Improving Bindgen: Ferrous Systems' Contributions to the Rust Ecosystem
The article discusses the importance of bindgen in the Rust ecosystem and highlights the contributions made by Ferrous Systems to improve the tool. Bindgen is a tool used to create Rust bindings for C and C++ libraries, making it easier for Rust developers to interact with existing codebases. Many *-sys crates in Rust rely on bindgen to automate the process of creating FFI bindings. However, bindgen often requires manual modifications for certain code properties. Ferrous Systems has submitted 125 pull requests to bindgen, introducing new features and improving the overall configuration process. They have added features such as attribute filtering, type renaming, and type mapping. Additionally, they have streamlined the configuration process by centralizing the steps required to add new options. This partnership between Ferrous Systems and ISRG demonstrates a commitment to improving the tooling and memory safety in the Rust ecosystem.