Xamarin binding C library params not working (variadic functions) - objective-c

Question

I need to use a C library and I got it to work on the emulator easily, but on an arm64 device only with some strange trickery. The issue is that C functions with … (variadic functions) do not pass values correctly from C# to the library.
This is the C function, with ...
cmd_ln_t *
cmd_ln_init(cmd_ln_t *inout_cmdln, const arg_t *defn, int32 strict, ...)
{
va_list args;
const char *arg, *val;
char **f_argv;
int32 f_argc;
va_start(args, strict);
f_argc = 0;
while ((arg = va_arg(args, const char *))) {
++f_argc;
E_INFO("name: %s ", arg);
E_INFO(" retrieving value...");
val = va_arg(args, const char*);
E_INFO("value retrieved. \n");
E_INFO("value: %s \n", val);
if (val == NULL) {
E_ERROR("Number of arguments must be even!\n");
return NULL;
}
++f_argc;
}
va_end(args);
.....................................
I check if the values are correct with the E_INFO()
Approach 1 - The default PARAMS doesn't work:
When I use the following default params expression approuch for c bindings, the ‘arg’ printed in the function shows unknown characters and when ‘val’ is used the function crashes.
[DllImport("__Internal")] public static extern unsafe cmd_ln_t*
cmd_ln_init(cmd_ln_t* inout_cmdln, arg_t* defn, int strict, params string[] arguments);
Approach 2 - a more elaborate approach works:
When I use the a more elaborate approach everything works, on x86_64 architecture normally but for arm64 with a strange work-around.
the binding expression in a more elaborate approach.
[DllImport("__Internal")]
public static extern unsafe cmd_ln_t* cmd_ln_init(cmd_ln_t* inout_cmdln, arg_t* defn, int strict, string arg1, string arg2);
[DllImport("__Internal")]
public static extern unsafe cmd_ln_t* cmd_ln_init(cmd_ln_t* inout_cmdln, arg_t* defn, int strict, string arg1, string arg2, string arg3);
[DllImport("__Internal")]
public static extern unsafe cmd_ln_t* cmd_ln_init(cmd_ln_t* inout_cmdln, arg_t* defn, int strict, string arg1, string arg2, string arg3, string arg4);
//etc etc… for x numbers of arguments
The binding works works the following code
// works for x86_64
var cmdPointer = MyBindingLib.cmd_ln_init(null, psArgsPointer, 1,
"-hmm", hmmFolder,
"-dict", dictFile,
"-mmap", "no",
"-kws_threshold", "1e-80",
"-lw", "2.0",
null);
// works for arm64
var cmdPointer = MyBindingLib.cmd_ln_init(null, psArgsPointer, 1,
null, null,
null, null, null,
"-hmm", hmmFolder,
"-dict", dictFile,
"-mmap", "no",
"-kws_threshold", "1e-80",
"-lw", "2.0",
null);
As you see, the x86_64 works normally to get the values to the C library.
But the arm64 version needs to have 5 null values, others half of the values won't make it to the C library (I can check that with the E_INFO function in the C function).
Anyone any idea how to get this Xamarin C binding correct with params or without the 5 prefix null values?
Source is on github
uses c library at sphinxbase

Answer 1

It seems to be expected behavior for arm64 architecture, because of the way arm64 functions are invoked.
Invoking functions in a arm64 library that use ...) at the end, you have to take into account that the first 8 argument spots are for 'normal' arguments, then optionally the variable/params can start.
So, in my example I used 5 NULL values to fill the first 8 argument spots, then start the values for the ...)
See full answer:
https://github.com/xamarin/xamarin-macios/issues/10285