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)
7 libffi-3.3 was released on November 23, 2019. Check the libffi web
8 page for updates: <URL:http://sourceware.org/libffi/>.
14 Compilers for high level languages generate code that follow certain
15 conventions. These conventions are necessary, in part, for separate
16 compilation to work. One such convention is the "calling
17 convention". The "calling convention" is essentially a set of
18 assumptions made by the compiler about where function arguments will
19 be found on entry to a function. A "calling convention" also specifies
20 where the return value for a function is found.
22 Some programs may not know at the time of compilation what arguments
23 are to be passed to a function. For instance, an interpreter may be
24 told at run-time about the number and types of arguments used to call
25 a given function. Libffi can be used in such programs to provide a
26 bridge from the interpreter program to compiled code.
28 The libffi library provides a portable, high level programming
29 interface to various calling conventions. This allows a programmer to
30 call any function specified by a call interface description at run
33 FFI stands for Foreign Function Interface. A foreign function
34 interface is the popular name for the interface that allows code
35 written in one language to call code written in another language. The
36 libffi library really only provides the lowest, machine dependent
37 layer of a fully featured foreign function interface. A layer must
38 exist above libffi that handles type conversions for values passed
39 between the two languages.
45 Libffi has been ported to many different platforms.
47 At the time of release, the following basic configurations have been
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 |
60 | ARM | Windows | MSVC |
61 | AVR32 | Linux | GCC |
62 | Blackfin | uClinux | 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 |
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 |
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 |
121 Please send additional platform test results to
122 libffi-discuss@sourceware.org.
127 First you must configure the distribution for your particular
128 system. 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
130 distribution. Note that building libffi requires a C99 compatible
133 If you're building libffi directly from git hosted sources, configure
134 won't exist yet; run ./autogen.sh first. This will require that you
135 install autoconf, automake and libtool.
137 You may want to tell configure where to install the libffi library and
138 header files. To do that, use the ``--prefix`` configure switch. Libffi
139 will install under /usr/local by default.
141 If you want to enable extra run-time debugging checks use the the
142 ``--enable-debug`` configure switch. This is useful when your program dies
143 mysteriously while using libffi.
145 Another useful configure switch is ``--enable-purify-safety``. Using this
146 will add some extra code which will suppress certain warnings when you
147 are using Purify with libffi. Only use this switch when using
148 Purify, as it will slow down the library.
150 If you don't want to build documentation, use the ``--disable-docs``
153 It's also possible to build libffi on Windows platforms with
154 Microsoft's Visual C++ compiler. In this case, use the msvcc.sh
155 wrapper script during configuration like so:
157 path/to/configure CC=path/to/msvcc.sh CXX=path/to/msvcc.sh LD=link CPP="cl -nologo -EP" CPPFLAGS="-DFFI_BUILDING_DLL"
159 For 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.
163 It is also possible to build libffi on Windows platforms with the LLVM
164 project's clang-cl compiler, like below:
166 path/to/configure CC="path/to/msvcc.sh -clang-cl" CXX="path/to/msvcc.sh -clang-cl" LD=link CPP="clang-cl -EP"
168 When building with MSVC under a MingW environment, you may need to
169 remove the line in configure that sets 'fix_srcfile_path' to a 'cygpath'
170 command. ('cygpath' is not present in MingW, and is not required when
171 using MingW-style paths.)
173 To 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/
178 SPARC Solaris builds require the use of the GNU assembler and linker.
179 Point ``AS`` and ``LD`` environment variables at those tool prior to
182 For iOS builds, the ``libffi.xcodeproj`` Xcode project is available.
184 Configure has many other options. Use ``configure --help`` to see them all.
186 Once configure has finished, type "make". Note that you must be using
187 GNU make. You can ftp GNU make from ftp.gnu.org:/pub/gnu/make .
189 To ensure that libffi is working as advertised, type "make check".
190 This will require that you have DejaGNU installed.
192 To install the library and header files, type ``make install``.
198 See the git log for details at http://github.com/libffi/libffi.
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.
213 Build fix for non-iOS AArch64 targets.
216 Add C99 Complex Type support (currently only supported on
218 Add support for PASCAL and REGISTER calling conventions on x86
220 Add OpenRISC and Cygwin-64 support.
224 Add AArch64 (ARM64) iOS 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
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
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.
249 Add Blackfin support.
250 Add TILE-Gx/TILEPro support.
251 Add MicroBlaze support.
253 Add support for PaX enabled kernels with MPROTECT.
254 Add support for native vendor compilers on
256 Work around LLVM/GCC interoperability issue on x86_64.
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.
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
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
280 Testsuite fixes for Tru64 Unix.
281 Additional platform support.
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.
290 Add *BSD, BeOS, and PA-Linux support.
294 (thanks to Andreas Tobler)
297 Fix for closures on sh.
298 Mark the sh/sh64 stack as non-executable.
299 (both thanks to Kaz Kojima)
303 Fix #define ARM for IcedTea users.
307 Fix x86 OpenBSD configury.
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.
315 Improved x86 FreeBSD support.
316 Thanks to Björn König.
319 Fix instruction cache flushing bug on MIPS.
320 Thanks to David Daney.
323 Many changes, mostly thanks to the GCC project.
324 Cygnus Solutions is now Red Hat.
329 Raffaele Sena produces ARM port.
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
338 Bug fixes and MIPS configuration changes.
341 Bug fixes and m68k port from Andreas Schwab. PowerPC port from
342 Geoffrey Keating. Various bug x86, Sparc and MIPS bug fixes.
345 Richard Henderson produces Alpha port.
348 Fixed an n32 ABI bug. New libtool, auto* support.
351 libtool is now used to generate shared and static libraries.
352 Fixed a minor portability problem reported by Russ McManus
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.
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.
367 Added notes about GNU make.
370 Added configuration fix for non GNU compilers.
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.
378 Fixed n32 problem. Many clean-ups.
381 Gordon Irlam rewrites v8.S again. Bug fixes.
384 Gordon Irlam improved the sparc port.
387 Interface changes based on feedback.
390 Sparc port complete (modulo struct passing bug).
393 Passing struct args, and returning struct values works for
394 all architectures/calling conventions. Expanded tests.
397 Added SGI n32 support. Fixed bugs in both o32 and Linux support.
401 Fixed float passing bug in mips version. Restructured some
402 of the code. Builds cleanly with SGI tools.
405 First release. No public announcement.
410 libffi was originally written by Anthony Green <green@moxielogic.com>.
412 The developers of the GNU Compiler Collection project have made
413 innumerable valuable contributions. See the ChangeLog file for
416 Some of the ideas behind libffi were inspired by Gianni Mariani's free
417 gencall library for Silicon Graphics machines.
419 The closure mechanism was designed and implemented by Kresten Krab
422 Major processor architecture ports were contributed by the following
425 aarch64 Marcus Shawcroft, James Greenhalgh
426 alpha Richard Henderson
427 arc Hackers at Synopsis
430 blackfin Alexandre Keunecke I. de Mendonca
431 cris Simon Posnjak, Hans-Peter Nilsson
437 metag Hackers at Imagination Technologies
438 microblaze Nathan Rossi
439 mips Anthony Green, Casey Marshall
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
452 sparc Anthony Green, Gordon Irlam
453 tile-gx/tilepro Walter Lee
455 x86 Anthony Green, Jon Beniston
459 Jesper Skov and Andrew Haley both did more than their fair share of
460 stepping through the code and tracking down bugs.
462 Thanks also to Tom Tromey for bug fixes, documentation and
465 Thanks to Jim Blandy, who provided some useful feedback on the libffi
468 Andreas Tobler has done a tremendous amount of work on the testsuite.
470 Alex Oliva solved the executable page problem for SElinux.
472 The list above is almost certainly incomplete and inaccurate. I'm
473 happy to make corrections or additions upon request.
475 If you have a problem, or have found a bug, please send a note to the
476 author at green@moxielogic.com, or the project mailing list at
477 libffi-discuss@sourceware.org.