(***********************************************************************)
(*                                                                     *)
(*                           Objective Caml                            *)
(*                                                                     *)
(*            Xavier Leroy, projet Cristal, INRIA Rocquencourt         *)
(*                                                                     *)
(*  Copyright 1996 Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et   *)
(*  en Automatique.  All rights reserved.  This file is distributed    *)
(*  under the terms of the GNU Library General Public License, with    *)
(*  the special exception on linking described in file ../../LICENSE.  *)
(*                                                                     *)
(***********************************************************************)

(* $Id: dynlink.mli,v 1.8 2005/03/25 23:56:32 kswadi Exp $ *)

(** Dynamic loading of bytecode object files. *)

(** {6 Initialization} *)

val init : unit -> unit
(** Initialize the [Dynlink] library.
    Must be called before any other function in this module. *)

(** {6 Dynamic loading of compiled bytecode files} *)

val loadfile : string -> unit
(** Load the given bytecode object file ([.cmo] file) or
    bytecode library file ([.cma] file), and link it with the running program.
    All toplevel expressions in the loaded compilation units
    are evaluated. No facilities are provided to
    access value names defined by the unit. Therefore, the unit
    must register itself its entry points with the main program,
    e.g. by modifying tables of functions. *)

val loadfile_private : string -> unit
(** Same as [loadfile], except that the compilation units just loaded
    are hidden (cannot be referenced) from other modules dynamically
    loaded afterwards. *)

(** {6 Access control} *)

val allow_only: string list -> unit
(** [allow_only units] restricts the compilation units that dynamically-linked
    units can reference: it only allows references to the units named in
    list [units].  References to any other compilation unit will cause
    a [Unavailable_unit] error during [loadfile] or [loadfile_private].

    Initially (just after calling [init]), all compilation units composing
    the program currently running are available for reference from
    dynamically-linked units.  [allow_only] can be used to grant access
    to some of them only, e.g. to the units that compose the API for
    dynamically-linked code, and prevent access to all other units,
    e.g. private, internal modules of the running program. *)

val prohibit: string list -> unit
(** [prohibit units] prohibits dynamically-linked units from referencing
    the units named in list [units].  This can be used to prevent
    access to selected units, e.g. private, internal modules of
    the running program. *)

val default_available_units: unit -> unit
(** Reset the set of units that can be referenced from dynamically-linked
    code to its default value, that is, all units composing the currently
    running program. *)

val allow_unsafe_modules : bool -> unit
(** Govern whether unsafe object files are allowed to be
    dynamically linked. A compilation unit is ``unsafe'' if it contains
    declarations of external functions, which can break type safety.
    By default, dynamic linking of unsafe object files is
    not allowed. *)

(** {6 Deprecated, low-level API for access control} *)

(** @deprecated  The functions [add_interfaces], [add_available_units]
    and [clear_available_units] should not be used in new programs,
    since the default initialization of allowed units, along with the
    [allow_only] and [prohibit] function, provides a better, safer
    mechanism to control access to program units.  The three functions
    below are provided for backward compatibility only. *)

val add_interfaces : string list -> string list -> unit
(** [add_interfaces units path] grants dynamically-linked object
    files access to the compilation  units named in list [units].
    The interfaces ([.cmi] files) for these units are searched in
    [path] (a list of directory names). *)

val add_available_units : (string * Digest.t) list -> unit
(** Same as {!Dynlink.add_interfaces}, but instead of searching [.cmi] files
    to find the unit interfaces, uses the interface digests given
    for each unit. This way, the [.cmi] interface files need not be
    available at run-time. The digests can be extracted from [.cmi]
    files using the [extract_crc] program installed in the
    Objective Caml standard library directory. *)

val clear_available_units : unit -> unit
(** Empty the list of compilation units accessible to dynamically-linked
    programs. *)

(** {6 Error reporting} *)

type linking_error =
    Undefined_global of string
  | Unavailable_primitive of string
  | Uninitialized_global of string

type error =
    Not_a_bytecode_file of string
  | Inconsistent_import of string
  | Unavailable_unit of string
  | Unsafe_file
  | Linking_error of string * linking_error
  | Corrupted_interface of string
  | File_not_found of string
  | Cannot_open_dll of string

exception Error of error
(** Errors in dynamic linking are reported by raising the [Error]
    exception with a description of the error. *)

val error_message : error -> string
(** Convert an error description to a printable message. *)


(**/**)

(** {6 Internal functions} *)

val digest_interface : string -> string list -> Digest.t
