Build System Integration

Because NextStd installs its headers and compiled archives directly into your system’s standard /usr/local/ directories, integrating it into your own projects is as simple as linking any other C library.

The only special requirement is that because NextStd’s backend is powered by Rust, you must link a few standard system libraries (pthread, dl, and m) alongside the NextStd modules.

Here is how to configure the most popular build systems and command runners to work with NextStd.

GNU Make (Makefile)

If you are using a standard Makefile, you just need to append the NextStd libraries to your LDFLAGS (Linker Flags) variable.

Here is a minimal, robust Makefile for a NextStd project:

CC = gcc
CFLAGS = -Wall -Wextra -O2
# Link your required NextStd modules and the Rust system dependencies
LDFLAGS = -lns_data -lns_io -lns_string -lns_error -lpthread -ldl -lm

TARGET = my_app
SRC = main.c

all: $(TARGET)

$(TARGET): $(SRC)
 $(CC) $(CFLAGS) $(SRC) -o $(TARGET) $(LDFLAGS)

clean:
 rm -f $(TARGET)

Tip: Order matters in GCC! Always put your source files (main.c) before your -l linker flags, or the compiler might complain about undefined references.

Just (justfile)

If you prefer using just (a modern, handy command runner highly popular in the Rust ecosystem), configuring it is incredibly clean.

Here is a ready-to-use justfile that handles building, running, and cleaning your NextStd project:

compiler := "gcc"
cflags := "-Wall -Wextra -O2"
libs := "-lns_data -lns_io -lns_string -lns_error -lpthread -ldl -lm"
target := "my_app"
src := "main.c"

# Default recipe: Build the application
@build:
    {{compiler}} {{cflags}} {{src}} -o {{target}} {{libs}}

# Build and immediately run the application
@run: build
    ./{{target}}

# Clean up compiled artifacts
@clean:
    rm -f {{target}}

To build and run your safe C code, you simply type just run in your terminal!

CMake (CMakeLists.txt)

If you are using CMake, the process is just as easy. You use the target_link_libraries directive to tell CMake exactly what needs to be bundled into your executable.

Here is a complete CMakeLists.txt file:

cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.10)

# Define the project and enable C
project(NextStdApp C)

# Add your executable
add_executable(my_app main.c)

# Link the NextStd archives and the required system libraries
target_link_libraries(my_app
    ns_data
    ns_io
    ns_string
    ns_error
    pthread
    dl
    m
)

Which Modules Should I Link?

In the examples above, we linked all four core NextStd modules (ns_data, ns_io, ns_string, ns_error).

NextStd is highly modular. If you are writing a small script that only uses ns_print and doesn’t use vectors, hashmaps, or strings, you can safely omit -lns_data and -lns_string from your build configuration to slightly reduce your final binary size.

However, -lns_error is required by almost all modules, so it should generally always be included.