Expand the C/C++ API to allow access to info

[runette]

I have an application that needs to get the list of installed Conda packages. Currently, it uses the Conda CLI and screen scrapping.

When I heard about Mamba and that it had a C API I thought that this might be a better solution.

However - the current C++ and C APIs allow install and list etc to be run but the output is hardcoded to the console (as far as I can see).

It would be good if there were additional calls added to the C API that allow the string response to be returned by the API as opposed to piped to the std::cout

[adriendelsalle]

Hi @runette
Thanks for opening this issue!

Could you please advertise a bit your use case ? I guess you would like to parse/re-use information so you may prefer getting those using json output activated?

[runette]

The user case is basically explained in the following article https://link.medium.com/C9lddCtrTgb And yes - what u want is the JSON formatted output.

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On Mon, 7 Jun 2021, 07:44 Adrien Delsalle, ***@***.***> wrote: Hi @runette <https://github.com/runette> Thanks for opening this issue! Could you please advertise a bit your use case ? I guess you would like to parse/re-use information so you may prefer getting those using json output activated? — You are receiving this because you were mentioned. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#985 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AARC2MZY2QZZ224KEHMQ4L3TRRTFBANCNFSM46EJLIPA> .

[wolfv]

Hi @runette that's an interesting use-case. In fact, we've been talking with the FreeCAD and QGIS developers about using mamba / libmamba as a plugin manager. Now I am sure Unity already has something, but nevertheless it could be interesting for your use-case.

Relevant links:

• https://forum.freecadweb.org/viewtopic.php?f=42&t=58156
• Turning Plugin Management into Actual Package Management qgis/QGIS-Enhancement-Proposals#179

I am not entirely sure that JSON is the best option as we could just as well expose native C or C++ data structures like lists or arrays of structs (dataframes).

Anyways, JSON might be easier in terms of memory management.

[runette]

Since, in most cases the C API will be wrapped by a binding into another language - in my case C# - I think that a JSON formatted string will probably be the simplest and most universal solution. Marshalling the structs gets tedious :) Unity has its own package manager - UPM. My choice is about wrapping an existing Conda native binary plugin (like GDAL) into a UPM package.

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On Mon, 7 Jun 2021, 12:35 Wolf Vollprecht, ***@***.***> wrote: Hi @runette <https://github.com/runette> that's an interesting use-case. In fact, we've been talking with the FreeCAD and QGIS developers about using mamba / libmamba as a plugin manager. Now I am sure Unity already has something, but nevertheless it could be interesting for your use-case. Relevant links: - https://forum.freecadweb.org/viewtopic.php?f=42&t=58156 - qgis/QGIS-Enhancement-Proposals#179 <qgis/QGIS-Enhancement-Proposals#179> I am not entirely sure that JSON is the best option as we could just as well expose native C or C++ data structures like lists or arrays of structs (dataframes). Anyways, JSON might be easier in terms of memory management. — You are receiving this because you were mentioned. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#985 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AARC2MZRP22IWRINSH3W5M3TRSVIDANCNFSM46EJLIPA> .