[MacRuby-devel] Frameworks Help

Mon Nov 1 21:21:55 PDT 2010

Hi Shaun,

If it didn't crash in 18 hours it's probably a good sign :) but I would make sure the code this C framework calls back is thread-safe. Since you got that GC error message, I assume it's calling MacRuby code from different threads, so you may want to look at the MacRuby side of your project and protect access to shared objects (for example, if one of these methods mutate the contents of an instance variable, you may want to add a lock around).

Laurent

On Oct 31, 2010, at 9:20 PM, Shaun August wrote:

> Hi Laurent,
> 
> Thanks for the follow up. The C Framework I am working with is a USB library for sensor kit called Phidgets.
> 
> http://www.phidgets.com/programming_resources.php
> 
> It is a cross-platform C Library so I am sure they are not using NSThread. All their Cocoa examples were written a few years ago prior to Garbage Collection. They do say in their documentation that all the functions are thread safe. I don't have access to the source for the USB kext so I am not sure how I would go about registering these threads. I am just starting to work with this product so I am afraid I don't have a very in-depth knowledge of how it works. 
> 
> I did run the software for 18 hours without an error message. (I get one when I launch the application but as soon as I spawn an NSThread everything seems to go smoothly). 
> 
> I know this is a very generic description and I do appreciate any extra comments or suggestions you may have (ie. If I am setting myself up for trouble!)
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Shaun
> 
> 
> 
> On Sun, Oct 31, 2010 at 2:39 PM, Laurent Sansonetti <lsansonetti at apple.com> wrote:
> Hi Shaun,
> 
> It's hard to really make a diagnosis because I don't know much about the C code you're interfacing with MacRuby, but the auto_zone_thread_registration_error() error is raised because a posix thread has been started but has not been registered with the GC, and then called MacRuby.
> 
> If the C code you're calling uses NSThreads, this error should not be raised since NSThreads are aware of the GC, but if it creates threads using the pthread_create() posix API, then you will have to register the threads by yourself. You can use the objc_registerThreadWithCollector() API inside the pthread body, before doing any other operations.
> 
> As your C code is multithreaded, you might want to look carefully if all your code base is thread-safe, and using NSLocks or GCD to isolate certain code paths.
> 
> Laurent
> 
> On Oct 29, 2010, at 10:41 PM, Shaun August wrote:
> 
>> Hi All,
>> 
>> I have had some limited success going back and forth between the c framework, objective-c wrapper and MacRuby. 
>> 
>> I am getting numerous malloc errors when I start up the application. The application sort of runs after the first malloc error but after the second error it crashes almost immediately. 
>> 
>> 
>> 2010-10-29 21:31:06.323 YYY[3585:a0f] awaking the Phidgets
>> YYY(3585,0x10374d000) malloc: *** auto malloc[3585]: error: GC operation on unregistered thread. Thread registered implicitly. Break on auto_zone_thread_registration_error() to debug.
>> 
>> 2010-10-29 21:31:06.469 YYY[3585:5003] phidget Added
>> 2010-10-29 21:31:06.563 YYY[3585:a0f] Phidget Added!
>> 2010-10-29 21:31:06.563 YYY[3585:a0f] input changed
>> 2010-10-29 21:31:06.564 YYY[3585:a0f] input changed
>> 2010-10-29 21:31:06.564 YYY[3585:a0f] input changed
>> 2010-10-29 21:31:06.565 YYY[3585:a0f] input changed
>> 2010-10-29 21:31:06.567 YYY[3585:a0f] input changed
>> 2010-10-29 21:31:06.568 YYY[3585:a0f] input changed
>> 2010-10-29 21:31:06.568 YYY[3585:a0f] input changed
>> 2010-10-29 21:31:06.568 YYY[3585:a0f] input changed
>> YYY(3585,0x115944000) malloc: *** auto malloc[3585]: error: GC operation on unregistered thread. Thread registered implicitly. Break on auto_zone_thread_registration_error() to debug.
>> 
>> 2010-10-29 21:31:16.595 YYY[3585:a0f] -[NSRegion InputChange:]: unrecognized selector sent to instance 0x200609f60
>> 2010-10-29 21:31:16.596 YYY[3585:a0f] -[NSRegion InputChange:]: unrecognized selector sent to instance 0x200609f60
>> 2010-10-29 21:31:16.914 YYY[3585:a0f] -[NSRegion InputChange:]: unrecognized selector sent to instance 0x200609f60
>> 2010-10-29 21:31:16.915 YYY[3585:a0f] -[NSRegion InputChange:]: unrecognized selector sent to instance 0x200609f60
>> 
>> 
>> I have read the malloc errors come from problems with the threading in the c libraries but I am not sure if there is anything I can do to fix this. Am I stuck with this error or is there a way around it?
>> 
>> Thanks,
>> 
>> Shaun
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> On 2010-10-24, at 12:17 AM, Mario Steele wrote:
>> 
>>> Hey Shaun,
>>> 
>>> On Sun, Oct 24, 2010 at 1:14 AM, Shaun August <shaun at eoslightmedia.com> wrote:
>>> Hi Again,
>>> 
>>> I have spent some time with Nick's tutorial and I am looking into wrapping the framework I have been provided with and I have a few more questions. 
>>> 
>>> The framework I am working with is already compiled and not in an xcode file. I am guessing all I need to do is write the Objective-C wrapper?
>>> 
>>> Yeah, all you have to worry about, is writing the wrapper, as it is what I did with my code writing for my wrapper.
>>>  
>>> The other issue I am having is the framework only contains one header file which links out to a series of files contained in a system extension. 
>>> 
>>> The header file, is all you need to import, as it should define all public API Access you need, including structs, to interface with the binary library.
>>>  
>>> Am I able to write my wrapper in an Objective-C class from within my macruby application or do I need to create a bundle and import that into my project.
>>> 
>>> You will need to write Pure Objective-C code for the API Access, but the code can be included with your macruby application, in the project itself.  What will happen, is when you compile the main Objective C File, Main.m, it'll compile all the other Objective C files into the binary executable, that will eventually run your rb_main.rb file.  It'll give all the access of your Objective C libraries that you wrote, right within your application.
>>> 
>>> hth,
>>> 
>>> Mario
>>>  
>>> Thanks,
>>> 
>>> Shaun
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> On 2010-10-19, at 10:12 PM, Mario Steele wrote:
>>> 
>>>> Hello Shaun,
>>>> 
>>>> On Wed, Oct 20, 2010 at 12:00 AM, Shaun August <shaun at eoslightmedia.com> wrote:
>>>> Hi Robert,
>>>> 
>>>> Thanks! That make sense. All those cocoa classes have capitals and they work fine. I seem to be able to call from the framework but I am running into an undefined method 'extern'. I have also read somewhere that extern doesn't work with MacRuby. Is that correct? The framework I am dealing with is calling C functions and I am having trouble accessing them.
>>>> 
>>>> extern is a macro for the ld library, to export an API Address in the Dynamic library, that can be access dynamically at run time.  With Objective-C, or more so specifically with MacRuby, you need to write a sort of thin wrapper around C Functions in Objective C, in order to access said Functions.  So if the framework that you are working with, doesn't expose Objective C API Functions, you'll need to write a thin wrapper in order to access them.  See the tutorial done by Nick Ludlam about wrapping the TagLib C Library, in Objective C.  You can find it here: http://www.macruby.org/documentation/reading-an-mp3-with-macruby.html  It's best to read through the entire article, as it gives you information about wrapping C Functions in Objective C, which is quite useful, when writing your own wrapper.
>>>> 
>>>> hth,
>>>> 
>>>> Mario
>>>>  
>>>> Thanks,
>>>> 
>>>> Shaun
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> On 2010-10-19, at 8:26 PM, Robert Rice wrote:
>>>> 
>>>> > Hi Shaun:
>>>> >
>>>> > Lower case method names is only a convention. MacRuby will work fine using upper case, i.e., constant, method names.
>>>> > I know because I only recently changed my project to conform to the convention.
>>>> >
>>>> > Bob Rice
>>>> >
>>>> >
>>>> > On Oct 19, 2010, at 7:17 PM, Shaun August wrote:
>>>> >
>>>> >> Hi There,
>>>> >>
>>>> >> I am attempting to work with a framework provided by a USB device manufacturer and all of their method names start with capitols and I am wondering about the easiest way to access these methods through macruby. I remember reading somewhere about fixing the constants in Obj-C but I cannot locate the information.
>>>> >>
>>>> >> Does anyone have any suggestions as to how to remedy this? Should I rename every command in the framework?
>>>> >>
>>>> >> Thanks,
>>>> >>
>>>> >> Shaun
>>>> >>
>>>> >> _______________________________________________
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>>>> >>
>>>> >
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>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> -- 
>>>> Mario Steele
>>>> Lieutenant Commander 3 
>>>> XO - Geo 99
>>>> XO - STO IFT Fleet
>>>> http://www.trekfederation.com
>>>> http://geo99.ruby-im.net
>>>> 
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>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> -- 
>>> Mario Steele
>>> Lieutenant Commander 3 
>>> XO - Geo 99
>>> XO - STO IFT Fleet
>>> http://www.trekfederation.com
>>> http://geo99.ruby-im.net
>>> 
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