perkiset

The reason to read this post
Coding specialized routines in C and adding them to

PHP

  can make a <i>profound</i> difference in your server's efficiency and capability.

Background
Nutballs and SB were discussing <a href="http://www.perkiset.org/forum/

asp

 

_net

 /classic

asp

 _ip_to_num_and_num_to_ip_for_database_storage-t72.0.html;msg2054#new">in this thread</a> whether it was best to index based on numerics or strings (and a bunch else) – in that process I got intrigued by the notion of how fast I could convert IP addresses to long integers and was re-drawn to the Zend developer forum to look at creating custom extensions for

PHP

 . I’d looked at it several times but did not have a compelling reason to tackle it.

In the mid 80s I was

programming

  in Clipper, which was a dBase III compiler. The brilliant part about it was that you could augment the language with C functions of your own design. It was through this that I constructed a complete windowing library for Clipper that mimicked the

Mac

 ’s trap set even before Windows existed. A verbose, readable language that could be augmented with blazing speed where required.

Then the world lulled through C++ and VB until in 1994 when Delphi was released. Once again I had my hybrid language – Object Pascal with inline assembly. It doesn't get much better that that. But it was doomed to eventually fail as well… as most compiled, early bound languages are slowly feeling – at least for web development.

Now with

PHP

  we have a verbose and easily readable scripted language for web development that can be augmented with C for speed. Since I have shunned all OS specific and client-side GUI libraries for browser based apps, speed has been an Achilles heel for many of my applications for a while now - and this looks to be a compelling solution.

Today’s Task
I decided to create my first extension to

PHP

  to see just how much difference there would be with a

PHP

  solution to a coding task versus a C function added to the language. The chore was to convert an IP address to a double and back. As it happens, this falls perfectly into my notion of how things work – I REALLY like C strings and handling – so the idea if writing a custom string converter in C to augment

PHP

  is right up my alley.

Extensions have a lot of prep and support items. There are special ways to allocate and earmark memory, a few little "glue" routines that must be added and a basic protocol for compiling and adding to the

PHP

  instance. You should REALLY follow the

tutor

 ial at Zend <a href="http://devzone.zend.com/node/view/id/1021">which you can find here</a> if this is of more interest to you, but what I will illustrate here is exactly what I did to make my first little functions.

First off – there are a couple compiler switches that the

tutor

 ial suggests you turn on – they are important for real projects, but unnecessary for little things like this. Any

PHP

  installation where you have access to the

php

 .ini file will accept this extension.

<i>IMPORTANT CAVEAT: I have not coded in C or C++ since about ’94, so I’m a bit rusty. In fact, I may be talking completely out of my ass on several of these points and invite critique and clarification if I’m being stupid.</i>

First: config.m4. This file helps "configure" do … erm … what it does. This is part of the glue and after I had created my own "Hello World" function I changed this very little to make it work with "PerksFuncs."

PHP

 _ARG_ENABLE(perksfuncs, whether to enable the PerksFuncs Library,[ --enable-perk Enable PerksFuncs Library Support])

if test "$

PHP

 _PERKSFUNCS" = "yes"; then
AC_DEFINE(HAVE_PERKSFUNCS, 1, [whether you have PerksFuncs Library])

PHP

 _NEW_EXTENSION(perksfuncs, perksfuncs.c, $ext_shared)
fi


Next – the header file. I do not think that this needs to be separate, but based on the way they (zend) had me put this all together I am unclear on whether it is called elsewhere. Probably not, but better safe than sorry.

#ifndef

PHP

 _PERKSFUNCS_H
#define

PHP

 _PERKSFUNCS_H 1

#define

PHP

 _PERKSFUNCS_VERSION "1.0"
#define

PHP

 _PERKSFUNCS_EXTNAME "perksfuncs"

PHP

 _FUNCTION(ip2num);

PHP

 _FUNCTION(num2ip);

extern zend_module_entry perksfuncs_module_entry;
#define

php

 ext_perksfuncs_ptr &perksfuncs_module_entry

#endif


As you can see, pretty much connection stuff between what we are about to write and

PHP

 .

Finally, the real stuff. The top part of all this is glue as well. The real stuff is at

PHP

 _FUNCTION(ip2num) and

PHP

 _FUNCTION(num2ip).

#ifdef HAVE_CONFIG_H
#include "config.h"
#include "string.h"
#endif

#include "

php

 .h"
#include "

php

 _perksfuncs.h"

static function_entry perksfuncs_functions[] =
{

PHP

 _FE(ip2num, NULL)

PHP

 _FE(num2ip, NULL)
{NULL, NULL, NULL}
};

zend_module_entry perksfuncs_module_entry = {
#if ZEND_MODULE_API_NO >= 20010901
STANDARD_MODULE_HEADER,
#endif

PHP

 _PERKSFUNCS_EXTNAME,
perksfuncs_functions,
NULL,
NULL,
NULL,
NULL,
NULL,
#if ZEND_MODULE_API_NO >= 20010901

PHP

 _PERKSFUNCS_VERSION,
#endif
STANDARD_MODULE_PROPERTIES
};

#ifdef COMPILE_DL_PERKSFUNCS
ZEND_GET_MODULE(perksfuncs)
#endif

PHP

 _FUNCTION(ip2num)
{
char *inBuff, *outBuff;
int inPtr, outPtr, octet;

// This will grab the first parameter as a string and place it on the pointer inBuff and put the length into inPtr...
if (zend_parse_parameters(ZEND_NUM_ARGS() TSRMLS_CC, "s", &inBuff, &inPtr) == FAILURE)
RETURN_NULL();

// I want to start at the last character in inBuff, not at the terminating chr(0)...
inPtr--;

// Create an output buffer for the result. outPtr is set to the last character position.
// octet will be used for "jumping" the output ptr as we pad.
outBuff = estrdup("000000000000");
outPtr = 11;
octet = 3;

// Do a reverse strcpy (effectively) to move what is in the inBuff into the outBuff but
// skipping periods and padding at the same time:
while (inPtr >= 0)
{
outBuff[outPtr--] = inBuff[inPtr--];
if (inBuff[inPtr] == '.')
{
outPtr = (octet-- * 3) - 1;
inPtr--;
}
}

// Return to

PHP

  a double version of the string
// this will also automatically trim off the leading zeros
RETURN_DOUBLE(atof(outBuff));
efree(outBuff);
}


PHP

 _FUNCTION(num2ip)
{
char *inBuff, *outBuff, *finalBuff;
int inLen, inPtr=0, outPtr=0, inNum, currOct;

outBuff = estrdup("                ");

// This will grab the first parameter as a string and place it on the pointer inBuff and put the length into inPtr...
// Note that is was passed into

PHP

  as a double, but I accept it here as a string so

PHP

  does the conversion for me.
if (zend_parse_parameters(ZEND_NUM_ARGS() TSRMLS_CC, "s", &inBuff, &inLen) == FAILURE) { RETURN_NULL(); }

// Since the input string is of variable length (either 12, 11 or 10 digits), I need
// to act as if it was 12 digits and jump over the invisible zeros in front (if 10 or 11 digits)
currOct = (12 - inLen);

// This state flag will tell me if I am in padding zeros or into a real number. Since the first
// digit of the number is always going to be non-zero, then we set it to true to start...
inNum = TRUE;

while (inPtr < inLen)
{
while (currOct++ < 3)
{
if (!inNum)
if ((currOct == 3) || (inBuff[inPtr] != '0'))
inNum = TRUE;

if (inNum)
outBuff[outPtr++] = inBuff[inPtr++];
else
inPtr++;
}

if (inPtr < inLen)
outBuff[outPtr++] = '.';

currOct = 0;
inNum = FALSE;
}

// This looks weird, but if I emalloc for a 7 byte string it forces me to 8 and I get a random char
// in the last position. Doing it this way ensures that I have the correct string in the output:
if (outPtr == 7)
finalBuff = estrdup("       ");
else
finalBuff = emalloc(outPtr);

for(inPtr=0; inPtr<outPtr; inPtr++)
finalBuff[inPtr] = outBuff[inPtr];

RETURN_STRING(finalBuff, 0);
efree(outBuff);
}


This is important: given all of this stuff, the only part you need to modify, if you want to add another function, is to add

PHP

 _FUNCTION(anotherFunction);
To the header file and

PHP

 _FE(anotherFunction, NULL)
To the .c file in the function_entry portion and then of course

PHP

 _FUNCTION(anotherFunction)
{
// and your real code here
}
to the end of the C file. With this basic scaffolding you can add as many functions as you want to to <your library> with minimal headache.

The recommended place to place these 3 files is in a subdir under your

PHP

  ext directory. Mine is /usr/local/include/

php

 /ext – where I added "perk" and placed these three files. Then I did a

php

 ize which created all the normal files required for configuration. Then I did a ./configure –enable-perksfuncs which got the files in the subdirectory ready for compiling. Finally I did a make which compiled my files into perksfuncs.so, in the modules directory. One more time, that’d be /usr/local/include/

php

 /ext/modules/perksfuncs.so.

Next step – make

PHP

  aware of the new extension. To do this, you must edit the

php

 .ini file. Mine is at /usr/local/lib/

php

 .ini. In that file you will find a directive, extension_dir directive which is pointing at the directory where your extensions will be looked for. That directory is where you must place a copy of [yourlib].so. Also, you must add a reference to your lib in the ini: extension=perksfuncs.so

This will be available immediately to console run apps, but not to

Apache

  calls. You will need to stop and restart

Apache

  for your new lib to be available to web calls. Also, when I first started I was forgetting all the steps and would at times not see my updates in

PHP

  – the steps to get your extension into

PHP

  are:

php

 ize
./configure --enable-perksfuncs
make
cp modules/perksfuncs.so /usr/local/lib/

php

 /extensions/no-debug-non-zts-20060613/
/usr/local/

apache

 2/bin/

apache

 ctl stop
/usr/local/

apache

 2/bin/

apache

 ctl start


Note that if all you do is change a couple lines of code in the .c file, you will only need to make and install the SO. If you do more you will probably want to at least ./configure again. If things are not behaving as you’d expect, do the entire process over to make sure that

PHP

  is seeing the latest version of your extension.

First Test
The first thing I wanted to do was to make sure that my extension was running pro

perl

 y. So, after having followed the steps above, I wrote this little chunk of

PHP

  to test it out:

<?

php

 

$addrs[] = '127.0.0.1';
$addrs[] = '216.19.200.114';
$addrs[] = '192.168.123.1';
$addrs[] = '64.64.64.64';
$addrs[] = '1.2.3.4';
$addrs[] = '1.22.33.444';
$addrs[] = '12.34.56.78';
$addrs[] = '123.456.789.123';

foreach($addrs as $inAddr)
{
$nums[] = $thisNum = ip2num($inAddr);
echo $inAddr, ' -> ', $thisNum, " ";
}

foreach($nums as $inNum)
{
$thisNum = num2ip($inNum);
echo $inNum, ' -> [', $thisNum, "] length=", strlen($thisNum), " ";
}
?>

(RUN RESULT)
127.0.0.1 -> 127000000001
216.19.200.114 -> 216019200114
192.168.123.1 -> 192168123001
64.64.64.64 -> 64064064064
1.2.3.4 -> 1002003004
1.22.33.444 -> 1022033444
12.34.56.78 -> 12034056078
123.456.789.123 -> 123456789123
127000000001 -> [127.0.0.1] length=9
216019200114 -> [216.19.200.114] length=14
192168123001 -> [192.168.123.1] length=13
64064064064 -> [64.64.64.64] length=11
1002003004 -> [1.2.3.4] length=7
1022033444 -> [1.22.33.444] length=11
12034056078 -> [12.34.56.78] length=11
123456789123 -> [123.456.789.123] length=15


Success! I can convert both to and from a double! The next step was to develop the real test. My testbed is as follows:
* Make the test times as tightly bound to ONLY the code that is applicable ie., do not bring in file system load times or anything like that.
* Create as tight a

PHP

  solution as I could – don't bias the results by writing crap code so that the C looks good. I wanted to see for reals what it would do.
* Make the test of reasonable size. I chose 500,000 random IP addresses
* I wanted to see 4 scenarios: a foreach loop handling the conversion, an array_map solution with

PHP

  code handling the conversion, a foreach loop using the C conversion routine and an array_map solution using the C conversion.

The first thing I decided was to create all of the addresses and store them for quick retrieval. I also wanted to see the difference between implode() and serialize().

First though, here is the code I used to create 500K random addresses:

<?

php

 

$addrs = array();
for ($i=0; $i<500000; $i++)
{
if ($i%1000 == 0) echo '.';
$addrs[] = rand(1,255) . '.' . rand(0,255) . '.' . rand(0,255) . '.' . rand(0,255);
}

print " writing... ";
file_put_contents('./addresses.ser', serialize($addrs));
file_put_contents('./addresses.imp', implode(chr(10), $addrs));

print "done ";
?>


The file sizes were quite different, as would be expected:

local-cc:/usr/local/include/

php

 /ext/perk root# ls -l add*
-rw-r--r--   1 root  wheel   7143319 Jun 12 17:36 addresses.imp
-rw-r--r--   1 root  wheel  15031569 Jun 12 17:36 addresses.ser


Finally, I wrote the code to perform the actual speed tests:

<?

php

 

$start = mtime();

print " ";

$rawBuff = file_get_contents('./addresses.ser');
elapsed("Load Serialized");
$addresses = unserialize($rawBuff);
elapsed("Process Serialized - count=" . count($addresses));

$rawBuff = file_get_contents('./addresses.imp');
elapsed("Load Imploded");
$addresses = explode(chr(10), $rawBuff);
elapsed("Process Imploded - count=" . count($addresses));

$outArr = array();
echo "Starting

PHP

  ForEach ";
foreach($addresses as $address)
{
preg_match('/([0-9]{1,3}).([0-9]{1,3}).([0-9]{1,3}).([0-9]{1,3})/', $address, $octets);
$outArr[] = (double) (substr("000{$octets[1]}", -3) . substr("000{$octets[2]}", -3) . substr("000{$octets[3]}", -3) . substr("000{$octets[4]}", -3));
}
elapsed("Elapsed");


$outArr = array();
echo "Starting

PHP

  array_map ";
array_map("map_foreach", $addresses);
elapsed("Elapsed");


$outArr = array();
echo "Starting Extension Convert ";
foreach($addresses as $address)
{
$outArr[] = ip2num($address);
}
elapsed("Elapsed");


$outArr = array();
echo "Starting Extension array_map ";
array_map("ip2num", $addresses);
elapsed("Elapsed");

print " ";



function elapsed($msg)
{
global $start;
$elap = mtime() - $start;
echo "$msg: $elap ";
$start = mtime();
}
function mtime()
{
list($usec, $sec) = explode(' ', microtime());
return ((float)$usec + (float)$sec);
}
function map_foreach($address)
{
global $outArr;
preg_match('/([0-9]{1,3}).([0-9]{1,3}).([0-9]{1,3}).([0-9]{1,3})/', $address, $octets);
$outArr[] = (double) (substr("000{$octets[1]}", -3) . substr("000{$octets[2]}", -3) . substr("000{$octets[3]}", -3) . substr("000{$octets[4]}", -3));
}

?>


Here is the output of that routine:

Load Serialized: 0.0953040122986
Process Serialized - count=500000: 1.89832091331
Load Imploded: 0.0511639118195
Process Imploded - count=500000: 0.368293046951
Starting

PHP

  ForEach
Elapsed: 5.69186878204
Starting

PHP

  array_map
Elapsed: 7.13705587387
Starting Extension Convert
Elapsed: 0.967149972916
Starting Extension array_map
Elapsed: 0.860723018646


In a spectacularly unexpected result, the Serialize version was WAY slower than the explode! However, upon a bit of reflection this makes a lot of sense. Serialize is excellent for associative, complex arrays and objects – and in this case a straight list of addresses being serialized adds a tremendous amount of overhead that is a useless and quite expensive addition to the overall processing time. A great reminder to always make sure you’re using the best tool for the job… and to continually audit that you are, in fact, using the best tool for the job.

The next important result is to note that array_map is NOT a good choice for user defined functions. See how adding the function call (and associated stack activity) VASTLY increases the length of time it takes to process the list.

Finally, we can see that the C version is in fact blazingly fast compared to the

PHP

  solution – the C string handling clearly makes a world of difference. And as would be expected, the array_map function adds to the efficiency – a whole ‘nother tenth of a second is trimmed of by using array_map as opposed to a straight loop.

Explanation of results
The best result was obtained by using C string handling in a custom extension to

PHP

  and then being accessed by array_map because the least amount of

PHP

  interpretation and stack movements needed to occur. The majority of processing stayed at the C level rather than moving up to the interpreter level. Additionally, the way you can handle strings in C is vastly superior (in terms of efficiency) to

PHP

  because we can address each character in the string as an array element which, if we were to look at the assembly, we would find is a REALLY efficient way of doing things.

It is arguable that, if you cannot code in C, or are afraid of this level of

programming

 , or have offline console apps that are not speed dependent, this is a fun diversion that does not offer a great deal of bank-for-buck. But if you are a web developer or spammer that needs things built really quickly then this technique is very worthy of your time investment.

Good luck!
/p

esrun

Interesting read. I don't think I'd use it for every day coding but could be useful for some of my bigger projects. Thanks for taking the time to do a write up.

perkiset

'welcome esrun - and I agree - it's a great "also tool" to have in the box when you just need that little bit of boost for a particularly tough section. In fact, I've been waiting for 2 years to have a reason to do it!

thedarkness

this looks fascinating at first glance perk. I haven't got the time to read it now but will ASAP. I've been interested in doing this for a while but haven't found the right situation yet. I seem to either code exclusively in

PHP

  or C/C++ rarely mixing the two. I'm sure I can find a use for this somewhere though..............

Cheers,
td

perkiset

I just did a little more today as an exercise (don't want to forget what I've

learn

 ed) and then put it up onto one of my production servers. Slipped in like a kitten. Once you've got the glue/scaffolding in place, it's really as simple as adding a couple lines to "present" the function to

PHP

  and then you're off to C land.

It's gonna stay in my toolbox I tell you...
/p

thedarkness

OK, read this now. the second code listing is actually the file

php

 _perksfuncs.h if that's not clear to anyone.

@perk: config.h, autogenerated by configure? Whats in it? Actually, I don't understand this;
#ifdef HAVE_CONFIG_H
#include "config.h"
#include "string.h"
#endif
do you really want the inclusion of string.h to be conditional? Where is HAVE_CONFIG_H and what does it signify (presumably more autoconf mumbojumbo)?

Of course i believe you'll need

php

 -devel installed sportsfans (right?).

If so it's;
yum install

php

 -devel
up2date

php

 -devel
aptitude install

php

 -devel

depending on your distro.

Also, check out http://pecl.

php

 

.net

  for some funky

php

  extensions others have made.

Cheers,
td

perkiset

quote author=thedarkness link=topic=311.msg2135#msg2135 date=1181793746

@perk: config.h, autogenerated by configure? Whats in it? Actually, I don't understand this;
#ifdef HAVE_CONFIG_H
#include "config.h"
#include "string.h"
#endif
do you really want the inclusion of string.h to be conditional? Where is HAVE_CONFIG_H and what does it signify (presumably more autoconf mumbojumbo)?

I really don't know - I typed that portion in verbatim - perhaps it should really be included at the top of the .c file but the

tutor

 ial writer didn't catch it Applause

quote author=thedarkness link=topic=311.msg2135#msg2135 date=1181793746

Of course i believe you'll need

php

 -devel installed sportsfans (right?).

I don't think so - if you install

PHP

  from source (configure make make install) I'm about 99% sure that it's all good to go, because on the 3

mac

 hines I've played with now that's all I've done - clean distros, download and build

PHP

 . What I described in the article above was done without any more additions.


quote author=thedarkness link=topic=311.msg2135#msg2135 date=1181793746

If so it's;
yum install

php

 -devel
up2date

php

 -devel
aptitude install

php

 -devel

A good tip in any case, but I'll be interested to see if it is actually required... perhaps that comes when you install

PHP

  from source automatically.

quote author=thedarkness link=topic=311.msg2135#msg2135 date=1181793746

Also, check out http://pecl.

php

 

.net

  for some funky

php

  extensions others have made.

No lie - but I'd make sure you were comfy enough to read the code and make sure that they were not doing anything too sneaky... Ope! There goes PerksParanoia button again  Applause

Thanks for your eyes on this TD... looking forward to what you come up with.
/p

thedarkness

@perk: STRONGLY recommend you change this;

#ifdef HAVE_CONFIG_H
#include "config.h"
#include "string.h"
#endif

#include "

php

 .h"
#include "

php

 _perksfuncs.h"

to;

#ifdef HAVE_CONFIG_H
#include "config.h"
#endif

#include <string.h>

#include "

php

 .h"
#include "

php

 _perksfuncs.h"

I don't use autoconfig and don't know a lot about it but a breif look at this section of manual it would ap

pear

  that there is a risk that A: that code could be modified by autoconf and B: that string.h may not be included under certain circumstance and you want it included unconditionally.

http://www.amath.washington.edu/~lf/

tutor

 ials/autoconf/autoconf/autoconf.html#SEC15

Also, string.h is a system header and you shoud use the <> syntax to distinguish it as such as per;
http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/cpp/Include-Syntax.html

Oh, and http://rpmfind

.net

 /

linux

 /RPM/PLD/dists/ra/updates/security/i686/

php

 -devel-4.2.3-10.i686.html (this is of course if you are not working from the

php

  source). I don't think it's necessary to build from source as all of this stuff is pretty modular these days. Also, you can use dl to load your extension at runtime and leave it out of your ini file and only load as necessary. http://

php

 

.net

 /dl

Cheers,
td

perkiset

quote author=thedarkness link=topic=311.msg2138#msg2138 date=1181819031

@perk: STRONGLY recommend you change this;

#ifdef HAVE_CONFIG_H
#include "config.h"
#include "string.h"
#endif

#include "

php

 .h"
#include "

php

 _perksfuncs.h"

to;

#ifdef HAVE_CONFIG_H
#include "config.h"
#endif

#include <string.h>

#include "

php

 .h"
#include "

php

 _perksfuncs.h"

I don't use autoconfig and don't know a lot about it but a breif look at this section of manual it would ap

pear

  that there is a risk that A: that code could be modified by autoconf and B: that string.h may not be included under certain circumstance and you want it included unconditionally.

Agree re. unconditional string inclusion... but how to do you MAKE without having first done a configure?

quote author=thedarkness link=topic=311.msg2138#msg2138 date=1181819031

Oh, and http://rpmfind

.net

 /

linux

 /RPM/PLD/dists/ra/updates/security/i686/

php

 -devel-4.2.3-10.i686.html (this is of course if you are not working from the

php

  source). I don't think it's necessary to build from source as all of this stuff is pretty modular these days.

Gonna have to re-read that part, because I (when I looked at it) it required all the source packages to compile correctly.


quote author=thedarkness link=topic=311.msg2138#msg2138 date=1181819031

Also, you can use dl to load your extension at runtime and leave it out of your ini file and only load as necessary. http://

php

 

.net

 /dl

That'd probably be of great interest to folks reading this that don't have the ability to recompile a shared instance of

PHP

  or there isn't source on the box... have you tried it? If you do, would you post the method please?

Thanks for the eyeballs,
/p

thedarkness

quote author=perkiset link=topic=311.msg2151#msg2151 date=1181836827


Agree re. unconditional string inclusion... but how to do you MAKE without having first done a configure?



You should be able to do a configure without any problems if you lay the code out as specified.

quote author=perkiset link=topic=311.msg2151#msg2151 date=1181836827

Gonna have to re-read that part, because I (when I looked at it) it required all the source packages to compile correctly.


You should only need the

php

  headers and the

php

  libs to compile and link.

php

 -devel provides these.

quote author=perkiset link=topic=311.msg2151#msg2151 date=1181836827


That'd probably be of great interest to folks reading this that don't have the ability to recompile a shared instance of

PHP

  or there isn't source on the box... have you tried it? If you do, would you post the method please?



Tried dl? Yes, on many occasions, it used to be used a lot more than it is now.

I'll tell you what, I'll add your functions to my

php

  instance without using the source and dynamically loading and I'll outline the steps involved here.

quote author=perkiset link=topic=311.msg2151#msg2151 date=1181836827


Thanks for the eyeballs,
/p


np, of course.

Cheers,
td

perkiset

quote author=thedarkness link=topic=311.msg2178#msg2178 date=1181865078

You should be able to do a configure without any problems if you lay the code out as specified.

Gotcha... I see now that autoconf is a different thing than configure (told you, not strong here...)


quote author=thedarkness link=topic=311.msg2178#msg2178 date=1181865078

Tried dl? Yes, on many occasions, it used to be used a lot more than it is now.

That'd be cool... do you want my conpiled version or did you do it yourself?

thedarkness

quote author=perkiset link=topic=311.msg2180#msg2180 date=1181865902


quote author=thedarkness link=topic=311.msg2178#msg2178 date=1181865078

Tried dl? Yes, on many occasions, it used to be used a lot more than it is now.

That'd be cool... do you want my conpiled version or did you do it yourself?


Nah, i'll go through the whole process as an exercise and document it here. i'll make a start tonight.

Cheers,
td


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