<!-- ##### SECTION Title ##### -->
Dynamic Loading of Modules

<!-- ##### SECTION Short_Description ##### -->
portable method for dynamically loading 'plug-ins'.

<!-- ##### SECTION Long_Description ##### -->
<para>
These functions provide a portable way to dynamically load object files
(commonly known as 'plug-ins').
The current implementation supports all systems that provide
an implementation of <function>dlopen()</function> (e.g. Linux/Sun), as well as HP-UX via its
<function>shl_load()</function> mechanism, and Windows platforms via DLLs.
</para>

<para>
A program which wants to use these functions must be linked to the
libraries output by the command <command>pkg-config --libs gmodule-2.0</command>.
</para>

<para>
To use them you must first determine whether dynamic loading
is supported on the platform by calling g_module_supported().
If it is, you can open a module with g_module_open(),
find the module's symbols (e.g. function names) with g_module_symbol(),
and later close the module with g_module_close().
g_module_name() will return the file name of a currently opened module.
</para>
<para>
If any of the above functions fail, the error status can be found with
g_module_error().
</para>
<para>
The #GModule implementation features reference counting for opened modules,
and supports hook functions within a module which are called when the
module is loaded and unloaded (see #GModuleCheckInit and #GModuleUnload).
</para>
<para>
If your module introduces static data to common subsystems in the running
program, e.g. through calling <literal>g_quark_from_static_string ("my-module-stuff")</literal>,
it must ensure that it is never unloaded, by calling g_module_make_resident().
</para>

<!-- ##### SECTION See_Also ##### -->
<para>

</para>

<!-- ##### STRUCT GModule ##### -->
<para>
The #GModule struct is an opaque data structure to represent a
<link linkend="glib-Dynamic-Loading-of-Modules">Dynamically-Loaded Module</link>.
It should only be accessed via the following functions.
</para>


<!-- ##### FUNCTION g_module_supported ##### -->
<para>
Checks if modules are supported on the current platform.
</para>

@Returns: %TRUE if modules are supported.


<!-- ##### FUNCTION g_module_build_path ##### -->
<para>
A portable way to build the filename of a module. The platform-specific
prefix and suffix are added to the filename, if needed, and the result is
added to the directory, using the correct separator character.
</para>
<para>
The directory should specify the directory where the module can be found.
It can be %NULL or an empty string to indicate that the module is in a standard
platform-specific directory, though this is not recommended since the
wrong module may be found.
</para>
<para>
For example, calling g_module_build_path() on a Linux system with a @directory
of <filename>/lib</filename> and a @module_name of "mylibrary" will return 
<filename>/lib/libmylibrary.so</filename>. On a Windows system, using 
<filename>\Windows</filename> as the directory it will return
<filename>\Windows\mylibrary.dll</filename>.
</para>

@directory: the directory where the module is. This can be %NULL or the empty
string to indicate that the standard platform-specific directories will be 
used, though that is not recommended.
@module_name: the name of the module.
@Returns: the complete path of the module, including the standard library
prefix and suffix. This should be freed when no longer needed.


<!-- ##### FUNCTION g_module_open ##### -->
<para>
Opens a module. If the module has already been opened, its reference
count is incremented. 
</para>

<para>
First of all g_module_open() tries to open @file_name as a module. If
that fails and @file_name has the ".la"-suffix (and is a libtool archive) 
it tries to open the corresponding module. If that fails and it doesn't 
have the proper module suffix for the platform (#G_MODULE_SUFFIX), this 
suffix will be appended and the corresponding module will be opended. If 
that fails and @file_name doesn't have the ".la"-suffix, this suffix is 
appended and g_module_open() tries to open the corresponding module. If 
eventually that fails as well, %NULL is returned.
</para>

@file_name: the name of the file containing the module.
@flags: the flags used for opening the module. Currently this can be 0 or
#G_MODULE_BIND_LAZY for lazy binding, where symbols are only bound when needed.
@Returns: a #GModule on success, or %NULL on failure.


<!-- ##### ENUM GModuleFlags ##### -->
<para>
Flags passed to g_module_open().
#G_MODULE_BIND_LAZY specifies that symbols are only resolved when needed.
The default action is to bind all symbols when the module is loaded.
(#G_MODULE_BIND_LAZY is not supported on all platforms.)
</para>

@G_MODULE_BIND_LAZY: 
@G_MODULE_BIND_MASK: 

<!-- ##### FUNCTION g_module_symbol ##### -->
<para>
Gets a symbol pointer from a module.
</para>

@module: a #GModule.
@symbol_name: the name of the symbol to find.
@symbol: returns the pointer to the symbol value.
@Returns: %TRUE on success.


<!-- ##### FUNCTION g_module_name ##### -->
<para>
Gets the filename from a #GModule.
</para>

@module: a #GModule.
@Returns: the filename of the module, or "main" if the module is the main
program itself.


<!-- ##### FUNCTION g_module_make_resident ##### -->
<para>
Ensures that a module will never be unloaded.
Any future g_module_close() calls on the module will be ignored.
</para>

@module: a #GModule to make permanently resident.


<!-- ##### FUNCTION g_module_close ##### -->
<para>
Closes a module.
</para>

@module: a #GModule to close.
@Returns: %TRUE on success.


<!-- ##### FUNCTION g_module_error ##### -->
<para>
Gets a string describing the last module error.
</para>

@Returns: a string describing the last module error.


<!-- ##### USER_FUNCTION GModuleCheckInit ##### -->
<para>
Specifies the type of the module initialization function.
If a module contains a function named g_module_check_init() it is called
automatically when the module is loaded. It is passed the #GModule structure
and should return %NULL on success or a string describing the initialization
error.
</para>

@module: the #GModule corresponding to the module which has just been loaded.
@Returns: %NULL on success, or a string describing the initialization error.


<!-- ##### USER_FUNCTION GModuleUnload ##### -->
<para>
Specifies the type of the module function called when it is unloaded.
If a module contains a function named g_module_unload() it is called
automatically when the module is unloaded.
It is passed the #GModule structure.
</para>

@module: the #GModule about to be unloaded.


<!-- ##### MACRO G_MODULE_SUFFIX ##### -->
<para>
Expands to the proper shared library suffix for the current platform
without the leading dot. For the most Unices and Linux this is "so",
for some HP-UX versions this is "sl" and for Windows this is "dll".
</para>



<!-- ##### MACRO G_MODULE_EXPORT ##### -->
<para>
Used to declare functions exported by modules.
</para>



<!-- ##### MACRO G_MODULE_IMPORT ##### -->
<para>
Used to declare functions imported from modules.
</para>



