github.com/aloncn/graphics-go@v0.0.1/src/cmd/cgo/doc.go (about)

     1  // Copyright 2009 The Go Authors.  All rights reserved.
     2  // Use of this source code is governed by a BSD-style
     3  // license that can be found in the LICENSE file.
     4  
     5  /*
     6  
     7  Cgo enables the creation of Go packages that call C code.
     8  
     9  Using cgo with the go command
    10  
    11  To use cgo write normal Go code that imports a pseudo-package "C".
    12  The Go code can then refer to types such as C.size_t, variables such
    13  as C.stdout, or functions such as C.putchar.
    14  
    15  If the import of "C" is immediately preceded by a comment, that
    16  comment, called the preamble, is used as a header when compiling
    17  the C parts of the package.  For example:
    18  
    19  	// #include <stdio.h>
    20  	// #include <errno.h>
    21  	import "C"
    22  
    23  The preamble may contain any C code, including function and variable
    24  declarations and definitions.  These may then be referred to from Go
    25  code as though they were defined in the package "C".  All names
    26  declared in the preamble may be used, even if they start with a
    27  lower-case letter.  Exception: static variables in the preamble may
    28  not be referenced from Go code; static functions are permitted.
    29  
    30  See $GOROOT/misc/cgo/stdio and $GOROOT/misc/cgo/gmp for examples.  See
    31  "C? Go? Cgo!" for an introduction to using cgo:
    32  https://golang.org/doc/articles/c_go_cgo.html.
    33  
    34  CFLAGS, CPPFLAGS, CXXFLAGS and LDFLAGS may be defined with pseudo #cgo
    35  directives within these comments to tweak the behavior of the C or C++
    36  compiler.  Values defined in multiple directives are concatenated
    37  together.  The directive can include a list of build constraints limiting its
    38  effect to systems satisfying one of the constraints
    39  (see https://golang.org/pkg/go/build/#hdr-Build_Constraints for details about the constraint syntax).
    40  For example:
    41  
    42  	// #cgo CFLAGS: -DPNG_DEBUG=1
    43  	// #cgo amd64 386 CFLAGS: -DX86=1
    44  	// #cgo LDFLAGS: -lpng
    45  	// #include <png.h>
    46  	import "C"
    47  
    48  Alternatively, CPPFLAGS and LDFLAGS may be obtained via the pkg-config
    49  tool using a '#cgo pkg-config:' directive followed by the package names.
    50  For example:
    51  
    52  	// #cgo pkg-config: png cairo
    53  	// #include <png.h>
    54  	import "C"
    55  
    56  When building, the CGO_CFLAGS, CGO_CPPFLAGS, CGO_CXXFLAGS and
    57  CGO_LDFLAGS environment variables are added to the flags derived from
    58  these directives.  Package-specific flags should be set using the
    59  directives, not the environment variables, so that builds work in
    60  unmodified environments.
    61  
    62  All the cgo CPPFLAGS and CFLAGS directives in a package are concatenated and
    63  used to compile C files in that package.  All the CPPFLAGS and CXXFLAGS
    64  directives in a package are concatenated and used to compile C++ files in that
    65  package.  All the LDFLAGS directives in any package in the program are
    66  concatenated and used at link time.  All the pkg-config directives are
    67  concatenated and sent to pkg-config simultaneously to add to each appropriate
    68  set of command-line flags.
    69  
    70  When the cgo directives are parsed, any occurrence of the string ${SRCDIR}
    71  will be replaced by the absolute path to the directory containing the source
    72  file. This allows pre-compiled static libraries to be included in the package
    73  directory and linked properly.
    74  For example if package foo is in the directory /go/src/foo:
    75  
    76         // #cgo LDFLAGS: -L${SRCDIR}/libs -lfoo
    77  
    78  Will be expanded to:
    79  
    80         // #cgo LDFLAGS: -L/go/src/foo/libs -lfoo
    81  
    82  When the Go tool sees that one or more Go files use the special import
    83  "C", it will look for other non-Go files in the directory and compile
    84  them as part of the Go package.  Any .c, .s, or .S files will be
    85  compiled with the C compiler.  Any .cc, .cpp, or .cxx files will be
    86  compiled with the C++ compiler.  Any .h, .hh, .hpp, or .hxx files will
    87  not be compiled separately, but, if these header files are changed,
    88  the C and C++ files will be recompiled.  The default C and C++
    89  compilers may be changed by the CC and CXX environment variables,
    90  respectively; those environment variables may include command line
    91  options.
    92  
    93  The cgo tool is enabled by default for native builds on systems where
    94  it is expected to work.  It is disabled by default when
    95  cross-compiling.  You can control this by setting the CGO_ENABLED
    96  environment variable when running the go tool: set it to 1 to enable
    97  the use of cgo, and to 0 to disable it.  The go tool will set the
    98  build constraint "cgo" if cgo is enabled.
    99  
   100  When cross-compiling, you must specify a C cross-compiler for cgo to
   101  use.  You can do this by setting the CC_FOR_TARGET environment
   102  variable when building the toolchain using make.bash, or by setting
   103  the CC environment variable any time you run the go tool.  The
   104  CXX_FOR_TARGET and CXX environment variables work in a similar way for
   105  C++ code.
   106  
   107  Go references to C
   108  
   109  Within the Go file, C's struct field names that are keywords in Go
   110  can be accessed by prefixing them with an underscore: if x points at a C
   111  struct with a field named "type", x._type accesses the field.
   112  C struct fields that cannot be expressed in Go, such as bit fields
   113  or misaligned data, are omitted in the Go struct, replaced by
   114  appropriate padding to reach the next field or the end of the struct.
   115  
   116  The standard C numeric types are available under the names
   117  C.char, C.schar (signed char), C.uchar (unsigned char),
   118  C.short, C.ushort (unsigned short), C.int, C.uint (unsigned int),
   119  C.long, C.ulong (unsigned long), C.longlong (long long),
   120  C.ulonglong (unsigned long long), C.float, C.double,
   121  C.complexfloat (complex float), and C.complexdouble (complex double).
   122  The C type void* is represented by Go's unsafe.Pointer.
   123  The C types __int128_t and __uint128_t are represented by [16]byte.
   124  
   125  To access a struct, union, or enum type directly, prefix it with
   126  struct_, union_, or enum_, as in C.struct_stat.
   127  
   128  The size of any C type T is available as C.sizeof_T, as in
   129  C.sizeof_struct_stat.
   130  
   131  As Go doesn't have support for C's union type in the general case,
   132  C's union types are represented as a Go byte array with the same length.
   133  
   134  Go structs cannot embed fields with C types.
   135  
   136  Go code can not refer to zero-sized fields that occur at the end of
   137  non-empty C structs.  To get the address of such a field (which is the
   138  only operation you can do with a zero-sized field) you must take the
   139  address of the struct and add the size of the struct.
   140  
   141  Cgo translates C types into equivalent unexported Go types.
   142  Because the translations are unexported, a Go package should not
   143  expose C types in its exported API: a C type used in one Go package
   144  is different from the same C type used in another.
   145  
   146  Any C function (even void functions) may be called in a multiple
   147  assignment context to retrieve both the return value (if any) and the
   148  C errno variable as an error (use _ to skip the result value if the
   149  function returns void).  For example:
   150  
   151  	n, err := C.sqrt(-1)
   152  	_, err := C.voidFunc()
   153  
   154  Calling C function pointers is currently not supported, however you can
   155  declare Go variables which hold C function pointers and pass them
   156  back and forth between Go and C. C code may call function pointers
   157  received from Go. For example:
   158  
   159  	package main
   160  
   161  	// typedef int (*intFunc) ();
   162  	//
   163  	// int
   164  	// bridge_int_func(intFunc f)
   165  	// {
   166  	//		return f();
   167  	// }
   168  	//
   169  	// int fortytwo()
   170  	// {
   171  	//	    return 42;
   172  	// }
   173  	import "C"
   174  	import "fmt"
   175  
   176  	func main() {
   177  		f := C.intFunc(C.fortytwo)
   178  		fmt.Println(int(C.bridge_int_func(f)))
   179  		// Output: 42
   180  	}
   181  
   182  In C, a function argument written as a fixed size array
   183  actually requires a pointer to the first element of the array.
   184  C compilers are aware of this calling convention and adjust
   185  the call accordingly, but Go cannot.  In Go, you must pass
   186  the pointer to the first element explicitly: C.f(&C.x[0]).
   187  
   188  A few special functions convert between Go and C types
   189  by making copies of the data.  In pseudo-Go definitions:
   190  
   191  	// Go string to C string
   192  	// The C string is allocated in the C heap using malloc.
   193  	// It is the caller's responsibility to arrange for it to be
   194  	// freed, such as by calling C.free (be sure to include stdlib.h
   195  	// if C.free is needed).
   196  	func C.CString(string) *C.char
   197  
   198  	// C string to Go string
   199  	func C.GoString(*C.char) string
   200  
   201  	// C data with explicit length to Go string
   202  	func C.GoStringN(*C.char, C.int) string
   203  
   204  	// C data with explicit length to Go []byte
   205  	func C.GoBytes(unsafe.Pointer, C.int) []byte
   206  
   207  C references to Go
   208  
   209  Go functions can be exported for use by C code in the following way:
   210  
   211  	//export MyFunction
   212  	func MyFunction(arg1, arg2 int, arg3 string) int64 {...}
   213  
   214  	//export MyFunction2
   215  	func MyFunction2(arg1, arg2 int, arg3 string) (int64, *C.char) {...}
   216  
   217  They will be available in the C code as:
   218  
   219  	extern int64 MyFunction(int arg1, int arg2, GoString arg3);
   220  	extern struct MyFunction2_return MyFunction2(int arg1, int arg2, GoString arg3);
   221  
   222  found in the _cgo_export.h generated header, after any preambles
   223  copied from the cgo input files. Functions with multiple
   224  return values are mapped to functions returning a struct.
   225  Not all Go types can be mapped to C types in a useful way.
   226  
   227  Using //export in a file places a restriction on the preamble:
   228  since it is copied into two different C output files, it must not
   229  contain any definitions, only declarations. If a file contains both
   230  definitions and declarations, then the two output files will produce
   231  duplicate symbols and the linker will fail. To avoid this, definitions
   232  must be placed in preambles in other files, or in C source files.
   233  
   234  Passing pointers
   235  
   236  Go is a garbage collected language, and the garbage collector needs to
   237  know the location of every pointer to Go memory.  Because of this,
   238  there are restrictions on passing pointers between Go and C.
   239  
   240  In this section the term Go pointer means a pointer to memory
   241  allocated by Go (such as by using the & operator or calling the
   242  predefined new function) and the term C pointer means a pointer to
   243  memory allocated by C (such as by a call to C.malloc).  Whether a
   244  pointer is a Go pointer or a C pointer is a dynamic property
   245  determined by how the memory was allocated; it has nothing to do with
   246  the type of the pointer.
   247  
   248  Go code may pass a Go pointer to C provided the Go memory to which it
   249  points does not contain any Go pointers.  The C code must preserve
   250  this property: it must not store any Go pointers in Go memory, even
   251  temporarily.  When passing a pointer to a field in a struct, the Go
   252  memory in question is the memory occupied by the field, not the entire
   253  struct.  When passing a pointer to an element in an array or slice,
   254  the Go memory in question is the entire array or the entire backing
   255  array of the slice.
   256  
   257  C code may not keep a copy of a Go pointer after the call returns.
   258  
   259  A Go function called by C code may not return a Go pointer.  A Go
   260  function called by C code may take C pointers as arguments, and it may
   261  store non-pointer or C pointer data through those pointers, but it may
   262  not store a Go pointer in memory pointed to by a C pointer.  A Go
   263  function called by C code may take a Go pointer as an argument, but it
   264  must preserve the property that the Go memory to which it points does
   265  not contain any Go pointers.
   266  
   267  Go code may not store a Go pointer in C memory.  C code may store Go
   268  pointers in C memory, subject to the rule above: it must stop storing
   269  the Go pointer when the C function returns.
   270  
   271  These rules are checked dynamically at runtime.  The checking is
   272  controlled by the cgocheck setting of the GODEBUG environment
   273  variable.  The default setting is GODEBUG=cgocheck=1, which implements
   274  reasonably cheap dynamic checks.  These checks may be disabled
   275  entirely using GODEBUG=cgocheck=0.  Complete checking of pointer
   276  handling, at some cost in run time, is available via GODEBUG=cgocheck=2.
   277  
   278  It is possible to defeat this enforcement by using the unsafe package,
   279  and of course there is nothing stopping the C code from doing anything
   280  it likes.  However, programs that break these rules are likely to fail
   281  in unexpected and unpredictable ways.
   282  
   283  Using cgo directly
   284  
   285  Usage:
   286  	go tool cgo [cgo options] [-- compiler options] gofiles...
   287  
   288  Cgo transforms the specified input Go source files into several output
   289  Go and C source files.
   290  
   291  The compiler options are passed through uninterpreted when
   292  invoking the C compiler to compile the C parts of the package.
   293  
   294  The following options are available when running cgo directly:
   295  
   296  	-dynimport file
   297  		Write list of symbols imported by file. Write to
   298  		-dynout argument or to standard output. Used by go
   299  		build when building a cgo package.
   300  	-dynout file
   301  		Write -dynimport output to file.
   302  	-dynpackage package
   303  		Set Go package for -dynimport output.
   304  	-dynlinker
   305  		Write dynamic linker as part of -dynimport output.
   306  	-godefs
   307  		Write out input file in Go syntax replacing C package
   308  		names with real values. Used to generate files in the
   309  		syscall package when bootstrapping a new target.
   310  	-objdir directory
   311  		Put all generated files in directory.
   312  	-importpath string
   313  		The import path for the Go package. Optional; used for
   314  		nicer comments in the generated files.
   315  	-exportheader file
   316  		If there are any exported functions, write the
   317  		generated export declarations to file.
   318  		C code can #include this to see the declarations.
   319  	-gccgo
   320  		Generate output for the gccgo compiler rather than the
   321  		gc compiler.
   322  	-gccgoprefix prefix
   323  		The -fgo-prefix option to be used with gccgo.
   324  	-gccgopkgpath path
   325  		The -fgo-pkgpath option to be used with gccgo.
   326  	-import_runtime_cgo
   327  		If set (which it is by default) import runtime/cgo in
   328  		generated output.
   329  	-import_syscall
   330  		If set (which it is by default) import syscall in
   331  		generated output.
   332  	-debug-define
   333  		Debugging option. Print #defines.
   334  	-debug-gcc
   335  		Debugging option. Trace C compiler execution and output.
   336  */
   337  package main
   338  
   339  /*
   340  Implementation details.
   341  
   342  Cgo provides a way for Go programs to call C code linked into the same
   343  address space. This comment explains the operation of cgo.
   344  
   345  Cgo reads a set of Go source files and looks for statements saying
   346  import "C". If the import has a doc comment, that comment is
   347  taken as literal C code to be used as a preamble to any C code
   348  generated by cgo. A typical preamble #includes necessary definitions:
   349  
   350  	// #include <stdio.h>
   351  	import "C"
   352  
   353  For more details about the usage of cgo, see the documentation
   354  comment at the top of this file.
   355  
   356  Understanding C
   357  
   358  Cgo scans the Go source files that import "C" for uses of that
   359  package, such as C.puts. It collects all such identifiers. The next
   360  step is to determine each kind of name. In C.xxx the xxx might refer
   361  to a type, a function, a constant, or a global variable. Cgo must
   362  decide which.
   363  
   364  The obvious thing for cgo to do is to process the preamble, expanding
   365  #includes and processing the corresponding C code. That would require
   366  a full C parser and type checker that was also aware of any extensions
   367  known to the system compiler (for example, all the GNU C extensions) as
   368  well as the system-specific header locations and system-specific
   369  pre-#defined macros. This is certainly possible to do, but it is an
   370  enormous amount of work.
   371  
   372  Cgo takes a different approach. It determines the meaning of C
   373  identifiers not by parsing C code but by feeding carefully constructed
   374  programs into the system C compiler and interpreting the generated
   375  error messages, debug information, and object files. In practice,
   376  parsing these is significantly less work and more robust than parsing
   377  C source.
   378  
   379  Cgo first invokes gcc -E -dM on the preamble, in order to find out
   380  about simple #defines for constants and the like. These are recorded
   381  for later use.
   382  
   383  Next, cgo needs to identify the kinds for each identifier. For the
   384  identifiers C.foo and C.bar, cgo generates this C program:
   385  
   386  	<preamble>
   387  	#line 1 "not-declared"
   388  	void __cgo_f_xxx_1(void) { __typeof__(foo) *__cgo_undefined__; }
   389  	#line 1 "not-type"
   390  	void __cgo_f_xxx_2(void) { foo *__cgo_undefined__; }
   391  	#line 1 "not-const"
   392  	void __cgo_f_xxx_3(void) { enum { __cgo_undefined__ = (foo)*1 }; }
   393  	#line 2 "not-declared"
   394  	void __cgo_f_xxx_1(void) { __typeof__(bar) *__cgo_undefined__; }
   395  	#line 2 "not-type"
   396  	void __cgo_f_xxx_2(void) { bar *__cgo_undefined__; }
   397  	#line 2 "not-const"
   398  	void __cgo_f_xxx_3(void) { enum { __cgo_undefined__ = (bar)*1 }; }
   399  
   400  This program will not compile, but cgo can use the presence or absence
   401  of an error message on a given line to deduce the information it
   402  needs. The program is syntactically valid regardless of whether each
   403  name is a type or an ordinary identifier, so there will be no syntax
   404  errors that might stop parsing early.
   405  
   406  An error on not-declared:1 indicates that foo is undeclared.
   407  An error on not-type:1 indicates that foo is not a type (if declared at all, it is an identifier).
   408  An error on not-const:1 indicates that foo is not an integer constant.
   409  
   410  The line number specifies the name involved. In the example, 1 is foo and 2 is bar.
   411  
   412  Next, cgo must learn the details of each type, variable, function, or
   413  constant. It can do this by reading object files. If cgo has decided
   414  that t1 is a type, v2 and v3 are variables or functions, and c4, c5,
   415  and c6 are constants, it generates:
   416  
   417  	<preamble>
   418  	__typeof__(t1) *__cgo__1;
   419  	__typeof__(v2) *__cgo__2;
   420  	__typeof__(v3) *__cgo__3;
   421  	__typeof__(c4) *__cgo__4;
   422  	enum { __cgo_enum__4 = c4 };
   423  	__typeof__(c5) *__cgo__5;
   424  	enum { __cgo_enum__5 = c5 };
   425  	__typeof__(c6) *__cgo__6;
   426  	enum { __cgo_enum__6 = c6 };
   427  
   428  	long long __cgo_debug_data[] = {
   429  		0, // t1
   430  		0, // v2
   431  		0, // v3
   432  		c4,
   433  		c5,
   434  		c6,
   435  		1
   436  	};
   437  
   438  and again invokes the system C compiler, to produce an object file
   439  containing debug information. Cgo parses the DWARF debug information
   440  for __cgo__N to learn the type of each identifier. (The types also
   441  distinguish functions from global variables.) If using a standard gcc,
   442  cgo can parse the DWARF debug information for the __cgo_enum__N to
   443  learn the identifier's value. The LLVM-based gcc on OS X emits
   444  incomplete DWARF information for enums; in that case cgo reads the
   445  constant values from the __cgo_debug_data from the object file's data
   446  segment.
   447  
   448  At this point cgo knows the meaning of each C.xxx well enough to start
   449  the translation process.
   450  
   451  Translating Go
   452  
   453  Given the input Go files x.go and y.go, cgo generates these source
   454  files:
   455  
   456  	x.cgo1.go       # for gc (cmd/compile)
   457  	y.cgo1.go       # for gc
   458  	_cgo_gotypes.go # for gc
   459  	_cgo_import.go  # for gc (if -dynout _cgo_import.go)
   460  	x.cgo2.c        # for gcc
   461  	y.cgo2.c        # for gcc
   462  	_cgo_defun.c    # for gcc (if -gccgo)
   463  	_cgo_export.c   # for gcc
   464  	_cgo_export.h   # for gcc
   465  	_cgo_main.c     # for gcc
   466  	_cgo_flags      # for alternative build tools
   467  
   468  The file x.cgo1.go is a copy of x.go with the import "C" removed and
   469  references to C.xxx replaced with names like _Cfunc_xxx or _Ctype_xxx.
   470  The definitions of those identifiers, written as Go functions, types,
   471  or variables, are provided in _cgo_gotypes.go.
   472  
   473  Here is a _cgo_gotypes.go containing definitions for needed C types:
   474  
   475  	type _Ctype_char int8
   476  	type _Ctype_int int32
   477  	type _Ctype_void [0]byte
   478  
   479  The _cgo_gotypes.go file also contains the definitions of the
   480  functions.  They all have similar bodies that invoke runtime·cgocall
   481  to make a switch from the Go runtime world to the system C (GCC-based)
   482  world.
   483  
   484  For example, here is the definition of _Cfunc_puts:
   485  
   486  	//go:cgo_import_static _cgo_be59f0f25121_Cfunc_puts
   487  	//go:linkname __cgofn__cgo_be59f0f25121_Cfunc_puts _cgo_be59f0f25121_Cfunc_puts
   488  	var __cgofn__cgo_be59f0f25121_Cfunc_puts byte
   489  	var _cgo_be59f0f25121_Cfunc_puts = unsafe.Pointer(&__cgofn__cgo_be59f0f25121_Cfunc_puts)
   490  
   491  	func _Cfunc_puts(p0 *_Ctype_char) (r1 _Ctype_int) {
   492  		_cgo_runtime_cgocall(_cgo_be59f0f25121_Cfunc_puts, uintptr(unsafe.Pointer(&p0)))
   493  		return
   494  	}
   495  
   496  The hexadecimal number is a hash of cgo's input, chosen to be
   497  deterministic yet unlikely to collide with other uses. The actual
   498  function _cgo_be59f0f25121_Cfunc_puts is implemented in a C source
   499  file compiled by gcc, the file x.cgo2.c:
   500  
   501  	void
   502  	_cgo_be59f0f25121_Cfunc_puts(void *v)
   503  	{
   504  		_cgo_wait_runtime_init_done();
   505  		struct {
   506  			char* p0;
   507  			int r;
   508  			char __pad12[4];
   509  		} __attribute__((__packed__, __gcc_struct__)) *a = v;
   510  		a->r = puts((void*)a->p0);
   511  	}
   512  
   513  It waits for Go runtime to be initialized (required for shared libraries),
   514  extracts the arguments from the pointer to _Cfunc_puts's argument
   515  frame, invokes the system C function (in this case, puts), stores the
   516  result in the frame, and returns.
   517  
   518  Linking
   519  
   520  Once the _cgo_export.c and *.cgo2.c files have been compiled with gcc,
   521  they need to be linked into the final binary, along with the libraries
   522  they might depend on (in the case of puts, stdio). cmd/link has been
   523  extended to understand basic ELF files, but it does not understand ELF
   524  in the full complexity that modern C libraries embrace, so it cannot
   525  in general generate direct references to the system libraries.
   526  
   527  Instead, the build process generates an object file using dynamic
   528  linkage to the desired libraries. The main function is provided by
   529  _cgo_main.c:
   530  
   531  	int main() { return 0; }
   532  	void crosscall2(void(*fn)(void*, int), void *a, int c) { }
   533  	void _cgo_wait_runtime_init_done() { }
   534  	void _cgo_allocate(void *a, int c) { }
   535  	void _cgo_panic(void *a, int c) { }
   536  
   537  The extra functions here are stubs to satisfy the references in the C
   538  code generated for gcc. The build process links this stub, along with
   539  _cgo_export.c and *.cgo2.c, into a dynamic executable and then lets
   540  cgo examine the executable. Cgo records the list of shared library
   541  references and resolved names and writes them into a new file
   542  _cgo_import.go, which looks like:
   543  
   544  	//go:cgo_dynamic_linker "/lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2"
   545  	//go:cgo_import_dynamic puts puts#GLIBC_2.2.5 "libc.so.6"
   546  	//go:cgo_import_dynamic __libc_start_main __libc_start_main#GLIBC_2.2.5 "libc.so.6"
   547  	//go:cgo_import_dynamic stdout stdout#GLIBC_2.2.5 "libc.so.6"
   548  	//go:cgo_import_dynamic fflush fflush#GLIBC_2.2.5 "libc.so.6"
   549  	//go:cgo_import_dynamic _ _ "libpthread.so.0"
   550  	//go:cgo_import_dynamic _ _ "libc.so.6"
   551  
   552  In the end, the compiled Go package, which will eventually be
   553  presented to cmd/link as part of a larger program, contains:
   554  
   555  	_go_.o        # gc-compiled object for _cgo_gotypes.go, _cgo_import.go, *.cgo1.go
   556  	_all.o        # gcc-compiled object for _cgo_export.c, *.cgo2.c
   557  
   558  The final program will be a dynamic executable, so that cmd/link can avoid
   559  needing to process arbitrary .o files. It only needs to process the .o
   560  files generated from C files that cgo writes, and those are much more
   561  limited in the ELF or other features that they use.
   562  
   563  In essence, the _cgo_import.o file includes the extra linking
   564  directives that cmd/link is not sophisticated enough to derive from _all.o
   565  on its own. Similarly, the _all.o uses dynamic references to real
   566  system object code because cmd/link is not sophisticated enough to process
   567  the real code.
   568  
   569  The main benefits of this system are that cmd/link remains relatively simple
   570  (it does not need to implement a complete ELF and Mach-O linker) and
   571  that gcc is not needed after the package is compiled. For example,
   572  package net uses cgo for access to name resolution functions provided
   573  by libc. Although gcc is needed to compile package net, gcc is not
   574  needed to link programs that import package net.
   575  
   576  Runtime
   577  
   578  When using cgo, Go must not assume that it owns all details of the
   579  process. In particular it needs to coordinate with C in the use of
   580  threads and thread-local storage. The runtime package declares a few
   581  variables:
   582  
   583  	var (
   584  		iscgo             bool
   585  		_cgo_init         unsafe.Pointer
   586  		_cgo_thread_start unsafe.Pointer
   587  	)
   588  
   589  Any package using cgo imports "runtime/cgo", which provides
   590  initializations for these variables. It sets iscgo to true, _cgo_init
   591  to a gcc-compiled function that can be called early during program
   592  startup, and _cgo_thread_start to a gcc-compiled function that can be
   593  used to create a new thread, in place of the runtime's usual direct
   594  system calls.
   595  
   596  Internal and External Linking
   597  
   598  The text above describes "internal" linking, in which cmd/link parses and
   599  links host object files (ELF, Mach-O, PE, and so on) into the final
   600  executable itself. Keeping cmd/link simple means we cannot possibly
   601  implement the full semantics of the host linker, so the kinds of
   602  objects that can be linked directly into the binary is limited (other
   603  code can only be used as a dynamic library). On the other hand, when
   604  using internal linking, cmd/link can generate Go binaries by itself.
   605  
   606  In order to allow linking arbitrary object files without requiring
   607  dynamic libraries, cgo supports an "external" linking mode too. In
   608  external linking mode, cmd/link does not process any host object files.
   609  Instead, it collects all the Go code and writes a single go.o object
   610  file containing it. Then it invokes the host linker (usually gcc) to
   611  combine the go.o object file and any supporting non-Go code into a
   612  final executable. External linking avoids the dynamic library
   613  requirement but introduces a requirement that the host linker be
   614  present to create such a binary.
   615  
   616  Most builds both compile source code and invoke the linker to create a
   617  binary. When cgo is involved, the compile step already requires gcc, so
   618  it is not problematic for the link step to require gcc too.
   619  
   620  An important exception is builds using a pre-compiled copy of the
   621  standard library. In particular, package net uses cgo on most systems,
   622  and we want to preserve the ability to compile pure Go code that
   623  imports net without requiring gcc to be present at link time. (In this
   624  case, the dynamic library requirement is less significant, because the
   625  only library involved is libc.so, which can usually be assumed
   626  present.)
   627  
   628  This conflict between functionality and the gcc requirement means we
   629  must support both internal and external linking, depending on the
   630  circumstances: if net is the only cgo-using package, then internal
   631  linking is probably fine, but if other packages are involved, so that there
   632  are dependencies on libraries beyond libc, external linking is likely
   633  to work better. The compilation of a package records the relevant
   634  information to support both linking modes, leaving the decision
   635  to be made when linking the final binary.
   636  
   637  Linking Directives
   638  
   639  In either linking mode, package-specific directives must be passed
   640  through to cmd/link. These are communicated by writing //go: directives in a
   641  Go source file compiled by gc. The directives are copied into the .o
   642  object file and then processed by the linker.
   643  
   644  The directives are:
   645  
   646  //go:cgo_import_dynamic <local> [<remote> ["<library>"]]
   647  
   648  	In internal linking mode, allow an unresolved reference to
   649  	<local>, assuming it will be resolved by a dynamic library
   650  	symbol. The optional <remote> specifies the symbol's name and
   651  	possibly version in the dynamic library, and the optional "<library>"
   652  	names the specific library where the symbol should be found.
   653  
   654  	In the <remote>, # or @ can be used to introduce a symbol version.
   655  
   656  	Examples:
   657  	//go:cgo_import_dynamic puts
   658  	//go:cgo_import_dynamic puts puts#GLIBC_2.2.5
   659  	//go:cgo_import_dynamic puts puts#GLIBC_2.2.5 "libc.so.6"
   660  
   661  	A side effect of the cgo_import_dynamic directive with a
   662  	library is to make the final binary depend on that dynamic
   663  	library. To get the dependency without importing any specific
   664  	symbols, use _ for local and remote.
   665  
   666  	Example:
   667  	//go:cgo_import_dynamic _ _ "libc.so.6"
   668  
   669  	For compatibility with current versions of SWIG,
   670  	#pragma dynimport is an alias for //go:cgo_import_dynamic.
   671  
   672  //go:cgo_dynamic_linker "<path>"
   673  
   674  	In internal linking mode, use "<path>" as the dynamic linker
   675  	in the final binary. This directive is only needed from one
   676  	package when constructing a binary; by convention it is
   677  	supplied by runtime/cgo.
   678  
   679  	Example:
   680  	//go:cgo_dynamic_linker "/lib/ld-linux.so.2"
   681  
   682  //go:cgo_export_dynamic <local> <remote>
   683  
   684  	In internal linking mode, put the Go symbol
   685  	named <local> into the program's exported symbol table as
   686  	<remote>, so that C code can refer to it by that name. This
   687  	mechanism makes it possible for C code to call back into Go or
   688  	to share Go's data.
   689  
   690  	For compatibility with current versions of SWIG,
   691  	#pragma dynexport is an alias for //go:cgo_export_dynamic.
   692  
   693  //go:cgo_import_static <local>
   694  
   695  	In external linking mode, allow unresolved references to
   696  	<local> in the go.o object file prepared for the host linker,
   697  	under the assumption that <local> will be supplied by the
   698  	other object files that will be linked with go.o.
   699  
   700  	Example:
   701  	//go:cgo_import_static puts_wrapper
   702  
   703  //go:cgo_export_static <local> <remote>
   704  
   705  	In external linking mode, put the Go symbol
   706  	named <local> into the program's exported symbol table as
   707  	<remote>, so that C code can refer to it by that name. This
   708  	mechanism makes it possible for C code to call back into Go or
   709  	to share Go's data.
   710  
   711  //go:cgo_ldflag "<arg>"
   712  
   713  	In external linking mode, invoke the host linker (usually gcc)
   714  	with "<arg>" as a command-line argument following the .o files.
   715  	Note that the arguments are for "gcc", not "ld".
   716  
   717  	Example:
   718  	//go:cgo_ldflag "-lpthread"
   719  	//go:cgo_ldflag "-L/usr/local/sqlite3/lib"
   720  
   721  A package compiled with cgo will include directives for both
   722  internal and external linking; the linker will select the appropriate
   723  subset for the chosen linking mode.
   724  
   725  Example
   726  
   727  As a simple example, consider a package that uses cgo to call C.sin.
   728  The following code will be generated by cgo:
   729  
   730  	// compiled by gc
   731  
   732  	//go:cgo_ldflag "-lm"
   733  
   734  	type _Ctype_double float64
   735  
   736  	//go:cgo_import_static _cgo_gcc_Cfunc_sin
   737  	//go:linkname __cgo_gcc_Cfunc_sin _cgo_gcc_Cfunc_sin
   738  	var __cgo_gcc_Cfunc_sin byte
   739  	var _cgo_gcc_Cfunc_sin = unsafe.Pointer(&__cgo_gcc_Cfunc_sin)
   740  
   741  	func _Cfunc_sin(p0 _Ctype_double) (r1 _Ctype_double) {
   742  		_cgo_runtime_cgocall(_cgo_gcc_Cfunc_sin, uintptr(unsafe.Pointer(&p0)))
   743  		return
   744  	}
   745  
   746  	// compiled by gcc, into foo.cgo2.o
   747  
   748  	void
   749  	_cgo_gcc_Cfunc_sin(void *v)
   750  	{
   751  		struct {
   752  			double p0;
   753  			double r;
   754  		} __attribute__((__packed__)) *a = v;
   755  		a->r = sin(a->p0);
   756  	}
   757  
   758  What happens at link time depends on whether the final binary is linked
   759  using the internal or external mode. If other packages are compiled in
   760  "external only" mode, then the final link will be an external one.
   761  Otherwise the link will be an internal one.
   762  
   763  The linking directives are used according to the kind of final link
   764  used.
   765  
   766  In internal mode, cmd/link itself processes all the host object files, in
   767  particular foo.cgo2.o. To do so, it uses the cgo_import_dynamic and
   768  cgo_dynamic_linker directives to learn that the otherwise undefined
   769  reference to sin in foo.cgo2.o should be rewritten to refer to the
   770  symbol sin with version GLIBC_2.2.5 from the dynamic library
   771  "libm.so.6", and the binary should request "/lib/ld-linux.so.2" as its
   772  runtime dynamic linker.
   773  
   774  In external mode, cmd/link does not process any host object files, in
   775  particular foo.cgo2.o. It links together the gc-generated object
   776  files, along with any other Go code, into a go.o file. While doing
   777  that, cmd/link will discover that there is no definition for
   778  _cgo_gcc_Cfunc_sin, referred to by the gc-compiled source file. This
   779  is okay, because cmd/link also processes the cgo_import_static directive and
   780  knows that _cgo_gcc_Cfunc_sin is expected to be supplied by a host
   781  object file, so cmd/link does not treat the missing symbol as an error when
   782  creating go.o. Indeed, the definition for _cgo_gcc_Cfunc_sin will be
   783  provided to the host linker by foo2.cgo.o, which in turn will need the
   784  symbol 'sin'. cmd/link also processes the cgo_ldflag directives, so that it
   785  knows that the eventual host link command must include the -lm
   786  argument, so that the host linker will be able to find 'sin' in the
   787  math library.
   788  
   789  cmd/link Command Line Interface
   790  
   791  The go command and any other Go-aware build systems invoke cmd/link
   792  to link a collection of packages into a single binary. By default, cmd/link will
   793  present the same interface it does today:
   794  
   795  	cmd/link main.a
   796  
   797  produces a file named a.out, even if cmd/link does so by invoking the host
   798  linker in external linking mode.
   799  
   800  By default, cmd/link will decide the linking mode as follows: if the only
   801  packages using cgo are those on a whitelist of standard library
   802  packages (net, os/user, runtime/cgo), cmd/link will use internal linking
   803  mode. Otherwise, there are non-standard cgo packages involved, and cmd/link
   804  will use external linking mode. The first rule means that a build of
   805  the godoc binary, which uses net but no other cgo, can run without
   806  needing gcc available. The second rule means that a build of a
   807  cgo-wrapped library like sqlite3 can generate a standalone executable
   808  instead of needing to refer to a dynamic library. The specific choice
   809  can be overridden using a command line flag: cmd/link -linkmode=internal or
   810  cmd/link -linkmode=external.
   811  
   812  In an external link, cmd/link will create a temporary directory, write any
   813  host object files found in package archives to that directory (renamed
   814  to avoid conflicts), write the go.o file to that directory, and invoke
   815  the host linker. The default value for the host linker is $CC, split
   816  into fields, or else "gcc". The specific host linker command line can
   817  be overridden using command line flags: cmd/link -extld=clang
   818  -extldflags='-ggdb -O3'.  If any package in a build includes a .cc or
   819  other file compiled by the C++ compiler, the go tool will use the
   820  -extld option to set the host linker to the C++ compiler.
   821  
   822  These defaults mean that Go-aware build systems can ignore the linking
   823  changes and keep running plain 'cmd/link' and get reasonable results, but
   824  they can also control the linking details if desired.
   825  
   826  */