[webkit-dev] Proposal for a new way to handle porting #ifdefs

[David Kilzer]

Another aspect of this proposal is how to handle source files that have #if ENABLE(FEATURE)/#endif guards around all of their source code, for example:

Bug 25756: Explicit guards for ENABLE_GEOLOCATION
https://bugs.webkit.org/show_bug.cgi?id=25756

There are essentially two options here:

1. Add #if/#endif guards to entire source files, but include every file in every build system.

2. Make each build system smart enough to exclude source files that implement a feature, thus pushing the policy decision down (up?) into the build system (which is where most of the decisions are made today anyway).

I think #2 is a much cleaner way to handle this since it removes clutter from the code (at the cost of duplicating knowledge of which files go with with features into each build system).

Does anyone else have an opinion on this?

Dave




________________________________
From: Maciej Stachowiak <mjs at apple.com>
To: WebKit Development <webkit-dev at lists.webkit.org>
Sent: Thursday, April 30, 2009 4:12:54 PM
Subject: [webkit-dev] Proposal for a new way to handle porting #ifdefs


I think our set of porting macros has become somewhat confused.

Originally, our idea was that a port represents primarily adaptation to a particular platform. However, over time it has become clear that most of what is decided by a port is not platform adaptation, but rather policy decisions. For example, ports decide to have different features enabled, or to use different sets of system functionality on the same underlying OS.

In addition, I think the catchall top-level PLATFORM create confusion, because it is not totally clear if they are policy decisions, platform adaptation decisions, or what.

Third, it seems wrong that the policy choices of every port are represented as a bunch of ifdef tomfoolery inside a single Platform.h file.

And fourth, many ports often run on the same OS, but with a different set of choices - for example on Mac OS X it is possible to build the Mac, Chromium, Gtk, Qt and Wx ports (at least).


Therefore, I propose that we change as follows:

1) Strictly separate platform adaptation (mandatory to run on a given OS, compiler, or CPU at all) from policy choices (what features to enable, what optional libraries to use).

2) Phase out PLATFORM macros completely - each use should be converted to a policy choice, or a platform adaptation decision.

3) Instead of ports being defined by a top-level PLATFORM macro, I propose that each port should have its own header file to define policy decisions. For example, I'd propose that the system Mac OS X WebKit should use PortCocoa.h, and the WebKit used by Safari for Windows should use PortWinCG.h. There may also be a PortIPhone.h. These port definition headers would live in their own top-level WebKit module. Each one would be completely owned by whoever is generally considered the "owner" of a given port. Because related ports on different platforms may wish to share policy choices, it's ok for Port headers to include shared headers for some choices. For example, all Apple-maintained ports may include PortApple.h. We could go even further and have PortDefault.h to make default choices of what features are enabled, that ports would have to explicitly override.

4) Platform adaptation macros would still be defined in Platform.h based on sniffing the environment, this would include things like the compiler, the underlying OS, available libc functions, and so forth.


Platform adaptation macros would be:

OS() - underlying operating system; only to be used for mandated low-level services like virtual memory, not to choose a GUI toolkit
    Examples:
        OS(UNIX) - Any Unix-like OS
        OS(DARWIN) - Underlying OS is the base OS X environment
        OS(FREEBSD) - FreeBSD
        OS(WIN) - Any version of Windows
        OS(WINCE) - The embedded version of Windows

COMPILER() - the compiler being used to build the project
    Examples:
        COMPILER(GCC) - GNU Compiler Collection
        COMPILER(MSVC) - Microsoft Visual C++
        COMPILER(RVCT) - ARM compiler

HAVE() - specific system features (headers, functions or similar) that are present or not
    Examples:
        HAVE(MMAP) - mmap() function is available
        HAVE(ERRNO_H) - errno.h header is available
        HAVE(MADV_FREE) - madvise(MADV_FREE) is available


Policy decision macros would be:

USE() - use a particular third-party library or optional OS service
    Examples:
        USE(SKIA) - Use the Skia graphics library
        USE(CG) - Use CoreGraphics
        USE(V8) - Use the V8 JavaScript implementation
        USE(CFNET) - Use CFNetwork networking
        USE(NSURL_NET) - Use NSURLConnection-based networking
        USE(APPKIT) - Use AppKit views and events
        USE(GTK) - Use Gtk+
        USE(QT) - Use Qt
        USE(QUICKTIME) - Use the QuickTime media engine
        USE(QTKIT) - Use the QuickTime media engine via the Mac QTKit API
        USE(QUICKTIME_WIN) - Use the QuickTime media engine via its Windows API

ENABLE() - turn on a specific feature of WebKit
    Examples:
       ENABLE(ACCESSIBILITY) - Enable support for assistive technologies (currently wrongly a HAVE)
       ENABLE(XSLT) - Include XSLT support
       ENABLE(OBJC_MAC_API) - Include Objective C API based on NSViews (current WebKit Mac)
       ENABLE(OBJC_DOM_API) - Include Objective C DOM bindings (may apply to other ObjC toolkits than AppKit)
       ENABLE(JSC) - Enable use of the JavaScriptCore implementation (inconsistent with V8 because JSC is a WebKit feature but V8 is an external dependency, even though they serve similar purposes)
       ENABLE(VIDEO) - Enable support for the HTML5 Video element
       ENABLE(SVG) - Enable support for SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics)
       ENABLE(WML) - Enable support for WML



Some macros that would be completely phased out, in favor of platform and policy decisions:

PLATFORM(MAC) - A mix of things that should be USE(APPKIT), USE(NSURL_NET), ENABLE(OBJC_MAC_API) and a host of other things
PLATFORM(WIN) - Hodgepodge of mandatory platform adaptation, optional platform adaptation, and choices specific to Apple's Mac Port
PLATFORM(GTK) - Most of this would be replaced by USE(GTK) but perhaps different policy macros are appropriate in some cases.
PLATFORM(CHROMIUM) - Grab-bag of various policy choices.


I believe that with this new proposal, ifdefs in the code would be much more understandable. Any time something is ifdef'd, it would be clear why - is this to support a given public API? Is it to support a particular feature or variant behavior? Is it to make use of an underlying library? Is it just something you *have* to do on the OS? As a side effect, it would somewhat discourage scattered trivial behavior differences, since it would be necessary to name and explain them instead of just putting them behind a catchall ifdef. I believe every porter has been an offender on this front, Apple included, and it's probably best to minimize this sort of thing.


This is not a new policy yet. Right now I am just proposing it for discussion. Thoughts?


Regards,
Maciej

_______________________________________________
webkit-dev mailing list
webkit-dev at lists.webkit.org
http://lists.webkit.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/webkit-dev
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.webkit.org/pipermail/webkit-dev/attachments/20090523/a6bd28a8/attachment.html>