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BUILD GO CODE AND USE IT IN PHP CODEBASE

2024-06-10 07:03AM • 7 min read • #php #go #performance

Building Go code and integrating it into a PHP codebase can help increase performance, particularly for tasks that are computationally intensive. Here are the steps to achieve this:

1. Write and Build Go Code:

   • Write the Go code you want to use.
   • Build the Go code into a shared library.

2. Use cgo to Generate Shared Library:

   • Use cgo to compile the Go code into a shared object (.so) file that can be called from PHP.

3. Call the Shared Library from PHP:

   • Use PHP's FFI (Foreign Function Interface) extension to call functions from the shared library.

Here are detailed steps:

WRITE AND BUILD GO CODE

First, write your Go code. For example, create a file called example.go:

package main

import "C"

//export Add
func Add(a, b int) int {
    return a + b
}

func main() {}

BUILD GO CODE INTO SHARED LIBRARY

Compile the Go code into a shared library:

$ go build -o libexample.so -buildmode=c-shared example.go

This will produce two files: libexample.so (the shared library) and libexample.h (the header file).

INSTALL PHP FFI EXTENSION

Ensure that the PHP FFI extension is installed and enabled. You can install it via PECL if it’s not already available:

# install libffi if not available already
# This command is for .DEB distro
$ apt-get install libffi-dev -y
$ pecl install ffi

# On error, you may use a specific channel

Add the extension to your php.ini, depending on the php version you installed (for example for php8.2 -> /etc/php/8.2/apache2/php.ini):

extension=ffi.so

Then restart the apache2 service (if it's the webserver you're using).

$ sudo service apache2 restart

USE THE SHARED LIBRARY IN PHP

Create a PHP script to use the shared library. For example, use_go.php:

<?php

// Load the shared library
$ffi = FFI::cdef(
    "int Add(int a, int b);",
    "./libexample.so"
);

// Call the Add function from the Go library
$result = $ffi->Add(5, 7);
echo "The result is: " . $result . "\n";

?>

RUN THE PHP SCRIPT

Run your PHP script:

$ php use_go.php

By following these steps, you can leverage Go’s performance advantages within a PHP codebase. This method is particularly useful for performance-critical sections of your application.

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