Help with Apache ASN.1 grammar compilation

[Arun Mohan <ar...@yahoo.com>]

Hi,
  I was trying to use the Apache ASN.1 tool to work on
asn ASN.1 grammar which I am having. However I was
running into some issues in trying to understand how
to generate the Java files which will be compatible
with my ASN.1 grammar. 
  I was trying to search for some documentation on the
same, but without success. Could you please give any
information on how I could accomplish the compilation
of my ASN.1 grammar or if there is any documentation
which lists the procedures for doing it.

Regards,
Arun



		
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Re: Help with Apache ASN.1 grammar compilation

[Emmanuel Lecharny <el...@apache.org>]

Hi Paul, 

> As someone who started investigating the project primarially because
> of the ASN.1 compiler, it is a bit misleading to have virtually
> nothing but the shell.  What would be of much more value (in my
> opinion) is a bit more description of the design goals, methods,
> implementation ideas, etc.  

Yep. I agree. The fact is that we needed an ASN.1 codec for LDAP grammar
first, and it derived to an ASN.1 compiler, which is a good idea.

Currently, The LDAP ASN.1 codec is being rewrited from scratch, which
will bring more ideas for a futur ASN.1 compiler. If you feel the
courage to browse the sandbox, you'll see the seed of the new codec,
which decode LDAP grammar (almost finished) and also SPNEGO grammar.
It's much more Compiler oriented, as it's based on a state-automaton
approach, with actions being called at each state. The next step will
probably to générate the state-automation automatically from the ASN.1
grammar, using the current engine to run the automaton. This is
obviously one of our target.

Another objective is to be able to generate different kinds of codec :
BER, DER, CER or PER (don't bet that iot could be done before the end if
this year !)

> Having some sort of information in the format of a wiki (similar to
> the ASN.1 wiki, but with more compiler-centric details) might also go
> a ways towards enticing additional contributions.

You are damn right ! We will try to dedicate some time soon on this
subject. The point is that writing a clear documentation is not a piece
of cake, especially for me - you may have noticed that I'm not an
english native ;( - and takes a LOT of time. Any contribution is
welcomed, even criticism, and we will do our best to deal with it. JIRA
is really a cool tool if you want to contribute.

> I've thought about looking into ways of contributing on this front,
> but I'm limited to when I'm not at work.

Any contribution is GOOD. Even limited in time. Reading doco, and found
erros in it (bad syntax, errors, improvment), reading the code, testing
the code, writing some benchmarks, or whatever limited tasks are really
really usefull. We don't have time, nobody does, so sharing those tasks
is a way to progress faster. Feel free to contribute ! You are welcome !
(btw, I'm also working, so my contribution is limited to nights and
week-end, as far as it does not kill my social life ... so it's pretty
much like between 11PM and 2AM !)

Emmanuel Lécharny

Re: Help with Apache ASN.1 grammar compilation

["Paul Kuykendall (TX/EUS)" <Pa...@ericsson.com>]

Emmanuel Lecharny wrote:

>On Fri, 2005-06-17 at 15:24 -0400, Alex Karasulu wrote:
>  
>
>>Emmanuel Lecharny wrote:
>>
>>    
>>
>>>I'm not sure that having something different than what we already have
>>>worth the massage... ("Wonderfull things are coming soon ..")
>>> 
>>>
>>>      
>>>
>>It's the soon part I worry about and any false advertizing.  I don't 
>>want to look like we promote project skeletons.  Perhaps that's more a 
>>personal mindset.  Perhaps we can say we are discussing these 
>>possibilities and experimenting with them.  No biggy though.
>>    
>>
>
>Well, having disapointed user may be worse than having users that don't
>know we have a core ASN.1 compiler not finished yet... So what about
>shadowing this part of the site until we have a serious working
>compiler, even in beta? Will we ever have this ASN.1 compiler working
>before the end of the year?
>
>
>WDYT?
>
>
>  
>
Hi,

As someone who started investigating the project primarially because of
the ASN.1 compiler, it is a bit misleading to have virtually nothing but
the shell.  What would be of much more value (in my opinion) is a bit
more description of the design goals, methods, implementation ideas,
etc.  Having some sort of information in the format of a wiki (similar
to the ASN.1 wiki, but with more compiler-centric details) might also go
a ways towards enticing additional contributions.

I've thought about looking into ways of contributing on this front, but
I'm limited to when I'm not at work.

My 2 cents worth.

/Paul

Re: Help with Apache ASN.1 grammar compilation

[Emmanuel Lecharny <el...@apache.org>]

On Fri, 2005-06-17 at 15:24 -0400, Alex Karasulu wrote:
> Emmanuel Lecharny wrote:
> 
> >I'm not sure that having something different than what we already have
> >worth the massage... ("Wonderfull things are coming soon ..")
> >  
> >
> It's the soon part I worry about and any false advertizing.  I don't 
> want to look like we promote project skeletons.  Perhaps that's more a 
> personal mindset.  Perhaps we can say we are discussing these 
> possibilities and experimenting with them.  No biggy though.

Well, having disapointed user may be worse than having users that don't
know we have a core ASN.1 compiler not finished yet... So what about
shadowing this part of the site until we have a serious working
compiler, even in beta? Will we ever have this ASN.1 compiler working
before the end of the year?


WDYT?

Re: Help with Apache ASN.1 grammar compilation

[Alex Karasulu <ao...@bellsouth.net>]

Emmanuel Lecharny wrote:

>>>What about moving it to sandbox?
>>> 
>>>
>>>      
>>>
>>Yah that's a good idea for code.  DYT we should massage the website so 
>>the compiler is not there or we clearly state that it is something we 
>>want to do in the future?
>>    
>>
>
>I'm not sure that having something different than what we already have
>worth the massage... ("Wonderfull things are coming soon ..")
>  
>
It's the soon part I worry about and any false advertizing.  I don't 
want to look like we promote project skeletons.  Perhaps that's more a 
personal mindset.  Perhaps we can say we are discussing these 
possibilities and experimenting with them.  No biggy though.

Alex

Re: Help with Apache ASN.1 grammar compilation

[Emmanuel Lecharny <el...@gmail.com>]

> >What about moving it to sandbox?
> >  
> >
> Yah that's a good idea for code.  DYT we should massage the website so 
> the compiler is not there or we clearly state that it is something we 
> want to do in the future?

I'm not sure that having something different than what we already have
worth the massage... ("Wonderfull things are coming soon ..")

Re: Help with Apache ASN.1 grammar compilation

[Alex Karasulu <ao...@bellsouth.net>]

Emmanuel Lecharny wrote:

>>Yah sorry bout this ... we really have to do something about this stub 
>>compiler business so we don't misrepresent.  I think we should take it 
>>off the site since nothing is being done on it.
>>    
>>
>
>What about moving it to sandbox?
>  
>
Yah that's a good idea for code.  DYT we should massage the website so 
the compiler is not there or we clearly state that it is something we 
want to do in the future?

Alex

Re: Help with Apache ASN.1 grammar compilation

[Emmanuel Lecharny <el...@gmail.com>]

> Yah sorry bout this ... we really have to do something about this stub 
> compiler business so we don't misrepresent.  I think we should take it 
> off the site since nothing is being done on it.

What about moving it to sandbox?

Re: Help with Apache ASN.1 grammar compilation

[Alex Karasulu <ao...@bellsouth.net>]

Emmanuel Lecharny wrote:

>Hi Arun,
>
>  
>
>>Hi,
>>  I was trying to use the Apache ASN.1 tool to work on
>>asn ASN.1 grammar which I am having. However I was
>>running into some issues in trying to understand how
>>to generate the Java files which will be compatible
>>with my ASN.1 grammar. 
>>  I was trying to search for some documentation on the
>>same, but without success. Could you please give any
>>information on how I could accomplish the compilation
>>of my ASN.1 grammar or if there is any documentation
>>which lists the procedures for doing it.
>>    
>>
>
>I'm afraid that you will be awfully disappointed to know that there is
>no documentation about this ASN.1 tool which has not been finished so
>far.
>
>A lot of work need to be done on this sub-project to make it usable, and
>we may add some kind of warning about it.
>
>We are currently working on a new version, but don't expect it to be
>ready soon ... except if you join us to accelerate the work !
>
>btw, which kind of ASN.1 grammar are you working on? 
>  
>
Yah sorry bout this ... we really have to do something about this stub 
compiler business so we don't misrepresent.  I think we should take it 
off the site since nothing is being done on it.

Alex

Re: Help with Apache ASN.1 grammar compilation

[Arun Mohan <ar...@yahoo.com>]

Hi Emmanuel,
  Thanks for the response. 

  I am having a grammar which defines a SET, some
SEQUENCE's and some other variables which I need as
part of the above structures. My understanding was
that I need to generate the Java code corresponding to
the above ASN.1 syntax (grammar) to actually do any
kind of operations. Could you please correct me if i
am wrong. I was trying to find out options on how I
could compile the same.

Regards,
Arun

  

--- Emmanuel Lecharny <el...@apache.org> wrote:

> Hi Arun,
> 
> > Hi,
> >   I was trying to use the Apache ASN.1 tool to
> work on
> > asn ASN.1 grammar which I am having. However I was
> > running into some issues in trying to understand
> how
> > to generate the Java files which will be
> compatible
> > with my ASN.1 grammar. 
> >   I was trying to search for some documentation on
> the
> > same, but without success. Could you please give
> any
> > information on how I could accomplish the
> compilation
> > of my ASN.1 grammar or if there is any
> documentation
> > which lists the procedures for doing it.
> 
> I'm afraid that you will be awfully disappointed to
> know that there is
> no documentation about this ASN.1 tool which has not
> been finished so
> far.
> 
> A lot of work need to be done on this sub-project to
> make it usable, and
> we may add some kind of warning about it.
> 
> We are currently working on a new version, but don't
> expect it to be
> ready soon ... except if you join us to accelerate
> the work !
> 
> btw, which kind of ASN.1 grammar are you working on?
> 
> 
> regards,
> Emmanuel Lécharny
> 
> 
> 




		
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Re: Help with Apache ASN.1 grammar compilation

[Emmanuel Lecharny <el...@apache.org>]

Hi Arun,

> Hi,
>   I was trying to use the Apache ASN.1 tool to work on
> asn ASN.1 grammar which I am having. However I was
> running into some issues in trying to understand how
> to generate the Java files which will be compatible
> with my ASN.1 grammar. 
>   I was trying to search for some documentation on the
> same, but without success. Could you please give any
> information on how I could accomplish the compilation
> of my ASN.1 grammar or if there is any documentation
> which lists the procedures for doing it.

I'm afraid that you will be awfully disappointed to know that there is
no documentation about this ASN.1 tool which has not been finished so
far.

A lot of work need to be done on this sub-project to make it usable, and
we may add some kind of warning about it.

We are currently working on a new version, but don't expect it to be
ready soon ... except if you join us to accelerate the work !

btw, which kind of ASN.1 grammar are you working on? 

regards,
Emmanuel Lécharny