Experimental C backend with reference counting

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -19,6 +19,8 @@ Compiler changes:
 
 * Added primitives to the parsing library used in the compiler to get more precise
   boundaries to the AST nodes `FC`.
+* New experimental ``refc`` code generator, which generates C with reference
+  counting.
 
 REPL/IDE mode changes:
 

Makefile

@@ -87,9 +87,11 @@ test:
 
 support:
 	@${MAKE} -C support/c
+	@${MAKE} -C support/refc
 
 support-clean:
 	@${MAKE} -C support/c clean
+	@${MAKE} -C support/refc clean
 
 clean-libs:
 	${MAKE} -C libs/prelude clean
@@ -129,6 +131,7 @@ install-support:
 	install support/gambit/* ${PREFIX}/idris2-${IDRIS2_VERSION}/support/gambit
 	install support/js/* ${PREFIX}/idris2-${IDRIS2_VERSION}/support/js
 	@${MAKE} -C support/c install
+	@${MAKE} -C support/refc install
 
 install-libs:
 	${MAKE} -C libs/prelude install IDRIS2=../../${TARGET} IDRIS2_PATH=${IDRIS2_BOOT_PATH}

Release/mkdist.sh

@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ git checkout tags/v$1
 rm -rf .git
 rm -rf .github
 rm .git*
-rm .travis*
+rm -f .travis*
 rm -rf Release
 find . -type f -name '.gitignore' -exec rm -f {} \;
 

docs/source/backends/index.rst

@@ -61,4 +61,5 @@ or via the `IDRIS2_CG` environment variable.
    racket
    gambit
    javascript
+   refc
    custom

docs/source/backends/refc.rst

@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+*************************
+C with Reference Counting
+*************************
+
+There is an experimental code generator which compiles to an executable via C,
+using a reference counting garbage collector. This is intended as a lightweight
+(i.e. minimal dependencies) code generator that can be ported to multiple
+platforms, especially those with memory constraints.
+
+Performance is not as good as the Scheme based code generators, partly because
+the reference counting has not yet had any optimisation, and partly because of
+the limitations of C. However, the main goal is portability: the generated
+code should run on any platform that supports a C compiler.
+
+This code generator can be accessed via the REPL command:
+
+::
+
+    Main> :set cg refc
+
+Alternatively, you can set it via the ``IDRIS2_CG`` environment variable:
+
+::
+
+    $ export IDRIS2_CG=refc
+
+The C compiler it invokes is determined by either the ``IDRIS2_CC`` or ``CC``
+environment variables. If neither is set, it uses ``cc``.
+
+This code generator does not yet support `:exec`, just `:c`.
+
+Also note that, if you link with any dynamic libraries for interfacing with
+C, you will need to arrange for them to be accessible via ``LD_LIBRARY_PATH``
+when running the executable. The default Idris 2 support libraries are
+statically linked.

idris2api.ipkg

@@ -21,6 +21,8 @@ modules =
     Compiler.ES.RemoveUnused,
     Compiler.ES.TailRec,
 
+    Compiler.RefC.RefC,
+
     Compiler.Scheme.Chez,
     Compiler.Scheme.Racket,
     Compiler.Scheme.Gambit,