1[
2 {
3 "Name": "libffi",
4 "License": "MIT License",
5 "License File": "LICENSE",
6 "Version Number": "3.4.2",
7 "Upstream URL": "https://sourceware.org/libffi/",
8 "Description": "The libffi library provides a portable, high level programming interface to various calling conventions. This allows a programmer to call any function specified by a call interface description at run-time."
9 }
10]
11
README.md
1
2libffi-3.4.1 was released on June 28, 2021. Check the libffi web page
3for updates: <URL:http://sourceware.org/libffi/>.
4
5
6What is libffi?
7===============
8
9Compilers for high level languages generate code that follow certain
10conventions. These conventions are necessary, in part, for separate
11compilation to work. One such convention is the "calling
12convention". The "calling convention" is essentially a set of
13assumptions made by the compiler about where function arguments will
14be found on entry to a function. A "calling convention" also specifies
15where the return value for a function is found.
16
17Some programs may not know at the time of compilation what arguments
18are to be passed to a function. For instance, an interpreter may be
19told at run-time about the number and types of arguments used to call
20a given function. Libffi can be used in such programs to provide a
21bridge from the interpreter program to compiled code.
22
23The libffi library provides a portable, high level programming
24interface to various calling conventions. This allows a programmer to
25call any function specified by a call interface description at run
26time.
27
28FFI stands for Foreign Function Interface. A foreign function
29interface is the popular name for the interface that allows code
30written in one language to call code written in another language. The
31libffi library really only provides the lowest, machine dependent
32layer of a fully featured foreign function interface. A layer must
33exist above libffi that handles type conversions for values passed
34between the two languages.
35
36
37Supported Platforms
38===================
39
40Libffi has been ported to many different platforms.
41
42At the time of release, the following basic configurations have been
43tested:
44
45| Architecture | Operating System | Compiler |
46| --------------- | ---------------- | ----------------------- |
47| AArch64 (ARM64) | iOS | Clang |
48| AArch64 | Linux | GCC |
49| AArch64 | Windows | MSVC |
50| Alpha | Linux | GCC |
51| Alpha | Tru64 | GCC |
52| ARC | Linux | GCC |
53| ARM | Linux | GCC |
54| ARM | iOS | GCC |
55| ARM | Windows | MSVC |
56| AVR32 | Linux | GCC |
57| Blackfin | uClinux | GCC |
58| CSKY | Linux | GCC |
59| HPPA | HPUX | GCC |
60| KVX | Linux | GCC |
61| IA-64 | Linux | GCC |
62| M68K | FreeMiNT | GCC |
63| M68K | Linux | GCC |
64| M68K | RTEMS | GCC |
65| M88K | OpenBSD/mvme88k | GCC |
66| Meta | Linux | GCC |
67| MicroBlaze | Linux | GCC |
68| MIPS | IRIX | GCC |
69| MIPS | Linux | GCC |
70| MIPS | RTEMS | GCC |
71| MIPS64 | Linux | GCC |
72| Moxie | Bare metal | GCC |
73| Nios II | Linux | GCC |
74| OpenRISC | Linux | GCC |
75| PowerPC 32-bit | AIX | IBM XL C |
76| PowerPC 64-bit | AIX | IBM XL C |
77| PowerPC | AMIGA | GCC |
78| PowerPC | Linux | GCC |
79| PowerPC | Mac OSX | GCC |
80| PowerPC | FreeBSD | GCC |
81| PowerPC 64-bit | FreeBSD | GCC |
82| PowerPC 64-bit | Linux ELFv1 | GCC |
83| PowerPC 64-bit | Linux ELFv2 | GCC |
84| RISC-V 32-bit | Linux | GCC |
85| RISC-V 64-bit | Linux | GCC |
86| S390 | Linux | GCC |
87| S390X | Linux | GCC |
88| SPARC | Linux | GCC |
89| SPARC | Solaris | GCC |
90| SPARC | Solaris | Oracle Solaris Studio C |
91| SPARC64 | Linux | GCC |
92| SPARC64 | FreeBSD | GCC |
93| SPARC64 | Solaris | Oracle Solaris Studio C |
94| TILE-Gx/TILEPro | Linux | GCC |
95| VAX | OpenBSD/vax | GCC |
96| X86 | FreeBSD | GCC |
97| X86 | GNU HURD | GCC |
98| X86 | Interix | GCC |
99| X86 | kFreeBSD | GCC |
100| X86 | Linux | GCC |
101| X86 | OpenBSD | GCC |
102| X86 | OS/2 | GCC |
103| X86 | Solaris | GCC |
104| X86 | Solaris | Oracle Solaris Studio C |
105| X86 | Windows/Cygwin | GCC |
106| X86 | Windows/MingW | GCC |
107| X86-64 | FreeBSD | GCC |
108| X86-64 | Linux | GCC |
109| X86-64 | Linux/x32 | GCC |
110| X86-64 | OpenBSD | GCC |
111| X86-64 | Solaris | Oracle Solaris Studio C |
112| X86-64 | Windows/Cygwin | GCC |
113| X86-64 | Windows/MingW | GCC |
114| X86-64 | Mac OSX | GCC |
115| Xtensa | Linux | GCC |
116
117Please send additional platform test results to
118libffi-discuss@sourceware.org.
119
120Installing libffi
121=================
122
123First you must configure the distribution for your particular
124system. Go to the directory you wish to build libffi in and run the
125"configure" program found in the root directory of the libffi source
126distribution. Note that building libffi requires a C99 compatible
127compiler.
128
129If you're building libffi directly from git hosted sources, configure
130won't exist yet; run ./autogen.sh first. This will require that you
131install autoconf, automake and libtool.
132
133You may want to tell configure where to install the libffi library and
134header files. To do that, use the ``--prefix`` configure switch. Libffi
135will install under /usr/local by default.
136
137If you want to enable extra run-time debugging checks use the the
138``--enable-debug`` configure switch. This is useful when your program dies
139mysteriously while using libffi.
140
141Another useful configure switch is ``--enable-purify-safety``. Using this
142will add some extra code which will suppress certain warnings when you
143are using Purify with libffi. Only use this switch when using
144Purify, as it will slow down the library.
145
146If you don't want to build documentation, use the ``--disable-docs``
147configure switch.
148
149It's also possible to build libffi on Windows platforms with
150Microsoft's Visual C++ compiler. In this case, use the msvcc.sh
151wrapper script during configuration like so:
152
153 path/to/configure CC=path/to/msvcc.sh CXX=path/to/msvcc.sh LD=link CPP="cl -nologo -EP" CPPFLAGS="-DFFI_BUILDING_DLL"
154
155For 64-bit Windows builds, use ``CC="path/to/msvcc.sh -m64"`` and
156``CXX="path/to/msvcc.sh -m64"``. You may also need to specify
157``--build`` appropriately.
158
159It is also possible to build libffi on Windows platforms with the LLVM
160project's clang-cl compiler, like below:
161
162 path/to/configure CC="path/to/msvcc.sh -clang-cl" CXX="path/to/msvcc.sh -clang-cl" LD=link CPP="clang-cl -EP"
163
164When building with MSVC under a MingW environment, you may need to
165remove the line in configure that sets 'fix_srcfile_path' to a 'cygpath'
166command. ('cygpath' is not present in MingW, and is not required when
167using MingW-style paths.)
168
169To build static library for ARM64 with MSVC using visual studio solution, msvc_build folder have
170 aarch64/Ffi_staticLib.sln
171 required header files in aarch64/aarch64_include/
172
173
174SPARC Solaris builds require the use of the GNU assembler and linker.
175Point ``AS`` and ``LD`` environment variables at those tool prior to
176configuration.
177
178For iOS builds, the ``libffi.xcodeproj`` Xcode project is available.
179
180Configure has many other options. Use ``configure --help`` to see them all.
181
182Once configure has finished, type "make". Note that you must be using
183GNU make. You can ftp GNU make from ftp.gnu.org:/pub/gnu/make .
184
185To ensure that libffi is working as advertised, type "make check".
186This will require that you have DejaGNU installed.
187
188To install the library and header files, type ``make install``.
189
190
191History
192=======
193
194See the git log for details at http://github.com/libffi/libffi.
195
196 3.4.2 Jun-28-21
197 Add static trampoline support for Linux on x86_64 and ARM64.
198 Add support for Alibaba's CSKY architecture.
199 Add support for Kalray's KVX architecture.
200 Add support for Intel Control-flow Enforcement Technology (CET).
201 Add support for ARM Pointer Authentication (PA).
202 Fix 32-bit PPC regression.
203 Fix MIPS soft-float problem.
204 Enable tmpdir override with the $LIBFFI_TMPDIR environment variable.
205 Enable compatibility with MSVC runtime stack checking.
206 Reject float and small integer argument in ffi_prep_cif_var().
207 Callers must promote these types themselves.
208
209 3.3 Nov-23-19
210 Add RISC-V support.
211 New API in support of GO closures.
212 Add IEEE754 binary128 long double support for 64-bit Power
213 Default to Microsoft's 64 bit long double ABI with Visual C++.
214 GNU compiler uses 80 bits (128 in memory) FFI_GNUW64 ABI.
215 Add Windows on ARM64 (WOA) support.
216 Add Windows 32-bit ARM support.
217 Raw java (gcj) API deprecated.
218 Add pre-built PDF documentation to source distribution.
219 Many new test cases and bug fixes.
220
221 3.2.1 Nov-12-14
222 Build fix for non-iOS AArch64 targets.
223
224 3.2 Nov-11-14
225 Add C99 Complex Type support (currently only supported on
226 s390).
227 Add support for PASCAL and REGISTER calling conventions on x86
228 Windows/Linux.
229 Add OpenRISC and Cygwin-64 support.
230 Bug fixes.
231
232 3.1 May-19-14
233 Add AArch64 (ARM64) iOS support.
234 Add Nios II support.
235 Add m88k and DEC VAX support.
236 Add support for stdcall, thiscall, and fastcall on non-Windows
237 32-bit x86 targets such as Linux.
238 Various Android, MIPS N32, x86, FreeBSD and UltraSPARC IIi
239 fixes.
240 Make the testsuite more robust: eliminate several spurious
241 failures, and respect the $CC and $CXX environment variables.
242 Archive off the manually maintained ChangeLog in favor of git
243 log.
244
245 3.0.13 Mar-17-13
246 Add Meta support.
247 Add missing Moxie bits.
248 Fix stack alignment bug on 32-bit x86.
249 Build fix for m68000 targets.
250 Build fix for soft-float Power targets.
251 Fix the install dir location for some platforms when building
252 with GCC (OS X, Solaris).
253 Fix Cygwin regression.
254
255 3.0.12 Feb-11-13
256 Add Moxie support.
257 Add AArch64 support.
258 Add Blackfin support.
259 Add TILE-Gx/TILEPro support.
260 Add MicroBlaze support.
261 Add Xtensa support.
262 Add support for PaX enabled kernels with MPROTECT.
263 Add support for native vendor compilers on
264 Solaris and AIX.
265 Work around LLVM/GCC interoperability issue on x86_64.
266
267 3.0.11 Apr-11-12
268 Lots of build fixes.
269 Add support for variadic functions (ffi_prep_cif_var).
270 Add Linux/x32 support.
271 Add thiscall, fastcall and MSVC cdecl support on Windows.
272 Add Amiga and newer MacOS support.
273 Add m68k FreeMiNT support.
274 Integration with iOS' xcode build tools.
275 Fix Octeon and MC68881 support.
276 Fix code pessimizations.
277
278 3.0.10 Aug-23-11
279 Add support for Apple's iOS.
280 Add support for ARM VFP ABI.
281 Add RTEMS support for MIPS and M68K.
282 Fix instruction cache clearing problems on
283 ARM and SPARC.
284 Fix the N64 build on mips-sgi-irix6.5.
285 Enable builds with Microsoft's compiler.
286 Enable x86 builds with Oracle's Solaris compiler.
287 Fix support for calling code compiled with Oracle's Sparc
288 Solaris compiler.
289 Testsuite fixes for Tru64 Unix.
290 Additional platform support.
291
292 3.0.9 Dec-31-09
293 Add AVR32 and win64 ports. Add ARM softfp support.
294 Many fixes for AIX, Solaris, HP-UX, *BSD.
295 Several PowerPC and x86-64 bug fixes.
296 Build DLL for windows.
297
298 3.0.8 Dec-19-08
299 Add *BSD, BeOS, and PA-Linux support.
300
301 3.0.7 Nov-11-08
302 Fix for ppc FreeBSD.
303 (thanks to Andreas Tobler)
304
305 3.0.6 Jul-17-08
306 Fix for closures on sh.
307 Mark the sh/sh64 stack as non-executable.
308 (both thanks to Kaz Kojima)
309
310 3.0.5 Apr-3-08
311 Fix libffi.pc file.
312 Fix #define ARM for IcedTea users.
313 Fix x86 closure bug.
314
315 3.0.4 Feb-24-08
316 Fix x86 OpenBSD configury.
317
318 3.0.3 Feb-22-08
319 Enable x86 OpenBSD thanks to Thomas Heller, and
320 x86-64 FreeBSD thanks to Björn König and Andreas Tobler.
321 Clean up test instruction in README.
322
323 3.0.2 Feb-21-08
324 Improved x86 FreeBSD support.
325 Thanks to Björn König.
326
327 3.0.1 Feb-15-08
328 Fix instruction cache flushing bug on MIPS.
329 Thanks to David Daney.
330
331 3.0.0 Feb-15-08
332 Many changes, mostly thanks to the GCC project.
333 Cygnus Solutions is now Red Hat.
334
335 [10 years go by...]
336
337 1.20 Oct-5-98
338 Raffaele Sena produces ARM port.
339
340 1.19 Oct-5-98
341 Fixed x86 long double and long long return support.
342 m68k bug fixes from Andreas Schwab.
343 Patch for DU assembler compatibility for the Alpha from Richard
344 Henderson.
345
346 1.18 Apr-17-98
347 Bug fixes and MIPS configuration changes.
348
349 1.17 Feb-24-98
350 Bug fixes and m68k port from Andreas Schwab. PowerPC port from
351 Geoffrey Keating. Various bug x86, Sparc and MIPS bug fixes.
352
353 1.16 Feb-11-98
354 Richard Henderson produces Alpha port.
355
356 1.15 Dec-4-97
357 Fixed an n32 ABI bug. New libtool, auto* support.
358
359 1.14 May-13-97
360 libtool is now used to generate shared and static libraries.
361 Fixed a minor portability problem reported by Russ McManus
362 <mcmanr@eq.gs.com>.
363
364 1.13 Dec-2-96
365 Added --enable-purify-safety to keep Purify from complaining
366 about certain low level code.
367 Sparc fix for calling functions with < 6 args.
368 Linux x86 a.out fix.
369
370 1.12 Nov-22-96
371 Added missing ffi_type_void, needed for supporting void return
372 types. Fixed test case for non MIPS machines. Cygnus Support
373 is now Cygnus Solutions.
374
375 1.11 Oct-30-96
376 Added notes about GNU make.
377
378 1.10 Oct-29-96
379 Added configuration fix for non GNU compilers.
380
381 1.09 Oct-29-96
382 Added --enable-debug configure switch. Clean-ups based on LCLint
383 feedback. ffi_mips.h is always installed. Many configuration
384 fixes. Fixed ffitest.c for sparc builds.
385
386 1.08 Oct-15-96
387 Fixed n32 problem. Many clean-ups.
388
389 1.07 Oct-14-96
390 Gordon Irlam rewrites v8.S again. Bug fixes.
391
392 1.06 Oct-14-96
393 Gordon Irlam improved the sparc port.
394
395 1.05 Oct-14-96
396 Interface changes based on feedback.
397
398 1.04 Oct-11-96
399 Sparc port complete (modulo struct passing bug).
400
401 1.03 Oct-10-96
402 Passing struct args, and returning struct values works for
403 all architectures/calling conventions. Expanded tests.
404
405 1.02 Oct-9-96
406 Added SGI n32 support. Fixed bugs in both o32 and Linux support.
407 Added "make test".
408
409 1.01 Oct-8-96
410 Fixed float passing bug in mips version. Restructured some
411 of the code. Builds cleanly with SGI tools.
412
413 1.00 Oct-7-96
414 First release. No public announcement.
415
416Authors & Credits
417=================
418
419libffi was originally written by Anthony Green <green@moxielogic.com>.
420
421The developers of the GNU Compiler Collection project have made
422innumerable valuable contributions. See the ChangeLog file for
423details.
424
425Some of the ideas behind libffi were inspired by Gianni Mariani's free
426gencall library for Silicon Graphics machines.
427
428The closure mechanism was designed and implemented by Kresten Krab
429Thorup.
430
431Major processor architecture ports were contributed by the following
432developers:
433
434 aarch64 Marcus Shawcroft, James Greenhalgh
435 alpha Richard Henderson
436 arc Hackers at Synopsis
437 arm Raffaele Sena
438 avr32 Bradley Smith
439 blackfin Alexandre Keunecke I. de Mendonca
440 cris Simon Posnjak, Hans-Peter Nilsson
441 csky Ma Jun, Zhang Wenmeng
442 frv Anthony Green
443 ia64 Hans Boehm
444 kvx Yann Sionneau
445 m32r Kazuhiro Inaoka
446 m68k Andreas Schwab
447 m88k Miod Vallat
448 metag Hackers at Imagination Technologies
449 microblaze Nathan Rossi
450 mips Anthony Green, Casey Marshall
451 mips64 David Daney
452 moxie Anthony Green
453 nios ii Sandra Loosemore
454 openrisc Sebastian Macke
455 pa Randolph Chung, Dave Anglin, Andreas Tobler
456 powerpc Geoffrey Keating, Andreas Tobler,
457 David Edelsohn, John Hornkvist
458 powerpc64 Jakub Jelinek
459 riscv Michael Knyszek, Andrew Waterman, Stef O'Rear
460 s390 Gerhard Tonn, Ulrich Weigand
461 sh Kaz Kojima
462 sh64 Kaz Kojima
463 sparc Anthony Green, Gordon Irlam
464 tile-gx/tilepro Walter Lee
465 vax Miod Vallat
466 x86 Anthony Green, Jon Beniston
467 x86-64 Bo Thorsen
468 xtensa Chris Zankel
469
470Jesper Skov and Andrew Haley both did more than their fair share of
471stepping through the code and tracking down bugs.
472
473Thanks also to Tom Tromey for bug fixes, documentation and
474configuration help.
475
476Thanks to Jim Blandy, who provided some useful feedback on the libffi
477interface.
478
479Andreas Tobler has done a tremendous amount of work on the testsuite.
480
481Alex Oliva solved the executable page problem for SElinux.
482
483The list above is almost certainly incomplete and inaccurate. I'm
484happy to make corrections or additions upon request.
485
486If you have a problem, or have found a bug, please file an issue on
487our issue tracker at https://github.com/libffi/libffi/issues.
488
489The author can be reached at green@moxielogic.com.
490
491To subscribe/unsubscribe to our mailing lists, visit:
492https://sourceware.org/mailman/listinfo/libffi-announce
493https://sourceware.org/mailman/listinfo/libffi-discuss
494