1898d52966
`VMExternRef` is a reference-counted box for any kind of data that is
external and opaque to running Wasm. Sometimes it might hold a Wasmtime
thing, other times it might hold something from a Wasmtime embedder and is
opaque even to us. It is morally equivalent to `Rc<dyn Any>` in Rust, but
additionally always fits in a pointer-sized word. `VMExternRef` is
non-nullable, but `Option<VMExternRef>` is a null pointer.
The one part of `VMExternRef` that can't ever be opaque to us is the
reference count. Even when we don't know what's inside an `VMExternRef`, we
need to be able to manipulate its reference count as we add and remove
references to it. And we need to do this from compiled Wasm code, so it must
be `repr(C)`!
`VMExternRef` itself is just a pointer to an `VMExternData`, which holds the
opaque, boxed value, its reference count, and its vtable pointer.
The `VMExternData` struct is *preceded* by the dynamically-sized value boxed
up and referenced by one or more `VMExternRef`s:
```ignore
,-------------------------------------------------------.
| |
V |
+----------------------------+-----------+-----------+ |
| dynamically-sized value... | ref_count | value_ptr |---'
+----------------------------+-----------+-----------+
| VMExternData |
+-----------------------+
^
+-------------+ |
| VMExternRef |-------------------+
+-------------+ |
|
+-------------+ |
| VMExternRef |-------------------+
+-------------+ |
|
... ===
|
+-------------+ |
| VMExternRef |-------------------'
+-------------+
```
The `value_ptr` member always points backwards to the start of the
dynamically-sized value (which is also the start of the heap allocation for
this value-and-`VMExternData` pair). Because it is a `dyn` pointer, it is
fat, and also points to the value's `Any` vtable.
The boxed value and the `VMExternRef` footer are held a single heap
allocation. The layout described above is used to make satisfying the
value's alignment easy: we just need to ensure that the heap allocation used
to hold everything satisfies its alignment. It also ensures that we don't
need a ton of excess padding between the `VMExternData` and the value for
values with large alignment.
wasmtime
A standalone runtime for WebAssembly
A Bytecode Alliance project
Guide | Contributing | Website | Chat
Installation
The Wasmtime CLI can be installed on Linux and macOS with a small install script:
$ curl https://wasmtime.dev/install.sh -sSf | bash
Windows or otherwise interested users can download installers and binaries directly from the GitHub Releases page.
Example
If you've got the Rust compiler installed then you can take some Rust source code:
fn main() {
println!("Hello, world!");
}
and compile/run it with:
$ rustup target add wasm32-wasi
$ rustc hello.rs --target wasm32-wasi
$ wasmtime hello.wasm
Hello, world!
Features
-
Lightweight. Wasmtime is a standalone runtime for WebAssembly that scales with your needs. It fits on tiny chips as well as makes use of huge servers. Wasmtime can be embedded into almost any application too.
-
Fast. Wasmtime is built on the optimizing Cranelift code generator to quickly generate high-quality machine code at runtime.
-
Configurable. Whether you need to precompile your wasm ahead of time, generate code blazingly fast with Lightbeam, or interpret it at runtime, Wasmtime has you covered for all your wasm-executing needs.
-
WASI. Wasmtime supports a rich set of APIs for interacting with the host environment through the WASI standard.
-
Standards Compliant. Wasmtime passes the official WebAssembly test suite, implements the official C API of wasm, and implements future proposals to WebAssembly as well. Wasmtime developers are intimately engaged with the WebAssembly standards process all along the way too.
Language Support
You can use Wasmtime from a variety of different languages through embeddings of the implementation:
- Rust - the
wasmtimecrate - C - the
wasm.h,wasi.h, andwasmtime.hheaders - Python - the
wasmtimePyPI package - .NET - the
WasmtimeNuGet package - Go - the wasmtime-go repository
Documentation
📚 Read the Wasmtime guide here! 📚
The wasmtime guide is the best starting point to learn about what Wasmtime can do for you or help answer your questions about Wasmtime. If you're curious in contributing to Wasmtime, it can also help you do that!.
It's Wasmtime.