Show HN: Write your BPF programs in Go, not C

(github.com)

27 points | by boratanrikulu 4 days ago

4 comments

  • badc0ffee 23 minutes ago
    In eBPF-land you're going to be calling C functions in the kernel, and using (generally) C data types like structs and null-terminated strings. You can't do loops (loops are unrolled by the compiler), you can't do variadic functions, and you definitely can't take advantage of all the cool Go stuff like goroutines, select, context, etc.

    I'm not really sure why you'd want to use this. If you're writing eBPF, you already need to know how to read C kernel source.

  • sparrc 33 minutes ago
    I'm primarily a Go developer and love the language and will defend it for most use-cases, but to be honest BPF seems like Rust's place to shine.
  • shirleyquirk 36 minutes ago
    Sorry, why wouldn’t I write in the native language?
    • abtinf 4 minutes ago
      This transpiles to the native language.
  • a1o 28 minutes ago
    What is BPF?
    • auxiliarymoose 14 minutes ago
      I'm guessing Berkeley Packet Filter: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berkeley_Packet_Filter

      This is why NASA's guidance is the following:

      > Acronyms often confuse readers. Avoid them whenever possible. If an acronym is necessary for future reference, spell the full word and follow with the acronym in parentheses on the first reference. For example, The General Services Administration (GSA).

      https://nasa.github.io/content-guide/abbreviations-and-acron...

      There is also this longer memo on the NASA Technical Reports Server: https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/19950025292

      • hnlmorg 3 minutes ago
        In fairness to the authors README, there isn't really any other BPFs in this domain and if someone didn't already know what BPF was, then this project wouldn't be of any interest to them (and would be a bad place to start on an BPF journey too).

        So I can't blame the project's author for the lack of explanation about what BPF is. Particularly when it's just someone's personal project.

        And before anyone complains about this comment: I do think the GP is completely fair in asking for clarification as to what BPF is too. There sometimes seems to be backlash on HN against people asking for a term to be explained. This comment isn't that.

      • aeonik 4 minutes ago
        To be honest BPF is one of those acronyms that I think might be more recognizable as the acronym than what it actually stands for.

        Not quite as much as Radar or Laser, but halfway there.

    • hnlmorg 22 minutes ago
      It's a low level networking interface https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berkeley_Packet_Filter
    • all2 21 minutes ago
      BPF == 'Berkeley Packet Filter'

      Here you go: https://github.com/pratyushanand/learn-bpf