How do I pass C objects between go packages? - go

When I try to pass a C.int from package main to a function in a helper package called common, I get the following error:
main.go:24: cannot use argc (type C.int) as type common.C.int in argument to common.GoStrings
From common.go:
/*
...
*/
import "C"
...
func GoStrings(argc C.int, argv **C.char) (args []string) {
// do stuff
}
From main.go:
/*
#cgo LDFLAGS: -lpam -fPIC
#define PAM_SM_AUTH
#include <security/pam_appl.h>
*/
import "C"
...
func pam_sm_authenticate(pamh *C.pam_handle_t, flags, argc C.int, argv **C.char) C.int {
args := common.GoStrings(argc, argv)
...
}
Is there any way to pass these objects back and forth? I've tried type casting to e.g. common.C.int, but that doesn't seem to be valid syntax. I'd like to be able to call GoStrings from multiple different main programs, and it seems like that should be allowable.

Unfortunately you can't pass C types between packages. You'll need to perform any necessary type conversions within the package that is importing the C types. As per the documentation:
Cgo translates C types into equivalent unexported Go types. Because
the translations are unexported, a Go package should not expose C
types in its exported API: a C type used in one Go package is
different from the same C type used in another.
If you have common C translation methods that you use, consider using go generate with a helper script to create these in each package where it is required from a master source file. Not as nice as solution as having a common library but much better than manually updating files in multiple packages.

Related

Go WASM export functions

I want to create a .wasm file which still has the function names exported when compiled.
package main
import (
"fmt"
)
func main() {
fmt.Println("Main")
}
func MyFunc() {
fmt.Println("MyFunc")
}
I'm building with
GOOS=js GOARCH=wasm go build -o main.wasm
Which produces the wasm file (and awesome that Go targets wasm natively).
But using wabt and doing an object dump exposes these functions.
Export[4]:
- func[958] <wasm_export_run> -> "run"
- func[959] <wasm_export_resume> -> "resume"
- func[961] <wasm_export_getsp> -> "getsp"
- memory[0] -> "mem"
I'm expecting to see something like
func[137] <MyFunc> -> "MyFunc"
Does anyone know how to export functions in Go WASM?
In rust including #[no_mangle] and pub extern "C" keeps the function available in the output with wasm-pack. I'm looking for something similar with Go.
If you plan to write a lot of WASM in Go, you might want to consider compiling with TinyGo, which is a Go compiler for embedded and WASM.
TinyGo supports a //export <name> or alias //go:export <name> comment directive that does what you're looking for.
I'm copy-pasting the very first example from TinyGo WASM docs:
package main
// This calls a JS function from Go.
func main() {
println("adding two numbers:", add(2, 3)) // expecting 5
}
// ...omitted
// This function is exported to JavaScript, so can be called using
// exports.multiply() in JavaScript.
//export multiply
func multiply(x, y int) int {
return x * y;
}
And you build it with: tinygo build -o wasm.wasm -target wasm ./main.go.
The standard Go compiler has an ongoing open discussion about replicating TinyGo feature. The tl;dr seems to be that you can achieve this by setting funcs to the JS global namespace, with the js.Global().Set(...)

Using return value of type from unimported package

Given the following three go packages (I abbreviated the import paths for imp and Tdef for privacy reasons)
package main
import (
"imp"
"fmt"
)
func main() {
T := imp.NewT()
fmt.Printf("T.X = %d\n", T.X)
fmt.Printf("T has type %T\n", T)
}
package imp
import (
"Tdef"
)
func NewT() Tdef.T {
return Tdef.T{0,0}
}
package Tdef
type T struct {
X int
Y int
}
func (T T) GetX() int {
return T.X
}
main() produces the output
T.X = 0
T has type Tdef.T
This means that I can use a variable of type T in a package where the definition of T is not visible by defining it using a return value, and I can use its exported fields (and methods, not shown here).
I find that a bit surprising and did not find any information on this in the spec. Then again, I don't have much programming experience -- is this to be expected, and is it bad practice to make use of it (I don't have a real-life example right now, mind you)?
You are allowed to use values originating from anywhere, but without the import declaration you can't refer to its type for example. Yes, because referring to identifiers requires a qualified identifier which has the form of:
QualifiedIdent = PackageName "." identifier .
You haven't imported Tdef in your main package, so you can't refer to the type Tdef.T identifier (type), but you didn't attempt it so all is good.
Spec: Import declarations:
An import declaration states that the source file containing the declaration depends on functionality of the imported package (§Program initialization and execution) and enables access to exported identifiers of that package. The import names an identifier (PackageName) to be used for access and an ImportPath that specifies the package to be imported.
You used a short variable declaration and so you did not specify the variable's type (which is perfectly OK), so you didn't need to refer to its type:
T := imp.NewT()
T's type will be inferred from the right-hand side expression, which will be Tdef.T of course, but your source code contains no reference to this type. Obviously the following line would give a compile-time error without importing Tdef:
var T Tdef.T = imp.NewT()
You can even return values of unexported types from an exported function, and the package importing it can as well use it, e.g. it can print it, call exported methods and access exported fields of the value of the unexported type (although returning values of unexported types is considered bad practice, golint gives a warning like: "exported func XXX returns unexported type pkgname.typename, which can be annoying to use").

Create equivalent interface of another package with an interface as argument

I am practicing writing idiomatic Go code and discovered that interfaces should be declared in packages which are consuming them since they're implicit. However I came to this situation where by in the second package (package b) I want a function to call the receiver function of a struct in package a without coupling it tightly.
So naturally, I declare an interface in package b with the signature of the function I want to call from package a. The problem is that this function accepts an argument of a certain type which is an interface declared in package a. As I don't want package b to import package a, I defined an interface in package b with the exact same signature as the one which exists in package a. The playground link below shows the example code.
Playground
package main
import (
"fmt"
"log"
)
func main() {
manager := &Manager{}
coach := NewRunnerCoach(manager)
fmt.Println("Done")
}
// package a
type Runner interface {
Run()
}
type Manager struct {
}
func (o *Manager) RegisterRunner(runner Runner) {
log.Print("RegisterRunner")
}
func (o *Manager) Start() {
log.Print("Start")
}
// package b
type RunnerCoach struct {
runner *FastRunner
}
func NewRunnerCoach(registerer runnerRegisterer) *RunnerCoach {
runnerCoach := &RunnerCoach{&FastRunner{}}
registerer.RegisterRunner(runnerCoach.runner)
return runnerCoach
}
type FastRunner struct {
}
func (r *FastRunner) Run() {
log.Print("FastRunner Run")
}
// define ther registerer interface coach is accepting
type runnerRegisterer interface {
RegisterRunner(runner RunnerB)
}
// declaring a new interface with the same signature because we dont want to import package a
// and import Runner interface
type RunnerB interface {
Run()
}
This code does not compile. So the question here is that, am I using interface wrongly or should concrete types be defined in a separate package or lastly, is there a better code pattern for the problem I'm trying to solve?
EDIT: To clarify, package a and b does not import each other. The main() code exists in a separate package which connects these two.
IIUC, your question is not about packages but boils down to whether a function (or method)
can be typecast to another function which takes arguments with equivalent, but
not the same interface types.
Something like this: (Go Playground)
package main
type I1 interface{}
func f1(x I1) {}
func main() {
f := (func(interface{}))(f1)
f(nil)
}
Compilation error: ./g.go:8:26: cannot convert f1 (type func(I1)) to type func(interface {})
The answer appears to be no, because Go doesn't consider func (I1) to be
equivalent to func (interface{}). The Go spec says this
A function type denotes the set of all functions with the same parameter and result types.
The types func (I1) and func (interface{}) do not take the same parameters, even though
I1 is defined as interface{}. Your code fails to compile for a similar
reason because func (runner RunnerB) is not the same as func (runner Runner) and hence the method set of *Manager is not a superset of the
interface runnerRegisterer.
Coming to your original question:
I am practicing writing idiomatic Go code and discovered that interfaces
should be declared in packages which are consuming them since they're
implicit.
Yes, the idea is good but it doesn't apply to your implementation the way you
think it does. Since you're expecting to have different implementations of
runnerRegisterer and they must all have a method with the same signature
using the Runner interface, it makes sense to define Runner in a common
place. Also, as seen above Go wouldn't allow you to use a different interface
in the method signatures anyway.
Based on my understanding of what you're trying to achieve, here's how I think
you should re-arrange your code:
Define RunnerRegisterer (note: this is public) and Runner in one
package.
Implement your RunnerCoach in the same package and use the above
interfaces. Your RunnerCoach consumes types that implement the interfaces,
so it defines them.
Implement your runners in another package. You don't define the Runner
interface here.
Implement your Manager in another package, which uses the interface
Runner defined in RunnerCoach's package because it must take that type
as an argument if it wants to be used as a RunnerRegisterer.
The Solution
You've got a type that is used in two packages, A and B. Package A imports package B.
You have to avoid circular dependencies, so you have three choices:
Define the type in package B, so it will be available in both
packages.
Define the type in package C and have both A and B import package C.
Change your design such that the type is not used in both A and B.
These are your choices whether that type is an interface or any other type.
Choose the option that best fits your design goals.
The Rule / Idiom
I am practicing writing idiomatic Go code and discovered that
interfaces should be declared in packages which are consuming them
since they're implicit.
I get the impulse/idea - the problem is it's not very practical. Interfaces would be less useful if they could only be consumed in the package in which they are defined. The standard library is full of code that violates this axiom. Therefore I do not think the rule as presented -- applying to all interfaces in all situations, designs and contexts -- is idiomatic.
For example, look at the bytes package. func (b *Buffer) ReadFrom(r io.Reader) (n int64, err error) consumes io.Reader, an interface defined in another package. func (r *Reader) WriteTo(w io.Writer) (n int64, err error) consumes io.Writer, an interface defined in another package.

Why are Go C types different when they come from different modules?

In Go, I have a compile error due to incompatible types which I cannot explain. I'm using the "C" module. A minimum example consists of the following 2 files:
package module
import "C"
type T struct {
X C.int
}
and a main program
package main
import (
"fmt"
"sandbox/module"
)
import "C"
func f() *module.T {
var x C.int = 42
return &module.T{X: x}
}
func main() {
fmt.Printf("value: %d", f().X)
}
This fails to compile with the message
./main.go:12: cannot use x (type C.int) as type module.C.int in field value.
For some reason the compiler thinks that C.int is not equal to module.C.int.
It must have something to do with the C module and the fact that the code is spread across 2 modules because it suddenly works if I switch from C.int to plain int.
Why does this piece of code not compile? What would be the proper solution to make it compile without squashing all code together in one module?
I'm using the latest Go compiler 1.9.2 on Ubuntu 16.04.
Command cgo
Go references to C
Cgo translates C types into equivalent unexported Go types. Because
the translations are unexported, a Go package should not expose C
types in its exported API: a C type used in one Go package is
different from the same C type used in another.
You say, "For some reason the compiler thinks that C.int is not equal to module.C.int." As the cgo command documentation explains, unexported Go types in different packages are not equal.
Don't expose C types in an exported API. For example,
module.go:
package module
type T struct {
X int
}
main.go:
package main
import (
"fmt"
"sandbox/module"
)
import "C"
func f() *module.T {
var x C.int = 42
return &module.T{X: int(x)}
}
func main() {
fmt.Printf("value: %d\n", f().X)
}
Output:
value: 42

go generate: stringer: invalid operation: has no field or method String

I'm trying to use the stringer cmd so that I can generate String() methods for some int types. Here is how the code looks like
//go:generate stringer -type=MyIntType
type MyIntType int
const (
resource MyIntType = iota
)
func myfunc(){
print(resource.String())
}
The error I'm getting on go generate command is invalid operation: resource (constant 0 of type MyIntType) has no field or method String which makes sense because there is no String method yet. How am I supposed to fix this error if stringer cmd is supposed to actually generate the String method? Should I use fmt.Sprintf("%s", resource) all over the code ? it looks a bit ugly to me. At least not as nice as resource.String().
Each file must be parsed and type checked by the types library before the methods are generated. This usually doesn't pose a problem, since the String() method is rarely called directly, and is used by passing a value to something like fmt.Println that always checks first for a Stringer.
You can either not call String() yourself:
file: type.go
//go:generate stringer -type=MyIntType
package painkiller
import "fmt"
type MyIntType int
const (
resource MyIntType = iota
)
func myfunc() {
fmt.Println(resource)
}
Or you can put the calls in another file, and pass only the files that stringer needs as arguments. With no arguments, stringer checks the package as a whole, but if you provide only a list of files, they assume that some methods may be defined in files not provided.
file: type.go
//go:generate stringer -type=MyIntType type.go
package foo
type MyIntType int
const (
resource MyIntType = iota
)
file myfunc.go
package foo
func myfunc() {
print(resource.String())
}
The stringer cmd calls the go/parser.ParseFile for every go file. Thus if you have a method that is not declared it will fail. You will have to use fmt.Sprint* statements to get over this. Or you could tell go generate to only generate a specific file.
I don't know if we could term this as a bug. You could file it, probably see what the response is.

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