@obinexusltd/smalltalk-polycall

GNU Smalltalk FFI source binding for libpolycall 1.5. The package provides a Smalltalk API and a one-function native shim:

Polycall class >> runConfigStatus:
  -> smalltalk_polycall_run_config(path)
  -> polycall_ffi_run_config(path, 1)

The adapter performs no configuration parsing, networking, or runtime work. Those responsibilities remain in libpolycall.

Dialect

Smalltalk dialects do not share one FFI syntax. This implementation targets GNU Smalltalk (gst) and its <cCall:...> declarations. Porting to Pharo, Squeak, or VisualWorks requires a dialect-specific FFI declaration while the native C ABI remains unchanged.

Install the npm source package

npm install @obinexusltd/smalltalk-polycall

The CommonJS entry point indexes the source distribution without executing it:

const smalltalkPolycall = require('@obinexusltd/smalltalk-polycall');

console.log(smalltalkPolycall.directories.src.relativeFiles);
console.log(smalltalkPolycall.resolve('examples', 'run.st'));

src, include, generated, dist, examples, tests, and scripts are recursively available as absolute and package-relative paths.

Build the native shim

Build libpolycall first, then provide its library directory:

$env:POLYCALL_LIB_DIR = 'C:\path\to\libpolycall\lib'
$env:POLYCALL_LIB_NAME = 'polycall' # optional default
npm run build

The output is dist/smalltalk_polycall.dll, .so, or .dylib according to the platform. Ensure the libpolycall shared library is also discoverable by the operating system loader, or link against a compatible static library.

Smalltalk API

Polycall loadLibrary: 'dist/smalltalk_polycall'.

"Return the exact core status."
Polycall runConfigStatus: 'smalltalk-polycallrc'.

"Raise PolycallError when the status is nonzero."
Polycall runConfig: 'smalltalk-polycallrc'.

Run the included example from the project root:

gst -q src/Polycall.st examples/run.st

PolycallError>>status exposes the unchanged libpolycall status code.

Verification and publishing

npm test
npm pack --dry-run
npm publish --access public

The mandatory suite compiles the C shim against a mock libpolycall ABI, checks status/path forwarding, validates npm metadata and source indexes, and enforces the thin boundary. When gst is installed it also parses src/Polycall.st; otherwise that dialect-specific check is reported as skipped.

Author: Nnamdi Michael Okpala [email protected]

License: MIT