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 */