1 // Copyright 2019 The Go Authors. All rights reserved. 2 // Use of this source code is governed by a BSD-style 3 // license that can be found in the LICENSE file. 4 5 // Package proto provides functions operating on protocol buffer messages. 6 // 7 // For documentation on protocol buffers in general, see: 8 // https://protobuf.dev. 9 // 10 // For a tutorial on using protocol buffers with Go, see: 11 // https://protobuf.dev/getting-started/gotutorial. 12 // 13 // For a guide to generated Go protocol buffer code, see: 14 // https://protobuf.dev/reference/go/go-generated. 15 // 16 // # Binary serialization 17 // 18 // This package contains functions to convert to and from the wire format, 19 // an efficient binary serialization of protocol buffers. 20 // 21 // - [Size] reports the size of a message in the wire format. 22 // 23 // - [Marshal] converts a message to the wire format. 24 // The [MarshalOptions] type provides more control over wire marshaling. 25 // 26 // - [Unmarshal] converts a message from the wire format. 27 // The [UnmarshalOptions] type provides more control over wire unmarshaling. 28 // 29 // # Basic message operations 30 // 31 // - [Clone] makes a deep copy of a message. 32 // 33 // - [Merge] merges the content of a message into another. 34 // 35 // - [Equal] compares two messages. For more control over comparisons 36 // and detailed reporting of differences, see package 37 // [google.golang.org/protobuf/testing/protocmp]. 38 // 39 // - [Reset] clears the content of a message. 40 // 41 // - [CheckInitialized] reports whether all required fields in a message are set. 42 // 43 // # Optional scalar constructors 44 // 45 // The API for some generated messages represents optional scalar fields 46 // as pointers to a value. For example, an optional string field has the 47 // Go type *string. 48 // 49 // - [Bool], [Int32], [Int64], [Uint32], [Uint64], [Float32], [Float64], and [String] 50 // take a value and return a pointer to a new instance of it, 51 // to simplify construction of optional field values. 52 // 53 // Generated enum types usually have an Enum method which performs the 54 // same operation. 55 // 56 // Optional scalar fields are only supported in proto2. 57 // 58 // # Extension accessors 59 // 60 // - [HasExtension], [GetExtension], [SetExtension], and [ClearExtension] 61 // access extension field values in a protocol buffer message. 62 // 63 // Extension fields are only supported in proto2. 64 // 65 // # Related packages 66 // 67 // - Package [google.golang.org/protobuf/encoding/protojson] converts messages to 68 // and from JSON. 69 // 70 // - Package [google.golang.org/protobuf/encoding/prototext] converts messages to 71 // and from the text format. 72 // 73 // - Package [google.golang.org/protobuf/reflect/protoreflect] provides a 74 // reflection interface for protocol buffer data types. 75 // 76 // - Package [google.golang.org/protobuf/testing/protocmp] provides features 77 // to compare protocol buffer messages with the [github.com/google/go-cmp/cmp] 78 // package. 79 // 80 // - Package [google.golang.org/protobuf/types/dynamicpb] provides a dynamic 81 // message type, suitable for working with messages where the protocol buffer 82 // type is only known at runtime. 83 // 84 // This module contains additional packages for more specialized use cases. 85 // Consult the individual package documentation for details. 86 package proto 87