Rust meets Cpp

This repository demonstrates integration of Rust components into a C++ project using various techniques, including Foreign Function Interface (FFI) and third-party communication, such as Protocol Buffers. Rust is a powerful system programming language known for its safety features and performance, while C++ is widely used in system-level programming. This README provides instructions for integrating Rust components into a C++ project using different methods.

(Side not: The presentation of the meetup can be found here)

Requirements

• Visual Studio Code
        Extensions:
  • WSL (When on windows)
  • Dev Containers
• Docker

How to Build and Try:

The Dev containers feature provide a consistent and reproducible environment including all dependencies when developing within Visual Studio Code (VS Code). In order to build and use a VS Code Dev container execute the following command:

Ctrl + Shift + p and then select -> Dev Containers: Rebuild Container

How to build project:

When using the Dev Container, make sure that the repo is copied into the Dev Container volume:

git clone https://gitlab.com/djalberts/cpp-and-rust.git

Create a build directory

mkdir build_cpp-and-rust

Call CMake to generate the build files:

cmake -B build_cpp-and-rust -S cpp-and-rust

Build the entire project:

cmake --build build_cpp-and-rust/

How to run the targets:

This section outlines how to run the different built targets.

CPP-Rust

CBindgen

Change directory to /home/developer/development/build_cpp-and-rust/cpp-rust/cbindgen/ and execute the following statement to run application developed in Cpp which uses Rust library.

./cpp-cbindgen-rust

(Side note: For more information about generating Rust interfacing to Cpp, take a look at CBindgen crate.)

Protobuf

Change directory to /home/developer/development/build_cpp-and-rust/protobuf/cpp/. From this directory, both the protobuf cpp server and client can be executed.

<!-- Client -->
./cpp-client/protobuf-cpp-client

<!-- Server -->
./cpp-server/protobuf-cpp-server

Change directory to /home/developer/development/build_cpp-and-rust/protobuf/tonic-rust/debug. From this directory, both the protobuf rust server and client can be executed.

<!-- Client -->
./helloworld-client

<!-- Server -->
./helloworld-server

(Side note: For more information, about creating a Rust gRPC client and server, take a look at the Rust Tonic crate.)

Rust-CPP

Bindgen

Change directory to /home/developer/development/build_cpp-and-rust/rust-cpp/bindgen/debug and execute the following statement to run application developed in Rust which uses Cpp library through generated bindings with bindgen.

./rusty_car_factory

(Side note: For more information about generating Rust interfacing to Cpp, take a look at Bindgen crate.)

Autocxx

Change directory to /home/developer/development/build_cpp-and-rust/rust-cpp/autocxx/debug and execute the following statement to run application developed in Rust which uses Cpp library through generated bindings with autocxx.

./rust-autocxx-cpp

(Side note: For more information about generating Rust interfacing to Cpp, take a look at Autocxx crate.)