rust-lang / rust-lang/rust-bindgen
How to handle "structural" but not API changes in headers?
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Description
I am searching advice on how this can be handled gracefully other than keeping a project-local header that is used to generate bindings (or pre-generated bindings).
Input C/C++ Header
Recently - with Linux 6.6 - the connector uapi headers changed in a bindgen-binding incompatible way, please check out the following diff:
diff --git a/include/uapi/linux/cn_proc.h b/include/uapi/linux/cn_proc.h
index db210625cee8..6a06fb424313 100644
--- a/include/uapi/linux/cn_proc.h
+++ b/include/uapi/linux/cn_proc.h
@@ -30,6 +30,30 @@ enum proc_cn_mcast_op {
PROC_CN_MCAST_IGNORE = 2
};
+enum proc_cn_event {
+ /* Use successive bits so the enums can be used to record
+ * sets of events as well
+ */
+ PROC_EVENT_NONE = 0x00000000,
+ PROC_EVENT_FORK = 0x00000001,
+ PROC_EVENT_EXEC = 0x00000002,
+ PROC_EVENT_UID = 0x00000004,
+ PROC_EVENT_GID = 0x00000040,
+ PROC_EVENT_SID = 0x00000080,
+ PROC_EVENT_PTRACE = 0x00000100,
+ PROC_EVENT_COMM = 0x00000200,
+ /* "next" should be 0x00000400 */
+ /* "last" is the last process event: exit,
+ * while "next to last" is coredumping event
+ */
+ PROC_EVENT_COREDUMP = 0x40000000,
+ PROC_EVENT_EXIT = 0x80000000
+};
+
+struct proc_input {
+ enum proc_cn_mcast_op mcast_op;
+};
+
/*
* From the user's point of view, the process
* ID is the thread group ID and thread ID is the internal
@@ -44,24 +68,7 @@ enum proc_cn_mcast_op {
*/
struct proc_event {
- enum what {
- /* Use successive bits so the enums can be used to record
- * sets of events as well
- */
- PROC_EVENT_NONE = 0x00000000,
- PROC_EVENT_FORK = 0x00000001,
- PROC_EVENT_EXEC = 0x00000002,
- PROC_EVENT_UID = 0x00000004,
- PROC_EVENT_GID = 0x00000040,
- PROC_EVENT_SID = 0x00000080,
- PROC_EVENT_PTRACE = 0x00000100,
- PROC_EVENT_COMM = 0x00000200,
- /* "next" should be 0x00000400 */
- /* "last" is the last process event: exit,
- * while "next to last" is coredumping event */
- PROC_EVENT_COREDUMP = 0x40000000,
- PROC_EVENT_EXIT = 0x80000000
- } what;
+ enum proc_cn_event what;
__u32 cpu;
__u64 __attribute__((aligned(8))) timestamp_ns;
/* Number of nano seconds since system boot */
Bindgen Invocation
bindgen::Builder::default()
.header("include/wrapper.h")
.derive_debug(true)
.parse_callbacks(Box::new(bindgen::CargoCallbacks::new()))
.generate()
Actual Results
The previously generated type name proc_event_what is now called proc_cn_event.
Expected Results
This is the expected result, but is does break things after bindgen where no breakage is happening in C. And I also don't see how bindgen could do anything else really.
Work-Around
As alluded in the beginning; my current work-around is to keep a local copy of the header I expect.
Contributor guide
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 with the Linux 6.6 cn_proc.h diff, the include/wrapper.h input, and the shown bindgen::Builder invocation. Compare the generated proc_event_what and proc_cn_event names and investigate how structural header changes could preserve compatibility. Done should be a documented or implemented strategy that addresses this change without requiring a project-local header.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- c, cpp, rust
- Domain
- tooling
- Issue type
- Feature
- Difficulty
- 5/5
- Estimated time
- Over a week
- Activity status
- Stale
- Clarity
- Needs clarification
- Newbie friendliness
- 20/100