Zig Template: zigConsole

[kassane]

Hi @microhobby ,

website: https://ziglang.org

Template based on v0.11.0 release-notes - uses LLVM 16.0.6.

Glossary:

• build.zig: build-system written on zig, makefile like.
• build.zig.zon: dependencies manager, cargo.toml like.
• zig: toolchain
• ziglang: language

About:

Ziglang is a new language having the purpose to be an alternative to C, not as replacement only, also as complement (easy ffi - better than using C code in C++). Zig can guarantee that C code runs with clang rules and not clang++.

$> zig version
0.11.0
$> zig cc --version
clang version 16.0.6 (https://github.com/ziglang/zig-bootstrap 1dda86241204c4649f668d46b6a37feed707c7b4)
Target: x86_64-unknown-linux-musl
Thread model: posix
InstalledDir: /usr/bin

Current Status

Today, zig has llvm-backend to build C and C++ projects (clang/clang++) in which it manages porting some libC for easy cross-compilation ( CI added by me is proof of that), so it is first class support. Except for BSDs with incomplete support and MSVC because of MS license.

Zig libc: https://github.com/ziglang/zig/tree/master/lib/libc (first class support = portability)

Zig can also move between glibc versions. It makes it possible to choose the version of glibc in the target build.
https://github.com/ziglang/glibc-abi-tool

For C++ exclusively, zig has support llvm-libcxx + llvm-libcxxabi + llvm-libunwind + custom libcompiler-rt (rewritten on zig) that are statically linked in the binaries.

https://github.com/ziglang/zig/tree/master/lib/libcxx
https://github.com/ziglang/zig/tree/master/lib/libcxxabi
https://github.com/ziglang/zig/tree/master/lib/libunwind
https://github.com/ziglang/zig/tree/master/lib/compiler_rt

I'm a C++ developer currently porting some libraries which will allow me to use zig-pkg (package manager). Something equivalent to fetchContent(cmake), that is, for non-header-only libraries would need that dependencies have cmake to be built and linked to the main project. The same applies to zig-pkg which needs to push includes and libs built before linking to the main project.

Summarizing, zig c++ build our app statically running libcxx+libunwind on almost all platforms under the same condition (C++ABI unified).

Zig is planning to not depend from LLVM. How will C++ support work?

Yes, however only version 1.0 that maybe will be released in mid 2025!

Explained here: https://youtu.be/AqDdWEiSwMM?t=2435

The zig project has always wanted to become a self-hosted toolchain making LLVM support optional, while benefiting from all the targets of this tool. However, many bugs inhibit further development of the main project (zig), which has fewer compiler developers.

• make the main zig executable no longer depend on LLVM, LLD, and Clang libraries ziglang/zig#16270 (comment) (rationale about C++ and obj-C++ support)

Andrew Kelley has plans for zig to become not only a language and toolchain focused on the language itself, but also a new backend compiler that competes with LLVM and GCC keeping compatibility.

Roadmap: old diagram (v0.9.0)

• How works zig std.log

[microhobby]

awesome! Let's review it, thanks for the contribution

[microhobby]

@kassane also is needed to add the template here: https://github.com/toradex/vscode-torizon-templates/blob/dev/templates.json

The VS Code extension uses these metadata, and lists the templates when creating new projects.

[kassane]

@kassane also is needed to add the template here: https://github.com/toradex/vscode-torizon-templates/blob/dev/templates.json

Ok.

[microhobby]

Hey @kassane I took the liberty of switching to dev and running a rebase. I didn't see it on the first iteration, but everything new first goes into the dev branch.

[microhobby]

I'm checking here, we are missing the .vscode/ files, like the settings.json, extension.json and etc... Take a look in one of the other templates, these files are needed to install the right extensions and debugger.

[kassane]

I'm checking here, we are missing the .vscode/ files, like the settings.json, extension.json and etc... Take a look in one of the other templates, these files are needed to install the right extensions and debugger.

Ok. (also rebased to toradex/dev)

[kassane]

@microhobby ,

After this PR, started another project since there was no docker container with latest zig (no bootstraping). So, I started running some tests.

I even suggest you see here are some of my tests:

• busybox - issues kassane/docker-zig#1

For the main purpose of this PR it is not impaired because (cited in the issue above) ziglang projects do not have any problems during build, as they do not need libc and Debian/Alpine containers works normally.

But, still looking into the problem with libunwind in the (busybox) container.

I'll do more testing with the other containers (Debian and Alpine).

[microhobby]

Hey @kassane I will remove the milestone for the v2.2.0 because it's scheduled for the next week. So, we will have no time to review it and handle the fixes until v2.2.0.

[microhobby]

hey @kassane thanks for the work, I was on vacation, but I'm back. I will take a look this week

[microhobby]

@kassane thanks for the great work, we are very close to the end!

[kassane]

Nice! Thank you for your attention and patience.
If you have any questions, just ask!!

[microhobby]

@kassane this looks good, but there is another detail. We need a way to add the pretty printer to the Debug session: https://github.com/ziglang/zig/blob/master/tools/zig_gdb_pretty_printers.py

Without this the variables look weird on the VS Code inspector

[kassane]

@kassane this looks good, but there is another detail. We need a way to add the pretty printer to the Debug session: https://github.com/ziglang/zig/blob/master/tools/zig_gdb_pretty_printers.py

Without this the variables look weird on the VS Code inspector

Ok. Need more scripts *.py? Zig v0.11.0 or master are stage2 only.

[microhobby]

Ok. Need more scripts *.py? Zig v0.11.0 or master are stage2 only.

To be honest I have no idea. I tried the configuration locally and on the remote but these do not work as expected. Do you have these working on your machine?

[kassane]

Without this the variables look weird on the VS Code inspector

@microhobby ,

Pretty printer not work in all and on zig is experimental.

I put scripts in my configuration and didn't see much difference.
The example added, a log print, doesn't show much. However, when adding a variable with the name torizon, the inspector gives information.

cppdbg w/ gdb

preview - print

LLDB

preview - print

References

• Debugger pretty printing ziglang/zig#7283
• Debugging zig in VSCode ziglang/zig#7361
• Debugging zig in VSCode on windows ziglang/zig#7505
• zig doesn't produce global variable debug information  ziglang/zig#15095
• Can't debug with LLDB on Windows ziglang/zig#13095

[microhobby]

Ok, so I think that we have the same problem from the Rust templates #96, the LLDB works in a way that shows the variables in a better presentation but also we should figure out how to use it in the remote environment.

So, I think that we can drop the ebe3cd5 and 69f5341 and it's done

[kassane]

So, I think that we can drop the ebe3cd5 and 69f5341 and it's done

dropped commits

[microhobby]

LGTM