Rewriting zlib in Phobos

[rikki cattermole via Digitalmars-d]

On 08/05/2016 3:08 PM, Walter Bright wrote:
> On 5/7/16 3:33 PM, Andrei Alexandrescu wrote:
>> Another library discussed as even more ripe for replacement is zlib:
>> * We compile the C source code, which is extra aggravation to the
> build scripts
>> * The D wrappers are ancient and clunky - we should have beautiful,
> efficient > range streaming
>> * I think the license allows us to translate the source code to D, so
> we have > a viable path of replacement
>> * Just got word (thx Rikki) the D wrappers use GC in a laissez-faire
> manner, > so no way to use the library tightly
>>
>> So if anyone wants to look into this, it would be a good project.
>
> Before anyone gets too deep into this, the zip file format is
> functionally the same as the various .lib and .a formats read and
> written by dmd, and there are many other such formats.
>
> Any redesign should be a package based one, such as:
>
>     std.archiver.zip
>     std.archiver.libomf
>     std.archiver.libmscoff
>     std.archiver.libmach
>     std.archiver.libelf
>
>     (those are just the ones we have code for)
>
> and they should use a common interface.

Assuming it uses allocators, I'd be happy.

Although I like the idea of replacing what is in dmd with this.
But perhaps for the binary formats derivation that they should be fully 
import/exportable with headers and all? It would step 1 of making a linker.