`silk-proto(1)` — compile proto3 schemas to Silk

NOTE: This is the Markdown source for the eventual man 1 page for silk proto. The roff-formatted manpage should be generated from this content.

Name#

silk proto — compile Protocol Buffers v3 schemas to Silk modules.

Synopsis#

silk proto [options] <schema.proto> [<schema.proto> ...]

Description#

silk proto parses .proto files directly and emits Silk source. It is dependency-free: it does not invoke protoc, does not require generated C/C++, and does not link a third-party protobuf runtime.

Generated modules use std::protobuf for binary wire-format encoding, decoding, field skipping, and unknown-field preservation.

Options#

--help, -h — show command help.
-I <dir>, -I<dir> — add a proto import root.
--proto-path <dir> — add a proto import root.
--include <dir> — alias of --proto-path.
--include-imports — accepted for explicit import-closure output. Imported schema dependencies are emitted automatically so generated Silk imports resolve.
-o <dir>, --out-dir <dir> — output root. Defaults to ..
--module <name> — override the generated module name. Valid only with one input schema.
--descriptor-out <path> — write a deterministic JSON schema summary for tooling.
-- — stop option parsing; remaining arguments are schema paths.

Schema Coverage#

The compiler accepts proto3 schemas with syntax = "proto3"; and covers packages, normal imports, import public re-exports, missing import weak declarations when unused, adjacent string literals in string-valued schema positions, protobuf decimal/hexadecimal/octal/signed integer literals, file/message/field/enum/service options, messages, nested messages, enums, optional fields, repeated fields, oneofs, maps, reserved declarations, services/rpcs with generated descriptors, and field options including [packed = false].

Validation rejects invalid field numbers, invalid reserved declaration ranges, reserved field/name conflicts, duplicate message field names or numbers, generated Silk name collisions, generated storage-field name collisions such as unknown_fields_ptr, invalid map key types or labelled map fields, reversed reserved ranges, enum aliases without option allow_alias = true;, enum values outside the protobuf int32 range, proto3 enums whose first value is not zero, unresolved type references, cross-file type references that are not visible through normal or public imports, cyclic imports, and unsupported extend, extensions, or group forms.

Output#

Output paths mirror module names. For example:

silk proto -I schemas -o generated schemas/chat/person.proto

A schema with package acme.chat; in person.proto writes:

generated/acme/chat/person.slk

If person.proto imports common.proto, the generated module for common.proto is emitted under the same output root by default. Generated cross-file references use deterministic named imports; unaliased names are used when they are unique, and collision-safe aliases are generated when necessary.

Generated message modules include structs, known-value enums, raw-preserving enum field wrappers, enum conversion helpers, repeated field vector aliases, T? storage for singular message and explicit optional field presence, service RPC descriptors, empty(), recursive drop(), encode(), decode(), merge_from(), and preserved unknown-field byte access.

Generated encoders use proto3 packed encoding for repeated scalar and enum fields by default. [packed = false] emits unpacked records, and generated decoders accept both packed and unpacked forms for packable fields.

--descriptor-out writes version: 1 JSON with complete file, import, option, message, field, oneof, enum, service, and RPC descriptors, including generated Silk module/type names, resolved protobuf type names, reserved declarations, packed field status, map key/value metadata, and streaming RPC flags.

Generated modules type-check as Silk source, build as object code, and can be imported by Silk programs that construct messages, encode them, decode them, and inspect decoded fields.

Exit Status#

0 on success.
Non-zero when arguments are invalid, imports are missing, parsing fails, validation fails, or output cannot be written.

silk-proto(1) — compile proto3 schemas to Silk