diff --git a/src/dmd/cppmangle.d b/src/dmd/cppmangle.d
index 12b445166156..e033f25e0377 100644
--- a/src/dmd/cppmangle.d
+++ b/src/dmd/cppmangle.d
@@ -877,6 +877,20 @@ public:
         }
     }
 
+    override void visit(TypeDArray t)
+    {
+        //if (substitute(t))
+            //return;
+
+        // from: template_args
+        buf.writestring("8__dslice");
+        buf.writeByte('I');
+        Type t2 = t.next;
+        assert(t2);
+        headOfType(t2);
+        buf.writeByte('E');
+    }
+
     override void visit(TypeSArray t)
     {
         if (t.isImmutable() || t.isShared())
diff --git a/src/dmd/interop.d b/src/dmd/interop.d
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..75a1216a836c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/dmd/interop.d
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+/+
+Example usage:
+extern (C++) Dstring funLib(Dstring input)
+{
+    import std.string : toUpper;
+    import std.conv : to;
+    return input.toNative.toUpper.to!Dstring;
+}
++/
+
+extern (C++) struct Darray(T)
+{
+    size_t length;
+    T* ptr;
+
+    extern (D) this(T[] a)
+    {
+        this.length = a.length;
+        this.ptr = a.ptr;
+    }
+
+    extern (D) T[] toNative()
+    {
+        // TODO: could even use a raw cast since ABI is same
+        return ptr[0 .. length];
+    }
+}
+
+alias Dstring = Darray!char;
+alias Dcstring = Darray!(const(char));
+