Need help configuring Zigler with link_lib

Inkognito · August 31, 2025, 6:06pm

Hi,

I am trying to write a elixir client for

What I am attempting to do is fetch the zig code, compile it in priv and then use it via Zigler.

I cant seem to get Zigler to find the header and/or the link_lib

I am using a x86_64 machine and running in WSL2

error:

\*\* (CompileError) lib/jace/bridge.ex:5: error: C import failed

pub const cc = @cImport(@cInclude(“opentui.h”)).createRenderer;
^\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~
referenced by:
streamModule__anon_24197: .elixir_ls/build/test/lib/zigler/priv/beam/sema.zig:231:45
main: .elixir_ls/build/test/lib/zigler/priv/beam/sema.zig:284:21
4 reference(s) hidden; use ‘-freference-trace=6’ to see all references
/home/archon/.cache/zig/o/4fd94b536b9f26726f3d4aaeabed04ae/cimport.h:1:10: error: ‘opentui.h’ file not found
#include <opentui.h>

Is my approach correct ?
Am I missing something stupid?
Any feedback and/guidance is welcome.

joelpaulkoch · August 31, 2025, 8:31pm

Hey, according to the docs you should specify a relative path: host/... without the leading /. Hope this helps.

Inkognito · August 31, 2025, 8:46pm

I tried it, it did not work .

github.com/acalejos/archive

lib/archive/nif.ex

main

defmodule Archive.Setup do
  @moduledoc false
  @ext (case :os.type() do
          {:win32, _} -> ".dll"
          {:unix, :darwin} -> ".dylib"
          {:unix, _} -> ".so"
        end)

  @base_path "#{:code.priv_dir(:archive)}/#{Mix.target()}"
  @include_path "#{@base_path}/include/"
  @library_dir "#{@base_path}/lib/"
  @link_path "#{@library_dir}libarchive#{@ext}"

  defmacro __using__(_opts) do
    quote do
      use Zig,
        otp_app: :archive,
        c: [
          include_dirs: [unquote(@include_path)],
          link_lib: unquote(@link_path),

This file has been truncated. show original

trying to use this as reference for now

joelpaulkoch · August 31, 2025, 8:55pm

The error message that you showed comes from elixir_ls, but is the actual compilation failing with the same error?

Also on the screenshot I can see that the zig code in the _build directory, but how did it get there? Is it in the priv directory of your project too?

Inkognito · September 1, 2025, 8:15pm

Hi @joelpaulkoch

Thanks for this, I had a mix.task which was updating the build folder, I have changed it to put it in the correct priv.

   @lib  {:priv, "zig/lib/x86_64-linux/libopentui.so"}
   @header  {:priv, "include/"}
  
   use Zig,otp_app: :jace,
    c: [link_lib: @lib,include_dirs: @header,library_dirs: @lib],
    resources: [:RendererResource,
                :OptimizedBufferResource,
                :TextBufferResource],
    nifs: [...]

now does not throw errors in IDE and , can confirm it is picking up the headers, and lib correctly.

however when i run the app it’s not able to find the .so file

20:12:06.886 [error] loading module Elixir.Jace.Bridge {:load_failed, ~c"Failed to load NIF library /home/archon/work/jace/_build/dev/lib/jace/priv/lib/Elixir.Jace.Bridge: 'libopentui.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory'"}

I am re-reading the docs and trying again,

thanks again !!