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-3.4 was released on TBD. 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 |
63 | CSKY | Linux | GCC |
66 | IA-64 | Linux | GCC |
67 | M68K | FreeMiNT | GCC |
68 | M68K | Linux | GCC |
69 | M68K | RTEMS | GCC |
70 | M88K | OpenBSD/mvme88k | GCC |
71 | Meta | Linux | GCC |
72 | MicroBlaze | Linux | GCC |
74 | MIPS | Linux | GCC |
75 | MIPS | RTEMS | GCC |
76 | MIPS64 | Linux | GCC |
77 | Moxie | Bare metal | GCC |
78 | Nios II | Linux | GCC |
79 | OpenRISC | Linux | GCC |
80 | PowerPC 32-bit | AIX | IBM XL C |
81 | PowerPC 64-bit | AIX | IBM XL C |
82 | PowerPC | AMIGA | GCC |
83 | PowerPC | Linux | GCC |
84 | PowerPC | Mac OSX | GCC |
85 | PowerPC | FreeBSD | GCC |
86 | PowerPC 64-bit | FreeBSD | GCC |
87 | PowerPC 64-bit | Linux ELFv1 | GCC |
88 | PowerPC 64-bit | Linux ELFv2 | GCC |
89 | RISC-V 32-bit | Linux | GCC |
90 | RISC-V 64-bit | Linux | GCC |
91 | S390 | Linux | GCC |
92 | S390X | Linux | GCC |
93 | SPARC | Linux | GCC |
94 | SPARC | Solaris | GCC |
95 | SPARC | Solaris | Oracle Solaris Studio C |
96 | SPARC64 | Linux | GCC |
97 | SPARC64 | FreeBSD | GCC |
98 | SPARC64 | Solaris | Oracle Solaris Studio C |
99 | TILE-Gx/TILEPro | Linux | GCC |
100 | VAX | OpenBSD/vax | GCC |
101 | X86 | FreeBSD | GCC |
102 | X86 | GNU HURD | GCC |
103 | X86 | Interix | GCC |
104 | X86 | kFreeBSD | GCC |
105 | X86 | Linux | GCC |
106 | X86 | OpenBSD | GCC |
108 | X86 | Solaris | GCC |
109 | X86 | Solaris | Oracle Solaris Studio C |
110 | X86 | Windows/Cygwin | GCC |
111 | X86 | Windows/MingW | GCC |
112 | X86-64 | FreeBSD | GCC |
113 | X86-64 | Linux | GCC |
114 | X86-64 | Linux/x32 | GCC |
115 | X86-64 | OpenBSD | GCC |
116 | X86-64 | Solaris | Oracle Solaris Studio C |
117 | X86-64 | Windows/Cygwin | GCC |
118 | X86-64 | Windows/MingW | GCC |
119 | X86-64 | Mac OSX | GCC |
120 | Xtensa | Linux | GCC |
122 Please send additional platform test results to
123 libffi-discuss@sourceware.org.
128 First you must configure the distribution for your particular
129 system. Go to the directory you wish to build libffi in and run the
130 "configure" program found in the root directory of the libffi source
131 distribution. Note that building libffi requires a C99 compatible
134 If you're building libffi directly from git hosted sources, configure
135 won't exist yet; run ./autogen.sh first. This will require that you
136 install autoconf, automake and libtool.
138 You may want to tell configure where to install the libffi library and
139 header files. To do that, use the ``--prefix`` configure switch. Libffi
140 will install under /usr/local by default.
142 If you want to enable extra run-time debugging checks use the the
143 ``--enable-debug`` configure switch. This is useful when your program dies
144 mysteriously while using libffi.
146 Another useful configure switch is ``--enable-purify-safety``. Using this
147 will add some extra code which will suppress certain warnings when you
148 are using Purify with libffi. Only use this switch when using
149 Purify, as it will slow down the library.
151 If you don't want to build documentation, use the ``--disable-docs``
154 It's also possible to build libffi on Windows platforms with
155 Microsoft's Visual C++ compiler. In this case, use the msvcc.sh
156 wrapper script during configuration like so:
158 path/to/configure CC=path/to/msvcc.sh CXX=path/to/msvcc.sh LD=link CPP="cl -nologo -EP" CPPFLAGS="-DFFI_BUILDING_DLL"
160 For 64-bit Windows builds, use ``CC="path/to/msvcc.sh -m64"`` and
161 ``CXX="path/to/msvcc.sh -m64"``. You may also need to specify
162 ``--build`` appropriately.
164 It is also possible to build libffi on Windows platforms with the LLVM
165 project's clang-cl compiler, like below:
167 path/to/configure CC="path/to/msvcc.sh -clang-cl" CXX="path/to/msvcc.sh -clang-cl" LD=link CPP="clang-cl -EP"
169 When building with MSVC under a MingW environment, you may need to
170 remove the line in configure that sets 'fix_srcfile_path' to a 'cygpath'
171 command. ('cygpath' is not present in MingW, and is not required when
172 using MingW-style paths.)
174 To build static library for ARM64 with MSVC using visual studio solution, msvc_build folder have
175 aarch64/Ffi_staticLib.sln
176 required header files in aarch64/aarch64_include/
179 SPARC Solaris builds require the use of the GNU assembler and linker.
180 Point ``AS`` and ``LD`` environment variables at those tool prior to
183 For iOS builds, the ``libffi.xcodeproj`` Xcode project is available.
185 Configure has many other options. Use ``configure --help`` to see them all.
187 Once configure has finished, type "make". Note that you must be using
188 GNU make. You can ftp GNU make from ftp.gnu.org:/pub/gnu/make .
190 To ensure that libffi is working as advertised, type "make check".
191 This will require that you have DejaGNU installed.
193 To install the library and header files, type ``make install``.
199 See the git log for details at http://github.com/libffi/libffi.
202 Add static trampoline support for Linux on x86_64 and ARM64.
203 Add support for Alibaba's CSKY architecture.
204 Add support for Kalray's KVX architecture.
205 Add support for Intel Control-flow Enforcement Technology (CET).
206 Add support for ARM Pointer Authentication (PA).
207 Fix 32-bit PPC regression.
208 Fix MIPS soft-float problem.
209 Enable tmpdir override with the $LIBFFI_TMPDIR environment variable.
210 Enable compatibility with MSVC runtime stack checking.
211 Reject float and small integer argument in ffi_prep_cif_var().
212 Callers must promote these types themselves.
216 New API in support of GO closures.
217 Add IEEE754 binary128 long double support for 64-bit Power
218 Default to Microsoft's 64 bit long double ABI with Visual C++.
219 GNU compiler uses 80 bits (128 in memory) FFI_GNUW64 ABI.
220 Add Windows on ARM64 (WOA) support.
221 Add Windows 32-bit ARM support.
222 Raw java (gcj) API deprecated.
223 Add pre-built PDF documentation to source distribution.
224 Many new test cases and bug fixes.
227 Build fix for non-iOS AArch64 targets.
230 Add C99 Complex Type support (currently only supported on
232 Add support for PASCAL and REGISTER calling conventions on x86
234 Add OpenRISC and Cygwin-64 support.
238 Add AArch64 (ARM64) iOS support.
240 Add m88k and DEC VAX support.
241 Add support for stdcall, thiscall, and fastcall on non-Windows
242 32-bit x86 targets such as Linux.
243 Various Android, MIPS N32, x86, FreeBSD and UltraSPARC IIi
245 Make the testsuite more robust: eliminate several spurious
246 failures, and respect the $CC and $CXX environment variables.
247 Archive off the manually maintained ChangeLog in favor of git
252 Add missing Moxie bits.
253 Fix stack alignment bug on 32-bit x86.
254 Build fix for m68000 targets.
255 Build fix for soft-float Power targets.
256 Fix the install dir location for some platforms when building
257 with GCC (OS X, Solaris).
258 Fix Cygwin regression.
263 Add Blackfin support.
264 Add TILE-Gx/TILEPro support.
265 Add MicroBlaze support.
267 Add support for PaX enabled kernels with MPROTECT.
268 Add support for native vendor compilers on
270 Work around LLVM/GCC interoperability issue on x86_64.
274 Add support for variadic functions (ffi_prep_cif_var).
275 Add Linux/x32 support.
276 Add thiscall, fastcall and MSVC cdecl support on Windows.
277 Add Amiga and newer MacOS support.
278 Add m68k FreeMiNT support.
279 Integration with iOS' xcode build tools.
280 Fix Octeon and MC68881 support.
281 Fix code pessimizations.
284 Add support for Apple's iOS.
285 Add support for ARM VFP ABI.
286 Add RTEMS support for MIPS and M68K.
287 Fix instruction cache clearing problems on
289 Fix the N64 build on mips-sgi-irix6.5.
290 Enable builds with Microsoft's compiler.
291 Enable x86 builds with Oracle's Solaris compiler.
292 Fix support for calling code compiled with Oracle's Sparc
294 Testsuite fixes for Tru64 Unix.
295 Additional platform support.
298 Add AVR32 and win64 ports. Add ARM softfp support.
299 Many fixes for AIX, Solaris, HP-UX, *BSD.
300 Several PowerPC and x86-64 bug fixes.
301 Build DLL for windows.
304 Add *BSD, BeOS, and PA-Linux support.
308 (thanks to Andreas Tobler)
311 Fix for closures on sh.
312 Mark the sh/sh64 stack as non-executable.
313 (both thanks to Kaz Kojima)
317 Fix #define ARM for IcedTea users.
321 Fix x86 OpenBSD configury.
324 Enable x86 OpenBSD thanks to Thomas Heller, and
325 x86-64 FreeBSD thanks to Björn König and Andreas Tobler.
326 Clean up test instruction in README.
329 Improved x86 FreeBSD support.
330 Thanks to Björn König.
333 Fix instruction cache flushing bug on MIPS.
334 Thanks to David Daney.
337 Many changes, mostly thanks to the GCC project.
338 Cygnus Solutions is now Red Hat.
343 Raffaele Sena produces ARM port.
346 Fixed x86 long double and long long return support.
347 m68k bug fixes from Andreas Schwab.
348 Patch for DU assembler compatibility for the Alpha from Richard
352 Bug fixes and MIPS configuration changes.
355 Bug fixes and m68k port from Andreas Schwab. PowerPC port from
356 Geoffrey Keating. Various bug x86, Sparc and MIPS bug fixes.
359 Richard Henderson produces Alpha port.
362 Fixed an n32 ABI bug. New libtool, auto* support.
365 libtool is now used to generate shared and static libraries.
366 Fixed a minor portability problem reported by Russ McManus
370 Added --enable-purify-safety to keep Purify from complaining
371 about certain low level code.
372 Sparc fix for calling functions with < 6 args.
376 Added missing ffi_type_void, needed for supporting void return
377 types. Fixed test case for non MIPS machines. Cygnus Support
378 is now Cygnus Solutions.
381 Added notes about GNU make.
384 Added configuration fix for non GNU compilers.
387 Added --enable-debug configure switch. Clean-ups based on LCLint
388 feedback. ffi_mips.h is always installed. Many configuration
389 fixes. Fixed ffitest.c for sparc builds.
392 Fixed n32 problem. Many clean-ups.
395 Gordon Irlam rewrites v8.S again. Bug fixes.
398 Gordon Irlam improved the sparc port.
401 Interface changes based on feedback.
404 Sparc port complete (modulo struct passing bug).
407 Passing struct args, and returning struct values works for
408 all architectures/calling conventions. Expanded tests.
411 Added SGI n32 support. Fixed bugs in both o32 and Linux support.
415 Fixed float passing bug in mips version. Restructured some
416 of the code. Builds cleanly with SGI tools.
419 First release. No public announcement.
424 libffi was originally written by Anthony Green <green@moxielogic.com>.
426 The developers of the GNU Compiler Collection project have made
427 innumerable valuable contributions. See the ChangeLog file for
430 Some of the ideas behind libffi were inspired by Gianni Mariani's free
431 gencall library for Silicon Graphics machines.
433 The closure mechanism was designed and implemented by Kresten Krab
436 Major processor architecture ports were contributed by the following
439 aarch64 Marcus Shawcroft, James Greenhalgh
440 alpha Richard Henderson
441 arc Hackers at Synopsis
444 blackfin Alexandre Keunecke I. de Mendonca
445 cris Simon Posnjak, Hans-Peter Nilsson
446 csky Ma Jun, Zhang Wenmeng
453 metag Hackers at Imagination Technologies
454 microblaze Nathan Rossi
455 mips Anthony Green, Casey Marshall
458 nios ii Sandra Loosemore
459 openrisc Sebastian Macke
460 pa Randolph Chung, Dave Anglin, Andreas Tobler
461 powerpc Geoffrey Keating, Andreas Tobler,
462 David Edelsohn, John Hornkvist
463 powerpc64 Jakub Jelinek
464 riscv Michael Knyszek, Andrew Waterman, Stef O'Rear
465 s390 Gerhard Tonn, Ulrich Weigand
468 sparc Anthony Green, Gordon Irlam
469 tile-gx/tilepro Walter Lee
471 x86 Anthony Green, Jon Beniston
475 Jesper Skov and Andrew Haley both did more than their fair share of
476 stepping through the code and tracking down bugs.
478 Thanks also to Tom Tromey for bug fixes, documentation and
481 Thanks to Jim Blandy, who provided some useful feedback on the libffi
484 Andreas Tobler has done a tremendous amount of work on the testsuite.
486 Alex Oliva solved the executable page problem for SElinux.
488 The list above is almost certainly incomplete and inaccurate. I'm
489 happy to make corrections or additions upon request.
491 If you have a problem, or have found a bug, please file an issue on
492 our issue tracker at https://github.com/libffi/libffi/issues.
494 The author can be reached at green@moxielogic.com.
496 To subscribe/unsubscribe to our mailing lists, visit:
497 https://sourceware.org/mailman/listinfo/libffi-announce
498 https://sourceware.org/mailman/listinfo/libffi-discuss