Cons::Plus 0.3

[Johan Holmberg]

Hi !

I think cons should move away from being so monolitic. Now new
features always/often have to be added to the cons "core".
The cons documentation mentions the possibility to sub-class
the "cons" class, but this doesn't seem to be used very much
(at least not publicly on the list).

As  an example of what can be done, I have written a class
"Cons::Plus" that contains some features I have missed in
"plain cons":

  - automatically set PATH/LIB/INCLUDE to use Visual C++ on NT.

  - a replacement for the "Link" command, that avoids extra
    copies of files (hard linked or copied)

  - support for other languages than C/C++ (e.g. resource files on NT)

  - library files accepted as "object files" to the Program method

  - misc. other small features ....


Cons::Plus has been used for a while at IAR Systems (where I work),
but I still consider it "beta quality". Recently I have tried to
remove any "IAR-specific" stuff, to be able to send it to the
mailing list.

My module is packed as is usual for Perl-modules, and can be
installed with:

    % ncftpget ftp://mercury.iar.se/jhftp/cons/Cons-Plus-0.03.tar.gz
    % gtar xzvf Cons-Plus-0.03.tar.gz
    % cd Cons-Plus-0.03/
    % perl Makefile.PL
    % make
    % make install

The tar file also contains more documentation in the form of a
PDF file.

When using the module on NT, the "Win32::TieRegistry" module
is required.

On NT I have tested Cons::Plus with Visual C++ 5 & 6, and with
ActiveState Perl 5.005_03 (build 522 and 518).

I tried to use ActiveState 5.6 also but it seems to me that the
"system" function in that version of ActiveState Perl has some
strange error related to the PATH environment variable and loading
of DLL's (I haven't figured it out yet).

I guess there is some "overlap" in functionality between my module
and the Win32-stuff written by Greg Spencer. I haven't used his
module so I don't know exactly what it can do.

I have tried to write my module in the "cons spirit" (whatever
that is). Cons::Plus should be possible to use as a replacement
for the "cons" class even if one doesn't use any of the extra
stuff introduced by Cons::Plus. I have even run the test-suite
with "Cons::Plus" instead of "cons" (this required some hacking in
the test-framework).

Any feedback on Cons::Plus is welcome.

/Johan Holmberg