Writing Native Plugins

Writing Native plugins is pretty simple, but since it's C/C++ it's a bit more complicated.

There are currently no C++ bindings and no intention to write them, but the C API is still usable from C++.

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#include <gplugin.h>
#include <gplugin-native.h>

/* This function is called by the native plugin loader to get information
 * about the plugin. It returns a #GPluginPluginInfo instance that
 * describes the plugin. If anything goes wrong during this function,
 * @error should be set via g_set_error() and %NULL should be returned.
 * It must match the signature of #GPluginNativePluginQueryFunc, and it
 * will be passed to #GPLUGIN_NATIVE_PLUGIN_DECLARE which will export it
 * properly.
 */
static GPluginPluginInfo *
gplugin_native_basic_plugin_query(GError **error) {
    /* Authors is a list of authors who worked on the plugin.  Generally
     * these are in the "Name Surname <user@domain.com>" format.
     */
    const gchar * const authors[] = {
        "Author O <author@example.com>",
        NULL
    };

    /* gplugin_plugin_info_new only requires that the id be set, and the
     * rest are here for demonstration purposes.
     */
    return gplugin_plugin_info_new(
        "gplugin/native-basic-plugin",
        GPLUGIN_NATIVE_PLUGIN_ABI_VERSION,
        "name", "name",
        "version", "version",
        "summary", "summary",
        "description", "description",
        "authors", authors,
        "website", "website",
        NULL);
}

/* This function is called by the native plugin loader when the plugin
 * should be loaded. It should do any setup that the plugin requires and
 * return %TRUE if everything was successfull. If not, it should set
 * @error with g_set_error() and return %FALSE. This function needs to
 * match the signature of #GPluginNativePluginLoadFunc, and it will be
 * passed to #GPLUGIN_NATIVE_PLUGIN_DECLARE which will export it
 * properly.
 */
static gboolean
gplugin_native_basic_plugin_load(GPluginPlugin *plugin, GError **error) {
    return TRUE;
}

/* This function is called by the native plugin loader when the plugin
 * should be unloaded. It should do any clean up that the plugin requires
 * and return %TRUE if everything was successfull. If not, it should set
 * @error with g_set_error() and return %FALSE. This function needs to
 * match the signature of #GPluginNativePluginUnloadFunc, and it will be
 * passed to #GPLUGIN_NATIVE_PLUGIN_DECLARE which will export it
 * properly.
 */
static gboolean
gplugin_native_basic_plugin_unload(GPluginPlugin *plugin, GError *error) {
    return TRUE;
}

/* This macro does the heavy lifting of making sure to export all of the
 * symbols correctly as well as add some future proofing for features
 * like statically plugins. It is highly recommended to use this macro
 * instead of manually exporting the symbols yourself.
 */
GPLUGIN_NATIVE_PLUGIN_DECLARE(gplugin_native_basic_plugin)