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 |--------------+------------------|
87 | X86 | Windows/Cygwin |
88 | X86 | Windows/MingW |
92 | X86-64 | Windows/MingW |
93 |--------------+------------------|
95 Please send additional platform test results to
96 libffi-discuss@sourceware.org and feel free to update the wiki page
102 First you must configure the distribution for your particular
103 system. Go to the directory you wish to build libffi in and run the
104 "configure" program found in the root directory of the libffi source
107 You may want to tell configure where to install the libffi library and
108 header files. To do that, use the --prefix configure switch. Libffi
109 will install under /usr/local by default.
111 If you want to enable extra run-time debugging checks use the the
112 --enable-debug configure switch. This is useful when your program dies
113 mysteriously while using libffi.
115 Another useful configure switch is --enable-purify-safety. Using this
116 will add some extra code which will suppress certain warnings when you
117 are using Purify with libffi. Only use this switch when using
118 Purify, as it will slow down the library.
120 It's also possible to build libffi on Windows platforms with
121 Microsoft's Visual C++ compiler. In this case, use the msvcc.sh
122 wrapper script during configuration like so:
124 path/to/configure CC=path/to/msvcc.sh LD=link CPP=\"cl -nologo -EP\"
126 For 64-bit Windows builds, use CC="path/to/msvcc.sh -m64".
127 You may also need to specify --build appropriately. When building with MSVC
128 under a MingW environment, you may need to remove the line in configure
129 that sets 'fix_srcfile_path' to a 'cygpath' command. ('cygpath' is not
130 present in MingW, and is not required when using MingW-style paths.)
132 For iOS builds, refer to the build-ios.sh script for guidance.
134 Configure has many other options. Use "configure --help" to see them all.
136 Once configure has finished, type "make". Note that you must be using
137 GNU make. You can ftp GNU make from prep.ai.mit.edu:/pub/gnu.
139 To ensure that libffi is working as advertised, type "make check".
140 This will require that you have DejaGNU installed.
142 To install the library and header files, type "make install".
148 See the ChangeLog files for details.
152 Add Amiga newer MacOS support.
153 Add Linux/x32 support.
154 Add m68k FreeMiNT support.
155 Add thiscall and fastcall support on Windows.
156 Fix Octeon and MC68881 support.
157 Fix code pessimizations.
160 Add support for Apple's iOS.
161 Add support for ARM VFP ABI.
162 Add RTEMS support for MIPS and M68K.
163 Fix instruction cache clearing problems on
165 Fix the N64 build on mips-sgi-irix6.5.
166 Enable builds with Microsoft's compiler.
167 Enable x86 builds with Oracle's Solaris compiler.
168 Fix support for calling code compiled with Oracle's Sparc
170 Testsuite fixes for Tru64 Unix.
171 Additional platform support.
174 Add AVR32 and win64 ports. Add ARM softfp support.
175 Many fixes for AIX, Solaris, HP-UX, *BSD.
176 Several PowerPC and x86-64 bug fixes.
177 Build DLL for windows.
180 Add *BSD, BeOS, and PA-Linux support.
184 (thanks to Andreas Tobler)
187 Fix for closures on sh.
188 Mark the sh/sh64 stack as non-executable.
189 (both thanks to Kaz Kojima)
193 Fix #define ARM for IcedTea users.
197 Fix x86 OpenBSD configury.
200 Enable x86 OpenBSD thanks to Thomas Heller, and
201 x86-64 FreeBSD thanks to Björn König and Andreas Tobler.
202 Clean up test instruction in README.
205 Improved x86 FreeBSD support.
206 Thanks to Björn König.
209 Fix instruction cache flushing bug on MIPS.
210 Thanks to David Daney.
213 Many changes, mostly thanks to the GCC project.
214 Cygnus Solutions is now Red Hat.
219 Raffaele Sena produces ARM port.
222 Fixed x86 long double and long long return support.
223 m68k bug fixes from Andreas Schwab.
224 Patch for DU assembler compatibility for the Alpha from Richard
228 Bug fixes and MIPS configuration changes.
231 Bug fixes and m68k port from Andreas Schwab. PowerPC port from
232 Geoffrey Keating. Various bug x86, Sparc and MIPS bug fixes.
235 Richard Henderson produces Alpha port.
238 Fixed an n32 ABI bug. New libtool, auto* support.
241 libtool is now used to generate shared and static libraries.
242 Fixed a minor portability problem reported by Russ McManus
246 Added --enable-purify-safety to keep Purify from complaining
247 about certain low level code.
248 Sparc fix for calling functions with < 6 args.
252 Added missing ffi_type_void, needed for supporting void return
253 types. Fixed test case for non MIPS machines. Cygnus Support
254 is now Cygnus Solutions.
257 Added notes about GNU make.
260 Added configuration fix for non GNU compilers.
263 Added --enable-debug configure switch. Clean-ups based on LCLint
264 feedback. ffi_mips.h is always installed. Many configuration
265 fixes. Fixed ffitest.c for sparc builds.
268 Fixed n32 problem. Many clean-ups.
271 Gordon Irlam rewrites v8.S again. Bug fixes.
274 Gordon Irlam improved the sparc port.
277 Interface changes based on feedback.
280 Sparc port complete (modulo struct passing bug).
283 Passing struct args, and returning struct values works for
284 all architectures/calling conventions. Expanded tests.
287 Added SGI n32 support. Fixed bugs in both o32 and Linux support.
291 Fixed float passing bug in mips version. Restructured some
292 of the code. Builds cleanly with SGI tools.
295 First release. No public announcement.
301 libffi was originally written by Anthony Green <green@redhat.com>.
303 The developers of the GNU Compiler Collection project have made
304 innumerable valuable contributions. See the ChangeLog file for
307 Some of the ideas behind libffi were inspired by Gianni Mariani's free
308 gencall library for Silicon Graphics machines.
310 The closure mechanism was designed and implemented by Kresten Krab
313 Major processor architecture ports were contributed by the following
316 alpha Richard Henderson
318 cris Simon Posnjak, Hans-Peter Nilsson
323 mips Anthony Green, Casey Marshall
325 pa Randolph Chung, Dave Anglin, Andreas Tobler
326 powerpc Geoffrey Keating, Andreas Tobler,
327 David Edelsohn, John Hornkvist
328 powerpc64 Jakub Jelinek
329 s390 Gerhard Tonn, Ulrich Weigand
332 sparc Anthony Green, Gordon Irlam
333 x86 Anthony Green, Jon Beniston
336 Jesper Skov and Andrew Haley both did more than their fair share of
337 stepping through the code and tracking down bugs.
339 Thanks also to Tom Tromey for bug fixes, documentation and
342 Thanks to Jim Blandy, who provided some useful feedback on the libffi
345 Andreas Tobler has done a tremendous amount of work on the testsuite.
347 Alex Oliva solved the executable page problem for SElinux.
349 The list above is almost certainly incomplete and inaccurate. I'm
350 happy to make corrections or additions upon request.
352 If you have a problem, or have found a bug, please send a note to the
353 author at green@moxielogic.com, or the project mailing list at
354 libffi-discuss@sourceware.org.