Colfer is a binary serialization format optimized for speed and size.
The project's compiler colf(1) generates source code from schema definitions
to marshal and unmarshall data structures.
This is free and unencumbered software released into the public domain. The format is inspired by Protocol Buffers.
- C, ISO/IEC 9899:2011 compliant a.k.a. C11, C++ compatible
- Go, a.k.a. golang
- Java, Android compatible
- JavaScript, a.k.a. ECMAScript, NodeJS compatible
- 🚧 Gergely Bódi realised a functional Dart port.
- 🚧 Karthik Kumar Viswanathan has a Python alternative under construction.
- Simple and straightforward in use
- No dependencies other than the core library
- Both faster and smaller than the competition
- Robust against malicious input
- Maximum of 127 fields per data structure
- No support for enumerations
- Framed; suitable for concatenation/streaming
- Rust and Python support
- Protocol revision
Download a prebuilt compiler
or run go get -u github.com/pascaldekloe/colfer/cmd/colf to make one yourself.
Homebrew users can also brew install colfer.
The command prints its own manual when invoked without arguments.
NAME
colf — compile Colfer schemas
SYNOPSIS
colf [-h]
colf [-vf] [-b directory] [-p package] \
[-s expression] [-l expression] C [file ...]
colf [-vf] [-b directory] [-p package] [-t files] \
[-s expression] [-l expression] Go [file ...]
colf [-vf] [-b directory] [-p package] [-t files] \
[-x class] [-i interfaces] [-c file] \
[-s expression] [-l expression] Java [file ...]
colf [-vf] [-b directory] [-p package] \
[-s expression] [-l expression] JavaScript [file ...]
DESCRIPTION
The output is source code for either C, Go, Java or JavaScript.
For each operand that names a file of a type other than
directory, colf reads the content as schema input. For each
named directory, colf reads all files with a .colf extension
within that directory. If no operands are given, the contents of
the current directory are used.
A package definition may be spread over several schema files.
The directory hierarchy of the input is not relevant to the
generated code.
OPTIONS
-b directory
Use a base directory for the generated code. (default ".")
-c file
Insert a code snippet from a file.
-f Normalize the format of all schema input on the fly.
-h Prints the manual to standard error.
-i interfaces
Make all generated classes implement one or more interfaces.
Use commas as a list separator.
-l expression
Set the default upper limit for the number of elements in a
list. The expression is applied to the target language under
the name ColferListMax. (default "64 * 1024")
-p package
Compile to a package prefix.
-s expression
Set the default upper limit for serial byte sizes. The
expression is applied to the target language under the name
ColferSizeMax. (default "16 * 1024 * 1024")
-t files
Supply custom tags with one or more files. Use commas as a list
separator. See the TAGS section for details.
-v Enable verbose reporting to standard error.
-x class
Make all generated classes extend a super class.
TAGS
Tags, a.k.a. annotations, are source code additions for structs
and/or fields. Input for the compiler can be specified with the
-t option. The data format is line-oriented.
<line> :≡ <qual> <space> <code> ;
<qual> :≡ <package> '.' <dest> ;
<dest> :≡ <struct> | <struct> '.' <field> ;
Lines starting with a '#' are ignored (as comments). Java output
can take multiple tag lines for the same struct or field. Each
code line is applied in order of appearance.
EXIT STATUS
The command exits 0 on success, 1 on error and 2 when invoked
without arguments.
EXAMPLES
Compile ./io.colf with compact limits as C:
colf -b src -s 2048 -l 96 C io.colf
Compile ./*.colf with a common parent as Java:
colf -p com.example.model -x com.example.io.IOBean Java
BUGS
Report bugs at <https://github.com/pascaldekloe/colfer/issues>.
Text validation is not part of the marshalling and unmarshalling
process. C and Go just pass any malformed UTF-8 characters. Java
and JavaScript replace unmappable content with the '?' character
(ASCII 63).
SEE ALSO
protoc(1), flatc(1)
It is recommended to commit the generated source code into the respective version control to preserve build consistency and minimise the need for compiler installations. Alternatively, you may use the Maven plugin.
<plugin>
<groupId>net.quies.colfer</groupId>
<artifactId>colfer-maven-plugin</artifactId>
<version>1.11.2</version>
<configuration>
<packagePrefix>com/example</packagePrefix>
</configuration>
</plugin>Data structures are defined in .colf files. The format is quite self-explanatory.
// Package demo offers a demonstration.
// These comment lines will end up in the generated code.
package demo
// Course is the grounds where the game of golf is played.
type course struct {
ID uint64
name text
holes []hole
image binary
tags []text
}
type hole struct {
// Lat is the latitude of the cup.
lat float64
// Lon is the longitude of the cup.
lon float64
// Par is the difficulty index.
par uint8
// Water marks the presence of water.
water bool
// Sand marks the presence of sand.
sand bool
}
See what the generated code looks like in C, Go, Java or JavaScript.
The following table shows how Colfer data types are applied per language.
| Colfer | C | Go | Java | JavaScript |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| bool | char | bool | boolean | Boolean |
| uint8 | uint8_t | uint8 | byte † | Number |
| uint16 | uint16_t | uint16 | short † | Number |
| uint32 | uint32_t | uint32 | int † | Number |
| uint64 | uint64_t | uint64 | long † | Number ‡ |
| int32 | int32_t | int32 | int | Number |
| int64 | int64_t | int64 | long | Number ‡ |
| float32 | float | float32 | float | Number |
| float64 | double | float64 | double | Number |
| timestamp | timespec | time.Time †† | time.Instant | Date + Number |
| text | const char* + size_t | string | String | String |
| binary | uint8_t* + size_t | []byte | byte[] | Uint8Array |
| list | * + size_t | slice | array | Array |
- † signed representation of unsigned data, i.e. may overflow to negative.
- ‡ range limited to [1 - 2⁵³, 2⁵³ - 1]
- †† timezone not preserved
Lists may contain floating points, text, binaries or data structures.
Colfer is suited for untrusted data sources such as network I/O or bulk streams. Marshalling and unmarshalling comes with built-in size protection to ensure predictable memory consumption. The format prevents memory bombs by design.
The marshaller may not produce malformed output, regardless of the data input. In no event may the unmarshaller read outside the boundaries of a serial. Fuzz testing did not reveal any volnurabilities yet. Computing power is welcome.
Name changes do not affect the serialization format. Deprecated fields should be renamed to clearly discourage their use. For backwards compatibility new fields must be added to the end of colfer structs. Thus the number of fields can be seen as the schema version.
Colfer aims to be the fastest and the smallest format without compromising on reliability. See the benchmark wiki for a comparison. Suboptimal performance is treated like a bug.
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