8000 Clarify intro and closure documentation by kohtala · Pull Request #629 · libffi/libffi · GitHub
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Clarify intro and closure documentation #629

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150 changes: 75 additions & 75 deletions README.md
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Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -11,32 +11,32 @@ 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.
To expose and call functions between programs and libraries distributed
as machine executable binaries, certain conventions are followed. 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. The calling
convention is also sometimes called the "ABI" or "Application Binary
Interface".

Some programs may not know at the time of compilation into a binary the
functions called nor what arguments those functions expect. For
instance, an interpreter may find the number and types of arguments used
to call a given function in the interpreted program at run-time. Libffi
can be used in such programs to provide a bridge from the interpreted
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 the local function interface.


Supported Platforms
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -137,15 +137,15 @@ install autoconf, automake and libtool.

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.
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.
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
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``
Expand All @@ -164,7 +164,7 @@ For 64-bit Windows builds, use ``CC="path/to/msvcc.sh -m64"`` and
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"
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'
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -216,18 +216,18 @@ See the git log for details at http://github.com/libffi/libffi.
Raw java (gcj) API deprecated.
Add pre-built PDF documentation to source distribution.
Many new test cases and bug fixes.

3.2.1 Nov-12-14
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.
Expand All @@ -240,7 +240,7 @@ See the git log for details at http://github.com/libffi/libffi.
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.
Expand All @@ -250,7 +250,7 @@ See the git log for details at http://github.com/libffi/libffi.
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.
Expand All @@ -262,7 +262,7 @@ See the git log for details at http://github.com/libffi/libffi.
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).
Expand All @@ -273,7 +273,7 @@ See the git log for details at http://github.com/libffi/libffi.
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.
Expand All @@ -287,128 +287,128 @@ See the git log for details at http://github.com/libffi/libffi.
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.
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
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.
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.

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