gistfile1.txt

public final class StaticCStringArray {

    private let storage: AnyForwardCollection<StaticString>
    private lazy var pointers: ContiguousArray<UnsafeMutablePointer<Int8>> = {
        ContiguousArray(self.storage.lazy.map { UnsafeMutablePointer($0.utf8Start) })
    }()

    init<Collection: CollectionType where Collection.Generator.Element == StaticString>(_ strings: Collection) {
        self.storage = AnyForwardCollection(strings)
    }

    func withPointerToStrings<Return>(@noescape body: UnsafePointer<UnsafeMutablePointer<Int8>> throws -> Return) rethrows -> Return {
        return try pointers.withUnsafeBufferPointer {
            try body($0.baseAddress)
        }
    }

}

public struct CStringArray {

    private let storage: ContiguousArray<ContiguousArray<UInt8>>

    init<Sequence: SequenceType where Sequence.Generator.Element == String>(_ strings: Sequence) {
        self.storage = ContiguousArray(strings.lazy.map { $0.nulTerminatedUTF8 })
    }

    func withPointerToStrings<Return>(@noescape body: UnsafePointer<UnsafeMutablePointer<Int8>> throws -> Return) rethrows -> Return {
        return try withExtendedLifetime(storage) { () -> Return in
            let pointers = storage.map { arrays in
                arrays.withUnsafeBufferPointer { UnsafeMutablePointer<Int8>($0.baseAddress) }
            }

            return try pointers.withUnsafeBufferPointer {
                try body($0.baseAddress)
            }
        }
    }

}


var f = StaticCStringArray([ "-f", "a", "-b", "c" ])
f.withPointerToStrings {
    String.fromCString(UnsafePointer($0[0]))
}