package dkml-c-probe

  1. Overview
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Cross-compiler friendly configuration of C headers and libraries.

Problem

Let's take the C library "gmp" (GNU Multiprecision Bignum Library) as an example. Many OCaml libraries depend on it through the "conf-gmp" Opam package. However almost all "conf-*" packages use the system's package manager to install the C library or use "pkg-config" to locate the C library. So if the system were a Linux x86_64 system and the cross-compiling toolchain is for Android ARM64, the Android ARM64 executables should never be linked to the system Linux x86_64 C library "gmp".

Solution

A solution is to let the consumer define and link to pre-existing cross-compiled libraries.

During cross-compilation each distinct toolchain would need its own external C libraries and perhaps C headers. This module lets the developer specify the locations of these libraries and headers by setting environment variables.

The environment variables follow the grammar:

    variableName:
      'CP_' clibrary '_' type '_DEFAULT' ('_' toolchain)?
      ;
    clibrary:
      [A-ZA-Z0-9_]+
      ;
    toolchain:
      [A-ZA-Z0-9_]+
      ;
    type:
      'CP' | 'LINK'
      ;

    (*  Semicolons separate list items in a variable *)
    variableValue:
      listItem (';' listItem)*
      ;
    (*  Any 7-bit ASCII printable character are valid. Spaces are significant,
        and there are no space characters. *)
    listItem:
      ([\x20-\x7E] - ';')*
      ;

Both "<clibrary>" and "<toolchain>" must be uppercased and sanitized with underscores.

For example, the following environment variables can be set for the C library "gmp":

    CP_GMP_CC_DEFAULT                 = -IZ:/build/darwin_arm64/vcpkg_installed/arm64-osx/include
    CP_GMP_CC_DEFAULT_DARWIN_X86_64   = -IZ:/build/darwin_x86_64/vcpkg_installed/x64-osx/include
    CP_GMP_LINK_DEFAULT               = -LZ:/build/darwin_arm64/vcpkg_installed/arm64-osx/lib;-lgmp
    CP_GMP_LINK_DEFAULT_DARWIN_X86_64 = -LZ:/build/darwin_x86_64/vcpkg_installed/x64-osx/lib;-lgmp

Semantically each environment variable is equivalent to an optional list of items. In particular:

  • An undefined environment variable and an empty environment variable are equivalent to an absent list (ie. None)
  • Any empty list item is skipped. So you can use ";" to mean Some []

For CC type variables, each list item is a command line option:

  • "-I<path>" adds an include directory. The path should have forward slashes, even on Windows.

For LINK type variables, each list item is a command line option:

  • "-L<path>" adds a library directory. The path should have forward slashes, even on Windows.
  • "-l<library>" adds a named library.

There are no spaces between the command line option (ex. "-L") and the option value.

As a library author you can use this module to convert these CC and LINK variables into the paricular convention used by your OCaml tool or C compiler. For example, using the compiler_flags_msvc in the "darwin_x86_64" toolchain will give you:

let link_flags = ["-LIBPATH:Z:/build/darwin_x86_64/vcpkg_installed/x64-osx/lib"; "gmp.lib"]
let cc_flags = ["-IZ:/build/darwin_x86_64/vcpkg_installed/x64-osx/include"]

while using the tool_flags_ocamlmklib in the same toolchain will give you:

let link_flags = ["-LZ:/build/darwin_x86_64/vcpkg_installed/x64-osx/lib"; "-lgmp"]

Prerequisites

The consumer of your library will need:

  • cross-compiled toolchains named according to C_abi's "get_abi_name".
  • pre-existing cross-compiled libraries. The cross-compiled libraries are available from many sources:

    • development environments like Android Studio
    • C package managers like vcpkg and Conan
    • "sysroot" images
    • direct downloads from architecture specific package repositories
  • set environment variables that reference the pre-existing cross-compiled libraries. For an Opam switch you can use opam option setenv+="CP_xxx=yyy"; the docs for setenv are at https://opam.ocaml.org/doc/Manual.html#opamfield-setenv

Integrations

When you are using the Dune Configurator you should:

  1. Use the load_from_dune_context_name constructor by supplying the Dune variable "%{context_name}"
  2. Use compiler_flags_of_ccomp_type to get the compiler flags by supplying the Dune variable "%{ocaml-config:ccomp_type}".

Dune variables are described in the General Concepts of the Dune Docs.

Module Documentation

type t
type env_getter = string -> string option
module C_flags : sig ... end

Flags for C compilers

module Ocamlmklib_flags : sig ... end

Flags for ocamlmklib

val load : ?getenv:env_getter -> unit -> (t, string) result

load ?getenv () creates C configuration from the current C_abi.

If there is an error getting the C configuration then the result it Error "some error message".

Otherwise, the result is the C configuration conf.

val load_from_dune_context_name : ?getenv:env_getter -> string -> (t, string) result

load_from_dune_context_name ?getenv ctxname creates C configuration from the Dune variable "%{context_name}" that has been captured in ctxname.

Examples of "%{context_name}" are:

  • "default"
  • "default.darwin_arm64"
val load_from_findlib_toolchain : ?getenv:env_getter -> string option -> (t, string) result

load_from_findlib_toolchain ?getenv toolchain_opt creates C configuration from the optional findlib toolchain toolchain_opt.

Examples of toolchain are:

  • None
  • Some "darwin_arm64"
val compiler_flags_of_ccomp_type : t -> ccomp_type:string -> clibrary:string -> (C_flags.t option, string) result

compiler_flags_of_ccomp_type conf ~ccomp_type ~clibrary gets the compiler flags of the compiler identified by "ocamlc -config"'s ccomp_type from the C configuration conf.

If there is no C configuration for clibrary, the result is Ok None.

val compiler_flags_msvc : t -> clibrary:string -> (C_flags.t option, string) result

compiler_flags_msvc conf ~clibrary gets the compiler flags for the MSVC compiler from the C configuration conf.

If there is no C configuration for clibrary, the result is Ok None.

val compiler_flags_gcc : t -> clibrary:string -> (C_flags.t option, string) result

compiler_flags_gcc conf ~clibrary gets the compiler flags for the GCC compiler from the C configuration conf.

If there is no C configuration for clibrary, the result is Ok None.

val tool_flags_ocamlmklib : t -> clibrary:string -> (Ocamlmklib_flags.t option, string) result

tool_flags_ocamlmklib conf ~clibrary gets the ocamlmklib flags from the C configuration conf.

If there is no C configuration for clibrary, the result is Ok None.

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