8.1. kink and kinkw commands¶

kink and kinkw commands run a Kink runtime.

8.1.1. Executable files¶

The following executable files are placed under bin directory in the distributed archive.

kink: Bash shell script to launch the runtime.
kink.exe: 32bit Windows executable file to launch the runtime in CUI mode.
kinkw.exe: 32bit Windows executable file to launch the runtime in GUI mode.

In this page, kink shell script is assumed to be used to launch the runtime.

8.1.2. Commandline format¶

kink [Launch_options]... [Standard_options]... [--] [Spec_and_argv]...

8.1.2.1. Launch options¶

Launch options must be placed before standard options and spec-and-argv. Launch options are used to configure the JVM of the host environment.

-J{javaopt} / -J {javaopt}

Specifies a commandline option given to the JVM.

If you want to pass multiple options to the JVM, specify -J option multiple times.

For example:

$ kink -J-Xms64M -J-Xmx128M app.kn

-E{javaexecutable} / -E {javaexecutable}

Specifies the executable file of the JVM. This option has a priority over the environment variable JAVA_HOME. For example, this option is useful to run jdb to debug the interpreter (ex. -E jdb).

8.1.2.2. Standard options¶

Standard options are placed after launch options, and before spec-and-argv. Standard options are consumed by the runtime.

Standard options are interpreted in a way same as glibc getopt_long function. For example, --pa=dir/ is interpreted same as --path dir/.

-p {Mod_path} / --path {Mod_path}

Appends Mod_path to the list of paths where mods are searched, using MOD.append_path.

To append multiple paths, specify --path option multiple times.

For example:

$ kink --path mod/dir/first --path mod/dir/second app.kn

-h / --help

Prints out the help text to the standard output, and exits with the exit status 0.

-v / --version

Prints out the version to the standard output, and exits with the exit status 0.

8.1.2.3. Double hyphens: --¶

Standard options and spec-and-argv can optionally be separated by double hyphens.

Example:

$ kink --path mod/dir/first --path mod/dir/second -- app.kn

8.1.2.4. Spec-and-argv¶

Spec-and-argv is placed after launch options and standard options.

If spec-and-argv is empty, the command launches REPL.

If spec-and-argv consists of one or more elements, it is analyzed as follows:

{Spec} [Argv]...

Argv is the list of args given to the launched program.

Spec determines the way to launch the program, and must fall under one of the following formats.

mod:{Mod_name}

Launches main fun of the mod specified by Mod_name.

The mod must contain a fun named main. main is called with a vec of Argv.

For example, the following command invokes main fun of kink/test/TEST_TOOL mod, with ['src/test/unit' 'src/test/system'] as Argv.

$ kink mod:kink/test/TEST_TOOL src/test/unit src/test/system

script:{Program_text}

Compiles Program_text as a program, and runs it with a new binding as the top level binding (see PROGRAM.compile in kink/PROGRAM).

If main variable is set in the top level binding, it is called with a vec of Argv.

Examples:

$ kink 'script: stdout.print_line("foobar")'
foobar

$ kink 'script: :main <- {(:Argv) Argv.each{(:A) stdout.print_line(A) } }' foo bar baz
foo
bar
baz

Single hyphen: -

Reads bytes from the standard input, decodes it as UTF-8, compiles it as a program, and runs it with a new binding as the top level binding (see PROGRAM.compile in kink/PROGRAM).

If main variable is set in the top level binding, it is called with a vec of Argv.

Examples:

$ echo 'stdout.print_line("foobar")' | kink -
foobar

$ echo ':main <- {(:Argv) Argv.each{(:A) stdout.print_line(A) } }' | kink - foo bar baz
foo
bar
baz

{File_path}

If no other formats can be applied, Spec is analyzed as File_path.

In this case, the command reads bytes from the file specified by File_path, decodes it as UTF-8, compiles it as a program, and runs it with a new binding as the top level binding (see PROGRAM.compile in kink/PROGRAM).

Examples:

$ echo 'stdout.print_line("foobar")' > a.kn
$ kink a.kn
foobar

$ echo ':main <- {(:Argv) Argv.each{(:A) stdout.print_line(A) } }' > b.kn
$ kink b.kn foo bar baz
foo
bar
baz

8.1.3. Environment variables¶

The following environment variables affect the execution of the command.

KINK_HOME: Path of the directory where the system is installed (ex. /opt/kink). If the environment variable is not set, the command determines the directory based on the path of the executable file.
JAVA_HOME: Path of the directory of the JVM which is used to launch the interpreter (ex. /opt/jdk). This value is not used if the launch option -E is specified. If the environment variable is not set and -E is not specified, the command just uses java or javaw command.

8.1.4. Exit status¶

The following exit values are returned.

0: When the program terminates without raising an exception, or --help or --version options are specified.
Not 0: When the program terminate raising an exception, or the command fails because of such as unknown options, wrong file names and so on.

The command can also be terminated by PROCESS.exit with an arbitrary exit status. See kink/PROCESS.