How to link external library into zig_binary/library/test

[persososo]

Is #15 necessary to write something like:

zig_binary(
    name = "my-bin",
    main = "my-bin.zig",
    deps = ["@FOO//:bar"],
)

where @FOO//:bar is an external C/C++ library ?

This seems indeed like a most welcome addition.

Is there any way to link in a C/C++ library into a zig_library/binary/test atm ?

In my trials I hit does not have mandatory providers: 'ZigPackageInfo'.

Thanks for the great work, looking forward to connecting my first toy programs with it!

[aherrmann]

Is #15 necessary to write something like:

Yes, that's correct. #15 was phrased as being about zig_binary specifically. But, by now the underlying implementation of zig_binary|library|test is the same. So, I've generalized the ticket to capture all of these.

This seems indeed like a most welcome addition.

I'd love to hear if you have some specific use-case and if you have any constraints about how this should work.

In particular, as #15 points out, Zig can link libraries in two different ways, either by filepath, or by -l flags. I.e. either some/path/to/libfoo.a, or -lfoo. Would your use-case have a preference for one or the other way of doing this?

Also, Bazel's cc_library targets capture both static and dynamic libraries at the same time and it is up to the downstream user to decide which to use. The cc_* rules offer control through a linkstatic attribute and otherwise prefer static linking over dynamic linking except for tests where it is the other way around. Now there is also cc_shared_library in Bazel.

Does your use-case have any constraints wrt a preference for static or dynamic linking?

---

At the moment my plan would be to start with a very simple implementation, exposing a cdeps attribute, passing libraries by filepath if possible, and preferring static linking.

zig_binary(
    name = "my-bin",
    main = "my-bin.zig",
    cdeps = ["@FOO//:bar"],
)

[persososo]

Thanks for your reply, I don't have specific use cases yet beyond kicking the tires of C / zig interop under bazel; static library is the sensible thing for me to start with.

At the moment my plan would be to start with a very simple implementation, exposing a cdeps attribute, passing libraries by filepath if possible, and preferring static linking.

This would be great!

[aherrmann]

@persososo Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this! I'll close this as a duplicate of #15. Since #15 is already intended to cover this use-case.