package FFI::Platypus;
use strict;
use warnings;
use 5.008004;
use Carp qw( croak );
use FFI::Platypus::Function;
use FFI::Platypus::Type;
# ABSTRACT: Write Perl bindings to non-Perl libraries with FFI. No XS required.
our $VERSION = '1.91_01'; # TRIAL VERSION
# Platypus-Man,
# Platypus-Man,
# Does Whatever A Platypus Can
# Is Mildly Venomous
# Hangs Out In Rivers By Caves
# Look Out!
# Here Comes The Platypus-Man
# From the original FFI::Platypus prototype:
# Kinda like gluing a duckbill to an adorable mammal
our @CARP_NOT = qw( FFI::Platypus::Declare FFI::Platypus::Record );
require XSLoader;
XSLoader::load(
'FFI::Platypus', $FFI::Platypus::VERSION || 0
);
sub new
{
my($class, %args) = @_;
my @lib;
if(exists $args{lib})
{
if(!ref($args{lib}))
{
push @lib, $args{lib};
}
elsif(ref($args{lib}) eq 'ARRAY')
{
push @lib, @{$args{lib}};
}
else
{
croak "lib argument must be a scalar or array reference";
}
}
my $api = $args{api} || 0;
my $experimental = $args{experimental} || 0;
if($experimental == 1)
{
Carp::croak("Please do not use the experimental version of api = 1, instead require FFI::Platypus 1.00 or better");
}
elsif($experimental == 2)
{
Carp::croak("Please do not use the experimental version of api = 2, instead require FFI::Platypus 2.00 or better");
}
if(defined $api && $api > 2 && $experimental != $api)
{
Carp::cluck("Enabling development API version $api prior to FFI::Platypus $api.00");
}
my $tp;
if($api == 0)
{
$tp = 'Version0';
}
elsif($api == 1)
{
$tp = 'Version1';
}
elsif($api == 2)
{
$tp = 'Version2';
}
else
{
Carp::croak("API version $api not (yet) implemented");
}
require "FFI/Platypus/TypeParser/$tp.pm";
$tp = "FFI::Platypus::TypeParser::$tp";
my $self = bless {
lib => \@lib,
lang => '',
handles => {},
abi => -1,
api => $api,
tp => $tp->new,
fini => [],
ignore_not_found => defined $args{ignore_not_found} ? $args{ignore_not_found} : 0,
}, $class;
$self->lang($args{lang} || 'C');
$self;
}
sub _lang_class ($)
{
my($lang) = @_;
my $class = $lang =~ m/^=(.*)$/ ? $1 : "FFI::Platypus::Lang::$lang";
unless($class->can('native_type_map'))
{
my $pm = "$class.pm";
$pm =~ s/::/\//g;
require $pm;
}
croak "$class does not provide native_type_map method"
unless $class->can("native_type_map");
$class;
}
sub lib
{
my($self, @new) = @_;
if(@new)
{
push @{ $self->{lib} }, map { ref $_ eq 'CODE' ? $_->() : $_ } @new;
delete $self->{mangler};
}
@{ $self->{lib} };
}
sub ignore_not_found
{
my($self, $value) = @_;
if(defined $value)
{
$self->{ignore_not_found} = $value;
}
$self->{ignore_not_found};
}
sub lang
{
my($self, $value) = @_;
if(defined $value && $value ne $self->{lang})
{
$self->{lang} = $value;
my $class = _lang_class($self->{lang});
$self->abi($class->abi) if $class->can('abi');
{
my %type_map;
my $map = $class->native_type_map(
$self->{api} > 0
? (api => $self->{api})
: ()
);
foreach my $key (keys %$map)
{
my $value = $map->{$key};
next unless $self->{tp}->have_type($value);
$type_map{$key} = $value;
}
$type_map{$_} = $_ for grep { $self->{tp}->have_type($_) }
qw( void sint8 uint8 sint16 uint16 sint32 uint32 sint64 uint64 float double string opaque
longdouble complex_float complex_double );
$type_map{pointer} = 'opaque' if $self->{tp}->isa('FFI::Platypus::TypeParser::Version0');
$self->{tp}->type_map(\%type_map);
}
$class->load_custom_types($self) if $class->can('load_custom_types');
}
$self->{lang};
}
sub api { shift->{api} }
sub type
{
my($self, $name, $alias) = @_;
croak "usage: \$ffi->type(name => alias) (alias is optional)" unless defined $self && defined $name;
$self->{tp}->check_alias($alias) if defined $alias;
my $type = $self->{tp}->parse($name);
$self->{tp}->set_alias($alias, $type) if defined $alias;
$self;
}
sub custom_type
{
my($self, $alias, $cb) = @_;
my $argument_count = $cb->{argument_count} || 1;
croak "argument_count must be >= 1"
unless $argument_count >= 1;
croak "Usage: \$ffi->custom_type(\$alias, { ... })"
unless defined $alias && ref($cb) eq 'HASH';
croak "must define at least one of native_to_perl, perl_to_native, or perl_to_native_post"
unless defined $cb->{native_to_perl} || defined $cb->{perl_to_native} || defined $cb->{perl_to_native_post};
$self->{tp}->check_alias($alias);
my $type = $self->{tp}->create_type_custom(
$cb->{native_type},
$cb->{perl_to_native},
$cb->{native_to_perl},
$cb->{perl_to_native_post},
$argument_count,
);
$self->{tp}->set_alias($alias, $type);
$self;
}
sub load_custom_type
{
my($self, $name, $alias, @type_args) = @_;
croak "usage: \$ffi->load_custom_type(\$name, \$alias, ...)"
unless defined $name && defined $alias;
$name = "FFI::Platypus::Type$name" if $name =~ /^::/;
$name = "FFI::Platypus::Type::$name" unless $name =~ /::/;
unless($name->can("ffi_custom_type_api_1"))
{
my $pm = "$name.pm";
$pm =~ s/::/\//g;
eval { require $pm };
warn $@ if $@;
}
unless($name->can("ffi_custom_type_api_1"))
{
croak "$name does not appear to conform to the custom type API";
}
my $cb = $name->ffi_custom_type_api_1($self, @type_args);
$self->custom_type($alias => $cb);
$self;
}
sub types
{
my($self) = @_;
$self = $self->new unless ref $self && eval { $self->isa('FFI::Platypus') };
sort $self->{tp}->list_types;
}
sub type_meta
{
my($self, $name) = @_;
$self = $self->new unless ref $self && eval { $self->isa('FFI::Platypus') };
$self->{tp}->parse($name)->meta;
}
sub mangler
{
my($self, $sub) = @_;
$self->{mangler} = $self->{mymangler} = $sub;
}
sub function
{
my $wrapper;
$wrapper = pop if ref $_[-1] eq 'CODE';
croak "usage \$ffi->function( \$name, \\\@arguments, [\\\@var_args], [\$return_type])" unless @_ >= 3 && @_ <= 6;
my $self = shift;
my $name = shift;
my $fixed_args = shift;
my $var_args;
$var_args = shift if defined $_[0] && ref($_[0]) eq 'ARRAY';
my $ret = shift;
$ret = 'void' unless defined $ret;
# special case: treat a single void argument type as an empty list of
# arguments, a la olde timey C compilers.
if( (!defined $var_args) && @$fixed_args == 1 && $fixed_args->[0] eq 'void' )
{
$fixed_args = [];
}
my $fixed_arg_count = defined $var_args ? scalar(@$fixed_args) : -1;
my @args = map { $self->{tp}->parse($_) || croak "unknown type: $_" } @$fixed_args;
if($var_args)
{
push @args, map {
my $type = $self->{tp}->parse($_);
# https://github.com/PerlFFI/FFI-Platypus/issues/323
$type->type_code == 67 ? $self->{tp}->parse('double') : $type
} @$var_args;
}
$ret = $self->{tp}->parse($ret) || croak "unknown type: $ret";
my $address = $name =~ /^-?[0-9]+$/ ? $name : $self->find_symbol($name);
croak "unable to find $name" unless defined $address || $self->ignore_not_found;
return unless defined $address;
$address = @args > 0 ? _cast1() : _cast0() if $address == 0;
my $function = FFI::Platypus::Function::Function->new($self, $address, $self->{abi}, $fixed_arg_count, $ret, @args);
$wrapper
? FFI::Platypus::Function::Wrapper->new($function, $wrapper)
: $function;
}
sub _function_meta
{
# NOTE: may be upgraded to a documented function one day,
# but shouldn't be used externally as we will rename it
# if that happens.
my($self, $name, $meta, $args, $ret) = @_;
$args = ['opaque','int',@$args];
$self->function(
$name, $args, $ret, sub {
my $xsub = shift;
$xsub->($meta, scalar(@_), @_);
},
);
}
sub attach
{
my $wrapper;
$wrapper = pop if ref $_[-1] eq 'CODE';
my $self = shift;
my $name = shift;
my $args = shift;
my $varargs;
$varargs = shift if defined $_[0] && ref($_[0]) eq 'ARRAY';
my $ret = shift;
my $proto = shift;
$ret = 'void' unless defined $ret;
my($c_name, $perl_name) = ref($name) ? @$name : ($name, $name);
croak "you tried to provide a perl name that looks like an address"
if $perl_name =~ /^-?[0-9]+$/;
my $function = $varargs
? $self->function($c_name, $args, $varargs, $ret, $wrapper)
: $self->function($c_name, $args, $ret, $wrapper);
if(defined $function)
{
$function->attach($perl_name, $proto);
}
$self;
}
sub closure
{
my($self, $coderef) = @_;
croak "not a coderef" unless ref $coderef eq 'CODE';
require FFI::Platypus::Closure;
FFI::Platypus::Closure->new($coderef);
}
sub cast
{
$_[0]->function(0 => [$_[1]] => $_[2])->call($_[3]);
}
sub attach_cast
{
my($self, $name, $type1, $type2, $wrapper) = @_;
my $caller = caller;
$name = join '::', $caller, $name unless $name =~ /::/;
if(defined $wrapper && ref($wrapper) eq 'CODE')
{
$self->attach([0 => $name] => [$type1] => $type2 => '$', $wrapper);
}
else
{
$self->attach([0 => $name] => [$type1] => $type2 => '$');
}
$self;
}
sub sizeof
{
my($self,$name) = @_;
ref $self
? $self->{tp}->parse($name)->sizeof
: $self->new->sizeof($name);
}
sub alignof
{
my($self, $name) = @_;
ref $self
? $self->{tp}->parse($name)->alignof
: $self->new->alignof($name);
}
sub kindof
{
my($self, $name) = @_;
ref $self
? $self->{tp}->parse($name)->kindof
: $self->new->kindof($name);
}
sub countof
{
my($self, $name) = @_;
ref $self
? $self->{tp}->parse($name)->countof
: $self->new->countof($name);
}
sub def
{
my $self = shift;
my $package = shift || caller;
my $type = shift;
if(@_)
{
$self->type($type);
$self->{def}->{$package}->{$type} = shift;
}
$self->{def}->{$package}->{$type};
}
sub unitof
{
my($self, $name) = @_;
ref $self
? $self->{tp}->parse($name)->unitof
: $self->new->unitof($name);
}
sub find_lib
{
my $self = shift;
require FFI::CheckLib;
$self->lib(FFI::CheckLib::find_lib(@_));
$self;
}
sub find_symbol
{
my($self, $name) = @_;
$self->{mangler} ||= $self->{mymangler};
unless(defined $self->{mangler})
{
my $class = _lang_class($self->{lang});
if($class->can('mangler'))
{
$self->{mangler} = $class->mangler($self->lib);
}
else
{
$self->{mangler} = sub { $_[0] };
}
}
foreach my $path (@{ $self->{lib} })
{
my $handle = do { no warnings; $self->{handles}->{$path||0} } || FFI::Platypus::DL::dlopen($path, FFI::Platypus::DL::RTLD_PLATYPUS_DEFAULT());
unless($handle)
{
warn "warning: error loading $path: ", FFI::Platypus::DL::dlerror()
if $self->{api} > 0 || $ENV{FFI_PLATYPUS_DLERROR};
next;
}
my $address = FFI::Platypus::DL::dlsym($handle, $self->{mangler}->($name));
if($address)
{
$self->{handles}->{$path||0} = $handle;
return $address;
}
else
{
FFI::Platypus::DL::dlclose($handle) unless $self->{handles}->{$path||0};
}
}
return;
}
sub bundle
{
croak "bundle method only available with api => 1 or better" if $_[0]->{api} < 1;
require FFI::Platypus::Bundle;
goto &_bundle;
}
sub package
{
croak "package method only available with api => 0" if $_[0]->{api} > 0;
require FFI::Platypus::Legacy;
goto &_package;
}
sub abis
{
require FFI::Platypus::ShareConfig;
FFI::Platypus::ShareConfig->get("abi");
}
sub abi
{
my($self, $newabi) = @_;
unless($newabi =~ /^[0-9]+$/)
{
unless(defined $self->abis->{$newabi})
{
croak "no such ABI: $newabi";
}
$newabi = $self->abis->{$newabi};
}
unless(FFI::Platypus::ABI::verify($newabi))
{
croak "no such ABI: $newabi";
}
$self->{abi} = $newabi;
$self->{tp}->abi($newabi);
$self;
}
sub DESTROY
{
my($self) = @_;
foreach my $fini (@{ $self->{fini} })
{
$fini->($self);
}
foreach my $handle (values %{ $self->{handles} })
{
next unless $handle;
FFI::Platypus::DL::dlclose($handle);
}
delete $self->{handles};
}
1;
__END__
=pod
=encoding UTF-8
=head1 NAME
FFI::Platypus - Write Perl bindings to non-Perl libraries with FFI. No XS required.
=head1 VERSION
version 1.91_01
=head1 SYNOPSIS
use FFI::Platypus 2.00;
# for all new code you should use api => 2
my $ffi = FFI::Platypus->new( api => 2 );
$ffi->lib(undef); # search libc
# call dynamically
$ffi->function( puts => ['string'] => 'int' )->call("hello world");
# attach as a xsub and call (much faster)
$ffi->attach( puts => ['string'] => 'int' );
puts("hello world");
=head1 DESCRIPTION
Platypus is a library for creating interfaces to machine code libraries
written in languages like C, L<C++|FFI::Platypus::Lang::CPP>,
L<Go|FFI::Platypus::Lang::Go>,
L<Fortran|FFI::Platypus::Lang::Fortran>,
L<Rust|FFI::Platypus::Lang::Rust>,
L<Pascal|FFI::Platypus::Lang::Pascal>. Essentially anything that gets
compiled into machine code. This implementation uses L<libffi|https://sourceware.org/libffi/> to
accomplish this task. L<libffi|https://sourceware.org/libffi/> is battle tested by a number of other
scripting and virtual machine languages, such as Python and Ruby to
serve a similar role. There are a number of reasons why you might want
to write an extension with Platypus instead of XS:
=over 4
=item FFI / Platypus does not require messing with the guts of Perl
XS is less of an API and more of the guts of perl splayed out to do
whatever you want. That may at times be very powerful, but it can also
be a frustrating exercise in hair pulling.
=item FFI / Platypus is portable
Lots of languages have FFI interfaces, and it is subjectively easier to
port an extension written in FFI in Perl or another language to FFI in
another language or Perl. One goal of the Platypus Project is to reduce
common interface specifications to a common format like JSON that could
be shared between different languages.
=item FFI / Platypus could be a bridge to Raku
One of those "other" languages could be Raku and Raku already has an
FFI interface I am told.
=item FFI / Platypus can be reimplemented
In a bright future with multiple implementations of Perl 5, each
interpreter will have its own implementation of Platypus, allowing
extensions to be written once and used on multiple platforms, in much
the same way that Ruby-FFI extensions can be use in Ruby, JRuby and
Rubinius.
=item FFI / Platypus is pure perl (sorta)
One Platypus script or module works on any platform where the libraries
it uses are available. That means you can deploy your Platypus script
in a shared filesystem where they may be run on different platforms. It
also means that Platypus modules do not need to be installed in the
platform specific Perl library path.
=item FFI / Platypus is not C or C++ centric
XS is implemented primarily as a bunch of C macros, which requires at
least some understanding of C, the C pre-processor, and some C++ caveats
(since on some platforms Perl is compiled and linked with a C++
compiler). Platypus on the other hand could be used to call other
compiled languages, like L<Fortran|FFI::Platypus::Lang::Fortran>,
L<Go|FFI::Platypus::Lang::Go>,
L<Rust|FFI::Platypus::Lang::Rust>,
L<Pascal|FFI::Platypus::Lang::Pascal>, L<C++|FFI::Platypus::Lang::CPP>,
or even L<assembly|FFI::Platypus::Lang::ASM>, allowing you to focus
on your strengths.
=item FFI / Platypus does not require a parser
L<Inline> isolates the extension developer from XS to some extent, but
it also requires a parser. The various L<Inline> language bindings are
a great technical achievement, but I think writing a parser for every
language that you want to interface with is a bit of an anti-pattern.
=back
This document consists of an API reference, a set of examples, some
support and development (for contributors) information. If you are new
to Platypus or FFI, you may want to skip down to the
L<EXAMPLES|/EXAMPLES> to get a taste of what you can do with Platypus.
Platypus has extensive documentation of types at L<FFI::Platypus::Type>
and its custom types API at L<FFI::Platypus::API>.
You are B<strongly> encouraged to use API level 1 for all new code.
There are a number of improvements and design fixes that you get
for free. You should even consider updating existing modules to
use API level 1 where feasible. How do I do that you might ask?
Simply pass in the API level to the platypus constructor.
my $ffi = FFI::Platypus->new( api => 2 );
The Platypus documentation has already been updated to assume API
level 1.
=for stopwords ØMQ
=head1 CONSTRUCTORS
=head2 new
my $ffi = FFI::Platypus->new( api => 2, %options);
Create a new instance of L<FFI::Platypus>.
Any types defined with this instance will be valid for this instance
only, so you do not need to worry about stepping on the toes of other
CPAN FFI / Platypus Authors.
Any functions found will be out of the list of libraries specified with
the L<lib|/lib> attribute.
=head3 options
=over 4
=item api
[version 0.91]
Sets the API level. Legal values are
=over
=item C<0>
Original API level. See L<FFI::Platypus::TypeParser::Version0> for details
on the differences.
=item C<1>
Enable version 1 API type parser which allows pass-by-value records
and type decoration on basic types.
=item C<2>
Enable version 2 API. All new code should be written with this set to 1!
The Platypus documentation assumes this api level is set.
API version 2 is identical to version 1, except:
=over 4
=item Pointer functions that return C<NULL> will return C<undef> instead of empty list
This fixes a long standing design bug in Platypus.
=item Array references may be passed to pointer argument types
This replicates the behavior of array argument types with no size. So the types C<sint8*> and C<sint8[]>
behave identically when an array reference is passed in. They differ in that, as before, you can
pass a scalar reference into type C<sint8*>.
=item The fixed string type can be specified without pointer modifier
That is you can use C<string(10)> instead of C<string(10)*> as you were previously able to
in API 0.
=back
=back
=item lib
Either a pathname (string) or a list of pathnames (array ref of strings)
to pre-populate the L<lib|/lib> attribute. Use C<[undef]> to search the
current process for symbols.
0.48
C<undef> (without the array reference) can be used to search the current
process for symbols.
=item ignore_not_found
[version 0.15]
Set the L<ignore_not_found|/ignore_not_found> attribute.
=item lang
[version 0.18]
Set the L<lang|/lang> attribute.
=back
=head1 ATTRIBUTES
=head2 lib
$ffi->lib($path1, $path2, ...);
my @paths = $ffi->lib;
The list of libraries to search for symbols in.
The most portable and reliable way to find dynamic libraries is by using
L<FFI::CheckLib>, like this:
use FFI::CheckLib 0.06;
$ffi->lib(find_lib_or_die lib => 'archive');
# finds libarchive.so on Linux
# libarchive.bundle on OS X
# libarchive.dll (or archive.dll) on Windows
# cygarchive-13.dll on Cygwin
# ...
# and will die if it isn't found
L<FFI::CheckLib> has a number of options, such as checking for specific
symbols, etc. You should consult the documentation for that module.
As a special case, if you add C<undef> as a "library" to be searched,
Platypus will also search the current process for symbols. This is
mostly useful for finding functions in the standard C library, without
having to know the name of the standard c library for your platform (as
it turns out it is different just about everywhere!).
You may also use the L</find_lib> method as a shortcut:
$ffi->find_lib( lib => 'archive' );
=head2 ignore_not_found
[version 0.15]
$ffi->ignore_not_found(1);
my $ignore_not_found = $ffi->ignore_not_found;
Normally the L<attach|/attach> and L<function|/function> methods will
throw an exception if it cannot find the name of the function you
provide it. This will change the behavior such that
L<function|/function> will return C<undef> when the function is not
found and L<attach|/attach> will ignore functions that are not found.
This is useful when you are writing bindings to a library and have many
optional functions and you do not wish to wrap every call to
L<function|/function> or L<attach|/attach> in an C<eval>.
=head2 lang
[version 0.18]
$ffi->lang($language);
Specifies the foreign language that you will be interfacing with. The
default is C. The foreign language specified with this attribute
changes the default native types (for example, if you specify
L<Rust|FFI::Platypus::Lang::Rust>, you will get C<i32> as an alias for
C<sint32> instead of C<int> as you do with L<C|FFI::Platypus::Lang::C>).
If the foreign language plugin supports it, this will also enable
Platypus to find symbols using the demangled names (for example, if you
specify L<CPP|FFI::Platypus::Lang::CPP> for C++ you can use method names
like C<Foo::get_bar()> with L</attach> or L</function>.
=head2 api
[version 1.11]
my $level = $ffi->api;
Returns the API level of the Platypus instance.
=head1 METHODS
=head2 type
$ffi->type($typename);
$ffi->type($typename => $alias);
Define a type. The first argument is the native or C name of the type.
The second argument (optional) is an alias name that you can use to
refer to this new type. See L<FFI::Platypus::Type> for legal type
definitions.
Examples:
$ffi->type('sint32'); # only checks to see that sint32 is a valid type
$ffi->type('sint32' => 'myint'); # creates an alias myint for sint32
$ffi->type('bogus'); # dies with appropriate diagnostic
=head2 custom_type
$ffi->custom_type($alias => {
native_type => $native_type,
native_to_perl => $coderef,
perl_to_native => $coderef,
perl_to_native_post => $coderef,
});
Define a custom type. See L<FFI::Platypus::Type#Custom-Types> for details.
=head2 load_custom_type
$ffi->load_custom_type($name => $alias, @type_args);
Load the custom type defined in the module I<$name>, and make an alias
I<$alias>. If the custom type requires any arguments, they may be passed
in as I<@type_args>. See L<FFI::Platypus::Type#Custom-Types> for
details.
If I<$name> contains C<::> then it will be assumed to be a fully
qualified package name. If not, then C<FFI::Platypus::Type::> will be
prepended to it.
=head2 types
my @types = $ffi->types;
my @types = FFI::Platypus->types;
Returns the list of types that FFI knows about. This will include the
native C<libffi> types (example: C<sint32>, C<opaque> and C<double>) and
the normal C types (example: C<unsigned int>, C<uint32_t>), any types
that you have defined using the L<type|/type> method, and custom types.
The list of types that Platypus knows about varies somewhat from
platform to platform, L<FFI::Platypus::Type> includes a list of the core
types that you can always count on having access to.
It can also be called as a class method, in which case, no user defined
or custom types will be included in the list.
=head2 type_meta
my $meta = $ffi->type_meta($type_name);
my $meta = FFI::Platypus->type_meta($type_name);
Returns a hash reference with the meta information for the given type.
It can also be called as a class method, in which case, you won't be
able to get meta data on user defined types.
The format of the meta data is implementation dependent and subject to
change. It may be useful for display or debugging.
Examples:
my $meta = $ffi->type_meta('int'); # standard int type
my $meta = $ffi->type_meta('int[64]'); # array of 64 ints
$ffi->type('int[128]' => 'myintarray');
my $meta = $ffi->type_meta('myintarray'); # array of 128 ints
=head2 mangler
$ffi->mangler(\&mangler);
Specify a customer mangler to be used for symbol lookup. This is usually useful
when you are writing bindings for a library where all of the functions have the
same prefix. Example:
$ffi->mangler(sub {
my($symbol) = @_;
return "foo_$symbol";
});
$ffi->function( get_bar => [] => 'int' ); # attaches foo_get_bar
my $f = $ffi->function( set_baz => ['int'] => 'void' );
$f->call(22); # calls foo_set_baz
=head2 function
my $function = $ffi->function($name => \@argument_types => $return_type);
my $function = $ffi->function($address => \@argument_types => $return_type);
my $function = $ffi->function($name => \@argument_types => $return_type, \&wrapper);
my $function = $ffi->function($address => \@argument_types => $return_type, \&wrapper);
Returns an object that is similar to a code reference in that it can be
called like one.
Caveat: many situations require a real code reference, so at the price
of a performance penalty you can get one like this:
my $function = $ffi->function(...);
my $coderef = sub { $function->(@_) };
It may be better, and faster to create a real Perl function using the
L<attach|/attach> method.
In addition to looking up a function by name you can provide the address
of the symbol yourself:
my $address = $ffi->find_symbol('my_function');
my $function = $ffi->function($address => ...);
Under the covers, L<function|/function> uses L<find_symbol|/find_symbol>
when you provide it with a name, but it is useful to keep this in mind
as there are alternative ways of obtaining a functions address.
Example: a C function could return the address of another C function
that you might want to call, or modules such as L<FFI::TinyCC> produce
machine code at runtime that you can call from Platypus.
[version 0.76]
If the last argument is a code reference, then it will be used as a
wrapper around the function when called. The first argument to the wrapper
will be the inner function, or if it is later attached an xsub. This can be
used if you need to verify/modify input/output data.
Examples:
my $function = $ffi->function('my_function_name', ['int', 'string'] => 'string');
my $return_string = $function->(1, "hi there");
[version 0.91]
my $function = $ffi->function( $name => \@fixed_argument_types => \@var_argument_types => $return_type);
my $function = $ffi->function( $name => \@fixed_argument_types => \@var_argument_types => $return_type, \&wrapper);
my $function = $ffi->function( $name => \@fixed_argument_types => \@var_argument_types);
my $function = $ffi->function( $name => \@fixed_argument_types => \@var_argument_types => \&wrapper);
Version 0.91 and later allows you to creat functions for c variadic functions
(such as printf, scanf, etc) which can take a variable number of arguments.
The first set of arguments are the fixed set, the second set are the variable
arguments to bind with. The variable argument types must be specified in order
to create a function object, so if you need to call variadic function with
different set of arguments then you will need to create a new function object
each time:
# int printf(const char *fmt, ...);
$ffi->function( printf => ['string'] => ['int'] => 'int' )
->call("print integer %d\n", 42);
$ffi->function( printf => ['string'] => ['string'] => 'int' )
->call("print string %s\n", 'platypus');
Some older versions of libffi and possibly some platforms may not support
variadic functions. If you try to create a one, then an exception will be
thrown.
[version 1.26]
If the return type is omitted then C<void> will be the assumed return type.
=head2 attach
$ffi->attach($name => \@argument_types => $return_type);
$ffi->attach([$c_name => $perl_name] => \@argument_types => $return_type);
$ffi->attach([$address => $perl_name] => \@argument_types => $return_type);
$ffi->attach($name => \@argument_types => $return_type, \&wrapper);
$ffi->attach([$c_name => $perl_name] => \@argument_types => $return_type, \&wrapper);
$ffi->attach([$address => $perl_name] => \@argument_types => $return_type, \&wrapper);
Find and attach a C function as a real live Perl xsub. The advantage of
attaching a function over using the L<function|/function> method is that
it is much much much faster since no object resolution needs to be done.
The disadvantage is that it locks the function and the L<FFI::Platypus>
instance into memory permanently, since there is no way to deallocate an
xsub.
If just one I<$name> is given, then the function will be attached in
Perl with the same name as it has in C. The second form allows you to
give the Perl function a different name. You can also provide an
address (the third form), just like with the L<function|/function>
method.
Examples:
$ffi->attach('my_function_name', ['int', 'string'] => 'string');
$ffi->attach(['my_c_function_name' => 'my_perl_function_name'], ['int', 'string'] => 'string');
my $string1 = my_function_name($int);
my $string2 = my_perl_function_name($int);
[version 0.20]
If the last argument is a code reference, then it will be used as a
wrapper around the attached xsub. The first argument to the wrapper
will be the inner xsub. This can be used if you need to verify/modify
input/output data.
Examples:
$ffi->attach('my_function', ['int', 'string'] => 'string', sub {
my($my_function_xsub, $integer, $string) = @_;
$integer++;
$string .= " and another thing";
my $return_string = $my_function_xsub->($integer, $string);
$return_string =~ s/Belgium//; # HHGG remove profanity
$return_string;
});
[version 0.91]
$ffi->attach($name => \@fixed_argument_types => \@var_argument_types, $return_type);
$ffi->attach($name => \@fixed_argument_types => \@var_argument_types, $return_type, \&wrapper);
As of version 0.91 you can attach a variadic functions, if it is supported
by the platform / libffi that you are using. For details see the C<function>
documentation. If not supported by the implementation then an exception
will be thrown.
=head2 closure
my $closure = $ffi->closure($coderef);
my $closure = FFI::Platypus->closure($coderef);
Prepares a code reference so that it can be used as a FFI closure (a
Perl subroutine that can be called from C code). For details on
closures, see L<FFI::Platypus::Type#Closures> and L<FFI::Platypus::Closure>.
=head2 cast
my $converted_value = $ffi->cast($original_type, $converted_type, $original_value);
The C<cast> function converts an existing I<$original_value> of type
I<$original_type> into one of type I<$converted_type>. Not all types
are supported, so care must be taken. For example, to get the address
of a string, you can do this:
my $address = $ffi->cast('string' => 'opaque', $string_value);
Something that won't work is trying to cast an array to anything:
my $address = $ffi->cast('int[10]' => 'opaque', \@list); # WRONG
=head2 attach_cast
$ffi->attach_cast("cast_name", $original_type, $converted_type);
$ffi->attach_cast("cast_name", $original_type, $converted_type, \&wrapper);
my $converted_value = cast_name($original_value);
This function attaches a cast as a permanent xsub. This will make it
faster and may be useful if you are calling a particular cast a lot.
[version 1.26]
A wrapper may be added as the last argument to C<attach_cast> and works
just like the wrapper for C<attach> and C<function> methods.
=head2 sizeof
my $size = $ffi->sizeof($type);
my $size = FFI::Platypus->sizeof($type);
Returns the total size of the given type in bytes. For example to get
the size of an integer:
my $intsize = $ffi->sizeof('int'); # usually 4
my $longsize = $ffi->sizeof('long'); # usually 4 or 8 depending on platform
You can also get the size of arrays
my $intarraysize = $ffi->sizeof('int[64]'); # usually 4*64
my $intarraysize = $ffi->sizeof('long[64]'); # usually 4*64 or 8*64
# depending on platform
Keep in mind that "pointer" types will always be the pointer / word size
for the platform that you are using. This includes strings, opaque and
pointers to other types.
This function is not very fast, so you might want to save this value as
a constant, particularly if you need the size in a loop with many
iterations.
=head2 alignof
[version 0.21]
my $align = $ffi->alignof($type);
Returns the alignment of the given type in bytes.
=head2 kindof
[version 1.24]
my $kind = $ffi->kindof($type);
Returns the kind of a type. This is a string with a value of one of
=over 4
=item C<void>
=item C<scalar>
=item C<string>
=item C<closure>
=item C<record>
=item C<record-value>
=item C<pointer>
=item C<array>
=item C<object>
=back
=head2 countof
[version 1.24]
my $count = $ffi->countof($type);
For array types returns the number of elements in the array (returns 0 for variable length array).
For the C<void> type returns 0. Returns 1 for all other types.
=head2 def
[version 1.24]
$ffi->def($package, $type, $value);
my $value = $ff->def($package, $type);
This method allows you to store data for types. If the C<$package> is not provided, then the
caller's package will be used. C<$type> must be a legal Platypus type for the L<FFI::Platypus>
instance.
=head2 unitof
[version 1.24]
my $unittype = $ffi->unitof($type);
For array and pointer types, returns the basic type without the array or pointer part.
In other words, for C<sin16[]> or C<sint16*> it will return C<sint16>.
=head2 find_lib
[version 0.20]
$ffi->find_lib( lib => $libname );
This is just a shortcut for calling L<FFI::CheckLib#find_lib> and
updating the L</lib> attribute appropriately. Care should be taken
though, as this method simply passes its arguments to
L<FFI::CheckLib#find_lib>, so if your module or script is depending on a
specific feature in L<FFI::CheckLib> then make sure that you update your
prerequisites appropriately.
=head2 find_symbol
my $address = $ffi->find_symbol($name);
Return the address of the given symbol (usually function).
=head2 bundle
[version 0.96 api = 1+]
$ffi->bundle($package, \@args);
$ffi->bundle(\@args);
$ffi->bundle($package);
$ffi->bundle;
This is an interface for bundling compiled code with your
distribution intended to eventually replace the C<package> method documented
above. See L<FFI::Platypus::Bundle> for details on how this works.
=head2 package
[version 0.15 api = 0]
$ffi->package($package, $file); # usually __PACKAGE__ and __FILE__ can be used
$ffi->package; # autodetect
B<Note>: This method is officially discouraged in favor of C<bundle>
described above.
If you use L<FFI::Build> (or the older deprecated L<Module::Build::FFI>
to bundle C code with your distribution, you can use this method to tell
the L<FFI::Platypus> instance to look for symbols that came with the
dynamic library that was built when your distribution was installed.
=head2 abis
my $href = $ffi->abis;
my $href = FFI::Platypus->abis;
Get the legal ABIs supported by your platform and underlying
implementation. What is supported can vary a lot by CPU and by
platform, or even between 32 and 64 bit on the same CPU and platform.
They keys are the "ABI" names, also known as "calling conventions". The
values are integers used internally by the implementation to represent
those ABIs.
=head2 abi
$ffi->abi($name);
Set the ABI or calling convention for use in subsequent calls to
L</function> or L</attach>. May be either a string name or integer
value from the L</abis> method above.
=head1 EXAMPLES
Here are some examples. These examples
are provided in full with the Platypus distribution in the "examples"
directory. There are also some more examples in L<FFI::Platypus::Type>
that are related to types.
=head2 Integer conversions
use FFI::Platypus 2.00;
my $ffi = FFI::Platypus->new( api => 2 );
$ffi->lib(undef);
$ffi->attach(puts => ['string'] => 'int');
$ffi->attach(atoi => ['string'] => 'int');
puts(atoi('56'));
B<Discussion>: C<puts> and C<atoi> should be part of the standard C
library on all platforms. C<puts> prints a string to standard output,
and C<atoi> converts a string to integer. Specifying C<undef> as a
library tells Platypus to search the current process for symbols, which
includes the standard c library.
=head2 libnotify
use FFI::CheckLib;
use FFI::Platypus 2.00;
# NOTE: I ported this from anoter Perl FFI library and it seems to work most
# of the time, but also seems to SIGSEGV sometimes. I saw the same behavior
# in the old version, and am not really familiar with the libnotify API to
# say what is the cause. Patches welcome to fix it.
my $ffi = FFI::Platypus->new( api => 2 );
$ffi->lib(find_lib_or_exit lib => 'notify');
$ffi->attach(notify_init => ['string'] => 'void');
$ffi->attach(notify_uninit => [] => 'void');
$ffi->attach([notify_notification_new => 'notify_new'] => ['string', 'string', 'string'] => 'opaque');
$ffi->attach([notify_notification_update => 'notify_update'] => ['opaque', 'string', 'string', 'string'] => 'void');
$ffi->attach([notify_notification_show => 'notify_show'] => ['opaque', 'opaque'] => 'void');
notify_init('FFI::Platypus');
my $n = notify_new('','','');
notify_update($n, 'FFI::Platypus', 'It works!!!', 'media-playback-start');
notify_show($n, undef);
notify_uninit();
B<Discussion>: libnotify is a desktop GUI notification library for the
GNOME Desktop environment. This script sends a notification event that
should show up as a balloon, for me it did so in the upper right hand
corner of my screen.
The most portable way to find the correct name and location of a dynamic
library is via the L<FFI::CheckLib#find_lib> family of functions. If
you are putting together a CPAN distribution, you should also consider
using L<FFI::CheckLib#check_lib_or_exit> function in your C<Build.PL> or
C<Makefile.PL> file (If you are using L<Dist::Zilla>, check out the
L<Dist::Zilla::Plugin::FFI::CheckLib> plugin). This will provide a user
friendly diagnostic letting the user know that the required library is
missing, and reduce the number of bogus CPAN testers results that you
will get.
Also in this example, we rename some of the functions when they are
placed into Perl space to save typing:
$ffi->attach( [notify_notification_new => 'notify_new']
=> ['string','string','string']
=> 'opaque'
);
When you specify a list reference as the "name" of the function the
first element is the symbol name as understood by the dynamic library.
The second element is the name as it will be placed in Perl space.
Later, when we call C<notify_new>:
my $n = notify_new('','','');
We are really calling the C function C<notify_notification_new>.
=head2 Allocating and freeing memory
use FFI::Platypus 2.00;
use FFI::Platypus::Memory qw( malloc free memcpy );
my $ffi = FFI::Platypus->new( api => 2 );
my $buffer = malloc 12;
memcpy $buffer, $ffi->cast('string' => 'opaque', "hello there"), length "hello there\0";
print $ffi->cast('opaque' => 'string', $buffer), "\n";
free $buffer;
B<Discussion>: C<malloc> and C<free> are standard memory allocation
functions available from the standard c library and. Interfaces to
these and other memory related functions are provided by the
L<FFI::Platypus::Memory> module.
=head2 structured data records
use FFI::Platypus 2.00;
use FFI::C;
my $ffi = FFI::Platypus->new(
api => 2,
lib => [undef],
);
FFI::C->ffi($ffi);
package Unix::TimeStruct {
FFI::C->struct(tm => [
tm_sec => 'int',
tm_min => 'int',
tm_hour => 'int',
tm_mday => 'int',
tm_mon => 'int',
tm_year => 'int',
tm_wday => 'int',
tm_yday => 'int',
tm_isdst => 'int',
tm_gmtoff => 'long',
_tm_zone => 'opaque',
]);
# For now 'string' is unsupported by FFI::C, but we
# can cast the time zone from an opaque pointer to
# string.
sub tm_zone {
my $self = shift;
$ffi->cast('opaque', 'string', $self->_tm_zone);
}
# attach the C localtime function
$ffi->attach( localtime => ['time_t*'] => 'tm', sub {
my($inner, $class, $time) = @_;
$time = time unless defined $time;
$inner->(\$time);
});
}
# now we can actually use our Unix::TimeStruct class
my $time = Unix::TimeStruct->localtime;
printf "time is %d:%d:%d %s\n",
$time->tm_hour,
$time->tm_min,
$time->tm_sec,
$time->tm_zone;
B<Discussion>: C and other machine code languages frequently provide
interfaces that include structured data records (known as "structs" in
C). They sometimes provide an API in which you are expected to
manipulate these records before and/or after passing them along to C
functions. For C pointers to structs, unions and arrays of structs and
unions, the easiest interface to use is via L<FFI::C>. If you are
working with structs that must be passed as values (not pointers),
then you want to use the L<FFI::Platypus::Record> class instead.
We will discuss this class later.
The C C<localtime> function takes a pointer to a C struct. We simply define
the members of the struct using the L<FFI::C> C<struct> method. Because
we used the C<ffi> method to tell L<FFI::C> to use our local instance of
L<FFI::Platypus> it registers the C<tm> type for us, and we can just start
using it as a return type!
=head2 structured data records by-value
=head2 libuuid
use FFI::CheckLib;
use FFI::Platypus 2.00;
use FFI::Platypus::Memory qw( malloc free );
my $ffi = FFI::Platypus->new( api => 2 );
$ffi->lib(find_lib_or_exit lib => 'uuid');
$ffi->type('string(37)*' => 'uuid_string');
$ffi->type('record(16)*' => 'uuid_t');
$ffi->attach(uuid_generate => ['uuid_t'] => 'void');
$ffi->attach(uuid_unparse => ['uuid_t','uuid_string'] => 'void');
my $uuid = "\0" x $ffi->sizeof('uuid_t');
uuid_generate($uuid);
my $string = "\0" x $ffi->sizeof('uuid_string');
uuid_unparse($uuid, $string);
print "$string\n";
B<Discussion>: libuuid is a library used to generate unique identifiers
(UUID) for objects that may be accessible beyond the local system. The
library is or was part of the Linux e2fsprogs package.
Knowing the size of objects is sometimes important. In this example, we
use the L<sizeof|/sizeof> function to get the size of 16 characters (in
this case it is simply 16 bytes). We also know that the strings
"deparsed" by C<uuid_unparse> are exactly 37 bytes.
=head2 puts and getpid
use FFI::Platypus 2.00;
my $ffi = FFI::Platypus->new( api => 2 );
$ffi->lib(undef);
$ffi->attach(puts => ['string'] => 'int');
$ffi->attach(getpid => [] => 'int');
puts(getpid());
B<Discussion>: C<puts> is part of standard C library on all platforms.
C<getpid> is available on Unix type platforms.
=head2 Math library
use FFI::Platypus 2.00;
use FFI::CheckLib;
my $ffi = FFI::Platypus->new( api => 2 );
$ffi->lib(undef);
$ffi->attach(puts => ['string'] => 'int');
$ffi->attach(fdim => ['double','double'] => 'double');
puts(fdim(7.0, 2.0));
$ffi->attach(cos => ['double'] => 'double');
puts(cos(2.0));
$ffi->attach(fmax => ['double', 'double'] => 'double');
puts(fmax(2.0,3.0));
B<Discussion>: On UNIX the standard c library math functions are
frequently provided in a separate library C<libm>, so you could search
for those symbols in "libm.so", but that won't work on non-UNIX
platforms like Microsoft Windows. Fortunately Perl uses the math
library so these symbols are already in the current process so you can
use C<undef> as the library to find them.
=head2 Strings
use FFI::Platypus 2.00;
my $ffi = FFI::Platypus->new( api => 2 );
$ffi->lib(undef);
$ffi->attach(puts => ['string'] => 'int');
$ffi->attach(strlen => ['string'] => 'int');
puts(strlen('somestring'));
$ffi->attach(strstr => ['string','string'] => 'string');
puts(strstr('somestring', 'string'));
#attach puts => [string] => int;
puts(puts("lol"));
$ffi->attach(strerror => ['int'] => 'string');
puts(strerror(2));
B<Discussion>: ASCII and UTF-8 Strings are not a native type to C<libffi>
but the are handled seamlessly by Platypus. If you need to talk to an
API that uses so called "wide" strings (APIs which use C<const wchar_t*>
or C<wchar_t*>), then you will want to use the wide string type plugin
L<FFI::Platypus::Type::WideString>. APIs which use other arbitrary
encodings can be accessed by converting your Perl strings manually with
the L<Encode> module.
=head2 Attach function from pointer
use FFI::TinyCC;
use FFI::Platypus 2.00;
my $ffi = FFI::Platypus->new( api => 2 );
my $tcc = FFI::TinyCC->new;
$tcc->compile_string(q{
int
add(int a, int b)
{
return a+b;
}
});
my $address = $tcc->get_symbol('add');
$ffi->attach( [ $address => 'add' ] => ['int','int'] => 'int' );
print add(1,2), "\n";
B<Discussion>: Sometimes you will have a pointer to a function from a
source other than Platypus that you want to call. You can use that
address instead of a function name for either of the
L<function|/function> or L<attach|/attach> methods. In this example we
use L<FFI::TinyCC> to compile a short piece of C code and to give us the
address of one of its functions, which we then use to create a perl xsub
to call it.
L<FFI::TinyCC> embeds the Tiny C Compiler (tcc) to provide a
just-in-time (JIT) compilation service for FFI.
=head2 libzmq
use constant ZMQ_IO_THREADS => 1;
use constant ZMQ_MAX_SOCKETS => 2;
use constant ZMQ_REQ => 3;
use constant ZMQ_REP => 4;
use FFI::CheckLib qw( find_lib_or_exit );
use FFI::Platypus 2.00;
use FFI::Platypus::Memory qw( malloc );
use FFI::Platypus::Buffer qw( scalar_to_buffer buffer_to_scalar );
my $endpoint = "ipc://zmq-ffi-$$";
my $ffi = FFI::Platypus->new( api => 2 );
$ffi->lib(undef); # for puts
$ffi->attach(puts => ['string'] => 'int');
$ffi->lib(find_lib_or_exit lib => 'zmq');
$ffi->attach(zmq_version => ['int*', 'int*', 'int*'] => 'void');
my($major,$minor,$patch);
zmq_version(\$major, \$minor, \$patch);
puts("libzmq version $major.$minor.$patch");
die "this script only works with libzmq 3 or better" unless $major >= 3;
$ffi->type('opaque' => 'zmq_context');
$ffi->type('opaque' => 'zmq_socket');
$ffi->type('opaque' => 'zmq_msg_t');
$ffi->attach(zmq_ctx_new => [] => 'zmq_context');
$ffi->attach(zmq_ctx_set => ['zmq_context', 'int', 'int'] => 'int');
$ffi->attach(zmq_socket => ['zmq_context', 'int'] => 'zmq_socket');
$ffi->attach(zmq_connect => ['opaque', 'string'] => 'int');
$ffi->attach(zmq_bind => ['zmq_socket', 'string'] => 'int');
$ffi->attach(zmq_send => ['zmq_socket', 'opaque', 'size_t', 'int'] => 'int');
$ffi->attach(zmq_msg_init => ['zmq_msg_t'] => 'int');
$ffi->attach(zmq_msg_recv => ['zmq_msg_t', 'zmq_socket', 'int'] => 'int');
$ffi->attach(zmq_msg_data => ['zmq_msg_t'] => 'opaque');
$ffi->attach(zmq_errno => [] => 'int');
$ffi->attach(zmq_strerror => ['int'] => 'string');
my $context = zmq_ctx_new();
zmq_ctx_set($context, ZMQ_IO_THREADS, 1);
my $socket1 = zmq_socket($context, ZMQ_REQ);
zmq_connect($socket1, $endpoint);
my $socket2 = zmq_socket($context, ZMQ_REP);
zmq_bind($socket2, $endpoint);
do { # send
our $sent_message = "hello there";
my($pointer, $size) = scalar_to_buffer $sent_message;
my $r = zmq_send($socket1, $pointer, $size, 0);
die zmq_strerror(zmq_errno()) if $r == -1;
};
do { # recv
my $msg_ptr = malloc 100;
zmq_msg_init($msg_ptr);
my $size = zmq_msg_recv($msg_ptr, $socket2, 0);
die zmq_strerror(zmq_errno()) if $size == -1;
my $data_ptr = zmq_msg_data($msg_ptr);
my $recv_message = buffer_to_scalar $data_ptr, $size;
print "recv_message = $recv_message\n";
};
B<Discussion>: ØMQ is a high-performance asynchronous messaging library.
There are a few things to note here.
Firstly, sometimes there may be multiple versions of a library in the
wild and you may need to verify that the library on a system meets your
needs (alternatively you could support multiple versions and configure
your bindings dynamically). Here we use C<zmq_version> to ask libzmq
which version it is.
C<zmq_version> returns the version number via three integer pointer
arguments, so we use the pointer to integer type: C<int *>. In order to
pass pointer types, we pass a reference. In this case it is a reference
to an undefined value, because zmq_version will write into the pointers
the output values, but you can also pass in references to integers,
floating point values and opaque pointer types. When the function
returns the C<$major> variable (and the others) has been updated and we
can use it to verify that it supports the API that we require.
Notice that we define three aliases for the C<opaque> type:
C<zmq_context>, C<zmq_socket> and C<zmq_msg_t>. While this isn't
strictly necessary, since Platypus and C treat all three of these types
the same, it is useful form of documentation that helps describe the
functionality of the interface.
Finally we attach the necessary functions, send and receive a message.
If you are interested, there is a fully fleshed out ØMQ Perl interface
implemented using FFI called L<ZMQ::FFI>.
=head2 libarchive
use FFI::Platypus 2.00;
use FFI::CheckLib qw( find_lib_or_exit );
# This example uses FreeBSD's libarchive to list the contents of any
# archive format that it suppors. We've also filled out a part of
# the ArchiveWrite class that could be used for writing archive formats
# supported by libarchive
my $ffi = FFI::Platypus->new( api => 2 );
$ffi->lib(find_lib_or_exit lib => 'archive');
$ffi->type('object(Archive)' => 'archive_t');
$ffi->type('object(ArchiveRead)' => 'archive_read_t');
$ffi->type('object(ArchiveWrite)' => 'archive_write_t');
$ffi->type('object(ArchiveEntry)' => 'archive_entry_t');
package Archive;
# base class is "abstract" having no constructor or destructor
$ffi->mangler(sub {
my($name) = @_;
"archive_$name";
});
$ffi->attach( error_string => ['archive_t'] => 'string' );
package ArchiveRead;
our @ISA = qw( Archive );
$ffi->mangler(sub {
my($name) = @_;
"archive_read_$name";
});
$ffi->attach( new => ['string'] => 'archive_read_t' );
$ffi->attach( [ free => 'DESTROY' ] => ['archive_t'] => 'void' );
$ffi->attach( support_filter_all => ['archive_t'] => 'int' );
$ffi->attach( support_format_all => ['archive_t'] => 'int' );
$ffi->attach( open_filename => ['archive_t','string','size_t'] => 'int' );
$ffi->attach( next_header2 => ['archive_t', 'archive_entry_t' ] => 'int' );
$ffi->attach( data_skip => ['archive_t'] => 'int' );
# ... define additional read methods
package ArchiveWrite;
our @ISA = qw( Archive );
$ffi->mangler(sub {
my($name) = @_;
"archive_write_$name";
});
$ffi->attach( new => ['string'] => 'archive_write_t' );
$ffi->attach( [ free => 'DESTROY' ] => ['archive_write_t'] => 'void' );
# ... define additional write methods
package ArchiveEntry;
$ffi->mangler(sub {
my($name) = @_;
"archive_entry_$name";
});
$ffi->attach( new => ['string'] => 'archive_entry_t' );
$ffi->attach( [ free => 'DESTROY' ] => ['archive_entry_t'] => 'void' );
$ffi->attach( pathname => ['archive_entry_t'] => 'string' );
# ... define additional entry methods
package main;
use constant ARCHIVE_OK => 0;
# this is a Perl version of the C code here:
# https://github.com/libarchive/libarchive/wiki/Examples#List_contents_of_Archive_stored_in_File
my $archive_filename = shift @ARGV;
unless(defined $archive_filename)
{
print "usage: $0 archive.tar\n";
exit;
}
my $archive = ArchiveRead->new;
$archive->support_filter_all;
$archive->support_format_all;
my $r = $archive->open_filename($archive_filename, 1024);
die "error opening $archive_filename: ", $archive->error_string
unless $r == ARCHIVE_OK;
my $entry = ArchiveEntry->new;
while($archive->next_header2($entry) == ARCHIVE_OK)
{
print $entry->pathname, "\n";
$archive->data_skip;
}
B<Discussion>: libarchive is the implementation of C<tar> for FreeBSD
provided as a library and available on a number of platforms.
One interesting thing about libarchive is that it provides a kind of
object oriented interface via opaque pointers. This example creates an
abstract class C<Archive>, and concrete classes C<ArchiveWrite>,
C<ArchiveRead> and C<ArchiveEntry>. The concrete classes can even be
inherited from and extended just like any Perl classes because of the
way the custom types are implemented. We use Platypus's C<object>
type for this implementation, which is a wrapper around an C<opaque>
(can also be an integer) type that is blessed into a particular class.
Another advanced feature of this example is that we define a mangler
to modify the symbol resolution for each class. This means we can do
this when we define a method for Archive:
$ffi->attach( support_filter_all => ['archive_t'] => 'int' );
Rather than this:
$ffi->attach(
[ archive_read_support_filter_all => 'support_read_filter_all' ] =>
['archive_t'] => 'int' );
);
=head2 unix open
use FFI::Platypus 2.00;
{
package FD;
use constant O_RDONLY => 0;
use constant O_WRONLY => 1;
use constant O_RDWR => 2;
use constant IN => bless \do { my $in=0 }, __PACKAGE__;
use constant OUT => bless \do { my $out=1 }, __PACKAGE__;
use constant ERR => bless \do { my $err=2 }, __PACKAGE__;
my $ffi = FFI::Platypus->new( api => 2, lib => [undef]);
$ffi->type('object(FD,int)' => 'fd');
$ffi->attach( [ 'open' => 'new' ] => [ 'string', 'int', 'mode_t' ] => 'fd' => sub {
my($xsub, $class, $fn, @rest) = @_;
my $fd = $xsub->($fn, @rest);
die "error opening $fn $!" if $$fd == -1;
$fd;
});
$ffi->attach( write => ['fd', 'string', 'size_t' ] => 'ssize_t' );
$ffi->attach( read => ['fd', 'string', 'size_t' ] => 'ssize_t' );
$ffi->attach( close => ['fd'] => 'int' );
}
my $fd = FD->new("$0", FD::O_RDONLY);
my $buffer = "\0" x 10;
while(my $br = $fd->read($buffer, 10))
{
FD::OUT->write($buffer, $br);
}
$fd->close;
B<Discussion>: The Unix file system calls use an integer handle for
each open file. We can use the same C<object> type that we used
for libarchive above, except we let platypus know that the underlying
type is C<int> instead of C<opaque> (the latter being the default for
the C<object> type). Mainly just for demonstration since Perl has much
better IO libraries, but now we have an OO interface to the Unix IO
functions.
=head2 bzip2
use FFI::Platypus 2.00;
use FFI::CheckLib qw( find_lib_or_die );
use FFI::Platypus::Buffer qw( scalar_to_buffer buffer_to_scalar );
use FFI::Platypus::Memory qw( malloc free );
my $ffi = FFI::Platypus->new( api => 2 );
$ffi->lib(find_lib_or_die lib => 'bz2');
$ffi->attach(
[ BZ2_bzBuffToBuffCompress => 'compress' ] => [
'opaque', # dest
'unsigned int *', # dest length
'opaque', # source
'unsigned int', # source length
'int', # blockSize100k
'int', # verbosity
'int', # workFactor
] => 'int',
sub {
my $sub = shift;
my($source,$source_length) = scalar_to_buffer $_[0];
my $dest_length = int(length($source)*1.01) + 1 + 600;
my $dest = malloc $dest_length;
my $r = $sub->($dest, \$dest_length, $source, $source_length, 9, 0, 30);
die "bzip2 error $r" unless $r == 0;
my $compressed = buffer_to_scalar($dest, $dest_length);
free $dest;
$compressed;
},
);
$ffi->attach(
[ BZ2_bzBuffToBuffDecompress => 'decompress' ] => [
'opaque', # dest
'unsigned int *', # dest length
'opaque', # source
'unsigned int', # source length
'int', # small
'int', # verbosity
] => 'int',
sub {
my $sub = shift;
my($source, $source_length) = scalar_to_buffer $_[0];
my $dest_length = $_[1];
my $dest = malloc $dest_length;
my $r = $sub->($dest, \$dest_length, $source, $source_length, 0, 0);
die "bzip2 error $r" unless $r == 0;
my $decompressed = buffer_to_scalar($dest, $dest_length);
free $dest;
$decompressed;
},
);
my $original = "hello compression world\n";
my $compressed = compress($original);
print decompress($compressed, length $original);
B<Discussion>: bzip2 is a compression library. For simple one shot
attempts at compression/decompression when you expect the original and
the result to fit within memory it provides two convenience functions
C<BZ2_bzBuffToBuffCompress> and C<BZ2_bzBuffToBuffDecompress>.
The first four arguments of both of these C functions are identical, and
represent two buffers. One buffer is the source, the second is the
destination. For the destination, the length is passed in as a pointer
to an integer. On input this integer is the size of the destination
buffer, and thus the maximum size of the compressed or decompressed
data. When the function returns the actual size of compressed or
compressed data is stored in this integer.
This is normal stuff for C, but in Perl our buffers are scalars and they
already know how large they are. In this sort of situation, wrapping
the C function in some Perl code can make your interface a little more
Perl like. In order to do this, just provide a code reference as the
last argument to the L</attach> method. The first argument to this
wrapper will be a code reference to the C function. The Perl arguments
will come in after that. This allows you to modify / convert the
arguments to conform to the C API. What ever value you return from the
wrapper function will be returned back to the original caller.
=head2 The Win32 API
use utf8;
use FFI::Platypus 2.00;
my $ffi = FFI::Platypus->new(
api => 2,
lib => [undef],
);
# see FFI::Platypus::Lang::Win32
$ffi->lang('Win32');
# Send a Unicode string to the Windows API MessageBoxW function.
use constant MB_OK => 0x00000000;
use constant MB_DEFAULT_DESKTOP_ONLY => 0x00020000;
$ffi->attach( [MessageBoxW => 'MessageBox'] => [ 'HWND', 'LPCWSTR', 'LPCWSTR', 'UINT'] => 'int' );
MessageBox(undef, "I ❤️ Platypus", "Confession", MB_OK|MB_DEFAULT_DESKTOP_ONLY);
B<Discussion>: The API used by Microsoft Windows present some unique
challenges. On 32 bit systems a different ABI is used than what is
used by the standard C library. It also provides a rats nest of
type aliases. Finally if you want to talk Unicode to any of the
Windows API you will need to use C<UTF-16LE> instead of C<utf-8>
which is native to Perl. (The Win32 API refers to these as
C<LPWSTR> and C<LPCWSTR> types). As much as possible the Win32
"language" plugin attempts to handle this transparently. For more
details see L<FFI::Platypus::Lang::Win32>.
=head2 bundle your own code
C<ffi/foo.c>:
#include <ffi_platypus_bundle.h>
#include <string.h>
typedef struct {
char *name;
int value;
} foo_t;
foo_t*
foo__new(const char *class_name, const char *name, int value)
{
(void)class_name;
foo_t *self = malloc( sizeof( foo_t ) );
self->name = strdup(name);
self->value = value;
return self;
}
const char *
foo__name(foo_t *self)
{
return self->name;
}
int
foo__value(foo_t *self)
{
return self->value;
}
void
foo__DESTROY(foo_t *self)
{
free(self->name);
free(self);
}
C<lib/Foo.pm>:
package Foo;
use strict;
use warnings;
use FFI::Platypus 2.00;
{
my $ffi = FFI::Platypus->new( api => 2 );
$ffi->type('object(Foo)' => 'foo_t');
$ffi->mangler(sub {
my $name = shift;
$name =~ s/^/foo__/;
$name;
});
$ffi->bundle;
$ffi->attach( new => [ 'string', 'string', 'int' ] => 'foo_t' );
$ffi->attach( name => [ 'foo_t' ] => 'string' );
$ffi->attach( value => [ 'foo_t' ] => 'int' );
$ffi->attach( DESTROY => [ 'foo_t' ] => 'void' );
}
1;
You can bundle your own C (or other compiled language) code with your
Perl extension. Sometimes this is helpful for smoothing over the
interface of a C library which is not very FFI friendly. Sometimes
you may want to write some code in C for a tight loop. Either way,
you can do this with the Platypus bundle interface. See
L<FFI::Platypus::Bundle> for more details.
Also related is the bundle constant interface, which allows you to
define Perl constants in C space. See L<FFI::Platypus::Constant>
for details.
=head1 FAQ
=head2 How do I get constants defined as macros in C header files
This turns out to be a challenge for any language calling into C, which
frequently uses C<#define> macros to define constants like so:
#define FOO_STATIC 1
#define FOO_DYNAMIC 2
#define FOO_OTHER 3
As macros are expanded and their definitions are thrown away by the C pre-processor
there isn't any way to get the name/value mappings from the compiled dynamic
library.
You can manually create equivalent constants in your Perl source:
use constant FOO_STATIC => 1;
use constant FOO_DYNAMIC => 2;
use constant FOO_OTHER => 3;
If there are a lot of these types of constants you might want to consider using
a tool (L<Convert::Binary::C> can do this) that can extract the constants for you.
See also the "Integer constants" example in L<FFI::Platypus::Type>.
You can also use the new Platypus bundle interface to define Perl constants
from C space. This is more reliable, but does require a compiler at install
time. It is recommended mainly for writing bindings against libraries that
have constants that can vary widely from platform to platform. See
L<FFI::Platypus::Constant> for details.
=head2 What about enums?
The C enum types are integers. The underlying type is up to the platform, so
Platypus provides C<enum> and C<senum> types for unsigned and singed enums
respectively. At least some compilers treat signed and unsigned enums as
different types. The enum I<values> are essentially the same as macro constants
described above from an FFI perspective. Thus the process of defining enum values
is identical to the process of defining macro constants in Perl.
For more details on enumerated types see L<FFI::Platypus::Type/"Enum types">.
There is also a type plugin (L<FFI::Platypus::Type::Enum>) that can be helpful
in writing interfaces that use enums.
=head2 Memory leaks
There are a couple places where memory is allocated, but never deallocated that may
look like memory leaks by tools designed to find memory leaks like valgrind. This
memory is intended to be used for the lifetime of the perl process so there normally
this isn't a problem unless you are embedding a Perl interpreter which doesn't closely
match the lifetime of your overall application.
Specifically:
=over 4
=item type cache
some types are cached and not freed. These are needed as long as there are FFI
functions that could be called.
=item attached functions
Attaching a function as an xsub will definitely allocate memory that won't be freed
because the xsub could be called at any time, including in C<END> blocks.
=back
The Platypus team plans on adding a hook to free some of this "leaked" memory
for use cases where Perl and Platypus are embedded in a larger application
where the lifetime of the Perl process is significantly smaller than the
overall lifetime of the whole process.
=head2 I get seg faults on some platforms but not others with a library using pthreads.
On some platforms, Perl isn't linked with C<libpthreads> if Perl threads are not
enabled. On some platforms this doesn't seem to matter, C<libpthreads> can be
loaded at runtime without much ill-effect. (Linux from my experience doesn't seem
to mind one way or the other). Some platforms are not happy about this, and about
the only thing that you can do about it is to build Perl such that it links with
C<libpthreads> even if it isn't a threaded Perl.
This is not really an FFI issue, but a Perl issue, as you will have the same
problem writing XS code for the such libraries.
=head2 Doesn't work on Perl 5.10.0.
I try as best as possible to support the same range of Perls as the Perl toolchain.
That means all the way back to 5.8.1. Unfortunately, 5.10.0 seems to have a problem
that is difficult to diagnose. Patches to fix are welcome, if you want to help
out on this, please see:
L<https://github.com/PerlFFI/FFI-Platypus/issues/68>
Since this is an older buggy version of Perl it is recommended that you instead
upgrade to 5.10.1 or later.
=head1 CAVEATS
Platypus and Native Interfaces like libffi rely on the availability of
dynamic libraries. Things not supported include:
=over 4
=item Systems that lack dynamic library support
Like MS-DOS
=item Systems that are not supported by libffi
Like OpenVMS
=item Languages that do not support using dynamic libraries from other languages
Like older versions of Google's Go. This is a problem for C / XS code as well.
=item Languages that do not compile to machine code
Like .NET based languages and Java.
=back
The documentation has a bias toward using FFI / Platypus with C. This
is my fault, as my background in mainly in C/C++ programmer (when I am
not writing Perl). In many places I use "C" as a short form for "any
language that can generate machine code and is callable from C". I
welcome pull requests to the Platypus core to address this issue. In an
attempt to ease usage of Platypus by non C programmers, I have written a
number of foreign language plugins for various popular languages (see
the SEE ALSO below). These plugins come with examples specific to those
languages, and documentation on common issues related to using those
languages with FFI. In most cases these are available for easy adoption
for those with the know-how or the willingness to learn. If your
language doesn't have a plugin YET, that is just because you haven't
written it yet.
=head1 SUPPORT
IRC: #native on irc.perl.org
L<(click for instant chat room login)|http://chat.mibbit.com/#native@irc.perl.org>
If something does not work the way you think it should, or if you have a
feature request, please open an issue on this project's GitHub Issue
tracker:
L<https://github.com/perlFFI/FFI-Platypus/issues>
=head1 CONTRIBUTING
If you have implemented a new feature or fixed a bug then you may make a
pull request on this project's GitHub repository:
L<https://github.com/PerlFFI/FFI-Platypus/pulls>
This project is developed using L<Dist::Zilla>. The project's git
repository also comes with the C<Makefile.PL> file necessary
for building, testing (and even installing if necessary) without
L<Dist::Zilla>. Please keep in mind though that these files are
generated so if changes need to be made to those files they should be
done through the project's C<dist.ini> file. If you do use
L<Dist::Zilla> and already have the necessary plugins installed, then I
encourage you to run C<dzil test> before making any pull requests. This
is not a requirement, however, I am happy to integrate especially
smaller patches that need tweaking to fit the project standards. I may
push back and ask you to write a test case or alter the formatting of a
patch depending on the amount of time I have and the amount of code that
your patch touches.
This project's GitHub issue tracker listed above is not Write-Only. If
you want to contribute then feel free to browse through the existing
issues and see if there is something you feel you might be good at and
take a whack at the problem. I frequently open issues myself that I
hope will be accomplished by someone in the future but do not have time
to immediately implement myself.
Another good area to help out in is documentation. I try to make sure
that there is good document coverage, that is there should be
documentation describing all the public features and warnings about
common pitfalls, but an outsider's or alternate view point on such
things would be welcome; if you see something confusing or lacks
sufficient detail I encourage documentation only pull requests to
improve things.
The Platypus distribution comes with a test library named C<libtest>
that is normally automatically built by C<./Build test>. If you prefer
to use C<prove> or run tests directly, you can use the C<./Build
libtest> command to build it. Example:
% perl Makefile.PL
% make
% make ffi-test
% prove -bv t
# or an individual test
% perl -Mblib t/ffi_platypus_memory.t
The build process also respects these environment variables:
=over 4
=item FFI_PLATYPUS_DEBUG_FAKE32
When building Platypus on 32 bit Perls, it will use the L<Math::Int64> C
API and make L<Math::Int64> a prerequisite. Setting this environment
variable will force Platypus to build with both of those options on a 64
bit Perl as well.
% env FFI_PLATYPUS_DEBUG_FAKE32=1 perl Makefile.PL
DEBUG_FAKE32:
+ making Math::Int64 a prereq
+ Using Math::Int64's C API to manipulate 64 bit values
Generating a Unix-style Makefile
Writing Makefile for FFI::Platypus
Writing MYMETA.yml and MYMETA.json
%
=item FFI_PLATYPUS_NO_ALLOCA
Platypus uses the non-standard and somewhat controversial C function
C<alloca> by default on platforms that support it. I believe that
Platypus uses it responsibly to allocate small amounts of memory for
argument type parameters, and does not use it to allocate large
structures like arrays or buffers. If you prefer not to use C<alloca>
despite these precautions, then you can turn its use off by setting this
environment variable when you run C<Makefile.PL>:
helix% env FFI_PLATYPUS_NO_ALLOCA=1 perl Makefile.PL
NO_ALLOCA:
+ alloca() will not be used, even if your platform supports it.
Generating a Unix-style Makefile
Writing Makefile for FFI::Platypus
Writing MYMETA.yml and MYMETA.json
=item V
When building platypus may hide some of the excessive output when
probing and building, unless you set C<V> to a true value.
% env V=1 perl Makefile.PL
% make V=1
...
=back
=head2 Coding Guidelines
=over 4
=item
Do not hesitate to make code contribution. Making useful contributions
is more important than following byzantine bureaucratic coding
regulations. We can always tweak things later.
=item
Please make an effort to follow existing coding style when making pull
requests.
=item
Platypus supports all production Perl releases since 5.8.1. For that
reason, please do not introduce any code that requires a newer version
of Perl.
=back
=head2 Performance Testing
As Mark Twain was fond of saying there are four types of lies: lies,
damn lies, statistics and benchmarks. That being said, it can sometimes
be helpful to compare the runtime performance of Platypus if you are
making significant changes to the Platypus Core. For that I use
`FFI-Performance`, which can be found in my GitHub repository here:
=over 4
=item L<https://github.com/PerlFFI/FFI-Performance>
=back
=head2 System integrators
This distribution uses L<Alien::FFI> in fallback mode, meaning if
the system doesn't provide C<pkg-config> and C<libffi> it will attempt
to download C<libffi> and build it from source. If you are including
Platypus in a larger system (for example a Linux distribution) you
only need to make sure to declare C<pkg-config> or C<pkgconf> and
the development package for C<libffi> as prereqs for this module.
=head1 SEE ALSO
=head2 Extending Platypus
=over 4
=item L<FFI::Platypus::Type>
Type definitions for Platypus.
=item L<FFI::C>
Interface for defining structured data records for use with
Platypus. It supports C C<struct>, C<union>, nested structures
and arrays of all of those. It only supports passing these
types by reference or pointer, so if you need to pass structured
data by value see L<FFI::Platypus::Record> below.
=item L<FFI::Platypus::Record>
Interface for defining structured data records for use with
Platypus. Included in the Platypus core. Supports pass by
value which is uncommon in C, but frequently used in languages
like Rust and Go. Consider using L<FFI::C> instead if you
don't need to pass by value.
=item L<FFI::Platypus::API>
The custom types API for Platypus.
=item L<FFI::Platypus::Memory>
Memory functions for FFI.
=back
=head2 Languages
=over 4
=item L<FFI::TinyCC>
JIT C compiler for FFI.
=item L<FFI::Platypus::Lang::C>
Documentation and tools for using Platypus with the C programming
language
=item L<FFI::Platypus::Lang::CPP>
Documentation and tools for using Platypus with the C++ programming
language
=item L<FFI::Platypus::Lang::Fortran>
Documentation and tools for using Platypus with Fortran
=item L<FFI::Platypus::Lang::Go>
Documentation and tools for using Platypus with Go
=item L<FFI::Platypus::Lang::Pascal>
Documentation and tools for using Platypus with Free Pascal
=item L<FFI::Platypus::Lang::Rust>
Documentation and tools for using Platypus with the Rust programming
language
=item L<FFI::Platypus::Lang::ASM>
Documentation and tools for using Platypus with the Assembly
=item L<FFI::Platypus::Lang::Win32>
Documentation and tools for using Platypus with the Win32 API.
=item L<Wasm> and L<Wasm::Wasmtime>
Modules for writing WebAssembly bindings in Perl. This allows you to call
functions written in any language supported by WebAssembly. These modules
are also implemented using Platypus.
=back
=head2 Other Tools Related Tools Useful for FFI
=over 4
=item L<FFI::CheckLib>
Find dynamic libraries in a portable way.
=item L<Convert::Binary::C>
A great interface for decoding C data structures, including C<struct>s,
C<enum>s, C<#define>s and more.
=item L<pack and unpack|perlpacktut>
Native to Perl functions that can be used to decode C C<struct> types.
=item L<C::Scan>
This module can extract constants and other useful objects from C header
files that may be relevant to an FFI application. One downside is that
its use may require development packages to be installed.
=back
=head2 Other Foreign Function Interfaces
=over 4
=item L<Dyn>
A wrapper around L<dyncall|https://dyncall.org>, which is itself an alternative to
L<libffi|https://sourceware.org/libffi/>.
=item L<NativeCall>
Promising interface to Platypus inspired by Raku.
=item L<Win32::API>
Microsoft Windows specific FFI style interface.
=item L<Ctypes|https://gitorious.org/perl-ctypes>
Ctypes was intended as a FFI style interface for Perl, but was never
part of CPAN, and at least the last time I tried it did not work with
recent versions of Perl.
=item L<FFI>
Older, simpler, less featureful FFI. It used to be implemented
using FSF's C<ffcall>. Because C<ffcall> has been unsupported for
some time, I reimplemented this module using L<FFI::Platypus>.
=item L<C::DynaLib>
Another FFI for Perl that doesn't appear to have worked for a long time.
=item L<C::Blocks>
Embed a tiny C compiler into your Perl scripts.
=item L<P5NCI>
Yet another FFI like interface that does not appear to be supported or
under development anymore.
=back
=head2 Other
=over 4
=item L<Alien::FFI>
Provides libffi for Platypus during its configuration and build stages.
=back
=head1 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
In addition to the contributors mentioned below, I would like to
acknowledge Brock Wilcox (AWWAIID) and Meredith Howard (MHOWARD) whose
work on C<FFI::Sweet> not only helped me get started with FFI but
significantly influenced the design of Platypus.
Dan Book, who goes by Grinnz on IRC for answering user questions about
FFI and Platypus.
In addition I'd like to thank Alessandro Ghedini (ALEXBIO) whose work
on another Perl FFI library helped drive some of the development ideas
for L<FFI::Platypus>.
=head1 AUTHOR
Author: Graham Ollis E<lt>plicease@cpan.orgE<gt>
Contributors:
Bakkiaraj Murugesan (bakkiaraj)
Dylan Cali (calid)
pipcet
Zaki Mughal (zmughal)
Fitz Elliott (felliott)
Vickenty Fesunov (vyf)
Gregor Herrmann (gregoa)
Shlomi Fish (shlomif)
Damyan Ivanov
Ilya Pavlov (Ilya33)
Petr Písař (ppisar)
Mohammad S Anwar (MANWAR)
Håkon Hægland (hakonhagland, HAKONH)
Meredith (merrilymeredith, MHOWARD)
Diab Jerius (DJERIUS)
Eric Brine (IKEGAMI)
szTheory
José Joaquín Atria (JJATRIA)
Pete Houston (openstrike, HOUSTON)
=head1 COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE
This software is copyright (c) 2015-2022 by Graham Ollis.
This is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under
the same terms as the Perl 5 programming language system itself.
=cut