Add C-ABI to provide an ABI stable interface and improve compatibility

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#87 0 comments 0 reactions 1 assignee View on GitHub

@joshbainbridge is already working on this.

Since Jun 29, 2026.

  • #95 by @joshbainbridge — open

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Description

enhancement

OpenQMC is C++ header-only, so it can only be used directly from C++. Adding a stable C ABI would let any language with C FFI support use the samplers, including C, Zig, and Rust.

The C ABI should:

  • Wrap all six sampler types with extern "C" linkable symbols
  • Cover the full public API (cache management, construction, domain derivation, draw functions)
  • Preserve value semantics, no heap allocation
  • Be gated behind an OPENQMC_ENABLE_C_ABI CMake option
  • Keep boilerplate low when adding new samplers

This depends on the C++17 migration and removal of OPENQMC_ENABLE_BINARY being done first (#86). Larger goal is to make OpenQMC available to more languages to encourage broader adoption.

Dominant language
C++
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106
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7
No merged PRs in 30d

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