Idea: Opaque, repr(transparent) C types
Nobody has claimed this yet.
- Dominant language
- Markdown
- Stars
- 6.6k
- Forks
- 1.7k
- Avg merge
- 16h 14m
- Merged PRs (30d)
- 1
Description
Essentially, replace the types in os::raw with new versions in core::ffi which are opaque, repr(transparent) types. This allows us to add, e.g. a c_longdouble which does not necessarily map to a native Rust type.
Conversion to/from these types should be done using From and TryFrom, where From is only implemented strictly according to the C spec (e.g. From<u32> is not implemented for c_uint, but From<u16> is). For floats, conversions would probably not be done by From and TryFrom, but that can be fleshed out later; adding just the integer types for now would be very nice.
Not 100% sure whether these types should implement basic arithmetic operations or methods representing functions from C math, but that's my basic idea right now.
c_void is already in core::ffi, so, these types would be joining it.
I've had ideas for drafting an RFC for this but I doubt I'll have the energy any time soon, so, I figured I'd offer the idea here if anyone wants to take it up.
Contributor guide
No contributing guide indexed for this repository
First steps
- Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
- Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
- Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
- Open a pull request that references the issue number.
Research direction
Start by reviewing the existing types in os::raw and core::ffi::c_void. Work through the proposed opaque repr(transparent) integer types, their From and TryFrom rules, and the unresolved arithmetic and floating-point questions. Done means the design is sufficiently settled for an RFC or implementation plan.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- rust
- Domain
- compilers
- Issue type
- Feature
- Difficulty
- 5/5
- Estimated time
- Over a week
- Activity status
- Stale
- Clarity
- Mostly clear
- Newbie friendliness
- 30/100