Gitiles
Code Review Sign In
gerrit-public.fairphone.software / platform / external / abi-compliance-checker / refs/tags/20.10.1-beta.0 / . / doc / index.html
blob: f5f9d966202d1e4036b4923835857edcd82c1a57 [file] [log] [blame]
Andrey Ponomarenkod48d9722015-08-13 20:14:50 +0300[diff] [blame]1<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
2<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">
3<head>
4 <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" />
5 <meta name="keywords" content="C, C++, ABI, API, compatibility, checker" />
6 <meta name="description" content="A tool for checking backward API/ABI compatibility of a C/C++ library" />
7 <title>ABI Compliance Checker</title>
8
9 <style type="text/css">
10 body {
11 margin-top: 1.0em;
12 background-color: #deeef7;
13 font-family: Helvetica, Arial, FreeSans, san-serif;
14 color: #000000;
15 }
16 #container {
17 margin: 0 auto;
18 width: 700px;
19 }
20 h1 { font-size: 3.8em; color: #211108; margin-bottom: 3px;margin-top:0px;padding-top:0px;}
21 h1 .small { font-size: 0.4em; }
22 h1 a { text-decoration: none }
23 h2 { font-size: 1.5em; color: #211108; }
24 h3 { text-align: center; color: #211108; }
25 a { color: #211108; }
26 .description { font-size: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 30px; margin-top: 30px; font-style: italic;}
27 .download { float: right; }
28 pre {padding: 0px;margin: 0px;padding-left: 10px;word-wrap:break-word;white-space: pre-wrap;}
29 hr { border: 0; width: 80%; border-bottom: 1px solid #aaa}
30 .footer { text-align:center; padding-top:30px; font-style: italic; }
Andrey Ponomarenko512878d2016-05-07 18:02:58 +0300[diff] [blame]31 .code {border: dashed 1px gray; background-color: #f0f0f0; padding: 5px; padding-left: 10px; padding-right: 10px;}
Andrey Ponomarenkod48d9722015-08-13 20:14:50 +0300[diff] [blame]32 .listing {padding: 10px;border: 1px solid black;width: 70%;font-family:"DejaVu Sans Mono", "Monaco", "Courier New", monospace;font-size:14px;}
33 .summary {border:1px solid black;border-collapse:collapse;}
34 table.summary td, table.summary th {border:1px solid black;padding:2px;}
35 </style>
36
37</head>
38
39<body>
Andrey Ponomarenko26742a82016-09-27 18:27:08 +0300[diff] [blame]40 <a href="https://github.com/lvc/abi-compliance-checker"><img style="position: absolute; top: 0; right: 0; border: 0;" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/github/ribbons/forkme_right_darkblue_121621.png" alt="Fork me on GitHub" /></a>
Andrey Ponomarenkod48d9722015-08-13 20:14:50 +0300[diff] [blame]41
42 <div id="container">
43
44 <div class="download">
45 <a href="https://github.com/lvc/abi-compliance-checker/zipball/master">
46 <img style="border: 0;" width="90" src="https://github.com/images/modules/download/zip.png" alt="" /></a>
47 <a href="https://github.com/lvc/abi-compliance-checker/tarball/master">
48 <img style="border: 0;" width="90" src="https://github.com/images/modules/download/tar.png" alt="" /></a>
49 </div>
50
51 <h1>ABI Compliance Checker</h1>
52
53 <div class="description">
54 A tool for checking backward API/ABI compatibility of a C/C++ library
55 </div>
56
57 <p/>
58 ABI Compliance Checker (ABICC) is a tool for checking backward binary and source-level compatibility of a C/C++ library. The tool checks header files and shared libraries of old and new versions and analyzes changes in API and ABI (ABI=API+compiler ABI) that may break binary and/or source compatibility: changes in calling stack, v-table changes, removed symbols, renamed fields, etc.
59
60 <p/>
61 Binary incompatibility may result in crashing or incorrect behavior of applications built with an old version of a library if they run on a new one. Source incompatibility may result in recompilation errors with a new library version. The tool is intended for developers of software libraries and Linux maintainers who are interested in ensuring backward compatibility, i.e. allow old applications to run or to be recompiled with newer library versions.
Andrey Ponomarenko8bfdcd82015-09-08 17:58:01 +0300[diff] [blame]62
63 <p/>
Andrey Ponomarenko26742a82016-09-27 18:27:08 +0300[diff] [blame]64 The tool is developed by Andrey Ponomarenko. You can order additional reports for visualization of the ABI structure and high detailed binary compatibility analysis here: <a href='https://abi-laboratory.pro/'>https://abi-laboratory.pro/</a>
Andrey Ponomarenko6763a7c2016-10-09 02:08:52 +0300[diff] [blame]65
66 <p/>
67 The tool is a core of the <a href='https://abi-laboratory.pro/tracker/'>ABI Tracker</a> and Upstream Tracker projects.
68
Andrey Ponomarenkod48d9722015-08-13 20:14:50 +0300[diff] [blame]69<table class='summary'><tr><td>
70<div>Table of Contents</div>
71<ul>
72<li><a href="#Downloads">Downloads</a></li>
73<li><a href="#License">License</a></li>
74<li><a href="#Supported_Platforms">Supported Platforms</a></li>
75<li><a href="#Dependencies">Dependencies</a></li>
76<li><a href="#Installation">Installation</a></li>
Andrey Ponomarenkoe3419b42016-01-28 15:06:08 +0300[diff] [blame]77<li><a href="#ABI_Dumper">Usage with ABI Dumper</a></li>
Andrey Ponomarenkoa364f8a2016-04-18 21:40:51 +0300[diff] [blame]78<li><a href="#Usage">Usage (Original)</a></li>
Andrey Ponomarenkoe3419b42016-01-28 15:06:08 +0300[diff] [blame]79<li><a href="#Tutorial">Tutorial</a></li>
Andrey Ponomarenkod48d9722015-08-13 20:14:50 +0300[diff] [blame]80<li><a href="#Examples">Examples</a></li>
81<li><a href="#BinaryProblems">Detectable Binary-Compatibility Problems</a></li>
82<li><a href="#SourceProblems">Detectable Source-Compatibility Problems</a></li>
Andrey Ponomarenko6763a7c2016-10-09 02:08:52 +0300[diff] [blame]83<li><a href="#TestSuite">Test Suite</a></li>
Andrey Ponomarenkod48d9722015-08-13 20:14:50 +0300[diff] [blame]84<li><a href="#Dump">Create ABI Dumps</a></li>
Andrey Ponomarenkod48d9722015-08-13 20:14:50 +0300[diff] [blame]85<li><a href="#Report">Report Format</a></li>
86<li><a href="#Verdict">Verdict on Compatibility</a></li>
87<li><a href="#Error">Error Codes</a></li>
88<li><a href="#FAQ">FAQ</a></li>
89<li><a href="#Similar">Similar Tools</a></li>
Andrey Ponomarenkod48d9722015-08-13 20:14:50 +0300[diff] [blame]90<li><a href="#Bugs">Bugs</a></li>
91<li><a href="#Maintainers">Maintainers</a></li>
92<li><a href="#ChangeLog">Changes</a></li>
93<li><a href="#Articles">Articles</a></li>
94</ul>
95</td></tr></table>
96
97<a name="Downloads"></a>
98<h2>Downloads</h2>
Andrey Ponomarenkodd99c622016-04-26 19:10:46 +0300[diff] [blame]99<p>The latest release can be downloaded from <a href="https://github.com/lvc/abi-compliance-checker/releases">this page</a>.</p>
Andrey Ponomarenkod48d9722015-08-13 20:14:50 +0300[diff] [blame]100
101<p>Read-only access to the latest development version:</p>
102
Andrey Ponomarenko512878d2016-05-07 18:02:58 +0300[diff] [blame]103<code class='code'>git clone https://github.com/lvc/abi-compliance-checker.git</code>
Andrey Ponomarenkod48d9722015-08-13 20:14:50 +0300[diff] [blame]104
105<a name="License"></a>
106<h2>License</h2>
107<p>This program is free software. You may use, redistribute and/or modify it under the terms of the <a href="http://www.gnu.org/licenses/">GNU GPL</a> or <a href="http://www.gnu.org/licenses/">GNU LGPL</a></p>
108
109<a name="Supported_Platforms"></a>
110<h2>Supported Platforms</h2>
111GNU/Linux, FreeBSD, Mac OS X, MS Windows.
112
113<a name="Dependencies"></a>
114<h2>Dependencies</h2>
115<ul>
116<li>
Andrey Ponomarenkodd172162016-10-04 19:41:25 +0300[diff] [blame]117 G++ (3.0-4.7, 4.8.3 or newer)
Andrey Ponomarenkod48d9722015-08-13 20:14:50 +0300[diff] [blame]118</li>
119<li>
Andrey Ponomarenkodd172162016-10-04 19:41:25 +0300[diff] [blame]120 GNU Binutils (readelf, c++filt, objdump)
Andrey Ponomarenkod48d9722015-08-13 20:14:50 +0300[diff] [blame]121</li>
122<li>
Andrey Ponomarenkodd172162016-10-04 19:41:25 +0300[diff] [blame]123 Perl 5
Andrey Ponomarenkod48d9722015-08-13 20:14:50 +0300[diff] [blame]124</li>
125<li>
Andrey Ponomarenkodd172162016-10-04 19:41:25 +0300[diff] [blame]126 Ctags
127</li>
128<li>
129 <a href="https://github.com/lvc/abi-dumper">ABI Dumper</a>
Andrey Ponomarenkod48d9722015-08-13 20:14:50 +0300[diff] [blame]130</li>
131</ul>
132
133WARNING: if you are using ccache program (i.e. gcc points to /usr/lib/ccache/gcc) then it should be newer than 3.1.2 or disabled.
134<p/>
135On Mac OS X the tool also requires Xcode (g++, c++filt, nm and otool).
136<p/>
Andrey Ponomarenkodd172162016-10-04 19:41:25 +0300[diff] [blame]137On MS Windows the tool also requires MinGW, MS Visual C++ (dumpbin, undname, cl), Active Perl 5, adding of tool locations to the PATH and execution of vcvars64.bat script (C:\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\VC\bin\).
Andrey Ponomarenkod48d9722015-08-13 20:14:50 +0300[diff] [blame]138
139<a name="Installation"></a>
140<h2>Installation</h2>
141<p>The tool is <b>ready-to-use</b> after extracting the archive.</p>
142
143<p>You can also use a Makefile to install the tool into the system:</p>
Andrey Ponomarenko512878d2016-05-07 18:02:58 +0300[diff] [blame]144<code class='code'>sudo make install prefix=PREFIX [/usr, /usr/local]</code>
Andrey Ponomarenkod48d9722015-08-13 20:14:50 +0300[diff] [blame]145<p>This command will install the <code>abi-compliance-checker</code> program into the <code>PREFIX/bin</code> system directory and private modules into the <code>PREFIX/share</code>.</p>
146
Andrey Ponomarenkodd99c622016-04-26 19:10:46 +0300[diff] [blame]147<p>To verify that the tool is installed correctly and it works on your host run:</p>
Andrey Ponomarenko512878d2016-05-07 18:02:58 +0300[diff] [blame]148<code class='code'>cd tmp/</code>
Andrey Ponomarenkodd99c622016-04-26 19:10:46 +0300[diff] [blame]149<p>
Andrey Ponomarenko512878d2016-05-07 18:02:58 +0300[diff] [blame]150<code class='code'>abi-compliance-checker -test</code>
Andrey Ponomarenkodd99c622016-04-26 19:10:46 +0300[diff] [blame]151</p>
152
Andrey Ponomarenkoa364f8a2016-04-18 21:40:51 +0300[diff] [blame]153<a name="ABI_Dumper"></a>
154<h2>Usage with ABI Dumper</h2>
155This new way is based on the analysis of the debug-info from binary objects. It's more reliable, faster and simple way.
156<p/>
157The analyzed library should be compiled with "-g -Og" GCC options to contain DWARF debug info.
158<p/>
159Create ABI dumps for both library versions first using the <a href='https://github.com/lvc/abi-dumper'>ABI Dumper</a> tool:
160<p/>
161<code class='code'>abi-dumper OLD.so -o ABI-0.dump -lver 0</code>
162<p/>
163<code class='code'>abi-dumper NEW.so -o ABI-1.dump -lver 1</code>
164<p/>
165And then compare ABI dumps to create report:
166<p/>
167<code class='code'>abi-compliance-checker -l NAME -old ABI-0.dump -new ABI-1.dump</code>
168<p/>
169The compatibility report will be generated to:
170<p/>
171<code class='code'>compat_reports/NAME/V0_to_V1/compat_report.html</code>
172<p/>
173You can filter out private symbols from the ABI dumps by specifying of additional <code>-public-headers</code> option of the ABI Dumper tool.
174
Andrey Ponomarenkod48d9722015-08-13 20:14:50 +0300[diff] [blame]175<a name="Usage"></a>
Andrey Ponomarenkoe3419b42016-01-28 15:06:08 +0300[diff] [blame]176<h2>Usage (Original)</h2>
177The original usage is based on the analysis of header files and shared objects (without debug-info).
178<p/>
179You should provide <a href='Xml-Descriptor.html'>XML descriptors</a> for two library versions (<code>v1.xml</code> and <code>v2.xml</code> files) in order to run the analysis. Library descriptor is a simple XML-file that specifies version number, paths to header files and shared libraries and other optional information. An example of the descriptor is the following (<code>0.3.4.xml</code>):
Andrey Ponomarenkod48d9722015-08-13 20:14:50 +0300[diff] [blame]180<p/>
181<div class='listing'>
182<pre>
183<span style='color:Green'>&lt;version&gt;</span>
184 0.3.4
185<span style='color:Green'>&lt;/version&gt;</span>
186
187<span style='color:Green'>&lt;headers&gt;</span>
188 /usr/local/libssh/0.3.4/include/
189<span style='color:Green'>&lt;/headers&gt;</span>
190
191<span style='color:Green'>&lt;libs&gt;</span>
192 /usr/local/libssh/0.3.4/lib/
193<span style='color:Green'>&lt;/libs&gt;</span>
194</pre>
195</div>
196<p/>
197
198Command to compare two versions of a library:
199<p/>
200<code class='code'>abi-compliance-checker -lib NAME -old V1.xml -new V2.xml</code>
201<p/>
202The compatibility report will be generated to:
203<p/>
204<code class='code'>compat_reports/NAME/V1_to_V2/compat_report.html</code>
205<p/>
206
Andrey Ponomarenkoe3419b42016-01-28 15:06:08 +0300[diff] [blame]207<a name="Tutorial"></a>
208<h2>Tutorial</h2>
209An excellent tutorial <a href='http://blog.famillecollet.com/post/2010/06/20/ABI-%3A-stability-check'>"ABI: stability check"</a> is available at Les RPM de Remi Blog. See also <a href='http://sourceware.org/glibc/wiki/Testing/ABI_checker'>ABI compliance checker Notes</a> at glibc wiki.
210<p/>
211
Andrey Ponomarenkod48d9722015-08-13 20:14:50 +0300[diff] [blame]212<a name="Examples"></a>
213<h2>Examples</h2>
214<table class='summary'>
215<tr><th>Library</th><th>Versions</th><th>Report</th></tr>
216<tr>
Andrey Ponomarenkodd99c622016-04-26 19:10:46 +0300[diff] [blame]217<td>libhttpd</td>
218<td>2.2.31 vs 2.4.1</td>
219<td><a href='http://abi-laboratory.pro/tracker/compat_report/httpd/2.2.31/2.4.1/58f6a/abi_compat_report.html'>report</a></td>
Andrey Ponomarenkod48d9722015-08-13 20:14:50 +0300[diff] [blame]220</tr>
221<tr>
Andrey Ponomarenkodd99c622016-04-26 19:10:46 +0300[diff] [blame]222<td>libMagick++</td>
223<td>6.9.0-0 vs 6.9.0-10</td>
224<td><a href='http://abi-laboratory.pro/tracker/compat_report/imagemagick/6.9.0-0/6.9.0-10/c3418/abi_compat_report.html'>report</a></td>
Andrey Ponomarenkod48d9722015-08-13 20:14:50 +0300[diff] [blame]225</tr>
226<tr>
227<td>libssh</td>
Andrey Ponomarenkodd99c622016-04-26 19:10:46 +0300[diff] [blame]228<td>0.3.4 vs 0.3.91</td>
229<td><a href='http://abi-laboratory.pro/tracker/compat_report/libssh/0.3.4/0.3.91/1f31d/abi_compat_report.html'>report</a></td>
Andrey Ponomarenkod48d9722015-08-13 20:14:50 +0300[diff] [blame]230</tr>
231</table>
Andrey Ponomarenkoe3419b42016-01-28 15:06:08 +0300[diff] [blame]232<p/>
233See more report examples at <a href='http://abi-laboratory.pro/tracker/'>http://abi-laboratory.pro/tracker/</a>.
Andrey Ponomarenkod48d9722015-08-13 20:14:50 +0300[diff] [blame]234
235<a name="BinaryProblems"></a>
236<h2>Detectable Binary Compatibility Problems</h2>
237<ul>
238<li>
239
240<b>Problems with Data Types</b>
241<ul>
242 <li>
243 Structures and Classes
244 <ul>
245 <li>
246 added/removed fields (change of a memory layout)
247 </li>
248 <li>
249 change of size
250 </li>
251 <li>
252 changed order of fields
253 </li>
254 <li>
255 change of a field type
256 </li>
257 <li>
258 changes in fields (recursive analysis)
259 </li>
260 </ul>
261 </li>
262 <li>
263 Classes
264 <ul>
265 <li>
266 added/removed virtual functions (change of a v-table layout)
267 </li>
268 <li>
269 change of virtual function position
270 </li>
271 <li>
272 overridden virtual functions
273 </li>
274 <li>
275 added/removed base classes
276 </li>
277 <li>
278 changes in base classes (recursive analysis)
279 </li>
280 </ul>
281 </li>
282 <li>
283 Unions
284 <ul>
285 <li>
286 added/removed fields
287 </li>
288 <li>
289 change of size
290 </li>
291 <li>
292 change of a field type
293 </li>
294 <li>
295 changes in fields (recursive analysis)
296 </li>
297 </ul>
298 </li>
299 <li>
300 Enumerations
301 <ul>
302 <li>
303 change of a member value
304 </li>
305 <li>
306 removed/renamed members
307
308 <br/>
309 <br/>
310 </li>
311 </ul>
312 </li>
313</ul>
314
315</li>
316<li>
317
318<b>Problems with Symbols</b>
319<ul>
320 <li>
321 removed symbols (functions or global data)
322 </li>
323 <li>
324 added/removed parameters
325 </li>
326 <li>
327 change of a parameter/return value type
328 </li>
329 <li>
330 change of default parameter value
331 </li>
332 <li>
333 renamed parameters
334 </li>
335 <li>
336 incorrect version change
337 </li>
338 <li>
339 changed attributes (const, volatile, static, etc.)
340
341 <br/>
342 <br/>
343 </li>
344</ul>
345
346</li>
347<li>
348<b>Problems with Constants (#defines)</b>
349<ul>
350<li>
351 changed value
352</li>
353</ul>
354
355</li>
356</ul>
357<p/>
358
Andrey Ponomarenko26742a82016-09-27 18:27:08 +0300[diff] [blame]359See <a href='https://community.kde.org/Policies/Binary_Compatibility_Issues_With_C++'>"Binary Compatibility Issues With C++"</a> article from KDE TechBase for more info.
Andrey Ponomarenkod48d9722015-08-13 20:14:50 +0300[diff] [blame]360
361<a name="SourceProblems"></a>
362<h2>Detectable Source Compatibility Problems</h2>
363<ul>
364<li>
365
366<b>Problems with Data Types</b>
367<ul>
368 <li>
369 Structures, Classes and Unions
370 <ul>
371 <li>
372 removed/renamed fields
373 </li>
374 <li>
375 change of a field type
376 </li>
377 <li>
378 changes in fields (recursive analysis)
379 </li>
380 </ul>
381 </li>
382 <li>
383 Classes
384 <ul>
385 <li>
386 added/removed base classes
387 </li>
388 <li>
389 change access level of a field or method
390 </li>
391 <li>
392 added pure virtual methods
393 </li>
394 </ul>
395 </li>
396 <li>
397 Enumerations
398 <ul>
399 <li>
400 removed/renamed members
401
402 <br/>
403 <br/>
404 </li>
405 </ul>
406 </li>
407</ul>
408</li>
409
410<li>
411
412<b>Problems with Symbols</b>
413<ul>
414 <li>
415 removed symbols (functions or global data)
416 </li>
417 <li>
418 added/removed parameters
419 </li>
420 <li>
421 change of a parameter type
422 </li>
423 <li>
424 removed default value of parameter
425 </li>
426 <li>
427 change of return value type
428 </li>
429 <li>
430 changed attributes (const, static, etc.)
431 </li>
432</ul>
433
434</li>
435
436</ul>
437
Andrey Ponomarenko6763a7c2016-10-09 02:08:52 +0300[diff] [blame]438<a name="TestSuite"></a>
439<h2>Test Suite</h2>
440The tool is tested properly in the <a href='https://abi-laboratory.pro/tracker/'>ABI Tracker</a> and Upstream Tracker projects, by the community and by the internal test suite:
441<p/>
442<code class='code'>abi-compliance-checker -test</code>
443<p/>
444There are about 100 basic tests for C and about 200 basic tests for C++ API/ABI breaks.
Andrey Ponomarenko9c87bdb2016-10-20 18:15:38 +0300[diff] [blame]445
Andrey Ponomarenkod48d9722015-08-13 20:14:50 +0300[diff] [blame]446<a name="Dump"></a>
447<h2>Create ABI Dumps</h2>
448The library ABI is a representation of the library API at the binary level. The ABI dump is a dump of the model of the ABI used in the tool.
449<p/>
450The ABI dump consists of:
451
452<ul>
453
454<li>
455 <b>Types Information</b>
456 <ul>
457 <li>
458 Attributes (name, size, header, access, base types, etc.)
459 </li>
460 <li>
461 Fields (name, type, size, position, alignment, access, specifiers, etc.)
462 </li>
463 <li>
464 V-table structure (offsets, entries)
465 </li>
466 <li>
467 Etc.
468 </li>
469 </ul>
470</li>
471
472<li>
473 <b>Symbols Information</b>
474 <ul>
475 <li>
476 Attributes (name, mangled name, header, access, specifiers, etc.)
477 </li>
478 <li>
479 Parameters (name, type, position, alignment, etc.)
480 </li>
481 <li>
482 Etc.
483 </li>
484 </ul>
485</li>
486
487<li>
488 Etc.
489</li>
490
491</ul>
492
493The ABI dump can be used to create a snapshot of a library ABI in the particular environment and then compare it with any other state of the ABI changed due to changes in the environment (compiler version, external libraries, etc.) or changes in the library API (header files).
494
495<p/>
496The typical case is the comparing of two versions of the same library that require incompatible states of the environment (i.e. these versions cannot be installed simultaneously). In this case one can create a dump for one version of the library and then switch the environment and create ABI dump for other version of the library. Two ABI dumps can be compared by the tool to create the API compatibility report.
497<p/>
498To create an ABI dump use <code>-dump</code> option:
499<p/>
500<code class='code'>abi-compliance-checker -lib NAME -dump VER.xml</code>
501<p/>
502The ABI dump will be generated to:
503<p/>
504<code class='code'>abi_dumps/NAME/NAME_VER.abi.tar.gz</code>
505<p/>
506To compare ABI dumps pass them as the descriptors:
507<p/>
508<code class='code'>abi-compliance-checker -lib NAME -old V1.abi.tar.gz -new V2.abi.tar.gz</code>
509
Andrey Ponomarenkod48d9722015-08-13 20:14:50 +0300[diff] [blame]510<a name="Report"></a>
511<h2>Report Format</h2>
512The tool supports two formats of a compatibility report: HTML (default) and XML. To generate XML report you should specify <code>-xml</code> additional option.
513<p/>
514The report consists of:
515
516<ul>
517 <li>
518 <b>Test Info</b> - The library name and compared version numbers. Environment info: GCC version and CPU type.
519 </li>
520 <li>
521 <b>Test Results</b> - Verdict on compatibility. Number of header files, shared libraries, symbols and data types checked by the tool.
522 </li>
523 <li>
524 <b>Problem Summary</b> - Classification of compatibility problems.
525 </li>
526 <li>
527 <b>Added Symbols</b> - The list of added symbols.
528 </li>
529 <li>
530 <b>Removed Symbols</b> - The list of removed symbols.
531 </li>
532 <li>
533 <b>Problems with Data Types</b> - The list of compatibility problems caused by changes in data types (divided by the severity level: High, Medium and Low). List of affected symbols.
534 </li>
535 <li>
536 <b>Problems with Symbols</b> - The list of compatibility problems caused by changes in symbol parameters or attributes (divided by the severity level).
537 </li>
538 <li>
539 <b>Problems with Constants</b> - The list of changed constants (#defines).
540 </li>
541 <li>
542 <b>Other Changes in Data Types</b> - The list of compatible changes in data types.
543 </li>
544 <li>
545 <b>Other Changes in Symbols</b> - The list of compatible changes in symbols.
546 </li>
547</ul>
548
549<a name="Verdict"></a>
550<h2>Verdict on Compatibility</h2>
551If the tool detects problems with high or medium level of severity or at least one removed symbol then the compatibility verdict is <b>incompatible</b> (otherwise <b>compatible</b>). Low-severity problems can be considered as <b>warnings</b> and don't affect the compatibility verdict unless the <code>-strict</code> option is specified.
552
553<a name="Error"></a>
554<h2>Error Codes</h2>
555<table class='summary'>
556<tr><th>Code</th><th>Meaning</th></tr>
557<tr><td>0</td><td>Compatible. The tool has run without any errors.</td></tr>
558<tr><td>1</td><td>Incompatible. The tool has run without any errors.</td></tr>
559<tr><td>2</td><td>Common error code (undifferentiated).</td></tr>
560<tr><td>3</td><td>A system command is not found.</td></tr>
561<tr><td>4</td><td>Cannot access input files.</td></tr>
562<tr><td>5</td><td>Cannot compile header files.</td></tr>
563<tr><td>6</td><td>Headers have been compiled with minor errors.</td></tr>
564<tr><td>7</td><td>Invalid input ABI dump.</td></tr>
565<tr><td>8</td><td>Unsupported version of input ABI dump.</td></tr>
566<tr><td>9</td><td>Cannot find a module.</td></tr>
567<tr><td>10</td><td>Empty intersection between headers and shared objects.</td></tr>
568<tr><td>11</td><td>Empty set of symbols in headers.</td></tr>
569</table>
570
571<a name="FAQ"></a>
572<h2>FAQ</h2>
573<ul>
574 <li>
575 <b>What is an ABI and how does it differ from an API?</b>
576 <p/>
577 An Application Binary Interface (ABI) is the set of supported run-time interfaces provided by a software component or set of components for applications to use, whereas an Application Programming Interface (API) is the set of build-time interfaces. The ABI may be defined by the formula: ABI = API + compiler ABI.
578 </li>
579 <li>
580 <b>Why does this tool need both shared libraries and header files to check ABI compliance?</b>
581 <p/>
582 Without header files it is impossible to determine public symbols in ABI and data type definitions. Without shared libraries it is impossible to determine exported symbols in the ABI of the target library and also impossible to detect added/removed symbols.
583 </li>
584</ul>
585
586<a name="Similar"></a>
587<h2>Similar Tools </h2>
588<ul>
589 <li>
590 <b>icheck</b> - C interface ABI/API checker.
591 </li>
592 <li>
593 <b>BCS</b> - The Symbian binary compatibility suite.
594 </li>
595 <li>
596 <b>shlib-compat</b> - ABI compatibility checker that uses DWARF debug info.
597 </li>
598 <li>
599 <b>qbic</b> - A tool to check for binary incompatibilities in Qt4 Toolkit.
600 </li>
601 <li>
602 <b>libabigail</b> - A C++ library for ABI analysis.
603 </li>
604 <li>
605 <b>chkshlib, cmpdylib, cmpshlib</b> - Tools to compare binary symbols.
606 </li>
607</ul>
608
Andrey Ponomarenkod48d9722015-08-13 20:14:50 +0300[diff] [blame]609<a name="Bugs"></a>
610<h2>Bugs</h2>
611Please post bug reports, feature requests and questions to the <a href="https://github.com/lvc/abi-compliance-checker/issues">issue tracker</a>.
612<p/>
613
614<a name="Maintainers"></a>
615<h2>Maintainers</h2>
Andrey Ponomarenko26742a82016-09-27 18:27:08 +0300[diff] [blame]616The tool is developed by <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/andreyponomarenko">Andrey Ponomarenko</a>.
Andrey Ponomarenkod48d9722015-08-13 20:14:50 +0300[diff] [blame]617
618<a name="ChangeLog"></a>
619<h2>Changes</h2>
620You can find changelog <a href='Changelog.html'>here</a>.
621
622<a name="Articles"></a>
623<h2>Articles</h2>
624
625<ul>
626 <li>
Andrey Ponomarenko26742a82016-09-27 18:27:08 +0300[diff] [blame]627 <a href='https://community.kde.org/Policies/Binary_Compatibility_Issues_With_C++'>"Binary Compatibility Issues With C++"</a>, KDE TechBase
Andrey Ponomarenkod48d9722015-08-13 20:14:50 +0300[diff] [blame]628 </li>
629 <li>
Andrey Ponomarenko26742a82016-09-27 18:27:08 +0300[diff] [blame]630 <a href='https://community.kde.org/Policies/Binary_Compatibility_Examples'>"Binary Compatibility Examples"</a>, KDE TechBase
Andrey Ponomarenkod48d9722015-08-13 20:14:50 +0300[diff] [blame]631 </li>
632 <li>
Andrey Ponomarenko26742a82016-09-27 18:27:08 +0300[diff] [blame]633 <a href='https://www.computer.org/csdl/proceedings/valid/2010/4146/00/4146a057-abs.html'>"Automated Verification of Shared Libraries for Backward Binary Compatibility"</a>, A. Ponomarenko and V. Rubanov, VALID 2010
Andrey Ponomarenkod48d9722015-08-13 20:14:50 +0300[diff] [blame]634 </li>
635 <li>
636 <a href='http://www.springerlink.com/content/905067689q7n0166/'>"Backward compatibility of software interfaces: Steps towards automatic verification"</a>, A. Ponomarenko and V. Rubanov, Programming and Computer Software 2012
637 </li>
638 <li>
639 <a href='http://refspecs.linux-foundation.org/cxxabi-1.83.html'>"Itanium C++ ABI"</a>, linux-foundation.org
640 </li>
641 <li>
642 <a href='http://www.ros.org/reps/rep-0009.html'>"ABI Compatibility"</a>, Josh Faust
643 </li>
644 <li>
645 <a href='http://blog.famillecollet.com/post/2010/06/20/ABI-%3A-stability-check'>"ABI : stability check"</a>, Les RPM de Remi - Blog
646 </li>
647 <li>
648 <a href='http://www.agner.org/optimize/calling_conventions.pdf'>"Calling conventions for different C++ compilers and operating systems"</a>, Agner Fog
649 </li>
650 <li>
651 <a href='http://www.angelcode.com/dev/callconv/callconv.html'>"Calling conventions on the x86 platform"</a>, Andreas Jonsson
652 </li>
653 <li>
654 <a href='http://blog.qt.digia.com/blog/2009/08/12/some-thoughts-on-binary-compatibility/'>"Some thoughts on binary compatibility"</a>, Thiago Macieira
655 </li>
656 <li>
657 <a href='http://syrcose.ispras.ru/2009/files/02_paper.pdf'>"Binary Compatibility of C++ shared libraries on GNU/Linux"</a>, Pavel Shved, Denis Silakov
658 </li>
659 <li>
660 <a href='http://www.usenix.org/publications/library/proceedings/als00/2000papers/papers/full_papers/browndavid/browndavid_html/'>"Library Interface Versioning in Solaris and Linux"</a>, David J. Brown and Karl Runge
661 </li>
662 <li>
663 <a href='http://h21007.www2.hp.com/portal/download/files/prot/files/STK/pdfs/V_4version.pdf'>"Steps to Version Your Shared Library"</a>, hp.com
664 </li>
665 <li>
666 <a href='http://chadaustin.me/cppinterface.html'>"Binary-compatible C++ Interfaces"</a>, Chad Austin
667 </li>
668 <li>
669 <a href='http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/libstdc++/manual/abi.html'>"ABI Policy and Guidelines"</a>, gnu.org
670 </li>
671 <li>
672 <a href='http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/Compatibility.html'>"Binary Compatibility"</a>, gnu.org
673 </li>
674 <li>
675 <a href='http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/articles/servers-storage-dev/stablecplusplusabi-333927.html'>"Stability of the C++ ABI: Evolution of a Programing Language"</a>, Stephen Clamage
676 </li>
677 <li>
678 <a href='http://www.netfort.gr.jp/~dancer/column/libpkg-guide/libpkg-guide.html#binarycompat'>"When binary compatibility breaks"</a>, Debian Library Packaging guide
679 </li>
680 <li>
681 <a href='http://techbase.kde.org/Policies/Library_Code_Policy'>"Library Code Policy"</a>, KDE TechBase
682 </li>
683 <li>
684 <a href='http://people.redhat.com/drepper/dsohowto.pdf'>"How To Write Shared Libraries"</a>, Ulrich Drepper
685 </li>
686 <li>
687 <a href='http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Program-Library-HOWTO/'>"Program Library HOWTO"</a>, linux.org
688 </li>
689 <li>
690 <a href='http://plan99.net/~mike/writing-shared-libraries.html'>"Writing shared libraries"</a>, Mike Hearn
691 </li>
692 <li>
693 <a href='http://www.ayukov.com/essays/linuxdll.html'>"Shared libraries in Linux: growing pains or fundamental problem?"</a>, Sergey Ayukov
694 </li>
695 <li>
696 <a href='http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?FragileBinaryInterfaceProblem'>"Fragile Binary Interface Problem"</a>, Steven Newton
697 </li>
698 <li>
699 <a href='http://www.oocities.org/mrshrap/linker.html'>"The amazing world of library incompatibility"</a>, oocities.org
700 </li>
701 <li>
702 <a href='http://www.elpauer.org/?p=230'>"ABI compatibility in C++"</a>, elpauer.org
703 </li>
704 <li>
705 <a href='http://blogs.gentoo.org/mgorny/2012/08/20/the-impact-of-cxx-templates-on-library-abi/'>"The impact of C++ templates on library ABI"</a>, Michał Górny
706 </li>
707 <li>
708 <a href='http://sourceware.org/glibc/wiki/Testing/ABI_checker'>"ABI compliance checker Notes"</a>, sourceware.org
709 </li>
710 <li>
711 <a href='http://developer.symbian.org/wiki/index.php/Preserving_Compatibility'>"Preserving Compatibility"</a>, symbian.org
712 </li>
713 <li>
714 <a href='http://www.macieira.org/blog/2012/01/architectures-and-abis-detailed/'>"Architectures and ABIs detailed"</a>, Thiago Macieira's blog
715 </li>
716 <li>
717 <a href='http://accu.org/index.php/journals/1718'>"Interface Versioning in C++"</a>, ACCU
718 </li>
719 <li>
720 Processor ABI standards: <a href='http://refspecs.linuxbase.org/elf/abi386-4.pdf'>Intel386</a>, <a href='http://www.x86-64.org/documentation/abi.pdf'>AMD64</a>, <a href='http://infocenter.arm.com/help/topic/com.arm.doc.ihi0042d/IHI0042D_aapcs.pdf'>ARM</a>, <a href='http://refspecs.linuxbase.org/elf/elfspec_ppc.pdf'>PowerPC</a>, <a href='http://download.boulder.ibm.com/ibmdl/pub/software/dw/linux390/docu/l390abi0.pdf'> S/390</a>, <a href='http://refspecs.linuxbase.org/elf/IA64-SysV-psABI.pdf'>Itanium</a>, <a href='http://refspecs.linuxbase.org/elf/mipsabi.pdf'>MIPS</a>, <a href='sparc.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/psABI3rd.pdf.gz'>SPARC</a>, <a href='http://refspecs.linuxbase.org/elf/elf-pa.pdf'>PA-RISK</a>, <a href='http://www.linux-m32r.org/cmn/m32r/M32R-elf-abi.pdf'>M32R</a>
721 </li>
722 <li>
723 <a href='https://refspecs.linuxbase.org/elf/gabi41.pdf'>"Generic ABI Standard"</a>, <a href='http://refspecs.linuxbase.org/elf/'>"ELF and ABI Standards"</a>, freestandards.org
724 </li>
725 <li>
726 <a href='http://events.linuxfoundation.org/sites/events/files/slides/Binary_Compatibility_for_library_devs.pdf'>"Binary compatibility for library developers"</a>, <a href='https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHrXGHDd9no'>Video</a>, Thiago Macieira
727 </li>
728 <li>
729 <a href='http://debconf14-video.debian.net/video/286/acc-for-abi-breaks'>"ACC for abi breaks"</a>, Dimitri Ledkov
730 </li>
731</ul>
732
733<div class="footer">
734 get the source code on GitHub : <a href="https://github.com/lvc/abi-compliance-checker">lvc/abi-compliance-checker</a>
735</div>
736
737<br/>
738<br/>
739
740</div>
741</body>
742</html>