Overhaul how the native extension is found, loaded and used

The goal of this is to fix #7230.

The changes here are:

- The layout in the nuget package; the files are now in
  `/runtimes/{os}/native/{library}`
- The filename of each library, which now includes the architecture,
  e.g `grpc_csharp_ext.x64.dll`
- The targets file used to copy those files in msbuild-based projects;
  note that we now don't build up a folder structure.
- The way the functions are found

Before this change, on Linux and OSX we used to find library symbols
manually, and use DllImport on Windows. With this change, the name
of the library file changes based on architecture, so `DllImport`
doesn't work. Instead, we have to use `GetProcAddress` to fetch the
function. This is further convoluted by the convention on
Windows-x86 to prefix the function name with `_` and suffix it based
on the stack size of the arguments. We can't easily tell the
argument size here, so we just try 0, 4, 8...128. (128 bytes should
be enough for anyone.) This is inefficient, but it's a one-time hit
with a known number of functions, and doesn't seem to have any
significant impact.

The benefit of this in code is we don't need the DllImports any
more, and we don't need to conditionally use `FindSymbol` - we just
use it for everything, so things are rather more uniform and tidy.

The further benefit of this is that the library name is no longer
tied to a particular filename format - so if someone wanted to have
a directory with the libraries for every version in, with the
version in the filename, we'd handle that just fine. (At least once

Testing:

- Windows:
  - Console app under msbuild, dotnet cli and DNX
  - ASP.NET Classic under msbuild
  - ASP.NET Core (still running under net451)
- Ubuntu 16.04
  - Console app under dotnet cli, run with dotnet run and mono
- OSX:
  - Console app under dotnet cli, run with dotnet run and mono

Under dotnet cli, a dependency on `Microsoft.NETCore.Platforms` is
required in order to force the libraries to be copied.

This change does *not* further enable .NET Core. It attempts to
keep the existing experimental .NET Core project files in line
with the msbuild files, but I expect further work to be required
for .NET Core, which has a different build/publication model.
21 files changed
tree: a20952fa93374e362ca57dcda15a3c4fc61e10ac
  1. doc/
  2. etc/
  3. examples/
  4. include/
  5. src/
  6. summerofcode/
  7. templates/
  8. test/
  9. third_party/
  10. tools/
  11. vsprojects/
  12. .clang-format
  13. .clang_complete
  14. .editorconfig
  15. .gitignore
  16. .gitmodules
  17. .istanbul.yml
  18. .rspec
  19. .travis.yml
  20. .yardopts
  21. binding.gyp
  22. BUILD
  23. build.yaml
  24. CMakeLists.txt
  25. composer.json
  26. config.m4
  27. CONTRIBUTING.md
  28. Gemfile
  29. gRPC-Core.podspec
  30. gRPC-ProtoRPC.podspec
  31. gRPC-RxLibrary.podspec
  32. grpc.bzl
  33. grpc.def
  34. grpc.gemspec
  35. gRPC.podspec
  36. INSTALL.md
  37. LICENSE
  38. Makefile
  39. MANIFEST.md
  40. package.json
  41. package.xml
  42. PATENTS
  43. PYTHON-MANIFEST.in
  44. Rakefile
  45. README.md
  46. requirements.txt
  47. setup.cfg
  48. setup.py
README.md

Build Status

gRPC - An RPC library and framework

Join the chat at https://gitter.im/grpc/grpc

Copyright 2015 Google Inc.

#Documentation

You can find more detailed documentation and examples in the doc and examples directories respectively.

#Installation & Testing

See INSTALL for installation instructions for various platforms.

See tools/run_tests for more guidance on how to run various test suites (e.g. unit tests, interop tests, benchmarks)

#Repository Structure & Status

This repository contains source code for gRPC libraries for multiple languages written on top of shared C core library [src/core] (src/core).

Libraries in different languages are in different states of development. We are seeking contributions for all of these libraries.

LanguageSourceStatus
Shared C [core library][src/core] (src/core)Beta - the surface API is stable
C++[src/cpp] (src/cpp)Beta - the surface API is stable
Ruby[src/ruby] (src/ruby)Beta - the surface API is stable
NodeJS[src/node] (src/node)Beta - the surface API is stable
Python[src/python] (src/python)Beta - the surface API is stable
PHP[src/php] (src/php)Beta - the surface API is stable
C#[src/csharp] (src/csharp)Beta - the surface API is stable
Objective-C[src/objective-c] (src/objective-c)Beta - the surface API is stable

See MANIFEST.md for a listing of top-level items in the repository.

#Overview

Remote Procedure Calls (RPCs) provide a useful abstraction for building distributed applications and services. The libraries in this repository provide a concrete implementation of the gRPC protocol, layered over HTTP/2. These libraries enable communication between clients and servers using any combination of the supported languages.

##Interface

Developers using gRPC typically start with the description of an RPC service (a collection of methods), and generate client and server side interfaces which they use on the client-side and implement on the server side.

By default, gRPC uses Protocol Buffers as the Interface Definition Language (IDL) for describing both the service interface and the structure of the payload messages. It is possible to use other alternatives if desired.

###Surface API Starting from an interface definition in a .proto file, gRPC provides Protocol Compiler plugins that generate Client- and Server-side APIs. gRPC users typically call into these APIs on the Client side and implement the corresponding API on the server side.

Synchronous vs. asynchronous

Synchronous RPC calls, that block until a response arrives from the server, are the closest approximation to the abstraction of a procedure call that RPC aspires to.

On the other hand, networks are inherently asynchronous and in many scenarios, it is desirable to have the ability to start RPCs without blocking the current thread.

The gRPC programming surface in most languages comes in both synchronous and asynchronous flavors.

Streaming

gRPC supports streaming semantics, where either the client or the server (or both) send a stream of messages on a single RPC call. The most general case is Bidirectional Streaming where a single gRPC call establishes a stream where both the client and the server can send a stream of messages to each other. The streamed messages are delivered in the order they were sent.

#Protocol

The gRPC protocol specifies the abstract requirements for communication between clients and servers. A concrete embedding over HTTP/2 completes the picture by fleshing out the details of each of the required operations.

Abstract gRPC protocol

A gRPC RPC comprises of a bidirectional stream of messages, initiated by the client. In the client-to-server direction, this stream begins with a mandatory Call Header, followed by optional Initial-Metadata, followed by zero or more Payload Messages. The server-to-client direction contains an optional Initial-Metadata, followed by zero or more Payload Messages terminated with a mandatory Status and optional Status-Metadata (a.k.a.,Trailing-Metadata).

Implementation over HTTP/2

The abstract protocol defined above is implemented over HTTP/2. gRPC bidirectional streams are mapped to HTTP/2 streams. The contents of Call Header and Initial Metadata are sent as HTTP/2 headers and subject to HPACK compression. Payload Messages are serialized into a byte stream of length prefixed gRPC frames which are then fragmented into HTTP/2 frames at the sender and reassembled at the receiver. Status and Trailing-Metadata are sent as HTTP/2 trailing headers (a.k.a., trailers).

Flow Control

gRPC inherits the flow control mechanisms in HTTP/2 and uses them to enable fine-grained control of the amount of memory used for buffering in-flight messages.