idax-sys

Raw extern "C" FFI bindings to the idax C++ IDA SDK wrapper library, generated by bindgen.

You almost certainly want the idax crate instead, which provides safe, idiomatic Rust wrappers around everything exposed here.

What this crate provides

622 FFI function declarations covering 27 IDA SDK domains (database, segments, functions, instructions, types, decompiler, debugger, and more)
115 C struct/enum/callback typedefs for data transfer across the FFI boundary
A C shim layer (shim/idax_shim.h + shim/idax_shim.cpp) that bridges extern "C" to the idax C++ API
Automatic bindgen code generation at build time — the output lands in $OUT_DIR/bindings.rs

Prerequisites

Building this crate requires:

IDA Pro installed in a standard location (or $IDADIR set)
CMake and a C++23 compiler
Rust 2024 edition (nightly or stable 1.85+)

The build script handles everything else automatically: it builds the idax C++ library with CMake, fetches the IDA SDK if $IDASDK is not set, compiles the C shim, runs bindgen, and links everything together.

Installation

[dependencies]
idax-sys = "0.3"

Build environment

No manual setup required. The build script auto-discovers your IDA installation:

$IDADIR — explicit override
macOS: /Applications/IDA*.app/Contents/MacOS (newest first)
Linux: /opt/idapro*, /opt/ida-*, /opt/ida, ~/ida*

Optional environment variables:

export IDASDK=/path/to/idasdk   # Override SDK location (otherwise auto-fetched)
export IDADIR=/path/to/ida       # Override IDA runtime location
export IDAX_DIR=/path/to/idax    # Override idax source tree (otherwise auto-cloned)

FFI conventions

The C shim follows consistent conventions documented in shim/idax_shim.h:

Pattern	Convention
Error signaling	Functions returning `int`: `0` = success, negative = error
Error details	Thread-local state via `idax_last_error_category()` / `idax_last_error_code()` / `idax_last_error_message()`
String outputs	Returned via `char**` out-params, `malloc`'d — free with `idax_free_string()`
Array outputs	Returned via pointer+count out-params, `malloc`'d — free with `free()` or the appropriate `_free()` function
Opaque handles	`void*` (e.g. `IdaxTypeHandle`) — free with the corresponding `idax_type_free()` etc.
Boolean queries	Return `1` = true, `0` = false (never negative)

Covered domains

Domain	C prefix	Functions
Error handling	`idax_last_error_`, `idax_free_`	5
Database	`idax_database_*`	28
Address	`idax_address_*`	19
Segment	`idax_segment_*`	20
Function	`idax_function_*`	37
Instruction	`idax_instruction_*`	39
Data	`idax_data_*`	32
Name	`idax_name_*`	16
Cross-references	`idax_xref_*`	16
Comment	`idax_comment_*`	18
Search	`idax_search_*`	8
Analysis	`idax_analysis_*`	12
Types	`idax_type_*`	44
Entry points	`idax_entry_*`	8
Fixups	`idax_fixup_*`	12
Events	`idax_event_*`	10
Plugin	`idax_plugin_*`	12
Loader	`idax_loader_*`	12
Debugger	`idax_debugger_*`	67
Decompiler	`idax_decompiler_*`	32
Storage	`idax_storage_*`	14
Lumina	`idax_lumina_*`	2
Graph	`idax_graph_*`	10
UI	`idax_ui_*`	42
Lines	`idax_lines_*`	2
Diagnostics	`idax_diagnostics_*`	7

Architecture

  idax-sys (this crate)
       |
       |-- build.rs
       |     |-- compiles shim/idax_shim.cpp via `cc`
       |     |-- runs bindgen on shim/idax_shim.h
       |     |-- links libidax.a + IDA SDK dylibs
       |
       |-- src/lib.rs
             |-- include!(concat!(env!("OUT_DIR"), "/bindings.rs"))

Linking

The build script links:

libidax.a (static) — the idax C++ wrapper
libida.dylib / libida.so (dynamic) — the IDA SDK runtime
The platform C++ standard library (libc++ on macOS, libstdc++ on Linux)

Safety

Everything in this crate is unsafe. Use the idax crate for safe wrappers.

License

MIT

idax-sys 0.3.0