18 Adding a raco Command

▼ |  | raco: Racket Command-Line Tools

1 | raco make: Compiling Source to Bytecode
2 | raco exe: Creating Stand-Alone Executables
3 | raco distribute: Sharing Stand-Alone Executables
4 | raco planet: Automatic Package Distribution
5 | raco pkg: Package Management
6 | raco setup: Installation Management
7 | raco decompile: Decompiling Bytecode
8 | raco demod: Demodularizing Programs
9 | raco link: Library Collection Links
10 | raco pack: Packing Library Collections
11 | raco unpack: Unpacking Library Collections
12 | raco ctool: Working with C Code
13 | raco test: Run tests
14 | raco docs: Documentation Search
15 | raco expand: Macro Expansion
16 | raco read: Reading and Pretty-Printing
17 | raco scribble: Building Documentation
18 | Adding a raco Command
19 | Installation Configuration and Search Paths

► | 18 | Adding a raco Command

18.1 | Command Argument Parsing
18.2 | Accessing raco Commands

On this page:

18.1 Command Argument Parsing
current-command-name
short-program+ command-name
program+ command-name
18.2 Accessing raco Commands
all-tools

Racket
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## 18 Adding a raco Command🔗ℹ

The set of commands supported by raco can be extended by installed packages, PLaneT packages, and other collections. A command is added by defining raco-commands in the "info.rkt" library of a collection (see "info.rkt" File Format), and then raco setup (as called directly or as part of a package or PLaneT installation) must index the "info.rkt" file.

The value bound to raco-commands must be a list of command specifications, where each specification is a list of four values:

> (list command-string
> implementation-module-path
> description-string
> prominence)

The command-string is the command name. Any unambiguous prefix of a command name can be supplied to raco to invoke the command.

The implementation-module-path names the implementation though a module path (in the sense of module-path?). The module is loaded and invoked through dynamic-require to run the command. The module can access command-line arguments through the current-command-line-arguments parameter, which is adjusted before loading the command module to include only the arguments to the command. The current-command-name parameter is also set to the command name used to load the command. When raco help is used on a command, the command is launched with an initial --help argument in current-command-line-arguments.

The description-string is a short string used to describe the command in response to raco help. The description should not be capitalized or end with a period.

The prominence value should be a real number or #f. A #f value means that the command should not be included in the short list of “frequently used commands.” A number indicates the relative prominence of the command; the help command has a value of 110, and probably no command should be more prominent. The pack tool, which is currently ranked as the least-prominent of the frequently used commands, has a value of 10.

As an example, the "info.rkt" of the "compiler" collection might contain the

> (define raco-commands
> '(("make" compiler/commands/make "compile source to bytecode" 100)
> ("decompile" compiler/commands/decompile "decompile bytecode" #f)))

so that make is treated as a frequently used command, while decompile is available as an infrequently used command.

### 18.1 Command Argument Parsing🔗ℹ

(require raco/command-name) | package: base

The raco/command-name library provides functions to help a raco command identify itself to users.

> parameter (current-command-name) → (or/c string? #f)
> (current-command-name name) → void?
> name : (or/c string? #f)

The name of the command currently being loaded via dynamic-require, or #f if raco is not loading any command.

A command implementation can use this parameter to determine whether it was invoked via raco or through some other means.

> procedure (short-program+command-name) → string?

Returns a string that identifies the current command. When current-command-name is a string, then the result is the short name of the raco executable followed by a space and the command name. Otherwise, it is the short name of the current executable, as determined by stripping the path from the result of (find-system-path 'run-file). In either case, on Windows, an ".exe" extension is removed from the executable name.

The result of this function is suitable for use with command-line. For example, the decompile tool parses command-line arguments with

> (define source-files
> (command-line
> #:program (short-program+command-name)
> #:args source-or-bytecode-file
> source-or-bytecode-file))

so that raco decompile --help prints

usage: raco decompile [ <option> ... ] [<source-or-bytecode-file>] ...
<option> is one of
--help, -h
Show this help
--
Do not treat any remaining argument as a switch (at this level)
Multiple single-letter switches can be combined after
one `-`. For example, `-h-` is the same as `-h --`.

> procedure (program+command-name) → string?

Like short-program+command-name, but the path (if any) is not stripped from the current executable’s name.

### 18.2 Accessing raco Commands🔗ℹ

(require raco/all-tools) | package: base

The raco/all-tools library collects the raco-commands specifications for installed packages, PLaneT packages, and other collections.

> procedure (all-tools)
> → (hash/c string? (list/c string? module-path? string? (or/c real? #f)))

Returns a hashtable with collection names as keys and command specifications as values. For example, the following program invokes raco make file.rkt:

> (require raco/all-tools)
> (define raco-make-spec (hash-ref (all-tools) "make"))
> (parameterize ([current-command-line-arguments (vector "file.rkt")])
> (dynamic-require (second raco-make-spec) #f))

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