------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--                                                                          --
--                            GLADE COMPONENTS                              --
--                                                                          --
--                S Y S T E M . S H A R E D _ S T O R A G E                 --
--                                                                          --
--                                 S p e c                                  --
--                                                                          --
--         Copyright (C) 1996-2006 Free Software Foundation, Inc.           --
--                                                                          --
-- GARLIC is free software;  you can redistribute it and/or modify it under --
-- terms of the  GNU General Public License  as published by the Free Soft- --
-- ware Foundation;  either version 2,  or (at your option)  any later ver- --
-- sion.  GARLIC is distributed  in the hope that  it will be  useful,  but --
-- WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY;  without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABI- --
-- LITY or  FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the  GNU General Public  --
-- License  for more details.  You should have received  a copy of the GNU  --
-- General Public License  distributed with GARLIC;  see file COPYING.  If  --
-- not, write to the Free Software Foundation, 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, --
-- Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA.                                              --
--                                                                          --
-- As a special exception,  if other files  instantiate  generics from this --
-- unit, or you link  this unit with other files  to produce an executable, --
-- this  unit  does not  by itself cause  the resulting  executable  to  be --
-- covered  by the  GNU  General  Public  License.  This exception does not --
-- however invalidate  any other reasons why  the executable file  might be --
-- covered by the  GNU Public License.                                      --
--                                                                          --
--               GLADE  is maintained by ACT Europe.                        --
--               (email: glade-report@act-europe.fr)                        --
--                                                                          --
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

with Ada.Streams.Stream_IO;

package System.Shared_Storage is

   --  This package manages the shared/persistant memory required for
   --  full implementation of variables in Shared_Passive packages,
   --  more precisely variables whose enclosing dynamic scope is a
   --  shared passive package.

   --  -------------------------
   --  -- Shared Storage Model --
   --  -------------------------

   --  The basic model used is that each partition that references the
   --  Shared_Passive package has a local copy of the package data
   --  that is initialized in accordance with the declarations of the
   --  package in the normal manner. The routines in
   --  System.Shared_Memory are then used to ensure that the values in
   --  these separate copies are properly synchronized with the state
   --  of the overall system.

   --  This synchronization is ensured by maintaining a set of files
   --  in a designated directory. The directory is designated by
   --  setting the environment variable SHARED_MEMORY_DIRECTORY. This
   --  variable must be set for all partitions. If the environment
   --  variable is not defined, then the current directory is used.

   --  There is one file for each variable. The name is the fully
   --  qualified name of the variable with all letters forced to lower
   --  case. For example, the variable Key_Name in the Shared_Passive
   --  package Shared_Data results in the file name
   --  shared_data.key_name.

   --  If the file does not exist, it indicates that no partition has
   --  assigned a new value, so that the initial value is the correct
   --  one. This is the critical component of the model. It means that
   --  there is no system-wide synchronization required for
   --  initializing the package, since the shared memory files need
   --  not (and do not) reflect the initial state. There is therefore
   --  no issue of synchronizing initialization and read/write
   --  accress.

   --  If the file does exist, it is a Stream_IO file that contains
   --  the most recently assigned value of the variable, as written by
   --  the use of the typ'Write stream attribute.

   --  -----------------------
   --  -- Read/Write Access --
   --  -----------------------

   --  The approach is as follows:

   --    For each shared variable, var, an access routine varR is
   --  created whose body has the following form (this example is for
   --  Pkg.Var):

   --      procedure varR is
   --         S : Ada.Streams.Stream_IO.Stream_Access;
   --      begin
   --         S := Shared_Mem_RFile ("pkg", "var");
   --         if S /= null then
   --            typ'Read (S);
   --         end if;
   --      end varR;

   --  The routine Shared_Mem_RFile in package System.Shared_Memory
   --  either returns null if the file does not exist, or otherwise a
   --  Stream_Access value that references the corresponding shared
   --  memory file, positioned at start of the file, ready to read the
   --  current value.

   --  Each reference to the shared variable, var, is preceded by a
   --  call to the corresponding varR procedure, which either leaves
   --  the initial value unchanged if the file does not exist, or
   --  reads the current value from the shared memory file.

   --  In addition, for each shared variable, var, an assignment
   --  routine is created whose body has the following form (again for
   --  Pgg.Var)

   --      procedure VarA is
   --      begin
   --         typ'Write (Shared_Mem_WFile ("pkg", "var"), var);
   --      end VarA;

   --  The routine Shared_Mem_WFile is package System.Shared_Memory
   --  returns a Stream_Access value that references the corresponding
   --  shared memory file, positioned at the start, ready to write the
   --  new value.

   --  Each assignment to the shared variable, var, is followed by a
   --  call to the corresponding varA procedure, which writes the new
   --  value to the shared memory file.

   --  Note that there is no synchronization for these file read and
   --  write operations, since it is assumed that a correctly
   --  operating programs will provide appropriate synchronization. In
   --  particular, variables can be protected using protected types
   --  with no entries.

   --  Note: a special circuit allows the use of stream attributes
   --  Read and Write for limited types (using the corresponding
   --  attribute for the full type), but there are limitations on the
   --  data that can be placed in shared passive partitions. See
   --  sem_smem.ads/adb for details.

   --  ----------------------------------------------------------------
   --  -- Handling of Protected Objects in Shared Passive Partitions --
   --  ----------------------------------------------------------------

   --  During the execution of a protected subprogram call, access is
   --  locked out using a global locking mechanism, as provided by the
   --  GNAT.Lock_Files capability. This package contains the lock and
   --  unlock calls, and the expander generates a call to the lock
   --  routine before the protected call and a call to the unlock
   --  routine after the protected call.

   --  Within the code of the protected subprogram, the access to the
   --  protected object itself uses the local copy, without any
   --  special synchronization.  Since global access is locked out, no
   --  other task or partition can attempt to read or write this data
   --  as long as the lock is held.

   --  The data in the local copy does however need synchronizing with
   --  the global values in the shared memory file. This is achieved
   --  as follows:

   --  The protected object generates a read and assignment routine as
   --  described for other shared passive variables. The code for the
   --  'Read and 'Write attributes (not normally allowed, but allowed
   --  in this special case) simply reads or writes the values of the
   --  components in the protected record.

   --  The lock call is followed by a call to the shared read routine
   --  to synchronize the local copy to contain the proper global
   --  value.

   --  The unlock call in the procedure case only is preceded by a
   --  call to the shared assign routine to synchronize the global
   --  shared memory files with the (possibly modified) local copy.

   --  These calls to the read and assign routines, as well as the
   --  lock and unlock routines, are inserted by the expander (see
   --  exp_smem.adb).

   package SIO renames Ada.Streams.Stream_IO;

   function Shared_Var_ROpen (Var : String) return SIO.Stream_Access;
   --  As described above, this routine returns null if the corresponding
   --  shared memory file does not exist, and otherwise, if the file does
   --  exist, a Stream_Access value that references the shared memory file,
   --  positioned to the start, ready to read the current value.

   function Shared_Var_WOpen (Var : String) return SIO.Stream_Access;
   --  As described above, this routine returns a Stream_Access value that
   --  references the shared memory file, positioned to the start, ready to
   --  write the new value. The file is created by this call if it does not
   --  already exist.

   procedure Shared_Var_Lock (Var : String);
   --  This procedure claims the global shared memory lock. It is used for
   --  protected types in shared passive packages. A call to this locking
   --  routine is generated as the first operation in the code for the body
   --  of a protected subprogram, and it busy waits if the lock is busy.

   procedure Shared_Var_Unlock (Var : String);
   --  This procedure releases the lock obtaind by a prior call to the
   --  Shared_Mem_Lock procedure, and is to be generated as the last
   --  operation in the body of a protected subprogram.

   procedure Shared_Var_Close (Var : in out SIO.Stream_Access);

end System.Shared_Storage;
