| # Welcome to `include/grpc/impl/codegen` |
| |
| ## Why is this directory here? |
| |
| This directory exists so that generated C++ code can include selected files upon |
| which it depends without having to depend on the entire gRPC C++ library. This |
| directory thus exists to support `include/grpcpp/impl/codegen`. This constraint |
| is particularly relevant for users of bazel, particularly if they use the |
| multi-lingual `proto_library` target type. Generated code that uses this target |
| only depends on the gRPC C++ targets associated with these header files, not the |
| entire gRPC C++ codebase since that would make the build time of these types of |
| targets excessively large (particularly when they are not even C++ specific). |
| |
| ## What should user code do? |
| |
| User code should *not* include anything from this directory. Only generated code |
| and gRPC library code should include contents from this directory. C++ user code |
| should instead include contents from the main `grpcpp` directory or its |
| accessible subcomponents like `grpcpp/support`. It is possible that we may |
| remove this directory altogether if the motivations for its existence are no |
| longer strong enough (e.g., if the gRPC C++ library no longer has a need for an |
| `impl/codegen` directory of its own). |
