The Optional Retro Compiler

In addition to the base system, users of RETRO on Unix hosts with ELF executables can build and use the retro-compiler to generate turnkey executables.

Requirements

• Unix host
• ELF executable support
• objcopy in the $PATH


Building

make bin/retro-compiler

Installing

Copy bin/retro-compiler to somewhere in your $PATH.

Using

retro-compiler takes two arguments: the source file to compile and the name of the word to use as the main entry point.

Example:

Given a hello.forth:

~~~ :hello 'Hello_World! s:put nl ; ~~~

Use:

retro-compiler hello.forth hello

The compiler will generate an a.out file which you can then rename.

Known Limitations

This does not provide the scripting support for command line arguments that the standard retro interface offers.

A copy of objcopy needs to be in the path for compilation to work.

The current working directory must be writable.

This only supports hosts using ELF executables.

The output file name is fixed to a.out.