4 libffi-3.0.13 was released on March 17, 2013. 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_3.0.13
48 At the time of release, the following basic configurations have been
51 |-----------------+------------------+-------------------------|
52 | Architecture | Operating System | Compiler |
53 |-----------------+------------------+-------------------------|
54 | AArch64 | Linux | GCC |
55 | Alpha | Linux | GCC |
56 | Alpha | Tru64 | GCC |
60 | AVR32 | Linux | GCC |
61 | Blackfin | uClinux | GCC |
63 | IA-64 | Linux | GCC |
64 | M68K | FreeMiNT | GCC |
65 | M68K | Linux | GCC |
66 | M68K | RTEMS | GCC |
67 | Meta | Linux | GCC |
68 | MicroBlaze | Linux | GCC |
70 | MIPS | Linux | GCC |
71 | MIPS | RTEMS | GCC |
72 | MIPS64 | Linux | GCC |
73 | Moxie | Bare metal | GCC
74 | PowerPC 32-bit | AIX | IBM XL C |
75 | PowerPC 64-bit | AIX | IBM XL C |
76 | PowerPC | AMIGA | GCC |
77 | PowerPC | Linux | GCC |
78 | PowerPC | Mac OSX | GCC |
79 | PowerPC | FreeBSD | GCC |
80 | PowerPC 64-bit | FreeBSD | GCC |
81 | PowerPC 64-bit | Linux | GCC |
82 | S390 | Linux | GCC |
83 | S390X | Linux | GCC |
84 | SPARC | Linux | GCC |
85 | SPARC | Solaris | GCC |
86 | SPARC | Solaris | Oracle Solaris Studio C |
87 | SPARC64 | Linux | GCC |
88 | SPARC64 | FreeBSD | GCC |
89 | SPARC64 | Solaris | Oracle Solaris Studio C |
90 | TILE-Gx/TILEPro | Linux | GCC |
91 | X86 | FreeBSD | GCC |
92 | X86 | GNU HURD | GCC |
93 | X86 | Interix | GCC |
94 | X86 | kFreeBSD | GCC |
96 | X86 | Mac OSX | GCC |
97 | X86 | OpenBSD | GCC |
99 | X86 | Solaris | GCC |
100 | X86 | Solaris | Oracle Solaris Studio C |
101 | X86 | Windows/Cygwin | GCC |
102 | X86 | Windows/MingW | GCC |
103 | X86-64 | FreeBSD | GCC |
104 | X86-64 | Linux | GCC |
105 | X86-64 | Linux/x32 | GCC |
106 | X86-64 | OpenBSD | GCC |
107 | X86-64 | Solaris | Oracle Solaris Studio C |
108 | X86-64 | Windows/MingW | GCC |
109 | Xtensa | Linux | GCC |
110 |-----------------+------------------+-------------------------|
112 Please send additional platform test results to
113 libffi-discuss@sourceware.org and feel free to update the wiki page
119 First you must configure the distribution for your particular
120 system. Go to the directory you wish to build libffi in and run the
121 "configure" program found in the root directory of the libffi source
124 You may want to tell configure where to install the libffi library and
125 header files. To do that, use the --prefix configure switch. Libffi
126 will install under /usr/local by default.
128 If you want to enable extra run-time debugging checks use the the
129 --enable-debug configure switch. This is useful when your program dies
130 mysteriously while using libffi.
132 Another useful configure switch is --enable-purify-safety. Using this
133 will add some extra code which will suppress certain warnings when you
134 are using Purify with libffi. Only use this switch when using
135 Purify, as it will slow down the library.
137 It's also possible to build libffi on Windows platforms with
138 Microsoft's Visual C++ compiler. In this case, use the msvcc.sh
139 wrapper script during configuration like so:
141 path/to/configure CC=path/to/msvcc.sh LD=link CPP=\"cl -nologo -EP\"
143 For 64-bit Windows builds, use CC="path/to/msvcc.sh -m64".
144 You may also need to specify --build appropriately. When building with MSVC
145 under a MingW environment, you may need to remove the line in configure
146 that sets 'fix_srcfile_path' to a 'cygpath' command. ('cygpath' is not
147 present in MingW, and is not required when using MingW-style paths.)
149 For iOS builds, the 'libffi.xcodeproj' Xcode project is available.
151 Configure has many other options. Use "configure --help" to see them all.
153 Once configure has finished, type "make". Note that you must be using
154 GNU make. You can ftp GNU make from ftp.gnu.org:/pub/gnu/make .
156 To ensure that libffi is working as advertised, type "make check".
157 This will require that you have DejaGNU installed.
159 To install the library and header files, type "make install".
165 See the ChangeLog files for details.
169 Add missing Moxie bits.
170 Fix stack alignment bug on 32-bit x86.
171 Build fix for m68000 targets.
172 Build fix for soft-float Power targets.
173 Fix the install dir location for some platforms when building
174 with GCC (OS X, Solaris).
175 Fix Cygwin regression.
180 Add Blackfin support.
181 Add TILE-Gx/TILEPro support.
182 Add MicroBlaze support.
184 Add support for PaX enabled kernels with MPROTECT.
185 Add support for native vendor compilers on
187 Work around LLVM/GCC interoperability issue on x86_64.
191 Add Amiga newer MacOS support.
192 Add support for variadic functions (ffi_prep_cif_var).
193 Add Linux/x32 support.
194 Add thiscall, fastcall and MSVC cdecl support on Windows.
195 Add Amiga and newer MacOS support.
196 Add m68k FreeMiNT support.
197 Integration with iOS' xcode build tools.
198 Fix Octeon and MC68881 support.
199 Fix code pessimizations.
202 Add support for Apple's iOS.
203 Add support for ARM VFP ABI.
204 Add RTEMS support for MIPS and M68K.
205 Fix instruction cache clearing problems on
207 Fix the N64 build on mips-sgi-irix6.5.
208 Enable builds with Microsoft's compiler.
209 Enable x86 builds with Oracle's Solaris compiler.
210 Fix support for calling code compiled with Oracle's Sparc
212 Testsuite fixes for Tru64 Unix.
213 Additional platform support.
216 Add AVR32 and win64 ports. Add ARM softfp support.
217 Many fixes for AIX, Solaris, HP-UX, *BSD.
218 Several PowerPC and x86-64 bug fixes.
219 Build DLL for windows.
222 Add *BSD, BeOS, and PA-Linux support.
226 (thanks to Andreas Tobler)
229 Fix for closures on sh.
230 Mark the sh/sh64 stack as non-executable.
231 (both thanks to Kaz Kojima)
235 Fix #define ARM for IcedTea users.
239 Fix x86 OpenBSD configury.
242 Enable x86 OpenBSD thanks to Thomas Heller, and
243 x86-64 FreeBSD thanks to Björn König and Andreas Tobler.
244 Clean up test instruction in README.
247 Improved x86 FreeBSD support.
248 Thanks to Björn König.
251 Fix instruction cache flushing bug on MIPS.
252 Thanks to David Daney.
255 Many changes, mostly thanks to the GCC project.
256 Cygnus Solutions is now Red Hat.
261 Raffaele Sena produces ARM port.
264 Fixed x86 long double and long long return support.
265 m68k bug fixes from Andreas Schwab.
266 Patch for DU assembler compatibility for the Alpha from Richard
270 Bug fixes and MIPS configuration changes.
273 Bug fixes and m68k port from Andreas Schwab. PowerPC port from
274 Geoffrey Keating. Various bug x86, Sparc and MIPS bug fixes.
277 Richard Henderson produces Alpha port.
280 Fixed an n32 ABI bug. New libtool, auto* support.
283 libtool is now used to generate shared and static libraries.
284 Fixed a minor portability problem reported by Russ McManus
288 Added --enable-purify-safety to keep Purify from complaining
289 about certain low level code.
290 Sparc fix for calling functions with < 6 args.
294 Added missing ffi_type_void, needed for supporting void return
295 types. Fixed test case for non MIPS machines. Cygnus Support
296 is now Cygnus Solutions.
299 Added notes about GNU make.
302 Added configuration fix for non GNU compilers.
305 Added --enable-debug configure switch. Clean-ups based on LCLint
306 feedback. ffi_mips.h is always installed. Many configuration
307 fixes. Fixed ffitest.c for sparc builds.
310 Fixed n32 problem. Many clean-ups.
313 Gordon Irlam rewrites v8.S again. Bug fixes.
316 Gordon Irlam improved the sparc port.
319 Interface changes based on feedback.
322 Sparc port complete (modulo struct passing bug).
325 Passing struct args, and returning struct values works for
326 all architectures/calling conventions. Expanded tests.
329 Added SGI n32 support. Fixed bugs in both o32 and Linux support.
333 Fixed float passing bug in mips version. Restructured some
334 of the code. Builds cleanly with SGI tools.
337 First release. No public announcement.
343 libffi was originally written by Anthony Green <green@redhat.com>.
345 The developers of the GNU Compiler Collection project have made
346 innumerable valuable contributions. See the ChangeLog file for
349 Some of the ideas behind libffi were inspired by Gianni Mariani's free
350 gencall library for Silicon Graphics machines.
352 The closure mechanism was designed and implemented by Kresten Krab
355 Major processor architecture ports were contributed by the following
358 aarch64 Marcus Shawcroft, James Greenhalgh
359 alpha Richard Henderson
361 blackfin Alexandre Keunecke I. de Mendonca
362 cris Simon Posnjak, Hans-Peter Nilsson
367 microblaze Nathan Rossi
368 mips Anthony Green, Casey Marshall
371 pa Randolph Chung, Dave Anglin, Andreas Tobler
372 powerpc Geoffrey Keating, Andreas Tobler,
373 David Edelsohn, John Hornkvist
374 powerpc64 Jakub Jelinek
375 s390 Gerhard Tonn, Ulrich Weigand
378 sparc Anthony Green, Gordon Irlam
379 tile-gx/tilepro Walter Lee
380 x86 Anthony Green, Jon Beniston
384 Jesper Skov and Andrew Haley both did more than their fair share of
385 stepping through the code and tracking down bugs.
387 Thanks also to Tom Tromey for bug fixes, documentation and
390 Thanks to Jim Blandy, who provided some useful feedback on the libffi
393 Andreas Tobler has done a tremendous amount of work on the testsuite.
395 Alex Oliva solved the executable page problem for SElinux.
397 The list above is almost certainly incomplete and inaccurate. I'm
398 happy to make corrections or additions upon request.
400 If you have a problem, or have found a bug, please send a note to the
401 author at green@moxielogic.com, or the project mailing list at
402 libffi-discuss@sourceware.org.