
                            System configuration
                                      
   System customization is performed thanks to the "system.se" file which
   must be in the sub-directory "sys" of the installation directory.
   
   When the system name is correctly set in the file "system.se",
   SmallEiffel performs some automatic customizations. For example, if
   the "system.se" file contains the string "DOS", SmallEiffel uses the
   suffix ".BAT" for script files and the suffix ".EXE" for executables
   files.
   
   The "sys" directory contains various files to customize SmallEiffel
   with the system, the C compiler and the linker used as well as the
   default loadpath used to look for Eiffel source code.
   
   The SmallEiffel environment variable
   
   Environment variable SmallEiffel must be set with the absolute path of
   the file "system.se" which is in the sub-directory "sys" of the
   installation directory.
   Under a UNIX-like system, the value of the SmallEiffel environment
   variable may be for example: /usr/lib/SmallEiffel/sys/system.se
   The contents of the file "system.se" indicate the [1]system you are
   running.
   
   File system.se
   
   The first word of file "system.se" is used by SmallEiffel to know
   which operating system is running. Currently supported values are:
   
   UNIX for all UNIX-like systems, GNU/Linux, HP-UX, Solaris, SunOS,
   Irix, XENIX, etc.
   Windows for Windows 95 and Windows NT systems (using long filenames).
   DOS for MS-DOS systems or Windows 3.x (using short filenames, with 8.3
   scheme).
   Macintosh for Macintosh systems (68K and PPC)
   BeOS for the BeOS system
   Amiga for the Amiga system
   OS2 for IBM OS/2 systems
   VMS for the VMS systems
   
   You must choose the appropriate system name in the previous list and
   update file "system.se". To be sure that the previous list is
   up-to-date, just put a bad system name in the file "system.se" and
   then run for example command compile.
   
   The system name will then be used to access various files
   corresponding to the system you chose. For example, if you declared
   "Windows", only files with extension "Windows" will be considered
   (e.g. files like "loadpath.Windows", "compiler.Windows",
   "linker.Windows", etc...).
   
   File compiler.se
   
   This file is used to select the default C compiler that will be used
   to compile the generated C code. Only the first line of this file is
   considered; it must contain the name of one of the supported
   compilers, which at the current time are:
   
   gcc The free and open-source GNU C Compiler and its variants (egcs,
   mingw32, etc.) on several platforms (Linux and other UNIXes, Windows).
   cc The standard cc compiler, as provided by vendors of most UNIX and
   VMS systems.
   lcc-win32 The free port of lcc for Windows platforms.
   bcc32 The Borland (now Inprise) C/C++ compiler on Windows platforms.
   bcc32i A variant (?) of the previous one.
   wcl386 The Watcom C/C++ compiler for Windows plaforms.
   cl The MicroSoft C/C++ compiler for Windows platforms.
   sas_c The SAS C compiler, sc on Amiga platforms.
   dice The dice C compiler.
   vbcc The vbcc C compiler.
   ccc The Compaq C compiler for AlphaLinux.
   
   SmallEiffel will automatically generate the correct system call to
   this C compiler, with the appropriate linker and adequate object files
   suffix.
   In case an unknown compiler name is supplied, SmallEiffel generates an
   error message listing the supported compiler names. In case the
   compiler specified is a correct one but can't be found, SmallEiffel
   won't be able to detect it, but there will be an error message from
   the system. In -verbose mode, the systems calls to the C compiler are
   displayed, thus making it easy to find such errors.
   
   Changing the default loading path
   
   All the commands use the same algorithm to search for Eiffel source
   files. The default global loading path is set using contents of file
   loadpath.< system_name >, in the sys directory of your SmallEifel
   installation, where < system_name > is one of the systems symbols
   mentioned [2]above.
   
   To change this default loading path, you need to add a special file
   which name is "loadpath.se" in the directory in which you type a
   [3]command of SmallEiffel (compile, finder, pretty, compile_to_c,
   compile_to_jvm, short, clean).
   
   Each line of the file "loadpath.se" must be an existing directory path
   or the absolute path of another "loadpath.se" file to include
   recursively. Environment variable may be used in these lines, with the
   syntax ${MY_VAR}.
   
   All directories of the local "loadpath.se" file are added ahead of the
   default loading path. All directories are searched in the order in
   which they appear. The current directory is not included in the search
   path unless it is explicitely specified in one of the loadpath.se or
   loadpath.system files. Also note that an empty line in a loadpath.se
   file may add the current working directory in a place you don't want.
   
   To check that your loading path is correctly set, just type command
   finder using an unknown class name as argument.
   
   Sample loadpath.se file under UNIX
   /users/myself/one_dir/
   ../../another_dir/
   ${MY_LIB}/goodies/
   /users/${MY_BUDDY}/common/loadpath.se
   ./
   The first line is an absolute path to some directory.
   The second one is a relative path to some directory.
   The third line shows the use of an environment variable to point to
   some directory.
   The fourth line also features an environment variable, but points to a
   second loadpath file, that will be included before the general
   loadpath.UNIX file.
   The fifth line adds the current directory to the loadpath.
   
   Sample loadpath.se file under Windows
   C:\myself\one_dir\
   ..\..\another_dir\
   ${MY_LIB}\goodies\
   \users\${MY_BUDDY}\common\loadpath.se
   .\
   Same explanations as above, except of course that this file is
   prepended in front of the loadpath.Windows file.
   
                                   [Line]
   Copyright © Dominique COLNET and Suzanne COLLIN - [4]<colnet@loria.fr>
                  Last update: 05 June 1999, by DC & OZ. 

References

   1. file://localhost/home/colnet/SmallEiffel/man/man/system.html
   2. file://localhost/home/colnet/SmallEiffel/man/man/system.html#systems
   3. file://localhost/home/colnet/SmallEiffel/man/commands/commands.html
   4. mailto:colnet@loria.fr
