[GHC] #9656: Process and thread init/deinit hooks for C libraries

[GHC]

#9656: Process and thread init/deinit hooks for C libraries
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       Reporter:  3noch              |                   Owner:
           Type:  feature request    |                  Status:  new
       Priority:  normal             |               Milestone:
      Component:  Compiler           |                 Version:  7.8.3
       Keywords:  FFI                |        Operating System:
   Architecture:  Unknown/Multiple   |  Unknown/Multiple
     Difficulty:  Unknown            |         Type of failure:
     Blocked By:                     |  None/Unknown
Related Tickets:                     |               Test Case:
                                     |                Blocking:
                                     |  Differential Revisions:
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 Haskell's FFI for C seems geared toward C as an optimization. But in many
 cases, we use the C FFI merely hook into a 3rd-party library. In this
 case, the FFI seems a bit lacking. In my specific case, I want to link
 against libmysqlclient_r to perform MySQL queries. However, the library
 requires global init and deinit. Worse, it requires init/deinit for *each*
 thread that wishes to interact with its API. This type of thing is not
 entirely uncommon among C libraries. Of course, we can bend over backward
 to inter-operate with such libraries (e.g. wrap the C API with our own
 versions that ensure proper initialization), but the process is
 painstaking and often requires decent performance overhead.

 I would like to request some sort of hook registration where the FFI can
 be used to accomplish these common tasks. Perhaps it's too difficult, but
 it doesn't hurt to ask!

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Ticket URL: <http://ghc.haskell.org/trac/ghc/ticket/9656>
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