libffi/README

   1 Status
   2 ======
   3
   4 libffi-3.0.12 was released on XXXXXXX.  Check the libffi web page for
   5 updates: <URL:http://sourceware.org/libffi/>.
   6
   7
   8 What is libffi?
   9 ===============
  10
  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.
  18
  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.
  24
  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
  28 time.
  29
  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.
  37
  38
  39 Supported Platforms
  40 ===================
  41
  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:
  45
  46  http://www.moxielogic.org/wiki/index.php?title=Libffi_3.0.11
  47
  48 At the time of release, the following basic configurations have been
  49 tested:
  50
  51 |-----------------+------------------|
  52 | Architecture    | Operating System |
  53 |-----------------+------------------|
  54 | AArch64         | Linux            |
  55 | Alpha           | Linux            |
  56 | Alpha           | Tru64            |
  57 | ARM             | Linux            |
  58 | ARM             | iOS              |
  59 | AVR32           | Linux            |
  60 | Blackfin        | uClinux          |
  61 | HPPA            | HPUX             |
  62 | IA-64           | Linux            |
  63 | M68K            | FreeMiNT         |
  64 | M68K            | RTEMS            |
  65 | MIPS            | IRIX             |
  66 | MIPS            | Linux            |
  67 | MIPS            | RTEMS            |
  68 | MIPS64          | Linux            |
  69 | PowerPC         | AMIGA            |
  70 | PowerPC         | Linux            |
  71 | PowerPC         | Mac OSX          |
  72 | PowerPC         | FreeBSD          |
  73 | PowerPC64       | Linux            |
  74 | S390            | Linux            |
  75 | S390X           | Linux            |
  76 | SPARC           | Linux            |
  77 | SPARC           | Solaris          |
  78 | SPARC64         | Linux            |
  79 | SPARC64         | FreeBSD          |
  80 | TILE-Gx/TILEPro | Linux            |
  81 | X86             | FreeBSD          |
  82 | X86             | Interix          |
  83 | X86             | kFreeBSD         |
  84 | X86             | Linux            |
  85 | X86             | Mac OSX          |
  86 | X86             | OpenBSD          |
  87 | X86             | OS/2             |
  88 | X86             | Solaris          |
  89 | X86             | Windows/Cygwin   |
  90 | X86             | Windows/MingW    |
  91 | X86-64          | FreeBSD          |
  92 | X86-64          | Linux            |
  93 | X86-64          | Linux/x32        |
  94 | X86-64          | OpenBSD          |
  95 | X86-64          | Windows/MingW    |
  96 |-----------------+------------------|
  97
  98 Please send additional platform test results to
  99 libffi-discuss@sourceware.org and feel free to update the wiki page
 100 above.
 101
 102 Installing libffi
 103 =================
 104
 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
 108 distribution.
 109
 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.
 113
 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.
 117
 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.
 122
 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:
 126
 127 path/to/configure CC=path/to/msvcc.sh LD=link CPP=\"cl -nologo -EP\"
 128
 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.)
 134
 135 For iOS builds, the 'libffi.xcodeproj' Xcode project is available.
 136
 137 Configure has many other options. Use "configure --help" to see them all.
 138
 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.
 141
 142 To ensure that libffi is working as advertised, type "make check".
 143 This will require that you have DejaGNU installed.
 144
 145 To install the library and header files, type "make install".
 146
 147
 148 History
 149 =======
 150
 151 See the ChangeLog files for details.
 152
 153 3.0.12 XXX-XX-XX
 154         Add Blackfin support.
 155         Add TILE-Gx/TILEPro support.
 156         Add AArch64 support.
 157         Add support for PaX enabled kernels with MPROTECT.
 158
 159 3.0.11 Apr-11-12
 160         Lots of build fixes.
 161         Add Amiga newer MacOS support.
 162         Add support for variadic functions (ffi_prep_cif_var).
 163         Add Linux/x32 support.
 164         Add thiscall, fastcall and MSVC cdecl support on Windows.
 165         Add Amiga and newer MacOS support.
 166         Add m68k FreeMiNT support.
 167         Integration with iOS' xcode build tools.
 168         Fix Octeon and MC68881 support.
 169         Fix code pessimizations.
 170         Lots of build fixes.
 171
 172 3.0.10 Aug-23-11
 173         Add support for Apple's iOS.
 174         Add support for ARM VFP ABI.
 175         Add RTEMS support for MIPS and M68K.
 176         Fix instruction cache clearing problems on
 177           ARM and SPARC.
 178         Fix the N64 build on mips-sgi-irix6.5.
 179         Enable builds with Microsoft's compiler.
 180         Enable x86 builds with Oracle's Solaris compiler.
 181         Fix support for calling code compiled with Oracle's Sparc
 182           Solaris compiler.
 183         Testsuite fixes for Tru64 Unix.
 184         Additional platform support.
 185
 186 3.0.9 Dec-31-09
 187         Add AVR32 and win64 ports.  Add ARM softfp support.
 188         Many fixes for AIX, Solaris, HP-UX, *BSD.
 189         Several PowerPC and x86-64 bug fixes.
 190         Build DLL for windows.
 191
 192 3.0.8 Dec-19-08
 193         Add *BSD, BeOS, and PA-Linux support.
 194
 195 3.0.7 Nov-11-08
 196         Fix for ppc FreeBSD.
 197         (thanks to Andreas Tobler)
 198
 199 3.0.6 Jul-17-08
 200         Fix for closures on sh.
 201         Mark the sh/sh64 stack as non-executable.
 202         (both thanks to Kaz Kojima)
 203
 204 3.0.5 Apr-3-08
 205         Fix libffi.pc file.
 206         Fix #define ARM for IcedTea users.
 207         Fix x86 closure bug.
 208
 209 3.0.4 Feb-24-08
 210         Fix x86 OpenBSD configury.
 211
 212 3.0.3 Feb-22-08
 213         Enable x86 OpenBSD thanks to Thomas Heller, and
 214         x86-64 FreeBSD thanks to Björn König and Andreas Tobler.
 215         Clean up test instruction in README.
 216
 217 3.0.2 Feb-21-08
 218         Improved x86 FreeBSD support.
 219         Thanks to Björn König.
 220
 221 3.0.1 Feb-15-08
 222         Fix instruction cache flushing bug on MIPS.
 223         Thanks to David Daney.
 224
 225 3.0.0 Feb-15-08
 226         Many changes, mostly thanks to the GCC project.
 227         Cygnus Solutions is now Red Hat.
 228
 229   [10 years go by...]
 230
 231 1.20 Oct-5-98
 232         Raffaele Sena produces ARM port.
 233
 234 1.19 Oct-5-98
 235         Fixed x86 long double and long long return support.
 236         m68k bug fixes from Andreas Schwab.
 237         Patch for DU assembler compatibility for the Alpha from Richard
 238         Henderson.
 239
 240 1.18 Apr-17-98
 241         Bug fixes and MIPS configuration changes.
 242
 243 1.17 Feb-24-98
 244         Bug fixes and m68k port from Andreas Schwab. PowerPC port from
 245         Geoffrey Keating. Various bug x86, Sparc and MIPS bug fixes.
 246
 247 1.16 Feb-11-98
 248         Richard Henderson produces Alpha port.
 249
 250 1.15 Dec-4-97
 251         Fixed an n32 ABI bug. New libtool, auto* support.
 252
 253 1.14 May-13-97
 254         libtool is now used to generate shared and static libraries.
 255         Fixed a minor portability problem reported by Russ McManus
 256         <mcmanr@eq.gs.com>.
 257
 258 1.13 Dec-2-96
 259         Added --enable-purify-safety to keep Purify from complaining
 260         about certain low level code.
 261         Sparc fix for calling functions with < 6 args.
 262         Linux x86 a.out fix.
 263
 264 1.12 Nov-22-96
 265         Added missing ffi_type_void, needed for supporting void return
 266         types. Fixed test case for non MIPS machines. Cygnus Support
 267         is now Cygnus Solutions.
 268
 269 1.11 Oct-30-96
 270         Added notes about GNU make.
 271
 272 1.10 Oct-29-96
 273         Added configuration fix for non GNU compilers.
 274
 275 1.09 Oct-29-96
 276         Added --enable-debug configure switch. Clean-ups based on LCLint
 277         feedback. ffi_mips.h is always installed. Many configuration
 278         fixes. Fixed ffitest.c for sparc builds.
 279
 280 1.08 Oct-15-96
 281         Fixed n32 problem. Many clean-ups.
 282
 283 1.07 Oct-14-96
 284         Gordon Irlam rewrites v8.S again. Bug fixes.
 285
 286 1.06 Oct-14-96
 287         Gordon Irlam improved the sparc port.
 288
 289 1.05 Oct-14-96
 290         Interface changes based on feedback.
 291
 292 1.04 Oct-11-96
 293         Sparc port complete (modulo struct passing bug).
 294
 295 1.03 Oct-10-96
 296         Passing struct args, and returning struct values works for
 297         all architectures/calling conventions. Expanded tests.
 298
 299 1.02 Oct-9-96
 300         Added SGI n32 support. Fixed bugs in both o32 and Linux support.
 301         Added "make test".
 302
 303 1.01 Oct-8-96
 304         Fixed float passing bug in mips version. Restructured some
 305         of the code. Builds cleanly with SGI tools.
 306
 307 1.00 Oct-7-96
 308         First release. No public announcement.
 309
 310
 311 Authors & Credits
 312 =================
 313
 314 libffi was originally written by Anthony Green <green@redhat.com>.
 315
 316 The developers of the GNU Compiler Collection project have made
 317 innumerable valuable contributions.  See the ChangeLog file for
 318 details.
 319
 320 Some of the ideas behind libffi were inspired by Gianni Mariani's free
 321 gencall library for Silicon Graphics machines.
 322
 323 The closure mechanism was designed and implemented by Kresten Krab
 324 Thorup.
 325
 326 Major processor architecture ports were contributed by the following
 327 developers:
 328
 329 aarch64         Marcus Shawcroft, James Greenhalgh
 330 alpha           Richard Henderson
 331 arm             Raffaele Sena
 332 blackfin        Alexandre Keunecke I. de Mendonca
 333 cris            Simon Posnjak, Hans-Peter Nilsson
 334 frv             Anthony Green
 335 ia64            Hans Boehm
 336 m32r            Kazuhiro Inaoka
 337 m68k            Andreas Schwab
 338 mips            Anthony Green, Casey Marshall
 339 mips64          David Daney
 340 pa              Randolph Chung, Dave Anglin, Andreas Tobler
 341 powerpc         Geoffrey Keating, Andreas Tobler,
 342                          David Edelsohn, John Hornkvist
 343 powerpc64       Jakub Jelinek
 344 s390            Gerhard Tonn, Ulrich Weigand
 345 sh              Kaz Kojima
 346 sh64            Kaz Kojima
 347 sparc           Anthony Green, Gordon Irlam
 348 tile-gx/tilepro Walter Lee
 349 x86             Anthony Green, Jon Beniston
 350 x86-64          Bo Thorsen
 351
 352 Jesper Skov and Andrew Haley both did more than their fair share of
 353 stepping through the code and tracking down bugs.
 354
 355 Thanks also to Tom Tromey for bug fixes, documentation and
 356 configuration help.
 357
 358 Thanks to Jim Blandy, who provided some useful feedback on the libffi
 359 interface.
 360
 361 Andreas Tobler has done a tremendous amount of work on the testsuite.
 362
 363 Alex Oliva solved the executable page problem for SElinux.
 364
 365 The list above is almost certainly incomplete and inaccurate.  I'm
 366 happy to make corrections or additions upon request.
 367
 368 If you have a problem, or have found a bug, please send a note to the
 369 author at green@moxielogic.com, or the project mailing list at
 370 libffi-discuss@sourceware.org.