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1 | Nano-X port |
2 | =========== | |
3 | ||
4 | What is it? | |
5 | =========== | |
6 | ||
7 | The Nano-X port is based on the wxX11 code, and therefore shares | |
8 | almost all of wxX11's code, including the use of the wxUniversal | |
9 | widget set. Nano-X is the X-like API of the overall Microwindows | |
10 | project, which also has a WIN32 API. | |
11 | ||
12 | The Microwindows web site is at | |
13 | ||
14 | http://microwindows.org/ | |
15 | ||
16 | Nano-X is intended to work on devices with very small amounts | |
fc2171bd | 17 | of memory. wxWidgets is quite a large library, so if your |
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18 | memory is measured in KB instead of MB you will need to use |
19 | an alternative library, such as FLTK. However, with memory | |
fc2171bd | 20 | capacity increasing all the time, wxWidgets could become |
0fccf28f | 21 | an appropriate embedded GUI solution for many projects. |
fc2171bd | 22 | Also, it's possible to think of ways to cut wxWidgets |
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23 | further down to size, such as disabling advanced controls |
24 | or rewriting utility functions. See the section on code size | |
25 | below. | |
26 | ||
27 | An alternative to using Nano-X is to use the standard | |
28 | wxX11 port with Tiny-X, which (as I understand it) | |
29 | maintains the Xlib API while being sufficiently cut | |
30 | down to run on small devices, such as the iPAQ. | |
31 | The Familiar Linux Distribution contains Tiny-X. See: | |
32 | ||
33 | http://handhelds.org/mailman/listinfo/familiar | |
34 | ||
35 | Building wxNano-X | |
36 | ================= | |
37 | ||
38 | Building is as per the instructions for wxX11 (see readme.txt, | |
39 | install.txt) but passing --enable-nanox to configure. You also need | |
40 | to export the MICROWIN variable, setting it to the top-level of the | |
41 | Microwindows hierarchy. Remember that MICROWIN needs to be defined | |
42 | both at configuration time and at subsequent make time, so you | |
43 | may find it convenient to put it in your .bash_profile or similar | |
44 | file. | |
45 | ||
fc2171bd | 46 | Typically, various features in wxWidgets will be switched off to |
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47 | conserve space. The sample script below calls configure with typical |
48 | options for Nano-X. | |
49 | ||
50 | Before compiling wxNano-X, you will also need to edit your | |
51 | Microwindows 'config' file to match the values hard-coded into | |
52 | configure: | |
53 | ||
54 | ERASEMOVE=N (otherwise moving windows will look messy) | |
55 | X11=Y | |
56 | OPTIMIZE=N | |
57 | DEBUG=Y | |
58 | VERBOSE=Y | |
59 | ||
60 | Compile Microwindows by typing 'make' from within the Microwindows src | |
61 | directory. | |
62 | ||
63 | Port notes | |
64 | ========== | |
65 | ||
66 | Nano-X has a different API from Xlib, although there | |
fc2171bd | 67 | are many similarities. Instead of changing the wxWidgets |
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68 | code to reflect Nano-X conventions, a compatibility |
69 | layer has been added, in the form of these files: | |
70 | ||
71 | include/wx/x11/nanox/X11/Xlib.h ; Xlib compatibility | |
72 | include/wx/x11/privx.h ; Useful macros | |
73 | src/x11/nanox.c ; Xlib compatibility | |
74 | ||
75 | There is also an XtoNX.h compatibility header file | |
76 | in Microwindows, which we augment with our Xlib.h | |
77 | and nanox.c. | |
78 | ||
79 | Unfortunately it is not always possible, or economical, | |
80 | to provide a complete Xlib emulation, so there are | |
81 | still wxUSE_NANOX preprocessor directives in the code | |
82 | for awkward cases. It may be possible to eliminate | |
83 | some, but probably not all, of these in future. | |
84 | ||
85 | Port Status | |
86 | =========== | |
87 | ||
88 | The port is in a very early stage: so far it links | |
89 | and a window pops up, but that's about it. (The | |
90 | wxX11 port using straight X11 is much more advanced.) | |
91 | ||
92 | Things to do: | |
93 | ||
94 | - implement some incomplete compatibility functions | |
95 | in src/x11/nanox.c | |
96 | - implement the colour database | |
97 | - add mask capability, without which controls won't | |
98 | display properly | |
99 | - add further configuration options for disabling | |
100 | code not normally needed in an embedded device | |
101 | - optimization and code size reduction | |
102 | - figuring out why libstdc++-libc is linked to | |
103 | binaries -- is this done for any C++ program? | |
104 | ||
105 | Code Size | |
106 | ========= | |
107 | ||
fc2171bd | 108 | Allow about 2.5 MB for a shared wxWidgets library, with the |
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109 | dynamically linked minimal sample taking about 24KB. If statically |
110 | linked, minimal takes up just over 1MB when stripped. This 1MB | |
fc2171bd | 111 | includes all of wxWidgets used in the minimal sample including some of |
0fccf28f | 112 | the wxUniversal widgets. As application complexity increases, |
fc2171bd | 113 | the amount of wxWidgets code pulled into statically linked |
0fccf28f | 114 | executables increases, but for large applications, the overhead |
fc2171bd | 115 | of wxWidgets becomes less significant. |
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116 | |
117 | Sample sizes: | |
118 | ------------- | |
119 | ||
120 | Statically-linked minimal (release): 1,024,272 bytes | |
121 | Statically-linked widgets (release): 1,171,568 bytes | |
122 | ||
123 | Shared lib, stripped (debug): 2,486,716 bytes | |
124 | Shared-lib minimal (debug), stripped: 23,896 bytes | |
125 | ||
126 | Shared lib, stripped (release): 2,315,5004 bytes | |
127 | Shared-lib minimal (release), stripped: 23,896 bytes | |
128 | (note: the -O flag was not passed to the minimal | |
129 | makefile, for some reason) | |
130 | ||
131 | Strategies for reducing code size | |
132 | --------------------------------- | |
133 | ||
134 | - Look at the .o files compiled in a build and check | |
135 | for particularly large files, or files you wouldn't | |
136 | expect to be there in an embedded build. | |
137 | - Disable options for features that aren't necessary, | |
138 | for example: image handlers (BMP, JPEG etc.), | |
139 | wxVariant, wxWizard, wxListCtrl, src/univ/themes/gtk.c. | |
140 | - Add options to configure.in/setup.h where necessary, | |
141 | for finer-grained configuration. | |
142 | - Rewrite functions or classes for alternative stripped-down | |
143 | functionality. | |
144 | - Remove unnecessary functionality or obsolete code from | |
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145 | wxWidgets. |
146 | - Factor out wxWidgets code to reduce repetition. | |
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147 | - Add inlining, remove unnecessary empty functions. |
148 | - Separate code out into individual files so that all of | |
149 | a .o file doesn't get pulled in, just because an app | |
150 | references something else in that file. For example, | |
151 | advanced event types could be separated out. | |
152 | This assumes that the linker isn't clever enough to | |
153 | eliminate redundant functions. The fact that the | |
154 | minimal and widgets samples are very close in size | |
155 | is evidence that gcc is not doing a good job here. | |
156 | - Experiment with compiler options. | |
157 | - Commercially supported compilers may have better | |
158 | code generation and/or linker optimisation than the | |
159 | one you're currently using. | |
160 | ||
161 | Sample script for building wxNano-X | |
162 | =================================== | |
163 | ||
164 | This script assumes that you will invoke it | |
fc2171bd | 165 | from a build directory under the wxWidgets |
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166 | top level. So you might type: |
167 | ||
168 | % cd wx2 | |
169 | % mkdir nano-x | |
170 | % cd nano-x | |
171 | % makewxnanox | |
172 | ||
173 | If you need to restart compilation without | |
174 | reconfiguring, just type 'make' from the same | |
175 | directory. | |
176 | ||
177 | -----------------------------:x---------------------- | |
178 | ||
179 | #!/bin/sh | |
180 | # makewxnanox | |
181 | ||
182 | export MICROWIN=/home/julians/microwindows/microwindows-0.89pre8 | |
183 | ||
184 | #DEBUGFLAGS="--enable-debug --enable-debug_cntxt --disable-optimise" | |
185 | DEBUGFLAGS="--disable-debug --disable-debug_cntxt --enable-optimise" | |
186 | ||
187 | export CONFIGCMD="./configure $DEBUGFLAGS --enable-shared --enable-gui --with-x11 --enable-nanox --enable-log --with-threads --without-sockets --without-odbc --without-libjpeg --without-libtiff --without-png --without-regex --enable-no_exceptions --disable-protocols --disable-ipc --disable-dialupman --disable-apple_ieee --disable-fraction --disable-dynlib --disable-dynamicloader --disable-geometry --disable-fontmap --disable-std_iostreams --disable-filesystem --disable-fs_inet --disable-fs_zip --disable-zipstream --disable-snglinst --disable-mimetype --disable-url --disable-html --disable-constraints --disable-printarch --disable-mdi --disable-postscript --disable-PS-normalized --disable-afmfonts --disable-prologio --disable-resources --disable-dnd --disable-metafile --disable-treelayout --disable-grid --disable-propsheet --disable-splines --disable-joystick --disable-pcx --disable-iff --disable-pnm --disable-tabdialog --disable-newgrid" | |
188 | ||
189 | echo $CONFIGCMD | |
190 | if [ ! -f ./configure ]; then | |
191 | CONFIGCMD=".$CONFIGCMD" | |
192 | fi | |
193 | ||
194 | echo Invoking $CONFIGCMD | |
195 | ||
196 | rm -f *.cache | |
197 | $CONFIGCMD | |
198 | ||
199 | make | |
200 | ||
201 | -----------------------------:x---------------------- |