Re: [Vala] gobject-introspect vs gir

[Jan Hudec <bulb ucw cz>]

On Tue, Nov 16, 2010 at 12:46:26 -0800, Anatol Pomozov wrote:
> http://live.gnome.org/Vala/Bindings page recommends 2-step vapi generation
>   1) Generate *.gi file using gen-introspect tool. It works for glib-style code.
>   2) Generate vapi file using vapigen tool
>
> Both tools are located in Vala repository. Why there are 2 steps here?

The first tool does not originate in vala. It comes from separate project
called gobject-introspection (http://live.gnome.org/GObjectIntrospection).
Format of data it generates has changed since vapigen was written, so vala
drags around the old version of the tool until vapigen properly understands
the new format.

> I also see a gir branch in Vala repository and it makes me believe
> that this is the next gen-introspect tool.

Gir is the current format of GObjectIntrospection.

> Where I can find more info about *.gir format? What is the plan, are you
> going to replace gen-introspect with it? Is it vala-specific or it is comes
> from glib?

It comes from the GObjectIntrospection project. See above.

Last time I looked (which was about a year ago), the data format was
unfortunately totally undocumented, so I had to infer stuff from examples and
code. I don't know how much the state improved since.

> I am trying to process Apache Thrift source code with gen-introspect
> and I think that there is a bug. Should I try to fix it (or/and report
> to bugzilla) or it is better to wait for gir-... stuff?

I suppose it would be best to test how far the gir stuff can get and report
what is missing there. It does not seem to be getting too much testing, so it
won't get finished otherwise.

-- 
                                                 Jan 'Bulb' Hudec <bulb ucw cz>