Native Exports for .NET

Prototype for a .NET managed assembly to expose a native export.

This work is inspired by work in the Xamarin, CoreRT, and DllExport projects.

Requirements

Minimum

.NET 6.0 or greater.
C99 compatible compiler.

DNNE NuPkg Requirements

Windows:

Visual Studio 2015 or greater.
- The x86_64 version of the .NET runtime is the default install.
- In order to target x86, the x86 .NET runtime must be explicitly installed.
Windows 10 SDK - Installed with Visual Studio.
.NET Framework 4.x SDK - Installed with Visual Studio. Only required if targeting a .NET Framework TFM.
- See .NET Framework support.
x86, x86_64, ARM64 compilation supported.
- The Visual Studio package containing the desired compiler architecture must have been installed.

macOS:

clang compiler on the path.
Current platform and environment paths dictate native compilation support.

Linux:

clang compiler on the path.
Current platform and environment paths dictate native compilation support.

Exporting a managed function

The exported function must be marked static and public. Note that enclosing class accessibility has no impact on exporting.

Mark functions to export with UnmanagedCallersOnlyAttribute.

public class Exports
{
    [UnmanagedCallersOnlyAttribute(EntryPoint = "FancyName")]
    public static int MyExport(int a)
    {
        return a;
    }
}

Optionally set the EntryPoint property to indicate the name of the native export. See below for discussion of influence by calling convention.
If the EntryPoint property is null, the name of the mananged function is used. This default name will not include the namespace or class containing the function.
User supplied values in EntryPoint will not be modified or validated in any manner. This string will be consume by a C compiler and should therefore adhere to the C language's restrictions on function names.
On the x86 platform only, multiple calling conventions exist and these often influence exported symbols. For example, see MSVC C export decoration documentation. DNNE does not attempt to mitigate symbol decoration - even through EntryPoint. If the consuming application requires a specific export symbol and calling convention that is decorated in a customized way, it is recommended to manually compile the generated source - see DnneBuildExports - or if on Windows supply a .def file - see DnneWindowsExportsDef. Typically, setting the calling convention to cdecl for the export will address issues on any x86 platform.
```
[UnmanagedCallersOnly(CallConvs = new []{typeof(System.Runtime.CompilerServices.CallConvCdecl)})]
```
The manner in which native exports are exposed is largely a function of the compiler being used. On the Windows platform an option exists to provide a .def file that permits customization of native exports. Users can provide a path to a .def file using the DnneWindowsExportsDef MSBuild property. Note that if a .def file is provided no user functions will be exported other than those defined in the .def file.

The Sample directory contains an example C# project consuming DNNE. There is also a native example, written in C, for consumption options.

Native code customization

The mapping of .NET types to their native representation is addressed by the concept of blittability. This approach however limits what can be expressed by the managed type signature when being called from an unmanaged context. For example, there is no way for DNNE to know how it should describe the following C struct in C# without being enriched with knowledge of how to construct marshallable types.

struct some_data
{
    char* str;
    union
    {
        short s;
        double d;
    } data;
};

The following attributes can be used to enable the above scenario. They are automatically generated into projects referencing DNNE, because DNNE provides no assembly to reference. If your build system or IDE does not support source generators (e.g., you're using a version older than Visual Studio 2022, or .NET Framework with packages.config), you will have to define these types yourself:

namespace DNNE
{
    /// <summary>
    /// Provide C code to be defined early in the generated C header file.
    /// </summary>
    /// <remarks>
    /// This attribute is respected on an exported method declaration or on a parameter for the method.
    /// The following header files will be included prior to the code being defined.
    ///   - stddef.h
    ///   - stdint.h
    ///   - dnne.h
    /// </remarks>
    [AttributeUsage(AttributeTargets.Method | AttributeTargets.Parameter, Inherited = false)]
    internal sealed class C99DeclCodeAttribute : System.Attribute
    {
        public C99DeclCodeAttribute(string code) { }
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// Define the C type to be used.
    /// </summary>
    /// <remarks>
    /// The level of indirection should be included in the supplied string.
    /// </remarks>
    [AttributeUsage(AttributeTargets.Parameter | AttributeTargets.ReturnValue, Inherited = false)]
    internal sealed class C99TypeAttribute : System.Attribute
    {
        public C99TypeAttribute(string code) { }
    }
}

The above attributes can be used to manually define the native type mapping to be used in the export definition. For example:

public unsafe static class NativeExports
{
    public struct Data
    {
        public int a;
        public int b;
        public int c;
    }

    [UnmanagedCallersOnly]
    [DNNE.C99DeclCode("struct T{int a; int b; int c;};")]
    public static int ReturnDataCMember([DNNE.C99Type("struct T")] Data d)
    {
        return d.c;
    }

    [UnmanagedCallersOnly]
    public static int ReturnRefDataCMember([DNNE.C99Type("struct T*")] Data* d)
    {
        return d->c;
    }
}

In addition to providing declaration code directly, users can also supply #include directives for application specific headers. The DnneAdditionalIncludeDirectories MSBuild property can be used to supply search paths in these cases. Consider the following use of the DNNE.C99DeclCode attribute.

[DNNE.C99DeclCode("#include <fancyapp.h>")]

Generating a native binary using the DNNE NuPkg

The DNNE NuPkg is published on NuGet.org, but can also be built locally.
- Build the DNNE NuPkg locally by building create_package.proj.
  
  > dotnet build create_package.proj
Add the NuPkg to the managed project that will be exporting functions.
- See DNNE.props for the MSBuild properties used to configure the DNNE process. For example, the Sample.csproj has some DNNE properties set.
- Visual Studio has a NuGet package manager that can be used to add DNNE to a particular project. Alternatively, the following XML snippet can be manually added to the managed project.
```
<ItemGroup>
  <PackageReference Include="DNNE" Version="2.*" />
</ItemGroup>
```
- If the NuPkg is built locally, remember to update the project's nuget.config to point at the local disk location of the recently built DNNE NuPkg.
Set the <EnableDynamicLoading>true</EnableDynamicLoading> property in the managed project containing the methods to export. This will produce a .runtimeconfig.json that is needed to activate the runtime when calling an export.
Define at least one managed function to export. See the Exporting a managed function section.
Build the managed project to generate the native binary. The native binary will have a NE suffix, this is configurable, and the system extension for dynamic/shared native libraries (that is, .dll, .so, .dylib).
- The Runtime Identifier (RID) is used to target a specific platform architecture.
- Setting the RID for the project can be done using the --runtime flag via the command line or the MSBuild RuntimeIdentifier property. The Sample.csproj project has commented out examples of how to set RID(s) via MSBuild properties in the project.
- The name of the native binary can be defined by setting the MSBuild property DnneNativeBinaryName. It is incumbent on the setter of this property that it doesn't collide with the name of the managed assembly. Practially, this only impacts the Windows platform because managed and native binaries share the same extension (that is, .dll).
- A header file containing the exports will be placed in the output directory. The dnne.h will also be placed in the output directory.
- On Windows an import library (.lib) will be placed in the output directory.
Deploy the native binary, managed assembly and associated *.json files for consumption from a native process.
- Although not technically needed, the exports header and import library (Windows only) can be deployed with the native binary to make consumption easier.
- Set the DnneAddGeneratedBinaryToProject MSBuild property to true in the managed project if it is desired to have the generated native binary flow with project references. Recall that the generated native binary is platform and architecture specific.

Generate manually

Run the dnne-gen tool on the managed assembly.
Use the generated source from dnne-gen along with the DNNE platform source to compile a native binary with the desired native exports. See the Native API section for build details.
Deploy the native binary, managed assembly and associated *.json files for consumption from a native process.

Experimental attribute

There are scenarios where updating UnmanagedCallersOnlyAttribute may take time. In order to enable independent development and experimentation, the DNNE.ExportAttribute is also respected. Like other DNNE attributes, this type is also automatically generated into projects referencing the DNNE package. This type can be modified to suit one's needs (by tweaking the generated source in dnne-analyzers) and dnne-gen updated as needed to respect those changes at source gen time.

namespace DNNE
{
    [AttributeUsage(AttributeTargets.Method, Inherited = false)]
    internal sealed class ExportAttribute : Attribute
    {
        public ExportAttribute() { }
        public string EntryPoint { get; set; }
    }
}

The calling convention of the export will be the default for the .NET runtime on that platform. See the description of CallingConvention.Winapi.

Using DNNE.ExportAttribute to export a method requires a Delegate of the appropriate type and name to be at the same scope as the export. The naming convention is <METHODNAME>Delegate. For example:

public class Exports
{
    public delegate int MyExportDelegate(int a);

    [DNNE.Export(EntryPoint = "FancyName")]
    public static int MyExport(int a)
    {
        return a;
    }
}

Native API

The native API is defined in src/platform/dnne.h.

The DNNE_ASSEMBLY_NAME must be set during compilation to indicate the name of the managed assembly to load. The assembly name should not include the extension. For example, if the managed assembly on disk is called ClassLib.dll, the expected assembly name is ClassLib.

The following defines are set based on the target OS platform:

DNNE_WINDOWS
DNNE_OSX
DNNE_LINUX
DNNE_FREEBSD

The generated source will need to be linked against the nethost library as either a static lib (libnethost.[lib|a]) or dynamic/shared library (nethost.lib). If the latter linking is performed, the nethost.[dll|so|dylib] will need to be deployed with the export binary or be on the path at run time.

The set_failure_callback() function can be used prior to calling an export to set a callback in the event runtime load or export discovery fails.

Failure to load the runtime or find an export results in the native library calling abort(). See FAQs for how this can be overridden.

The preload_runtime() or try_preload_runtime() functions can be used to preload the runtime. This may be desirable prior to calling an export to avoid the cost of loading the runtime during the first export dispatch.

.NET Framework support

.NET Framework support is limited to the Windows platform. This limitation is in place because .NET Framework only runs on the Windows platform.

DNNE has support for targeting .NET Framework v4.x TFMs—there is no support for v2.0 or v3.5. DNNE respects multi-targeting using the TargetFrameworks MSBuild property. For any .NET Framework v4.x TFM, DNNE will produce a native binary that will activate .NET Framework.

In non-.NET Framework scenarios, .deps.json files are generated during compilation that help, at run-time, to find assemblies. This is different than .NET Framework, which has a more complicated application model. One area where this difference can be particularly confusing is during initial load and activation of a managed assembly. Tools like fuslogvw.exe can help to understand loading failures in .NET Framework.

Due to how .NET Framework is being activated in DNNE, the managed DLL typically needs to be located next to the running EXE rather than the native DLL produced by DNNE. Alternatively, the EXE loading the DNNE generated DLL can define a .config file that defines probing paths.

FAQs

I am not using one of the supported compilers and hitting an issue of missing intptr_t type, what can I do?
- The C99 specification indicates several types like intptr_t and uintptr_t are optional. It is recommended to override the computed type using DNNE.C99TypeAttribute. For example, [DNNE.C99Type("void*")] can be used to override an instance where intptr_t is generated by DNNE.
How can I use the same export name across platforms but with different implementations?
- The .NET platform provides SupportedOSPlatformAttribute and UnsupportedOSPlatformAttribute which are fully supported by DNNE. All .NET supplied platform names are recognized. It is also possible to define your own using C99DeclCodeAttribute. See MiscExport.cs for an example.
The consuming application for my .NET assembly fails catastrophically if .NET is not installed. How can I improve this UX?
- For all non-recoverable scenarios, DNNE will call the standard C abort() function. This can be overridden by providing your own dnne_abort() function. See override.c in the ExportingAssembly project for an example.
How can I add documentation to the exported function in the header file?
- Add the normal triple-slash comments to the exported functions and then set the MSBuild property GenerateDocumentationFile to true in the project. The compiler will generated xml documentation for the exported C# functions and that will be be added to the generated header file.
How can I keep my project cross-platform and generate a native binary for other platforms than the one I am currently building on?
- The managed assembly will remain cross-platform but the native component is difficult to produce due to native tool chain constraints. In order to accomplish this on the native side, there would need to exist a C99 tool chain that can target any platform from any other platform. For example, the native tool chain could run on Windows but would need to provide a macOS SDK, linux SDK, and produce a macOS .dylib (Mach-O image) and/or a linux .so (ELF image). If such a native tool chain exists, it would be possible.
How can I consume the resulting native binary?
- There are two options: (1) manually load the binary and discover its exports or (2) directly link against the binary. Both options are discussed in the native sample.
Along with exporting a function, I would also like to export data. Is there a way to export a static variable defined in .NET?
- There is no simple way to do this starting from .NET. DNNE could be updated to read static metadata and then generate the appropriate export in C code, but that approach is complicated by how static data can be defined during module load in .NET. It is recommended instead to define the desired static data in a separate translation unit (.c file) and include it in the native build through the DnneCompilerUserFlags property.
Does DNNE support targeting .NET Framework?
- Yes, see .NET Framework support.

Additional References

dotnet repo

nethost example

AaronRobinsonMSFT/DNNE