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| .github/ | | 03-May-2024 | - | 11 | 7 |
| .travis/ | | 03-May-2024 | - | 1,176 | 766 |
| doc/ | | 03-May-2024 | - | 1,007 | 786 |
| include/ | | 03-May-2024 | - | 736 | 586 |
| libffi.xcodeproj/ | | 03-May-2024 | - | 1,044 | 1,032 |
| linux-arm/ | | 03-May-2024 | - | 210 | 71 |
| linux-arm64/ | | 03-May-2024 | - | 212 | 72 |
| linux-x86/ | | 03-May-2024 | - | 211 | 72 |
| linux-x86_64/ | | 03-May-2024 | - | | |
| m4/ | | 03-May-2024 | - | 1,275 | 1,215 |
| man/ | | 03-May-2024 | - | 298 | 277 |
| msvc_build/aarch64/ | | 03-May-2024 | - | 957 | 636 |
| src/ | | 03-May-2024 | - | 51,873 | 34,159 |
| testsuite/ | | 03-May-2024 | - | 30,429 | 21,905 |
| .appveyor.yml | D | 03-May-2024 | 2.7 KiB | 67 | 54 |
| .gitattributes | D | 03-May-2024 | 58 | 5 | 3 |
| .gitignore | D | 03-May-2024 | 476 | 39 | 38 |
| .travis.yml | D | 03-May-2024 | 3.1 KiB | 76 | 63 |
| Android.bp | D | 03-May-2024 | 4.3 KiB | 141 | 134 |
| ChangeLog.libffi | D | 03-May-2024 | 19.7 KiB | 585 | 460 |
| ChangeLog.libffi-3.1 | D | 03-May-2024 | 205.6 KiB | 6,001 | 4,598 |
| ChangeLog.libgcj | D | 03-May-2024 | 1.1 KiB | 41 | 26 |
| ChangeLog.old | D | 03-May-2024 | 249.5 KiB | 7,408 | 5,554 |
| ChangeLog.v1 | D | 03-May-2024 | 22.5 KiB | 765 | 459 |
| LICENSE | D | 03-May-2024 | 1.1 KiB | 22 | 18 |
| LICENSE-BUILDTOOLS | D | 03-May-2024 | 18.3 KiB | 354 | 291 |
| METADATA | D | 03-May-2024 | 394 | 21 | 20 |
| MODULE_LICENSE_MIT | D | 03-May-2024 | 0 | | |
| Makefile.am | D | 03-May-2024 | 5.8 KiB | 160 | 126 |
| OWNERS | D | 03-May-2024 | 46 | 2 | 1 |
| README | D | 03-May-2024 | 15.8 KiB | 448 | 359 |
| README.cheets.md | D | 03-May-2024 | 888 | 31 | 22 |
| README.md | D | 03-May-2024 | 18.8 KiB | 478 | 385 |
| acinclude.m4 | D | 03-May-2024 | 16.9 KiB | 480 | 446 |
| autogen.sh | D | 03-May-2024 | 32 | 3 | 1 |
| config.guess | D | 03-May-2024 | 43 KiB | 1,467 | 1,274 |
| config.sub | D | 03-May-2024 | 35.7 KiB | 1,837 | 1,699 |
| configure.ac | D | 03-May-2024 | 11.8 KiB | 395 | 340 |
| configure.host | D | 03-May-2024 | 5.9 KiB | 304 | 268 |
| gen_ffi_header.sh | D | 03-May-2024 | 933 | 25 | 9 |
| generate-darwin-source-and-headers.py | D | 03-May-2024 | 6.5 KiB | 204 | 157 |
| libffi.map.in | D | 03-May-2024 | 1.4 KiB | 81 | 70 |
| libffi.pc.in | D | 03-May-2024 | 279 | 12 | 10 |
| libtool-ldflags | D | 03-May-2024 | 3.3 KiB | 107 | 32 |
| libtool-version | D | 03-May-2024 | 1.1 KiB | 30 | 29 |
| make_sunver.pl | D | 03-May-2024 | 8.8 KiB | 334 | 171 |
| msvcc.sh | D | 03-May-2024 | 8.3 KiB | 354 | 256 |
| stamp-h.in | D | 03-May-2024 | 10 | 2 | 1 |
| texinfo.tex | D | 03-May-2024 | 315.5 KiB | 10,080 | 9,328 |
README
1Status
2======
3
4libffi-3.2.1 was released on November 12, 2014. Check the libffi web
5page for updates: <URL:http://sourceware.org/libffi/>.
6
7
8What is libffi?
9===============
10
11Compilers for high level languages generate code that follow certain
12conventions. These conventions are necessary, in part, for separate
13compilation to work. One such convention is the "calling
14convention". The "calling convention" is essentially a set of
15assumptions made by the compiler about where function arguments will
16be found on entry to a function. A "calling convention" also specifies
17where the return value for a function is found.
18
19Some programs may not know at the time of compilation what arguments
20are to be passed to a function. For instance, an interpreter may be
21told at run-time about the number and types of arguments used to call
22a given function. Libffi can be used in such programs to provide a
23bridge from the interpreter program to compiled code.
24
25The libffi library provides a portable, high level programming
26interface to various calling conventions. This allows a programmer to
27call any function specified by a call interface description at run
28time.
29
30FFI stands for Foreign Function Interface. A foreign function
31interface is the popular name for the interface that allows code
32written in one language to call code written in another language. The
33libffi library really only provides the lowest, machine dependent
34layer of a fully featured foreign function interface. A layer must
35exist above libffi that handles type conversions for values passed
36between the two languages.
37
38
39Supported Platforms
40===================
41
42Libffi has been ported to many different platforms.
43For specific configuration details and testing status, please
44refer to the wiki page here:
45
46 http://www.moxielogic.org/wiki/index.php?title=Libffi_3.2
47
48At the time of release, the following basic configurations have been
49tested:
50
51|-----------------+------------------+-------------------------|
52| Architecture | Operating System | Compiler |
53|-----------------+------------------+-------------------------|
54| AArch64 (ARM64) | iOS | Clang |
55| AArch64 | Linux | GCC |
56| Alpha | Linux | GCC |
57| Alpha | Tru64 | GCC |
58| ARC | Linux | GCC |
59| ARM | Linux | GCC |
60| ARM | iOS | GCC |
61| AVR32 | Linux | GCC |
62| Blackfin | uClinux | GCC |
63| HPPA | HPUX | GCC |
64| IA-64 | Linux | GCC |
65| M68K | FreeMiNT | GCC |
66| M68K | Linux | GCC |
67| M68K | RTEMS | GCC |
68| M88K | OpenBSD/mvme88k | GCC |
69| Meta | Linux | GCC |
70| MicroBlaze | Linux | GCC |
71| MIPS | IRIX | GCC |
72| MIPS | Linux | GCC |
73| MIPS | RTEMS | GCC |
74| MIPS64 | Linux | GCC |
75| Moxie | Bare metal | GCC |
76| Nios II | Linux | GCC |
77| OpenRISC | Linux | GCC |
78| PowerPC 32-bit | AIX | IBM XL C |
79| PowerPC 64-bit | AIX | IBM XL C |
80| PowerPC | AMIGA | GCC |
81| PowerPC | Linux | GCC |
82| PowerPC | Mac OSX | GCC |
83| PowerPC | FreeBSD | GCC |
84| PowerPC 64-bit | FreeBSD | GCC |
85| PowerPC 64-bit | Linux ELFv1 | GCC |
86| PowerPC 64-bit | Linux ELFv2 | GCC |
87| S390 | Linux | GCC |
88| S390X | Linux | GCC |
89| SPARC | Linux | GCC |
90| SPARC | Solaris | GCC |
91| SPARC | Solaris | Oracle Solaris Studio C |
92| SPARC64 | Linux | GCC |
93| SPARC64 | FreeBSD | GCC |
94| SPARC64 | Solaris | Oracle Solaris Studio C |
95| TILE-Gx/TILEPro | Linux | GCC |
96| VAX | OpenBSD/vax | GCC |
97| X86 | FreeBSD | GCC |
98| X86 | GNU HURD | GCC |
99| X86 | Interix | GCC |
100| X86 | kFreeBSD | GCC |
101| X86 | Linux | GCC |
102| X86 | Mac OSX | GCC |
103| X86 | OpenBSD | GCC |
104| X86 | OS/2 | GCC |
105| X86 | Solaris | GCC |
106| X86 | Solaris | Oracle Solaris Studio C |
107| X86 | Windows/Cygwin | GCC |
108| X86 | Windows/MingW | GCC |
109| X86-64 | FreeBSD | GCC |
110| X86-64 | Linux | GCC |
111| X86-64 | Linux/x32 | GCC |
112| X86-64 | OpenBSD | GCC |
113| X86-64 | Solaris | Oracle Solaris Studio C |
114| X86-64 | Windows/Cygwin | GCC |
115| X86-64 | Windows/MingW | GCC |
116| Xtensa | Linux | GCC |
117|-----------------+------------------+-------------------------|
118
119Please send additional platform test results to
120libffi-discuss@sourceware.org and feel free to update the wiki page
121above.
122
123Installing libffi
124=================
125
126First you must configure the distribution for your particular
127system. Go to the directory you wish to build libffi in and run the
128"configure" program found in the root directory of the libffi source
129distribution.
130
131If you're building libffi directly from version control, configure won't
132exist yet; run ./autogen.sh first.
133
134You may want to tell configure where to install the libffi library and
135header files. To do that, use the --prefix configure switch. Libffi
136will install under /usr/local by default.
137
138If you want to enable extra run-time debugging checks use the the
139--enable-debug configure switch. This is useful when your program dies
140mysteriously while using libffi.
141
142Another useful configure switch is --enable-purify-safety. Using this
143will add some extra code which will suppress certain warnings when you
144are using Purify with libffi. Only use this switch when using
145Purify, as it will slow down the library.
146
147It's also possible to build libffi on Windows platforms with
148Microsoft's Visual C++ compiler. In this case, use the msvcc.sh
149wrapper script during configuration like so:
150
151path/to/configure CC=path/to/msvcc.sh CXX=path/to/msvcc.sh LD=link CPP="cl -nologo -EP"
152
153For 64-bit Windows builds, use CC="path/to/msvcc.sh -m64" and
154CXX="path/to/msvcc.sh -m64". You may also need to specify --build
155appropriately.
156
157It is also possible to build libffi on Windows platforms with the LLVM
158project's clang-cl compiler, like below:
159
160path/to/configure CC="path/to/msvcc.sh -clang-cl" CXX="path/to/msvcc.sh -clang-cl" LD=link CPP="clang-cl -EP"
161
162When building with MSVC under a MingW environment, you may need to
163remove the line in configure that sets 'fix_srcfile_path' to a 'cygpath'
164command. ('cygpath' is not present in MingW, and is not required when
165using MingW-style paths.)
166
167For iOS builds, the 'libffi.xcodeproj' Xcode project is available.
168
169Configure has many other options. Use "configure --help" to see them all.
170
171Once configure has finished, type "make". Note that you must be using
172GNU make. You can ftp GNU make from ftp.gnu.org:/pub/gnu/make .
173
174To ensure that libffi is working as advertised, type "make check".
175This will require that you have DejaGNU installed.
176
177To install the library and header files, type "make install".
178
179
180History
181=======
182
183See the git log for details at http://github.com/atgreen/libffi.
184
1853.2.1 Nov-12-14
186 Build fix for non-iOS AArch64 targets.
187
1883.2 Nov-11-14
189 Add C99 Complex Type support (currently only supported on
190 s390).
191 Add support for PASCAL and REGISTER calling conventions on x86
192 Windows/Linux.
193 Add OpenRISC and Cygwin-64 support.
194 Bug fixes.
195
1963.1 May-19-14
197 Add AArch64 (ARM64) iOS support.
198 Add Nios II support.
199 Add m88k and DEC VAX support.
200 Add support for stdcall, thiscall, and fastcall on non-Windows
201 32-bit x86 targets such as Linux.
202 Various Android, MIPS N32, x86, FreeBSD and UltraSPARC IIi
203 fixes.
204 Make the testsuite more robust: eliminate several spurious
205 failures, and respect the $CC and $CXX environment variables.
206 Archive off the manually maintained ChangeLog in favor of git
207 log.
208
2093.0.13 Mar-17-13
210 Add Meta support.
211 Add missing Moxie bits.
212 Fix stack alignment bug on 32-bit x86.
213 Build fix for m68000 targets.
214 Build fix for soft-float Power targets.
215 Fix the install dir location for some platforms when building
216 with GCC (OS X, Solaris).
217 Fix Cygwin regression.
218
2193.0.12 Feb-11-13
220 Add Moxie support.
221 Add AArch64 support.
222 Add Blackfin support.
223 Add TILE-Gx/TILEPro support.
224 Add MicroBlaze support.
225 Add Xtensa support.
226 Add support for PaX enabled kernels with MPROTECT.
227 Add support for native vendor compilers on
228 Solaris and AIX.
229 Work around LLVM/GCC interoperability issue on x86_64.
230
2313.0.11 Apr-11-12
232 Lots of build fixes.
233 Add support for variadic functions (ffi_prep_cif_var).
234 Add Linux/x32 support.
235 Add thiscall, fastcall and MSVC cdecl support on Windows.
236 Add Amiga and newer MacOS support.
237 Add m68k FreeMiNT support.
238 Integration with iOS' xcode build tools.
239 Fix Octeon and MC68881 support.
240 Fix code pessimizations.
241
2423.0.10 Aug-23-11
243 Add support for Apple's iOS.
244 Add support for ARM VFP ABI.
245 Add RTEMS support for MIPS and M68K.
246 Fix instruction cache clearing problems on
247 ARM and SPARC.
248 Fix the N64 build on mips-sgi-irix6.5.
249 Enable builds with Microsoft's compiler.
250 Enable x86 builds with Oracle's Solaris compiler.
251 Fix support for calling code compiled with Oracle's Sparc
252 Solaris compiler.
253 Testsuite fixes for Tru64 Unix.
254 Additional platform support.
255
2563.0.9 Dec-31-09
257 Add AVR32 and win64 ports. Add ARM softfp support.
258 Many fixes for AIX, Solaris, HP-UX, *BSD.
259 Several PowerPC and x86-64 bug fixes.
260 Build DLL for windows.
261
2623.0.8 Dec-19-08
263 Add *BSD, BeOS, and PA-Linux support.
264
2653.0.7 Nov-11-08
266 Fix for ppc FreeBSD.
267 (thanks to Andreas Tobler)
268
2693.0.6 Jul-17-08
270 Fix for closures on sh.
271 Mark the sh/sh64 stack as non-executable.
272 (both thanks to Kaz Kojima)
273
2743.0.5 Apr-3-08
275 Fix libffi.pc file.
276 Fix #define ARM for IcedTea users.
277 Fix x86 closure bug.
278
2793.0.4 Feb-24-08
280 Fix x86 OpenBSD configury.
281
2823.0.3 Feb-22-08
283 Enable x86 OpenBSD thanks to Thomas Heller, and
284 x86-64 FreeBSD thanks to Björn König and Andreas Tobler.
285 Clean up test instruction in README.
286
2873.0.2 Feb-21-08
288 Improved x86 FreeBSD support.
289 Thanks to Björn König.
290
2913.0.1 Feb-15-08
292 Fix instruction cache flushing bug on MIPS.
293 Thanks to David Daney.
294
2953.0.0 Feb-15-08
296 Many changes, mostly thanks to the GCC project.
297 Cygnus Solutions is now Red Hat.
298
299 [10 years go by...]
300
3011.20 Oct-5-98
302 Raffaele Sena produces ARM port.
303
3041.19 Oct-5-98
305 Fixed x86 long double and long long return support.
306 m68k bug fixes from Andreas Schwab.
307 Patch for DU assembler compatibility for the Alpha from Richard
308 Henderson.
309
3101.18 Apr-17-98
311 Bug fixes and MIPS configuration changes.
312
3131.17 Feb-24-98
314 Bug fixes and m68k port from Andreas Schwab. PowerPC port from
315 Geoffrey Keating. Various bug x86, Sparc and MIPS bug fixes.
316
3171.16 Feb-11-98
318 Richard Henderson produces Alpha port.
319
3201.15 Dec-4-97
321 Fixed an n32 ABI bug. New libtool, auto* support.
322
3231.14 May-13-97
324 libtool is now used to generate shared and static libraries.
325 Fixed a minor portability problem reported by Russ McManus
326 <mcmanr@eq.gs.com>.
327
3281.13 Dec-2-96
329 Added --enable-purify-safety to keep Purify from complaining
330 about certain low level code.
331 Sparc fix for calling functions with < 6 args.
332 Linux x86 a.out fix.
333
3341.12 Nov-22-96
335 Added missing ffi_type_void, needed for supporting void return
336 types. Fixed test case for non MIPS machines. Cygnus Support
337 is now Cygnus Solutions.
338
3391.11 Oct-30-96
340 Added notes about GNU make.
341
3421.10 Oct-29-96
343 Added configuration fix for non GNU compilers.
344
3451.09 Oct-29-96
346 Added --enable-debug configure switch. Clean-ups based on LCLint
347 feedback. ffi_mips.h is always installed. Many configuration
348 fixes. Fixed ffitest.c for sparc builds.
349
3501.08 Oct-15-96
351 Fixed n32 problem. Many clean-ups.
352
3531.07 Oct-14-96
354 Gordon Irlam rewrites v8.S again. Bug fixes.
355
3561.06 Oct-14-96
357 Gordon Irlam improved the sparc port.
358
3591.05 Oct-14-96
360 Interface changes based on feedback.
361
3621.04 Oct-11-96
363 Sparc port complete (modulo struct passing bug).
364
3651.03 Oct-10-96
366 Passing struct args, and returning struct values works for
367 all architectures/calling conventions. Expanded tests.
368
3691.02 Oct-9-96
370 Added SGI n32 support. Fixed bugs in both o32 and Linux support.
371 Added "make test".
372
3731.01 Oct-8-96
374 Fixed float passing bug in mips version. Restructured some
375 of the code. Builds cleanly with SGI tools.
376
3771.00 Oct-7-96
378 First release. No public announcement.
379
380
381Authors & Credits
382=================
383
384libffi was originally written by Anthony Green <green@moxielogic.com>.
385
386The developers of the GNU Compiler Collection project have made
387innumerable valuable contributions. See the ChangeLog file for
388details.
389
390Some of the ideas behind libffi were inspired by Gianni Mariani's free
391gencall library for Silicon Graphics machines.
392
393The closure mechanism was designed and implemented by Kresten Krab
394Thorup.
395
396Major processor architecture ports were contributed by the following
397developers:
398
399aarch64 Marcus Shawcroft, James Greenhalgh
400alpha Richard Henderson
401arm Raffaele Sena
402blackfin Alexandre Keunecke I. de Mendonca
403cris Simon Posnjak, Hans-Peter Nilsson
404frv Anthony Green
405ia64 Hans Boehm
406m32r Kazuhiro Inaoka
407m68k Andreas Schwab
408m88k Miod Vallat
409microblaze Nathan Rossi
410mips Anthony Green, Casey Marshall
411mips64 David Daney
412moxie Anthony Green
413nios ii Sandra Loosemore
414openrisc Sebastian Macke
415pa Randolph Chung, Dave Anglin, Andreas Tobler
416powerpc Geoffrey Keating, Andreas Tobler,
417 David Edelsohn, John Hornkvist
418powerpc64 Jakub Jelinek
419s390 Gerhard Tonn, Ulrich Weigand
420sh Kaz Kojima
421sh64 Kaz Kojima
422sparc Anthony Green, Gordon Irlam
423tile-gx/tilepro Walter Lee
424vax Miod Vallat
425x86 Anthony Green, Jon Beniston
426x86-64 Bo Thorsen
427xtensa Chris Zankel
428
429Jesper Skov and Andrew Haley both did more than their fair share of
430stepping through the code and tracking down bugs.
431
432Thanks also to Tom Tromey for bug fixes, documentation and
433configuration help.
434
435Thanks to Jim Blandy, who provided some useful feedback on the libffi
436interface.
437
438Andreas Tobler has done a tremendous amount of work on the testsuite.
439
440Alex Oliva solved the executable page problem for SElinux.
441
442The list above is almost certainly incomplete and inaccurate. I'm
443happy to make corrections or additions upon request.
444
445If you have a problem, or have found a bug, please send a note to the
446author at green@moxielogic.com, or the project mailing list at
447libffi-discuss@sourceware.org.
448
README.md
1Status
2======
3
4[![Build Status](https://travis-ci.org/libffi/libffi.svg?branch=master)](https://travis-ci.org/libffi/libffi)
5[![Build status](https://ci.appveyor.com/api/projects/status/8lko9vagbx4w2kxq?svg=true)](https://ci.appveyor.com/project/atgreen/libffi)
6
7libffi-3.3 was released on November 23, 2019. Check the libffi web
8page for updates: <URL:http://sourceware.org/libffi/>.
9
10
11What is libffi?
12===============
13
14Compilers for high level languages generate code that follow certain
15conventions. These conventions are necessary, in part, for separate
16compilation to work. One such convention is the "calling
17convention". The "calling convention" is essentially a set of
18assumptions made by the compiler about where function arguments will
19be found on entry to a function. A "calling convention" also specifies
20where the return value for a function is found.
21
22Some programs may not know at the time of compilation what arguments
23are to be passed to a function. For instance, an interpreter may be
24told at run-time about the number and types of arguments used to call
25a given function. Libffi can be used in such programs to provide a
26bridge from the interpreter program to compiled code.
27
28The libffi library provides a portable, high level programming
29interface to various calling conventions. This allows a programmer to
30call any function specified by a call interface description at run
31time.
32
33FFI stands for Foreign Function Interface. A foreign function
34interface is the popular name for the interface that allows code
35written in one language to call code written in another language. The
36libffi library really only provides the lowest, machine dependent
37layer of a fully featured foreign function interface. A layer must
38exist above libffi that handles type conversions for values passed
39between the two languages.
40
41
42Supported Platforms
43===================
44
45Libffi has been ported to many different platforms.
46
47At the time of release, the following basic configurations have been
48tested:
49
50| Architecture | Operating System | Compiler |
51| --------------- | ---------------- | ----------------------- |
52| AArch64 (ARM64) | iOS | Clang |
53| AArch64 | Linux | GCC |
54| AArch64 | Windows | MSVC |
55| Alpha | Linux | GCC |
56| Alpha | Tru64 | GCC |
57| ARC | Linux | GCC |
58| ARM | Linux | GCC |
59| ARM | iOS | GCC |
60| ARM | Windows | MSVC |
61| AVR32 | Linux | GCC |
62| Blackfin | uClinux | GCC |
63| HPPA | HPUX | GCC |
64| IA-64 | Linux | GCC |
65| M68K | FreeMiNT | GCC |
66| M68K | Linux | GCC |
67| M68K | RTEMS | GCC |
68| M88K | OpenBSD/mvme88k | GCC |
69| Meta | Linux | GCC |
70| MicroBlaze | Linux | GCC |
71| MIPS | IRIX | GCC |
72| MIPS | Linux | GCC |
73| MIPS | RTEMS | GCC |
74| MIPS64 | Linux | GCC |
75| Moxie | Bare metal | GCC |
76| Nios II | Linux | GCC |
77| OpenRISC | Linux | GCC |
78| PowerPC 32-bit | AIX | IBM XL C |
79| PowerPC 64-bit | AIX | IBM XL C |
80| PowerPC | AMIGA | GCC |
81| PowerPC | Linux | GCC |
82| PowerPC | Mac OSX | GCC |
83| PowerPC | FreeBSD | GCC |
84| PowerPC 64-bit | FreeBSD | GCC |
85| PowerPC 64-bit | Linux ELFv1 | GCC |
86| PowerPC 64-bit | Linux ELFv2 | GCC |
87| RISC-V 32-bit | Linux | GCC |
88| RISC-V 64-bit | Linux | GCC |
89| S390 | Linux | GCC |
90| S390X | Linux | GCC |
91| SPARC | Linux | GCC |
92| SPARC | Solaris | GCC |
93| SPARC | Solaris | Oracle Solaris Studio C |
94| SPARC64 | Linux | GCC |
95| SPARC64 | FreeBSD | GCC |
96| SPARC64 | Solaris | Oracle Solaris Studio C |
97| TILE-Gx/TILEPro | Linux | GCC |
98| VAX | OpenBSD/vax | GCC |
99| X86 | FreeBSD | GCC |
100| X86 | GNU HURD | GCC |
101| X86 | Interix | GCC |
102| X86 | kFreeBSD | GCC |
103| X86 | Linux | GCC |
104| X86 | Mac OSX | GCC |
105| X86 | OpenBSD | GCC |
106| X86 | OS/2 | GCC |
107| X86 | Solaris | GCC |
108| X86 | Solaris | Oracle Solaris Studio C |
109| X86 | Windows/Cygwin | GCC |
110| X86 | Windows/MingW | GCC |
111| X86-64 | FreeBSD | GCC |
112| X86-64 | Linux | GCC |
113| X86-64 | Linux/x32 | GCC |
114| X86-64 | OpenBSD | GCC |
115| X86-64 | Solaris | Oracle Solaris Studio C |
116| X86-64 | Windows/Cygwin | GCC |
117| X86-64 | Windows/MingW | GCC |
118| X86-64 | Mac OSX | GCC |
119| Xtensa | Linux | GCC |
120
121Please send additional platform test results to
122libffi-discuss@sourceware.org.
123
124Installing libffi
125=================
126
127First you must configure the distribution for your particular
128system. Go to the directory you wish to build libffi in and run the
129"configure" program found in the root directory of the libffi source
130distribution. Note that building libffi requires a C99 compatible
131compiler.
132
133If you're building libffi directly from git hosted sources, configure
134won't exist yet; run ./autogen.sh first. This will require that you
135install autoconf, automake and libtool.
136
137You may want to tell configure where to install the libffi library and
138header files. To do that, use the ``--prefix`` configure switch. Libffi
139will install under /usr/local by default.
140
141If you want to enable extra run-time debugging checks use the the
142``--enable-debug`` configure switch. This is useful when your program dies
143mysteriously while using libffi.
144
145Another useful configure switch is ``--enable-purify-safety``. Using this
146will add some extra code which will suppress certain warnings when you
147are using Purify with libffi. Only use this switch when using
148Purify, as it will slow down the library.
149
150If you don't want to build documentation, use the ``--disable-docs``
151configure switch.
152
153It's also possible to build libffi on Windows platforms with
154Microsoft's Visual C++ compiler. In this case, use the msvcc.sh
155wrapper script during configuration like so:
156
157 path/to/configure CC=path/to/msvcc.sh CXX=path/to/msvcc.sh LD=link CPP="cl -nologo -EP" CPPFLAGS="-DFFI_BUILDING_DLL"
158
159For 64-bit Windows builds, use ``CC="path/to/msvcc.sh -m64"`` and
160``CXX="path/to/msvcc.sh -m64"``. You may also need to specify
161``--build`` appropriately.
162
163It is also possible to build libffi on Windows platforms with the LLVM
164project's clang-cl compiler, like below:
165
166 path/to/configure CC="path/to/msvcc.sh -clang-cl" CXX="path/to/msvcc.sh -clang-cl" LD=link CPP="clang-cl -EP"
167
168When building with MSVC under a MingW environment, you may need to
169remove the line in configure that sets 'fix_srcfile_path' to a 'cygpath'
170command. ('cygpath' is not present in MingW, and is not required when
171using MingW-style paths.)
172
173To build static library for ARM64 with MSVC using visual studio solution, msvc_build folder have
174 aarch64/Ffi_staticLib.sln
175 required header files in aarch64/aarch64_include/
176
177
178SPARC Solaris builds require the use of the GNU assembler and linker.
179Point ``AS`` and ``LD`` environment variables at those tool prior to
180configuration.
181
182For iOS builds, the ``libffi.xcodeproj`` Xcode project is available.
183
184Configure has many other options. Use ``configure --help`` to see them all.
185
186Once configure has finished, type "make". Note that you must be using
187GNU make. You can ftp GNU make from ftp.gnu.org:/pub/gnu/make .
188
189To ensure that libffi is working as advertised, type "make check".
190This will require that you have DejaGNU installed.
191
192To install the library and header files, type ``make install``.
193
194
195History
196=======
197
198See the git log for details at http://github.com/libffi/libffi.
199
200 3.3 Nov-23-19
201 Add RISC-V support.
202 New API in support of GO closures.
203 Add IEEE754 binary128 long double support for 64-bit Power
204 Default to Microsoft's 64 bit long double ABI with Visual C++.
205 GNU compiler uses 80 bits (128 in memory) FFI_GNUW64 ABI.
206 Add Windows on ARM64 (WOA) support.
207 Add Windows 32-bit ARM support.
208 Raw java (gcj) API deprecated.
209 Add pre-built PDF documentation to source distribution.
210 Many new tests cases and bug fixes.
211
212 3.2.1 Nov-12-14
213 Build fix for non-iOS AArch64 targets.
214
215 3.2 Nov-11-14
216 Add C99 Complex Type support (currently only supported on
217 s390).
218 Add support for PASCAL and REGISTER calling conventions on x86
219 Windows/Linux.
220 Add OpenRISC and Cygwin-64 support.
221 Bug fixes.
222
223 3.1 May-19-14
224 Add AArch64 (ARM64) iOS support.
225 Add Nios II support.
226 Add m88k and DEC VAX support.
227 Add support for stdcall, thiscall, and fastcall on non-Windows
228 32-bit x86 targets such as Linux.
229 Various Android, MIPS N32, x86, FreeBSD and UltraSPARC IIi
230 fixes.
231 Make the testsuite more robust: eliminate several spurious
232 failures, and respect the $CC and $CXX environment variables.
233 Archive off the manually maintained ChangeLog in favor of git
234 log.
235
236 3.0.13 Mar-17-13
237 Add Meta support.
238 Add missing Moxie bits.
239 Fix stack alignment bug on 32-bit x86.
240 Build fix for m68000 targets.
241 Build fix for soft-float Power targets.
242 Fix the install dir location for some platforms when building
243 with GCC (OS X, Solaris).
244 Fix Cygwin regression.
245
246 3.0.12 Feb-11-13
247 Add Moxie support.
248 Add AArch64 support.
249 Add Blackfin support.
250 Add TILE-Gx/TILEPro support.
251 Add MicroBlaze support.
252 Add Xtensa support.
253 Add support for PaX enabled kernels with MPROTECT.
254 Add support for native vendor compilers on
255 Solaris and AIX.
256 Work around LLVM/GCC interoperability issue on x86_64.
257
258 3.0.11 Apr-11-12
259 Lots of build fixes.
260 Add support for variadic functions (ffi_prep_cif_var).
261 Add Linux/x32 support.
262 Add thiscall, fastcall and MSVC cdecl support on Windows.
263 Add Amiga and newer MacOS support.
264 Add m68k FreeMiNT support.
265 Integration with iOS' xcode build tools.
266 Fix Octeon and MC68881 support.
267 Fix code pessimizations.
268
269 3.0.10 Aug-23-11
270 Add support for Apple's iOS.
271 Add support for ARM VFP ABI.
272 Add RTEMS support for MIPS and M68K.
273 Fix instruction cache clearing problems on
274 ARM and SPARC.
275 Fix the N64 build on mips-sgi-irix6.5.
276 Enable builds with Microsoft's compiler.
277 Enable x86 builds with Oracle's Solaris compiler.
278 Fix support for calling code compiled with Oracle's Sparc
279 Solaris compiler.
280 Testsuite fixes for Tru64 Unix.
281 Additional platform support.
282
283 3.0.9 Dec-31-09
284 Add AVR32 and win64 ports. Add ARM softfp support.
285 Many fixes for AIX, Solaris, HP-UX, *BSD.
286 Several PowerPC and x86-64 bug fixes.
287 Build DLL for windows.
288
289 3.0.8 Dec-19-08
290 Add *BSD, BeOS, and PA-Linux support.
291
292 3.0.7 Nov-11-08
293 Fix for ppc FreeBSD.
294 (thanks to Andreas Tobler)
295
296 3.0.6 Jul-17-08
297 Fix for closures on sh.
298 Mark the sh/sh64 stack as non-executable.
299 (both thanks to Kaz Kojima)
300
301 3.0.5 Apr-3-08
302 Fix libffi.pc file.
303 Fix #define ARM for IcedTea users.
304 Fix x86 closure bug.
305
306 3.0.4 Feb-24-08
307 Fix x86 OpenBSD configury.
308
309 3.0.3 Feb-22-08
310 Enable x86 OpenBSD thanks to Thomas Heller, and
311 x86-64 FreeBSD thanks to Björn König and Andreas Tobler.
312 Clean up test instruction in README.
313
314 3.0.2 Feb-21-08
315 Improved x86 FreeBSD support.
316 Thanks to Björn König.
317
318 3.0.1 Feb-15-08
319 Fix instruction cache flushing bug on MIPS.
320 Thanks to David Daney.
321
322 3.0.0 Feb-15-08
323 Many changes, mostly thanks to the GCC project.
324 Cygnus Solutions is now Red Hat.
325
326 [10 years go by...]
327
328 1.20 Oct-5-98
329 Raffaele Sena produces ARM port.
330
331 1.19 Oct-5-98
332 Fixed x86 long double and long long return support.
333 m68k bug fixes from Andreas Schwab.
334 Patch for DU assembler compatibility for the Alpha from Richard
335 Henderson.
336
337 1.18 Apr-17-98
338 Bug fixes and MIPS configuration changes.
339
340 1.17 Feb-24-98
341 Bug fixes and m68k port from Andreas Schwab. PowerPC port from
342 Geoffrey Keating. Various bug x86, Sparc and MIPS bug fixes.
343
344 1.16 Feb-11-98
345 Richard Henderson produces Alpha port.
346
347 1.15 Dec-4-97
348 Fixed an n32 ABI bug. New libtool, auto* support.
349
350 1.14 May-13-97
351 libtool is now used to generate shared and static libraries.
352 Fixed a minor portability problem reported by Russ McManus
353 <mcmanr@eq.gs.com>.
354
355 1.13 Dec-2-96
356 Added --enable-purify-safety to keep Purify from complaining
357 about certain low level code.
358 Sparc fix for calling functions with < 6 args.
359 Linux x86 a.out fix.
360
361 1.12 Nov-22-96
362 Added missing ffi_type_void, needed for supporting void return
363 types. Fixed test case for non MIPS machines. Cygnus Support
364 is now Cygnus Solutions.
365
366 1.11 Oct-30-96
367 Added notes about GNU make.
368
369 1.10 Oct-29-96
370 Added configuration fix for non GNU compilers.
371
372 1.09 Oct-29-96
373 Added --enable-debug configure switch. Clean-ups based on LCLint
374 feedback. ffi_mips.h is always installed. Many configuration
375 fixes. Fixed ffitest.c for sparc builds.
376
377 1.08 Oct-15-96
378 Fixed n32 problem. Many clean-ups.
379
380 1.07 Oct-14-96
381 Gordon Irlam rewrites v8.S again. Bug fixes.
382
383 1.06 Oct-14-96
384 Gordon Irlam improved the sparc port.
385
386 1.05 Oct-14-96
387 Interface changes based on feedback.
388
389 1.04 Oct-11-96
390 Sparc port complete (modulo struct passing bug).
391
392 1.03 Oct-10-96
393 Passing struct args, and returning struct values works for
394 all architectures/calling conventions. Expanded tests.
395
396 1.02 Oct-9-96
397 Added SGI n32 support. Fixed bugs in both o32 and Linux support.
398 Added "make test".
399
400 1.01 Oct-8-96
401 Fixed float passing bug in mips version. Restructured some
402 of the code. Builds cleanly with SGI tools.
403
404 1.00 Oct-7-96
405 First release. No public announcement.
406
407Authors & Credits
408=================
409
410libffi was originally written by Anthony Green <green@moxielogic.com>.
411
412The developers of the GNU Compiler Collection project have made
413innumerable valuable contributions. See the ChangeLog file for
414details.
415
416Some of the ideas behind libffi were inspired by Gianni Mariani's free
417gencall library for Silicon Graphics machines.
418
419The closure mechanism was designed and implemented by Kresten Krab
420Thorup.
421
422Major processor architecture ports were contributed by the following
423developers:
424
425 aarch64 Marcus Shawcroft, James Greenhalgh
426 alpha Richard Henderson
427 arc Hackers at Synopsis
428 arm Raffaele Sena
429 avr32 Bradley Smith
430 blackfin Alexandre Keunecke I. de Mendonca
431 cris Simon Posnjak, Hans-Peter Nilsson
432 frv Anthony Green
433 ia64 Hans Boehm
434 m32r Kazuhiro Inaoka
435 m68k Andreas Schwab
436 m88k Miod Vallat
437 metag Hackers at Imagination Technologies
438 microblaze Nathan Rossi
439 mips Anthony Green, Casey Marshall
440 mips64 David Daney
441 moxie Anthony Green
442 nios ii Sandra Loosemore
443 openrisc Sebastian Macke
444 pa Randolph Chung, Dave Anglin, Andreas Tobler
445 powerpc Geoffrey Keating, Andreas Tobler,
446 David Edelsohn, John Hornkvist
447 powerpc64 Jakub Jelinek
448 riscv Michael Knyszek, Andrew Waterman, Stef O'Rear
449 s390 Gerhard Tonn, Ulrich Weigand
450 sh Kaz Kojima
451 sh64 Kaz Kojima
452 sparc Anthony Green, Gordon Irlam
453 tile-gx/tilepro Walter Lee
454 vax Miod Vallat
455 x86 Anthony Green, Jon Beniston
456 x86-64 Bo Thorsen
457 xtensa Chris Zankel
458
459Jesper Skov and Andrew Haley both did more than their fair share of
460stepping through the code and tracking down bugs.
461
462Thanks also to Tom Tromey for bug fixes, documentation and
463configuration help.
464
465Thanks to Jim Blandy, who provided some useful feedback on the libffi
466interface.
467
468Andreas Tobler has done a tremendous amount of work on the testsuite.
469
470Alex Oliva solved the executable page problem for SElinux.
471
472The list above is almost certainly incomplete and inaccurate. I'm
473happy to make corrections or additions upon request.
474
475If you have a problem, or have found a bug, please send a note to the
476author at green@moxielogic.com, or the project mailing list at
477libffi-discuss@sourceware.org.
478