README.md

Go Package Exports Parsing

This package parses Go package files (*.a or *.6/8/etc) into a structure detailing what definitions the package introduces.

This package will tell you:

• Which packages are imported.
• Which types are defined, and information about those types.
• Which constants and variables are defined.
• Which functions are defined.
• Of the definitions, which are imported and which are exported.

Possible uses of the library include IDEs and code generation tools.

Installing the library

To install the library, type

git clone git://github.com/bobappleyard/go-pkg.git
cd go-pkg
gomake
gomake install

The package will now be installed into the Go package root.

Using the library

import "go/pkg"

Check the source for a more detailed look at the API. For now, an example of the library's use:

package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"os"
	"go/pkg"
)

func printMethods(t *pkg.Type) {
	for _, m := range t.Method {
		if !m.Exported() {
			continue
		}
		fmt.Println("   ", m.Name)
	}
}

func main() {
	p, err := pkg.Open(os.Args[1])
	if err != nil {
		fmt.Println(err)
		return
	}
	for _, t := range p.Type {
		if !t.Exported() {
			continue
		}
		fmt.Println(t.Name)
		printMethods(t)
		if t.Addr != nil {
			printMethods(t.Addr)
		}
	}
}

This prints the names of all the exported methods on all the exported types, along with the exported methods on their pointer types, if they exist.

Testing

Currently to test it I have a program that looks like this:

package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"go/pkg"
)

func main() {
	_, err := pkg.Open(os.Args[1])
	if err != nil {
		fmt.Println("FAILED:", os.Args[1])
	} else {
		fmt.Println("OK:    ", os.Args[1])
	}
}

Then I run something like this:

find -name "$GOROOT/pkg" -name "*.a" -exec ./test {} \; | grep FAILED

and see if anything pops up. The parser was written this way. Yeah...

This will only pick up if the library falls over in parsing. I used it during development of the parser. More test cases need to be assembled, but this will take time.