NativeSdk 0.5.2

NativeSdk

A MSBuild SDK package for building Native AOT applications and libraries with C#.

Requirements

• .NET 8.0 or later

Installation

Use NativeSdk as your project SDK:

<Project Sdk="NativeSdk/0.5.2">
    <PropertyGroup>
        <TargetFramework>net8.0</TargetFramework>
    </PropertyGroup>
</Project>

This SDK automatically inherits from Microsoft.NET.Sdk, so you don't need to specify it separately.

Features

This SDK automatically configures your project with:

Common Settings (All Project Types)

Default Using Namespaces

The following namespaces are automatically included for Interop scenarios:

Library-Specific Settings

When OutputType is set to Library, the following additional settings are applied:

Debug Configuration

• Stack trace support enabled
• Metadata preserved for debugging

Release Configuration

• Stack trace support disabled
• Metadata trimmed for smaller binaries

Usage Examples

Building a Native Executable (Default)

<Project Sdk="NativeSdk/0.5.2">
    <PropertyGroup>
        <TargetFramework>net8.0</TargetFramework>
    </PropertyGroup>
</Project>

Building a Shared Library (DLL/SO)

<Project Sdk="NativeSdk/0.5.2">
    <PropertyGroup>
        <TargetFramework>net8.0</TargetFramework>
        <OutputType>Library</OutputType>
    </PropertyGroup>
</Project>

Building a Static Library

<Project Sdk="NativeSdk/0.5.2">
    <PropertyGroup>
        <TargetFramework>net8.0</TargetFramework>
        <OutputType>Library</OutputType>
        <NativeLib>Static</NativeLib>
    </PropertyGroup>
</Project>

Pointer-based QuickSort

This example demonstrates using unsafe pointers with stackalloc for high-performance sorting:

unsafe
{
    const int ArraySize = 10;

    // Allocate memory on the stack using stackalloc
    int* arr = stackalloc int[ArraySize];

    // Initialize array with random values
    Random rand = new(42);
    Console.WriteLine("Before sorting:");
    for (int i = 0; i < ArraySize; i++)
    {
        arr[i] = rand.Next(1, 100);
        Console.Write($"{arr[i]} ");
    }
    Console.WriteLine();

    // Execute QuickSort
    QuickSort(arr, 0, ArraySize - 1);

    // Print sorted result
    Console.WriteLine("\nAfter sorting:");
    for (int i = 0; i < ArraySize; i++)
    {
        Console.Write($"{arr[i]} ");
    }
    Console.WriteLine();

    static void QuickSort(int* arr, int left, int right)
    {
        if (left >= right) return;

        int pivotIndex = Partition(arr, left, right);
        QuickSort(arr, left, pivotIndex - 1);
        QuickSort(arr, pivotIndex + 1, right);
    }

    static int Partition(int* arr, int left, int right)
    {
        int pivot = arr[right];
        int i = left - 1;

        for (int j = left; j < right; j++)
        {
            if (arr[j] <= pivot)
            {
                i++;
                (arr[i], arr[j]) = (arr[j], arr[i]);  // Tuple swap
            }
        }

        (arr[i + 1], arr[right]) = (arr[right], arr[i + 1]);
        return i + 1;
    }
}

DNNE Integration

This SDK includes DNNE for generating native exports when building as a library. Use the [UnmanagedCallersOnly] attribute to export functions:

public static class NativeExports
{
    [UnmanagedCallersOnly(EntryPoint = "add")]
    public static int Add(int a, int b) => a + b;
}

Note: DNNE is only included when OutputType is set to Library. The System.Runtime.InteropServices namespace is already included by default.

Customization

All settings can be overridden in your project file:

<PropertyGroup>
  
  <OutputType>Library</OutputType>
  
  
  <NativeLib>Static</NativeLib>
  
  
  <IlcOptimizationPreference>Size</IlcOptimizationPreference>
  
  
  <AllowUnsafeBlocks>false</AllowUnsafeBlocks>
</PropertyGroup>

Building

dotnet publish -c Release -r win-x64
dotnet publish -c Release -r linux-x64
dotnet publish -c Release -r osx-arm64

License

MIT