jmdh/perl-device-cdio

Perl bindings for libcdio

Device::Cdio - Perl bindings for libcdio (CD Input and Control library)

This adds Perl bindings for the GNU CD Input and Control library (libcdio) and it's ISO 9660 library (libiso9660) which are written in C. The library encapsulates CD-ROM reading and control and ISO 9660 handling. Perl programs wishing to be oblivious of the OS- and device-dependent properties of a CD-ROM can use this library.

The encapsulation is done in two parts. The lower-level Perl interface creates perlcdio, perliso9660 and perlmmc libraries; these are generated by SWIG.

There are also object-oriented modules that use perlcdio and perliso9660 (but not yet perlmmc). Although perlcdio and `perliso9660 are perfectly usable on there own, it is expected that the Device::Cdio... modules are what most people will use. As perlcdio and perliso9660 more closely model the C interface, it is conceivable (if unlikely) that die-hard libcdio or libiso9660 C users who are very familiar with that interface may use that.

It may also be possible to change the SWIG in such a way to combine the low-level and Object-Oriented pieces. However there are the problems. First, I'm not that much of a SWIG expert. Second it looks as though the resulting SWIG code would be more complex. Third the separation makes translation very straight forward to understand and maintain: first we get what's in C into Perl as a one-to-one translation. Then we implement some nice Perl abstraction off of that. The abstraction can be modified without having to redo the underlying translation. (But the reverse is generally not true: usually changes to the C-to-Perl translation, perlcdio or perliso9660, do result in small, but obvious and straightforward changes to the abstraction layer cdio.)

GNU CD Input and Control Library is rather large, and yet may yet grow a bit. (Any volunteers for adding UDF support?) So what is here is incomplete; over time it may grow to completion, depending on various factors: e.g. whether others will help out (hint).

Some of the incompleteness is due to my lack of understanding of how to get SWIG to accomplish wrapping various return values. If you know how to do better, please let me know. Likewise suggestions on how to improve classes or Perl interaction are more than welcome.

Sections of libcdio that have been left out wholesale is the the cdparanoia library and almost all of the MMC library. About 1/2 of the ISO-9660 library has been done. Of the audio controls, I put in those things that didn't require any thought. But Jerry G. Geiger added more audio and CD-Text support

There is much to be done - you want to help out, please do so!

Standalone documentation via perlpod. See also the programs in the example directory.

INSTALLATION

To install this module, run the following commands:

perl Build.PL
./Build
./Build test
./Build install

For compatibility, the older idiom is tolerated:

perl Makefile.PL
make
make test
make install

DEPENDENCIES

• libcdio and development headers
• C compiler
• SWIG (optional)

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

Copyright (C) 2006, 2008, 2011, 2017 Rocky Bernstein [email protected]

This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program. If not, see http://www.gnu.org/licenses/.