prtpacker (pronounced PIRT-Packer) is a tool for creating C or C++ source code from external program resources such as images, text, or data. These resources can be arranged in a tree structure much like a typical file system. After compiling and linking the resulting source code you can access the resource tree from within your software through a simple API.
Be aware that all resources stay in memory and cannot be easily deallocated. Generally with small files (< 100K bytes) this is not an issue. So don't go trying to sticking your latest Divx download in as a resource. That is unless you want your computer to run like Windows 98.
prtpacker may be ideal for embedded systems where implementing a complete file system is undesirable. In this case the firmware footprint may actually decrease.
Unpack the source distribution. Then in the resulting directory:
./configure make make install
prtpacker -r myResources resources/* other_resource >resources.cppAdd a reference to your resources in your code.
#includeLink the result to your program. libprtpacker.a has some useful functions for accessing prtpacker resources.extern const prtp_dir *myResources;
g++ -o myapp myapp.cpp resources.cpp -lprtpackerTo access a resource use getResource from prtpacker.h. Here is an example straight out of prtpacker itself.
extern struct prtp_dir *prtpackerResources;
const prtp_file *license = getResource(prtpackerResources, "short_license");
if (!license) {
fprintf(stderr, "ERROR: Could not locate resource 'short_license'\n");
return;
}
printf((const char *)license->data);
Also take a look at these other sources of information:
toolstub.cpp is code that can be linked against your compiled resource tree to get information or extract files.
Be sure to define the ROOT symbol so toolstub can find your resources.
Example:
g++ -DROOT=myResources -o mytool myresources.o toolstub.o prtpackertools.o
./mytool -l # List all the resources in myresources.
./mytool -g myresource >myresource # Dump myresource to a file.