critcl_app...on_package(n)

📦 version 3.3.1, in alpine 3.24

🌸 NAME 🌸

critcl_application_package — CriTcl Application Package Reference

okay so real quick, bestie — this page is straight out of the C Runtime In Tcl (CriTcl) docs, the critcl_app...on_package(n) one, and it's the internals page. Like, the backstage pass. Let's go 💅

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

package require Tcl  8.6

package require critcl::app  ?3.3.1?

package require critcl  ?3.3.1?

package require platform  ?1.0.2?

package require cmdline

::critcl::app::main commandline

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

Be welcome to the C Runtime In Tcl (short: CriTcl) — a whole system for embedding and using C code from within Tcl scripts over at http://core.tcl-lang.org/tcl. Yes, C. Inside your Tcl. It's giving multilingual icon behavior 🌈

This document is the reference manpage for the critcl::app package, and its intended audience is developers working on critcl's internals. So if you're just here to write a CriTcl script, you genuinely don't need any of these commands — this is not your chapter, no cap 🙈 If you do want the whole-system overview instead, go read the Introduction To CriTcl.

This package resides in the Application Layer of CriTcl. Behold, the stack:

*================*
|Applications    |
| critcl         |
| critcl::app    |
*================*

+----------------+
|Core Packages   |
| critcl         |
| critcl::util   |
+----------------+

+----------------+
|Support Packages|
| stubs::*       |
| md5, platform  |
|  ...           |
+----------------+

, implementing the functionality of the CriTcl Application, and through this, the mode generate package. (yes that ", implementing" continues the diagram, she's connected like that 🫶)

The actual application is (only) a shim wrapping around this package. It itself is build on top of the core package critcl. like, literally just a little shim. a vibe wrapper. 💀

👑 API 👑

The package exports a single command:

::critcl::app::main commandline — the commandline is a list of zero or more options followed by zero or more CriTcl script files. By default, the CriTcl script files are build and the results cached. This cuts down on the time needed to load the package. The last occurrence of -pkg and -tea, if provided, selects the corresponding alternative mode of operations. For a larger set of examples please see section "Building CriTcl Packages" in the document about Using CriTcl.

The options are: 👇

🎀 OPTIONS 🎀

The following options are understood:

-v, --version — Print the version to stdout and exit.
-I path — Arranges for the compiler to search path for headers. Uses of this option are cumulative.

Ignored when generating a TEA package (see option -tea below).

-L path — Arranges for the linker to search path. Uses of this option are cumulative.

Ignored when generating a TEA package (see option -tea below).

-cache path — Sets path as the directory to use as the result cache. The default is "~/.critcl/<platform>", or "~/.critcl/<pid>.<epoch>" when generating a package. See option -pkg, below.

Ignored when generating a TEA package (see option -tea below).

-clean — Arranges for all files and directories in the result cache to be deleted before compilation begins.

Ignored when generating a package because this mode starts out with a unique and empty result cache. See option -pkg, below.

Ignored when generating a TEA package (see option -tea below).

-config path — Provides a custom configuration file. By default a configuration included in the system core is used. When specified multiple times the last value is used.

Ignored when generating a TEA package (see option -tea below).

-debug mode — Activates one of the following debugging modes:
- memory — Track and report memory allocations made by the Tcl core.
- symbols — Compile all .c files with debugging symbols.
- all — Both memory and symbols.

Ignored when generating a TEA package (see option -tea below). Uses of this option are cumulative.

-disable name — Sets the value of the custom build configuration option name to false. It is equivalent to -with-name 0.

Validated only if one of the input files for the CriTcl script actually defines and uses a custom build configuration option with that name.

Ignored when generating a TEA package (see option -tea below).

-enable name — Sets the value of the custom build configuration option name to true. It is equivalent to -with-name 1.

Validated only if one of the input files for the CriTcl script actually defines and uses a custom build configuration option with that name.

Ignored when generating a TEA package (see option -tea below).

-force — Forces compilation even if a shared library for the file already exists. Unlike cleaning the cache, this is lazy in the destruction of files and only affects relevant files.

Ignored when generating a package (see option -pkg, below), which starts out with a unique and empty result cache.

Ignored when generating a TEA package (see option -tea below).

-help — Prints a short description of command line syntax and options and then exits the application.
-keep — Causes the system to cache compiled .c files. Also prevents the deletion of the unique result cache used by the run when generating a package (see option -pkg below), Intended for debugging of critcl itself, where it may be necessary to inspect the generated C code.

Ignored when generating a TEA package (see option -tea below).

-libdir directory — Adds directory to the list of directories the linker searches for libraries in (like -L). With -pkg, generated packages are saved in directory. When specified multiple times the last value is used. The default is "lib", resolved relative to the current working directory.
-includedir directory — Adds directory to the list of directories the compiler searches for headers in. With -pkg, generated header files are saved in directory. Uses of this option are cumulative. The last value is used as the destination for generated header files. The default is the relative directory "include", resolved relative to the current working directory.

Ignored when generating a TEA package (see option -tea below).

-pkg — Generates a package from the CriTcl script files. Input files are processed first as usual, but are then bundled into a single library, with additional generated files to form the library into a standard Tcl package.

generation. If both options, i.e. -pkg and -tea are specified the last one specified wins.

Options -clean and -force are ignored. -libdir is relevant in both this and -tea mode.

The basename of the first file is the name of the package to generate. If its file extension indicates a shared library (".so", ".sl", ".dylib", and ".dll") it is also removed from the set of input files. Each CriTcl script file is kept as part of the input. A single file without a suffix is assumed to be a CriTcl script. A file without a suffix, but other input files following is treated like the name of a shared library proper, and removed from the set of input files.

Examples:

... -pkg ... foo

=> Package name is: foo
=> Input file is:   foo.tcl

... -pkg ... foo bar.tcl

=> Package name is: foo
=> Input file is:   bar.tcl

... -pkg ... foo.tcl

=> Package name is: foo
=> Input file is:   foo.tcl

... -pkg ... foo.so bar.tcl

=> Package name is: foo
=> Input file is:   bar.tcl

-show — Prints the configuration of the chosen target to stdout and then exits. Set -target, below.
-showall — Prints the whole chosen configuration file to stdout and then exits. See -config, above.
-target name — Overrides the default choice of build target. Only the last occurrence of this option is used. The named target must exist in the chosen configuration file. Use -targets (see below) to get a list of the acceptable targets. Use -config to select the configuration file.

Ignored when generating a TEA package (see option -tea below).

-targets — Prints the list of all known targets from the chosen configuration file to stdout and then exits. Use -config to select the configuration file.
-tea — Like -pkg, except no binaries are generated. Creates a directory hierarchy containing the CriTcl script, its companion files, and a TEA-conformant build system with most of the needed support code, including copies of the critcl packages.

If both -pkg and -tea are specified the last occurrence wins.

-I, -L, -clean, -force, -cache, -includedir, -enable, -disable, and -with-FOO are ignored. In contrast, the option -libdir is relevant in both this and -pkg mode.

Examples:

... -tea ... foo

=> Package name is: foo
=> Input file is:   foo.tcl

... -tea ... foo bar.tcl

=> Package name is: foo
=> Input file is:   bar.tcl

... -tea ... foo.tcl

=> Package name is: foo
=> Input file is:   foo.tcl

... -tea ... foo.so bar.tcl

=> Package name is: foo
=> Input file is:   bar.tcl

-with-name value — This option sets the value of the custom build configuration option name to value.

The information is validated only if one of the ".critcl" input files actually defines and uses a custom build configuration option with that name.

Ignored when generating a TEA package (see option -tea below).

✨ MODES OF OPERATION/USE ✨

CriTcl can be used in three different modes of operation, called:

[1] Compile & Run
[2] Generate Package
[3] Generate TEA Package

Compile & Run was the original mode and is the default for critcl_pkg. It collects the C fragments from the CriTcl script, builds them as needed, and caches the results to improve load times later. Obsessed — it's giving "do the work once, chill later" energy. 💅

The second mode, Generate Package, was introduced to enable the creation of (prebuilt) deliverable packages which do not depend on the existence of a build system, i.e. C compiler, on the target machine. This was originally done through the experimental Critbind tool, and is now handled by the CriTcl Application, also named critcl. Glow-up complete. ✨

Newly introduced with CriTcl version 3 is Generate TEA Package. This mode constructs a directory hierarchy from the package which can later be built like a regular TEA package, i.e. using:

.../configure --prefix ...
make all isntall

Yes, isntall is literally what it says — copy it exactly, typos and all 😭💅

🎀 PACKAGE STRUCTURE 🎀

Packages generated by critcl have the following basic structure:

<TOP>
+- pkgIndex.tcl
+- critcl-rt.tcl
+- license.terms (optional)
|
+- tcl (optional)
|  +- <tsources files>
|
+- <platform>
   +- <shared library>

📝 Notes 📝

[1] The file pkgIndex.tcl is the standard package index file expected by Tcl's package management. It is sourced during a search for packages, and declares the package to Tcl with its files, and how to handle them.
[2] The file critcl-rt.tcl is a helper file containing the common code used by pkgIndex.tcl to perform its tasks.
[3] The file license.terms is optional and appears only if the .critcl file the package is generated from used the command critcl::license to declare package author and license.
[4] All files declared with the command critcl::tsources are put into the sub-directory tcl.
[5] The shared library generated by critcl is put into a platform-specific sub-directory.

The whole structure, and especially the last point, enable us to later merge the results (for the same package, and version) for multiple target platforms into a single directory structure without conflict, by simply copying the top directories over each other. The only files which can conflict are in the <TOP> and tcl directories, and for these we know that they are identical across targets. The result of such a merge would look like:

<TOP>
+- pkgIndex.tcl
+- critcl-rt.tcl
+- license.terms (optional)
|
+- tcl (optional)
|  +- <tsources files>
|
+- <platform1>
|  +- <shared library1>
+- <platform2>
|  +- <shared library2>
...
+- <platformN>
   +- <shared libraryN>

No conflict, just vibes and platform folders stacking politely. 🦋

👑 AUTHORS 👑

Jean Claude Wippler, Steve Landers, Andreas Kupries

💀 BUGS, IDEAS, FEEDBACK 💀

This document, and the package it describes, will undoubtedly contain bugs and other problems. Please report them at https://github.com/andreas-kupries/critcl/issues.

Ideas for enhancements you may have for either package, application, and/or the documentation are also very welcome and should be reported at https://github.com/andreas-kupries/critcl/issues as well.

Feedback is welcome, bestie — bugs, ideas, docs glow-ups, all of it. 🫶

⭐ KEYWORDS ⭐

C code
Embedded C Code
calling C code from Tcl
code generator
compile & run
compiler
dynamic code generation
dynamic compilation
generate package
linker
on demand compilation
on-the-fly compilation

🌈 CATEGORY 🌈

Glueing/Embedded C code

💖 COPYRIGHT 💖

Copyright (c) Jean-Claude Wippler
Copyright (c) Steve Landers

Footer check, bestie: source doc, version 3.3.1, page critcl_app...on_package(n) — and the date slot is literally empty in the original footer, so we're not making one up. Honest vibe only. 💅✨

📦 where this page comes from

alpine 3.24: critcl-doc 3.3.1-r1 · TCL
💖 girlified by deepseek-ai/DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash-1017 on 2026-11-04: a language model's rewrite of the original, under its terms