Ruster

A library for creating Erlang NIFs in Rust

Status

Not yet working.

I'm very close to compiling a valid immutable static ErlNifEntry, but am currently blocked by an internal compiler error. After that is fixed, some tidy-up, macrofication, and documentation should yield a useable Rust binding.

General Design Notes

A quick note to explain what is going on here:

• An Erlang script generates NIF API function signatures for Rust. This roughly replicates the metaprogramming that goes on in erl_nif.h
• NIF structs and datatypes are handwritten in Rust (well, actually pilfered and cleaned up from automatic bindings provided by Radosław Szymczyszyn.)
• There will be a different Ruster branch for each supported version of Erlang. Just like erl_nif.h.
• I've left the door open for Windows support, although this will not be the initial focus.
• Since Rust has a very nice threading API, I've completely skipping the NIF threading API. It could be added later if needed.
• I would like to have a low level (unsafe) API that directly maps to the C NIF API, and a higher level API that follows Rust idioms. I intend the higher level API to be zero cost or nearly zero cost.