4 libffi-3.0.11 was released on April 11, 2012. 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 |--------------+------------------|
86 | X86 | Windows/Cygwin |
87 | X86 | Windows/MingW |
90 | X86-64 | Linux/x32 |
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, run generate-ios-source-and-headers.py and then
133 libffi.xcodeproj should work.
135 Configure has many other options. Use "configure --help" to see them all.
137 Once configure has finished, type "make". Note that you must be using
138 GNU make. You can ftp GNU make from prep.ai.mit.edu:/pub/gnu.
140 To ensure that libffi is working as advertised, type "make check".
141 This will require that you have DejaGNU installed.
143 To install the library and header files, type "make install".
149 See the ChangeLog files for details.
152 Add support for variadic functions (ffi_prep_cif_var).
153 Add Linux/x32 support.
154 Add thiscall, fastcall and MSVC cdecl support on Windows.
155 Add Amiga and newer MacOS support.
156 Add m68k FreeMiNT support.
157 Integration with iOS' xcode build tools.
158 Fix Octeon and MC68881 support.
159 Fix code pessimizations.
163 Add support for Apple's iOS.
164 Add support for ARM VFP ABI.
165 Add RTEMS support for MIPS and M68K.
166 Fix instruction cache clearing problems on
168 Fix the N64 build on mips-sgi-irix6.5.
169 Enable builds with Microsoft's compiler.
170 Enable x86 builds with Oracle's Solaris compiler.
171 Fix support for calling code compiled with Oracle's Sparc
173 Testsuite fixes for Tru64 Unix.
174 Additional platform support.
177 Add AVR32 and win64 ports. Add ARM softfp support.
178 Many fixes for AIX, Solaris, HP-UX, *BSD.
179 Several PowerPC and x86-64 bug fixes.
180 Build DLL for windows.
183 Add *BSD, BeOS, and PA-Linux support.
187 (thanks to Andreas Tobler)
190 Fix for closures on sh.
191 Mark the sh/sh64 stack as non-executable.
192 (both thanks to Kaz Kojima)
196 Fix #define ARM for IcedTea users.
200 Fix x86 OpenBSD configury.
203 Enable x86 OpenBSD thanks to Thomas Heller, and
204 x86-64 FreeBSD thanks to Björn König and Andreas Tobler.
205 Clean up test instruction in README.
208 Improved x86 FreeBSD support.
209 Thanks to Björn König.
212 Fix instruction cache flushing bug on MIPS.
213 Thanks to David Daney.
216 Many changes, mostly thanks to the GCC project.
217 Cygnus Solutions is now Red Hat.
222 Raffaele Sena produces ARM port.
225 Fixed x86 long double and long long return support.
226 m68k bug fixes from Andreas Schwab.
227 Patch for DU assembler compatibility for the Alpha from Richard
231 Bug fixes and MIPS configuration changes.
234 Bug fixes and m68k port from Andreas Schwab. PowerPC port from
235 Geoffrey Keating. Various bug x86, Sparc and MIPS bug fixes.
238 Richard Henderson produces Alpha port.
241 Fixed an n32 ABI bug. New libtool, auto* support.
244 libtool is now used to generate shared and static libraries.
245 Fixed a minor portability problem reported by Russ McManus
249 Added --enable-purify-safety to keep Purify from complaining
250 about certain low level code.
251 Sparc fix for calling functions with < 6 args.
255 Added missing ffi_type_void, needed for supporting void return
256 types. Fixed test case for non MIPS machines. Cygnus Support
257 is now Cygnus Solutions.
260 Added notes about GNU make.
263 Added configuration fix for non GNU compilers.
266 Added --enable-debug configure switch. Clean-ups based on LCLint
267 feedback. ffi_mips.h is always installed. Many configuration
268 fixes. Fixed ffitest.c for sparc builds.
271 Fixed n32 problem. Many clean-ups.
274 Gordon Irlam rewrites v8.S again. Bug fixes.
277 Gordon Irlam improved the sparc port.
280 Interface changes based on feedback.
283 Sparc port complete (modulo struct passing bug).
286 Passing struct args, and returning struct values works for
287 all architectures/calling conventions. Expanded tests.
290 Added SGI n32 support. Fixed bugs in both o32 and Linux support.
294 Fixed float passing bug in mips version. Restructured some
295 of the code. Builds cleanly with SGI tools.
298 First release. No public announcement.
304 libffi was originally written by Anthony Green <green@moxielogic.com>.
306 The developers of the GNU Compiler Collection project have made
307 innumerable valuable contributions. See the ChangeLog file for
310 Some of the ideas behind libffi were inspired by Gianni Mariani's free
311 gencall library for Silicon Graphics machines.
313 The closure mechanism was designed and implemented by Kresten Krab
316 Major processor architecture ports were contributed by the following
319 alpha Richard Henderson
321 cris Simon Posnjak, Hans-Peter Nilsson
326 mips Anthony Green, Casey Marshall
328 pa Randolph Chung, Dave Anglin, Andreas Tobler
329 powerpc Geoffrey Keating, Andreas Tobler,
330 David Edelsohn, John Hornkvist
331 powerpc64 Jakub Jelinek
332 s390 Gerhard Tonn, Ulrich Weigand
335 sparc Anthony Green, Gordon Irlam
336 x86 Anthony Green, Jon Beniston
339 Jesper Skov and Andrew Haley both did more than their fair share of
340 stepping through the code and tracking down bugs.
342 Thanks also to Tom Tromey for bug fixes, documentation and
345 Thanks to Jim Blandy, who provided some useful feedback on the libffi
348 Andreas Tobler has done a tremendous amount of work on the testsuite.
350 Alex Oliva solved the executable page problem for SElinux.
352 The list above is almost certainly incomplete and inaccurate. I'm
353 happy to make corrections or additions upon request.
355 If you have a problem, or have found a bug, please send a note to the
356 author at green@moxielogic.com, or the project mailing list at
357 libffi-discuss@sourceware.org.