Re: [RFC PATCH 2/6] repository: add initialize_repo wrapper without pointer

> On 2024.08.08 07:52, Mike Hommey wrote:
> > On Wed, Aug 07, 2024 at 11:21:27AM -0700, Josh Steadmon wrote:
> > > Non-C external consumers of libgit.a have to redefine the `repository`
> > > object in their own language if they want to call
> > > initialize_repository() to ensure memory for the object is allocated
> > > correctly. This is not ideal for external consumers that have no need
> > > for the entire `the_repository` object but need to call other functions
> > > from an initialized repository. Therefore, add a friendly
> > > initialize_repository() wrapper without a `the_repository` pointer.
> > 
> > Technically speaking, you don't really need this.
> > 
> > You can define `repository` as an opaque type in Rust:
> > ```
> > #[allow(non_camel_case_types)]
> > #[repr(C)]
> > pub struct repository([u8; 0]);
> > ```
> > 
> > And define `the_repository` as an extern symbol:
> > ```
> > extern "C" {
> >     pub static mut the_repository: *mut repository;
> > }
> > ```
> > 
> > Mike
> 
> I've actually already done a refactor for V2 that will avoid using this
> patch entirely, but thank you for the pointer. We do something similar
> to opaquely wrap configset pointers in a later patch (we use an empty
> enum there, I'm not sure whether that approach or a zero-size array is
> preferred).