(NOTE: you may also want to take a look at the pear package     PECL_Gen, a PHP-only alternative for this script that supports way more extension writing tasks and is  supposed to replace ext_skel completely in the long run ...)WHAT IT IS  It's a tool for automatically creating the basic framework for a PHP module  and writing C code handling arguments passed to your functions from a simple  configuration file. See an example at the end of this file.HOW TO USE IT  Very simple. First, change to the ext/ directory of the PHP 4 sources. If  you just need the basic framework and will be writing all the code in your  functions yourself, you can now do   ./ext_skel --extname=module_name  and everything you need is placed in directory module_name.   [ Note that GNU awk is likely required for this script to work.  Debian     systems seem to default to using mawk, so you may need to change the     #! line in skeleton/create_stubs and the cat $proto | awk line in    ext_skel to use gawk explicitly. ]  If you don't need to test the existence of any external header files,   libraries or functions in them, the module is already almost ready to be   compiled in PHP.  Just remove 3 comments in your_module_name/config.m4,   change back up to PHP sources top directory, and do    ./buildconf; ./configure --enable-module_name; make  But if you already have planned the overall scheme of your module, what  functions it will contain, their return types and the arguments they take  (a very good idea) and don't want to bother yourself with creating function  definitions and handling arguments passed yourself, it's time to create a  function definitions file, which you will give as an argument to ext_skel  with option    --proto=filename.FORMAT OF FUNCTION DEFINITIONS FILE  All the definitions must be on one line. In it's simplest form, it's just  the function name, e.g.    my_function  but then you'll be left with an almost empty function body without any  argument handling.  Arguments are given in parenthesis after the function name, and are of  the form 'argument_type argument_name'. Arguments are separated from each  other with a comma and optional space. Argument_type can be one of int,  bool, double, float, string, array, object or mixed.  An optional argument is separated from the previous by an optional space,  then '[' and of course comma and optional space, like all the other  arguments. You should close a row of optional arguments with same amount of  ']'s as there where '['s. Currently, it does not harm if you forget to do it  or there is a wrong amount of ']'s, but this may change in the future.An additional short description may be added after the parameters.   If present it will be filled into the 'proto' header comments in the stubs  code and the <refpurpose> tag in the XML documentation.  An example:    my_function(int arg1, int arg2 [, int arg3 [, int arg4]]) this is my 1st  Arguments arg3 and arg4 are optional.  If possible, the function definition should also contain it's return type  in front of the definition. It's not actually used for any C code generating  purposes but PHP in-source documentation instead, and as such, very useful.  It can be any of int, double, string, bool, array, object, resource, mixed  or void.  The file must contain nothing else but function definitions, no comments or  empty lines.OTHER OPTIONS    --no-help  By default, ext_skel creates both comments in the source code and a test  function to help first time module writers to get started and testing  configuring and compiling their module. This option turns off all such things  which may just annoy experienced PHP module coders. Especially useful with    --stubs=file  which will leave out also all module specific stuff and write just function  stubs with function value declarations and passed argument handling, and  function entries and definitions at the end of the file, for copying and  pasting into an already existing module.    --xml[=file]  Creates the basics for phpdoc .xml file.    --full-xml  Not implemented yet. When or if there will ever be created a framework for  self-contained extensions to use phpdoc system for their documentation, this  option enables it on the created xml file.CURRENT LIMITATIONS, BUGS AND OTHER ODDITIES  Only arguments of types int, bool, double, float, string and array are  handled. For other types you must write the code yourself. And for type  mixed, it wouldn't even be possible to write anything, because only you  know what to expect.    It can't handle correctly, and probably never will, variable list of  of arguments. (void foo(int bar [, ...])  Don't trust the generated code too much. It tries to be useful in most of  the situations you might encounter, but automatic code generation will never  beat a programmer who knows the real situation at hand. ext_skel is generally  best suited for quickly generating a wrapper for c-library functions you  might want to have available in PHP too.  This program doesn't have a --help option. It has --no-help instead.EXAMPLE  The following _one_ line  bool my_drawtext(resource image, string text, resource font, int x, int y [, int color])  will create this function definition for you (note that there are a few  question marks to be replaced by you, and you must of course add your own  value definitions too):/* {{{ proto bool my_drawtext(resource image, string text, resource font, int x, int y [, int color])    */PHP_FUNCTION(my_drawtext){    char *text = NULL;    int argc = ZEND_NUM_ARGS();    int image_id = -1;    int text_len;    int font_id = -1;    long x;    long y;    long color;    zval *image = NULL;    zval *font = NULL;    if (zend_parse_parameters(argc TSRMLS_CC, "rsrll|l", &image, &text, &text_len, &font, &x, &y, &color) == FAILURE)        return;    if (image) {        ZEND_FETCH_RESOURCE(???, ???, image, image_id, "???", ???_rsrc_id);    }    if (font) {        ZEND_FETCH_RESOURCE(???, ???, font, font_id, "???", ???_rsrc_id);    }    php_error(E_WARNING, "my_drawtext: not yet implemented");}/* }}} */