Support for scripts

[MariusDoe]

Currently, neither TonelWriter nor TonelReader (TonelParser) supports subclasses of MCScriptDefinition.

When asked to write a snapshot containing an MCScriptDefinition, a TonelWriter silently ignores it and only writes the rest of the snapshot.

[LinqLover]

Just stumbled upon this, too. How could we implement this?

FileTree stores scripts in monticello.meta/postscript.st etc. (MCStWriter>>#writeScriptDefinition:). For Tonel, the simplest possible implementation might be to store them as STON strings in the package.st (TonelWriter>>#writePackage:), but that would make them hardly readable in the files due to string escaping and indentations. Alternatively, we could create postscript.st files etc. That sounds nicer to me.

A third option would be to simply say "not supported" since these scripts only make sense in the context of Monticello and Metacello load scripts might be the recommended alternative (?).

The upstream (https://github.com/pharo-vcs/tonel) seems not to have implemented support for this after we forked.

What do you think? If we want to add that support, are there any compatibility-related considerations we should keep in mind?

[squeak-smalltalk-bot]

On Wed, Oct 8, 2025 at 1:51 PM Christoph Thiede via Squeak-dev < ***@***.***> wrote: *LinqLover* left a comment (squeak-smalltalk/squeak-tonel#10) <#10 (comment)> Just stumbled upon this, too. How could we implement this? FileTree stores scripts in monticello.meta/postscript.st etc. ( MCStWriter>>#writeScriptDefinition:). For Tonel, the simplest possible implementation might be to store them as STON strings in the package.st ( TonelWriter>>#writePackage:), but that would make them hardly readable in the files due to string escaping and indentations. Alternatively, we could create postscript.st files etc. That sounds nicer to me. A third option would be to simply say "not supported" since these scripts only make sense in the context of Monticello and Metacello load scripts might be the recommended alternative (?).

Please, *please* implement them. Post-load scripts typically refresh/reinitialize image state and they are hence vital to a good Smalltalk package manager. "Not supported" would be disastrous. Do they need to be readable on the command line? They need to be readable in Monticello. How unreadable if in STON are we talking about? Could you give some examples? Here are some representative scripts (from (MCWorkingCopy allManagers collect: #packageInfo thenSelect: #hasPostscript) sort: [:a :b | a postscript contents size > b postscript contents size] ------8<------ "Make sure the 4th inst var of Process is threadAffinity, not threadId" (Process instVarNames at: 4) = 'threadId' ifTrue: [Process instVarNames at: 4 put: 'threadAffinity' copy]. "Sanitize all existing message categories so that they can be browsed again." Smalltalk allClassesAndTraitsDo: [:classOrTrait | classOrTrait organization sanitizeAllNames. classOrTrait class organization sanitizeAllNames]. ------8<------ SystemNavigation initializeAuthors. "Adds Leon Matthes (LM)" Smalltalk recreateSpecialObjectsArray. "Adds ffi-marshalling-error to error table" ------8<------ #( '60Deprecated' ) do: [:packageName | (MCPackage named: packageName) unload. PackageOrganizer default unregisterPackageNamed: packageName]. ------8<------ "below, add code to be run after the loading of this package" "2017-09-19 renamed SquotLiveObject to SquotLiveArtifact" (Smalltalk at: #OldSquotLiveObject ifPresent: [:OldSquotLiveObject | OldSquotLiveObject allInstancesDo: [:each | SquotLiveArtifact adoptInstance: each]]). "2017-07-16 upgrade from Dictionary storeInfo to SquotTrackedObjectMetadata" SquotArtifact allSubInstancesDo: [:each | each convertToCurrentVersion: nil refStream: nil]. SquotLiveArtifact allSubInstancesDo: [:each | each convertToCurrentVersion: nil refStream: nil]. SquotImageStore allSubInstancesDo: [:each | each convertToCurrentVersion: nil refStream: nil]. "2018-08-18 upgrade object containers to remember the preferred loading order of artifacts" "2019-06-08 Clear caches after changing how SquotPackageShadows are decorated with names in snapshots" SquotWorkingCopy allInstancesDo: [:each | each flushPreviouslySavedArtifacts].

…

The upstream (https://github.com/pharo-vcs/tonel) seems not to have implemented support for this after we forked. What do you think? If we want to add that support, are there any compatibility-related considerations we should keep in mind? — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#10 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/BFYAK6J763IVWAOGSDUJFIL3WV2MBAVCNFSM6AAAAACIVI4QW6VHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43OSLTON2WKQ3PNVWWK3TUHMZTGOBTGE4TMNJUGA> . You are receiving this because you are subscribed to this thread.Message ID: ***@***.***> Squeak-dev mailing list -- ***@***.*** To unsubscribe send an email to ***@***.***

-- _,,,^..^,,,_ best, Eliot

[bpieber]

Implementing it would break compatibility with Pharo. However, isn't this the reason to use Tonel in the first place instead of FileTree? Or am I missing something?

[marceltaeumel]

Implementing it would break compatibility with Pharo. However, isn't this the reason to use Tonel in the first place instead of FileTree? Or am I missing something?

It is surely possible to support MCScriptDefinition without breaking compatibility with Pharo, which is needed primarily when loading cross-Smalltalk projects. Any other project that relies on Pharo-specific or Squeak-specific libraries/classes cannot be installed into the image anyway. Yes, there are cross-Smalltalk projects serialized as Tonel. That's why the squeak-tonel specialization exists :-)