pspsdk-go

README

PSPSDK Go

pspsdk-go provides Go bindings and ABI adapters for writing PSP homebrew with PSPSDK. Applications import packages below github.com/pspdev-go/pspsdk-go/psp and are compiled with pspgo.

Use pspgo to build pspsdk-go applications. A regular go build produces a host executable, while invoking TinyGo directly skips the bridge selection, PSPSDK library resolution, PSP linking, and EBOOT.PBP packaging performed by pspgo.

Requirements

• Go
• pspgo
• TinyGo with PSP support
• CMake

pspgo uses cmake --build; it does not invoke Make directly. CMake can use Make, Ninja, or another supported build backend.

Set PSPDEV to the PSPSDK installation and make its tools available:

export PSPDEV="$HOME/pspdev"
export PATH="$PSPDEV/bin:$PATH"

Install pspgo by following its installation guide. It can be built from source, installed with go install, or downloaded from the GitHub Releases page.

Example projects

You can reference the pspsdk-example repository.

Use in your own project

Add pspsdk-go to the Go module containing your application:

go mod init example.com/my-psp-app
go get github.com/pspdev-go/pspsdk-go@latest

pspgo resolves this module's directory from go.mod, including local paths configured with a replace directive:

pspgo doctor
pspgo build .

The SDK path can also be stored in pspgo.toml:

title = "My PSP Game"
output = "my-game"
build_dir = "build/pspgo"
kernel_mode = false

The PSP target is built into TinyGo and selected by pspgo; applications do not need to provide a psp.json.

Minimal application code can import the bindings directly:

package main

import (
	"github.com/pspdev-go/pspsdk-go/psp/debugscreen"
	"github.com/pspdev-go/pspsdk-go/psp/kernel"
	"github.com/pspdev-go/pspsdk-go/psp/threadman"
)

func main() {
	debugscreen.Init()
	debugscreen.PutString("Hello from Go!")
	threadman.SceKernelDelayThread(5_000_000)
	kernel.ExitGame()
}

See example/main.go for a complete rotating-cube example.

PSPSDK header mappings

The packages call PSPSDK symbols directly. The only remaining C bridge is bridge/main.c, which defines the PSP module metadata and calls the TinyGo entry point.

Go package	PSPSDK header
psp/ctrl	pspctrl.h
psp/debugscreen	pspdebug.h
psp/display	pspdisplay.h
psp/kernel	the currently used API from aggregate header pspkernel.h

Functions, constants, and structures use Go-friendly names. Constants and debug structure types also retain PSPSDK-style aliases where useful when porting C code.

The variadic C functions pspDebugScreenPrintf and pspDebugScreenKprintf cannot be called directly using the Go ABI. Use debugscreen.PutString, debugscreen.PrintData, debugscreen.PutInt, or debugscreen.PutHex32 instead. debugscreen.Printf provides a lightweight Go implementation of %%, %s, %d, %i, %u, %x, %X, %o, %b, %c, %t, and %p, including field width, left alignment, and zero padding. debugscreen.Kprintf and kdebug.Kprintf provide the same formatting support for their corresponding kernel debug outputs. Handler installation functions accept an unsafe.Pointer to a C-ABI callback; an ordinary Go function is not such a pointer.

Generated bindings

All 140 top-level headers in the installed PSPSDK have a corresponding package below psp/. This includes user-mode and kernel/driver psp*.h headers as well as ARK, CFW, Vita POPS, VLF, and helper-library headers. The psp prefix is removed from package names; for example:

Header	Go package
pspaudio.h	psp/audio
pspnet_adhoc.h	psp/net_adhoc
psputility_savedata.h	psp/utility_savedata
pspctrl_kernel.h	psp/ctrl_kernel
pspnand_driver.h	psp/nand_driver
systemctrl_ark.h	psp/systemctrl_ark
vitapops.h	psp/vitapops
vlf.h	psp/vlf

The generated bindings expose C functions with an exported first letter and retain the rest of the PSPSDK name. For example, sceAudioChReserve becomes audio.SceAudioChReserve. Enum constants retain their original PSPSDK names. C pointers, structures, unions, arrays, and callbacks that cannot be represented safely without a hand-maintained ABI type are exposed as unsafe.Pointer.

Regenerate the bindings against the currently installed PSPSDK with:

python3 tools/genbindings.py
gofmt -w psp/*/bindings_gen.go

See bindings-report.md for the package generated for each header, declaration counts, and unsupported variadic functions.

Kernel and driver packages add a library-requirement marker so automatic resolution selects the kernel/driver archive even when a user-mode archive exports an identically named symbol. Importing these packages does not grant kernel privileges. Build a kernel-mode module when the API requires it by setting kernel_mode = true in pspgo.toml:

kernel_mode = true

Kernel/driver APIs can modify firmware state or raw devices and must only be used with hardware- and firmware-appropriate arguments.

ARK, CFW, Adrenaline, Vita POPS, and VLF packages require the corresponding runtime environment and modules; successful static linking does not make those APIs available on unsupported firmware. Some combinations of custom firmware archives cause psp-fixup-imports to warn about import-stub order. Treat that warning as a deployment compatibility issue and test the resulting binary on the exact target firmware.

The variadic VLF text functions are available as vlf.AddText and vlf.SetText, using the same lightweight Go formatter as debugscreen.Printf.