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A portable foreign-function interface library.
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libffi-3.4.7 was released on February 8, 2025. Check the libffi webpage for updates: URL:http://sourceware.org/libffi/.
Compilers for high level languages generate code that follow certainconventions. These conventions are necessary, in part, for separatecompilation to work. One such convention is the "callingconvention". The "calling convention" is essentially a set ofassumptions made by the compiler about where function arguments willbe found on entry to a function. A "calling convention" also specifieswhere the return value for a function is found.
Some programs may not know at the time of compilation what argumentsare to be passed to a function. For instance, an interpreter may betold at run-time about the number and types of arguments used to calla given function. Libffi can be used in such programs to provide abridge from the interpreter program to compiled code.
The libffi library provides a portable, high level programminginterface to various calling conventions. This allows a programmer tocall any function specified by a call interface description at runtime.
FFI stands for Foreign Function Interface. A foreign functioninterface is the popular name for the interface that allows codewritten in one language to call code written in another language. Thelibffi library really only provides the lowest, machine dependentlayer of a fully featured foreign function interface. A layer mustexist above libffi that handles type conversions for values passedbetween the two languages.
Libffi has been ported to many different platforms.
At the time of release, the following basic configurations have beentested:
| Architecture | Operating System | Compiler |
|---|---|---|
| AArch64 (ARM64) | iOS | Clang |
| AArch64 | Linux | GCC |
| AArch64 | Windows | MSVC |
| Alpha | Linux | GCC |
| Alpha | Tru64 | GCC |
| ARC | Linux | GCC |
| ARC32 | Linux | GCC |
| ARC64 | Linux | GCC |
| ARM | Linux | GCC |
| ARM | iOS | GCC |
| ARM | Windows | MSVC |
| AVR32 | Linux | GCC |
| Blackfin | uClinux | GCC |
| CSKY | Linux | GCC |
| HPPA | HPUX | GCC |
| HPPA64 | HPUX | GCC |
| KVX | Linux | GCC |
| IA-64 | Linux | GCC |
| LoongArch64 | 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 |
| OpenRISC | Linux | GCC |
| PowerPC 32-bit | AIX | 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 |
| WASM32 | Emscripten | EMCC |
| 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 tolibffi-discuss@sourceware.org.
First you must configure the distribution for your particularsystem. Go to the directory you wish to build libffi in and run the"configure" program found in the root directory of the libffi sourcedistribution. Note that building libffi requires a C99 compatiblecompiler.
If you're building libffi directly from git hosted sources, configurewon't exist yet; run ./autogen.sh first. This will require that youinstall autoconf, automake and libtool.
You may want to tell configure where to install the libffi library andheader files. To do that, use the--prefix configure switch. Libffiwill 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 diesmysteriously while using libffi.
Another useful configure switch is--enable-purify-safety. Using thiswill add some extra code which will suppress certain warnings when youare using Purify with libffi. Only use this switch when usingPurify, as it will slow down the library.
If you don't want to build documentation, use the--disable-docsconfigure switch.
It's also possible to build libffi on Windows platforms withMicrosoft's Visual C++ compiler. In this case, use the msvcc.shwrapper script during configuration like so:
path/to/configure CC=path/to/msvcc.sh CXX=path/to/msvcc.sh LD=link CPP="cl -nologo -EP" CXXCPP="cl -nologo -EP" CPPFLAGS="-DFFI_BUILDING_DLL"For 64-bit Windows builds, useCC="path/to/msvcc.sh -m64" andCXX="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 LLVMproject'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 toremove the line in configure that sets 'fix_srcfile_path' to a 'cygpath'command. ('cygpath' is not present in MingW, and is not required whenusing MingW-style paths.)
To build static library for ARM64 with MSVC using visual studio solution, msvc_build folder haveaarch64/Ffi_staticLib.slnrequired header files in aarch64/aarch64_include/
SPARC Solaris builds require the use of the GNU assembler and linker.PointAS andLD environment variables at those tool prior toconfiguration.
For iOS builds, thelibffi.xcodeproj Xcode project is available.
Configure has many other options. Useconfigure --help to see them all.
Once configure has finished, type "make". Note that you must be usingGNU 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, typemake install.
See the git log for details athttp://github.com/libffi/libffi.
3.4.7 Feb-8-2024 Add static trampoline support for Linux on s390x. Fix BTI support for ARM64. Support pointer authentication for ARM64. Fix ASAN compatibility. Fix x86-64 calls with 6 GP registers and some SSE registers. Miscellaneous fixes for ARC and Darwin ARM64. Fix OpenRISC or1k and Solaris 10 builds. Remove nios2 port.3.4.6 Feb-18-2024 Fix long double regression on mips64 and alpha.3.4.5 Feb-15-2024 Add support for wasm32. Add support for aarch64 branch target identification (bti). Add support for ARCv3: ARC32 & ARC64. Add support for HPPA64, and many HPPA fixes. Add support for Haikuos on PowerPC. Fixes for AIX, loongson, MIPS, power, sparc64, and x86 Darwin.3.4.4 Oct-23-2022 Important aarch64 fixes, including support for linux builds with Link Time Optimization (-flto). Fix x86 stdcall stack alignment. Fix x86 Windows msvc assembler compatibility. Fix moxie and or1k small structure args.3.4.3 Sep-19-2022 All struct args are passed by value, regardless of size, as per ABIs. Enable static trampolines for Cygwin. Add support for Loongson's LoongArch64 architecture. Fix x32 static trampolines. Fix 32-bit x86 stdcall stack corruption. Fix ILP32 aarch64 support.3.4.2 Jun-28-2021 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-23-2019 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-12-2014 Build fix for non-iOS AArch64 targets.3.2 Nov-11-2014 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-19-2014 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-17-2013 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-11-2013 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-11-2012 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-23-2011 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-31-2009 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-19-2008 Add *BSD, BeOS, and PA-Linux support.3.0.7 Nov-11-2008 Fix for ppc FreeBSD. (thanks to Andreas Tobler)3.0.6 Jul-17-2008 Fix for closures on sh. Mark the sh/sh64 stack as non-executable. (both thanks to Kaz Kojima)3.0.5 Apr-3-2008 Fix libffi.pc file. Fix #define ARM for IcedTea users. Fix x86 closure bug.3.0.4 Feb-24-2008 Fix x86 OpenBSD configury.3.0.3 Feb-22-2008 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-21-2008 Improved x86 FreeBSD support. Thanks to Björn König.3.0.1 Feb-15-2008 Fix instruction cache flushing bug on MIPS. Thanks to David Daney.3.0.0 Feb-15-2008 Many changes, mostly thanks to the GCC project. Cygnus Solutions is now Red Hat. [10 years go by...]1.20 Oct-5-1998 Raffaele Sena produces ARM port.1.19 Oct-5-1998 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-17-1998 Bug fixes and MIPS configuration changes.1.17 Feb-24-1998 Bug fixes and m68k port from Andreas Schwab. PowerPC port from Geoffrey Keating. Various bug x86, Sparc and MIPS bug fixes.1.16 Feb-11-1998 Richard Henderson produces Alpha port.1.15 Dec-4-1997 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-2-1996 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-22-1996 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-30-1996 Added notes about GNU make.1.10 Oct-29-1996 Added configuration fix for non GNU compilers.1.09 Oct-29-1996 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-15-1996 Fixed n32 problem. Many clean-ups.1.07 Oct-14-1996 Gordon Irlam rewrites v8.S again. Bug fixes.1.06 Oct-14-1996 Gordon Irlam improved the sparc port.1.05 Oct-14-1996 Interface changes based on feedback.1.04 Oct-11-1996 Sparc port complete (modulo struct passing bug).1.03 Oct-10-1996 Passing struct args, and returning struct values works for all architectures/calling conventions. Expanded tests.1.02 Oct-9-1996 Added SGI n32 support. Fixed bugs in both o32 and Linux support. Added "make test".1.01 Oct-8-1996 Fixed float passing bug in mips version. Restructured some of the code. Builds cleanly with SGI tools.1.00 Oct-7-1996 First release. No public announcement.libffi was originally written by Anthony Greengreen@moxielogic.com.
The developers of the GNU Compiler Collection project have madeinnumerable valuable contributions. See the ChangeLog file fordetails.
Some of the ideas behind libffi were inspired by Gianni Mariani's freegencall library for Silicon Graphics machines.
The closure mechanism was designed and implemented by Kresten KrabThorup.
Major processor architecture ports were contributed by the followingdevelopers:
aarch64 Marcus Shawcroft, James Greenhalghalpha Richard Hendersonarc Hackers at Synopsisarm Raffaele Senaavr32 Bradley Smithblackfin Alexandre Keunecke I. de Mendoncacris Simon Posnjak, Hans-Peter Nilssoncsky Ma Jun, Zhang Wenmengfrv Anthony Greenia64 Hans Boehmkvx Yann Sionneauloongarch64 Cheng Lulu, Xi Ruoyao, Xu Hao, Zhang Wenlong, Pan Xuefengm32r Kazuhiro Inaokam68k Andreas Schwabm88k Miod Vallatmetag Hackers at Imagination Technologiesmicroblaze Nathan Rossimips Anthony Green, Casey Marshallmips64 David Daneymoxie Anthony Greennios ii Sandra Loosemoreopenrisc Sebastian Mackepa Randolph Chung, Dave Anglin, Andreas Toblerpa64 Dave Anglinpowerpc Geoffrey Keating, Andreas Tobler, David Edelsohn, John Hornkvistpowerpc64 Jakub Jelinekriscv Michael Knyszek, Andrew Waterman, Stef O'Rears390 Gerhard Tonn, Ulrich Weigandsh Kaz Kojimash64 Kaz Kojimasparc Anthony Green, Gordon Irlamtile-gx/tilepro Walter Leevax Miod Vallatwasm32 Hood Chatham, Brion Vibber, Kleis Auke Wolthuizenx86 Anthony Green, Jon Benistonx86-64 Bo Thorsenxtensa Chris ZankelJesper Skov and Andrew Haley both did more than their fair share ofstepping through the code and tracking down bugs.
Thanks also to Tom Tromey for bug fixes, documentation andconfiguration help.
Thanks to Jim Blandy, who provided some useful feedback on the libffiinterface.
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'mhappy to make corrections or additions upon request.
If you have a problem, or have found a bug, please file an issue onour issue tracker athttps://github.com/libffi/libffi/issues.
The author can be reached atgreen@moxielogic.com.
To subscribe/unsubscribe to our mailing lists, visit:https://sourceware.org/mailman/listinfo/libffi-announcehttps://sourceware.org/mailman/listinfo/libffi-discuss
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A portable foreign-function interface library.