| Status | |
| ====== | |
| libffi-3.4.1 was released on June 28, 2021. Check the libffi web page | |
| for updates: <URL:http://sourceware.org/libffi/>. | |
| What is libffi? | |
| =============== | |
| Compilers for high level languages generate code that follow certain | |
| conventions. These conventions are necessary, in part, for separate | |
| compilation to work. One such convention is the "calling | |
| convention". The "calling convention" is essentially a set of | |
| assumptions made by the compiler about where function arguments will | |
| be found on entry to a function. A "calling convention" also specifies | |
| where the return value for a function is found. | |
| Some programs may not know at the time of compilation what arguments | |
| are to be passed to a function. For instance, an interpreter may be | |
| told at run-time about the number and types of arguments used to call | |
| a given function. Libffi can be used in such programs to provide a | |
| bridge from the interpreter program to compiled code. | |
| The libffi library provides a portable, high level programming | |
| interface to various calling conventions. This allows a programmer to | |
| call any function specified by a call interface description at run | |
| time. | |
| FFI stands for Foreign Function Interface. A foreign function | |
| interface is the popular name for the interface that allows code | |
| written in one language to call code written in another language. The | |
| libffi library really only provides the lowest, machine dependent | |
| layer of a fully featured foreign function interface. A layer must | |
| exist above libffi that handles type conversions for values passed | |
| between the two languages. | |
| Supported Platforms | |
| =================== | |
| Libffi has been ported to many different platforms. | |
| At the time of release, the following basic configurations have been | |
| tested: | |
| | Architecture | Operating System | Compiler | | |
| | --------------- | ---------------- | ----------------------- | | |
| | AArch64 (ARM64) | iOS | Clang | | |
| | AArch64 | Linux | GCC | | |
| | AArch64 | Windows | MSVC | | |
| | Alpha | Linux | GCC | | |
| | Alpha | Tru64 | GCC | | |
| | ARC | Linux | GCC | | |
| | ARM | Linux | GCC | | |
| | ARM | iOS | GCC | | |
| | ARM | Windows | MSVC | | |
| | AVR32 | Linux | GCC | | |
| | Blackfin | uClinux | GCC | | |
| | CSKY | Linux | GCC | | |
| | HPPA | HPUX | GCC | | |
| | KVX | Linux | GCC | | |
| | IA-64 | Linux | GCC | | |
| | M68K | FreeMiNT | GCC | | |
| | M68K | Linux | GCC | | |
| | M68K | RTEMS | GCC | | |
| | M88K | OpenBSD/mvme88k | GCC | | |
| | Meta | Linux | GCC | | |
| | MicroBlaze | Linux | GCC | | |
| | MIPS | IRIX | GCC | | |
| | MIPS | Linux | GCC | | |
| | MIPS | RTEMS | GCC | | |
| | MIPS64 | Linux | GCC | | |
| | Moxie | Bare metal | GCC | | |
| | Nios II | Linux | GCC | | |
| | OpenRISC | Linux | GCC | | |
| | PowerPC 32-bit | AIX | IBM XL C | | |
| | PowerPC 64-bit | AIX | IBM XL C | | |
| | PowerPC | AMIGA | GCC | | |
| | PowerPC | Linux | GCC | | |
| | PowerPC | Mac OSX | GCC | | |
| | PowerPC | FreeBSD | GCC | | |
| | PowerPC 64-bit | FreeBSD | GCC | | |
| | PowerPC 64-bit | Linux ELFv1 | GCC | | |
| | PowerPC 64-bit | Linux ELFv2 | GCC | | |
| | RISC-V 32-bit | Linux | GCC | | |
| | RISC-V 64-bit | Linux | GCC | | |
| | S390 | Linux | GCC | | |
| | S390X | Linux | GCC | | |
| | SPARC | Linux | GCC | | |
| | SPARC | Solaris | GCC | | |
| | SPARC | Solaris | Oracle Solaris Studio C | | |
| | SPARC64 | Linux | GCC | | |
| | SPARC64 | FreeBSD | GCC | | |
| | SPARC64 | Solaris | Oracle Solaris Studio C | | |
| | TILE-Gx/TILEPro | Linux | GCC | | |
| | VAX | OpenBSD/vax | GCC | | |
| | X86 | FreeBSD | GCC | | |
| | X86 | GNU HURD | GCC | | |
| | X86 | Interix | GCC | | |
| | X86 | kFreeBSD | GCC | | |
| | X86 | Linux | GCC | | |
| | X86 | OpenBSD | GCC | | |
| | X86 | OS/2 | GCC | | |
| | X86 | Solaris | GCC | | |
| | X86 | Solaris | Oracle Solaris Studio C | | |
| | X86 | Windows/Cygwin | GCC | | |
| | X86 | Windows/MingW | GCC | | |
| | X86-64 | FreeBSD | GCC | | |
| | X86-64 | Linux | GCC | | |
| | X86-64 | Linux/x32 | GCC | | |
| | X86-64 | OpenBSD | GCC | | |
| | X86-64 | Solaris | Oracle Solaris Studio C | | |
| | X86-64 | Windows/Cygwin | GCC | | |
| | X86-64 | Windows/MingW | GCC | | |
| | X86-64 | Mac OSX | GCC | | |
| | Xtensa | Linux | GCC | | |
| Please send additional platform test results to | |
| libffi-discuss@sourceware.org. | |
| Installing libffi | |
| ================= | |
| First you must configure the distribution for your particular | |
| system. Go to the directory you wish to build libffi in and run the | |
| "configure" program found in the root directory of the libffi source | |
| distribution. Note that building libffi requires a C99 compatible | |
| compiler. | |
| If you're building libffi directly from git hosted sources, configure | |
| won't exist yet; run ./autogen.sh first. This will require that you | |
| install autoconf, automake and libtool. | |
| You may want to tell configure where to install the libffi library and | |
| header files. To do that, use the ``--prefix`` configure switch. Libffi | |
| will install under /usr/local by default. | |
| If you want to enable extra run-time debugging checks use the the | |
| ``--enable-debug`` configure switch. This is useful when your program dies | |
| mysteriously while using libffi. | |
| Another useful configure switch is ``--enable-purify-safety``. Using this | |
| will add some extra code which will suppress certain warnings when you | |
| are using Purify with libffi. Only use this switch when using | |
| Purify, as it will slow down the library. | |
| If you don't want to build documentation, use the ``--disable-docs`` | |
| configure switch. | |
| It's also possible to build libffi on Windows platforms with | |
| Microsoft's Visual C++ compiler. In this case, use the msvcc.sh | |
| wrapper script during configuration like so: | |
| path/to/configure CC=path/to/msvcc.sh CXX=path/to/msvcc.sh LD=link CPP="cl -nologo -EP" CPPFLAGS="-DFFI_BUILDING_DLL" | |
| For 64-bit Windows builds, use ``CC="path/to/msvcc.sh -m64"`` and | |
| ``CXX="path/to/msvcc.sh -m64"``. You may also need to specify | |
| ``--build`` appropriately. | |
| It is also possible to build libffi on Windows platforms with the LLVM | |
| project's clang-cl compiler, like below: | |
| path/to/configure CC="path/to/msvcc.sh -clang-cl" CXX="path/to/msvcc.sh -clang-cl" LD=link CPP="clang-cl -EP" | |
| When building with MSVC under a MingW environment, you may need to | |
| remove the line in configure that sets 'fix_srcfile_path' to a 'cygpath' | |
| command. ('cygpath' is not present in MingW, and is not required when | |
| using MingW-style paths.) | |
| To build static library for ARM64 with MSVC using visual studio solution, msvc_build folder have | |
| aarch64/Ffi_staticLib.sln | |
| required header files in aarch64/aarch64_include/ | |
| SPARC Solaris builds require the use of the GNU assembler and linker. | |
| Point ``AS`` and ``LD`` environment variables at those tool prior to | |
| configuration. | |
| For iOS builds, the ``libffi.xcodeproj`` Xcode project is available. | |
| Configure has many other options. Use ``configure --help`` to see them all. | |
| Once configure has finished, type "make". Note that you must be using | |
| GNU make. You can ftp GNU make from ftp.gnu.org:/pub/gnu/make . | |
| To ensure that libffi is working as advertised, type "make check". | |
| This will require that you have DejaGNU installed. | |
| To install the library and header files, type ``make install``. | |
| History | |
| ======= | |
| See the git log for details at http://github.com/libffi/libffi. | |
| 3.4.2 Jun-28-21 | |
| Add static trampoline support for Linux on x86_64 and ARM64. | |
| Add support for Alibaba's CSKY architecture. | |
| Add support for Kalray's KVX architecture. | |
| Add support for Intel Control-flow Enforcement Technology (CET). | |
| Add support for ARM Pointer Authentication (PA). | |
| Fix 32-bit PPC regression. | |
| Fix MIPS soft-float problem. | |
| Enable tmpdir override with the $LIBFFI_TMPDIR environment variable. | |
| Enable compatibility with MSVC runtime stack checking. | |
| Reject float and small integer argument in ffi_prep_cif_var(). | |
| Callers must promote these types themselves. | |
| 3.3 Nov-23-19 | |
| Add RISC-V support. | |
| New API in support of GO closures. | |
| Add IEEE754 binary128 long double support for 64-bit Power | |
| Default to Microsoft's 64 bit long double ABI with Visual C++. | |
| GNU compiler uses 80 bits (128 in memory) FFI_GNUW64 ABI. | |
| Add Windows on ARM64 (WOA) support. | |
| Add Windows 32-bit ARM support. | |
| Raw java (gcj) API deprecated. | |
| Add pre-built PDF documentation to source distribution. | |
| Many new test cases and bug fixes. | |
| 3.2.1 Nov-12-14 | |
| Build fix for non-iOS AArch64 targets. | |
| 3.2 Nov-11-14 | |
| Add C99 Complex Type support (currently only supported on | |
| s390). | |
| Add support for PASCAL and REGISTER calling conventions on x86 | |
| Windows/Linux. | |
| Add OpenRISC and Cygwin-64 support. | |
| Bug fixes. | |
| 3.1 May-19-14 | |
| Add AArch64 (ARM64) iOS support. | |
| Add Nios II support. | |
| Add m88k and DEC VAX support. | |
| Add support for stdcall, thiscall, and fastcall on non-Windows | |
| 32-bit x86 targets such as Linux. | |
| Various Android, MIPS N32, x86, FreeBSD and UltraSPARC IIi | |
| fixes. | |
| Make the testsuite more robust: eliminate several spurious | |
| failures, and respect the $CC and $CXX environment variables. | |
| Archive off the manually maintained ChangeLog in favor of git | |
| log. | |
| 3.0.13 Mar-17-13 | |
| Add Meta support. | |
| Add missing Moxie bits. | |
| Fix stack alignment bug on 32-bit x86. | |
| Build fix for m68000 targets. | |
| Build fix for soft-float Power targets. | |
| Fix the install dir location for some platforms when building | |
| with GCC (OS X, Solaris). | |
| Fix Cygwin regression. | |
| 3.0.12 Feb-11-13 | |
| Add Moxie support. | |
| Add AArch64 support. | |
| Add Blackfin support. | |
| Add TILE-Gx/TILEPro support. | |
| Add MicroBlaze support. | |
| Add Xtensa support. | |
| Add support for PaX enabled kernels with MPROTECT. | |
| Add support for native vendor compilers on | |
| Solaris and AIX. | |
| Work around LLVM/GCC interoperability issue on x86_64. | |
| 3.0.11 Apr-11-12 | |
| Lots of build fixes. | |
| Add support for variadic functions (ffi_prep_cif_var). | |
| Add Linux/x32 support. | |
| Add thiscall, fastcall and MSVC cdecl support on Windows. | |
| Add Amiga and newer MacOS support. | |
| Add m68k FreeMiNT support. | |
| Integration with iOS' xcode build tools. | |
| Fix Octeon and MC68881 support. | |
| Fix code pessimizations. | |
| 3.0.10 Aug-23-11 | |
| Add support for Apple's iOS. | |
| Add support for ARM VFP ABI. | |
| Add RTEMS support for MIPS and M68K. | |
| Fix instruction cache clearing problems on | |
| ARM and SPARC. | |
| Fix the N64 build on mips-sgi-irix6.5. | |
| Enable builds with Microsoft's compiler. | |
| Enable x86 builds with Oracle's Solaris compiler. | |
| Fix support for calling code compiled with Oracle's Sparc | |
| Solaris compiler. | |
| Testsuite fixes for Tru64 Unix. | |
| Additional platform support. | |
| 3.0.9 Dec-31-09 | |
| Add AVR32 and win64 ports. Add ARM softfp support. | |
| Many fixes for AIX, Solaris, HP-UX, *BSD. | |
| Several PowerPC and x86-64 bug fixes. | |
| Build DLL for windows. | |
| 3.0.8 Dec-19-08 | |
| Add *BSD, BeOS, and PA-Linux support. | |
| 3.0.7 Nov-11-08 | |
| Fix for ppc FreeBSD. | |
| (thanks to Andreas Tobler) | |
| 3.0.6 Jul-17-08 | |
| Fix for closures on sh. | |
| Mark the sh/sh64 stack as non-executable. | |
| (both thanks to Kaz Kojima) | |
| 3.0.5 Apr-3-08 | |
| Fix libffi.pc file. | |
| Fix #define ARM for IcedTea users. | |
| Fix x86 closure bug. | |
| 3.0.4 Feb-24-08 | |
| Fix x86 OpenBSD configury. | |
| 3.0.3 Feb-22-08 | |
| Enable x86 OpenBSD thanks to Thomas Heller, and | |
| x86-64 FreeBSD thanks to Björn König and Andreas Tobler. | |
| Clean up test instruction in README. | |
| 3.0.2 Feb-21-08 | |
| Improved x86 FreeBSD support. | |
| Thanks to Björn König. | |
| 3.0.1 Feb-15-08 | |
| Fix instruction cache flushing bug on MIPS. | |
| Thanks to David Daney. | |
| 3.0.0 Feb-15-08 | |
| Many changes, mostly thanks to the GCC project. | |
| Cygnus Solutions is now Red Hat. | |
| [10 years go by...] | |
| 1.20 Oct-5-98 | |
| Raffaele Sena produces ARM port. | |
| 1.19 Oct-5-98 | |
| Fixed x86 long double and long long return support. | |
| m68k bug fixes from Andreas Schwab. | |
| Patch for DU assembler compatibility for the Alpha from Richard | |
| Henderson. | |
| 1.18 Apr-17-98 | |
| Bug fixes and MIPS configuration changes. | |
| 1.17 Feb-24-98 | |
| Bug fixes and m68k port from Andreas Schwab. PowerPC port from | |
| Geoffrey Keating. Various bug x86, Sparc and MIPS bug fixes. | |
| 1.16 Feb-11-98 | |
| Richard Henderson produces Alpha port. | |
| 1.15 Dec-4-97 | |
| Fixed an n32 ABI bug. New libtool, auto* support. | |
| 1.14 May-13-97 | |
| libtool is now used to generate shared and static libraries. | |
| Fixed a minor portability problem reported by Russ McManus | |
| <mcmanr@eq.gs.com>. | |
| 1.13 Dec-2-96 | |
| Added --enable-purify-safety to keep Purify from complaining | |
| about certain low level code. | |
| Sparc fix for calling functions with < 6 args. | |
| Linux x86 a.out fix. | |
| 1.12 Nov-22-96 | |
| Added missing ffi_type_void, needed for supporting void return | |
| types. Fixed test case for non MIPS machines. Cygnus Support | |
| is now Cygnus Solutions. | |
| 1.11 Oct-30-96 | |
| Added notes about GNU make. | |
| 1.10 Oct-29-96 | |
| Added configuration fix for non GNU compilers. | |
| 1.09 Oct-29-96 | |
| Added --enable-debug configure switch. Clean-ups based on LCLint | |
| feedback. ffi_mips.h is always installed. Many configuration | |
| fixes. Fixed ffitest.c for sparc builds. | |
| 1.08 Oct-15-96 | |
| Fixed n32 problem. Many clean-ups. | |
| 1.07 Oct-14-96 | |
| Gordon Irlam rewrites v8.S again. Bug fixes. | |
| 1.06 Oct-14-96 | |
| Gordon Irlam improved the sparc port. | |
| 1.05 Oct-14-96 | |
| Interface changes based on feedback. | |
| 1.04 Oct-11-96 | |
| Sparc port complete (modulo struct passing bug). | |
| 1.03 Oct-10-96 | |
| Passing struct args, and returning struct values works for | |
| all architectures/calling conventions. Expanded tests. | |
| 1.02 Oct-9-96 | |
| Added SGI n32 support. Fixed bugs in both o32 and Linux support. | |
| Added "make test". | |
| 1.01 Oct-8-96 | |
| Fixed float passing bug in mips version. Restructured some | |
| of the code. Builds cleanly with SGI tools. | |
| 1.00 Oct-7-96 | |
| First release. No public announcement. | |
| Authors & Credits | |
| ================= | |
| libffi was originally written by Anthony Green <green@moxielogic.com>. | |
| The developers of the GNU Compiler Collection project have made | |
| innumerable valuable contributions. See the ChangeLog file for | |
| details. | |
| Some of the ideas behind libffi were inspired by Gianni Mariani's free | |
| gencall library for Silicon Graphics machines. | |
| The closure mechanism was designed and implemented by Kresten Krab | |
| Thorup. | |
| Major processor architecture ports were contributed by the following | |
| developers: | |
| aarch64 Marcus Shawcroft, James Greenhalgh | |
| alpha Richard Henderson | |
| arc Hackers at Synopsis | |
| arm Raffaele Sena | |
| avr32 Bradley Smith | |
| blackfin Alexandre Keunecke I. de Mendonca | |
| cris Simon Posnjak, Hans-Peter Nilsson | |
| csky Ma Jun, Zhang Wenmeng | |
| frv Anthony Green | |
| ia64 Hans Boehm | |
| kvx Yann Sionneau | |
| m32r Kazuhiro Inaoka | |
| m68k Andreas Schwab | |
| m88k Miod Vallat | |
| metag Hackers at Imagination Technologies | |
| microblaze Nathan Rossi | |
| mips Anthony Green, Casey Marshall | |
| mips64 David Daney | |
| moxie Anthony Green | |
| nios ii Sandra Loosemore | |
| openrisc Sebastian Macke | |
| pa Randolph Chung, Dave Anglin, Andreas Tobler | |
| powerpc Geoffrey Keating, Andreas Tobler, | |
| David Edelsohn, John Hornkvist | |
| powerpc64 Jakub Jelinek | |
| riscv Michael Knyszek, Andrew Waterman, Stef O'Rear | |
| s390 Gerhard Tonn, Ulrich Weigand | |
| sh Kaz Kojima | |
| sh64 Kaz Kojima | |
| sparc Anthony Green, Gordon Irlam | |
| tile-gx/tilepro Walter Lee | |
| vax Miod Vallat | |
| x86 Anthony Green, Jon Beniston | |
| x86-64 Bo Thorsen | |
| xtensa Chris Zankel | |
| Jesper Skov and Andrew Haley both did more than their fair share of | |
| stepping through the code and tracking down bugs. | |
| Thanks also to Tom Tromey for bug fixes, documentation and | |
| configuration help. | |
| Thanks to Jim Blandy, who provided some useful feedback on the libffi | |
| interface. | |
| Andreas Tobler has done a tremendous amount of work on the testsuite. | |
| Alex Oliva solved the executable page problem for SElinux. | |
| The list above is almost certainly incomplete and inaccurate. I'm | |
| happy to make corrections or additions upon request. | |
| If you have a problem, or have found a bug, please file an issue on | |
| our issue tracker at https://github.com/libffi/libffi/issues. | |
| The author can be reached at green@moxielogic.com. | |
| To subscribe/unsubscribe to our mailing lists, visit: | |
| https://sourceware.org/mailman/listinfo/libffi-announce | |
| https://sourceware.org/mailman/listinfo/libffi-discuss |