Crate libloading

A memory-safer wrapper around system dynamic library loading primitives.

Using this library allows loading dynamic libraries (also known as shared libraries) as well as use functions and static variables these libraries contain.

While the library does expose a cross-platform interface to load a library and find stuff inside it, little is done to paper over the platform differences, especially where library loading is involved. The documentation for each function will attempt to document such differences on the best-effort basis.

Less safe, platform specific bindings are also available. See the os::platform module for details.

Usage

Add a dependency on this library to your Cargo.toml:

[dependencies]
libloading = "0.6"

Then inside your project

extern crate libloading as lib;

fn call_dynamic() -> Result<u32, Box<dyn std::error::Error>> {
    let lib = lib::Library::new("/path/to/liblibrary.so")?;
    unsafe {
        let func: lib::Symbol<unsafe extern fn() -> u32> = lib.get(b"my_func")?;
        Ok(func())
    }
}

The compiler will ensure that the loaded function will not outlive the Library it comes from, preventing a common cause of undefined behaviour and memory safety problems.

Modules

changelog

Project changelog

os

Unsafe, platform specific bindings to dynamic library loading facilities.

Structs

Library

A loaded dynamic library.

Symbol

Symbol from a library.

Enums

Error

Errors.

Functions

library_filename

Converts a library name to a filename generally appropriate for use on the system.