c++: diagnose usage of co_await and co_yield in default args [PR115906]
[official-gcc.git] / libgo / go / cmd / cgo / doc.go
bloba6787f640501133173e82804d1a2c1fc289504a5
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.
5 /*
7 Cgo enables the creation of Go packages that call C code.
9 Using cgo with the go command
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.
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:
19 // #include <stdio.h>
20 // #include <errno.h>
21 import "C"
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.
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.
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:
42 // #cgo CFLAGS: -DPNG_DEBUG=1
43 // #cgo amd64 386 CFLAGS: -DX86=1
44 // #cgo LDFLAGS: -lpng
45 // #include <png.h>
46 import "C"
48 Alternatively, CPPFLAGS and LDFLAGS may be obtained via the pkg-config tool
49 using a '#cgo pkg-config:' directive followed by the package names.
50 For example:
52 // #cgo pkg-config: png cairo
53 // #include <png.h>
54 import "C"
56 The default pkg-config tool may be changed by setting the PKG_CONFIG environment variable.
58 For security reasons, only a limited set of flags are allowed, notably -D, -U, -I, and -l.
59 To allow additional flags, set CGO_CFLAGS_ALLOW to a regular expression
60 matching the new flags. To disallow flags that would otherwise be allowed,
61 set CGO_CFLAGS_DISALLOW to a regular expression matching arguments
62 that must be disallowed. In both cases the regular expression must match
63 a full argument: to allow -mfoo=bar, use CGO_CFLAGS_ALLOW='-mfoo.*',
64 not just CGO_CFLAGS_ALLOW='-mfoo'. Similarly named variables control
65 the allowed CPPFLAGS, CXXFLAGS, FFLAGS, and LDFLAGS.
67 Also for security reasons, only a limited set of characters are
68 permitted, notably alphanumeric characters and a few symbols, such as
69 '.', that will not be interpreted in unexpected ways. Attempts to use
70 forbidden characters will get a "malformed #cgo argument" error.
72 When building, the CGO_CFLAGS, CGO_CPPFLAGS, CGO_CXXFLAGS, CGO_FFLAGS and
73 CGO_LDFLAGS environment variables are added to the flags derived from
74 these directives. Package-specific flags should be set using the
75 directives, not the environment variables, so that builds work in
76 unmodified environments. Flags obtained from environment variables
77 are not subject to the security limitations described above.
79 All the cgo CPPFLAGS and CFLAGS directives in a package are concatenated and
80 used to compile C files in that package. All the CPPFLAGS and CXXFLAGS
81 directives in a package are concatenated and used to compile C++ files in that
82 package. All the CPPFLAGS and FFLAGS directives in a package are concatenated
83 and used to compile Fortran files in that package. All the LDFLAGS directives
84 in any package in the program are concatenated and used at link time. All the
85 pkg-config directives are concatenated and sent to pkg-config simultaneously
86 to add to each appropriate set of command-line flags.
88 When the cgo directives are parsed, any occurrence of the string ${SRCDIR}
89 will be replaced by the absolute path to the directory containing the source
90 file. This allows pre-compiled static libraries to be included in the package
91 directory and linked properly.
92 For example if package foo is in the directory /go/src/foo:
94 // #cgo LDFLAGS: -L${SRCDIR}/libs -lfoo
96 Will be expanded to:
98 // #cgo LDFLAGS: -L/go/src/foo/libs -lfoo
100 When the Go tool sees that one or more Go files use the special import
101 "C", it will look for other non-Go files in the directory and compile
102 them as part of the Go package. Any .c, .s, .S or .sx files will be
103 compiled with the C compiler. Any .cc, .cpp, or .cxx files will be
104 compiled with the C++ compiler. Any .f, .F, .for or .f90 files will be
105 compiled with the fortran compiler. Any .h, .hh, .hpp, or .hxx files will
106 not be compiled separately, but, if these header files are changed,
107 the package (including its non-Go source files) will be recompiled.
108 Note that changes to files in other directories do not cause the package
109 to be recompiled, so all non-Go source code for the package should be
110 stored in the package directory, not in subdirectories.
111 The default C and C++ compilers may be changed by the CC and CXX
112 environment variables, respectively; those environment variables
113 may include command line options.
115 The cgo tool will always invoke the C compiler with the source file's
116 directory in the include path; i.e. -I${SRCDIR} is always implied. This
117 means that if a header file foo/bar.h exists both in the source
118 directory and also in the system include directory (or some other place
119 specified by a -I flag), then "#include <foo/bar.h>" will always find the
120 local version in preference to any other version.
122 The cgo tool is enabled by default for native builds on systems where
123 it is expected to work. It is disabled by default when
124 cross-compiling. You can control this by setting the CGO_ENABLED
125 environment variable when running the go tool: set it to 1 to enable
126 the use of cgo, and to 0 to disable it. The go tool will set the
127 build constraint "cgo" if cgo is enabled. The special import "C"
128 implies the "cgo" build constraint, as though the file also said
129 "// +build cgo". Therefore, if cgo is disabled, files that import
130 "C" will not be built by the go tool. (For more about build constraints
131 see https://golang.org/pkg/go/build/#hdr-Build_Constraints).
133 When cross-compiling, you must specify a C cross-compiler for cgo to
134 use. You can do this by setting the generic CC_FOR_TARGET or the
135 more specific CC_FOR_${GOOS}_${GOARCH} (for example, CC_FOR_linux_arm)
136 environment variable when building the toolchain using make.bash,
137 or you can set the CC environment variable any time you run the go tool.
139 The CXX_FOR_TARGET, CXX_FOR_${GOOS}_${GOARCH}, and CXX
140 environment variables work in a similar way for C++ code.
142 Go references to C
144 Within the Go file, C's struct field names that are keywords in Go
145 can be accessed by prefixing them with an underscore: if x points at a C
146 struct with a field named "type", x._type accesses the field.
147 C struct fields that cannot be expressed in Go, such as bit fields
148 or misaligned data, are omitted in the Go struct, replaced by
149 appropriate padding to reach the next field or the end of the struct.
151 The standard C numeric types are available under the names
152 C.char, C.schar (signed char), C.uchar (unsigned char),
153 C.short, C.ushort (unsigned short), C.int, C.uint (unsigned int),
154 C.long, C.ulong (unsigned long), C.longlong (long long),
155 C.ulonglong (unsigned long long), C.float, C.double,
156 C.complexfloat (complex float), and C.complexdouble (complex double).
157 The C type void* is represented by Go's unsafe.Pointer.
158 The C types __int128_t and __uint128_t are represented by [16]byte.
160 A few special C types which would normally be represented by a pointer
161 type in Go are instead represented by a uintptr. See the Special
162 cases section below.
164 To access a struct, union, or enum type directly, prefix it with
165 struct_, union_, or enum_, as in C.struct_stat.
167 The size of any C type T is available as C.sizeof_T, as in
168 C.sizeof_struct_stat.
170 A C function may be declared in the Go file with a parameter type of
171 the special name _GoString_. This function may be called with an
172 ordinary Go string value. The string length, and a pointer to the
173 string contents, may be accessed by calling the C functions
175 size_t _GoStringLen(_GoString_ s);
176 const char *_GoStringPtr(_GoString_ s);
178 These functions are only available in the preamble, not in other C
179 files. The C code must not modify the contents of the pointer returned
180 by _GoStringPtr. Note that the string contents may not have a trailing
181 NUL byte.
183 As Go doesn't have support for C's union type in the general case,
184 C's union types are represented as a Go byte array with the same length.
186 Go structs cannot embed fields with C types.
188 Go code cannot refer to zero-sized fields that occur at the end of
189 non-empty C structs. To get the address of such a field (which is the
190 only operation you can do with a zero-sized field) you must take the
191 address of the struct and add the size of the struct.
193 Cgo translates C types into equivalent unexported Go types.
194 Because the translations are unexported, a Go package should not
195 expose C types in its exported API: a C type used in one Go package
196 is different from the same C type used in another.
198 Any C function (even void functions) may be called in a multiple
199 assignment context to retrieve both the return value (if any) and the
200 C errno variable as an error (use _ to skip the result value if the
201 function returns void). For example:
203 n, err = C.sqrt(-1)
204 _, err := C.voidFunc()
205 var n, err = C.sqrt(1)
207 Calling C function pointers is currently not supported, however you can
208 declare Go variables which hold C function pointers and pass them
209 back and forth between Go and C. C code may call function pointers
210 received from Go. For example:
212 package main
214 // typedef int (*intFunc) ();
216 // int
217 // bridge_int_func(intFunc f)
218 // {
219 // return f();
220 // }
222 // int fortytwo()
223 // {
224 // return 42;
225 // }
226 import "C"
227 import "fmt"
229 func main() {
230 f := C.intFunc(C.fortytwo)
231 fmt.Println(int(C.bridge_int_func(f)))
232 // Output: 42
235 In C, a function argument written as a fixed size array
236 actually requires a pointer to the first element of the array.
237 C compilers are aware of this calling convention and adjust
238 the call accordingly, but Go cannot. In Go, you must pass
239 the pointer to the first element explicitly: C.f(&C.x[0]).
241 Calling variadic C functions is not supported. It is possible to
242 circumvent this by using a C function wrapper. For example:
244 package main
246 // #include <stdio.h>
247 // #include <stdlib.h>
249 // static void myprint(char* s) {
250 // printf("%s\n", s);
251 // }
252 import "C"
253 import "unsafe"
255 func main() {
256 cs := C.CString("Hello from stdio")
257 C.myprint(cs)
258 C.free(unsafe.Pointer(cs))
261 A few special functions convert between Go and C types
262 by making copies of the data. In pseudo-Go definitions:
264 // Go string to C string
265 // The C string is allocated in the C heap using malloc.
266 // It is the caller's responsibility to arrange for it to be
267 // freed, such as by calling C.free (be sure to include stdlib.h
268 // if C.free is needed).
269 func C.CString(string) *C.char
271 // Go []byte slice to C array
272 // The C array is allocated in the C heap using malloc.
273 // It is the caller's responsibility to arrange for it to be
274 // freed, such as by calling C.free (be sure to include stdlib.h
275 // if C.free is needed).
276 func C.CBytes([]byte) unsafe.Pointer
278 // C string to Go string
279 func C.GoString(*C.char) string
281 // C data with explicit length to Go string
282 func C.GoStringN(*C.char, C.int) string
284 // C data with explicit length to Go []byte
285 func C.GoBytes(unsafe.Pointer, C.int) []byte
287 As a special case, C.malloc does not call the C library malloc directly
288 but instead calls a Go helper function that wraps the C library malloc
289 but guarantees never to return nil. If C's malloc indicates out of memory,
290 the helper function crashes the program, like when Go itself runs out
291 of memory. Because C.malloc cannot fail, it has no two-result form
292 that returns errno.
294 C references to Go
296 Go functions can be exported for use by C code in the following way:
298 //export MyFunction
299 func MyFunction(arg1, arg2 int, arg3 string) int64 {...}
301 //export MyFunction2
302 func MyFunction2(arg1, arg2 int, arg3 string) (int64, *C.char) {...}
304 They will be available in the C code as:
306 extern GoInt64 MyFunction(int arg1, int arg2, GoString arg3);
307 extern struct MyFunction2_return MyFunction2(int arg1, int arg2, GoString arg3);
309 found in the _cgo_export.h generated header, after any preambles
310 copied from the cgo input files. Functions with multiple
311 return values are mapped to functions returning a struct.
313 Not all Go types can be mapped to C types in a useful way.
314 Go struct types are not supported; use a C struct type.
315 Go array types are not supported; use a C pointer.
317 Go functions that take arguments of type string may be called with the
318 C type _GoString_, described above. The _GoString_ type will be
319 automatically defined in the preamble. Note that there is no way for C
320 code to create a value of this type; this is only useful for passing
321 string values from Go to C and back to Go.
323 Using //export in a file places a restriction on the preamble:
324 since it is copied into two different C output files, it must not
325 contain any definitions, only declarations. If a file contains both
326 definitions and declarations, then the two output files will produce
327 duplicate symbols and the linker will fail. To avoid this, definitions
328 must be placed in preambles in other files, or in C source files.
330 Passing pointers
332 Go is a garbage collected language, and the garbage collector needs to
333 know the location of every pointer to Go memory. Because of this,
334 there are restrictions on passing pointers between Go and C.
336 In this section the term Go pointer means a pointer to memory
337 allocated by Go (such as by using the & operator or calling the
338 predefined new function) and the term C pointer means a pointer to
339 memory allocated by C (such as by a call to C.malloc). Whether a
340 pointer is a Go pointer or a C pointer is a dynamic property
341 determined by how the memory was allocated; it has nothing to do with
342 the type of the pointer.
344 Note that values of some Go types, other than the type's zero value,
345 always include Go pointers. This is true of string, slice, interface,
346 channel, map, and function types. A pointer type may hold a Go pointer
347 or a C pointer. Array and struct types may or may not include Go
348 pointers, depending on the element types. All the discussion below
349 about Go pointers applies not just to pointer types, but also to other
350 types that include Go pointers.
352 Go code may pass a Go pointer to C provided the Go memory to which it
353 points does not contain any Go pointers. The C code must preserve
354 this property: it must not store any Go pointers in Go memory, even
355 temporarily. When passing a pointer to a field in a struct, the Go
356 memory in question is the memory occupied by the field, not the entire
357 struct. When passing a pointer to an element in an array or slice,
358 the Go memory in question is the entire array or the entire backing
359 array of the slice.
361 C code may not keep a copy of a Go pointer after the call returns.
362 This includes the _GoString_ type, which, as noted above, includes a
363 Go pointer; _GoString_ values may not be retained by C code.
365 A Go function called by C code may not return a Go pointer (which
366 implies that it may not return a string, slice, channel, and so
367 forth). A Go function called by C code may take C pointers as
368 arguments, and it may store non-pointer or C pointer data through
369 those pointers, but it may not store a Go pointer in memory pointed to
370 by a C pointer. A Go function called by C code may take a Go pointer
371 as an argument, but it must preserve the property that the Go memory
372 to which it points does not contain any Go pointers.
374 Go code may not store a Go pointer in C memory. C code may store Go
375 pointers in C memory, subject to the rule above: it must stop storing
376 the Go pointer when the C function returns.
378 These rules are checked dynamically at runtime. The checking is
379 controlled by the cgocheck setting of the GODEBUG environment
380 variable. The default setting is GODEBUG=cgocheck=1, which implements
381 reasonably cheap dynamic checks. These checks may be disabled
382 entirely using GODEBUG=cgocheck=0. Complete checking of pointer
383 handling, at some cost in run time, is available via GODEBUG=cgocheck=2.
385 It is possible to defeat this enforcement by using the unsafe package,
386 and of course there is nothing stopping the C code from doing anything
387 it likes. However, programs that break these rules are likely to fail
388 in unexpected and unpredictable ways.
390 The runtime/cgo.Handle type can be used to safely pass Go values
391 between Go and C. See the runtime/cgo package documentation for details.
393 Note: the current implementation has a bug. While Go code is permitted
394 to write nil or a C pointer (but not a Go pointer) to C memory, the
395 current implementation may sometimes cause a runtime error if the
396 contents of the C memory appear to be a Go pointer. Therefore, avoid
397 passing uninitialized C memory to Go code if the Go code is going to
398 store pointer values in it. Zero out the memory in C before passing it
399 to Go.
401 Special cases
403 A few special C types which would normally be represented by a pointer
404 type in Go are instead represented by a uintptr. Those include:
406 1. The *Ref types on Darwin, rooted at CoreFoundation's CFTypeRef type.
408 2. The object types from Java's JNI interface:
410 jobject
411 jclass
412 jthrowable
413 jstring
414 jarray
415 jbooleanArray
416 jbyteArray
417 jcharArray
418 jshortArray
419 jintArray
420 jlongArray
421 jfloatArray
422 jdoubleArray
423 jobjectArray
424 jweak
426 3. The EGLDisplay and EGLConfig types from the EGL API.
428 These types are uintptr on the Go side because they would otherwise
429 confuse the Go garbage collector; they are sometimes not really
430 pointers but data structures encoded in a pointer type. All operations
431 on these types must happen in C. The proper constant to initialize an
432 empty such reference is 0, not nil.
434 These special cases were introduced in Go 1.10. For auto-updating code
435 from Go 1.9 and earlier, use the cftype or jni rewrites in the Go fix tool:
437 go tool fix -r cftype <pkg>
438 go tool fix -r jni <pkg>
440 It will replace nil with 0 in the appropriate places.
442 The EGLDisplay case was introduced in Go 1.12. Use the egl rewrite
443 to auto-update code from Go 1.11 and earlier:
445 go tool fix -r egl <pkg>
447 The EGLConfig case was introduced in Go 1.15. Use the eglconf rewrite
448 to auto-update code from Go 1.14 and earlier:
450 go tool fix -r eglconf <pkg>
452 Using cgo directly
454 Usage:
455 go tool cgo [cgo options] [-- compiler options] gofiles...
457 Cgo transforms the specified input Go source files into several output
458 Go and C source files.
460 The compiler options are passed through uninterpreted when
461 invoking the C compiler to compile the C parts of the package.
463 The following options are available when running cgo directly:
466 Print cgo version and exit.
467 -debug-define
468 Debugging option. Print #defines.
469 -debug-gcc
470 Debugging option. Trace C compiler execution and output.
471 -dynimport file
472 Write list of symbols imported by file. Write to
473 -dynout argument or to standard output. Used by go
474 build when building a cgo package.
475 -dynlinker
476 Write dynamic linker as part of -dynimport output.
477 -dynout file
478 Write -dynimport output to file.
479 -dynpackage package
480 Set Go package for -dynimport output.
481 -exportheader file
482 If there are any exported functions, write the
483 generated export declarations to file.
484 C code can #include this to see the declarations.
485 -importpath string
486 The import path for the Go package. Optional; used for
487 nicer comments in the generated files.
488 -import_runtime_cgo
489 If set (which it is by default) import runtime/cgo in
490 generated output.
491 -import_syscall
492 If set (which it is by default) import syscall in
493 generated output.
494 -gccgo
495 Generate output for the gccgo compiler rather than the
496 gc compiler.
497 -gccgoprefix prefix
498 The -fgo-prefix option to be used with gccgo.
499 -gccgopkgpath path
500 The -fgo-pkgpath option to be used with gccgo.
501 -godefs
502 Write out input file in Go syntax replacing C package
503 names with real values. Used to generate files in the
504 syscall package when bootstrapping a new target.
505 -objdir directory
506 Put all generated files in directory.
507 -srcdir directory
509 package main
512 Implementation details.
514 Cgo provides a way for Go programs to call C code linked into the same
515 address space. This comment explains the operation of cgo.
517 Cgo reads a set of Go source files and looks for statements saying
518 import "C". If the import has a doc comment, that comment is
519 taken as literal C code to be used as a preamble to any C code
520 generated by cgo. A typical preamble #includes necessary definitions:
522 // #include <stdio.h>
523 import "C"
525 For more details about the usage of cgo, see the documentation
526 comment at the top of this file.
528 Understanding C
530 Cgo scans the Go source files that import "C" for uses of that
531 package, such as C.puts. It collects all such identifiers. The next
532 step is to determine each kind of name. In C.xxx the xxx might refer
533 to a type, a function, a constant, or a global variable. Cgo must
534 decide which.
536 The obvious thing for cgo to do is to process the preamble, expanding
537 #includes and processing the corresponding C code. That would require
538 a full C parser and type checker that was also aware of any extensions
539 known to the system compiler (for example, all the GNU C extensions) as
540 well as the system-specific header locations and system-specific
541 pre-#defined macros. This is certainly possible to do, but it is an
542 enormous amount of work.
544 Cgo takes a different approach. It determines the meaning of C
545 identifiers not by parsing C code but by feeding carefully constructed
546 programs into the system C compiler and interpreting the generated
547 error messages, debug information, and object files. In practice,
548 parsing these is significantly less work and more robust than parsing
549 C source.
551 Cgo first invokes gcc -E -dM on the preamble, in order to find out
552 about simple #defines for constants and the like. These are recorded
553 for later use.
555 Next, cgo needs to identify the kinds for each identifier. For the
556 identifiers C.foo, cgo generates this C program:
558 <preamble>
559 #line 1 "not-declared"
560 void __cgo_f_1_1(void) { __typeof__(foo) *__cgo_undefined__1; }
561 #line 1 "not-type"
562 void __cgo_f_1_2(void) { foo *__cgo_undefined__2; }
563 #line 1 "not-int-const"
564 void __cgo_f_1_3(void) { enum { __cgo_undefined__3 = (foo)*1 }; }
565 #line 1 "not-num-const"
566 void __cgo_f_1_4(void) { static const double __cgo_undefined__4 = (foo); }
567 #line 1 "not-str-lit"
568 void __cgo_f_1_5(void) { static const char __cgo_undefined__5[] = (foo); }
570 This program will not compile, but cgo can use the presence or absence
571 of an error message on a given line to deduce the information it
572 needs. The program is syntactically valid regardless of whether each
573 name is a type or an ordinary identifier, so there will be no syntax
574 errors that might stop parsing early.
576 An error on not-declared:1 indicates that foo is undeclared.
577 An error on not-type:1 indicates that foo is not a type (if declared at all, it is an identifier).
578 An error on not-int-const:1 indicates that foo is not an integer constant.
579 An error on not-num-const:1 indicates that foo is not a number constant.
580 An error on not-str-lit:1 indicates that foo is not a string literal.
581 An error on not-signed-int-const:1 indicates that foo is not a signed integer constant.
583 The line number specifies the name involved. In the example, 1 is foo.
585 Next, cgo must learn the details of each type, variable, function, or
586 constant. It can do this by reading object files. If cgo has decided
587 that t1 is a type, v2 and v3 are variables or functions, and i4, i5
588 are integer constants, u6 is an unsigned integer constant, and f7 and f8
589 are float constants, and s9 and s10 are string constants, it generates:
591 <preamble>
592 __typeof__(t1) *__cgo__1;
593 __typeof__(v2) *__cgo__2;
594 __typeof__(v3) *__cgo__3;
595 __typeof__(i4) *__cgo__4;
596 enum { __cgo_enum__4 = i4 };
597 __typeof__(i5) *__cgo__5;
598 enum { __cgo_enum__5 = i5 };
599 __typeof__(u6) *__cgo__6;
600 enum { __cgo_enum__6 = u6 };
601 __typeof__(f7) *__cgo__7;
602 __typeof__(f8) *__cgo__8;
603 __typeof__(s9) *__cgo__9;
604 __typeof__(s10) *__cgo__10;
606 long long __cgodebug_ints[] = {
607 0, // t1
608 0, // v2
609 0, // v3
613 0, // f7
614 0, // f8
615 0, // s9
616 0, // s10
620 double __cgodebug_floats[] = {
621 0, // t1
622 0, // v2
623 0, // v3
624 0, // i4
625 0, // i5
626 0, // u6
629 0, // s9
630 0, // s10
634 const char __cgodebug_str__9[] = s9;
635 const unsigned long long __cgodebug_strlen__9 = sizeof(s9)-1;
636 const char __cgodebug_str__10[] = s10;
637 const unsigned long long __cgodebug_strlen__10 = sizeof(s10)-1;
639 and again invokes the system C compiler, to produce an object file
640 containing debug information. Cgo parses the DWARF debug information
641 for __cgo__N to learn the type of each identifier. (The types also
642 distinguish functions from global variables.) Cgo reads the constant
643 values from the __cgodebug_* from the object file's data segment.
645 At this point cgo knows the meaning of each C.xxx well enough to start
646 the translation process.
648 Translating Go
650 Given the input Go files x.go and y.go, cgo generates these source
651 files:
653 x.cgo1.go # for gc (cmd/compile)
654 y.cgo1.go # for gc
655 _cgo_gotypes.go # for gc
656 _cgo_import.go # for gc (if -dynout _cgo_import.go)
657 x.cgo2.c # for gcc
658 y.cgo2.c # for gcc
659 _cgo_defun.c # for gcc (if -gccgo)
660 _cgo_export.c # for gcc
661 _cgo_export.h # for gcc
662 _cgo_main.c # for gcc
663 _cgo_flags # for alternative build tools
665 The file x.cgo1.go is a copy of x.go with the import "C" removed and
666 references to C.xxx replaced with names like _Cfunc_xxx or _Ctype_xxx.
667 The definitions of those identifiers, written as Go functions, types,
668 or variables, are provided in _cgo_gotypes.go.
670 Here is a _cgo_gotypes.go containing definitions for needed C types:
672 type _Ctype_char int8
673 type _Ctype_int int32
674 type _Ctype_void [0]byte
676 The _cgo_gotypes.go file also contains the definitions of the
677 functions. They all have similar bodies that invoke runtime·cgocall
678 to make a switch from the Go runtime world to the system C (GCC-based)
679 world.
681 For example, here is the definition of _Cfunc_puts:
683 //go:cgo_import_static _cgo_be59f0f25121_Cfunc_puts
684 //go:linkname __cgofn__cgo_be59f0f25121_Cfunc_puts _cgo_be59f0f25121_Cfunc_puts
685 var __cgofn__cgo_be59f0f25121_Cfunc_puts byte
686 var _cgo_be59f0f25121_Cfunc_puts = unsafe.Pointer(&__cgofn__cgo_be59f0f25121_Cfunc_puts)
688 func _Cfunc_puts(p0 *_Ctype_char) (r1 _Ctype_int) {
689 _cgo_runtime_cgocall(_cgo_be59f0f25121_Cfunc_puts, uintptr(unsafe.Pointer(&p0)))
690 return
693 The hexadecimal number is a hash of cgo's input, chosen to be
694 deterministic yet unlikely to collide with other uses. The actual
695 function _cgo_be59f0f25121_Cfunc_puts is implemented in a C source
696 file compiled by gcc, the file x.cgo2.c:
698 void
699 _cgo_be59f0f25121_Cfunc_puts(void *v)
701 struct {
702 char* p0;
703 int r;
704 char __pad12[4];
705 } __attribute__((__packed__, __gcc_struct__)) *a = v;
706 a->r = puts((void*)a->p0);
709 It extracts the arguments from the pointer to _Cfunc_puts's argument
710 frame, invokes the system C function (in this case, puts), stores the
711 result in the frame, and returns.
713 Linking
715 Once the _cgo_export.c and *.cgo2.c files have been compiled with gcc,
716 they need to be linked into the final binary, along with the libraries
717 they might depend on (in the case of puts, stdio). cmd/link has been
718 extended to understand basic ELF files, but it does not understand ELF
719 in the full complexity that modern C libraries embrace, so it cannot
720 in general generate direct references to the system libraries.
722 Instead, the build process generates an object file using dynamic
723 linkage to the desired libraries. The main function is provided by
724 _cgo_main.c:
726 int main() { return 0; }
727 void crosscall2(void(*fn)(void*), void *a, int c, uintptr_t ctxt) { }
728 uintptr_t _cgo_wait_runtime_init_done(void) { return 0; }
729 void _cgo_release_context(uintptr_t ctxt) { }
730 char* _cgo_topofstack(void) { return (char*)0; }
731 void _cgo_allocate(void *a, int c) { }
732 void _cgo_panic(void *a, int c) { }
733 void _cgo_reginit(void) { }
735 The extra functions here are stubs to satisfy the references in the C
736 code generated for gcc. The build process links this stub, along with
737 _cgo_export.c and *.cgo2.c, into a dynamic executable and then lets
738 cgo examine the executable. Cgo records the list of shared library
739 references and resolved names and writes them into a new file
740 _cgo_import.go, which looks like:
742 //go:cgo_dynamic_linker "/lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2"
743 //go:cgo_import_dynamic puts puts#GLIBC_2.2.5 "libc.so.6"
744 //go:cgo_import_dynamic __libc_start_main __libc_start_main#GLIBC_2.2.5 "libc.so.6"
745 //go:cgo_import_dynamic stdout stdout#GLIBC_2.2.5 "libc.so.6"
746 //go:cgo_import_dynamic fflush fflush#GLIBC_2.2.5 "libc.so.6"
747 //go:cgo_import_dynamic _ _ "libpthread.so.0"
748 //go:cgo_import_dynamic _ _ "libc.so.6"
750 In the end, the compiled Go package, which will eventually be
751 presented to cmd/link as part of a larger program, contains:
753 _go_.o # gc-compiled object for _cgo_gotypes.go, _cgo_import.go, *.cgo1.go
754 _all.o # gcc-compiled object for _cgo_export.c, *.cgo2.c
756 The final program will be a dynamic executable, so that cmd/link can avoid
757 needing to process arbitrary .o files. It only needs to process the .o
758 files generated from C files that cgo writes, and those are much more
759 limited in the ELF or other features that they use.
761 In essence, the _cgo_import.o file includes the extra linking
762 directives that cmd/link is not sophisticated enough to derive from _all.o
763 on its own. Similarly, the _all.o uses dynamic references to real
764 system object code because cmd/link is not sophisticated enough to process
765 the real code.
767 The main benefits of this system are that cmd/link remains relatively simple
768 (it does not need to implement a complete ELF and Mach-O linker) and
769 that gcc is not needed after the package is compiled. For example,
770 package net uses cgo for access to name resolution functions provided
771 by libc. Although gcc is needed to compile package net, gcc is not
772 needed to link programs that import package net.
774 Runtime
776 When using cgo, Go must not assume that it owns all details of the
777 process. In particular it needs to coordinate with C in the use of
778 threads and thread-local storage. The runtime package declares a few
779 variables:
781 var (
782 iscgo bool
783 _cgo_init unsafe.Pointer
784 _cgo_thread_start unsafe.Pointer
787 Any package using cgo imports "runtime/cgo", which provides
788 initializations for these variables. It sets iscgo to true, _cgo_init
789 to a gcc-compiled function that can be called early during program
790 startup, and _cgo_thread_start to a gcc-compiled function that can be
791 used to create a new thread, in place of the runtime's usual direct
792 system calls.
794 Internal and External Linking
796 The text above describes "internal" linking, in which cmd/link parses and
797 links host object files (ELF, Mach-O, PE, and so on) into the final
798 executable itself. Keeping cmd/link simple means we cannot possibly
799 implement the full semantics of the host linker, so the kinds of
800 objects that can be linked directly into the binary is limited (other
801 code can only be used as a dynamic library). On the other hand, when
802 using internal linking, cmd/link can generate Go binaries by itself.
804 In order to allow linking arbitrary object files without requiring
805 dynamic libraries, cgo supports an "external" linking mode too. In
806 external linking mode, cmd/link does not process any host object files.
807 Instead, it collects all the Go code and writes a single go.o object
808 file containing it. Then it invokes the host linker (usually gcc) to
809 combine the go.o object file and any supporting non-Go code into a
810 final executable. External linking avoids the dynamic library
811 requirement but introduces a requirement that the host linker be
812 present to create such a binary.
814 Most builds both compile source code and invoke the linker to create a
815 binary. When cgo is involved, the compile step already requires gcc, so
816 it is not problematic for the link step to require gcc too.
818 An important exception is builds using a pre-compiled copy of the
819 standard library. In particular, package net uses cgo on most systems,
820 and we want to preserve the ability to compile pure Go code that
821 imports net without requiring gcc to be present at link time. (In this
822 case, the dynamic library requirement is less significant, because the
823 only library involved is libc.so, which can usually be assumed
824 present.)
826 This conflict between functionality and the gcc requirement means we
827 must support both internal and external linking, depending on the
828 circumstances: if net is the only cgo-using package, then internal
829 linking is probably fine, but if other packages are involved, so that there
830 are dependencies on libraries beyond libc, external linking is likely
831 to work better. The compilation of a package records the relevant
832 information to support both linking modes, leaving the decision
833 to be made when linking the final binary.
835 Linking Directives
837 In either linking mode, package-specific directives must be passed
838 through to cmd/link. These are communicated by writing //go: directives in a
839 Go source file compiled by gc. The directives are copied into the .o
840 object file and then processed by the linker.
842 The directives are:
844 //go:cgo_import_dynamic <local> [<remote> ["<library>"]]
846 In internal linking mode, allow an unresolved reference to
847 <local>, assuming it will be resolved by a dynamic library
848 symbol. The optional <remote> specifies the symbol's name and
849 possibly version in the dynamic library, and the optional "<library>"
850 names the specific library where the symbol should be found.
852 On AIX, the library pattern is slightly different. It must be
853 "lib.a/obj.o" with obj.o the member of this library exporting
854 this symbol.
856 In the <remote>, # or @ can be used to introduce a symbol version.
858 Examples:
859 //go:cgo_import_dynamic puts
860 //go:cgo_import_dynamic puts puts#GLIBC_2.2.5
861 //go:cgo_import_dynamic puts puts#GLIBC_2.2.5 "libc.so.6"
863 A side effect of the cgo_import_dynamic directive with a
864 library is to make the final binary depend on that dynamic
865 library. To get the dependency without importing any specific
866 symbols, use _ for local and remote.
868 Example:
869 //go:cgo_import_dynamic _ _ "libc.so.6"
871 For compatibility with current versions of SWIG,
872 #pragma dynimport is an alias for //go:cgo_import_dynamic.
874 //go:cgo_dynamic_linker "<path>"
876 In internal linking mode, use "<path>" as the dynamic linker
877 in the final binary. This directive is only needed from one
878 package when constructing a binary; by convention it is
879 supplied by runtime/cgo.
881 Example:
882 //go:cgo_dynamic_linker "/lib/ld-linux.so.2"
884 //go:cgo_export_dynamic <local> <remote>
886 In internal linking mode, put the Go symbol
887 named <local> into the program's exported symbol table as
888 <remote>, so that C code can refer to it by that name. This
889 mechanism makes it possible for C code to call back into Go or
890 to share Go's data.
892 For compatibility with current versions of SWIG,
893 #pragma dynexport is an alias for //go:cgo_export_dynamic.
895 //go:cgo_import_static <local>
897 In external linking mode, allow unresolved references to
898 <local> in the go.o object file prepared for the host linker,
899 under the assumption that <local> will be supplied by the
900 other object files that will be linked with go.o.
902 Example:
903 //go:cgo_import_static puts_wrapper
905 //go:cgo_export_static <local> <remote>
907 In external linking mode, put the Go symbol
908 named <local> into the program's exported symbol table as
909 <remote>, so that C code can refer to it by that name. This
910 mechanism makes it possible for C code to call back into Go or
911 to share Go's data.
913 //go:cgo_ldflag "<arg>"
915 In external linking mode, invoke the host linker (usually gcc)
916 with "<arg>" as a command-line argument following the .o files.
917 Note that the arguments are for "gcc", not "ld".
919 Example:
920 //go:cgo_ldflag "-lpthread"
921 //go:cgo_ldflag "-L/usr/local/sqlite3/lib"
923 A package compiled with cgo will include directives for both
924 internal and external linking; the linker will select the appropriate
925 subset for the chosen linking mode.
927 Example
929 As a simple example, consider a package that uses cgo to call C.sin.
930 The following code will be generated by cgo:
932 // compiled by gc
934 //go:cgo_ldflag "-lm"
936 type _Ctype_double float64
938 //go:cgo_import_static _cgo_gcc_Cfunc_sin
939 //go:linkname __cgo_gcc_Cfunc_sin _cgo_gcc_Cfunc_sin
940 var __cgo_gcc_Cfunc_sin byte
941 var _cgo_gcc_Cfunc_sin = unsafe.Pointer(&__cgo_gcc_Cfunc_sin)
943 func _Cfunc_sin(p0 _Ctype_double) (r1 _Ctype_double) {
944 _cgo_runtime_cgocall(_cgo_gcc_Cfunc_sin, uintptr(unsafe.Pointer(&p0)))
945 return
948 // compiled by gcc, into foo.cgo2.o
950 void
951 _cgo_gcc_Cfunc_sin(void *v)
953 struct {
954 double p0;
955 double r;
956 } __attribute__((__packed__)) *a = v;
957 a->r = sin(a->p0);
960 What happens at link time depends on whether the final binary is linked
961 using the internal or external mode. If other packages are compiled in
962 "external only" mode, then the final link will be an external one.
963 Otherwise the link will be an internal one.
965 The linking directives are used according to the kind of final link
966 used.
968 In internal mode, cmd/link itself processes all the host object files, in
969 particular foo.cgo2.o. To do so, it uses the cgo_import_dynamic and
970 cgo_dynamic_linker directives to learn that the otherwise undefined
971 reference to sin in foo.cgo2.o should be rewritten to refer to the
972 symbol sin with version GLIBC_2.2.5 from the dynamic library
973 "libm.so.6", and the binary should request "/lib/ld-linux.so.2" as its
974 runtime dynamic linker.
976 In external mode, cmd/link does not process any host object files, in
977 particular foo.cgo2.o. It links together the gc-generated object
978 files, along with any other Go code, into a go.o file. While doing
979 that, cmd/link will discover that there is no definition for
980 _cgo_gcc_Cfunc_sin, referred to by the gc-compiled source file. This
981 is okay, because cmd/link also processes the cgo_import_static directive and
982 knows that _cgo_gcc_Cfunc_sin is expected to be supplied by a host
983 object file, so cmd/link does not treat the missing symbol as an error when
984 creating go.o. Indeed, the definition for _cgo_gcc_Cfunc_sin will be
985 provided to the host linker by foo2.cgo.o, which in turn will need the
986 symbol 'sin'. cmd/link also processes the cgo_ldflag directives, so that it
987 knows that the eventual host link command must include the -lm
988 argument, so that the host linker will be able to find 'sin' in the
989 math library.
991 cmd/link Command Line Interface
993 The go command and any other Go-aware build systems invoke cmd/link
994 to link a collection of packages into a single binary. By default, cmd/link will
995 present the same interface it does today:
997 cmd/link main.a
999 produces a file named a.out, even if cmd/link does so by invoking the host
1000 linker in external linking mode.
1002 By default, cmd/link will decide the linking mode as follows: if the only
1003 packages using cgo are those on a list of known standard library
1004 packages (net, os/user, runtime/cgo), cmd/link will use internal linking
1005 mode. Otherwise, there are non-standard cgo packages involved, and cmd/link
1006 will use external linking mode. The first rule means that a build of
1007 the godoc binary, which uses net but no other cgo, can run without
1008 needing gcc available. The second rule means that a build of a
1009 cgo-wrapped library like sqlite3 can generate a standalone executable
1010 instead of needing to refer to a dynamic library. The specific choice
1011 can be overridden using a command line flag: cmd/link -linkmode=internal or
1012 cmd/link -linkmode=external.
1014 In an external link, cmd/link will create a temporary directory, write any
1015 host object files found in package archives to that directory (renamed
1016 to avoid conflicts), write the go.o file to that directory, and invoke
1017 the host linker. The default value for the host linker is $CC, split
1018 into fields, or else "gcc". The specific host linker command line can
1019 be overridden using command line flags: cmd/link -extld=clang
1020 -extldflags='-ggdb -O3'. If any package in a build includes a .cc or
1021 other file compiled by the C++ compiler, the go tool will use the
1022 -extld option to set the host linker to the C++ compiler.
1024 These defaults mean that Go-aware build systems can ignore the linking
1025 changes and keep running plain 'cmd/link' and get reasonable results, but
1026 they can also control the linking details if desired.