path: root/debian/urweb.1

.TH urweb 1 "December 20, 2015"
.\" urweb.1 -- man page for urweb
 \" Copyright (C) 2013, 2015 Benjamin Barenblat <bbaren@mit.edu>
 \"
 \" Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may not
 \" use this file except in compliance with the License.  You may obtain a copy
 \" of the License at
 \"
 \"     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
 \"
 \" Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
 \" distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT
 \" WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.  See the
 \" License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations
 \" under the License.
.SH NAME
\fBurweb\fP \- compiler for the Ur/Web programming language
.SH SYNOPSIS
\fBurweb\fP [\fIoption\fP|\fIproject-name\fP]...
.br
\fBurweb daemon\fP [\fBstart\fP|\fBstop\fP]
.SH DESCRIPTION
.PP
This manual page briefly documents the \fBurweb\fP compiler.  Extensive
documentation is available in the Ur/Web reference manual.

\fBurweb\fP is an optimizing compiler for Ur/Web, a functional, pure, statically
typed, strictly evaluated programming language designed for constructing dynamic
Web applications backed by SQL databases.  \fBurweb\fP produces very efficient
object code that does not use garbage collection; compiled programs will often
be even more efficient than what most programmers would bother to write in C.

The first invocation described compiles an Ur/Web project (see
\fBCOMPILATION\fP), while the second invocation controls the type inference
daemon (see \fBTYPE INFERENCE DAEMON\fP).  For simple projects, only
familiarity with the first invocation is required.

.SH COMPILATION
\fBurweb\fP is a whole-program compiler (i.e., incremental compilation is not
supported).  Thus, it operates at project granularity, and it is run from the
command line with a collection of options and a project name.  The simplest
case is to run \fBurweb foo\fP, where the file \fBfoo.ur\fP contains a valid
Ur/Web program, in which case \fBurweb\fP will compile the program to the file
\fBfoo.exe\fP.  (Despite the extension of the generated files, \fBurweb\fP does
not necessarily produce COFF executables; rather, it produces the default
object format of the default C compiler.)

Larger programs, spanning many files, may be compiled by specifying an
\fB.urp\fP (i.e., an Ur/Web project) file.  The syntax of an \fB.urp\fP file is
relatively simple; see section 3.1 of the Ur/Web reference manual for details.

With no arguments, \fBurweb\fP prints the version number and exits.

.SH "Compiler options"
.TP
\fB\-ccompiler\fP \fIprogram\fP
Sets the executable name corresponding to the C compiler.  \fBurweb\fP uses
\fBgcc\fP by default, but \fBclang\fP should also work.

.TP
\fB\-db\fP \fIname\fP=\fIvalue\fP,...
Sets database information using the format expected by Postgres's
\fIPQconnectdb\fP.  If the database backend is MySQL or SQLite, \fBurweb\fP
will parse the information string to set connection parameters appropriately.
For MySQL, the only relevant parameters are \fIhost\fP, \fIhostaddr\fP,
\fIport\fP, \fIdbname\fP, \fIuser\fP, and \fIpassword\fP; for SQLite, the only
relevant parameter is \fIdbname\fP, which is interpreted as the file system
path to the database file.  All unrecognized parameters are silently ignored.

.TP
\fB\-dbms\fP (\fBpostgres\fP|\fBmysql\fP|\fBsqlite\fP)
Sets the database backend.  If requested, \fBurweb\fP will also emit
initialization code for the selected backend; see the \fB\-sql\fP option.

.TP
\fB\-debug\fP
Instructs \fBurweb\fP to emit the generated C code as \fI/tmp/webapp.c\fP.
Additionally, \fBurweb\fP will print the command-line options it passes to the
C compiler and linker as it executes.

.TP
\fB\-dumpSource\fP
Instructs \fBurweb\fP to print a text-based form of the current intermediate
representation (IR) when compilation fails.  Output will likely be extremely
long and not very human-readable.

.TP
\fB\-dumpVerboseSource\fP
Instructs \fBurweb\fP to print a text-based form of every intermediate
representation it generates during compilation.  Output will likely be extremely
long and not very human-readable.

.TP
\fB\-dumpTypes\fP
If specified, \fBurweb\fP will print the types of all named values it finds
during compilation.

.TP
\fB\-dumpTypesOnError\fP
Identical to \fB\-dumpTypes\fP, but only prints the types if compilation
fails.

.TP
\fB\-explainEmbed\fP
Enables verbose error messages when \fBurweb\fP is unable to embed server-side
values in client-side code.

.TP
\fB\-limit \fIclass\fP \fInum\fP
Sets a resource usage limit for generated applications.  The limit \fIclass\fP
will be set to the non-negative integer \fInum\fP.  The classes are:

.RS
.IP \fBcleanup\fP
maximum number of cleanup operations (e.g., entries recording the need to
deallocate certain temporary objects) that may be active at once per request

.IP \fBclients\fP
maximum number of clients that can be simultaneously blocked waiting for new
messages (sent by \fIBasis.send\fP)

.IP \fBdatabase\fP
maximum size of database file (currently only used by SQLite), in units of
database pages

.IP \fBdeltas\fP
maximum number of messages sendable in a single request handler with
\fIBasis.send\fP

.IP \fBglobals\fP
maximum number of global variables that FFI libraries may set in a single
request context

.IP \fBheaders\fP
maximum size (in bytes) of per-request buffer used to hold HTTP headers for
generated pages

.IP \fBheap\fP
maximum size (in bytes) of per-request heap for dynamically allocated data

.IP \fBinputs\fP
maximum number of top-level form fields per request

.IP \fBmessages\fP
maximum size (in bytes) of per-request buffer used to hold a single outgoing
message sent with \fIBasis.send\fP

.IP \fBpage\fP
maximum size (in bytes) of per-request buffer used to hold HTML content of
generated pages

.IP \fBscript\fP
maximum size (in bytes) of per-request buffer used to hold JavaScript content
of generated pages

.IP \fBsubinputs\fP
maximum number of form fields per request, excluding top-level fields

.IP \fBtime\fP
maximum running time of a single page request, in units of approximately 0.1
seconds

.IP \fBtransactionals\fP
maximum number of custom transactional actions (e.g., sending an e-mail) that
may be run in a single page generation
.RE

.TP
\fB\-output\fP \fIfilename\fP
Sets where \fBurweb\fP will store the compiled executable.

.TP
\fB\-path\fP \fIname\fP \fIvalue\fP
Defines a new path alias for use in \fB.urp\fP files.  In particular, this
option specifies that all occurrences of $\fIname\fP in any \fB.urp\fP files
processed will be replaced with \fIvalue\fP.  You may specify this option more
than once.

.TP
\fB\-prefix\fP \fIprefix\fP
Sets the application prefix.  This controls how Ur/Web functions are bound to
URIs; in particular, if \fIprefix\fP is \fI/directory/myapp.exe/\fP, then URIs
of the form \fI//example.com/directory/myapp.exe/Module/function\fP will
resolve to the function \fIModule.function\fP in Ur/Web.

.TP
\fB\-protocol\fP (\fBhttp\fP|\fBcgi\fP|\fBfastcgi\fP|\fBstatic\fP)
Instructs \fBurweb\fP to produce an executable which speaks the specified
protocol:

.RS
.IP \fBhttp\fP
HTTP 1.1.  \fBurweb\fP will generate a standalone server executable.

.IP \fBcgi\fP
The Common Gateway Interface, the classic protocol that Web servers use to
generate dynamic content by spawning new processes.  While Ur/Web programs may
in general use message-passing with the \fIsend\fP and \fIrecv\fP functions,
that functionality is not yet supported in CGI, since CGI needs a fresh process
for each request, and message-passing needs to use persistent sockets to
deliver messages.

Since Ur/Web treats paths in an unusual way, you will need to configure Ur/Web
specially by setting the \fBprefix\fP directive in your \fB.urp\fP file or
passing the \fB\-prefix\fP option on the command line.  For example, if you
deploy a Web application at \fI//example.com/directory/myapp.exe\fP, you
should specify \fI/directory/myapp.exe/\fP as the application prefix.  See
section 3.2 of the Ur/Web reference manual for more information.

.IP \fBfastcgi\fP
The faster, newer protocol inspired by CGI, wherein Web servers can start and
reuse persistent external processes to generate dynamic content.  Ur/Web
doesn't implement the whole protocol, but Ur/Web's support has been tested to
work with both Apache and lighttpd.

Applications which use message-passing, while supported, require special
configuration.  In particular, if you're using Apache, be sure to specify a
large \fBidle-timout\fP; if you're using lighttpd, be sure to set
\fBmax-procs\fP to 1.  The rationale for these configuration changes is
detailed in section 3.2 of the Ur/Web reference manual.

.IP \fBstatic\fP
The simplest possible protocol.  \fBurweb\fP will generate an output executable
which expects a single command-line argument giving the URI of a page to
generate.  For instance, this argument might be \fI/main\fP, in which case a
static HTTP response for that page will be written to standard output.
.RE

.TP
\fB\-root\fP \fIName\fP \fIpath\fP
Triggers an alternate module convention for all source files found in directory
\fIpath\fP or any of its subdirectories.  In particular, any file
\fIpath\fP/foo.ur will define a module called \fIName.Foo\fP instead of the
usual \fIFoo\fP.  Any file \fIpath\fP/subdir/foo.ur will define a module called
\fIName.Subdir.Foo\fP, and so on for arbitrary nesting of subdirectories. You
may specify this option more than once.

.TP
\fB\-sigfile\fP \fIpath\fP
If specified, the compiled application will look at \fIpath\fP for a key to use
in cryptographic signing.  This is used to prevent cross-site request forgery
attacks for any form handler that both reads a cookie and creates side effects.
If the referenced file doesn't exist, the application will create it and read
its saved data on future invocations.  You can also initialize the file
manually with any contents at least 16 bytes long; the first 16 bytes will be
treated as the key.


.TP
\fB\-sql\fP \fIfile\fP
Requests that \fBurweb\fP generate database initialization code for the
selected database backend, storing it in \fIfile\fP.  If \fIfile\fP already
exists, \fBurweb\fP will overwrite it.

Note that the generated instructions will not create the application database;
you must do that yourself.

.TP
\fB\-static\fP
Instructs \fBurweb\fP to statically link the generated executable.

.TP
\fB\-timing\fP
If specified, \fBurweb\fP will print a timing report at the end of compilation
showing the number of seconds required for each stage of the compilation
process.

.TP
\fB\-unifyMore\fP
Instructs \fBurweb\fP's type inference engine to make best-effort guesses
rather than immediately failing when performing type inference.  If
\fB\-dumpTypes\fP shows unresolved unification variables in positions where you
would like to see \fBurweb\fP make best-guesses effort instead, specify this
option.

Correct programs compiled with \fB\-unifyMore\fP will be identical to their
counterparts compiled without it; however, \fBurweb\fP will likely generate
many more (and potentially more useful) error messages at a time when asked to
compile an incorrect program with this flag.

.TP
\fB\-verbose\fP
Instructs \fBurweb\fP to announce the stages of the compilation process as it
performs them.

.SH "Options which inhibit compilation"
When run with any of these options, \fBurweb\fP will not produce executable
output.

.TP
\fB\-css\fP
Dumps generated CSS properties and classes.  The first output line is a list of
categories of CSS properties that would be worth setting on the document body.
The remaining lines are space-separated pairs of CSS class names and categories
of properties that would be worth setting for that class.  The category codes
are divided into two varieties.  Codes that reveal properties of a tag or its
(recursive) children are

.RS
.IP \fBB\fP
for block-level elements,
.IP \fBC\fP
for table captions,
.IP \fBD\fP
for table cells,
.IP \fBL\fP
for lists, and
.IP \fBT\fP
for tables.
.RE

.RS
Codes that reveal properties of the precise tag that uses a class are

.IP \fBb\fP
for block-level elements,
.IP \fBt\fP
for tables,
.IP \fBd\fP
for table cells,
.IP \fB\-\fP
for table rows,
.IP \fBH\fP
for the possibility to set a height,
.IP \fBN\fP
for non-replaced inline-level elements,
.IP \fBR\fP
for replaced inline elements, and
.IP \fBW\fP
for the possibility to set a width.
.RE
.RE

.TP
\fB\-moduleOf\fP \fIfile\fP
Prints the Ur module name corresponding to the source file \fIfile\fP.

.TP
\fB\-numeric\-version\fP
Prints the version of the compiler executable without any associated English
text.  Suitable for use in scripts.

.TP
\fB\-print\-ccompiler\fP
Prints the executable name of the compiler that \fBurweb\fP will use.

.TP
\fB\-print\-cinclude\fP
Prints the file system location in which \fBurweb\fP will look for C headers.

.TP
\fB\-tc\fP
If specified, \fBurweb\fP will stop after the typechecking phase.  Liberal use
of this option can substantially speed development, as \fBurweb\fP's
optimization passes can take quite a while.

.TP
\fB\-version\fP
Prints the version of the compiler executable.  Output is identical to
\fBurweb\fP output when run without arguments.

.SH "Documentation options"
These options customize Ur/Web's documentation generator.

.TP
\fB\-demo\fP
Performs demo-style formatting.

.TP
\fB\-guided\-demo\fP
Performs demo-style formatting, but sizes frames to allocate less space to
explanatory text.  Useful for generating presentations.

.TP
\fB\-noEmacs\fP
When used with \fB\-demo\fP, causes \fBurweb\fP to \fInot\fP use Emacs to
syntax-highlight code.  The resulting code will not be highlighted.

.TP
\fB\-tutorial\fP
Performs tutorial-style formatting.

.SH "Internal options"
These options are not meant for users; they are used to build \fBurweb\fP
releases and to debug the compiler.

.TP
\fB\-boot\fP
Places \fBurweb\fP into bootstrap mode.  Used when building the standard
library for the first time.

\fB\-stop\fP \fIphase\fP
Causes \fBurweb\fP to exit after the specified phase of compilation.

.SH "TYPE INFERENCE DAEMON"
Since Ur/Web type inference can take a significant amount of time, it can be
helpful to cache type-inferred versions of source files.  This mode can be
activated by running

.RS
\fBurweb daemon start\fP
.RE

Further urweb invocations in the same working directory will send requests to a
background daemon process that reuses type inference results whenever possible,
tracking source file dependencies and modification times.

To stop the background daemon, run

.RS
\fBurweb daemon stop\fP
.RE

Communication happens via a Unix domain socket in file .urweb_daemon in the
working directory.

.SH BUGS
\fBurweb\fP is a product of research; while it is intended to be usable for
real work, it may occasionally fail to produce optimal results.  If you believe
you've found a bug (e.g., the compiler throws an unhandled exception), contact
the Ur/Web mailing list, \fIur@impredicative.com\fP.

.SH COPYRIGHT
\fBurweb\fP is copyright \(co 2008-2015 Adam Chlipala and licensed under the
3-clause BSD license <http://www.xfree86.org/3.3.6/COPYRIGHT2.html#5>.

This manual page is copyright \(co 2013, 2015 Benjamin Barenblat and licensed
under the Apache License, Version 2.0.