FreeLists / openbeos / [openbeos] Resource Compiler

["Matthijs Hollemans" <matthijs@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi all,

I'd like to let you know that I have started writing the resource
compiler "rc", an open source replacement for Be's (experimental)
"beres" and "deres" tools.

A resource compiler is a command-line tool that takes a "resource
script" and turns it into a .rsrc file. There are several reasons
for using a tool like this. First of all, you no longer need a
separate GUI tool to build your .rsrc files (whether this is a good
thing or not is probably subjective ;-) You can add rc to your
Makefile or Jamfile and make it completely automatic. But most
importantely, .rsrc files and CVS don't mix very well. When rc is
finished, we should be able to replace all .rsrc files from our CVS
tree by the text-based .rdef files.

rc uses the .rdef file format in order to stay backwards compatible
with beres/deres. Unfortunately, the .rdef format is limited, so I
will be adding several extensions. You will be able to "include"
picture files such as PNG, without having to convert them to a
text-based array first. (This goes for any array of binary data, not
just pictures.) You will also be able to set application properties,
such as the signature, the launch flags, icons, and version numbers.

The "compile" part (what beres used to do) is not finished yet. I
have already figured out the grammar, but I need to brush up on my
flex/bison knowledge first ;-) However, the "decompiler" (what deres
used to do) is already finished. That, of course, was the easy
part...

In due time, I will submit the source code of "rc" to the OpenBeOS
CVS in the "/current/src/tools/" folder, and write Jam rules and
such. But for now, I just wanted to let you guys know I am working
on this.

If you have any comments or suggestions, I'd very much like to hear
them!

Thanks,
Matthijs