4 libffi-3.0.11 was released on *****************. Check the libffi web
5 page for updates: <URL:http://sourceware.org/libffi/>.
11 Compilers for high level languages generate code that follow certain
12 conventions. These conventions are necessary, in part, for separate
13 compilation to work. One such convention is the "calling
14 convention". The "calling convention" is essentially a set of
15 assumptions made by the compiler about where function arguments will
16 be found on entry to a function. A "calling convention" also specifies
17 where the return value for a function is found.
19 Some programs may not know at the time of compilation what arguments
20 are to be passed to a function. For instance, an interpreter may be
21 told at run-time about the number and types of arguments used to call
22 a given function. Libffi can be used in such programs to provide a
23 bridge from the interpreter program to compiled code.
25 The libffi library provides a portable, high level programming
26 interface to various calling conventions. This allows a programmer to
27 call any function specified by a call interface description at run
30 FFI stands for Foreign Function Interface. A foreign function
31 interface is the popular name for the interface that allows code
32 written in one language to call code written in another language. The
33 libffi library really only provides the lowest, machine dependent
34 layer of a fully featured foreign function interface. A layer must
35 exist above libffi that handles type conversions for values passed
36 between the two languages.
42 Libffi has been ported to many different platforms.
43 For specific configuration details and testing status, please
44 refer to the wiki page here:
46 http://www.moxielogic.org/wiki/index.php?title=Libffi_3.0.11
48 At the time of release, the following basic configurations have been
51 |--------------+------------------|
52 | Architecture | Operating System |
53 |--------------+------------------|
85 | X86 | Windows/Cygwin |
86 | X86 | Windows/MingW |
90 | X86-64 | Windows/MingW |
91 |--------------+------------------|
93 Please send additional platform test results to
94 libffi-discuss@sourceware.org and feel free to update the wiki page
100 First you must configure the distribution for your particular
101 system. Go to the directory you wish to build libffi in and run the
102 "configure" program found in the root directory of the libffi source
105 You may want to tell configure where to install the libffi library and
106 header files. To do that, use the --prefix configure switch. Libffi
107 will install under /usr/local by default.
109 If you want to enable extra run-time debugging checks use the the
110 --enable-debug configure switch. This is useful when your program dies
111 mysteriously while using libffi.
113 Another useful configure switch is --enable-purify-safety. Using this
114 will add some extra code which will suppress certain warnings when you
115 are using Purify with libffi. Only use this switch when using
116 Purify, as it will slow down the library.
118 It's also possible to build libffi on Windows platforms with
119 Microsoft's Visual C++ compiler. In this case, use the msvcc.sh
120 wrapper script during configuration like so:
122 path/to/configure CC=path/to/msvcc.sh LD=link CPP=\"cl -nologo -EP\"
124 For 64-bit Windows builds, use CC="path/to/msvcc.sh -m64".
125 You may also need to specify --build appropriately. When building with MSVC
126 under a MingW environment, you may need to remove the line in configure
127 that sets 'fix_srcfile_path' to a 'cygpath' command. ('cygpath' is not
128 present in MingW, and is not required when using MingW-style paths.)
130 For iOS builds, refer to the build-ios.sh script for guidance.
132 Configure has many other options. Use "configure --help" to see them all.
134 Once configure has finished, type "make". Note that you must be using
135 GNU make. You can ftp GNU make from prep.ai.mit.edu:/pub/gnu.
137 To ensure that libffi is working as advertised, type "make check".
138 This will require that you have DejaGNU installed.
140 To install the library and header files, type "make install".
146 See the ChangeLog files for details.
150 Add Amiga newer MacOS support.
151 Fix Octeon and MC68881 support.
152 Fix code pessimizations.
155 Add support for Apple's iOS.
156 Add support for ARM VFP ABI.
157 Add RTEMS support for MIPS and M68K.
158 Fix instruction cache clearing problems on
160 Fix the N64 build on mips-sgi-irix6.5.
161 Enable builds with Microsoft's compiler.
162 Enable x86 builds with Oracle's Solaris compiler.
163 Fix support for calling code compiled with Oracle's Sparc
165 Testsuite fixes for Tru64 Unix.
166 Additional platform support.
169 Add AVR32 and win64 ports. Add ARM softfp support.
170 Many fixes for AIX, Solaris, HP-UX, *BSD.
171 Several PowerPC and x86-64 bug fixes.
172 Build DLL for windows.
175 Add *BSD, BeOS, and PA-Linux support.
179 (thanks to Andreas Tobler)
182 Fix for closures on sh.
183 Mark the sh/sh64 stack as non-executable.
184 (both thanks to Kaz Kojima)
188 Fix #define ARM for IcedTea users.
192 Fix x86 OpenBSD configury.
195 Enable x86 OpenBSD thanks to Thomas Heller, and
196 x86-64 FreeBSD thanks to Björn König and Andreas Tobler.
197 Clean up test instruction in README.
200 Improved x86 FreeBSD support.
201 Thanks to Björn König.
204 Fix instruction cache flushing bug on MIPS.
205 Thanks to David Daney.
208 Many changes, mostly thanks to the GCC project.
209 Cygnus Solutions is now Red Hat.
214 Raffaele Sena produces ARM port.
217 Fixed x86 long double and long long return support.
218 m68k bug fixes from Andreas Schwab.
219 Patch for DU assembler compatibility for the Alpha from Richard
223 Bug fixes and MIPS configuration changes.
226 Bug fixes and m68k port from Andreas Schwab. PowerPC port from
227 Geoffrey Keating. Various bug x86, Sparc and MIPS bug fixes.
230 Richard Henderson produces Alpha port.
233 Fixed an n32 ABI bug. New libtool, auto* support.
236 libtool is now used to generate shared and static libraries.
237 Fixed a minor portability problem reported by Russ McManus
241 Added --enable-purify-safety to keep Purify from complaining
242 about certain low level code.
243 Sparc fix for calling functions with < 6 args.
247 Added missing ffi_type_void, needed for supporting void return
248 types. Fixed test case for non MIPS machines. Cygnus Support
249 is now Cygnus Solutions.
252 Added notes about GNU make.
255 Added configuration fix for non GNU compilers.
258 Added --enable-debug configure switch. Clean-ups based on LCLint
259 feedback. ffi_mips.h is always installed. Many configuration
260 fixes. Fixed ffitest.c for sparc builds.
263 Fixed n32 problem. Many clean-ups.
266 Gordon Irlam rewrites v8.S again. Bug fixes.
269 Gordon Irlam improved the sparc port.
272 Interface changes based on feedback.
275 Sparc port complete (modulo struct passing bug).
278 Passing struct args, and returning struct values works for
279 all architectures/calling conventions. Expanded tests.
282 Added SGI n32 support. Fixed bugs in both o32 and Linux support.
286 Fixed float passing bug in mips version. Restructured some
287 of the code. Builds cleanly with SGI tools.
290 First release. No public announcement.
296 libffi was originally written by Anthony Green <green@redhat.com>.
298 The developers of the GNU Compiler Collection project have made
299 innumerable valuable contributions. See the ChangeLog file for
302 Some of the ideas behind libffi were inspired by Gianni Mariani's free
303 gencall library for Silicon Graphics machines.
305 The closure mechanism was designed and implemented by Kresten Krab
308 Major processor architecture ports were contributed by the following
311 alpha Richard Henderson
313 cris Simon Posnjak, Hans-Peter Nilsson
318 mips Anthony Green, Casey Marshall
320 pa Randolph Chung, Dave Anglin, Andreas Tobler
321 powerpc Geoffrey Keating, Andreas Tobler,
322 David Edelsohn, John Hornkvist
323 powerpc64 Jakub Jelinek
324 s390 Gerhard Tonn, Ulrich Weigand
327 sparc Anthony Green, Gordon Irlam
328 x86 Anthony Green, Jon Beniston
331 Jesper Skov and Andrew Haley both did more than their fair share of
332 stepping through the code and tracking down bugs.
334 Thanks also to Tom Tromey for bug fixes, documentation and
337 Thanks to Jim Blandy, who provided some useful feedback on the libffi
340 Andreas Tobler has done a tremendous amount of work on the testsuite.
342 Alex Oliva solved the executable page problem for SElinux.
344 The list above is almost certainly incomplete and inaccurate. I'm
345 happy to make corrections or additions upon request.
347 If you have a problem, or have found a bug, please send a note to the
348 author at green@moxielogic.com, or the project mailing list at
349 libffi-discuss@sourceware.org.