9.2.4 Interface Predicates

load_foreign_resource(:Resource)

Unless a foreign resource with the same name as Resource has been statically linked, the linked foreign resource specified by Resource is linked into the Prolog load image. In both cases, the predicates defined by Resource are installed, and any init function is called. Dynamic linking is not possible if the foreign resource was linked using the --static option.

If a resource with the same name has been previously loaded, it will be unloaded, as if unload_foreign_resource(Resource) were called, before Resource is loaded.

unload_foreign_resource(:ResourceName)

Any deinit function associated with ResourceName, a resource name, is called, and the predicates defined by ResourceName are uninstalled. If ResourceName has been dynamically linked, it is unlinked from the Prolog load image.

If no resource named ResourceName is currently loaded, an existence error is raised.

For backward compatibility, ResourceName can also be of the same type as the argument to load_foreign_resource/1. In that case the resource name will be derived from the absolute file name in the same manner as for load_foreign_resource/1. Also for backward compatibility, unload_foreign_resource/1 is a meta-predicate, but the module is ignored.

Please note: all foreign resources are unloaded before Prolog exits. This implies that the C library function atexit(func) cannot be used if func is defined in a dynamically linked foreign resource.

The following predicates are provided for backwards compatibility and should be avoided in new code:

foreign_file(+File,+Functions) hook,obsolescent

Specifies that a set of foreign functions, to be called from Prolog, are to be found in File. This predicate is only called from load_foreign_files/2.

load_foreign_files(:ObjectFiles,+Libraries) development,hookable,obsolescent

A resource name is derived from the first file name in ObjectFiles by stripping off the suffix. If this resource has been statically linked, the predicates defined by it are installed; otherwise, a linked foreign resource containing the declared functions is created and loaded.