Enhancing C/C++ based OSS development and discoverability with CBRJS: A Rust/Node.js/WebAssembly framework for repackaging legacy codebases

Abstract

Since the appearance of the C programming language and later C++, a plethora of libraries have been developed in both languages. Unfortunately, discovering such Open Source Software (OSS) components efficiently is not always an easy task. Nonetheless, recent advancements in OSS technologies present an opportunity to improve the status quo. In this paper, we introduce a prototype framework, which utilizes the Rust and JavaScript programming languages, as well as their respective ecosystems, alongside the WebAssembly state-of-the-art Web standard, for achieving boosted exposure for hard-to-find C/C++ OSS components, by taking advantage of their package discovery and delivery channels. By demonstrating how this system works, we show that this methodology is capable of increasing the exposure of such libraries, and providing a modernized stage for further development and maintenance. Provided metrics exhibit a more than twofold increase in downloads for a re-packaged library, superior discoverability compared to standard public OSS code repositories, as well as evidence that Web browser vendors invest heavily in optimizing the underlying runtime.