Runtime Systems

Generating a stand-alone program is very much like generating a runtime system with the Quintus Prolog Runtime Generator. Exactly the same tools are used in each case, and the use of these tools is described in this section.

The purpose of the Runtime Generator is to provide a convenient and cost-effective way to distribute application programs to end-users. A runtime system differs from a stand-alone program in the following ways:

• A runtime system can be moved to another machine without requiring an authorization code for that machine.
• A runtime system requires that its entry point be specified by providing a definition for runtime_entry/1. In contrast, a stand-alone program starts up at the normal Prolog top level (unless initializations are used; see the reference page for initialization/1).
• Runtime systems do not contain development oriented components of the Development System such as the compiler, the debugger, the editor interface, the on-line help system, the top level, and the foreign language interface. (Runtime systems can, of course, contain foreign code, but they cannot call load_foreign_executable/1 or load_foreign_files/2 to load additional foreign code when they are run. However, they can load QOF files that load foreign code. See sap-srs-eci-ctc)

For information on the Runtime Generator see sap-rge.