I'm making a modification to a D binding for a C library. I made
a CTFE function which takes a function declaration with one or
more `const(char)*` or `char*` parameters and makes an overload
that accepts D strings. While this function is only used during
compile time, unfortunately, I have found that it results in the
library no longer supporting `-betterC`. The compiler gives the
following error.
```
/usr/include/dlang/dmd/core/lifetime.d(2760,42): Error:
`TypeInfo` cannot be used with -betterC
/usr/include/dlang/dmd/std/utf.d(1556,24): instantiated
from here: `_d_newclassT!(UTFException)`
/usr/include/dlang/dmd/std/utf.d(1563,32): instantiated
from here: `exception!(const(char)[])`
/usr/include/dlang/dmd/std/utf.d(1186,54): instantiated
from here: `decodeImpl!(true, Flag.no, const(char)[])`
/usr/include/dlang/dmd/std/range/primitives.d(2551,18):
instantiated from here: `decode!(Flag.no, const(char)[])`
/usr/include/dlang/dmd/std/range/primitives.d(178,40):
instantiated from here: `front!char`
Error /usr/bin/dmd failed with exit code 1.
```
I don't know what part of the function uses `TypeInfo` (as I
don't really understand what that is), but I know that it is this
CTFE function causing the error, because commenting out the
mixins that use it results in the `-betterC` program compiling
properly. Here is the CTFE function I wrote:
```
string MakeStringOverload(alias func)() {
string def = ReturnType!func.stringof ~" "~
__traits(identifier, func) ~ "(";
auto paramNames = ParameterIdentifierTuple!func;
import std.algorithm.searching;
foreach(i, paramType; Parameters!func) {
if (paramType.stringof.canFind("char")) def ~= "ref
string"; // Made a reference so that D string literals know to
use the base version of the function and not this one.
else def ~= paramType.stringof;
def ~= " "~paramNames[i] ~ ", ";
}
def.length -= 2;
def ~= ") { ";
if (ReturnType!func.stringof != "void") def ~= "return ";
def ~= __traits(identifier, func) ~ "(";
foreach(i, argument; paramNames) {
if (Parameters!func[i].stringof.canFind("char")) def ~=
"cast(char*)";
def ~= argument ~ ", ";
}
def.length -= 2;
def ~= "); }";
return def;
}
```
In the module where the base versions of functions are declared,
I do the following to generate overloads:
```
mixin(MakeStringOverload!SetWindowTitle);
mixin(MakeStringOverload!LoadShader);
mixin(MakeStringOverload!LoadShaderFromMemory);
mixin(MakeStringOverload!GetShaderLocation);
```
So what part of my function is using "TypeInfo"? Can I somehow
label my function as compile-time only so that it stops
complaining? If not what else can I do to get it to stop
complaining and compile with `betterC`?