Cargo for C

A small module/crate system inspired by cargo, but for c instead of rust. I liked the idea and wanted to try out Deno, so see this as more a half-baked concept. This is not meant for use in production.

Build

deno compile --allow-read --allow-write --allow-run --output bin/cargo-for-c src/main.ts

Usage

Note: git is required for most operations. A c compiler needs to be available via cc.

Create a Project

To create a new project with cargo-for-c, use the new command:

cargo-for-c new my_project

This will initiate a new cargo-for-c environment in the directory my_project. The entrypoint for the project can be found in my_project/src/main.c. If you want to create a new environment in an existing directory, use the init command:

mkdir my_project
cd my_project
cargo-for-c init

Build the Project

The project can be built from its top-level directory using the build command:

cd my_project
cargo-for-c build

This will create an executable from the project in the my_project/target/debug directory. The executable will have the same name as the containing project directory.

By default, the binary will be built with debugging enabled. To create a release version, pass the --release (or -r) flag.

cargo-for-c build --release

In this case, the binary can be found in my_project/target/release.

Importing modules

Code is structured into modules and crates. Crates can contain multiple modules which are just c or header files. When working on the project, modules are imported relative to the create root.

#include "crate-root/map/hashmap.h"

int main() {
    //...
}

.
├── src
│   ├── main.c
│   └── map
│       └── hashmap.h

Specifying dependencies

Add a Git URL to the cargo.toml file to add a dependency.

[dependencies]
https://github.com/vurtun/lib.git

Run cargo-for-c fetch to pull the dependencies

Dependencies can now be included via their path, e.g.:

#include "github.com/vurtun/lib.git/json.h"

Adding IDE support

To enable IntelliSense, the include path needs to be updated in the IDE/Language Plugin settings. For instance, in VSCode, open "C/C++: Edit Configurations (UI)" from the command palette. In the include path settings, add the following line: ${workspaceFolder}/.cargo-for-c/include.

Limitations

• Can only be used with header libraries
• No dynamic linking
• I have only tested this on *nix systems
• Dependencies can only be obtained if they are hosted via git
• Dependencies can not be versioned yet
• Include guards are still required, cargo does not inject them (yet)