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V is for Vaporware (#57)
* v post * blog/v: grammar fixes * this was unrecoverable * oh -lexecinfo exists * random * random random
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title: V is for Vaporware
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date: 2019-06-23
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---
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# V is for Vaporware
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[V](http://vlang.io) is a programming language that has been hyped a lot. As it's
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recently had its first alpha release, I figured it would be a good idea to step
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through it and see if it lives up to the promises that the author has been
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claiming for months.
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The V website claims the following on the front page:
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- The compiler compiles 1.2 million lines of code compiled per CPU core per second
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- The resulting code is as fast as C
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- Built-in serialization without runtime reflection
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- Minimal amount of allocations
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- Zero dependencies
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- Requires only 0.4 MB of space to build
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- Able to translate arbitrary C/C++ code to V and build it faster than C/C++
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- Hot code reloading
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- 2d/3d graphics support in the standard library
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- Effortless cross-compilation
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- A powerful built-in web framework
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- The compiler generates direct machine code
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As far as I can tell, all of the above features are either "work-in-progress"
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or completely absent from the source repository.
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## Speed
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The author mentions that the compiler is fast, stating the following:
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> Fast compilation
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>
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> V compiles ≈1.2 million lines of code per second per CPU core. (Intel
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> i5-7500 @ 3.40GHz, SM0256L SSD, no optimization)
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>
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> Such speed is achieved by direct machine code generation [wip] and a strong
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> modularity.
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>
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> V can also emit C, then the compilation speed drops to ≈100k lines/second/CPU.
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>
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> Direct machine code generation is at a very early stage. Right now only
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> x64/Mach-O is supported. This means that for now emitting C has to be used. By
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> the end of this year x64 generation should be stable enough.
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This has a few pretty fantastic claims. Let's see if they can be replicated.
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Creating a 1.2 million line of code file should be pretty easy:
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```
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-- lua
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print "fn main() {"
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for i = 0, 1200000, 1
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do
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print "println('hello, world ')"
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end
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print "}"
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```
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Then let's run this script to generate the 1.2 million lines of code:
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```
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$ time lua5.3 ./gencode.lua > 1point2mil.v
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4.29 real 0.83 user 3.27 sys
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```
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And compile the resulting file:
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```
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$ time v 1point2mil.v
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pass=2 fn=`main`
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panic: 1point2mil.v:50003
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more than 50 000 statements in function `main`
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2.43 real 2.13 user 0.15 sys
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```
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Oh boy. It's also worth noting that it was more than 2 seconds to only compile
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50,000 lines of code on my Core m7 12" MacBook.
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## No Dependencies
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V claims to have zero dependencies. Again quoting from the website:
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> 400 KB compiler with zero [wip] dependencies
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>
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> The entire language and its standard library are less than 400 KB. V is written
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> in V, and you can build it in 0.4 seconds.
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>
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> (By the end of this year this number will drop to ≈0.15 seconds.)
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...
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> Right now the V compiler does have one dependency: a C compiler. But it's
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> needed to bootstrap the language anyway, and if you are doing development,
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> chances are you already have a C compiler installed.
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>
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> It's a small dependency, and it's not going to be needed once x64 generation
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> is mature enough.
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AMD64 is not the only CPU architecture that exists, but okay I'll take that you
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are only targeting the most common one.
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Digging through the [readme](https://github.com/vlang/v/blob/8b08bf636acfba5af7f10e2bd0a646aaa71c16f5/README.md),
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its graphics library and HTTP support require some dependencies:
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> In order to build Tetris and anything else using the graphics module, you will need to install glfw and freetype.
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>
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> If you plan to use the http package, you also need to install libcurl.
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>
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> glfw and libcurl dependencies will be removed soon.
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>
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> Ubuntu:
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> sudo apt install glfw libglfw3-dev libfreetype6-dev libcurl3-dev
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>
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> macOS:
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> brew install glfw freetype curl
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I'm sorry, but this combined with the explicit dependency on a C compiler means
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that V has dependencies. Now, breaking the grammar down pretty literally it says
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the _compiler_ has zero dependencies. Let's see what `ldd` says about the compiler
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when built on Linux:
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```
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$ ldd v
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linux-vdso.so.1 (0x00007ffc0f02e000)
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libpthread.so.0 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libpthread.so.0 (0x00007f356c6cc000)
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libc.so.6 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6 (0x00007f356c2db000)
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/lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 (0x00007f356cb25000)
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```
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So the compiler with "zero dependencies" is a _dynamically linked binary_ with
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dependencies on libpthread and libc (the other two are glibc-specific).
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Also of note, I had to modify the [Makefile](https://github.com/vlang/v/blob/master/compiler/Makefile)
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in order to get it to build on Linux without segfaulting every time it tried
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to compile code:
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```
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$ git diff
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diff --git a/compiler/Makefile b/compiler/Makefile
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index e29d30d..353824d 100644
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--- a/compiler/Makefile
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+++ b/compiler/Makefile
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@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ v: vc
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./vc -o v .
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vc: v.c
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- cc -std=c11 -w -o vc v.c
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+ clang -Dlinux -std=c11 -w -o vc v.c
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v.c:
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wget https://vlang.io/v.c
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```
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Otherwise it would segfault every time I tried to run it with:
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```
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$ ./v --help
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fish: “./v --help” terminated by signal SIGSEGV (Address boundary error)
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```
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Before I added the `-Dlinux` flag, it also failed compile with the following
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error:
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```
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$ make
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clang -std=c11 -w -o vc v.c
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./vc -o v .
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cc: error: unrecognized command line option ‘-mmacosx-version-min=10.7’
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V panic: clang error
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Makefile:4: recipe for target 'v' failed
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make: *** [v] Error 1
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```
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Implying that the compiler was _falsely detecting Linux as macOS_.
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## Memory Safety
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V claims to be memory-safe:
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> Memory management
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>
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> There's no garbage collection or reference counting. V cleans up what it can
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> during compilation.
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So I made a simple "hello world" program:
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```
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fn main() {
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println('hello world!') // V only supports single quoted strings
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}
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```
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and built it on my Linux box with valgrind installed. Surely a "hello world"
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program has no good reason to leak memory, right?
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```
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$ time v hello.v
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0.02user 0.00system 0:00.32elapsed 9%CPU (0avgtext+0avgdata 6196maxresident)k
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0inputs+104outputs (0major+1162minor)pagefaults 0swaps
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$ valgrind ./hello
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==5860== Memcheck, a memory error detector
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==5860== Copyright (C) 2002-2017, and GNU GPL'd, by Julian Seward et al.
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==5860== Using Valgrind-3.13.0 and LibVEX; rerun with -h for copyright info
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==5860== Command: ./hello
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==5860==
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hello, world
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==5860==
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==5860== HEAP SUMMARY:
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==5860== in use at exit: 1,000 bytes in 1 blocks
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==5860== total heap usage: 2 allocs, 1 frees, 2,024 bytes allocated
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==5860==
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==5860== LEAK SUMMARY:
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==5860== definitely lost: 0 bytes in 0 blocks
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==5860== indirectly lost: 0 bytes in 0 blocks
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==5860== possibly lost: 0 bytes in 0 blocks
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==5860== still reachable: 1,000 bytes in 1 blocks
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==5860== suppressed: 0 bytes in 0 blocks
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==5860== Rerun with --leak-check=full to see details of leaked memory
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==5860==
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==5860== For counts of detected and suppressed errors, rerun with: -v
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==5860== ERROR SUMMARY: 0 errors from 0 contexts (suppressed: 0 from 0)
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```
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Looking at the [generated C code](https://gist.github.com/Xe/1afdd4c7e7c9cfa23d1aa87194ee5190#file-hello-c-L3698-L3705)
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it's plainly obvious to see this memory leak. `init_consts` creates a 1000 byte
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allocation and never frees it. This is a memory leak that is unavoidable in
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any program compiled with V. This is potentially confusing for people who are
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trying to debug memory leaks in their V code. They will always be off by 1
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allocation and 1000 bytes leaked without an easy way to tell why that is the
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case. The compiler itself also leaks memory:
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```
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$ valgrind v hello.v
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==9096== Memcheck, a memory error detector
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==9096== Copyright (C) 2002-2017, and GNU GPL'd, by Julian Seward et al.
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==9096== Using Valgrind-3.13.0 and LibVEX; rerun with -h for copyright info
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==9096== Command: v hello.v
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==9096==
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==9096==
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==9096== HEAP SUMMARY:
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==9096== in use at exit: 3,861,785 bytes in 24,843 blocks
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==9096== total heap usage: 25,588 allocs, 745 frees, 4,286,917 bytes allocated
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==9096==
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==9096== LEAK SUMMARY:
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==9096== definitely lost: 778,354 bytes in 18,773 blocks
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==9096== indirectly lost: 3,077,104 bytes in 6,020 blocks
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==9096== possibly lost: 0 bytes in 0 blocks
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==9096== still reachable: 6,327 bytes in 50 blocks
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==9096== suppressed: 0 bytes in 0 blocks
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==9096== Rerun with --leak-check=full to see details of leaked memory
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==9096==
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==9096== For counts of detected and suppressed errors, rerun with: -v
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==9096== ERROR SUMMARY: 0 errors from 0 contexts (suppressed: 0 from 0)
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```
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## Space Required to Build
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V also claims to only require 400-ish kilobytes of disk space to build itself.
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Let's test this claim with a minimal Dockerfile:
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```
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FROM xena/alpine
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RUN apk --no-cache add build-base libexecinfo-dev clang git \
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&& git clone https://github.com/vlang/v /root/code/v \
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&& cd /root/code/v/compiler \
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&& wget https://vlang.io/v.c \
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&& clang -Dlinux -std=c11 -w -o vc v.c \
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&& ./vc -o v . \
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&& du -sh /root/code/v /root/.vlang0.0.12 \
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&& apk del clang
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```
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Except it doesn't build on Alpine:
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```
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/usr/bin/ld: /tmp/v-c9fb07.o: in function `os__print_backtrace':
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v.c:(.text+0x84d9): undefined reference to `backtrace'
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/usr/bin/ld: v.c:(.text+0x8514): undefined reference to `backtrace_symbols_fd'
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clang-8: error: linker command failed with exit code 1 (use -v to see invocation)
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```
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It looks like `backtrace()` is a glibc-specific addon. Let's link against
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[`libexecinfo`](https://www.freshports.org/devel/libexecinfo) to fix this:
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```
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&& clang -Dlinux -lexecinfo -std=c11 -w -o vc v.c \
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```
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```
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Cloning into '/root/code/v'...
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Connecting to vlang.io (3.91.188.13:443)
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v.c 100% |********************************| 310k 0:00:00 ETA
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Segmentation fault (core dumped)
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```
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Annoying, but we can adjust to Ubuntu fairly easily:
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```
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FROM ubuntu:latest
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RUN apt update \
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&& apt -y install wget build-essential clang git \
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&& git clone https://github.com/vlang/v /root/code/v \
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&& cd /root/code/v/compiler \
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&& wget https://vlang.io/v.c \
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&& clang -Dlinux -std=c11 -w -o vc v.c \
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&& ./vc -o v . \
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&& du -sh /root/code/v /root/.vlang0.0.12 \
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&& apt -y remove clang
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```
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As of the time of writing this article, the image `ubuntu:latest` has an
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uncompressed size of `64.2MB`. If the V compiler only requires 400 KB to build
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like it claims, the resulting image size for this Dockerfile should be around
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65 MB at worst, right?
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the resulting `du` command should show 400 KB in total, right?
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```
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3.4M /root/code/v
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304K /root/.vlang0.0.12
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```
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3.7 MB. That means the 400 KB claim is either a lie or "work-in-progress".
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Coincidentally, the compiler uses about as much disk space as it leaks during
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the compilation of "Hello, world".
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## HTTP Module
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V has a [http module](https://github.com/vlang/v/tree/master/http). It leaves a
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lot to be desired. My favorite part is the implementation of [`download_file` on macOS](https://github.com/vlang/v/blob/master/http/download_mac.v#L60-L67):
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```
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fn download_file(url, out string) {
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// println('\nDOWNLOAD FILE $out url=$url')
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// -L follow redirects
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// println('curl -L -o "$out" "$url"')
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os.system2('curl -s -L -o "$out" "$url"')
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// res := os.system('curl -s -L -o "$out" "$url"')
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// println(res)
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}
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```
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This has no error checking (the function `os.system2` returns the exit code of
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curl) and it _shells out to curl instead of using libcurl_.
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[Other parts of the http module use libcurl](https://github.com/vlang/v/blob/master/http/http_mac.v#L79-L191)
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correctly (though the HTTP status code, headers and other important metadata
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are not returned). There is also no support for overriding the HTTP transport,
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setting a custom TLS configuration or many other basic features that
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_libcurl provides for free_.
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I wasn't expecting it to have HTTP support out of the box, but even then I still
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feel disappointed.
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## Random Number Generation
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Randomness is important for programming languages to get right. Here is how V
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implements randomness:
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```
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module rand
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#include <time.h>
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// #include <stdlib.h>
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fn seed() {
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# time_t t;
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# srand((unsigned) time(&t));
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}
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fn next(max int) int {
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# return rand() % max;
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return 0
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}
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```
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I mean I guess this is technically a valid implementation of randomness, but
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this is how you get security vulnerabilities because people
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[thought random values were random](https://www.rapid7.com/db/vulnerabilities/openssl-debian-weak-keys).
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A correct implementation is commented out. Yay.
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## Suggestions for Improvement
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I would like to see V be a tool for productive development. I can't see it doing
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that in the near future though. I would like to suggest the following to the V
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developer in order for them to be able to improve in the future:
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Firstly, do not make claims about disk space, speed or dependencies without
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explaining what you mean by that _in detail_.
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Do not shell out to arbitrary commands in the standard library for any reason.
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If an attacker can somehow run code on a server with a V binary that uses the
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`download_file` function, they can replace `curl` with a malicious binary that
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is able to do anything the attacker wants. This feels like a huge vulnerability,
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especially given that the playground allows you to run this function.
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AMD64 is not the only processor architecture that exists. It's nice that you're
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supporting it, but this means that any program compiled with V will be stuck on
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that architecture. This also means that V cannot currently be used for systems
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programming like building a system-level package manager.
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Do not leak memory in "Hello world". You could solve the 1000 kilobyte leak by
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adding the following generated C code and calling it after the user-written
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main() function:
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```
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void destroy_consts() { free(g_str_buf); }
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```
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If you claim your compiler can support 1.2 million lines of code, do not make it
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have a limit of 50,000 statements in one function. Yes it is somewhat crazy to
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have 1.2 million statements in a single function, but as a compiler author it's
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generally not your position to make these kinds of judgments. If the user wants
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to have 1.2 million statements in a function, let them.
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Do not give code examples for libraries that you have not released. This means
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don't show anything about the "built-in web framework" until you have code to
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back your claim. If there is no code to back it up, you have backed yourself
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into a corner where you are looking like you are lying. I would have loved to
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benchmark V's web framework against Nim's Jester and Go's net/http, but I can't.
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Please fix the implementation of randomness. Holy crap that is a billion
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security bugs waiting to happen.
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Thanks for reading this far. I hope this feedback can help make V a productive
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tool for programming. It's a shame it seems to have been hyped so much for
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comparatively so little as a result. The developer has been hyping and selling
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this language like it's the new sliced bread. It is not. This is a very alpha
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product. I bet you could use it for productive development as is if you really
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stuck your head into it, but as it stands I recommend against using it for
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anything.
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