4 libffi-3.0.12 was released on XXXXXXX. Check the libffi web page for
5 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 |-----------------+------------------|
60 | Blackfin | uClinux |
80 | TILE-Gx/TILEPro | Linux |
89 | X86 | Windows/Cygwin |
90 | X86 | Windows/MingW |
93 | X86-64 | Linux/x32 |
95 | X86-64 | Windows/MingW |
96 |-----------------+------------------|
98 Please send additional platform test results to
99 libffi-discuss@sourceware.org and feel free to update the wiki page
105 First you must configure the distribution for your particular
106 system. Go to the directory you wish to build libffi in and run the
107 "configure" program found in the root directory of the libffi source
110 You may want to tell configure where to install the libffi library and
111 header files. To do that, use the --prefix configure switch. Libffi
112 will install under /usr/local by default.
114 If you want to enable extra run-time debugging checks use the the
115 --enable-debug configure switch. This is useful when your program dies
116 mysteriously while using libffi.
118 Another useful configure switch is --enable-purify-safety. Using this
119 will add some extra code which will suppress certain warnings when you
120 are using Purify with libffi. Only use this switch when using
121 Purify, as it will slow down the library.
123 It's also possible to build libffi on Windows platforms with
124 Microsoft's Visual C++ compiler. In this case, use the msvcc.sh
125 wrapper script during configuration like so:
127 path/to/configure CC=path/to/msvcc.sh LD=link CPP=\"cl -nologo -EP\"
129 For 64-bit Windows builds, use CC="path/to/msvcc.sh -m64".
130 You may also need to specify --build appropriately. When building with MSVC
131 under a MingW environment, you may need to remove the line in configure
132 that sets 'fix_srcfile_path' to a 'cygpath' command. ('cygpath' is not
133 present in MingW, and is not required when using MingW-style paths.)
135 For iOS builds, the 'libffi.xcodeproj' Xcode project is available.
137 Configure has many other options. Use "configure --help" to see them all.
139 Once configure has finished, type "make". Note that you must be using
140 GNU make. You can ftp GNU make from prep.ai.mit.edu:/pub/gnu.
142 To ensure that libffi is working as advertised, type "make check".
143 This will require that you have DejaGNU installed.
145 To install the library and header files, type "make install".
151 See the ChangeLog files for details.
154 Add Blackfin support.
155 Add TILE-Gx/TILEPro support.
160 Add Amiga newer MacOS support.
161 Add support for variadic functions (ffi_prep_cif_var).
162 Add Linux/x32 support.
163 Add thiscall, fastcall and MSVC cdecl support on Windows.
164 Add Amiga and newer MacOS support.
165 Add m68k FreeMiNT support.
166 Integration with iOS' xcode build tools.
167 Fix Octeon and MC68881 support.
168 Fix code pessimizations.
172 Add support for Apple's iOS.
173 Add support for ARM VFP ABI.
174 Add RTEMS support for MIPS and M68K.
175 Fix instruction cache clearing problems on
177 Fix the N64 build on mips-sgi-irix6.5.
178 Enable builds with Microsoft's compiler.
179 Enable x86 builds with Oracle's Solaris compiler.
180 Fix support for calling code compiled with Oracle's Sparc
182 Testsuite fixes for Tru64 Unix.
183 Additional platform support.
186 Add AVR32 and win64 ports. Add ARM softfp support.
187 Many fixes for AIX, Solaris, HP-UX, *BSD.
188 Several PowerPC and x86-64 bug fixes.
189 Build DLL for windows.
192 Add *BSD, BeOS, and PA-Linux support.
196 (thanks to Andreas Tobler)
199 Fix for closures on sh.
200 Mark the sh/sh64 stack as non-executable.
201 (both thanks to Kaz Kojima)
205 Fix #define ARM for IcedTea users.
209 Fix x86 OpenBSD configury.
212 Enable x86 OpenBSD thanks to Thomas Heller, and
213 x86-64 FreeBSD thanks to Björn König and Andreas Tobler.
214 Clean up test instruction in README.
217 Improved x86 FreeBSD support.
218 Thanks to Björn König.
221 Fix instruction cache flushing bug on MIPS.
222 Thanks to David Daney.
225 Many changes, mostly thanks to the GCC project.
226 Cygnus Solutions is now Red Hat.
231 Raffaele Sena produces ARM port.
234 Fixed x86 long double and long long return support.
235 m68k bug fixes from Andreas Schwab.
236 Patch for DU assembler compatibility for the Alpha from Richard
240 Bug fixes and MIPS configuration changes.
243 Bug fixes and m68k port from Andreas Schwab. PowerPC port from
244 Geoffrey Keating. Various bug x86, Sparc and MIPS bug fixes.
247 Richard Henderson produces Alpha port.
250 Fixed an n32 ABI bug. New libtool, auto* support.
253 libtool is now used to generate shared and static libraries.
254 Fixed a minor portability problem reported by Russ McManus
258 Added --enable-purify-safety to keep Purify from complaining
259 about certain low level code.
260 Sparc fix for calling functions with < 6 args.
264 Added missing ffi_type_void, needed for supporting void return
265 types. Fixed test case for non MIPS machines. Cygnus Support
266 is now Cygnus Solutions.
269 Added notes about GNU make.
272 Added configuration fix for non GNU compilers.
275 Added --enable-debug configure switch. Clean-ups based on LCLint
276 feedback. ffi_mips.h is always installed. Many configuration
277 fixes. Fixed ffitest.c for sparc builds.
280 Fixed n32 problem. Many clean-ups.
283 Gordon Irlam rewrites v8.S again. Bug fixes.
286 Gordon Irlam improved the sparc port.
289 Interface changes based on feedback.
292 Sparc port complete (modulo struct passing bug).
295 Passing struct args, and returning struct values works for
296 all architectures/calling conventions. Expanded tests.
299 Added SGI n32 support. Fixed bugs in both o32 and Linux support.
303 Fixed float passing bug in mips version. Restructured some
304 of the code. Builds cleanly with SGI tools.
307 First release. No public announcement.
313 libffi was originally written by Anthony Green <green@redhat.com>.
315 The developers of the GNU Compiler Collection project have made
316 innumerable valuable contributions. See the ChangeLog file for
319 Some of the ideas behind libffi were inspired by Gianni Mariani's free
320 gencall library for Silicon Graphics machines.
322 The closure mechanism was designed and implemented by Kresten Krab
325 Major processor architecture ports were contributed by the following
328 aarch64 Marcus Shawcroft, James Greenhalgh
329 alpha Richard Henderson
331 blackfin Alexandre Keunecke I. de Mendonca
332 cris Simon Posnjak, Hans-Peter Nilsson
337 mips Anthony Green, Casey Marshall
339 pa Randolph Chung, Dave Anglin, Andreas Tobler
340 powerpc Geoffrey Keating, Andreas Tobler,
341 David Edelsohn, John Hornkvist
342 powerpc64 Jakub Jelinek
343 s390 Gerhard Tonn, Ulrich Weigand
346 sparc Anthony Green, Gordon Irlam
347 tile-gx/tilepro Walter Lee
348 x86 Anthony Green, Jon Beniston
351 Jesper Skov and Andrew Haley both did more than their fair share of
352 stepping through the code and tracking down bugs.
354 Thanks also to Tom Tromey for bug fixes, documentation and
357 Thanks to Jim Blandy, who provided some useful feedback on the libffi
360 Andreas Tobler has done a tremendous amount of work on the testsuite.
362 Alex Oliva solved the executable page problem for SElinux.
364 The list above is almost certainly incomplete and inaccurate. I'm
365 happy to make corrections or additions upon request.
367 If you have a problem, or have found a bug, please send a note to the
368 author at green@moxielogic.com, or the project mailing list at
369 libffi-discuss@sourceware.org.