a Java library to compile and run C code in-memory based on Clang LLVM:
final NativeModule nativeModule = Driver.compileInMemory(
"#include<stdio.h>\n"
"extern \"C\" void foo() {"
"printf(\"hello world!\\n\");"
"}");
nativeModule.getFunctionByName("foo").invoke();
This library is designed for performance sensitive applications where access and generation of fast native code on the fly gives a performance edge. It is not intended for integration, mainly because the linker is not exposed in the API to keep it simple.
- Compile and run C code using Clang LLVM
- Dynamic invocation of compiled functions with basic argument marshalling from/to Java
- Built in support for JNI types on compiled code
- Implement native methods on the fly
- Automatic thunk generation for fast Java to native calling
There are two main packages:
- com.medallia.unsafe: The low-level api.
- com.medallia.thunk: an automatic thunk builder to dynamically implement JNI methods.
The low-level API provides a simple reflective interface for compiled modules. Even though it is practical, it is awfully slow. The call cost of invoking NativeFunction.invoke() is about 1 ms. To avoid this, you should use the automatic thunk generator, which lets you implement JNI methods on the fly. A JNI method call ia about 1000x faster.
Make sure that you have a properly set JAVA_HOME environment variable.
Go to the directory where you checked out the project:
cd unsafe
Then you need to checkout and build Clang (it will take some time):
./bin/checkout-clang.sh
./bin/build-clang.sh
The scripts will checkout the correct version for you. Once that's done, you can build the JNI library:
cd jni
make
Depending on how your build environment is setup, you might need to pass the JAVA_HOME variable to make.
To run the examples, you will have to pass the JNI library directory in the java.library.path property, for example:
-Djava.library.path=/Users/<your username>/projects/unsafe/jni