Introduction: ============= This directory contains the source code of the pidl (Perl IDL) compiler for Samba 4. The main sources for pidl are available using Git as part of the combined Samba 3 / Samba 4 tree. Use: git clone git://git.samba.org/samba.git Pidl works by building a parse tree from a .pidl file (a simple dump of it's internal parse tree) or a .idl file (a file format mostly like the IDL file format midl uses). The IDL file parser is in idl.yp (a yacc file converted to perl code by yapp) After a parse tree is present, pidl will call one of it's backends (which one depends on the options given on the command-line). Here is a list of current backends: Standalone installation: ======================== Run Makefile.PL to generate the Makefile. Then run "make install" (as root) to install. Internals overview: =================== -- Generic -- Parse::Pidl::Dump - Converts the parse tree back to an IDL file Parse::Pidl::Samba4::Header - Generates header file with data structures defined in IDL file Parse::Pidl::NDR - Generates intermediate datastructures for use by NDR parses/generators Parse::Pidl::ODL - Generates IDL structures from ODL structures for use in the NDR parser generator Parse::Pidl::Test - Utility functions for use in pidl's testsuite -- Samba NDR -- Parse::Pidl::Samba4::NDR::Client - Generates client call functions in C using the NDR parser Parse::Pidl::Samba4::NDR::Parser - Generates pull/push functions for parsing NDR Parse::Pidl::Samba4::NDR::Server - Generates server side implementation in C Parse::Pidl::Samba4::TDR - Parser generator for the "Trivial Data Representation" Parse::Pidl::Samba4::Template - Generates stubs in C for server implementation Parse::Pidl::Samba4::Python - Generates bindings for Python -- Samba COM / DCOM -- Parse::Pidl::Samba4::COM::Proxy - Generates proxy object for DCOM (client-side) Parse::Pidl::Samba4::COM::Stub - Generates stub call handler for DCOM (server-side) Parse::Pidl::Samba4::COM::Header - Generates headers for COM -- Wireshark -- Parse::Pidl::Wireshark::NDR - Generates a parser for the Wireshark network sniffer Parse::Pidl::Wireshark::Conformance - Reads conformance files containing additional data for generating Wireshark parsers -- Utility modules -- Parse::Pidl::Util - Misc utility functions used by *.pm and pidl.pl Parse::Pidl::Typelist - Utility functions for keeping track of known types and their representation in C Tips for hacking on pidl: - Look at the pidl's parse tree by using the --keep option and looking at the generated .pidl file. - The various backends have a lot in common, if you don't understand how one implements something, look at the others - See pidl(1) and the documentation on midl - See 'info bison' and yapp(1) for information on the file format of idl.yp