libnx-rs-template

Simple template to get started with lib-nx-rs.

Setup

The simplest setup is to install Docker and clone the repository; if Docker is used, then everything is handled for you.

If you would like to use this template without Docker, you must install devkitpro, cargo nightly, rust-src, and xargo and make sure that rust is set as "nightly" by default. You also need gcc.

Using the template

Developing

Using libnx-rs is exactly like using standard Rust; the entire libstd has been ported. However, there are a couple of extra things to remember when you develop with libnx-rs:

• Since the Switch is a custom target, we have a custom target JSON file to build against and pass in a lot of extra arguments to the linker via a .cargo/config file, both of which are included in this template.

• Since technically Rust doesn't support the Switch, you need to use Xargo to build a valid sysroot. If you are using this template then all this involves is running the makew script, but if you are trying to get things set up from scratch it may become a more involved process.

• libnx-rs-std is not the standard Rust libstd. Things may behave in strange ways that you don't expect.

Building

There are 3 ways to package and build an nro from your code:

• The simplest way is to build the docker container and then run it as an executable, passing the working directory as a volume; ie docker build --rm -f Dockerfile -t rusted-switch:latest once and then docker run --rm -v $PWD:/workdir rusted-switch to recompile. This process will not be able to take advantage of Rust's build cache or incremental compilation, and will require downloading all the dependencies each time.

• The fastest way is to install the dependencies manually and then just run ./makew. This will take advantage of the cache and local directories, but involves a long setup process.

• The recommended way is to create a docker container that all compilation will be done in. Just like in the first way, an image is built via docker build --rm -f Dockerfile -t rusted-switch:latest, but unlike in the first way, it is run via the command docker run -v $PWD:/workdir -it rusted-switch:latest /bin/bash, dropping you into a terminal inside the container at the workdir directory, which is the current code directory. If you want to compile the code, just run ./makew from that container. This has all the benefits of the "fast" way without having to install all the different dependencies and is easier to keep up-to-date as things change.

Credits and Thanks

• Igor1201's rusted-switch which provided the foundation for this template.

• Roblabla and his mighty Megaton Hammer for allowing me to take over his Discord server.