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Changelog

Source: NEWS.md

RSimpleFFI 1.2.90000 (Development)

RSimpleFFI 1.2.0 Release

  • An intermediary api Release
  • Some docs polishing and pending notes

RSimpleFFI 1.0.1.9002 (Development)

New Features

  • Added generate_htslib_package.R tool: Script to generate FFI bindings for htslib (SAM/BAM/VCF/BCF library) demonstrating package generation capabilities.

Breaking Changes

  • ffi_struct() and ffi_union() parameter renamed: pack → .pack
    • The dot prefix prevents collision with C struct field names like pack
    • Old code using pack = 1 should change to .pack = 1

Internal Changes

  • Removed strip_type_qualifiers() - tree-sitter AST parsing handles type qualifier stripping directly via node type filtering, making the regex-based approach unnecessary.

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed anonymous bitfields (e.g., : 30 for padding) causing empty field names in generated code by checking for node_is_missing() in tree-sitter parsing.

  • Fixed inline/nested struct definitions generating invalid R code by extracting just the struct name from struct_specifier nodes instead of the full body text.

  • Fixed typedef’d anonymous structs/unions/enums being duplicated in typedefs (they are already extracted as structs/unions/enums).

  • Fixed missing treesitter package import declaration (#2)

    • Added treesitter to DESCRIPTION Imports field
    • Added proper @importFrom roxygen2 directives for tree-sitter functions
    • Resolves R CMD check warnings on macOS and Ubuntu

RSimpleFFI 1.0.1.9001 (Development)

Major Milestones

  • Completed migration to treesitter.c: Full transition from regex-based parsing to AST-based parsing
    • All legacy parsing code removed
    • Tree-sitter now handles 100% of C header parsing
    • More robust, accurate, and maintainable codebase
    • Better support for complex C syntax patterns

Breaking Changes

  • Removed regex-based header parser: The package now exclusively uses tree-sitter for C header parsing
    • Removed functions: tcc_extract_structs(), tcc_extract_unions(), tcc_extract_enums(), tcc_extract_functions(), tcc_extract_typedefs(), tcc_parse_header()
    • ffi_parse_header() now always uses tree-sitter (no use_treesitter parameter)
    • Packages treesitter and treesitter.c are now required dependencies (not optional)
    • Migration: Simply remove use_treesitter = FALSE from any code - tree-sitter handles all valid C syntax

New Features

  • Tree-sitter parser is now the only parser:
    • Robust AST-based parsing handles all valid C syntax
    • Correctly parses pointer return types (e.g., FILE* open_file(...))
    • Correctly parses complex array declarations and nested structs
    • Detects __attribute__((packed)) and sets packed attribute on structs/unions
    • Generates code with pack=1 for packed structs automatically
    • TCC preprocessor still used first to expand macros before tree-sitter parsing
  • Struct allocation helpers are now auto-generated in R bindings:
    • new_StructName() - allocate and optionally initialize struct instances
    • StructName_to_list() - convert struct pointer to R list
  • Typedef resolution in function wrappers:
    • Function parameters now correctly use typedef’d FFI types (e.g., SEXPTYPE → ffi_uint())
    • FFI types shown in @param documentation for better IDE support
  • Improved variadic function handling:
    • Functions with ... now generate usage examples using ffi_cif_var() instead of broken wrappers

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed pointer return type extraction in tree-sitter parser (was missing functions like FILE* open_file(...))
  • Fixed multi-line C comment removal in header parsing
  • Fixed R name escaping for reserved words (next, break, etc.) and underscore-prefixed identifiers

RSimpleFFI 1.0.1.9000 (Development)

New Features

  • Added pack parameter to ffi_struct() for controlling struct alignment:

    • pack = 1 for byte-packed structs (no padding)
    • pack = 2, 4, 8, or 16 for specific alignment boundaries
    • pack = NULL (default) uses natural alignment
    • Matches GCC/Clang #pragma pack(n) and MSVC packing behavior

  • Added pack parameter to ffi_union() for controlling union alignment:

    • Reduces union’s alignment requirement (size stays the same)
    • Affects placement when union is a struct member
    • Example: packed union in normal struct eliminates trailing padding

  • Added ffi_packed_offset() and ffi_packed_size() for computing packed struct layouts

  • Added bit-field helper functions for manual bit manipulation:

  • Automatic bit-field detection and code generation:

    • Parser detects bit-field syntax (: N) in struct definitions
    • generate_r_bindings() auto-generates accessor code when bit-fields are present
    • Generated code includes usage examples showing pack(), get(), set() operations

  • Added typedef extraction from C headers:

  • Autogeneration of bindings using tinycc for preprocessing of header files

Improvements

  • Centralized C-to-FFI type mappings in get_ffi_type_map():

    • 300+ type mappings including cross-platform aliases
    • Support for glibc, musl, macOS/Darwin, BSD, MSYS2/MinGW types
    • Clang-specific typedefs and compiler builtins

  • Added strip_type_qualifiers() for handling const/volatile in type resolution

  • Added get_resolvable_types() helper function

RSimpleFFI 1.0.1

New Features

  • Added ffi_deref_pointer() to dereference pointer addresses, enabling access to global pointer variables in shared libraries (e.g., R_GlobalEnv, R_NilValue)

  • Added ffi_read_global() to read typed values from global symbol addresses

  • Added test global variables (test_global_int, test_global_double, test_global_string, test_global_array) for testing and examples

Documentation

  • Added “Dangerous: Calling R API Exported Symbols” section to README demonstrating how to call R’s internal C API via FFI

  • Added examples showing how to access global variables and call Rf_eval, Rf_install, Rf_lang1/2, etc.

RSimpleFFI 1.0.0