Nice-FFI is a layer on top of Ruby-FFI (and compatible FFI systems) to augment it with features to aid development of FFI-based libraries.
Nice-FFI currently features:
NiceFFI::Library: a stand-in for FFI::Library
that provides methods for easily finding and loading
libraries on any platform, plus automatic wrapping of
functions that return struct pointers.
NiceFFI::PathSet: a class with customizable
rules for finding library files on multiple operating
system. PathSet is used
by NiceFFI::Library.load_library.
NiceFFI::Struct: a stand-in
for FFI::Struct that provides automatic
accessors for struct members, optional automatic memory
management, more instance initialization options, pretty
to_s and inspect methods, and other niceties.
NiceFFI::OpaqueStruct: a base class for structs
with no user-exposed members. Useful when the struct
definition is hidden by the underlying C library.
Nice-FFI was originally developed as part of Ruby-SDL-FFI.
Nice-FFI is still in early development stages. That means:
As such, this library is currently for the adventurous only. If you are not willing to continuously update your code to match the new API, then you should wait until version 1.0.
Nice-FFI is licensed under the following terms (the "MIT License"):
Copyright © 2009-2010 John Croisant
Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.