Foreign Function Interface Generator

genffi generates an interface file in an easy-to-parse s-expression format with all the information needed to call library functions through a C API. It derives function signatures, struct/union layouts, offsets, and sizes, enum and constant values. It also unwinds typedefs and follows simple macro renames.

It was written for the Irken language, which needs to be able to call functions in dynamic link libraries through libffi and llvm.

Note: genffi is a part of the Irken distribution, and is written in Irken. This repo is an experiment in redistributing pre-compiled applications. You can find the original sources in ffi/gen/genffi.scm in the Irken distribution.

Input Format

Sample input file for brotli:

;; -*- Mode: lisp -*-

(brotli
  (includes "brotli/encode.h" "brotli/decode.h")
  (cflags "")
  (lflags "-lbrotlienc -lbrotlidec")
  (enums BrotliEncoderMode BrotliEncoderOperation BrotliEncoderParameter
         BrotliDecoderResult BrotliDecoderParameter)
  (constants
   BROTLI_MAX_WINDOW_BITS
   BROTLI_LARGE_MAX_WINDOW_BITS
   BROTLI_MIN_INPUT_BLOCK_BITS
   BROTLI_MAX_INPUT_BLOCK_BITS
   BROTLI_MIN_QUALITY
   BROTLI_MAX_QUALITY)
  (sigs
   BrotliEncoderSetParameter
   BrotliEncoderCreateInstance
   BrotliEncoderDestroyInstance
   BrotliEncoderMaxCompressedSize
   BrotliEncoderCompress
   BrotliEncoderCompressStream
   BrotliEncoderIsFinished
   BrotliEncoderHasMoreOutput
   BrotliEncoderTakeOutput
   BrotliEncoderVersion
   )
  )

The first symbol gives a name to the interface, in this case brotli. Then:

• includes: lists the C API .h file[s].
• cflags, lflags: compile and link flags for CC.
• structs: lists the structures you need to know about. [you need not list opaque types here]
• enums: C enums (typedef or not) containing values you need.
• constants: integer values you need (usually from #define).
• sigs: functions whose signatures you need.

Building

$ make

Running

$ ./genffi -gen brotli.ffi

There are other options, see the Irken documentation for more information.

What do I do with the output?

S-expressions are very simple to parse. I've included a simple reader capable of reading both the inputs and outputs of this program, in the file lisp.py. You might be tempted to convert it to json, but you shouldn't.

types

Types are presented (mostly) in a prefix notation. Numeric types are collapsed into a single symbol, so unsigned long long becomes ulonglong.

Pointers are of the form (* int), meaning int * in C. (* (* int)) would mean int **.

(* (fun (* void) uint -> (* int))

Is a pointer to a function that takes two arguments, void* and unsigned int, and returning int *.

struct definitions

Here's a sample struct definition:

(struct sockaddr 16
  (0 sa_len uchar)
  (1 sa_family uchar)
  (2 sa_data (array 14 char))
 )

sizeof (struct sockaddr) is 16 bytes. The first slot is an unsigned char, at offset 0. The second slot is also unsigned char, at offset 1. The third slot, sa_data, is at offset 2 and is an array of 14 char. [i.e., char sa_data[14]]

con definitions

(con SOME_NAME 34)

This simply says that the constant SOME_NAME has the integer value 34.

sig definitions

(sig recv (int (* void) ulong int -> long))

This declares recv as a function taking four arguments:

1. int
2. void*
3. unsigned long
4. int

And returning a long.

(sig some_integer int)

This indicates that the symbol some_integer points to an integer rather than a function.