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author | Anthony Green <green@moxielogic.com> | 2018-03-13 09:12:21 -0400 |
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committer | Anthony Green <green@moxielogic.com> | 2018-03-13 09:12:21 -0400 |
commit | fbfc3b048fcf3f699f4495ca70b7e58461a0df4f (patch) | |
tree | 71744887c4adc89117eb99fb6840e79cafb03bbd /README.md | |
parent | a31d3d3ba6644d308b6fb8cea2a60976e0531f4a (diff) | |
download | libffi-fbfc3b048fcf3f699f4495ca70b7e58461a0df4f.tar.gz |
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diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b6a5257 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,461 @@ +Status +====== + +THIS IS A WORK IN PROGRESS.. + +[![Build status](https://ci.appveyor.com/api/projects/status/8lko9vagbx4w2kxq?svg=true)](https://ci.appveyor.com/project/atgreen/libffi) [![Build status](https://ci.appveyor.com/api/projects/status/8lko9vagbx4w2kxq?svg=true)](https://ci.appveyor.com/project/atgreen/libffi) + +libffi-3.3 was released on [TBD]. 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. +For specific configuration details and testing status, please +refer to the wiki page here: + + http://www.moxielogic.org/wiki/index.php?title=Libffi_3.2 + +At the time of release, the following basic configurations have been +tested: + +|-----------------+------------------+-------------------------| +| Architecture | Operating System | Compiler | +|-----------------+------------------+-------------------------| +| AArch64 (ARM64) | iOS | Clang | +| AArch64 | Linux | GCC | +| Alpha | Linux | GCC | +| Alpha | Tru64 | GCC | +| ARC | Linux | GCC | +| ARM | Linux | GCC | +| ARM | iOS | GCC | +| AVR32 | Linux | GCC | +| Blackfin | uClinux | GCC | +| HPPA | HPUX | 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 | Mac OSX | 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 and feel free to update the wiki page +above. + +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. + +If you're building libffi directly from version control, configure won't +exist yet; run ./autogen.sh first. + +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" + +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.) + +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. + +3.3 TBD + New API in support of GO closures. + Add RISC-V support. + +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 +arm Raffaele Sena +blackfin Alexandre Keunecke I. de Mendonca +cris Simon Posnjak, Hans-Peter Nilsson +frv Anthony Green +ia64 Hans Boehm +m32r Kazuhiro Inaoka +m68k Andreas Schwab +m88k Miod Vallat +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 +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 send a note to the +author at green@moxielogic.com, or the project mailing list at +libffi-discuss@sourceware.org. |