Re: [Help-smalltalk] bug: Smalltalk snapshot: aString

[kraehe]

Moin Mike Anderson,

> SystemDictionary methodsFor: 'saving the image'!
> 
> snapshot: aString
>       ObjectMemory snapshot: aString
> !
> !
> - will fix it for you, but really the tutorial should be corrected.

imho, [ Smalltalk snapshot: 'myGnuSmalltalk.image' ] is more newbie
friendly than [ ObjectMemory snapshot: 'myGnuSmalltalk.image' ], as
I think its the goal of the system dictionary to provide easy access
to system internals.

... but I have some related notes for the ObjectMemory>>snapshot method :

Currently this method tries to write into [ File image ] evaluating
into '/usr/local/share/smalltalk/gst.im' in my environment. But this
file is read only for normal users, so this method fails. It would be
great to check [ File isWriteable: File image ] before, and to choose
something like 'gst.im' as the default for an alternative own image
in the ifFalse: case.

    !ObjectMemory class methodsFor: 'saving the image'!
    snapshot
        "Save a snapshot on the image file that was loaded on startup or
        into the local directory. Might raise a file error exception."
        (File isWriteable: File image) ifTrue: [ ^ self snapshot: File image ].
        (File isWriteable: '.')        ifTrue: [ ^ self snapshot: 'gst.im' ].
        ^ File error: 'Can not write into a gst.im.'
    ! !

I think this will make BLOXBrowser more newbie friendly, as starting
a Smalltalk from scratch in a new directory and saving an image is
the normal way to create an own image in most other implementations.

btw: my GNU Smalltalk startup script for X is just a workaround for the above.

    #!/bin/sh
    cd
    mkdir -p smalltalk/gst
    cd smalltalk/gst
    [ ! -f gst-browser.im ] &&
        echo "PackageLoader fileInPackage: 'Browser'. ObjectMemory snapshot: 
'gst-browser.im'!" | gst -gq
    echo "BLOX.BLOXBrowser.BrowserMain new initialize!" |
        gst -gqI gst-browser.im 2>&1 | cat > transcript.t

My questions here:

  Does Windoof understand [ File isWriteable: '.' ] ?
  Why does /usr/local/bin/gst create a fresh image from scratch,
  if I start it in my ~/smalltalk/smalltalk-2.1.12/kernel directory ?

Bye Michael
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