Using aws-iot-device-sdk-cpp as static lib in C project

[antonio-salieri]

I have a project written in C99 and wonder if I can use this (c++) SDK in it (e.g. to include crt/aws-c-iot).

Is this possible/recommended use?
If so, would I get all features that are present in cpp version, for example, is that library thread-safe, or do I need to create a wrapper for it?

Previously, I used aws-iot-device-sdk-embedded-c library in my project, but as it is not thread-safe, I need to add a wrapper around it (e.g. coreMQTT-Agent).
Since my app needs to run on Linux (it is not FreeRTOS project) and I need to implement coreMQTT-Agent port interface, I wonder if it would be easier to switch to c++ SDK?

[bretambrose]

The v2 C++ SDK (https://github.com/aws/aws-iot-device-sdk-cpp-v2) includes aws-c-iot in it. This SDK is in maintenance mode and has no relation to the C++ CRT or the v2 SDK.

As for thread safety, the v2 SDK should be thread safe (for a certain definition of thread-safe). This SDK is not.

[antonio-salieri]

Thanks @bretambrose!
Would you suggest using aws-iot-device-sdk-cpp-v2 on non-FreeRTOS C projects (running on Linux), instead of using aws-iot-device-sdk-embedded-c and messing with a thread-safe wrapper?

[bretambrose]

I don't know enough about the embedded C SDK to make a recommendation honestly. Depending on your resource constraints, a third possibility (between the extremes of the v2 C++ SDK and the embedded C SDK) is to use the C libraries that go into the C++ CRT. You won't get C++ bloat, but those C libraries aren't developed with concessions for highly-constrained environments (strict memory budgets, out-of-memory handling, etc...), so you end up with something in-between resource wise.

The full suite of C libraries (minus aws-c-iot) can be seen here in the C++ CRT's submodule set: https://github.com/awslabs/aws-crt-cpp/tree/main/crt

I guess the base recommendation I can make is if you're not concerned about the C++ SDK's binary size or memory usage (which isn't terrible, but isn't optimized for highly-constrained platforms), then it's a fine choice to use.

[github-actions[bot]]

Hello! Reopening this discussion to make it searchable.