Runtime Systems on Target Machines

This section describes how to launch a runtime system on a so called target machine, i.e. a machine which does not have SICStus installed. An alternative approach to what is presented here is to package the whole application as an all-in-one executable; see All-in-one Executables.

In order to locate all relevant files, the following directory structure should be used.

     myapp.exe
     sprt310.dll
     sp310\
     +--- bin\
     |    +--- sprt.sav
     +--- library\
          +--- <files from %SP_PATH%\library>
     

if support for multiple SICStus instances is needed, then the run-times named e.g. sprt310_instance_01_.dll, need to be available as well, in the same place as sprt310.dll.

myapp.exe is typically created by a call to spld:

     % spld --main=user [...] -o ./myapp.exe
     

If the directory containing sprt310.dll contains a directory called sp310, SICStus assumes that it is part of a Runtime System as described in the picture. The (extended) runtime library, sprt.sav (spre.sav), is then looked up in the directory (sp310/bin), as in the picture. Furthermore, the initial library_directory/1 fact will be set to the same directory with sp310/library appended.

The directory structure under library/ should look like in a regular installed SICStus, including the platform-specific subdirectory (x86-win32-nt-4 in this case). If your application needs to use library(system) and library(random), your directory structure may look like:

     myapp.exe
     sprt310.dll
     sp310\
     +--- bin\
     |    +--- sprt.sav
     +--- library\
          +--- random.po
          +--- system.po
          +--- x86-win32-nt-4 \
               +--- random.dll
               +--- system.dll
     

The sp* files can also be put somewhere else in order to be shared by several applications provided the sprt310.dll can be located by the DLL search.

The 310 in the file names above is derived from SICStus Prolog's major and minor version numbers, i.e. currently 3 and 10. Naming the files with version number enables applications using different SICStus versions to install the sp* files in the same directory.