1 files changed, 64 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/pidl/README b/pidl/README
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..240a07a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pidl/README
@@ -0,0 +1,64 @@
+Introduction:
+=============
+This directory contains the source code of the pidl (Perl IDL)
+compiler for Samba 4.
+
+The main sources for pidl are available using Git as part of
+the Samba source tree. Use:
+git clone git://git.samba.org/samba.git
+
+Pidl works by building a parse tree from a .pidl file (a simple
+dump of it's internal parse tree) or a .idl file
+(a file format mostly like the IDL file format midl uses).
+The IDL file parser is in idl.yp (a yacc file converted to
+perl code by yapp)
+
+Standalone installation:
+========================
+Run Makefile.PL to generate the Makefile.
+
+Then run "make install" (as root) to install.
+
+Internals overview:
+===================
+
+After a parse tree is present, pidl will call one of it's backends
+(which one depends on the options given on the command-line). Here is
+a list of current backends:
+
+-- Generic --
+Parse::Pidl::Dump - Converts the parse tree back to an IDL file
+Parse::Pidl::Samba4::Header - Generates header file with data structures defined in IDL file
+Parse::Pidl::NDR - Generates intermediate datastructures for use by NDR parses/generators
+Parse::Pidl::ODL - Generates IDL structures from ODL structures for use in the NDR parser generator
+Parse::Pidl::Test - Utility functions for use in pidl's testsuite
+
+-- Samba NDR --
+Parse::Pidl::Samba4::NDR::Client - Generates client call functions in C using the NDR parser
+Parse::Pidl::Samba4::NDR::Parser - Generates pull/push functions for parsing NDR
+Parse::Pidl::Samba4::NDR::Server - Generates server side implementation in C
+Parse::Pidl::Samba4::TDR - Parser generator for the "Trivial Data Representation"
+Parse::Pidl::Samba4::Template - Generates stubs in C for server implementation
+Parse::Pidl::Samba4::Python - Generates bindings for Python
+
+-- Samba COM / DCOM --
+Parse::Pidl::Samba4::COM::Proxy - Generates proxy object for DCOM (client-side)
+Parse::Pidl::Samba4::COM::Stub - Generates stub call handler for DCOM (server-side)
+Parse::Pidl::Samba4::COM::Header - Generates headers for COM
+
+-- Wireshark --
+Parse::Pidl::Wireshark::NDR - Generates a parser for the Wireshark network sniffer
+Parse::Pidl::Wireshark::Conformance - Reads conformance files containing additional data for generating Wireshark parsers
+
+-- Utility modules --
+Parse::Pidl::Util - Misc utility functions used by *.pm and pidl.pl
+Parse::Pidl::Typelist - Utility functions for keeping track of known types and their representation in C
+
+Tips for hacking on pidl:
+ - Inspect pidl's parse tree by using the --keep option and looking at the
+   generated .pidl file.
+ - The various backends have a lot in common, if you don't understand how one
+   implements something, look at the others.
+ - See pidl(1) and the documentation on midl
+ - See 'info bison' and yapp(1) for information on the file format of idl.yp
+ - Run the tests (all in tests/)