Trait ffi_support::IntoFfi

pub unsafe trait IntoFfi: Sized {
    type Value;
    fn ffi_default() -> Self::Value;
    fn into_ffi_value(self) -> Self::Value;
}

This trait is used to return types over the FFI. It essentially is a mapping between a type and version of that type we can pass back to C (IntoFfi::Value).

The main wrinkle is that we need to be able to pass a value back to C in both the success and error cases. In the error cases, we don’t want there to need to be any cleanup for the foreign code to do, and we want the API to be relatively easy to use.

Additionally, the mapping is not consistent for different types. For some rust types, we want to convert them to JSON. For some, we want to return an opaque *mut T handle. For others, we’d like to return by value.

This trait supports those cases by adding some type-level indirection, and allowing both cases to be provided (both cases what is done in the error and success cases).

We implement this for the following types:

• String, by conversion to *mut c_char. Note that the caller (on the other side of the FFI) is expected to free this, so you will need to provide them with a destructor for strings, which can be done with the define_string_destructor! macro.

• (): as a no-op conversion – this just allows us to expose functions without a return type over the FFI.

• bool: is implemented by conversion to u8 (0u8 is false, 1u8 is true, and ffi_default() is false). This is because it doesn’t seem to be safe to pass over the FFI directly (or at least, doing so might hit a bug in JNA).

• All numeric primitives except isize, usize, char, i128, and u128 are implememented by passing directly through (and using Default::default() for ffi_default()).

  • isize, usize could be added, but they’d be quite easy to accidentally misuse, so we currently omit them.
  • char is less easy to misuse, but it’s also less clear why you’d want to be doing this. If we did ever add this, we’d probably want to convert to a u32 (similar to how we convert bool to u8) for better ABI stability.
  • i128 and u128 do not have a stable ABI, so they cannot be returned across the FFI.

• Option<T> where T is IntoFfi, by returning IntoFfi::ffi_default() for None.

None of these are directly helpful for user types though, so macros are provided for the following cases:

1. For types which are passed around by an opaque pointer, the macro implement_into_ffi_by_pointer! is provided.

2. For types which should be returned as a JSON string, the macro implement_into_ffi_by_json! is provided.

See the “Examples” section below for some other cases, such as returning by value.

Safety

This is an unsafe trait (implementing it requires unsafe impl). This is because we cannot guarantee that your type is safe to pass to C. The helpers we’ve provided as macros should be safe to use, and in the cases where a common pattern can’t be done both safely and generically, we’ve opted not to provide a macro for it. That said, many of these cases are still safe if you meet some relatively basic requirements, see below for examples.

Examples

Returning types by value

If you want to return a type by value, we don’t provide a macro for this, primarially because doing so cannot be statically guarantee that it is safe. However, it is safe for the cases where the type is either #[repr(C)] or #[repr(transparent)]. If this doesn’t hold, you will want to use a different option!

Regardless, if this holds, it’s fairly simple to implement, for example:

#[derive(Default)]
#[repr(C)]
pub struct Point {
    pub x: i32,
    pub y: i32,
}

unsafe impl IntoFfi for Point {
    type Value = Self;
    #[inline] fn ffi_default() -> Self { Default::default() }
    #[inline] fn into_ffi_value(self) -> Self { self }
}

Conversion to another type (which is returned over the FFI)

In the FxA FFI, we used to have a SyncKeys type, which was converted to a different type before returning over the FFI. (The real FxA FFI is a little different, and more complex, but this is relatively close, and more widely recommendable than the one the FxA FFI uses):

This is fairly easy to do by performing the conversion inside IntoFfi.

pub struct SyncKeys(pub String, pub String);

#[repr(C)]
pub struct SyncKeysC {
    pub sync_key: *mut c_char,
    pub xcs: *mut c_char,
}

unsafe impl IntoFfi for SyncKeys {
    type Value = SyncKeysC;
    #[inline]
    fn ffi_default() -> SyncKeysC {
        SyncKeysC {
            sync_key: ptr::null_mut(),
            xcs: ptr::null_mut(),
        }
    }

    #[inline]
    fn into_ffi_value(self) -> SyncKeysC {
        SyncKeysC {
            sync_key: ffi_support::rust_string_to_c(self.0),
            xcs:      ffi_support::rust_string_to_c(self.1),
        }
    }
}

// Note: this type manages memory, so you still will want to expose a destructor for this,
// and possibly implement Drop as well.

Associated Types

type Value

This type must be:

1. Compatible with C, which is to say #[repr(C)], a numeric primitive, another type that has guarantees made about it’s layout, or a #[repr(transparent)] wrapper around one of those.

   One could even use &T, so long as T: Sized, although it’s extremely dubious to return a reference to borrowed memory over the FFI, since it’s very difficult for the caller to know how long it remains valid.

2. Capable of storing an empty/ignorable/default value.

3. Capable of storing the actual value.

Valid examples include:

• Primitive numbers (other than i128/u128)

• #[repr(C)] structs containing only things on this list.

• Option<Box<T>>, but only if T is Sized. (Internally this is guaranteed to be represented equivalently to a pointer)

• Raw pointers such as *const T, and *mut T, but again, only if T is Sized (*const [T], *mut dyn SomeTrait etc are not valid).

• Enums with a fixed repr, although it’s a good idea avoid #[repr(C)] enums in favor of, say, #[repr(i32)] (for example, any fixed type there should be fine), as it’s potentially error prone to access #[repr(C)] enums from Android over JNA (it’s only safe if C’s sizeof(int) == 4, which is very common, but not universally true).

• &T/&mut T where T: Sized but only if you really know what you’re doing, because this is probably a mistake.

Invalid examples include things like &str, &[T], String, Vec<T>, std::ffi::CString, &std::ffi::CStr, etc.

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Required methods

fn ffi_default() -> Self::Value

Return an ‘empty’ value. This is what’s passed back to C in the case of an error, so it doesn’t actually need to be “empty”, so much as “ignorable”. Note that this is also used when an empty Option<T> is returned.

fn into_ffi_value(self) -> Self::Value

Convert ourselves into a value we can pass back to C with confidence.

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Implementations on Foreign Types

impl IntoFfi for String

type Value = *mut c_char

fn ffi_default() -> Self::Value

fn into_ffi_value(self) -> Self::Value

impl<T: IntoFfi> IntoFfi for Option<T>

type Value = <T as IntoFfi>::Value

fn ffi_default() -> Self::Value

fn into_ffi_value(self) -> Self::Value

impl IntoFfi for bool

type Value = u8

fn ffi_default() -> Self::Value

fn into_ffi_value(self) -> Self::Value

impl IntoFfi for ()

type Value = Self

fn ffi_default() -> Self

fn into_ffi_value(self) -> Self

impl IntoFfi for i8

type Value = Self

fn ffi_default() -> Self

fn into_ffi_value(self) -> Self

impl IntoFfi for u8

type Value = Self

fn ffi_default() -> Self

fn into_ffi_value(self) -> Self

impl IntoFfi for i16

type Value = Self

fn ffi_default() -> Self

fn into_ffi_value(self) -> Self

impl IntoFfi for u16

type Value = Self

fn ffi_default() -> Self

fn into_ffi_value(self) -> Self

impl IntoFfi for i32

type Value = Self

fn ffi_default() -> Self

fn into_ffi_value(self) -> Self

impl IntoFfi for u32

type Value = Self

fn ffi_default() -> Self

fn into_ffi_value(self) -> Self

impl IntoFfi for i64

type Value = Self

fn ffi_default() -> Self

fn into_ffi_value(self) -> Self

impl IntoFfi for u64

type Value = Self

fn ffi_default() -> Self

fn into_ffi_value(self) -> Self

impl IntoFfi for f32

type Value = Self

fn ffi_default() -> Self

fn into_ffi_value(self) -> Self

impl IntoFfi for f64

type Value = Self

fn ffi_default() -> Self

fn into_ffi_value(self) -> Self

impl IntoFfi for *mut i8

type Value = Self

fn ffi_default() -> Self

fn into_ffi_value(self) -> Self

impl IntoFfi for *const i8

type Value = Self

fn ffi_default() -> Self

fn into_ffi_value(self) -> Self

impl IntoFfi for *mut u8

type Value = Self

fn ffi_default() -> Self

fn into_ffi_value(self) -> Self

impl IntoFfi for *const u8

type Value = Self

fn ffi_default() -> Self

fn into_ffi_value(self) -> Self

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Implementors

impl IntoFfi for Handle

type Value = u64

fn ffi_default() -> u64

fn into_ffi_value(self) -> u64

impl IntoFfi for ByteBuffer

type Value = ByteBuffer

fn ffi_default() -> Self::Value

fn into_ffi_value(self) -> Self::Value

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