Crate mesh_protobuf 

Low-level serialization and deserialization engine for mesh messages.

Most code won’t use this directly but will instead use one of the derive macros:

• Protobuf — generates tagged protobuf encoding with explicit field numbers (#[mesh(N)]). Use for durable saved state that must be forward- and backward-compatible.
• MeshPayload (in mesh_derive) — generates positional encoding without field numbers. Use for internal runtime messages where compatibility across versions is not required.

Wire format

The encoding is a superset of Protocol Buffers, allowing protobuf clients and mesh to interoperate for a subset of types. The extension adds a sideband resource channel for transferring OS resources (file descriptors, handles, ports) that cannot be serialized to bytes.

Why not serde?

serde takes values by reference (&self), which makes it impossible to transfer ownership of resources like ports, handles, and file descriptors. mesh’s encoding takes values by value, consuming the source and producing the value at the destination. This is the fundamental design difference that enables mesh’s resource-transfer model.

no_std support

This crate is no_std by default (with alloc). Enable the std feature for additional functionality.

Modules

buffer

Types to support writing to a contiguous byte buffer.

encoding

Protobuf encodings for Rust types.

inplace

Provides an Option-like type for constructing values in place.

message

Type-erased protobuf message support.

oneof

Encoding support for protobuf oneof fields, which are derived from Rust enums.

prost

Support for encoding Prost types as Mesh types.

protobuf

Tools to encode and decode protobuf messages.

protofile

Definitions for describing the format protobuf messages. These can be used to generate .proto files that are binary compatible with the associated Rust types.

table

Table-based message encoding and decoding.

transparent

Transparent encoding for types that are a wrapper around another type.

Macros

inplace

Constructs a possibly-initialized crate::inplace::InplaceOption on the stack from an Option<T>.

inplace_none

Constructs an uninitialized crate::inplace::InplaceOption on the stack.

inplace_some

Constructs an initialized crate::inplace::InplaceOption on the stack from a T.

os_resource

Implements DefaultEncoding for OS resources.

Structs

EncodeAs

Wrapper type to easily support custom mesh encoding.

Error

A decoding error.

SerializedMessage

A serialized message, consisting of binary data and a list of resources.

Timestamp

A timestamp representing a point in UTC time with nanosecond resolution.

Enums

NoResources

An empty resources type, used when an encoding does not require any external resources (such as files or mesh channels).

Traits

CopyExtend

Trait for collections that can be extended by a slice of T: Copy.

DefaultEncoding

Associates the default encoder/decoder type for converting an object to/from protobuf format.

DescribedProtobuf

Trait for types implementing Protobuf and having an associated protobuf message description.

FieldDecode

The FieldEncode trait provides a field decoder for type T.

FieldEncode

The FieldEncode trait provides a field encoder for type T.

MessageDecode

The MessageEncode trait provides a message decoder for type T.

MessageEncode

The MessageEncode trait provides a message encoder for type T.

PackedDecode

Methods for decoding a packed field.

PackedEncode

Encoder methods for writing packed fields.

Protobuf

Trait for types that can be encoded and decoded as a protobuf message.

ResultExt

Extension trait to add type context to Error.

Functions

decode

Decodes a message with its default encoding.

encode

Encodes a message with its default encoding.

merge

Merges message fields into an existing message.

Type Aliases

Result

A decoding result.

Derive Macros

Protobuf