How do I call a function from the main application from a plugin? - go

Question

I have recently looked into Go plugins instead of manually loading .so files myself.
Basically, I have a game server application, and I want to be able to load plugins (using plugins package) when the server starts. Then, in the plugin itself, I want to be able to call exported functions that are a part of the server.
Say I have this plugin, which is compiled to example_plugin.so using go build -buildmode=plugin:
package main
import "fmt"
func init() {
fmt.Println("Hello from plugin!")
}
Then say I have this server application, which loads the plugin (and ultimately calls the "init" function under the hood):
package main
import (
"fmt"
"plugin"
)
func main() {
fmt.Println("Server started")
if _, err := plugin.Open("example_plugin.so"); err != nil {
panic(err)
}
}
// some API function that loaded plugins can call
func GetPlayers() {}
The output is:
Server started
Hello from plugin!
This works as expected, however I want to be able to call that GetPlayers function (and any other exported functions in the server application, ideally) from the plugin (and any other plugins.) I was thinking about making some sort of library consisting of interfaces containing API functions that the server implements, however I have no idea where to start. I know I will probably need to use a .a file or something similar.
For clarification, I am developing this application for use on Linux, so I am fine with a solution that only works on Linux.
Apologies if this is poorly worded, first time posting on SO.

Answer 1

As mentioned in the comments, there is a Lookup function. In the documentation for the module they have the following example:
// A Symbol is a pointer to a variable or function.
// For example, a plugin defined as
//
// var V int
//
// func F() { fmt.Printf("Hello, number %d\n", V) }
//
// may be loaded with the Open function and then the exported package
// symbols V and F can be accessed
package main
import (
"fmt"
"plugin"
)
func main() {
p, err := plugin.Open("plugin_name.so")
if err != nil {
panic(err)
}
v, err := p.Lookup("V")
if err != nil {
panic(err)
}
f, err := p.Lookup("F")
if err != nil {
panic(err)
}
*v.(*int) = 7
f.(func())() // prints "Hello, number 7"
}
I think the most confusing lines here are
*v.(*int) = 7
f.(func())() // prints "Hello, number 7"
The first one of them performs a type assertion to *int to assert that v is indeed a pointer to int. That is needed since Lookup returns an interface{} and in order to do anything useful with a value, you should clarify its type.
The second line performs another type assertion, this time making sure that f is a function with no arguments and no return values, after which, immediately calls it. Since function F from the original module was referencing V (which we've replaced with 7), this call will display Hello, number 7.