github.com/rakyll/go@v0.0.0-20170216000551-64c02460d703/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, FFLAGS and LDFLAGS may be defined with pseudo 35 #cgo directives within these comments to tweak the behavior of the C, C++ 36 or Fortran 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 The default pkg-config tool may be changed by setting the PKG_CONFIG environment variable. 57 58 When building, the CGO_CFLAGS, CGO_CPPFLAGS, CGO_CXXFLAGS, CGO_FFLAGS and 59 CGO_LDFLAGS environment variables are added to the flags derived from 60 these directives. Package-specific flags should be set using the 61 directives, not the environment variables, so that builds work in 62 unmodified environments. 63 64 All the cgo CPPFLAGS and CFLAGS directives in a package are concatenated and 65 used to compile C files in that package. All the CPPFLAGS and CXXFLAGS 66 directives in a package are concatenated and used to compile C++ files in that 67 package. All the CPPFLAGS and FFLAGS directives in a package are concatenated 68 and used to compile Fortran files in that package. All the LDFLAGS directives 69 in any package in the program are concatenated and used at link time. All the 70 pkg-config directives are concatenated and sent to pkg-config simultaneously 71 to add to each appropriate set of command-line flags. 72 73 When the cgo directives are parsed, any occurrence of the string ${SRCDIR} 74 will be replaced by the absolute path to the directory containing the source 75 file. This allows pre-compiled static libraries to be included in the package 76 directory and linked properly. 77 For example if package foo is in the directory /go/src/foo: 78 79 // #cgo LDFLAGS: -L${SRCDIR}/libs -lfoo 80 81 Will be expanded to: 82 83 // #cgo LDFLAGS: -L/go/src/foo/libs -lfoo 84 85 When the Go tool sees that one or more Go files use the special import 86 "C", it will look for other non-Go files in the directory and compile 87 them as part of the Go package. Any .c, .s, or .S files will be 88 compiled with the C compiler. Any .cc, .cpp, or .cxx files will be 89 compiled with the C++ compiler. Any .f, .F, .for or .f90 files will be 90 compiled with the fortran compiler. Any .h, .hh, .hpp, or .hxx files will 91 not be compiled separately, but, if these header files are changed, 92 the C and C++ files will be recompiled. The default C and C++ 93 compilers may be changed by the CC and CXX environment variables, 94 respectively; those environment variables may include command line 95 options. 96 97 The cgo tool is enabled by default for native builds on systems where 98 it is expected to work. It is disabled by default when 99 cross-compiling. You can control this by setting the CGO_ENABLED 100 environment variable when running the go tool: set it to 1 to enable 101 the use of cgo, and to 0 to disable it. The go tool will set the 102 build constraint "cgo" if cgo is enabled. 103 104 When cross-compiling, you must specify a C cross-compiler for cgo to 105 use. You can do this by setting the CC_FOR_TARGET environment 106 variable when building the toolchain using make.bash, or by setting 107 the CC environment variable any time you run the go tool. The 108 CXX_FOR_TARGET and CXX environment variables work in a similar way for 109 C++ code. 110 111 Go references to C 112 113 Within the Go file, C's struct field names that are keywords in Go 114 can be accessed by prefixing them with an underscore: if x points at a C 115 struct with a field named "type", x._type accesses the field. 116 C struct fields that cannot be expressed in Go, such as bit fields 117 or misaligned data, are omitted in the Go struct, replaced by 118 appropriate padding to reach the next field or the end of the struct. 119 120 The standard C numeric types are available under the names 121 C.char, C.schar (signed char), C.uchar (unsigned char), 122 C.short, C.ushort (unsigned short), C.int, C.uint (unsigned int), 123 C.long, C.ulong (unsigned long), C.longlong (long long), 124 C.ulonglong (unsigned long long), C.float, C.double, 125 C.complexfloat (complex float), and C.complexdouble (complex double). 126 The C type void* is represented by Go's unsafe.Pointer. 127 The C types __int128_t and __uint128_t are represented by [16]byte. 128 129 To access a struct, union, or enum type directly, prefix it with 130 struct_, union_, or enum_, as in C.struct_stat. 131 132 The size of any C type T is available as C.sizeof_T, as in 133 C.sizeof_struct_stat. 134 135 As Go doesn't have support for C's union type in the general case, 136 C's union types are represented as a Go byte array with the same length. 137 138 Go structs cannot embed fields with C types. 139 140 Go code cannot refer to zero-sized fields that occur at the end of 141 non-empty C structs. To get the address of such a field (which is the 142 only operation you can do with a zero-sized field) you must take the 143 address of the struct and add the size of the struct. 144 145 Cgo translates C types into equivalent unexported Go types. 146 Because the translations are unexported, a Go package should not 147 expose C types in its exported API: a C type used in one Go package 148 is different from the same C type used in another. 149 150 Any C function (even void functions) may be called in a multiple 151 assignment context to retrieve both the return value (if any) and the 152 C errno variable as an error (use _ to skip the result value if the 153 function returns void). For example: 154 155 n, err = C.sqrt(-1) 156 _, err := C.voidFunc() 157 var n, err = C.sqrt(1) 158 159 Calling C function pointers is currently not supported, however you can 160 declare Go variables which hold C function pointers and pass them 161 back and forth between Go and C. C code may call function pointers 162 received from Go. For example: 163 164 package main 165 166 // typedef int (*intFunc) (); 167 // 168 // int 169 // bridge_int_func(intFunc f) 170 // { 171 // return f(); 172 // } 173 // 174 // int fortytwo() 175 // { 176 // return 42; 177 // } 178 import "C" 179 import "fmt" 180 181 func main() { 182 f := C.intFunc(C.fortytwo) 183 fmt.Println(int(C.bridge_int_func(f))) 184 // Output: 42 185 } 186 187 In C, a function argument written as a fixed size array 188 actually requires a pointer to the first element of the array. 189 C compilers are aware of this calling convention and adjust 190 the call accordingly, but Go cannot. In Go, you must pass 191 the pointer to the first element explicitly: C.f(&C.x[0]). 192 193 A few special functions convert between Go and C types 194 by making copies of the data. In pseudo-Go definitions: 195 196 // Go string to C string 197 // The C string is allocated in the C heap using malloc. 198 // It is the caller's responsibility to arrange for it to be 199 // freed, such as by calling C.free (be sure to include stdlib.h 200 // if C.free is needed). 201 func C.CString(string) *C.char 202 203 // Go []byte slice to C array 204 // The C array is allocated in the C heap using malloc. 205 // It is the caller's responsibility to arrange for it to be 206 // freed, such as by calling C.free (be sure to include stdlib.h 207 // if C.free is needed). 208 func C.CBytes([]byte) unsafe.Pointer 209 210 // C string to Go string 211 func C.GoString(*C.char) string 212 213 // C data with explicit length to Go string 214 func C.GoStringN(*C.char, C.int) string 215 216 // C data with explicit length to Go []byte 217 func C.GoBytes(unsafe.Pointer, C.int) []byte 218 219 As a special case, C.malloc does not call the C library malloc directly 220 but instead calls a Go helper function that wraps the C library malloc 221 but guarantees never to return nil. If C's malloc indicates out of memory, 222 the helper function crashes the program, like when Go itself runs out 223 of memory. Because C.malloc cannot fail, it has no two-result form 224 that returns errno. 225 226 C references to Go 227 228 Go functions can be exported for use by C code in the following way: 229 230 //export MyFunction 231 func MyFunction(arg1, arg2 int, arg3 string) int64 {...} 232 233 //export MyFunction2 234 func MyFunction2(arg1, arg2 int, arg3 string) (int64, *C.char) {...} 235 236 They will be available in the C code as: 237 238 extern int64 MyFunction(int arg1, int arg2, GoString arg3); 239 extern struct MyFunction2_return MyFunction2(int arg1, int arg2, GoString arg3); 240 241 found in the _cgo_export.h generated header, after any preambles 242 copied from the cgo input files. Functions with multiple 243 return values are mapped to functions returning a struct. 244 Not all Go types can be mapped to C types in a useful way. 245 246 Using //export in a file places a restriction on the preamble: 247 since it is copied into two different C output files, it must not 248 contain any definitions, only declarations. If a file contains both 249 definitions and declarations, then the two output files will produce 250 duplicate symbols and the linker will fail. To avoid this, definitions 251 must be placed in preambles in other files, or in C source files. 252 253 Passing pointers 254 255 Go is a garbage collected language, and the garbage collector needs to 256 know the location of every pointer to Go memory. Because of this, 257 there are restrictions on passing pointers between Go and C. 258 259 In this section the term Go pointer means a pointer to memory 260 allocated by Go (such as by using the & operator or calling the 261 predefined new function) and the term C pointer means a pointer to 262 memory allocated by C (such as by a call to C.malloc). Whether a 263 pointer is a Go pointer or a C pointer is a dynamic property 264 determined by how the memory was allocated; it has nothing to do with 265 the type of the pointer. 266 267 Go code may pass a Go pointer to C provided the Go memory to which it 268 points does not contain any Go pointers. The C code must preserve 269 this property: it must not store any Go pointers in Go memory, even 270 temporarily. When passing a pointer to a field in a struct, the Go 271 memory in question is the memory occupied by the field, not the entire 272 struct. When passing a pointer to an element in an array or slice, 273 the Go memory in question is the entire array or the entire backing 274 array of the slice. 275 276 C code may not keep a copy of a Go pointer after the call returns. 277 278 A Go function called by C code may not return a Go pointer. A Go 279 function called by C code may take C pointers as arguments, and it may 280 store non-pointer or C pointer data through those pointers, but it may 281 not store a Go pointer in memory pointed to by a C pointer. A Go 282 function called by C code may take a Go pointer as an argument, but it 283 must preserve the property that the Go memory to which it points does 284 not contain any Go pointers. 285 286 Go code may not store a Go pointer in C memory. C code may store Go 287 pointers in C memory, subject to the rule above: it must stop storing 288 the Go pointer when the C function returns. 289 290 These rules are checked dynamically at runtime. The checking is 291 controlled by the cgocheck setting of the GODEBUG environment 292 variable. The default setting is GODEBUG=cgocheck=1, which implements 293 reasonably cheap dynamic checks. These checks may be disabled 294 entirely using GODEBUG=cgocheck=0. Complete checking of pointer 295 handling, at some cost in run time, is available via GODEBUG=cgocheck=2. 296 297 It is possible to defeat this enforcement by using the unsafe package, 298 and of course there is nothing stopping the C code from doing anything 299 it likes. However, programs that break these rules are likely to fail 300 in unexpected and unpredictable ways. 301 302 Using cgo directly 303 304 Usage: 305 go tool cgo [cgo options] [-- compiler options] gofiles... 306 307 Cgo transforms the specified input Go source files into several output 308 Go and C source files. 309 310 The compiler options are passed through uninterpreted when 311 invoking the C compiler to compile the C parts of the package. 312 313 The following options are available when running cgo directly: 314 315 -dynimport file 316 Write list of symbols imported by file. Write to 317 -dynout argument or to standard output. Used by go 318 build when building a cgo package. 319 -dynout file 320 Write -dynimport output to file. 321 -dynpackage package 322 Set Go package for -dynimport output. 323 -dynlinker 324 Write dynamic linker as part of -dynimport output. 325 -godefs 326 Write out input file in Go syntax replacing C package 327 names with real values. Used to generate files in the 328 syscall package when bootstrapping a new target. 329 -srcdir directory 330 Find the Go input files, listed on the command line, 331 in directory. 332 -objdir directory 333 Put all generated files in directory. 334 -importpath string 335 The import path for the Go package. Optional; used for 336 nicer comments in the generated files. 337 -exportheader file 338 If there are any exported functions, write the 339 generated export declarations to file. 340 C code can #include this to see the declarations. 341 -gccgo 342 Generate output for the gccgo compiler rather than the 343 gc compiler. 344 -gccgoprefix prefix 345 The -fgo-prefix option to be used with gccgo. 346 -gccgopkgpath path 347 The -fgo-pkgpath option to be used with gccgo. 348 -import_runtime_cgo 349 If set (which it is by default) import runtime/cgo in 350 generated output. 351 -import_syscall 352 If set (which it is by default) import syscall in 353 generated output. 354 -debug-define 355 Debugging option. Print #defines. 356 -debug-gcc 357 Debugging option. Trace C compiler execution and output. 358 */ 359 package main 360 361 /* 362 Implementation details. 363 364 Cgo provides a way for Go programs to call C code linked into the same 365 address space. This comment explains the operation of cgo. 366 367 Cgo reads a set of Go source files and looks for statements saying 368 import "C". If the import has a doc comment, that comment is 369 taken as literal C code to be used as a preamble to any C code 370 generated by cgo. A typical preamble #includes necessary definitions: 371 372 // #include <stdio.h> 373 import "C" 374 375 For more details about the usage of cgo, see the documentation 376 comment at the top of this file. 377 378 Understanding C 379 380 Cgo scans the Go source files that import "C" for uses of that 381 package, such as C.puts. It collects all such identifiers. The next 382 step is to determine each kind of name. In C.xxx the xxx might refer 383 to a type, a function, a constant, or a global variable. Cgo must 384 decide which. 385 386 The obvious thing for cgo to do is to process the preamble, expanding 387 #includes and processing the corresponding C code. That would require 388 a full C parser and type checker that was also aware of any extensions 389 known to the system compiler (for example, all the GNU C extensions) as 390 well as the system-specific header locations and system-specific 391 pre-#defined macros. This is certainly possible to do, but it is an 392 enormous amount of work. 393 394 Cgo takes a different approach. It determines the meaning of C 395 identifiers not by parsing C code but by feeding carefully constructed 396 programs into the system C compiler and interpreting the generated 397 error messages, debug information, and object files. In practice, 398 parsing these is significantly less work and more robust than parsing 399 C source. 400 401 Cgo first invokes gcc -E -dM on the preamble, in order to find out 402 about simple #defines for constants and the like. These are recorded 403 for later use. 404 405 Next, cgo needs to identify the kinds for each identifier. For the 406 identifiers C.foo and C.bar, cgo generates this C program: 407 408 <preamble> 409 #line 1 "not-declared" 410 void __cgo_f_xxx_1(void) { __typeof__(foo) *__cgo_undefined__; } 411 #line 1 "not-type" 412 void __cgo_f_xxx_2(void) { foo *__cgo_undefined__; } 413 #line 1 "not-const" 414 void __cgo_f_xxx_3(void) { enum { __cgo_undefined__ = (foo)*1 }; } 415 #line 2 "not-declared" 416 void __cgo_f_xxx_1(void) { __typeof__(bar) *__cgo_undefined__; } 417 #line 2 "not-type" 418 void __cgo_f_xxx_2(void) { bar *__cgo_undefined__; } 419 #line 2 "not-const" 420 void __cgo_f_xxx_3(void) { enum { __cgo_undefined__ = (bar)*1 }; } 421 422 This program will not compile, but cgo can use the presence or absence 423 of an error message on a given line to deduce the information it 424 needs. The program is syntactically valid regardless of whether each 425 name is a type or an ordinary identifier, so there will be no syntax 426 errors that might stop parsing early. 427 428 An error on not-declared:1 indicates that foo is undeclared. 429 An error on not-type:1 indicates that foo is not a type (if declared at all, it is an identifier). 430 An error on not-const:1 indicates that foo is not an integer constant. 431 432 The line number specifies the name involved. In the example, 1 is foo and 2 is bar. 433 434 Next, cgo must learn the details of each type, variable, function, or 435 constant. It can do this by reading object files. If cgo has decided 436 that t1 is a type, v2 and v3 are variables or functions, and c4, c5, 437 and c6 are constants, it generates: 438 439 <preamble> 440 __typeof__(t1) *__cgo__1; 441 __typeof__(v2) *__cgo__2; 442 __typeof__(v3) *__cgo__3; 443 __typeof__(c4) *__cgo__4; 444 enum { __cgo_enum__4 = c4 }; 445 __typeof__(c5) *__cgo__5; 446 enum { __cgo_enum__5 = c5 }; 447 __typeof__(c6) *__cgo__6; 448 enum { __cgo_enum__6 = c6 }; 449 450 long long __cgo_debug_data[] = { 451 0, // t1 452 0, // v2 453 0, // v3 454 c4, 455 c5, 456 c6, 457 1 458 }; 459 460 and again invokes the system C compiler, to produce an object file 461 containing debug information. Cgo parses the DWARF debug information 462 for __cgo__N to learn the type of each identifier. (The types also 463 distinguish functions from global variables.) If using a standard gcc, 464 cgo can parse the DWARF debug information for the __cgo_enum__N to 465 learn the identifier's value. The LLVM-based gcc on OS X emits 466 incomplete DWARF information for enums; in that case cgo reads the 467 constant values from the __cgo_debug_data from the object file's data 468 segment. 469 470 At this point cgo knows the meaning of each C.xxx well enough to start 471 the translation process. 472 473 Translating Go 474 475 Given the input Go files x.go and y.go, cgo generates these source 476 files: 477 478 x.cgo1.go # for gc (cmd/compile) 479 y.cgo1.go # for gc 480 _cgo_gotypes.go # for gc 481 _cgo_import.go # for gc (if -dynout _cgo_import.go) 482 x.cgo2.c # for gcc 483 y.cgo2.c # for gcc 484 _cgo_defun.c # for gcc (if -gccgo) 485 _cgo_export.c # for gcc 486 _cgo_export.h # for gcc 487 _cgo_main.c # for gcc 488 _cgo_flags # for alternative build tools 489 490 The file x.cgo1.go is a copy of x.go with the import "C" removed and 491 references to C.xxx replaced with names like _Cfunc_xxx or _Ctype_xxx. 492 The definitions of those identifiers, written as Go functions, types, 493 or variables, are provided in _cgo_gotypes.go. 494 495 Here is a _cgo_gotypes.go containing definitions for needed C types: 496 497 type _Ctype_char int8 498 type _Ctype_int int32 499 type _Ctype_void [0]byte 500 501 The _cgo_gotypes.go file also contains the definitions of the 502 functions. They all have similar bodies that invoke runtime·cgocall 503 to make a switch from the Go runtime world to the system C (GCC-based) 504 world. 505 506 For example, here is the definition of _Cfunc_puts: 507 508 //go:cgo_import_static _cgo_be59f0f25121_Cfunc_puts 509 //go:linkname __cgofn__cgo_be59f0f25121_Cfunc_puts _cgo_be59f0f25121_Cfunc_puts 510 var __cgofn__cgo_be59f0f25121_Cfunc_puts byte 511 var _cgo_be59f0f25121_Cfunc_puts = unsafe.Pointer(&__cgofn__cgo_be59f0f25121_Cfunc_puts) 512 513 func _Cfunc_puts(p0 *_Ctype_char) (r1 _Ctype_int) { 514 _cgo_runtime_cgocall(_cgo_be59f0f25121_Cfunc_puts, uintptr(unsafe.Pointer(&p0))) 515 return 516 } 517 518 The hexadecimal number is a hash of cgo's input, chosen to be 519 deterministic yet unlikely to collide with other uses. The actual 520 function _cgo_be59f0f25121_Cfunc_puts is implemented in a C source 521 file compiled by gcc, the file x.cgo2.c: 522 523 void 524 _cgo_be59f0f25121_Cfunc_puts(void *v) 525 { 526 struct { 527 char* p0; 528 int r; 529 char __pad12[4]; 530 } __attribute__((__packed__, __gcc_struct__)) *a = v; 531 a->r = puts((void*)a->p0); 532 } 533 534 It extracts the arguments from the pointer to _Cfunc_puts's argument 535 frame, invokes the system C function (in this case, puts), stores the 536 result in the frame, and returns. 537 538 Linking 539 540 Once the _cgo_export.c and *.cgo2.c files have been compiled with gcc, 541 they need to be linked into the final binary, along with the libraries 542 they might depend on (in the case of puts, stdio). cmd/link has been 543 extended to understand basic ELF files, but it does not understand ELF 544 in the full complexity that modern C libraries embrace, so it cannot 545 in general generate direct references to the system libraries. 546 547 Instead, the build process generates an object file using dynamic 548 linkage to the desired libraries. The main function is provided by 549 _cgo_main.c: 550 551 int main() { return 0; } 552 void crosscall2(void(*fn)(void*, int, uintptr_t), void *a, int c, uintptr_t ctxt) { } 553 uintptr_t _cgo_wait_runtime_init_done() { } 554 void _cgo_allocate(void *a, int c) { } 555 void _cgo_panic(void *a, int c) { } 556 557 The extra functions here are stubs to satisfy the references in the C 558 code generated for gcc. The build process links this stub, along with 559 _cgo_export.c and *.cgo2.c, into a dynamic executable and then lets 560 cgo examine the executable. Cgo records the list of shared library 561 references and resolved names and writes them into a new file 562 _cgo_import.go, which looks like: 563 564 //go:cgo_dynamic_linker "/lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2" 565 //go:cgo_import_dynamic puts puts#GLIBC_2.2.5 "libc.so.6" 566 //go:cgo_import_dynamic __libc_start_main __libc_start_main#GLIBC_2.2.5 "libc.so.6" 567 //go:cgo_import_dynamic stdout stdout#GLIBC_2.2.5 "libc.so.6" 568 //go:cgo_import_dynamic fflush fflush#GLIBC_2.2.5 "libc.so.6" 569 //go:cgo_import_dynamic _ _ "libpthread.so.0" 570 //go:cgo_import_dynamic _ _ "libc.so.6" 571 572 In the end, the compiled Go package, which will eventually be 573 presented to cmd/link as part of a larger program, contains: 574 575 _go_.o # gc-compiled object for _cgo_gotypes.go, _cgo_import.go, *.cgo1.go 576 _all.o # gcc-compiled object for _cgo_export.c, *.cgo2.c 577 578 The final program will be a dynamic executable, so that cmd/link can avoid 579 needing to process arbitrary .o files. It only needs to process the .o 580 files generated from C files that cgo writes, and those are much more 581 limited in the ELF or other features that they use. 582 583 In essence, the _cgo_import.o file includes the extra linking 584 directives that cmd/link is not sophisticated enough to derive from _all.o 585 on its own. Similarly, the _all.o uses dynamic references to real 586 system object code because cmd/link is not sophisticated enough to process 587 the real code. 588 589 The main benefits of this system are that cmd/link remains relatively simple 590 (it does not need to implement a complete ELF and Mach-O linker) and 591 that gcc is not needed after the package is compiled. For example, 592 package net uses cgo for access to name resolution functions provided 593 by libc. Although gcc is needed to compile package net, gcc is not 594 needed to link programs that import package net. 595 596 Runtime 597 598 When using cgo, Go must not assume that it owns all details of the 599 process. In particular it needs to coordinate with C in the use of 600 threads and thread-local storage. The runtime package declares a few 601 variables: 602 603 var ( 604 iscgo bool 605 _cgo_init unsafe.Pointer 606 _cgo_thread_start unsafe.Pointer 607 ) 608 609 Any package using cgo imports "runtime/cgo", which provides 610 initializations for these variables. It sets iscgo to true, _cgo_init 611 to a gcc-compiled function that can be called early during program 612 startup, and _cgo_thread_start to a gcc-compiled function that can be 613 used to create a new thread, in place of the runtime's usual direct 614 system calls. 615 616 Internal and External Linking 617 618 The text above describes "internal" linking, in which cmd/link parses and 619 links host object files (ELF, Mach-O, PE, and so on) into the final 620 executable itself. Keeping cmd/link simple means we cannot possibly 621 implement the full semantics of the host linker, so the kinds of 622 objects that can be linked directly into the binary is limited (other 623 code can only be used as a dynamic library). On the other hand, when 624 using internal linking, cmd/link can generate Go binaries by itself. 625 626 In order to allow linking arbitrary object files without requiring 627 dynamic libraries, cgo supports an "external" linking mode too. In 628 external linking mode, cmd/link does not process any host object files. 629 Instead, it collects all the Go code and writes a single go.o object 630 file containing it. Then it invokes the host linker (usually gcc) to 631 combine the go.o object file and any supporting non-Go code into a 632 final executable. External linking avoids the dynamic library 633 requirement but introduces a requirement that the host linker be 634 present to create such a binary. 635 636 Most builds both compile source code and invoke the linker to create a 637 binary. When cgo is involved, the compile step already requires gcc, so 638 it is not problematic for the link step to require gcc too. 639 640 An important exception is builds using a pre-compiled copy of the 641 standard library. In particular, package net uses cgo on most systems, 642 and we want to preserve the ability to compile pure Go code that 643 imports net without requiring gcc to be present at link time. (In this 644 case, the dynamic library requirement is less significant, because the 645 only library involved is libc.so, which can usually be assumed 646 present.) 647 648 This conflict between functionality and the gcc requirement means we 649 must support both internal and external linking, depending on the 650 circumstances: if net is the only cgo-using package, then internal 651 linking is probably fine, but if other packages are involved, so that there 652 are dependencies on libraries beyond libc, external linking is likely 653 to work better. The compilation of a package records the relevant 654 information to support both linking modes, leaving the decision 655 to be made when linking the final binary. 656 657 Linking Directives 658 659 In either linking mode, package-specific directives must be passed 660 through to cmd/link. These are communicated by writing //go: directives in a 661 Go source file compiled by gc. The directives are copied into the .o 662 object file and then processed by the linker. 663 664 The directives are: 665 666 //go:cgo_import_dynamic <local> [<remote> ["<library>"]] 667 668 In internal linking mode, allow an unresolved reference to 669 <local>, assuming it will be resolved by a dynamic library 670 symbol. The optional <remote> specifies the symbol's name and 671 possibly version in the dynamic library, and the optional "<library>" 672 names the specific library where the symbol should be found. 673 674 In the <remote>, # or @ can be used to introduce a symbol version. 675 676 Examples: 677 //go:cgo_import_dynamic puts 678 //go:cgo_import_dynamic puts puts#GLIBC_2.2.5 679 //go:cgo_import_dynamic puts puts#GLIBC_2.2.5 "libc.so.6" 680 681 A side effect of the cgo_import_dynamic directive with a 682 library is to make the final binary depend on that dynamic 683 library. To get the dependency without importing any specific 684 symbols, use _ for local and remote. 685 686 Example: 687 //go:cgo_import_dynamic _ _ "libc.so.6" 688 689 For compatibility with current versions of SWIG, 690 #pragma dynimport is an alias for //go:cgo_import_dynamic. 691 692 //go:cgo_dynamic_linker "<path>" 693 694 In internal linking mode, use "<path>" as the dynamic linker 695 in the final binary. This directive is only needed from one 696 package when constructing a binary; by convention it is 697 supplied by runtime/cgo. 698 699 Example: 700 //go:cgo_dynamic_linker "/lib/ld-linux.so.2" 701 702 //go:cgo_export_dynamic <local> <remote> 703 704 In internal linking mode, put the Go symbol 705 named <local> into the program's exported symbol table as 706 <remote>, so that C code can refer to it by that name. This 707 mechanism makes it possible for C code to call back into Go or 708 to share Go's data. 709 710 For compatibility with current versions of SWIG, 711 #pragma dynexport is an alias for //go:cgo_export_dynamic. 712 713 //go:cgo_import_static <local> 714 715 In external linking mode, allow unresolved references to 716 <local> in the go.o object file prepared for the host linker, 717 under the assumption that <local> will be supplied by the 718 other object files that will be linked with go.o. 719 720 Example: 721 //go:cgo_import_static puts_wrapper 722 723 //go:cgo_export_static <local> <remote> 724 725 In external linking mode, put the Go symbol 726 named <local> into the program's exported symbol table as 727 <remote>, so that C code can refer to it by that name. This 728 mechanism makes it possible for C code to call back into Go or 729 to share Go's data. 730 731 //go:cgo_ldflag "<arg>" 732 733 In external linking mode, invoke the host linker (usually gcc) 734 with "<arg>" as a command-line argument following the .o files. 735 Note that the arguments are for "gcc", not "ld". 736 737 Example: 738 //go:cgo_ldflag "-lpthread" 739 //go:cgo_ldflag "-L/usr/local/sqlite3/lib" 740 741 A package compiled with cgo will include directives for both 742 internal and external linking; the linker will select the appropriate 743 subset for the chosen linking mode. 744 745 Example 746 747 As a simple example, consider a package that uses cgo to call C.sin. 748 The following code will be generated by cgo: 749 750 // compiled by gc 751 752 //go:cgo_ldflag "-lm" 753 754 type _Ctype_double float64 755 756 //go:cgo_import_static _cgo_gcc_Cfunc_sin 757 //go:linkname __cgo_gcc_Cfunc_sin _cgo_gcc_Cfunc_sin 758 var __cgo_gcc_Cfunc_sin byte 759 var _cgo_gcc_Cfunc_sin = unsafe.Pointer(&__cgo_gcc_Cfunc_sin) 760 761 func _Cfunc_sin(p0 _Ctype_double) (r1 _Ctype_double) { 762 _cgo_runtime_cgocall(_cgo_gcc_Cfunc_sin, uintptr(unsafe.Pointer(&p0))) 763 return 764 } 765 766 // compiled by gcc, into foo.cgo2.o 767 768 void 769 _cgo_gcc_Cfunc_sin(void *v) 770 { 771 struct { 772 double p0; 773 double r; 774 } __attribute__((__packed__)) *a = v; 775 a->r = sin(a->p0); 776 } 777 778 What happens at link time depends on whether the final binary is linked 779 using the internal or external mode. If other packages are compiled in 780 "external only" mode, then the final link will be an external one. 781 Otherwise the link will be an internal one. 782 783 The linking directives are used according to the kind of final link 784 used. 785 786 In internal mode, cmd/link itself processes all the host object files, in 787 particular foo.cgo2.o. To do so, it uses the cgo_import_dynamic and 788 cgo_dynamic_linker directives to learn that the otherwise undefined 789 reference to sin in foo.cgo2.o should be rewritten to refer to the 790 symbol sin with version GLIBC_2.2.5 from the dynamic library 791 "libm.so.6", and the binary should request "/lib/ld-linux.so.2" as its 792 runtime dynamic linker. 793 794 In external mode, cmd/link does not process any host object files, in 795 particular foo.cgo2.o. It links together the gc-generated object 796 files, along with any other Go code, into a go.o file. While doing 797 that, cmd/link will discover that there is no definition for 798 _cgo_gcc_Cfunc_sin, referred to by the gc-compiled source file. This 799 is okay, because cmd/link also processes the cgo_import_static directive and 800 knows that _cgo_gcc_Cfunc_sin is expected to be supplied by a host 801 object file, so cmd/link does not treat the missing symbol as an error when 802 creating go.o. Indeed, the definition for _cgo_gcc_Cfunc_sin will be 803 provided to the host linker by foo2.cgo.o, which in turn will need the 804 symbol 'sin'. cmd/link also processes the cgo_ldflag directives, so that it 805 knows that the eventual host link command must include the -lm 806 argument, so that the host linker will be able to find 'sin' in the 807 math library. 808 809 cmd/link Command Line Interface 810 811 The go command and any other Go-aware build systems invoke cmd/link 812 to link a collection of packages into a single binary. By default, cmd/link will 813 present the same interface it does today: 814 815 cmd/link main.a 816 817 produces a file named a.out, even if cmd/link does so by invoking the host 818 linker in external linking mode. 819 820 By default, cmd/link will decide the linking mode as follows: if the only 821 packages using cgo are those on a whitelist of standard library 822 packages (net, os/user, runtime/cgo), cmd/link will use internal linking 823 mode. Otherwise, there are non-standard cgo packages involved, and cmd/link 824 will use external linking mode. The first rule means that a build of 825 the godoc binary, which uses net but no other cgo, can run without 826 needing gcc available. The second rule means that a build of a 827 cgo-wrapped library like sqlite3 can generate a standalone executable 828 instead of needing to refer to a dynamic library. The specific choice 829 can be overridden using a command line flag: cmd/link -linkmode=internal or 830 cmd/link -linkmode=external. 831 832 In an external link, cmd/link will create a temporary directory, write any 833 host object files found in package archives to that directory (renamed 834 to avoid conflicts), write the go.o file to that directory, and invoke 835 the host linker. The default value for the host linker is $CC, split 836 into fields, or else "gcc". The specific host linker command line can 837 be overridden using command line flags: cmd/link -extld=clang 838 -extldflags='-ggdb -O3'. If any package in a build includes a .cc or 839 other file compiled by the C++ compiler, the go tool will use the 840 -extld option to set the host linker to the C++ compiler. 841 842 These defaults mean that Go-aware build systems can ignore the linking 843 changes and keep running plain 'cmd/link' and get reasonable results, but 844 they can also control the linking details if desired. 845 846 */