Re: [RFC PATCH 2/6] repository: add initialize_repo wrapper without pointer

On Wed, Aug 07, 2024 at 11:21:27AM -0700, Josh Steadmon wrote:

Non-C external consumers of libgit.a have to redefine the `repository`
object in their own language if they want to call
initialize_repository() to ensure memory for the object is allocated
correctly. This is not ideal for external consumers that have no need
for the entire `the_repository` object but need to call other functions
from an initialized repository. Therefore, add a friendly
initialize_repository() wrapper without a `the_repository` pointer.

Technically speaking, you don't really need this.

You can define `repository` as an opaque type in Rust:

#[allow(non_camel_case_types)]
#[repr(C)]
pub struct repository([u8; 0]);

And define `the_repository` as an extern symbol:

extern "C" {
    pub static mut the_repository: *mut repository;
}

Mike