github.com/bir3/gocompiler@v0.9.2202/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  Cgo enables the creation of Go packages that call C code.
     7  
     8  # Using cgo with the go command
     9  
    10  To use cgo write normal Go code that imports a pseudo-package "C".
    11  The Go code can then refer to types such as C.size_t, variables such
    12  as C.stdout, or functions such as C.putchar.
    13  
    14  If the import of "C" is immediately preceded by a comment, that
    15  comment, called the preamble, is used as a header when compiling
    16  the C parts of the package. For example:
    17  
    18  	// #include <stdio.h>
    19  	// #include <errno.h>
    20  	import "C"
    21  
    22  The preamble may contain any C code, including function and variable
    23  declarations and definitions. These may then be referred to from Go
    24  code as though they were defined in the package "C". All names
    25  declared in the preamble may be used, even if they start with a
    26  lower-case letter. Exception: static variables in the preamble may
    27  not be referenced from Go code; static functions are permitted.
    28  
    29  See $GOROOT/cmd/cgo/internal/teststdio and $GOROOT/misc/cgo/gmp for examples. See
    30  "C? Go? Cgo!" for an introduction to using cgo:
    31  https://golang.org/doc/articles/c_go_cgo.html.
    32  
    33  CFLAGS, CPPFLAGS, CXXFLAGS, FFLAGS and LDFLAGS may be defined with pseudo
    34  #cgo directives within these comments to tweak the behavior of the C, C++
    35  or Fortran compiler. Values defined in multiple directives are concatenated
    36  together. The directive can include a list of build constraints limiting its
    37  effect to systems satisfying one of the constraints
    38  (see https://golang.org/pkg/go/build/#hdr-Build_Constraints for details about the constraint syntax).
    39  For example:
    40  
    41  	// #cgo CFLAGS: -DPNG_DEBUG=1
    42  	// #cgo amd64 386 CFLAGS: -DX86=1
    43  	// #cgo LDFLAGS: -lpng
    44  	// #include <png.h>
    45  	import "C"
    46  
    47  Alternatively, CPPFLAGS and LDFLAGS may be obtained via the pkg-config tool
    48  using a '#cgo pkg-config:' directive followed by the package names.
    49  For example:
    50  
    51  	// #cgo pkg-config: png cairo
    52  	// #include <png.h>
    53  	import "C"
    54  
    55  The default pkg-config tool may be changed by setting the PKG_CONFIG environment variable.
    56  
    57  For security reasons, only a limited set of flags are allowed, notably -D, -U, -I, and -l.
    58  To allow additional flags, set CGO_CFLAGS_ALLOW to a regular expression
    59  matching the new flags. To disallow flags that would otherwise be allowed,
    60  set CGO_CFLAGS_DISALLOW to a regular expression matching arguments
    61  that must be disallowed. In both cases the regular expression must match
    62  a full argument: to allow -mfoo=bar, use CGO_CFLAGS_ALLOW='-mfoo.*',
    63  not just CGO_CFLAGS_ALLOW='-mfoo'. Similarly named variables control
    64  the allowed CPPFLAGS, CXXFLAGS, FFLAGS, and LDFLAGS.
    65  
    66  Also for security reasons, only a limited set of characters are
    67  permitted, notably alphanumeric characters and a few symbols, such as
    68  '.', that will not be interpreted in unexpected ways. Attempts to use
    69  forbidden characters will get a "malformed #cgo argument" error.
    70  
    71  When building, the CGO_CFLAGS, CGO_CPPFLAGS, CGO_CXXFLAGS, CGO_FFLAGS and
    72  CGO_LDFLAGS environment variables are added to the flags derived from
    73  these directives. Package-specific flags should be set using the
    74  directives, not the environment variables, so that builds work in
    75  unmodified environments. Flags obtained from environment variables
    76  are not subject to the security limitations described above.
    77  
    78  All the cgo CPPFLAGS and CFLAGS directives in a package are concatenated and
    79  used to compile C files in that package. All the CPPFLAGS and CXXFLAGS
    80  directives in a package are concatenated and used to compile C++ files in that
    81  package. All the CPPFLAGS and FFLAGS directives in a package are concatenated
    82  and used to compile Fortran files in that package. All the LDFLAGS directives
    83  in any package in the program are concatenated and used at link time. All the
    84  pkg-config directives are concatenated and sent to pkg-config simultaneously
    85  to add to each appropriate set of command-line flags.
    86  
    87  When the cgo directives are parsed, any occurrence of the string ${SRCDIR}
    88  will be replaced by the absolute path to the directory containing the source
    89  file. This allows pre-compiled static libraries to be included in the package
    90  directory and linked properly.
    91  For example if package foo is in the directory /go/src/foo:
    92  
    93  	// #cgo LDFLAGS: -L${SRCDIR}/libs -lfoo
    94  
    95  Will be expanded to:
    96  
    97  	// #cgo LDFLAGS: -L/go/src/foo/libs -lfoo
    98  
    99  When the Go tool sees that one or more Go files use the special import
   100  "C", it will look for other non-Go files in the directory and compile
   101  them as part of the Go package. Any .c, .s, .S or .sx files will be
   102  compiled with the C compiler. Any .cc, .cpp, or .cxx files will be
   103  compiled with the C++ compiler. Any .f, .F, .for or .f90 files will be
   104  compiled with the fortran compiler. Any .h, .hh, .hpp, or .hxx files will
   105  not be compiled separately, but, if these header files are changed,
   106  the package (including its non-Go source files) will be recompiled.
   107  Note that changes to files in other directories do not cause the package
   108  to be recompiled, so all non-Go source code for the package should be
   109  stored in the package directory, not in subdirectories.
   110  The default C and C++ compilers may be changed by the CC and CXX
   111  environment variables, respectively; those environment variables
   112  may include command line options.
   113  
   114  The cgo tool will always invoke the C compiler with the source file's
   115  directory in the include path; i.e. -I${SRCDIR} is always implied. This
   116  means that if a header file foo/bar.h exists both in the source
   117  directory and also in the system include directory (or some other place
   118  specified by a -I flag), then "#include <foo/bar.h>" will always find the
   119  local version in preference to any other version.
   120  
   121  The cgo tool is enabled by default for native builds on systems where
   122  it is expected to work. It is disabled by default when cross-compiling
   123  as well as when the CC environment variable is unset and the default
   124  C compiler (typically gcc or clang) cannot be found on the system PATH.
   125  You can override the default by setting the CGO_ENABLED
   126  environment variable when running the go tool: set it to 1 to enable
   127  the use of cgo, and to 0 to disable it. The go tool will set the
   128  build constraint "cgo" if cgo is enabled. The special import "C"
   129  implies the "cgo" build constraint, as though the file also said
   130  "//go:build cgo".  Therefore, if cgo is disabled, files that import
   131  "C" will not be built by the go tool. (For more about build constraints
   132  see https://golang.org/pkg/go/build/#hdr-Build_Constraints).
   133  
   134  When cross-compiling, you must specify a C cross-compiler for cgo to
   135  use. You can do this by setting the generic CC_FOR_TARGET or the
   136  more specific CC_FOR_${GOOS}_${GOARCH} (for example, CC_FOR_linux_arm)
   137  environment variable when building the toolchain using make.bash,
   138  or you can set the CC environment variable any time you run the go tool.
   139  
   140  The CXX_FOR_TARGET, CXX_FOR_${GOOS}_${GOARCH}, and CXX
   141  environment variables work in a similar way for C++ code.
   142  
   143  # Go references to C
   144  
   145  Within the Go file, C's struct field names that are keywords in Go
   146  can be accessed by prefixing them with an underscore: if x points at a C
   147  struct with a field named "type", x._type accesses the field.
   148  C struct fields that cannot be expressed in Go, such as bit fields
   149  or misaligned data, are omitted in the Go struct, replaced by
   150  appropriate padding to reach the next field or the end of the struct.
   151  
   152  The standard C numeric types are available under the names
   153  C.char, C.schar (signed char), C.uchar (unsigned char),
   154  C.short, C.ushort (unsigned short), C.int, C.uint (unsigned int),
   155  C.long, C.ulong (unsigned long), C.longlong (long long),
   156  C.ulonglong (unsigned long long), C.float, C.double,
   157  C.complexfloat (complex float), and C.complexdouble (complex double).
   158  The C type void* is represented by Go's unsafe.Pointer.
   159  The C types __int128_t and __uint128_t are represented by [16]byte.
   160  
   161  A few special C types which would normally be represented by a pointer
   162  type in Go are instead represented by a uintptr.  See the Special
   163  cases section below.
   164  
   165  To access a struct, union, or enum type directly, prefix it with
   166  struct_, union_, or enum_, as in C.struct_stat.
   167  
   168  The size of any C type T is available as C.sizeof_T, as in
   169  C.sizeof_struct_stat.
   170  
   171  A C function may be declared in the Go file with a parameter type of
   172  the special name _GoString_. This function may be called with an
   173  ordinary Go string value. The string length, and a pointer to the
   174  string contents, may be accessed by calling the C functions
   175  
   176  	size_t _GoStringLen(_GoString_ s);
   177  	const char *_GoStringPtr(_GoString_ s);
   178  
   179  These functions are only available in the preamble, not in other C
   180  files. The C code must not modify the contents of the pointer returned
   181  by _GoStringPtr. Note that the string contents may not have a trailing
   182  NUL byte.
   183  
   184  As Go doesn't have support for C's union type in the general case,
   185  C's union types are represented as a Go byte array with the same length.
   186  
   187  Go structs cannot embed fields with C types.
   188  
   189  Go code cannot refer to zero-sized fields that occur at the end of
   190  non-empty C structs. To get the address of such a field (which is the
   191  only operation you can do with a zero-sized field) you must take the
   192  address of the struct and add the size of the struct.
   193  
   194  Cgo translates C types into equivalent unexported Go types.
   195  Because the translations are unexported, a Go package should not
   196  expose C types in its exported API: a C type used in one Go package
   197  is different from the same C type used in another.
   198  
   199  Any C function (even void functions) may be called in a multiple
   200  assignment context to retrieve both the return value (if any) and the
   201  C errno variable as an error (use _ to skip the result value if the
   202  function returns void). For example:
   203  
   204  	n, err = C.sqrt(-1)
   205  	_, err := C.voidFunc()
   206  	var n, err = C.sqrt(1)
   207  
   208  Calling C function pointers is currently not supported, however you can
   209  declare Go variables which hold C function pointers and pass them
   210  back and forth between Go and C. C code may call function pointers
   211  received from Go. For example:
   212  
   213  	package cgo
   214  
   215  	// typedef int (*intFunc) ();
   216  	//
   217  	// int
   218  	// bridge_int_func(intFunc f)
   219  	// {
   220  	//		return f();
   221  	// }
   222  	//
   223  	// int fortytwo()
   224  	// {
   225  	//	    return 42;
   226  	// }
   227  	import "C"
   228  	import "fmt"
   229  
   230  	func main() {
   231  		f := C.intFunc(C.fortytwo)
   232  		fmt.Println(int(C.bridge_int_func(f)))
   233  		// Output: 42
   234  	}
   235  
   236  In C, a function argument written as a fixed size array
   237  actually requires a pointer to the first element of the array.
   238  C compilers are aware of this calling convention and adjust
   239  the call accordingly, but Go cannot. In Go, you must pass
   240  the pointer to the first element explicitly: C.f(&C.x[0]).
   241  
   242  Calling variadic C functions is not supported. It is possible to
   243  circumvent this by using a C function wrapper. For example:
   244  
   245  	package cgo
   246  
   247  	// #include <stdio.h>
   248  	// #include <stdlib.h>
   249  	//
   250  	// static void myprint(char* s) {
   251  	//   printf("%s\n", s);
   252  	// }
   253  	import "C"
   254  	import "unsafe"
   255  
   256  	func main() {
   257  		cs := C.CString("Hello from stdio")
   258  		C.myprint(cs)
   259  		C.free(unsafe.Pointer(cs))
   260  	}
   261  
   262  A few special functions convert between Go and C types
   263  by making copies of the data. In pseudo-Go definitions:
   264  
   265  	// Go string to C string
   266  	// The C string is allocated in the C heap using malloc.
   267  	// It is the caller's responsibility to arrange for it to be
   268  	// freed, such as by calling C.free (be sure to include stdlib.h
   269  	// if C.free is needed).
   270  	func C.CString(string) *C.char
   271  
   272  	// Go []byte slice to C array
   273  	// The C array is allocated in the C heap using malloc.
   274  	// It is the caller's responsibility to arrange for it to be
   275  	// freed, such as by calling C.free (be sure to include stdlib.h
   276  	// if C.free is needed).
   277  	func C.CBytes([]byte) unsafe.Pointer
   278  
   279  	// C string to Go string
   280  	func C.GoString(*C.char) string
   281  
   282  	// C data with explicit length to Go string
   283  	func C.GoStringN(*C.char, C.int) string
   284  
   285  	// C data with explicit length to Go []byte
   286  	func C.GoBytes(unsafe.Pointer, C.int) []byte
   287  
   288  As a special case, C.malloc does not call the C library malloc directly
   289  but instead calls a Go helper function that wraps the C library malloc
   290  but guarantees never to return nil. If C's malloc indicates out of memory,
   291  the helper function crashes the program, like when Go itself runs out
   292  of memory. Because C.malloc cannot fail, it has no two-result form
   293  that returns errno.
   294  
   295  # C references to Go
   296  
   297  Go functions can be exported for use by C code in the following way:
   298  
   299  	//export MyFunction
   300  	func MyFunction(arg1, arg2 int, arg3 string) int64 {...}
   301  
   302  	//export MyFunction2
   303  	func MyFunction2(arg1, arg2 int, arg3 string) (int64, *C.char) {...}
   304  
   305  They will be available in the C code as:
   306  
   307  	extern GoInt64 MyFunction(int arg1, int arg2, GoString arg3);
   308  	extern struct MyFunction2_return MyFunction2(int arg1, int arg2, GoString arg3);
   309  
   310  found in the _cgo_export.h generated header, after any preambles
   311  copied from the cgo input files. Functions with multiple
   312  return values are mapped to functions returning a struct.
   313  
   314  Not all Go types can be mapped to C types in a useful way.
   315  Go struct types are not supported; use a C struct type.
   316  Go array types are not supported; use a C pointer.
   317  
   318  Go functions that take arguments of type string may be called with the
   319  C type _GoString_, described above. The _GoString_ type will be
   320  automatically defined in the preamble. Note that there is no way for C
   321  code to create a value of this type; this is only useful for passing
   322  string values from Go to C and back to Go.
   323  
   324  Using //export in a file places a restriction on the preamble:
   325  since it is copied into two different C output files, it must not
   326  contain any definitions, only declarations. If a file contains both
   327  definitions and declarations, then the two output files will produce
   328  duplicate symbols and the linker will fail. To avoid this, definitions
   329  must be placed in preambles in other files, or in C source files.
   330  
   331  # Passing pointers
   332  
   333  Go is a garbage collected language, and the garbage collector needs to
   334  know the location of every pointer to Go memory. Because of this,
   335  there are restrictions on passing pointers between Go and C.
   336  
   337  In this section the term Go pointer means a pointer to memory
   338  allocated by Go (such as by using the & operator or calling the
   339  predefined new function) and the term C pointer means a pointer to
   340  memory allocated by C (such as by a call to C.malloc). Whether a
   341  pointer is a Go pointer or a C pointer is a dynamic property
   342  determined by how the memory was allocated; it has nothing to do with
   343  the type of the pointer.
   344  
   345  Note that values of some Go types, other than the type's zero value,
   346  always include Go pointers. This is true of string, slice, interface,
   347  channel, map, and function types. A pointer type may hold a Go pointer
   348  or a C pointer. Array and struct types may or may not include Go
   349  pointers, depending on the element types. All the discussion below
   350  about Go pointers applies not just to pointer types, but also to other
   351  types that include Go pointers.
   352  
   353  All Go pointers passed to C must point to pinned Go memory. Go pointers
   354  passed as function arguments to C functions have the memory they point to
   355  implicitly pinned for the duration of the call. Go memory reachable from
   356  these function arguments must be pinned as long as the C code has access
   357  to it. Whether Go memory is pinned is a dynamic property of that memory
   358  region; it has nothing to do with the type of the pointer.
   359  
   360  Go values created by calling new, by taking the address of a composite
   361  literal, or by taking the address of a local variable may also have their
   362  memory pinned using [runtime.Pinner]. This type may be used to manage
   363  the duration of the memory's pinned status, potentially beyond the
   364  duration of a C function call. Memory may be pinned more than once and
   365  must be unpinned exactly the same number of times it has been pinned.
   366  
   367  Go code may pass a Go pointer to C provided the memory to which it
   368  points does not contain any Go pointers to memory that is unpinned. When
   369  passing a pointer to a field in a struct, the Go memory in question is
   370  the memory occupied by the field, not the entire struct. When passing a
   371  pointer to an element in an array or slice, the Go memory in question is
   372  the entire array or the entire backing array of the slice.
   373  
   374  C code may keep a copy of a Go pointer only as long as the memory it
   375  points to is pinned.
   376  
   377  C code may not keep a copy of a Go pointer after the call returns,
   378  unless the memory it points to is pinned with [runtime.Pinner] and the
   379  Pinner is not unpinned while the Go pointer is stored in C memory.
   380  This implies that C code may not keep a copy of a string, slice,
   381  channel, and so forth, because they cannot be pinned with
   382  [runtime.Pinner].
   383  
   384  The _GoString_ type also may not be pinned with [runtime.Pinner].
   385  Because it includes a Go pointer, the memory it points to is only pinned
   386  for the duration of the call; _GoString_ values may not be retained by C
   387  code.
   388  
   389  A Go function called by C code may return a Go pointer to pinned memory
   390  (which implies that it may not return a string, slice, channel, and so
   391  forth). A Go function called by C code may take C pointers as arguments,
   392  and it may store non-pointer data, C pointers, or Go pointers to pinned
   393  memory through those pointers. It may not store a Go pointer to unpinned
   394  memory in memory pointed to by a C pointer (which again, implies that it
   395  may not store a string, slice, channel, and so forth). A Go function
   396  called by C code may take a Go pointer but it must preserve the property
   397  that the Go memory to which it points (and the Go memory to which that
   398  memory points, and so on) is pinned.
   399  
   400  These rules are checked dynamically at runtime. The checking is
   401  controlled by the cgocheck setting of the GODEBUG environment
   402  variable. The default setting is GODEBUG=cgocheck=1, which implements
   403  reasonably cheap dynamic checks. These checks may be disabled
   404  entirely using GODEBUG=cgocheck=0. Complete checking of pointer
   405  handling, at some cost in run time, is available via GODEBUG=cgocheck=2.
   406  
   407  It is possible to defeat this enforcement by using the unsafe package,
   408  and of course there is nothing stopping the C code from doing anything
   409  it likes. However, programs that break these rules are likely to fail
   410  in unexpected and unpredictable ways.
   411  
   412  The runtime/cgo.Handle type can be used to safely pass Go values
   413  between Go and C. See the runtime/cgo package documentation for details.
   414  
   415  Note: the current implementation has a bug. While Go code is permitted
   416  to write nil or a C pointer (but not a Go pointer) to C memory, the
   417  current implementation may sometimes cause a runtime error if the
   418  contents of the C memory appear to be a Go pointer. Therefore, avoid
   419  passing uninitialized C memory to Go code if the Go code is going to
   420  store pointer values in it. Zero out the memory in C before passing it
   421  to Go.
   422  
   423  # Special cases
   424  
   425  A few special C types which would normally be represented by a pointer
   426  type in Go are instead represented by a uintptr. Those include:
   427  
   428  1. The *Ref types on Darwin, rooted at CoreFoundation's CFTypeRef type.
   429  
   430  2. The object types from Java's JNI interface:
   431  
   432  	jobject
   433  	jclass
   434  	jthrowable
   435  	jstring
   436  	jarray
   437  	jbooleanArray
   438  	jbyteArray
   439  	jcharArray
   440  	jshortArray
   441  	jintArray
   442  	jlongArray
   443  	jfloatArray
   444  	jdoubleArray
   445  	jobjectArray
   446  	jweak
   447  
   448  3. The EGLDisplay and EGLConfig types from the EGL API.
   449  
   450  These types are uintptr on the Go side because they would otherwise
   451  confuse the Go garbage collector; they are sometimes not really
   452  pointers but data structures encoded in a pointer type. All operations
   453  on these types must happen in C. The proper constant to initialize an
   454  empty such reference is 0, not nil.
   455  
   456  These special cases were introduced in Go 1.10. For auto-updating code
   457  from Go 1.9 and earlier, use the cftype or jni rewrites in the Go fix tool:
   458  
   459  	go tool fix -r cftype <pkg>
   460  	go tool fix -r jni <pkg>
   461  
   462  It will replace nil with 0 in the appropriate places.
   463  
   464  The EGLDisplay case was introduced in Go 1.12. Use the egl rewrite
   465  to auto-update code from Go 1.11 and earlier:
   466  
   467  	go tool fix -r egl <pkg>
   468  
   469  The EGLConfig case was introduced in Go 1.15. Use the eglconf rewrite
   470  to auto-update code from Go 1.14 and earlier:
   471  
   472  	go tool fix -r eglconf <pkg>
   473  
   474  # Using cgo directly
   475  
   476  Usage:
   477  
   478  	go tool cgo [cgo options] [-- compiler options] gofiles...
   479  
   480  Cgo transforms the specified input Go source files into several output
   481  Go and C source files.
   482  
   483  The compiler options are passed through uninterpreted when
   484  invoking the C compiler to compile the C parts of the package.
   485  
   486  The following options are available when running cgo directly:
   487  
   488  	-V
   489  		Print cgo version and exit.
   490  	-debug-define
   491  		Debugging option. Print #defines.
   492  	-debug-gcc
   493  		Debugging option. Trace C compiler execution and output.
   494  	-dynimport file
   495  		Write list of symbols imported by file. Write to
   496  		-dynout argument or to standard output. Used by go
   497  		build when building a cgo package.
   498  	-dynlinker
   499  		Write dynamic linker as part of -dynimport output.
   500  	-dynout file
   501  		Write -dynimport output to file.
   502  	-dynpackage package
   503  		Set Go package for -dynimport output.
   504  	-exportheader file
   505  		If there are any exported functions, write the
   506  		generated export declarations to file.
   507  		C code can #include this to see the declarations.
   508  	-importpath string
   509  		The import path for the Go package. Optional; used for
   510  		nicer comments in the generated files.
   511  	-import_runtime_cgo
   512  		If set (which it is by default) import runtime/cgo in
   513  		generated output.
   514  	-import_syscall
   515  		If set (which it is by default) import syscall in
   516  		generated output.
   517  	-gccgo
   518  		Generate output for the gccgo compiler rather than the
   519  		gc compiler.
   520  	-gccgoprefix prefix
   521  		The -fgo-prefix option to be used with gccgo.
   522  	-gccgopkgpath path
   523  		The -fgo-pkgpath option to be used with gccgo.
   524  	-gccgo_define_cgoincomplete
   525  		Define cgo.Incomplete locally rather than importing it from
   526  		the "runtime/cgo" package. Used for old gccgo versions.
   527  	-godefs
   528  		Write out input file in Go syntax replacing C package
   529  		names with real values. Used to generate files in the
   530  		syscall package when bootstrapping a new target.
   531  	-objdir directory
   532  		Put all generated files in directory.
   533  	-srcdir directory
   534  */
   535  package cgo
   536  
   537  /*
   538  Implementation details.
   539  
   540  Cgo provides a way for Go programs to call C code linked into the same
   541  address space. This comment explains the operation of cgo.
   542  
   543  Cgo reads a set of Go source files and looks for statements saying
   544  import "C". If the import has a doc comment, that comment is
   545  taken as literal C code to be used as a preamble to any C code
   546  generated by cgo. A typical preamble #includes necessary definitions:
   547  
   548  	// #include <stdio.h>
   549  	import "C"
   550  
   551  For more details about the usage of cgo, see the documentation
   552  comment at the top of this file.
   553  
   554  Understanding C
   555  
   556  Cgo scans the Go source files that import "C" for uses of that
   557  package, such as C.puts. It collects all such identifiers. The next
   558  step is to determine each kind of name. In C.xxx the xxx might refer
   559  to a type, a function, a constant, or a global variable. Cgo must
   560  decide which.
   561  
   562  The obvious thing for cgo to do is to process the preamble, expanding
   563  #includes and processing the corresponding C code. That would require
   564  a full C parser and type checker that was also aware of any extensions
   565  known to the system compiler (for example, all the GNU C extensions) as
   566  well as the system-specific header locations and system-specific
   567  pre-#defined macros. This is certainly possible to do, but it is an
   568  enormous amount of work.
   569  
   570  Cgo takes a different approach. It determines the meaning of C
   571  identifiers not by parsing C code but by feeding carefully constructed
   572  programs into the system C compiler and interpreting the generated
   573  error messages, debug information, and object files. In practice,
   574  parsing these is significantly less work and more robust than parsing
   575  C source.
   576  
   577  Cgo first invokes gcc -E -dM on the preamble, in order to find out
   578  about simple #defines for constants and the like. These are recorded
   579  for later use.
   580  
   581  Next, cgo needs to identify the kinds for each identifier. For the
   582  identifiers C.foo, cgo generates this C program:
   583  
   584  	<preamble>
   585  	#line 1 "not-declared"
   586  	void __cgo_f_1_1(void) { __typeof__(foo) *__cgo_undefined__1; }
   587  	#line 1 "not-type"
   588  	void __cgo_f_1_2(void) { foo *__cgo_undefined__2; }
   589  	#line 1 "not-int-const"
   590  	void __cgo_f_1_3(void) { enum { __cgo_undefined__3 = (foo)*1 }; }
   591  	#line 1 "not-num-const"
   592  	void __cgo_f_1_4(void) { static const double __cgo_undefined__4 = (foo); }
   593  	#line 1 "not-str-lit"
   594  	void __cgo_f_1_5(void) { static const char __cgo_undefined__5[] = (foo); }
   595  
   596  This program will not compile, but cgo can use the presence or absence
   597  of an error message on a given line to deduce the information it
   598  needs. The program is syntactically valid regardless of whether each
   599  name is a type or an ordinary identifier, so there will be no syntax
   600  errors that might stop parsing early.
   601  
   602  An error on not-declared:1 indicates that foo is undeclared.
   603  An error on not-type:1 indicates that foo is not a type (if declared at all, it is an identifier).
   604  An error on not-int-const:1 indicates that foo is not an integer constant.
   605  An error on not-num-const:1 indicates that foo is not a number constant.
   606  An error on not-str-lit:1 indicates that foo is not a string literal.
   607  An error on not-signed-int-const:1 indicates that foo is not a signed integer constant.
   608  
   609  The line number specifies the name involved. In the example, 1 is foo.
   610  
   611  Next, cgo must learn the details of each type, variable, function, or
   612  constant. It can do this by reading object files. If cgo has decided
   613  that t1 is a type, v2 and v3 are variables or functions, and i4, i5
   614  are integer constants, u6 is an unsigned integer constant, and f7 and f8
   615  are float constants, and s9 and s10 are string constants, it generates:
   616  
   617  	<preamble>
   618  	__typeof__(t1) *__cgo__1;
   619  	__typeof__(v2) *__cgo__2;
   620  	__typeof__(v3) *__cgo__3;
   621  	__typeof__(i4) *__cgo__4;
   622  	enum { __cgo_enum__4 = i4 };
   623  	__typeof__(i5) *__cgo__5;
   624  	enum { __cgo_enum__5 = i5 };
   625  	__typeof__(u6) *__cgo__6;
   626  	enum { __cgo_enum__6 = u6 };
   627  	__typeof__(f7) *__cgo__7;
   628  	__typeof__(f8) *__cgo__8;
   629  	__typeof__(s9) *__cgo__9;
   630  	__typeof__(s10) *__cgo__10;
   631  
   632  	long long __cgodebug_ints[] = {
   633  		0, // t1
   634  		0, // v2
   635  		0, // v3
   636  		i4,
   637  		i5,
   638  		u6,
   639  		0, // f7
   640  		0, // f8
   641  		0, // s9
   642  		0, // s10
   643  		1
   644  	};
   645  
   646  	double __cgodebug_floats[] = {
   647  		0, // t1
   648  		0, // v2
   649  		0, // v3
   650  		0, // i4
   651  		0, // i5
   652  		0, // u6
   653  		f7,
   654  		f8,
   655  		0, // s9
   656  		0, // s10
   657  		1
   658  	};
   659  
   660  	const char __cgodebug_str__9[] = s9;
   661  	const unsigned long long __cgodebug_strlen__9 = sizeof(s9)-1;
   662  	const char __cgodebug_str__10[] = s10;
   663  	const unsigned long long __cgodebug_strlen__10 = sizeof(s10)-1;
   664  
   665  and again invokes the system C compiler, to produce an object file
   666  containing debug information. Cgo parses the DWARF debug information
   667  for __cgo__N to learn the type of each identifier. (The types also
   668  distinguish functions from global variables.) Cgo reads the constant
   669  values from the __cgodebug_* from the object file's data segment.
   670  
   671  At this point cgo knows the meaning of each C.xxx well enough to start
   672  the translation process.
   673  
   674  Translating Go
   675  
   676  Given the input Go files x.go and y.go, cgo generates these source
   677  files:
   678  
   679  	x.cgo1.go       # for gc (cmd/compile)
   680  	y.cgo1.go       # for gc
   681  	_cgo_gotypes.go # for gc
   682  	_cgo_import.go  # for gc (if -dynout _cgo_import.go)
   683  	x.cgo2.c        # for gcc
   684  	y.cgo2.c        # for gcc
   685  	_cgo_defun.c    # for gcc (if -gccgo)
   686  	_cgo_export.c   # for gcc
   687  	_cgo_export.h   # for gcc
   688  	_cgo_main.c     # for gcc
   689  	_cgo_flags      # for build tool (if -gccgo)
   690  
   691  The file x.cgo1.go is a copy of x.go with the import "C" removed and
   692  references to C.xxx replaced with names like _Cfunc_xxx or _Ctype_xxx.
   693  The definitions of those identifiers, written as Go functions, types,
   694  or variables, are provided in _cgo_gotypes.go.
   695  
   696  Here is a _cgo_gotypes.go containing definitions for needed C types:
   697  
   698  	type _Ctype_char int8
   699  	type _Ctype_int int32
   700  	type _Ctype_void [0]byte
   701  
   702  The _cgo_gotypes.go file also contains the definitions of the
   703  functions. They all have similar bodies that invoke runtime·cgocall
   704  to make a switch from the Go runtime world to the system C (GCC-based)
   705  world.
   706  
   707  For example, here is the definition of _Cfunc_puts:
   708  
   709  	//go:cgo_import_static _cgo_be59f0f25121_Cfunc_puts
   710  	//go:linkname __cgofn__cgo_be59f0f25121_Cfunc_puts _cgo_be59f0f25121_Cfunc_puts
   711  	var __cgofn__cgo_be59f0f25121_Cfunc_puts byte
   712  	var _cgo_be59f0f25121_Cfunc_puts = unsafe.Pointer(&__cgofn__cgo_be59f0f25121_Cfunc_puts)
   713  
   714  	func _Cfunc_puts(p0 *_Ctype_char) (r1 _Ctype_int) {
   715  		_cgo_runtime_cgocall(_cgo_be59f0f25121_Cfunc_puts, uintptr(unsafe.Pointer(&p0)))
   716  		return
   717  	}
   718  
   719  The hexadecimal number is a hash of cgo's input, chosen to be
   720  deterministic yet unlikely to collide with other uses. The actual
   721  function _cgo_be59f0f25121_Cfunc_puts is implemented in a C source
   722  file compiled by gcc, the file x.cgo2.c:
   723  
   724  	void
   725  	_cgo_be59f0f25121_Cfunc_puts(void *v)
   726  	{
   727  		struct {
   728  			char* p0;
   729  			int r;
   730  			char __pad12[4];
   731  		} __attribute__((__packed__, __gcc_struct__)) *a = v;
   732  		a->r = puts((void*)a->p0);
   733  	}
   734  
   735  It extracts the arguments from the pointer to _Cfunc_puts's argument
   736  frame, invokes the system C function (in this case, puts), stores the
   737  result in the frame, and returns.
   738  
   739  Linking
   740  
   741  Once the _cgo_export.c and *.cgo2.c files have been compiled with gcc,
   742  they need to be linked into the final binary, along with the libraries
   743  they might depend on (in the case of puts, stdio). cmd/link has been
   744  extended to understand basic ELF files, but it does not understand ELF
   745  in the full complexity that modern C libraries embrace, so it cannot
   746  in general generate direct references to the system libraries.
   747  
   748  Instead, the build process generates an object file using dynamic
   749  linkage to the desired libraries. The main function is provided by
   750  _cgo_main.c:
   751  
   752  	int main() { return 0; }
   753  	void crosscall2(void(*fn)(void*), void *a, int c, uintptr_t ctxt) { }
   754  	uintptr_t _cgo_wait_runtime_init_done(void) { return 0; }
   755  	void _cgo_release_context(uintptr_t ctxt) { }
   756  	char* _cgo_topofstack(void) { return (char*)0; }
   757  	void _cgo_allocate(void *a, int c) { }
   758  	void _cgo_panic(void *a, int c) { }
   759  	void _cgo_reginit(void) { }
   760  
   761  The extra functions here are stubs to satisfy the references in the C
   762  code generated for gcc. The build process links this stub, along with
   763  _cgo_export.c and *.cgo2.c, into a dynamic executable and then lets
   764  cgo examine the executable. Cgo records the list of shared library
   765  references and resolved names and writes them into a new file
   766  _cgo_import.go, which looks like:
   767  
   768  	//go:cgo_dynamic_linker "/lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2"
   769  	//go:cgo_import_dynamic puts puts#GLIBC_2.2.5 "libc.so.6"
   770  	//go:cgo_import_dynamic __libc_start_main __libc_start_main#GLIBC_2.2.5 "libc.so.6"
   771  	//go:cgo_import_dynamic stdout stdout#GLIBC_2.2.5 "libc.so.6"
   772  	//go:cgo_import_dynamic fflush fflush#GLIBC_2.2.5 "libc.so.6"
   773  	//go:cgo_import_dynamic _ _ "libpthread.so.0"
   774  	//go:cgo_import_dynamic _ _ "libc.so.6"
   775  
   776  In the end, the compiled Go package, which will eventually be
   777  presented to cmd/link as part of a larger program, contains:
   778  
   779  	_go_.o        # gc-compiled object for _cgo_gotypes.go, _cgo_import.go, *.cgo1.go
   780  	_all.o        # gcc-compiled object for _cgo_export.c, *.cgo2.c
   781  
   782  If there is an error generating the _cgo_import.go file, then, instead
   783  of adding _cgo_import.go to the package, the go tool adds an empty
   784  file named dynimportfail. The _cgo_import.go file is only needed when
   785  using internal linking mode, which is not the default when linking
   786  programs that use cgo (as described below). If the linker sees a file
   787  named dynimportfail it reports an error if it has been told to use
   788  internal linking mode. This approach is taken because generating
   789  _cgo_import.go requires doing a full C link of the package, which can
   790  fail for reasons that are irrelevant when using external linking mode.
   791  
   792  The final program will be a dynamic executable, so that cmd/link can avoid
   793  needing to process arbitrary .o files. It only needs to process the .o
   794  files generated from C files that cgo writes, and those are much more
   795  limited in the ELF or other features that they use.
   796  
   797  In essence, the _cgo_import.o file includes the extra linking
   798  directives that cmd/link is not sophisticated enough to derive from _all.o
   799  on its own. Similarly, the _all.o uses dynamic references to real
   800  system object code because cmd/link is not sophisticated enough to process
   801  the real code.
   802  
   803  The main benefits of this system are that cmd/link remains relatively simple
   804  (it does not need to implement a complete ELF and Mach-O linker) and
   805  that gcc is not needed after the package is compiled. For example,
   806  package net uses cgo for access to name resolution functions provided
   807  by libc. Although gcc is needed to compile package net, gcc is not
   808  needed to link programs that import package net.
   809  
   810  Runtime
   811  
   812  When using cgo, Go must not assume that it owns all details of the
   813  process. In particular it needs to coordinate with C in the use of
   814  threads and thread-local storage. The runtime package declares a few
   815  variables:
   816  
   817  	var (
   818  		iscgo             bool
   819  		_cgo_init         unsafe.Pointer
   820  		_cgo_thread_start unsafe.Pointer
   821  	)
   822  
   823  Any package using cgo imports "runtime/cgo", which provides
   824  initializations for these variables. It sets iscgo to true, _cgo_init
   825  to a gcc-compiled function that can be called early during program
   826  startup, and _cgo_thread_start to a gcc-compiled function that can be
   827  used to create a new thread, in place of the runtime's usual direct
   828  system calls.
   829  
   830  Internal and External Linking
   831  
   832  The text above describes "internal" linking, in which cmd/link parses and
   833  links host object files (ELF, Mach-O, PE, and so on) into the final
   834  executable itself. Keeping cmd/link simple means we cannot possibly
   835  implement the full semantics of the host linker, so the kinds of
   836  objects that can be linked directly into the binary is limited (other
   837  code can only be used as a dynamic library). On the other hand, when
   838  using internal linking, cmd/link can generate Go binaries by itself.
   839  
   840  In order to allow linking arbitrary object files without requiring
   841  dynamic libraries, cgo supports an "external" linking mode too. In
   842  external linking mode, cmd/link does not process any host object files.
   843  Instead, it collects all the Go code and writes a single go.o object
   844  file containing it. Then it invokes the host linker (usually gcc) to
   845  combine the go.o object file and any supporting non-Go code into a
   846  final executable. External linking avoids the dynamic library
   847  requirement but introduces a requirement that the host linker be
   848  present to create such a binary.
   849  
   850  Most builds both compile source code and invoke the linker to create a
   851  binary. When cgo is involved, the compile step already requires gcc, so
   852  it is not problematic for the link step to require gcc too.
   853  
   854  An important exception is builds using a pre-compiled copy of the
   855  standard library. In particular, package net uses cgo on most systems,
   856  and we want to preserve the ability to compile pure Go code that
   857  imports net without requiring gcc to be present at link time. (In this
   858  case, the dynamic library requirement is less significant, because the
   859  only library involved is libc.so, which can usually be assumed
   860  present.)
   861  
   862  This conflict between functionality and the gcc requirement means we
   863  must support both internal and external linking, depending on the
   864  circumstances: if net is the only cgo-using package, then internal
   865  linking is probably fine, but if other packages are involved, so that there
   866  are dependencies on libraries beyond libc, external linking is likely
   867  to work better. The compilation of a package records the relevant
   868  information to support both linking modes, leaving the decision
   869  to be made when linking the final binary.
   870  
   871  Linking Directives
   872  
   873  In either linking mode, package-specific directives must be passed
   874  through to cmd/link. These are communicated by writing //go: directives in a
   875  Go source file compiled by gc. The directives are copied into the .o
   876  object file and then processed by the linker.
   877  
   878  The directives are:
   879  
   880  //go:cgo_import_dynamic <local> [<remote> ["<library>"]]
   881  
   882  	In internal linking mode, allow an unresolved reference to
   883  	<local>, assuming it will be resolved by a dynamic library
   884  	symbol. The optional <remote> specifies the symbol's name and
   885  	possibly version in the dynamic library, and the optional "<library>"
   886  	names the specific library where the symbol should be found.
   887  
   888  	On AIX, the library pattern is slightly different. It must be
   889  	"lib.a/obj.o" with obj.o the member of this library exporting
   890  	this symbol.
   891  
   892  	In the <remote>, # or @ can be used to introduce a symbol version.
   893  
   894  	Examples:
   895  	//go:cgo_import_dynamic puts
   896  	//go:cgo_import_dynamic puts puts#GLIBC_2.2.5
   897  	//go:cgo_import_dynamic puts puts#GLIBC_2.2.5 "libc.so.6"
   898  
   899  	A side effect of the cgo_import_dynamic directive with a
   900  	library is to make the final binary depend on that dynamic
   901  	library. To get the dependency without importing any specific
   902  	symbols, use _ for local and remote.
   903  
   904  	Example:
   905  	//go:cgo_import_dynamic _ _ "libc.so.6"
   906  
   907  	For compatibility with current versions of SWIG,
   908  	#pragma dynimport is an alias for //go:cgo_import_dynamic.
   909  
   910  //go:cgo_dynamic_linker "<path>"
   911  
   912  	In internal linking mode, use "<path>" as the dynamic linker
   913  	in the final binary. This directive is only needed from one
   914  	package when constructing a binary; by convention it is
   915  	supplied by runtime/cgo.
   916  
   917  	Example:
   918  	//go:cgo_dynamic_linker "/lib/ld-linux.so.2"
   919  
   920  //go:cgo_export_dynamic <local> <remote>
   921  
   922  	In internal linking mode, put the Go symbol
   923  	named <local> into the program's exported symbol table as
   924  	<remote>, so that C code can refer to it by that name. This
   925  	mechanism makes it possible for C code to call back into Go or
   926  	to share Go's data.
   927  
   928  	For compatibility with current versions of SWIG,
   929  	#pragma dynexport is an alias for //go:cgo_export_dynamic.
   930  
   931  //go:cgo_import_static <local>
   932  
   933  	In external linking mode, allow unresolved references to
   934  	<local> in the go.o object file prepared for the host linker,
   935  	under the assumption that <local> will be supplied by the
   936  	other object files that will be linked with go.o.
   937  
   938  	Example:
   939  	//go:cgo_import_static puts_wrapper
   940  
   941  //go:cgo_export_static <local> <remote>
   942  
   943  	In external linking mode, put the Go symbol
   944  	named <local> into the program's exported symbol table as
   945  	<remote>, so that C code can refer to it by that name. This
   946  	mechanism makes it possible for C code to call back into Go or
   947  	to share Go's data.
   948  
   949  //go:cgo_ldflag "<arg>"
   950  
   951  	In external linking mode, invoke the host linker (usually gcc)
   952  	with "<arg>" as a command-line argument following the .o files.
   953  	Note that the arguments are for "gcc", not "ld".
   954  
   955  	Example:
   956  	//go:cgo_ldflag "-lpthread"
   957  	//go:cgo_ldflag "-L/usr/local/sqlite3/lib"
   958  
   959  A package compiled with cgo will include directives for both
   960  internal and external linking; the linker will select the appropriate
   961  subset for the chosen linking mode.
   962  
   963  Example
   964  
   965  As a simple example, consider a package that uses cgo to call C.sin.
   966  The following code will be generated by cgo:
   967  
   968  	// compiled by gc
   969  
   970  	//go:cgo_ldflag "-lm"
   971  
   972  	type _Ctype_double float64
   973  
   974  	//go:cgo_import_static _cgo_gcc_Cfunc_sin
   975  	//go:linkname __cgo_gcc_Cfunc_sin _cgo_gcc_Cfunc_sin
   976  	var __cgo_gcc_Cfunc_sin byte
   977  	var _cgo_gcc_Cfunc_sin = unsafe.Pointer(&__cgo_gcc_Cfunc_sin)
   978  
   979  	func _Cfunc_sin(p0 _Ctype_double) (r1 _Ctype_double) {
   980  		_cgo_runtime_cgocall(_cgo_gcc_Cfunc_sin, uintptr(unsafe.Pointer(&p0)))
   981  		return
   982  	}
   983  
   984  	// compiled by gcc, into foo.cgo2.o
   985  
   986  	void
   987  	_cgo_gcc_Cfunc_sin(void *v)
   988  	{
   989  		struct {
   990  			double p0;
   991  			double r;
   992  		} __attribute__((__packed__)) *a = v;
   993  		a->r = sin(a->p0);
   994  	}
   995  
   996  What happens at link time depends on whether the final binary is linked
   997  using the internal or external mode. If other packages are compiled in
   998  "external only" mode, then the final link will be an external one.
   999  Otherwise the link will be an internal one.
  1000  
  1001  The linking directives are used according to the kind of final link
  1002  used.
  1003  
  1004  In internal mode, cmd/link itself processes all the host object files, in
  1005  particular foo.cgo2.o. To do so, it uses the cgo_import_dynamic and
  1006  cgo_dynamic_linker directives to learn that the otherwise undefined
  1007  reference to sin in foo.cgo2.o should be rewritten to refer to the
  1008  symbol sin with version GLIBC_2.2.5 from the dynamic library
  1009  "libm.so.6", and the binary should request "/lib/ld-linux.so.2" as its
  1010  runtime dynamic linker.
  1011  
  1012  In external mode, cmd/link does not process any host object files, in
  1013  particular foo.cgo2.o. It links together the gc-generated object
  1014  files, along with any other Go code, into a go.o file. While doing
  1015  that, cmd/link will discover that there is no definition for
  1016  _cgo_gcc_Cfunc_sin, referred to by the gc-compiled source file. This
  1017  is okay, because cmd/link also processes the cgo_import_static directive and
  1018  knows that _cgo_gcc_Cfunc_sin is expected to be supplied by a host
  1019  object file, so cmd/link does not treat the missing symbol as an error when
  1020  creating go.o. Indeed, the definition for _cgo_gcc_Cfunc_sin will be
  1021  provided to the host linker by foo2.cgo.o, which in turn will need the
  1022  symbol 'sin'. cmd/link also processes the cgo_ldflag directives, so that it
  1023  knows that the eventual host link command must include the -lm
  1024  argument, so that the host linker will be able to find 'sin' in the
  1025  math library.
  1026  
  1027  cmd/link Command Line Interface
  1028  
  1029  The go command and any other Go-aware build systems invoke cmd/link
  1030  to link a collection of packages into a single binary. By default, cmd/link will
  1031  present the same interface it does today:
  1032  
  1033  	cmd/link main.a
  1034  
  1035  produces a file named a.out, even if cmd/link does so by invoking the host
  1036  linker in external linking mode.
  1037  
  1038  By default, cmd/link will decide the linking mode as follows: if the only
  1039  packages using cgo are those on a list of known standard library
  1040  packages (net, os/user, runtime/cgo), cmd/link will use internal linking
  1041  mode. Otherwise, there are non-standard cgo packages involved, and cmd/link
  1042  will use external linking mode. The first rule means that a build of
  1043  the godoc binary, which uses net but no other cgo, can run without
  1044  needing gcc available. The second rule means that a build of a
  1045  cgo-wrapped library like sqlite3 can generate a standalone executable
  1046  instead of needing to refer to a dynamic library. The specific choice
  1047  can be overridden using a command line flag: cmd/link -linkmode=internal or
  1048  cmd/link -linkmode=external.
  1049  
  1050  In an external link, cmd/link will create a temporary directory, write any
  1051  host object files found in package archives to that directory (renamed
  1052  to avoid conflicts), write the go.o file to that directory, and invoke
  1053  the host linker. The default value for the host linker is $CC, split
  1054  into fields, or else "gcc". The specific host linker command line can
  1055  be overridden using command line flags: cmd/link -extld=clang
  1056  -extldflags='-ggdb -O3'. If any package in a build includes a .cc or
  1057  other file compiled by the C++ compiler, the go tool will use the
  1058  -extld option to set the host linker to the C++ compiler.
  1059  
  1060  These defaults mean that Go-aware build systems can ignore the linking
  1061  changes and keep running plain 'cmd/link' and get reasonable results, but
  1062  they can also control the linking details if desired.
  1063  
  1064  */