README

Cstruct - access C-like structures directly from OCaml

Cstruct is a library and syntax extension to make it easier to access C-like structures directly from OCaml. It supports both reading and writing to these structures, and they are accessed via theBigarray module.

Installation

This repository provides several packages that can be installed via theopam package manager:

• cstruct: the core Cstruct library

• cstruct-sexp: serialisers into s-expression format of Cstructs

• cstruct-unix: provide Unix variations of the read/write functions using file descriptors

• cstruct-async: provideAsync Pipe and Bigstring support

• cstruct-lwt: provideLwt variants of read/write functions

• ppx_cstruct: aPPX syntax extension (see below)

The libraries depend on OCaml version 4.08.0 and later, since it provides appx extension point. The oldcamlp4 syntax extension is nolonger available; the last cstruct release which contained it was v1.9.0.

Local development

You can build the library viadune, usingmake ordune build directly. Since everything is built via dune, you can also place this repository within a wider dune workspace in order to make local modifications across repositories.

Documentation

A documentation of the last version ofcstruct is availablehere.

Usage

PPX

The PPX processor is used by passing the OCaml source code through theppx_cstruct binary. An example pcap description is:

[%%cstructtype pcap_header = {  magic_number: uint32_t;   (* magic number *)  version_major: uint16_t;  (* major version number *)  version_minor: uint16_t;  (* minor version number *)  thiszone: uint32_t;       (* GMT to local correction *)  sigfigs: uint32_t;        (* accuracy of timestamps *)  snaplen: uint32_t;        (* max length of captured packets, in octets *)  network: uint32_t;        (* data link type *)} [@@little_endian]][%%cstructtype pcap_packet = {  ts_sec: uint32_t;         (* timestamp seconds *)  ts_usec: uint32_t;        (* timestamp microseconds *)  incl_len: uint32_t;       (* number of octets of packet saved in file *)  orig_len: uint32_t;       (* actual length of packet *)} [@@little_endian]][%%cstructtype ethernet = {  dst: uint8_t [@len 6];  src: uint8_t [@len 6];  ethertype: uint16_t;} [@@big_endian]][%%cstructtype ipv4 = {  hlen_version: uint8_t;  tos: uint8_t;  len: uint16_t;  id: uint16_t;  off: uint16_t;  ttl: uint8_t;  proto: uint8_t;  csum: uint16_t;  src: uint8_t [@len 4];  dst: uint8_t [@len 4];} [@@big_endian]]

This auto-generates generates functions of the form below in theml file:

let sizeof_pcap_packet = 16let get_pcap_packet_ts_sec v = Cstruct.LE.get_uint32 v 0let set_pcap_packet_ts_sec v x = Cstruct.LE.set_uint32 v 0 xlet get_pcap_packet_ts_usec v = Cstruct.LE.get_uint32 v 4let set_pcap_packet_ts_usec v x = Cstruct.LE.set_uint32 v 4 xlet get_pcap_packet_incl_len v = Cstruct.LE.get_uint32 v 8let set_pcap_packet_incl_len v x = Cstruct.LE.set_uint32 v 8 xlet get_pcap_packet_orig_len v = Cstruct.LE.get_uint32 v 12let set_pcap_packet_orig_len v x = Cstruct.LE.set_uint32 v 12 xlet sizeof_ethernet = 14let get_ethernet_dst src = Cstruct.sub src 0 6let copy_ethernet_dst src = Cstruct.copy src 0 6let set_ethernet_dst src srcoff dst =  Cstruct.blit_from_string src srcoff dst 0 6let blit_ethernet_dst src srcoff dst = Cstruct.blit src srcoff dst 0 6let get_ethernet_src src = Cstruct.sub src 6 6let copy_ethernet_src src = Cstruct.copy src 6 6let set_ethernet_src src srcoff dst =  Cstruct.blit_from_string src srcoff dst 6 6let blit_ethernet_src src srcoff dst = Cstruct.blit src srcoff dst 6 6let get_ethernet_ethertype v = Cstruct.BE.get_uint16 v 12let set_ethernet_ethertype v x = Cstruct.BE.set_uint16 v 12 x

Themli file will have signatures of this form:

val sizeof_pcap_packet : intval get_pcap_packet_ts_sec : Cstruct.t -> Cstruct.uint32val set_pcap_packet_ts_sec : Cstruct.t -> Cstruct.uint32 -> unitval get_pcap_packet_ts_usec : Cstruct.t -> Cstruct.uint32val set_pcap_packet_ts_usec : Cstruct.t -> Cstruct.uint32 -> unitval get_pcap_packet_incl_len : Cstruct.t -> Cstruct.uint32val set_pcap_packet_incl_len : Cstruct.t -> Cstruct.uint32 -> unitval get_pcap_packet_orig_len : Cstruct.t -> Cstruct.uint32val set_pcap_packet_orig_len : Cstruct.t -> Cstruct.uint32 -> unitval hexdump_pcap_packet_to_buffer : Buffer.t -> pcap_packet -> unitval hexdump_pcap_packet : Cstruct.t -> unitval sizeof_ethernet : intval get_ethernet_dst : Cstruct.t -> Cstruct.tval copy_ethernet_dst : Cstruct.t -> stringval set_ethernet_dst : string -> int -> Cstruct.t -> unitval blit_ethernet_dst : Cstruct.t -> int -> Cstruct.t -> unitval get_ethernet_src : Cstruct.t -> Cstruct.tval copy_ethernet_src : Cstruct.t -> stringval set_ethernet_src : string -> int -> Cstruct.t -> unitval blit_ethernet_src : Cstruct.t -> int -> Cstruct.t -> unitval get_ethernet_ethertype : Cstruct.t -> Cstruct.uint16val set_ethernet_ethertype : Cstruct.t -> Cstruct.uint16 -> unitval hexdump_ethernet_to_buffer : Buffer.t -> Cstruct.t -> unitval hexdump_ethernet : Cstruct.t -> unit

Thehexdump functions above are convenient pretty-printing functions to help you debug, and aren't intended to be high performance.

You can also declare C-like enums:

[%%cenumtype foo32 =  | ONE32  | TWO32 [@id 0xfffffffel]  | THREE32  [@@uint32_t]][%%cenumtype bar16 =  | ONE [@id 1]  | TWO  | FOUR [@id 4]  | FIVE  [@@uint16_t]]

This generates signatures of the form:

type foo32 = | ONE32 | TWO32 | THREE32val int_to_foo32 : int32 -> foo32 optionval foo32_to_int : foo32 -> int32val foo32_to_string : foo32 -> stringval string_to_foo32 : string -> foo32 optionval compare_foo32 : foo32 -> foo32 -> inttype bar16 = | ONE | TWO | FOUR | FIVEval int_to_bar16 : int -> bar16 optionval bar16_to_int : bar16 -> intval bar16_to_string : bar16 -> stringval string_to_bar16 : string -> bar16 optionval compare_bar16 : bar16 -> bar16 -> int

Comparisons will be done relatively to the constructor ids.

You can also add a(sexp) decorator to output s-expression convertors for use with thesexplib library.

[%%cenumtype foo64 =  | ONE64  | TWO64  | THREE64  [@@uint64_t] [@@sexp]]

Andsexp_of_foo64 andfoo64_of_sexp functions will also be available. The representation of the Sexp is the string representation of the enum.

If you do use the sexp decorator, then you will also need to addsexplib to the dependency list for your package (both in thedune file and theopam file).

Please see theppx_test/ directory for more in-depth examples.

1. sexplib>= "v0.9.0"
2. ppxlib>= "0.16.0"
3. cstruct= version
4. dune>= "2.0.0"
5. ocaml>= "4.08.0"

1. lwt_ppx>= "2.0.2" & with-test
2. ocaml-migrate-parsetree>= "2.1.0" & with-test
3. cstruct-unixwith-test & = version
4. cppowith-test
5. cstruct-sexpwith-test
6. ppx_sexp_convwith-test
7. ounitwith-test

1. arp= "0.2.1"
2. awa< "0.2.0"
3. chamelon
4. charrua< "1.6.0"
5. charrua-core
6. charrua-server>= "1.4.0" & < "1.6.0"
7. dbase4
8. dbf
9. dns< "4.0.0"
10. ethernet< "3.1.0"
11. fat-filesystem
12. frenetic
13. learn-ocaml
14. mbr-format< "2.0.0"
15. mirage-block-xen< "2.1.3"
16. mirage-profile
17. mirage-qubes>= "0.8.1" & < "0.9.5"
18. nbd>= "4.0.3"
19. netchannel
20. pcap-format>= "0.5.2"
21. protocol-9p< "0.11.0"
22. rawlink
23. shared-block-ring
24. shared-memory-ring< "3.2.1"
25. shared-memory-ring-lwt< "3.2.1"
26. ssh-agent
27. tar>= "1.0.0" & < "2.4.0"
28. tcpip< "3.4.2" | >= "6.1.0" & < "8.0.0"
29. tls< "0.17.0"
30. vchan< "6.0.2"
31. vchan-unix< "6.0.2"
32. vchan-xen< "6.0.2"
33. vhd-format
34. xenstore>= "2.1.0" & < "2.3.0"

None