Is it possible to dynamically load a @safe function from a shared library ?

[wjoe]

On Friday, 13 March 2020 at 20:31:16 UTC, Steven Schveighoffer 
wrote:
> On 3/13/20 4:22 PM, wjoe wrote:
> I would expect that something could be written to turn a 
> signature string into a mangling and also provide the correct 
> type upon return. Something like:
>
> auto f = getFunction!(@safe void 
> function(int))("package.module.symbol");
>
> and have it properly mangle the expected function name and pull 
> it from the dynamic library.
>
> -Steve

Thanks for your reply.

core.demangle: mangle; comes to mind. And in fact, because the 
exports weren't extern(C), that's how I imported the symbols; 
prior to reading H. S. Teoh's reply. That's when I realized that 
I've got a problem.

Even though I know that the function being exported are all 
compiled @safe, that doesn't mean I can count on the fact.
Since a plugin is a separate file it can be swapped out with a 
version that exports all the same (forged) symbols names but with 
a @system implementation.
Forging these symbol names is as easy as something like 
mangle!(int function(int))("a.b")); (=_D1a1bPFiZi) and 
copy/pasting that into pragma(mangle, "_D1a1bPFiZi") and voila, 
the loader can nothing but trust that this is true.

Forging is maybe too hard a word but my vocabulary lacks a better 
one.