runs the testfiles/ test

Makefile

@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 VERSION = $(shell git describe --tags)
 BUILDTIME = $(shell date +%Y.%m.%d_%H%M)
 
-test: goimports build auto
+test: goimports build test
 
 full: clean goimports auto vet install
 
@@ -27,7 +27,10 @@ auto.pb.go: auto.proto
 	./autogenpb --proto auto.proto --package testfiles
 	rm -f auto.sort.pb.go auto.marshal.pb.go
 
-auto:
+test:
+	make -C testfiles full
+
+junk:
 	cd testfiles; rm -f go.* *.pb.go
 	cd testfiles; ../autogenpb --proto auto.proto --package yellow
 	cd testfiles; GO111MODULE=off go vet

auto.proto

@@ -0,0 +1,101 @@
+syntax = "proto3";
+
+// here are some docs, but probably it's just easier to run
+// autogenpb on this file and see what gets autogenerated
+// in this directory. All autogenerated files are named *.pb.go
+
+// the 'uuid' standard at the end is an experiment
+// establish a way to identify arbitrary .pb files
+
+// You can generate Marshal & Unmarshal for any struct (message) you want
+// You can generate SortBy and Append functions ONLY FOR 'repeated <message>'
+// Also, those structs must be defined in the same file
+// Additionally, you must use `autogenpb:mutex` on the parent struct. 
+// The autogenerated code requires a RW mutex and autogenpb will insert it into the struct
+
+package main;
+
+message Apple {	       	        	// `autogenpb:marshal`
+	string   name           = 1;    // `autogenpb:unique` // generates SortByxxx() and AppendUnique() functions
+	string   genus          = 2;    // `autogenpb:unique` // generates same thing here but SortByGenus()
+}
+
+message Apples {	        	// `autogenpb:marshal` `autogenpb:mutex`
+	string   uuid	        = 1;    // `autogen:default:b2a2de35-07b6-443b-8188-709e27bee8a7`
+	string   version        = 2;    // `autogen:default:2`
+        repeated Apple Apples   = 3;    // `autogen:sort`
+        repeated Pears  More    = 4;    // `autogen:sort`
+        repeated string  Color  = 5;    // `autogen:sort` `autogen:unique`
+}
+
+message Pears {
+	string   name	        = 1;    //
+	string   favorite       = 2;    // `autogenpb:sort`
+}
+
+// above is an example
+
+//
+// below are the actual structs autogen uses
+// autogen parses the .proto file and then store the information
+// it needs in these protobuf files, then it processes the
+// protobuf files to write out *.sort.pb.go and *.marshal.pb.go files
+//
+message MsgName {
+        // If you have:
+        //
+        // "Shelf" for msgname
+        // "Books" for name
+        //
+        // Then in the proto file, that would mean it would look like:
+        //
+        // message Shelf {
+        // and then 
+        //      repeated string Books = 42;
+        //
+        // autogenpb will then generate sort functions for each 'name'
+        // things like:
+        //
+        // for _, b := range all.Book {
+        //
+        // and sort functions like:
+        //
+        // func (a ShelfBook) Less(i, j int) bool { return a[i].Book < a[j].Book }
+        //
+
+        string   name	        = 1;    // the name of the message aka struct. for this example: "Shelf"
+        bool     marshal        = 2;    // if "Shelf" should have Marshal & Unmarshal functions
+        bool     mutex          = 3;    // an experiment to insert a mutex into the protoc generated msg struct (bad idea?)
+        repeated string sort	= 4;    // "Book", "Picture", etc
+        repeated string unique	= 5;    // if the fields should have AppendUnique() functions
+}
+
+message File {                                  // `autogen:nomarshal`
+        string   Package 	   = 1;    // whatever the package name is at the top of the .go file
+        string   filename	   = 2;    // yellow.proto
+        string   filebase	   = 3;    // yellow
+        string   uuid	           = 4;    // the uuid to use in a func NewMsgName()
+        int64    version           = 5;    // the version to use in a func NewMsgName()
+
+        // every struct in this proto file, this file has: "Apple", "Apples", ... "File", etc...
+        repeated MsgName msgNames  = 6;    // `autogen:unique`  // in this file
+}
+
+// I know, I know, the whole point of using protobuf
+// is so you don't need a uuid or versions because it's
+// inherently forward compatable. nonetheless, a simple stubbed out
+// trivial and empty protobuf message can marshal and identify all the files
+// also, this could be used to modify /usr/bin/file /usr/share/magic to identify the files
+// maybe this is already been done and is pointless, but it seems like a good idea
+message Files {                           // `autogen:marshal`
+        string   uuid	          = 1;    // if you use this scheme, autogen will be able to identify your
+        int64    version          = 2;    // protobuf files from the command line.
+        repeated File Files       = 3;    // an array of each .proto file in the working directory
+}
+
+// this generic message is used by autogen to identify and
+// then dump the uuid and version from any arbitrary .pb file
+message Identify {                        // `autogen:marshal`
+        string   uuid	          = 1;    //
+        int64    version          = 2;    //
+}