[Haskell-cafe] [ANNOUNCE] Bindings for libguestfs

[Don Stewart]

rjones:
> On Tue, May 12, 2009 at 08:18:08AM -0700, Don Stewart wrote:
> > rjones:
> > > I added some partial bindings for libguestfs[1] here:
> > > 
> > > http://git.et.redhat.com/?p=libguestfs.git;a=blob;f=haskell/Guestfs.hs;hb=HEAD
> > > 
> > > Some very simple example programs which use these bindings:
> > > 
> > > http://git.et.redhat.com/?p=libguestfs.git;a=tree;f=haskell;hb=HEAD
> > > 
> > > Any comments welcome.  My Haskell skills are pretty terrible, so I'm
> > > sure there are many ways these can be improved.
> > > 
> > > If someone wants to look at binding the rest of the API, then please
> > > send me some patches.  (Note that the Guestfs.hs file is automatically
> > > generated).
> > 
> > Very cool. Are you likely to upload to hackage?
> 
> I think it should be a bit more complete before uploading it.  It only
> covers about half the interface.
> 
> > > BTW, I found the documentation on writing FFIs very contradictory and
> > > incomplete.  For example, I was completely defeated trying to find
> > > ways to do simple stuff like passing in integers or returning
> > > booleans.  *Potentially* Haskell's FFI seems like it might be one of
> > > the best out of the languages I've used so far, but it needs way more
> > > documentation and examples.
> > 
> > Perhaps read the FFI chapter of RWH (online?)
> >
> > What resources were you using to grok the FFI?
> 
> Well, Real World Haskell was one of the resources:
> 
> http://book.realworldhaskell.org/read/interfacing-with-c-the-ffi.html
> 
> (And it's fine, one of the better resources as an introduction.  But
> not thorough enough to cover the booleans / returning complex structs
> problems I had).
> 
> The others, as I remember it, were:
> 
> http://www.haskell.org/haskellwiki/FFI_Introduction
> http://www.haskell.org/haskellwiki/FFICookBook
> 
> (Made me think it was simple, but doesn't really cover much once I got
> down to the details)
> 
> http://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~chak/haskell/ffi/
> 
> & the documentation for 'Foreign' etc in the Haddock-generated library
> docs.

Very good.

I wonder if /you/ could note down (maybe on the wiki) the things you
need to work out - then we would have a tutorial from someone learning
on the job. That could then be fleshed out into a fuller tutorial?

-- Donn