Process and thread init/deinit hooks for C libraries
Haskell's FFI for C seems geared toward C as an optimization. But in many cases, we use the C FFI merely hook into a 3rd-party library. In this case, the FFI seems a bit lacking. In my specific case, I want to link against libmysqlclient_r to perform MySQL queries. However, the library requires global init and deinit. Worse, it requires init/deinit for *each* thread that wishes to interact with its API. This type of thing is not entirely uncommon among C libraries. Of course, we can bend over backward to inter-operate with such libraries (e.g. wrap the C API with our own versions that ensure proper initialization), but the process is painstaking and often requires decent performance overhead.
I would like to request some sort of hook registration where the FFI can be used to accomplish these common tasks. Perhaps it's too difficult, but it doesn't hurt to ask!
Trac metadata
| Trac field | Value |
|---|---|
| Version | 7.8.3 |
| Type | FeatureRequest |
| TypeOfFailure | OtherFailure |
| Priority | normal |
| Resolution | Unresolved |
| Component | Compiler |
| Test case | |
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