Archive format

Library modules MUST be composed of a Rust library crate and a Letlang binary module interface.

The Rust crate SHOULD be a Cargo project.

The generated files MUST be distributed in an archive with the .lla extension.

The archive SHOULD be created with the ar UNIX format.

Example

When building a module foo with:

$ letlangc --type=lib foo.let

The archive libfoo.lla MUST be created. It SHOULD contain the following files:

.
├── libfoo.lli        -- Binary Module Interface
└── lldep_foo         -- Rust crate name corresponding to Letlang module
    ├── Cargo.toml    -- Cargo project manifest
    └── src
        └── lib.rs    -- Letlang module translated to Rust library crate

Linking with other modules

When building a module bar that depends on foo with:

$ letlangc --type=lib bar.let -L. -lfoo

The compiler MUST look for libfoo.lla (as specified by -lfoo) in the current directory (as specified by -L.).

The archive SHOULD be extracted in a .lltarget folder where it can be used by the compiler:

• to read the binary module interface when resolving symbols
• to specify the correct dependencies in the lldep_bar Cargo project manifest
• to test the compilation of the generated Rust code

The .lltarget folder MAY be a Cargo workspace.

When building a module baz that depends on bar, the user MUST specify all the dependencies (direct and transitive):

$ letlangc --type=lib baz.let -L. -lfoo -lbar

The order of the -l options MUST NOT matter.

After compilation, the .lltarget folder MAY be removed.