or if you disagree with any points, speak up! Cheers, Josh

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