A tool for transpiling C code to Go code.

Milestones of the project:

1. Transpiling project GNU GSL.
2. Transpiling project GTK+.

Notes: * Transpiler works on linux machines * Need to have installed

clang

Installation

Installation with version generation.

# get code
go get -u github.com/Konstantin8105/c4go

move to project source
cd $GOPATH/src/github.com/Konstantin8105/c4go
generate version
go generate ./...
install
go install
testing
c4go version

Usage example

# Change your location to the folder with examples:
cd $GOPATH/src/github.com/Konstantin8105/c4go/examples/

Transpile one file from the C example folder:
c4go transpile prime.c
Look at the result
nano prime.go
Check the result:
go run prime.go
Enter a number
13
The number is: 13
Prime number.

C code of file

prime.c

include

int main() { int n, c;

printf("Enter a number\n");
// get value
scanf("%d", &n);
printf("The number is: %d\n", n);

// -------
if (n == 2)
    printf("Prime number.\n");
else {
    for (c = 2; c <= n - 1; c++) {
        if (n % c == 0)
            break;
    }
    if (c != n)
        printf("Not prime.\n");
    else
        printf("Prime number.\n");
}
return 0;

} ```

Go code of file

prime.go

package main

import "unsafe" import "github.com/Konstantin8105/c4go/noarch" import "fmt"

// main - transpiled function from C4GO/examples/prime.c:3 func main() { var n int32 var c int32 fmt.Printf("Enter a number\n") // get value noarch.Scanf([]byte("%d\x00"), c4goUnsafeConvert_int32(&n)) noarch.Printf([]byte("The number is: %d\n\x00"), n) if n == 2 { // ------- fmt.Printf("Prime number.\n") } else { for c = 2; c <= n-1; c++ { if n%c == 0 { break } } if c != n { fmt.Printf("Not prime.\n") } else { fmt.Printf("Prime number.\n") } } return }

// c4goUnsafeConvertint32 : created by c4go func c4goUnsafeConvertint32(c4goname int32) []int32 { return ([1000000]int32)(unsafe.Pointer(c4goname))[:] } ```

Example with binding function

C:

#include 
#include 

int main()
{
    int n;
    double param = 8.0, result;
    result = frexp(param, &n);
    printf("result = %5.2f\n", result);
    printf("n      = %d\n", n);
    return 0;
}
</stdio.h></math.h>

c4go

package main

// #include import "C"

import "github.com/Konstantin8105/c4go/noarch" import "unsafe"

// main - transpiled function from C4GO/examples/math.c:4 func main() { var n int32 var param float64 = 8 var result float64 result = frexp(param, c4goUnsafeConvert_int32(&n)) noarch.Printf([]byte("result = %5.2f\n\x00"), result) noarch.Printf([]byte("n = %d\n\x00"), n) return }

// c4goUnsafeConvertint32 : created by c4go func c4goUnsafeConvertint32(c4goname int32) []int32 { return ([1000000]int32)(unsafe.Pointer(c4goname))[:] }

// frexp - add c-binding for implemention function func frexp(arg0 float64, arg1 []int32) float64 { return float64(C.frexp(C.double(arg0), (*C.int)(unsafe.Pointer(&arg1[0])))) } ```

Example with C-pointers and C-arrays

#include 

// input argument - C-pointer
void a(int* v1) { printf("a: %d\n", *v1); }
// input argument - C-array
void b(int v1[], int size)
{
    for (size--; size >= 0; size--) {
        printf("b: %d %d\n", size, v1[size]);
    }
}
int main()
{
    // value
    int i1 = 42;
    a(&i1);
    b(&i1, 1);
// C-array
int i2[] = { 11, 22 };
a(i2);
b(i2, 2);

// C-pointer from value
int* i3 = &i1;
a(i3);
b(i3, 1);

// C-pointer from array
int* i4 = i2;
a(i4);
b(i4, 2);

// C-pointer from array
int* i5 = i2[1];
a(i5);
b(i5, 1);

return 0;
}
</stdio.h>

//
//  Package - transpiled by c4go
//
//  If you have found any issues, please raise an issue at:
//  https://github.com/Konstantin8105/c4go/
//

package main
import "unsafe"
import "github.com/Konstantin8105/c4go/noarch"
// a - transpiled function from  C4GO/examples/ap.c:4
func a(v1 []int32) {
    // input argument - C-pointer
    noarch.Printf([]byte("a: %d\n\x00"), v1[0])
}
// b - transpiled function from  C4GO/examples/ap.c:7
func b(v1 []int32, size int32) {
    {
        // input argument - C-array
        for size -= 1; size >= 0; size-- {
            noarch.Printf([]byte("b: %d %d\n\x00"), size, v1[size])
        }
    }
}
// main - transpiled function from  C4GO/examples/ap.c:14
func main() {
    var i1 int32 = 42
    // value
    a(c4goUnsafeConvert_int32(&i1))
    b(c4goUnsafeConvert_int32(&i1), 1)
    var i2 []int32 = []int32{11, 22}
    // C-array
    a(i2)
    b(i2, 2)
    var i3 []int32 = c4goUnsafeConvert_int32(&i1)
    // C-pointer from value
    a(i3)
    b(i3, 1)
    var i4 []int32 = i2
    // C-pointer from array
    a(i4)
    b(i4, 2)
    var i5 []int32 = i2[1:]
    // C-pointer from array
    a(i5)
    b(i5, 1)
return
}
// c4goUnsafeConvert_int32 : created by c4go
func c4goUnsafeConvert_int32(c4go_name int32) []int32 {
    return ([1000000]int32)(unsafe.Pointer(c4go_name))[:]
}

Example of transpilation neatvi.

# clone git repository
git clone https://github.com/aligrudi/neatvi.git

move in folder
cd neatvi
look in Makefile
cat Makefile

Makefile: ``` CC = cc CFLAGS = -Wall -O2 LDFLAGS =

OBJS = vi.o ex.o lbuf.o mot.o sbuf.o ren.o dir.o syn.o reg.o led.o \ uc.o term.o rset.o regex.o cmd.o conf.o

all: vi

conf.o: conf.h

%.o: %.c $(CC) -c $(CFLAGS) $< vi: $(OBJS) $(CC) -o [email protected] $(OBJS) $(LDFLAGS) clean: rm -f *.o vi ``

As we see not need any specific, for example

Let's try transpile:

bash
c4go transpile *.c

/temp/neatvi/reg.c:6:14: error: redefinition of 'bufs' with a different type: 'char [256]' vs 'struct buf [8]' static char *bufs[256]; ^ /temp/neatvi/ex.c:35:3: note: previous definition is here } bufs[8]; ^ /temp/neatvi/reg.c:12:9: error: returning 'struct buf' from a function with incompatible result type 'char *' return bufs[c]; ^~~~~~~ /temp/neatvi/reg.c:17:81: error: invalid operands to binary expression ('int' and 'struct buf') char *pre = ((ctypebloc ())[(int) ((c))] & (unsigned short int) _ISupper) && bufs[tolower(c)] ? bufs[tolower(c)] : ""; ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ^ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ /temp/neatvi/reg.c:21:7: error: passing 'struct buf' to parameter of incompatible type 'void *' free(bufs[tolower(c)]); ^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ /usr/include/stdlib.h:483:25: note: passing argument to parameter 'ptr' here extern void free (void *ptr) __attribute ((nothrow )); ^ /temp/neatvi/reg.c:22:19: error: assigning to 'struct buf' from incompatible type 'char *' bufs[tolower(c)] = buf; ^ ~~~ /temp/neatvi/reg.c:43:8: error: passing 'struct buf' to parameter of incompatible type 'void *' free(bufs[i]); ^~~~~~~ /usr/include/stdlib.h:483:25: note: passing argument to parameter 'ptr' here extern void free (void *ptr) attribute ((nothrow )); ^ /temp/neatvi/regex.c:98:12: error: static declaration of 'uclen' follows non-static declaration static int uclen(char *s) ^ /temp/neatvi/vi.h:83:5: note: previous declaration is here int uclen(char *s); ^ /temp/neatvi/regex.c:200:14: error: static declaration of 'ucbeg' follows non-static declaration static char *ucbeg(char *beg, char *s) ^ /temp/neatvi/vi.h:101:7: note: previous declaration is here char *ucbeg(char *beg, char *s); ^ /temp/neatvi/vi.c:635:12: error: redefinition of 'linecount' static int linecount(char *s) ^ /temp/neatvi/lbuf.c:124:12: note: previous definition is here static int linecount(char *s) ^ 9 errors generated.

goroutine 1 [running]: main.generateAstLines(0x1, 0x0, 0xc000010140, 0x10, 0x10, 0x0, 0x0, 0x0, 0x0, 0x0, ...) /go/src/github.com/Konstantin8105/c4go/main.go:438 +0xd40 main.Start(0x1, 0x0, 0xc000010140, 0x10, 0x10, 0x0, 0x0, 0x0, 0x0, 0x0, ...) /go/src/github.com/Konstantin8105/c4go/main.go:356 +0xa9 main.runCommand(0x0) /go/src/github.com/Konstantin8105/c4go/main.go:723 +0xa45 main.main() /go/src/github.com/Konstantin8105/c4go/main.go:556 +0x22

That error is good and enought information for next step of transpilation.
Let's clarify one of them - we see 2 function with same function name and
if you open files and compare.

/temp/neatvi/lbuf.c:124:12: note: previous definition is here static int linecount(char *s) ``

This is 2 absolute identical function, so we can remove one of them.
I choose remove function

from file

Also remove next function in according to errors: *

vi.c

linecount

regex.c

uc_len

regex.c

uc_bed

Next error is about duplicate of variable names:

/temp/neatvi/reg.c:6:14: error: redefinition of 'bufs' with a different type: 'char *[256]' vs 'struct buf [8]'
static char *bufs[256];
             ^
/temp/neatvi/ex.c:35:3: note: previous definition is here
} bufs[8];

reg.c

sed -i.bak 's/bufs/bufs_postfix/g' reg.c

Now, let's try again and output in file

vi.go

bash
c4go transpile -o vi.go *.c

clang

bash
less vi.go

// Warning (*ast.BinaryOperator):  /temp/neatvi/cmd.c:20 :Cannot transpile BinaryOperator with type 'int' : result type = {}. Error: operator is `=`. Cannot casting {__pid_t -> int}. err = Cannot resolve type '__pid_t' : I couldn't find an appropriate Go type for the C type '__pid_t'.

For fix that add flag

-s

bash
c4go transpile -o vi.go -s *.c

Now, all is Ok. Look the result:

bash
less vi.go

C standard library implementation

            assert.h           1/1           100%
             ctype.h         13/13           100%
             errno.h           0/1             0%
             float.h                    undefined
            iso646.h                    undefined
            limits.h                    undefined
            locale.h           3/3           100%
              math.h         22/22           100%
            setjmp.h           0/3             0%
            signal.h           3/3           100%
            stdarg.h           4/4           100%
            stddef.h           4/4           100%
             stdio.h         37/41          90.2%
            stdlib.h         34/37          91.9%
            string.h         21/24          87.5%
              time.h         14/15          93.3%
             wchar.h          3/60             5%
            wctype.h          0/21             0%

Contributing

Feel free to submit PRs or open issues. Main information from: en.cppreference.com

Testing

By default, only unit tests are run with

go test

go test -tags=integration ./...

Integration tests in the form of complete C programs that can be found in the tests directory.

Integration tests work like this:

1. clang

   compiles the C to a binary as normal.

2. c4go

   converts the C file to Go.
3. Both binaries are executed and the output is compared. All C files will contain some output so the results can be verified.

Note

Use lastest version of clang.

If you use

Ubuntu

clang

sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/clang clang /usr/bin/clang-6.0 1000

Performance

Main time of transpilation takes

clang

bash
go test -tags=integration -run=Benchmark -bench=. -benchmem

goos: linux
goarch: amd64
pkg: github.com/Konstantin8105/c4go
BenchmarkTranspile/Full-6                  5     274922964 ns/op    43046865 B/op     379676 allocs/op
BenchmarkTranspile/GoCode-6               20      86806808 ns/op    36577533 B/op     308060 allocs/op
PASS

Example of performance analyse

Please run:

# Run cpuprofiling for sqlite transpilation example
time ./scripts/sqlite.sh 

Example of output:

% Total    % Received % Xferd  Average Speed   Time    Time     Time  Current
Dload  Upload   Total   Spent    Left  Speed
#100 2217k  100 2217k    0     0   235k      0  0:00:09  0:00:09 --:--:--  357k
#Archive:  /tmp/SQLITE/sqlite-amalgamation-3250200.zip
creating: /tmp/SQLITE/sqlite-amalgamation-3250200/
inflating: /tmp/SQLITE/sqlite-amalgamation-3250200/sqlite3ext.h
inflating: /tmp/SQLITE/sqlite-amalgamation-3250200/sqlite3.c
inflating: /tmp/SQLITE/sqlite-amalgamation-3250200/sqlite3.h
inflating: /tmp/SQLITE/sqlite-amalgamation-3250200/shell.c
#After transpiling shell.c and sqlite3.c together, have summary: 695 warnings.
#In file sqlite.go summary : 3 warnings in go build.
#Amount unsafe package using: 2902
#
#real   0m18.434s
#user   0m14.212s
#sys    0m1.434s
Run profiler
go tool pprof ./testdata/cpu.out

For more information, see Profiling Go Programs.