Hello guys,

So what’s currently the best way to use a big C library?

Let’s assume something like

cglm
assimp
glfw

ImportC doesn’t really work for such huge libraries, I’ll investigate further. Deimos is outdated or there are no bindings. I know that there is a dub package for glfw which works fine. But how would I do something for assimp or cglm. The dub assimp package is quite outdated.

Am I stuck with manually creating interface files either by hand or automation?

I’m hope somebody could give me some insights. Thank you !

Kind regards from Austria
Max

On Friday, 19 May 2023 at 18:31:45 UTC, Maximilian Naderer wrote:

If there are issues using those libraries, you should report the bugs.

On Friday, 19 May 2023 at 18:31:45 UTC, Maximilian Naderer wrote:

If you aim static linking or static binding then you can give dstep a shot.

Otherwise and if you have the time to then dont forget to report the problems founds
when you have tried ImportC.

On Friday, 19 May 2023 at 18:31:45 UTC, Maximilian Naderer wrote:

• Some big libraries are translated, for example https://code.dlang.org/packages/glfw-d was created with both manual work and ctod (https://forum.dlang.org/thread/hfpirezenlabjqtwejyk@forum.dlang.org) Even then it is pretty manual and AI barely help with D.

• Some libraries can be loaded with BindBC (typically dynamically) so that you can use existing builds. https://code.dlang.org/search?q=bindbc
  Creating a new BindBC-style package is typically manual but normally low maintenance after the fact.

Now, if using a complex C++ libraries involves inlined C++ types, it will be a lot harder to create a nice D port.
A library like cglm almost must be ported, a bindings won't help here, since it's probably lots of inlined C++ types in headers. You can use the package inmath instead.