Tcl_CreateInterp(3)

NAME
Tcl_CreateInterp, Tcl_DeleteInterp, Tcl_InterpActive, Tcl_InterpDeleted - create and delete Tcl command interpreters

SYNOPSIS
#include <tcl.h>

Tcl_Interp *
Tcl_CreateInterp()

Tcl_DeleteInterp(interp)

int
Tcl_InterpDeleted(interp)

int
Tcl_InterpActive(interp)

ARGUMENTS
Token for interpreter to be destroyed or queried.

DESCRIPTION

Tcl_CreateInterp creates a new interpreter structure and returns a token for it. The token is required in calls to most other Tcl procedures, such as Tcl_CreateCommand, Tcl_Eval, and Tcl_DeleteInterp. The token returned by Tcl_CreateInterp may only be passed to Tcl routines called from the same thread as the original Tcl_CreateInterp call. It is not safe for multiple threads to pass the same token to Tcl's routines. The new interpreter is initialized with the built-in Tcl commands and with standard variables like tcl_platform and env. To bind in additional commands, call Tcl_CreateCommand, and to create additional variables, call Tcl_SetVar.

Tcl_DeleteInterp marks an interpreter as deleted; the interpreter will eventually be deleted when all calls to Tcl_Preserve for it have been matched by calls to Tcl_Release. At that time, all of the resources associated with it, including variables, procedures, and application-specific command bindings, will be deleted. After Tcl_DeleteInterp returns any attempt to use Tcl_Eval on the interpreter will fail and return TCL_ERROR. After the call to Tcl_DeleteInterp it is safe to examine the interpreter's result, query or set the values of variables, define, undefine or retrieve procedures, and examine the runtime evaluation stack. See below, in the section INTERPRETERS AND MEMORY MANAGEMENT for details.

Tcl_InterpDeleted returns nonzero if Tcl_DeleteInterp was called with interp as its argument; this indicates that the interpreter will eventually be deleted, when the last call to Tcl_Preserve for it is matched by a call to Tcl_Release. If nonzero is returned, further calls to Tcl_Eval in this interpreter will return TCL_ERROR.

Tcl_InterpDeleted is useful in deletion callbacks to distinguish between when only the memory the callback is responsible for is being deleted and when the whole interpreter is being deleted. In the former case the callback may recreate the data being deleted, but this would lead to an infinite loop if the interpreter were being deleted.

Tcl_InterpActive is useful for determining whether there is any execution of scripts ongoing in an interpreter, which is a useful piece of information when Tcl is embedded in a garbage-collected environment and it becomes necessary to determine whether the interpreter is a candidate for deletion. The function returns a true value if the interpreter has at least one active execution running inside it, and a false value otherwise.

INTERPRETERS AND MEMORY MANAGEMENT

Tcl_DeleteInterp can be called at any time on an interpreter that may be used by nested evaluations and C code in various extensions. Tcl implements a simple mechanism that allows callers to use interpreters without worrying about the interpreter being deleted in a nested call, and without requiring special code to protect the interpreter, in most cases. This mechanism ensures that nested uses of an interpreter can safely continue using it even after Tcl_DeleteInterp is called.

The mechanism relies on matching up calls to Tcl_Preserve with calls to Tcl_Release. If Tcl_DeleteInterp has been called, only when the last call to Tcl_Preserve is matched by a call to Tcl_Release, will the interpreter be freed. See the manual entry for Tcl_Preserve for a description of these functions.

The rules for when the user of an interpreter must call Tcl_Preserve and Tcl_Release are simple:

Interpreters Passed As Arguments
    Functions that are passed an interpreter as an argument can safely use the interpreter without any special protection. Thus, when you write an extension consisting of new Tcl commands, no special code is needed to protect interpreters received as arguments. This covers the majority of all uses.

Interpreter Creation And Deletion
    When a new interpreter is created and used in a call to Tcl_Eval, Tcl_VarEval, Tcl_GlobalEval, Tcl_SetVar, or Tcl_GetVar, a pair of calls to Tcl_Preserve and Tcl_Release should be wrapped around all uses of the interpreter. Remember that it is unsafe to use the interpreter once Tcl_Release has been called. To ensure that the interpreter is properly deleted when it is no longer needed, call Tcl_InterpDeleted to test if some other code already called Tcl_DeleteInterp; if not, call Tcl_DeleteInterp before calling Tcl_Release in your own code.

Retrieving An Interpreter From A Data Structure
    When an interpreter is retrieved from a data structure (e.g. the client data of a callback) for use in one of the evaluation functions (Tcl_Eval, Tcl_VarEval, Tcl_GlobalEval, Tcl_EvalObjv, etc.) or variable access functions (Tcl_SetVar, Tcl_GetVar, Tcl_SetVar2Ex, etc.), a pair of calls to Tcl_Preserve and Tcl_Release should be wrapped around all uses of the interpreter; it is unsafe to reuse the interpreter once Tcl_Release has been called. If an interpreter is stored inside a callback data structure, an appropriate deletion cleanup mechanism should be set up by the code that creates the data structure so that the interpreter is removed from the data structure (e.g. by setting the field to NULL) when the interpreter is deleted. Otherwise, you may be using an interpreter that has been freed and whose memory may already have been reused.

All uses of interpreters in Tcl and Tk have already been protected. Extension writers should ensure that their code also properly protects any additional interpreters used, as described above.

Note that the protection mechanisms do not work well with conventional garbage collection systems. When in such a managed environment, Tcl_InterpActive should be used to determine when an interpreter is a candidate for deletion due to inactivity.

SEE ALSO
Tcl_Preserve(3), Tcl_Release(3)

KEYWORDS
command, create, delete, interpreter