Lisbon, OpenWrt Summit 2018
Programming languages:
Choices for OpenWrt
Mislav Novaković
October 30, 2018
Motivation
◦ What is the best language for prototyping in OpenWrt?
◦ Finding the optimal solution between:
• Constraints of embedded devices
• Speed of development
◦ Where to start?
◦ Code samples used from Rosetta
Build setup
◦ OpenWrt feed:
• [Link]/sartura/languages_feed
◦ Docker le:
• [Link]/sartura/languages_feed_docker le
C/C++
◦ Imperative (OO), low-level language
◦ Integrated with OpenWrt and Linux kernel
◦ C++ support
◦ Cross-platform support
SWIG
◦ High-level wrapper for C/C++ ([Link])
◦ Python, Lua, Go, Perl, PHP and Ruby
◦ Better results with C++
◦ Sysrepo OpenWrt package
Python
◦ Imperative, procedural, OO language
◦ Python 2 & 3
◦ 250+ packages
◦ Good C integration
Lua
◦ Lightweight embedded language
◦ Lua 5.1
◦ 40+ packages
◦ UCI and LuCI
◦ Good C integration
GoLang
◦ Compiled, statically typed language (C-like)
◦ Go 1.10.3
◦ 5+ packages
◦ MIPS not fully supported
◦ Large binary size
Rust
◦ System, imperative, procedural language
◦ Cross-compiled
◦ MIPS not fully supported
◦ Good default binary size
Nim
◦ Imperative, compiled language
◦ Cross-compiled
◦ Compiles to C/C++, Objective-C or JavaScript
◦ Good default binary size
[Link]
◦ JavaScript run time environment
◦ [Link] 8.11.3
◦ 10+ packages
Perl
◦ Interpreted, dynamic language
◦ Perl 5
◦ 200+ packages
PHP
◦ Server-side scripting language
◦ PHP 7
◦ 50+ packages
Ruby
◦ Dynamic, interpreted, OO language
◦ Ruby 2.5
◦ 50+ packages
Used boards
◦ Raspberry Pi 3
◦ ClearFog Base
◦ ARM + musl (cross-compiling)
◦ Built & tested on beginning of October 2018
Binary sizes
Language Binary size
C 4.2 Kb
C++ 4.2 Kb
Nim 64.1 Kb
Rust 484.3 Kb
Go 3432.5 Kb
Library sizes
◦ Size of additional libraries used for scripting languages (rough measurements)
Language Library size
Python 17152 Kb
[Link] 12476 Kb
Ruby 4808 Kb
PHP 3380 Kb
Perl 2824 Kb
Lua 364 Kb
Performance
$ httperf –port=80XX –-server IP --num-conns=10000
Language Result
Perl 1326.6 req/s
C++ 1320.8 req/s
C 1299.1 req/s
Nim 1052.1 req/s
PHP 765.8 req/s
Go 763.0 req/s
Rust 586.5 req/s
[Link] 472.2 req/s
Lua 455.5 req/s
Ruby 132.3 req/s
Python 102.4 req/s
Programming languages:
Choices for OpenWrt
[Link]@[Link] · info@[Link] · [Link]
