Fil-C Ruby Gem Porting

Fil-C Ruby Gem Porting

Context

Fil-C is a memory-safe C compiler. Ruby's VALUE type becomes a pointer (struct rb_value_unit_struct *) instead of an integer. This breaks code that:

• Passes int literals where VALUE expected (Qfalse, Qtrue, ERROR_TOKEN)
• Stores VALUE in int variables
• Does bitwise ops on VALUE
• Mixes VALUE and ID types
• Uses switch on VALUE (case labels must be integer constants)

Workflow

Each command runs independently (no persistent shell). Use ruby_3_3 not ruby.

1. Unpack gem

rm -rf /​tmp/​gem-port && mkdir -p /​tmp/​gem-port
nix develop .#pkgsFilc.ruby_3_3.gems.<name> --command bash -c 'gem unpack $src'
# Move to /​tmp if unpacked in current dir
mv *<name>* /​tmp/​gem-port/ 2>/​dev/​null || true

2. Find ext structure

ls /​tmp/​gem-port/​*/​ext/

Note: Some gems have ext/<name>/, others have files directly in ext/.

3. Run extconf.rb

nix develop .#pkgsFilc.ruby_3_3.gems.<name> --command bash -c \
  'cd /​tmp/​gem-port/​*/​ext && ruby extconf.rb'
# Or if nested: cd /​tmp/​gem-port/​*/​ext/<name>

4. Build and capture errors

nix develop .#pkgsFilc.ruby_3_3.gems.<name> --command bash -c \
  'cd /​tmp/​gem-port/​*/​ext && make 2>&1' > /​tmp/​build.log
cat /​tmp/​build.log | head -100

5. Fix and iterate

Edit files in /​tmp/​gem-port/​*/​ext/ directly, then re-run step 4. No need to re-unpack or re-run extconf.

6. Add to rubyports.nix and verify

# Always capture stderr and check exit code
nix build .#pkgsFilc.ruby_3_3.gems.<name> 2>&1; echo "EXIT: $?"
ls result/ 2>&1

ast-grep Usage

ALWAYS use ast-grep for pattern-based code fixes. It handles whitespace variations that break string replacement.

Selectors

Different C constructs need different selectors:

• call_expression - function calls like rb_attr($A, $B, Qfalse)
• switch_statement - switch blocks with case labels
• declaration - variable declarations

Examples

Function call replacement:

ast-grep run -p 'rb_attr($A, $B, $C, $D, Qfalse)' \
             -r 'rb_attr($A, $B, $C, $D, 0)' \
             -l c --selector call_expression -U .

Switch to if-else (VALUE can't be case label):

ast-grep run \
  -p 'switch (rb_range_beg_len($A, $B, $L, $S, $F)) { case Qfalse: break; case Qnil: return Qnil; default: return subseq($X, $Y, $Z); }' \
  -r '{ VALUE r = rb_range_beg_len($A, $B, $L, $S, $F); if (r == Qfalse) { } else if (r == Qnil) { return Qnil; } else { return subseq($X, $Y, $Z); } }' \
  -l c --selector switch_statement -U .

Finding patterns (no -U):

ast-grep run -p 'static VALUE $NAME;' -l c .
ast-grep run -p 'case Q$CONST:' -l c .

rubyports.nix Helpers

# String replacement (fragile - prefer ast-grep)
(replace "path/​to/​file.c" "old string" "new string")

# ast-grep with call_expression selector
(astGrep "pattern($A)" "replacement($A)")

# ast-grep with custom selector
(astGrepSel "switch_statement" "switch(...)" "if-else...")

Common Patterns

See REFERENCE.md for full patterns, FIXES.md for per-gem solutions, and AST_GREP.md for comprehensive ast-grep documentation.