pcre, bifs, drivers and ports

[Mats Cronqvist]

Ernie Makris wrote:
> Hi Mats,
> 
> I'd definitely be interested in seeing the code, 

   i'll ask istvan (the author, i just came up with the idea and the API :>) if 
he'll post the code.

   forgot to post an example in the previous post;
 > re:grep("foofoo",["fo","of([a-z])"]).
[{0,2,[]},{2,5,["o"]}]

> or even an overview of
> the process to properly add a bif.


   the (probably non-proper) process to add a bif is like this;

0) run configure

1) add your bifs to erts/emulator/beam/bif.tab

e.g.
bif re:grep/2
bif re:compile/1

2) create a C file

e.g.
erts/emulator/beam/erl_bif_re.c

3) implement your bifs by stealing bits from existing erl_bif_*.c files

e.g.
BIF_RETTYPE re_grep_2(BIF_ALIST_2){
  Eterm result;
  result = magic_function();
  BIF_RET(result);
}

4) add your C file to erts/emulator/<arch>/Makefile

e.g.
RUN_OBJS = $(OBJDIR)/erl_bif_re.o \

5) run make; make install


   note that if you add
bif ernie:makris/1
   to bif.tab
there should be a erl_bif_ernie.c
   that implements
BIF_RETTYPE ernie_makris_1(BIF_ALIST_1);


   note that i'm not really an expert on this. consider it an educated guess :>

   mats