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IDL Compiler

When looking at program development on top of L4, there are obvious similarities to distributed program development. Therefore it seems natural to use similar tools. One of these tools is an IDL compiler.

An IDL compiler automates the task of creating message transfer code. It translates a description of the communication interface of a service into a number of client stubs and server skeleton functions. These functions pack and unpack parameters into a message and initiate the message transfer.

Interface definitions allow the development of services independent of the used kernel API and platform. The IDL compiler generates the communication code during the build process for a specific platform and kernel API.

Currently available IDL compilers

IDL compiler	Supported API	Supported platform
IDL4	L4 version 2	IA-32, generic
	L4 version X.0	IA-32, generic
	L4 version X.2	IA-32, generic
DICE	L4 version 2	IA-32, generic
DICE	L4 version X.0	IA-32, generic
Magpie	L4 version 4	ARM, generic
Magpie	OKL4	IA-32, generic

generic means, that C bindings are used in the generated code. If an architecture is specified explicitly, optimized assembly code is generated where appropriate.