Migrating from girepository-1.0 to girepository-2.0

Migrating from girepository-1.0 to girepository-2.0

libgirepository was originally part of gobject-introspection, where it was prototyped for a number of years.

Now that it’s considered stable (for a long time), it’s been moved to glib in order to simplify the build process of the two modules.

As part of this move, the API version has been bumped from 1.0 to 2.0, and some fairly straightforward API changes have been made. Note that the GIR version was previously 2.0, and is now 3.0 — so the new version of libgirepository uses girepository-2.0.pc and GIRepository-3.0.typelib.

The main change between the two versions of libgirepository is that it now uses GTypeInstance as the basis of its type system, rather than simple C struct aliasing. This means that GIBaseInfo instances are now reference counted using gi_base_info_ref() and gi_base_info_unref().

It also means that runtime cast macros such as GI_CALLABLE_INFO() are now available. Using these instead of simple C casts can improve the runtime type safety of your code.

Stack allocation of some GIBaseInfo subtypes is still possible, but they must now be cleared using gi_base_info_clear() once finished with. Previously this wasn’t necessary.

As part of moving the code over, the symbol prefix has changed from g_ to gi_ — this has affected every API in the library, but trivially.

The types of various function arguments have changed — for example from guint32 to size_t for most offsets. This will require minor adjustments in your code if integer type warnings are enabled.

API replacements from version 1.0 to 2.0

girepository-1.0 girepository-2.0
GI_CHECK_VERSION GLIB_CHECK_VERSION()
g_arg_info_get_closure gi_arg_info_get_closure_index()
g_arg_info_get_destroy gi_arg_info_get_destroy_index()
g_arg_info_get_type gi_arg_info_get_type_info()
g_arg_info_load_type gi_arg_info_load_type_info()
- gi_base_info_ref() and gi_base_info_unref()
g_base_info_get_type Use type checking macros like GI_IS_OBJECT_INFO(), or raw GTypes with G_TYPE_FROM_INSTANCE()
g_info_new Removed with no replacement, use gi_repository_find_by_name() and related APIs
g_callable_info_invoke arguments is_method and throws dropped in gi_callable_info_invoke()
g_constant_info_get_type gi_constant_info_get_type_info()
g_field_info_get_type gi_field_info_get_type_info()
g_object_info_find_method_using_interfaces and g_object_info_find_vfunc_using_interfaces The implementor out argument has been renamed to declarer and is now of type GIBaseInfo
g_object_info_get_type_init gi_object_info_get_type_init_function_name()
g_object_info_get_ref_function gi_object_info_get_ref_function_name()
g_object_info_get_unref_function gi_object_info_get_unref_function_name()
g_object_info_get_set_value_function gi_object_info_get_set_value_function_name()
g_object_info_get_get_value_function gi_object_info_get_get_value_function_name()
g_property_info_get_type gi_property_info_get_type_info()
g_registered_type_info_get_type_init gi_registered_type_info_get_type_init_function_name()
g_irepository_* gi_repository_*
g_irepository_get_default Singleton object removed; create separate GIRepository instances instead
g_irepository_get_search_path and g_irepository_get_library_path Now return arrays rather than linked lists
g_irepository_enumerate_versions Now returns an array rather than a linked list
g_irepository_get_immediate_dependencies, g_irepository_get_dependencies and g_irepository_get_loaded_namespaces Now additionally return a length argument
g_irepository_get_shared_library gi_repository_get_shared_libraries()
g_irepository_dump Takes structured input_filename and output_filename arguments rather than a single formatted string
g_function_invoker_destroy gi_function_invoker_clear()
g_struct_info_get_copy_function gi_struct_info_get_copy_function_name()
g_struct_info_get_free_function gi_struct_info_get_free_function_name()
g_type_info_get_array_length and g_type_info_get_array_fixed_size Split success and failure return values out into a new out-argument and return value
g_type_info_get_array_length gi_type_info_get_array_length_index()
g_typelib_new_from_* All replaced with gi_typelib_new_from_bytes()
g_typelib_free GITypelib is now a refcounted and boxed type, so use gi_typelib_unref()
GI_FUNCTION_THROWS and GI_VFUNC_THROWS gi_callable_info_can_throw_gerror()
g_union_info_get_discriminator_offset Split success and failure return values out into a new out-argument and return value
g_union_info_get_copy_function gi_union_info_get_copy_function_name()
g_union_info_get_free_function gi_union_info_get_free_function_name()
GIInfoType Use GType directly
GI_INFO_TYPE_BOXED Dropped in favour of gi_registered_type_info_is_boxed()

Utility program renames from version 1.0 to 2.0

girepository-1.0 girepository-2.0
g-ir-compiler gi-compile-repository
g-ir-generate gi-decompile-typelib
g-ir-inspect gi-inspect-typelib

In addition, some command-line options have been changed.

The --version option for g-ir-inspect has been renamed to --typelib-version in gi-inspect-typelib.

The --includedir option to gi-decompile-typelib treats the given directories as most-important-first, consistent with gi-compile-repository --includedir and gcc -I. g-ir-generate treated --includedir options as least-important-first.

The unimplemented g-ir-compiler --module option has been removed in gi-compile-repository.

The unimplemented g-ir-generate --shlib option has been removed in gi-decompile-typelib.

gi-inspect-typelib only accepts one namespace parameter. g-ir-inspect accepted multiple namespaces, but would only inspect the first one, with the others being ignored.