Building C/C++

🚧

No port compiler

In Rebar3 it is required to have either a Makefile or other instructions for building your C/C++ code outside of Rebar3 itself.

Using the Makefile Template

We’ll start by making a new lib named test_nif and then using the cmake template from the root of the test_nif project.

$ rebar3 new lib test_nif
===> Writing test_nif/src/test_nif.erl
===> Writing test_nif/src/test_nif.app.src
===> Writing test_nif/rebar.config
===> Writing test_nif/.gitignore
===> Writing test_nif/LICENSE
===> Writing test_nif/README.md
$ cd test_nif
$ rebar3 new cmake
===> Writing c_src/Makefile
Shell

In test_nif's rebar.config, add the pre_hooks line so that make is called when compile is run. Furthermore, add the post_hooks entry for cleaning up the built C object files.

The Makefile written by rebar3 new cmake is a GNU Makefile, which means you will need to have GNU Make installed on the system. In the example, we provide a handler for the FreeBSD operating system, which assumes GNU Make is called gmake.

{pre_hooks,
  [{"(linux|darwin|solaris)", compile, "make -C c_src"},
   {"(freebsd)", compile, "gmake -C c_src"}]}.
{post_hooks,
  [{"(linux|darwin|solaris)", clean, "make -C c_src clean"},
   {"(freebsd)", clean, "gmake -C c_src clean"}]}.
Erlang

Below is a NIF which has a function repeat that will take a pid and an Erlang term to send to that pid.

#include "erl_nif.h"

static ERL_NIF_TERM
mk_atom(ErlNifEnv* env, const char* atom)
{
    ERL_NIF_TERM ret;

    if(!enif_make_existing_atom(env, atom, &ret, ERL_NIF_LATIN1))
    {
        return enif_make_atom(env, atom);
    }

    return ret;
}

static ERL_NIF_TERM
mk_error(ErlNifEnv* env, const char* mesg)
{
    return enif_make_tuple2(env, mk_atom(env, "error"), mk_atom(env, mesg));
}

static ERL_NIF_TERM
repeat(ErlNifEnv* env, int argc, const ERL_NIF_TERM argv[])
{
    ErlNifEnv* msg_env;
    ErlNifPid pid;
    ERL_NIF_TERM copy;

    if(argc != 2)
    {
        return enif_make_badarg(env);
    }

    if(!enif_is_pid(env, argv[0]))
    {
        return mk_error(env, "not_a_pid");
    }

    if(!enif_get_local_pid(env, argv[0], &pid))
    {
        return mk_error(env, "not_a_local_pid");
    }

    msg_env = enif_alloc_env();
    if(msg_env == NULL)
    {
        return mk_error(env, "environ_alloc_error");
    }

    copy = enif_make_copy(msg_env, argv[1]);

    if(!enif_send(env, &pid, msg_env, copy))
    {
        enif_free(msg_env);
        return mk_error(env, "error_sending_term");
    }

    enif_free_env(msg_env);
    return mk_atom(env, "ok");
}

static ErlNifFunc nif_funcs[] = {
    {"repeat", 2, repeat}
};

ERL_NIF_INIT(test_nif, nif_funcs, NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL);
C

Modify test_nif.erl to load the test_nif shared library from priv and export repeat/2.

-module(test_nif).
-export([repeat/2]).
-on_load(init/0).

-define(APPNAME, test_nif).
-define(LIBNAME, test_nif).

repeat(_, _) ->
    not_loaded(?LINE).

init() ->
    SoName = case code:priv_dir(?APPNAME) of
        {error, bad_name} ->
            case filelib:is_dir(filename:join(["..", priv])) of
                true ->
                    filename:join(["..", priv, ?LIBNAME]);
                _ ->
                    filename:join([priv, ?LIBNAME])
            end;
        Dir ->
            filename:join(Dir, ?LIBNAME)
    end,
    erlang:load_nif(SoName, 0).

not_loaded(Line) ->
    erlang:nif_error({not_loaded, [{module, ?MODULE}, {line, Line}]}).
Erlang

Note that the error() function will cause Dializer errors. Using erlang:nif_error/1 will not, and is preferred here.

Run rebar3 shell and give the NIF a try.

$ rebar3 shell
===> Verifying dependencies...
===> Compiling test_nif
Erlang/OTP 17 [erts-6.3] [source] [64-bit] [smp:4:4] [async-threads:0] [kernel-poll:false]

Eshell V6.3  (abort with ^G)
1> test_nif:repeat(self(), hello).
ok
2> receive X -> X end.
hello
Shell

References

Last modified September 11, 2023: Fix compiler warnings in test_nif example (f113813)