htdocs/index.html - platform/external/libffi - Gitiles

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 libffi
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 <h1>libffi - a portable foreign function interface library</h1>

 <b>libffi-3.0.2</b> was released on February 21, 2008. You can ftp it
 from <a
 href="ftp://sourceware.org:/pub/libffi/libffi-3.0.2.tar.gz">sourceware.org:/pub/libffi/libffi-3.0.2.tar.gz</a>.

 <p>

 libffi is free software.  It has a very <a
 href="http://sources.redhat.com/cgi-bin/cvsweb.cgi/~checkout~/libffi/LICENSE?rev=1.6&content-type=text/plain&cvsroot=libffi&only_with_tag=MAIN">liberal
 license</a>.

 <h2>What is libffi?</h2>

 Compilers for high level languages generate code that follows certain
 conventions. These conventions are necessary, in part, for separate
 compilation to work. One such convention is the "calling
 convention". The "calling convention" is 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.

 <p>

 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.

 <p>

 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.

 <p>

 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.

 <h2>Supported Platforms</h2>

 Libffi has been ported to many different platforms, although this
 release was only tested on:

 <ul>
 <li>     arm oabi linux
 <li>     arm eabi linux
 <li>     hppa linux
 <li>     mips o32 linux (little endian)
 <li>     powerpc darwin
 <li>     powerpc64 linux
 <li>     sparc solaris
 <li>     sparc64 solaris
 <li>     x86 cygwin
 <li>     x86 darwin
 <li>     x86 freebsd
 <li>     x86 linux
 <li>     x86-64 darwin
 <li>     x86-64 linux
 <li>     x86-64 OS X
 </ul>

 Please send additional platform test results to
 <a href="mailto:libffi-discuss@sourceware.org">libffi-discuss@sourceware.org</a>.

 <h2>How to get it</h2>

 You can download the latest version from <a href="ftp://sources.redhat.com/pub/libffi/">sources.redhat.com:/pub/libffi/</a>.

 <p>

 You can also check out the very latest version via anonymous cvs.
 Here's how:
 <pre>
  cvs -d :pserver:anoncvs@sources.redhat.com:/cvs/libffi login
      (password is ``anoncvs'')
  cvs -d :pserver:anoncvs@sources.redhat.com:/cvs/libffi co libffi
 </pre>

 Once you have it checked out, you can update it with <tt>cvs update</tt>.

 <p>

 You can also <a
 href="http://sources.redhat.com/cgi-bin/cvsweb.cgi/libffi/?cvsroot=libffi">
 view the cvs archive</a> via cvsweb.

 <h2>Mailing lists</h2>

 For such a small piece of software, there are plenty of mailing lists
 available.

 <ul>
 <li><a href="/ml/libffi-announce/"><tt>libffi-announce</tt></a> is a
     low volume mailing list for libffi release announcements
 <li><a href="/ml/libffi-discuss/"><tt>libffi-discuss</tt></a> is a
     mailing list for asking questions, reporting bugs, etc.
 </ul>

 <p>To subscribe to the <code>libffi-announce</code> mailing list, enter your
 e-mail address:
 <form method="get" action="/cgi-bin/subscribe-sourceware">
   <input type="hidden" name="listname" value="libffi-announce">
   <input type="text" name="username" size="16"> <input type="Submit" name="submi
 t" value="Sign me up!">
 </form>

 <br>To subscribe to the <code>libffi-discuss</code> mailing list, enter your
 e-mail address:
 <form method="get" action="/cgi-bin/subscribe-sourceware">
   <input type="hidden" name="listname" value="libffi-discuss">
   <input type="text" name="username" size="16"> <input type="Submit" name="submi
 t" value="Sign me up!">
 </form>

 <p>

 <h2>Authors and Credits</h2>

 libffi was originally written by <a href="http://spindazzle.org/greenblog"><b>Anthony Green</b></a>

 <p>
 The developers of the GNU Compiler Collection project have made
 innumerable valuable contributions.  See this ChangeLog files in the
 source distribution for details.

 <p>
 Some of the ideas behind libffi were inspired by Gianni Mariani's free
 gencall library for Silicon Graphics machines.

 <p>
 The closure mechanism was designed and implemented by Kresten Krab
 Thorup.

 <p>
 Major processor architecture ports were contributed by the following
 developers:

 <pre>
 alpha		Richard Henderson
 arm		Raffaele Sena
 cris		Simon Posnjak, Hans-Peter Nilsson
 frv		Anthony Green
 ia64		Hans Boehm
 m32r		Kazuhiro Inaoka
 m68k		Andreas Schwab
 mips		Anthony Green, Casey Marshall
 mips64		David Daney
 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
 x86		Anthony Green, Jon Beniston
 x86-64		Bo Thorsen
 </pre>

 <p>
 Jesper Skov and Andrew Haley both did more than their fair share of
 stepping through the code and tracking down bugs.

 <p>
 Thanks also to Tom Tromey for bug fixes, documentation and
 configuration help.

 <p>
 Thanks to Jim Blandy, who provided some useful feedback on the libffi
 interface.

 <p>
 Andreas Tobler has done a tremendous amount of work on the testsuite.

 <p>
 Alex Oliva solved the executable page problem for SElinux.

 <p>
 The list above is almost certainly incomplete and inaccurate.  I'm
 happy to make corrections or additions upon request.

 <p>
 If you have a problem, or have found a bug, please send a note to
 <a href="mailto:libffi-discuss@sources.redhat.com">libffi-discuss@sources.redhat.com</a> or
 to me directly (<a href="mailto:green@redhat.com">green@redhat.com</a>).

 </body>
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	<html>
	<head>
	<title>
	libffi
	</title>
	</head>
	<body>

	<h1>libffi - a portable foreign function interface library</h1>

	<b>libffi-3.0.2</b> was released on February 21, 2008. You can ftp it
	from <a
	href="ftp://sourceware.org:/pub/libffi/libffi-3.0.2.tar.gz">sourceware.org:/pub/libffi/libffi-3.0.2.tar.gz</a>.

	<p>

	libffi is free software. It has a very <a
	href="http://sources.redhat.com/cgi-bin/cvsweb.cgi/~checkout~/libffi/LICENSE?rev=1.6&content-type=text/plain&cvsroot=libffi&only_with_tag=MAIN">liberal
	license</a>.

	<h2>What is libffi?</h2>

	Compilers for high level languages generate code that follows certain
	conventions. These conventions are necessary, in part, for separate
	compilation to work. One such convention is the "calling
	convention". The "calling convention" is 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.

	<p>

	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.

	<p>

	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.

	<p>

	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.

	<h2>Supported Platforms</h2>

	Libffi has been ported to many different platforms, although this
	release was only tested on:

	<ul>
	<li> arm oabi linux
	<li> arm eabi linux
	<li> hppa linux
	<li> mips o32 linux (little endian)
	<li> powerpc darwin
	<li> powerpc64 linux
	<li> sparc solaris
	<li> sparc64 solaris
	<li> x86 cygwin
	<li> x86 darwin
	<li> x86 freebsd
	<li> x86 linux
	<li> x86-64 darwin
	<li> x86-64 linux
	<li> x86-64 OS X
	</ul>

	Please send additional platform test results to
	<a href="mailto:libffi-discuss@sourceware.org">libffi-discuss@sourceware.org</a>.

	<h2>How to get it</h2>

	You can download the latest version from <a href="ftp://sources.redhat.com/pub/libffi/">sources.redhat.com:/pub/libffi/</a>.

	<p>

	You can also check out the very latest version via anonymous cvs.
	Here's how:
	<pre>
	cvs -d :pserver:anoncvs@sources.redhat.com:/cvs/libffi login
	(password is ``anoncvs'')
	cvs -d :pserver:anoncvs@sources.redhat.com:/cvs/libffi co libffi
	</pre>

	Once you have it checked out, you can update it with <tt>cvs update</tt>.

	<p>

	You can also <a
	href="http://sources.redhat.com/cgi-bin/cvsweb.cgi/libffi/?cvsroot=libffi">
	view the cvs archive</a> via cvsweb.

	<h2>Mailing lists</h2>

	For such a small piece of software, there are plenty of mailing lists
	available.

	<ul>
	<li><a href="/ml/libffi-announce/"><tt>libffi-announce</tt></a> is a
	low volume mailing list for libffi release announcements
	<li><a href="/ml/libffi-discuss/"><tt>libffi-discuss</tt></a> is a
	mailing list for asking questions, reporting bugs, etc.
	</ul>

	<p>To subscribe to the <code>libffi-announce</code> mailing list, enter your
	e-mail address:
	<form method="get" action="/cgi-bin/subscribe-sourceware">
	<input type="hidden" name="listname" value="libffi-announce">
	<input type="text" name="username" size="16"> <input type="Submit" name="submi
	t" value="Sign me up!">
	</form>

	<br>To subscribe to the <code>libffi-discuss</code> mailing list, enter your
	e-mail address:
	<form method="get" action="/cgi-bin/subscribe-sourceware">
	<input type="hidden" name="listname" value="libffi-discuss">
	<input type="text" name="username" size="16"> <input type="Submit" name="submi
	t" value="Sign me up!">
	</form>

	<p>

	<h2>Authors and Credits</h2>

	libffi was originally written by <a href="http://spindazzle.org/greenblog"><b>Anthony Green</b></a>

	<p>
	The developers of the GNU Compiler Collection project have made
	innumerable valuable contributions. See this ChangeLog files in the
	source distribution for details.

	<p>
	Some of the ideas behind libffi were inspired by Gianni Mariani's free
	gencall library for Silicon Graphics machines.

	<p>
	The closure mechanism was designed and implemented by Kresten Krab
	Thorup.

	<p>
	Major processor architecture ports were contributed by the following
	developers:

	<pre>
	alpha Richard Henderson
	arm Raffaele Sena
	cris Simon Posnjak, Hans-Peter Nilsson
	frv Anthony Green
	ia64 Hans Boehm
	m32r Kazuhiro Inaoka
	m68k Andreas Schwab
	mips Anthony Green, Casey Marshall
	mips64 David Daney
	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
	x86 Anthony Green, Jon Beniston
	x86-64 Bo Thorsen
	</pre>

	<p>
	Jesper Skov and Andrew Haley both did more than their fair share of
	stepping through the code and tracking down bugs.

	<p>
	Thanks also to Tom Tromey for bug fixes, documentation and
	configuration help.

	<p>
	Thanks to Jim Blandy, who provided some useful feedback on the libffi
	interface.

	<p>
	Andreas Tobler has done a tremendous amount of work on the testsuite.

	<p>
	Alex Oliva solved the executable page problem for SElinux.

	<p>
	The list above is almost certainly incomplete and inaccurate. I'm
	happy to make corrections or additions upon request.

	<p>
	If you have a problem, or have found a bug, please send a note to
	<a href="mailto:libffi-discuss@sources.redhat.com">libffi-discuss@sources.redhat.com</a> or
	to me directly (<a href="mailto:green@redhat.com">green@redhat.com</a>).

	</body>
	</html>