dear-implot-sys

Low-level FFI bindings for ImPlot via the cimplot C API. This crate pairs with dear-imgui-sys (cimgui C API) and exposes ImPlot_* functions/types for higher-level crates (dear-implot).

Features

• prebuilt: allow the build script to auto-download a release archive when available (or when IMPLOT_SYS_USE_PREBUILT=1).
• build-from-source: force building native sources with cc even if a prebuilt could be linked.
• freetype: passthrough to dear-imgui-sys/freetype to enable FreeType in the workspace.
• package-bin: enable an internal bin/package helper to produce release artifacts.

Build Modes

This crate supports three ways to obtain the native dear_implot static library:

• Source build (default)
  • Compiles cimplot.cpp and embedded implot/*.cpp with cc.
  • Inherits include paths and preprocessor defines from dear-imgui-sys.
• System/prebuilt library
  • Links an existing static library from a directory you provide.
• Docs.rs
  • Generates Rust bindings only; native code is not compiled.

Environment Variables

• IMPLOT_SYS_LIB_DIR
  • Directory containing the prebuilt static library.
  • Expected names: dear_implot.lib (Windows/MSVC), libdear_implot.a (Unix).
• IMPLOT_SYS_PREBUILT_URL
  • Direct URL to the prebuilt static library file.
  • The file is downloaded to OUT_DIR/prebuilt/ and reused on subsequent builds.
• IMPLOT_SYS_SKIP_CC
  • If set, skips native C/C++ compilation. Typically used with one of the above.

The build script also consumes the include paths and defines exported by dear-imgui-sys:

• DEP_DEAR_IMGUI_IMGUI_INCLUDE_PATH, DEP_DEAR_IMGUI_CIMGUI_INCLUDE_PATH
• DEP_DEAR_IMGUI_DEFINE_*

Examples

• Default (source build):

cargo build -p dear-implot-sys -p dear-implot

• System/prebuilt library (Windows):

$env:IMPLOT_SYS_LIB_DIR = "C:\\prebuilt\\implot"
cargo build -p dear-implot-sys

• System/prebuilt library (Unix):

export IMPLOT_SYS_LIB_DIR=/opt/implot/lib
cargo build -p dear-implot-sys

• Remote prebuilt download:

# Windows: URL must point to dear_implot.lib
$env:IMPLOT_SYS_PREBUILT_URL = "https://example.com/dear_implot.lib"

# Unix: URL must point to libdear_implot.a
export IMPLOT_SYS_PREBUILT_URL=https://example.com/libdear_implot.a

cargo build -p dear-implot-sys

Notes

• Linking to the base ImGui static library is provided by dear-imgui-sys; this crate does not duplicate cargo:rustc-link-lib for it.
• MSVC (Windows) builds align CRT and exception flags with dear-imgui-sys.
• docs.rs builds generate bindings only and export include paths for downstream crates.
• Higher-level Rust APIs live in extensions/dear-implot/. See that crate for usage patterns and examples.