The Harlequin server loop

This page applies to Harlequin v13.1r0 and later; and to Harlequin Core but not Harlequin MultiRIP.

The purpose of the server loop is to obtain and run PostScript-language jobs continuously in a protected environment, so that one cannot affect the next. The protected environment is provided by the PostScript-language save and restore operators, and the stopped operator to catch errors.

Therefore, there are three exceptions to the protections provided by this mechanism: changes to the filing system made through the device interface; setting system and device parameters, which are not subject to save / restore contexts; and use of the exitserver or startjob procedures.

The server loop actually consists of three nested loops:

• The inner loop waits for data to become available on the %config% device. It checks for this by using the bytesavailable operator. If no data is waiting, the RIP performs idle-time tasks (if this behavior is turned on).
• The middle loop runs the inner loop and then repeatedly runs the file (%config%) to completion, until it finds true on the operand stack. If it finds false, it returns to the inner loop; any other value is an error.
• The outer loop runs the PostScript jobs, normally to completion, identified by the file objects left on the stack under the true returned by the %config% device.

The server loop is simply implemented as a set of PostScript-language procedures, albeit using some rather specialized operators, files and devices. The much-simplified version given below (among other things not showing how exitserver / startjob operates) illustrates the key points most easily.

Because the RIP can handle input from several types of jobs, the relevant operator is not always exec. Some of the alternatives are pdfexec and epsexec, both described in Operators for handling specific file types.

The executive a method by which PostScript-language code can be executed interactively is treated as one job so far as the server loop is concerned. See the Harlequin RIP OEM Manual for a description of the executive.

            do-bootstrap
            { % outer loop
              { % middle loop (%config%)(r) file cvx
              { % inner loop
                dup % the config file bytesavailable 0 ne { exit } if do-some-idle-time-processing
              } loop % inner
              {
                exec % the config file
              } stopped {
                (ERROR IN CONFIG FILE\n) print false
              } if
            { exit } if
            } loop % middle
            /ouputfile exch def
            /inputfile exch cvx def
            /outersave save def
            serverdict /setrealdevice get exec
            /innersave save def
              /inputfile load dup /outputfile load statusdict /setstdio get exec
            stopped { % execute the job
              % it might have stopped because of exitserver /
              % startjob, omitted here handle-an-error
            } if
            innersave restore outersave restore
            } loop % outer