Protobuf是一种可以实现内存与外存交换的协议接口。这是由谷歌开发的开源工具，目前研究Caffe源码时用到。
一个软件项目 = 数据结构 + 算法 + 参数，对于数据结构和算法我们都已经有较多研究，但不同开发者对参数管理却各有千秋。有人喜欢TXT格式化的参数文件，有人喜欢BIN简单高效，也有人喜欢图形化界面的直观。不一致的参数管理带来很多问题，例如一个项目组内不同成员必须约定一套统一的参数方案，或者称为通信协议，这样便于模块集成。而Protobuf工具就完美解决了这个问题，关键部分代码自动生成，节省了大量的开发、调试时间。
首先下载protobuf，地址（打不开？……不解释）
这里用Linux版本2.5.0
解压：
tar zxvf protobuf-2.5.0.tar.gz
切到主目录：
cd protobuf-2.5.0
编译：
./configure
make
sudo make install
添加环境变量：
export PKG_CONFIG_PATH=$(pwd)
编译examples:
cd examples/
make cpp
这里我们只编译C++代码。
编译完成，生成了以下可执行文件：
add_person_cpp
list_people_cpp
这是个通讯录的例子。我们首先运行add_person_cpp：
./add_person_cpp zyk zyk: File not found. Creating a new file. Enter person ID number: 123 Enter name: zhaoyongke Enter email address (blank for none): zhaoyongke@yeah.net Enter a phone number (or leave blank to finish): 188188188 Is this a mobile, home, or work phone?（回车） Unknown phone type. Using default. Enter a phone number (or leave blank to finish):（回车）
然后运行list_people_cpp：
./list_people_cpp zyk Person ID: 123 Name: zhaoyongke E-mail address: zhaoyongke@yeah.net Home phone #: 188188188
可见我们生成了新的通讯录zyk，里面保存了相应的信息。
例子运行结束了，我们看下代码是如何生成的。
protobuf使用前，先编写proto文件，这是描述我们需要配置参数的数据结构。这个例子里面的proto如下：
// See README.txt for information and build instructions.
package tutorial;
option java_package = "com.example.tutorial";
option java_outer_classname = "AddressBookProtos";
message Person {
required string name = 1;
required int32 id = 2; // Unique ID number for this person.
optional string email = 3;
enum PhoneType {
MOBILE = 0;
HOME = 1;
WORK = 2;
}
message PhoneNumber {
required string number = 1;
optional PhoneType type = 2 [default = HOME];
}
repeated PhoneNumber phone = 4;
}
// Our address book file is just one of these.
message AddressBook {
repeated Person person = 1;
}
前几行是定义包的，可以忽略。
message Person{...}定义了一个需要传输的参数结构体，可见包括这么几个单元：name（string类型）、id（int32类型）、email（string类型）、phone（PhoneNumber类型，嵌套在Person内的类）。前面标记为“required”是必须有值的，而“optional“则为可选项，”repeated“表示后面单元为相同类型的一组向量。
有了如上定义，我们可以用protobuf工具生成接口代码，命令如下：
protoc --cpp_out=. addressbook.proto
运行后生成了两个文件：addressbook.pb.cc 和addressbook.pb.h，代码比较长就不贴了。我们的应用程序可以通过自动生成的接口实现参数的序列化/反序列化，代码如下：
//add_person.c
#include <iostream>
#include <fstream>
#include <string>
#include "addressbook.pb.h"
using namespace std;
// This function fills in a Person message based on user input.
void PromptForAddress(tutorial::Person* person) {
cout << "Enter person ID number: ";
int id;
cin >> id;
person->set_id(id);
cin.ignore(256, '\n');
cout << "Enter name: ";
getline(cin, *person->mutable_name());
cout << "Enter email address (blank for none): ";
string email;
getline(cin, email);
if (!email.empty()) {
person->set_email(email);
}
while (true) {
cout << "Enter a phone number (or leave blank to finish): ";
string number;
getline(cin, number);
if (number.empty()) {
break;
}
tutorial::Person::PhoneNumber* phone_number = person->add_phone();
phone_number->set_number(number);
cout << "Is this a mobile, home, or work phone? ";
string type;
getline(cin, type);
if (type == "mobile") {
phone_number->set_type(tutorial::Person::MOBILE);
} else if (type == "home") {
phone_number->set_type(tutorial::Person::HOME);
} else if (type == "work") {
phone_number->set_type(tutorial::Person::WORK);
} else {
cout << "Unknown phone type. Using default." << endl;
}
}
}
// Main function: Reads the entire address book from a file,
// adds one person based on user input, then writes it back out to the same
// file.
int main(int argc, char* argv[]) {
// Verify that the version of the library that we linked against is
// compatible with the version of the headers we compiled against.
GOOGLE_PROTOBUF_VERIFY_VERSION;
if (argc != 2) {
cerr << "Usage: " << argv[0] << " ADDRESS_BOOK_FILE" << endl;
return -1;
}
tutorial::AddressBook address_book;
{
// Read the existing address book.
fstream input(argv[1], ios::in | ios::binary);
if (!input) {
cout << argv[1] << ": File not found. Creating a new file." << endl;
} else if (!address_book.ParseFromIstream(&input)) {
cerr << "Failed to parse address book." << endl;
return -1;
}
}
// Add an address.
PromptForAddress(address_book.add_person());
{
// Write the new address book back to disk.
fstream output(argv[1], ios::out | ios::trunc | ios::binary);
if (!address_book.SerializeToOstream(&output)) {
cerr << "Failed to write address book." << endl;
return -1;
}
}
// Optional: Delete all global objects allocated by libprotobuf.
google::protobuf::ShutdownProtobufLibrary();
return 0;
}
可见只需要调用addressbook.pb.h中声明的tutorial::AddressBook类、Person类中的接口（add_person(), add_phone(), set_number(), set_email()等）就能操作相应的参数，最后将内存中的参数序列化为文件只需要执行SerializeToOstream()。相应的读取参数文件的操作为ParseFromIstream()。这里贴出例子中的第二个程序如下：
// list_people.c
#include <iostream>
#include <fstream>
#include <string>
#include "addressbook.pb.h"
using namespace std;
// Iterates though all people in the AddressBook and prints info about them.
void ListPeople(const tutorial::AddressBook& address_book) {
for (int i = 0; i < address_book.person_size(); i++) {
const tutorial::Person& person = address_book.person(i);
cout << "Person ID: " << person.id() << endl;
cout << " Name: " << person.name() << endl;
if (person.has_email()) {
cout << " E-mail address: " << person.email() << endl;
}
for (int j = 0; j < person.phone_size(); j++) {
const tutorial::Person::PhoneNumber& phone_number = person.phone(j);
switch (phone_number.type()) {
case tutorial::Person::MOBILE:
cout << " Mobile phone #: ";
break;
case tutorial::Person::HOME:
cout << " Home phone #: ";
break;
case tutorial::Person::WORK:
cout << " Work phone #: ";
break;
}
cout << phone_number.number() << endl;
}
}
}
// Main function: Reads the entire address book from a file and prints all
// the information inside.
int main(int argc, char* argv[]) {
// Verify that the version of the library that we linked against is
// compatible with the version of the headers we compiled against.
GOOGLE_PROTOBUF_VERIFY_VERSION;
if (argc != 2) {
cerr << "Usage: " << argv[0] << " ADDRESS_BOOK_FILE" << endl;
return -1;
}
tutorial::AddressBook address_book;
{
// Read the existing address book.
fstream input(argv[1], ios::in | ios::binary);
if (!address_book.ParseFromIstream(&input)) {
cerr << "Failed to parse address book." << endl;
return -1;
}
}
ListPeople(address_book);
// Optional: Delete all global objects allocated by libprotobuf.
google::protobuf::ShutdownProtobufLibrary();
return 0;
}
相信做完这个实验，你将不再对Caffe代码中的参数初始化、参数保存操作感到陌生，一切都很自然。
除了上述简单功能，Protobuf还可以用来传递不同语言(C/C++与Java、Python)之间的参数，省去了自己手动维护数据结构的繁琐工作。也可以支持客户端/服务器模式，在主机/从机之间传递参数。