496 lines
19 KiB
Markdown
496 lines
19 KiB
Markdown
Status
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======
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libffi-3.4.1 was released on June 28, 2021. Check the libffi web page
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for updates: <URL:http://sourceware.org/libffi/>.
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What is libffi?
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===============
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Compilers for high level languages generate code that follow certain
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conventions. These conventions are necessary, in part, for separate
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compilation to work. One such convention is the "calling
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convention". The "calling convention" is essentially a set of
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assumptions made by the compiler about where function arguments will
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be found on entry to a function. A "calling convention" also specifies
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where the return value for a function is found.
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Some programs may not know at the time of compilation what arguments
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are to be passed to a function. For instance, an interpreter may be
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told at run-time about the number and types of arguments used to call
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a given function. Libffi can be used in such programs to provide a
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bridge from the interpreter program to compiled code.
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The libffi library provides a portable, high level programming
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interface to various calling conventions. This allows a programmer to
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call any function specified by a call interface description at run
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time.
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FFI stands for Foreign Function Interface. A foreign function
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interface is the popular name for the interface that allows code
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written in one language to call code written in another language. The
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libffi library really only provides the lowest, machine dependent
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layer of a fully featured foreign function interface. A layer must
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exist above libffi that handles type conversions for values passed
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between the two languages.
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Supported Platforms
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===================
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Libffi has been ported to many different platforms.
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At the time of release, the following basic configurations have been
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tested:
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| Architecture | Operating System | Compiler |
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| --------------- | ---------------- | ----------------------- |
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| AArch64 (ARM64) | iOS | Clang |
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| AArch64 | Linux | GCC |
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| AArch64 | Windows | MSVC |
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| Alpha | Linux | GCC |
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| Alpha | Tru64 | GCC |
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| ARC | Linux | GCC |
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| ARM | Linux | GCC |
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| ARM | iOS | GCC |
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| ARM | Windows | MSVC |
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| AVR32 | Linux | GCC |
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| Blackfin | uClinux | GCC |
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| CSKY | Linux | GCC |
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| HPPA | HPUX | GCC |
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| KVX | Linux | GCC |
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| IA-64 | Linux | GCC |
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| M68K | FreeMiNT | GCC |
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| M68K | Linux | GCC |
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| M68K | RTEMS | GCC |
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| M88K | OpenBSD/mvme88k | GCC |
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| Meta | Linux | GCC |
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| MicroBlaze | Linux | GCC |
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| MIPS | IRIX | GCC |
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| MIPS | Linux | GCC |
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| MIPS | RTEMS | GCC |
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| MIPS64 | Linux | GCC |
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| Moxie | Bare metal | GCC |
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| Nios II | Linux | GCC |
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| OpenRISC | Linux | GCC |
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| PowerPC 32-bit | AIX | IBM XL C |
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| PowerPC 64-bit | AIX | IBM XL C |
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| PowerPC | AMIGA | GCC |
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| PowerPC | Linux | GCC |
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| PowerPC | Mac OSX | GCC |
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| PowerPC | FreeBSD | GCC |
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| PowerPC 64-bit | FreeBSD | GCC |
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| PowerPC 64-bit | Linux ELFv1 | GCC |
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| PowerPC 64-bit | Linux ELFv2 | GCC |
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| RISC-V 32-bit | Linux | GCC |
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| RISC-V 64-bit | Linux | GCC |
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| S390 | Linux | GCC |
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| S390X | Linux | GCC |
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| SPARC | Linux | GCC |
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| SPARC | Solaris | GCC |
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| SPARC | Solaris | Oracle Solaris Studio C |
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| SPARC64 | Linux | GCC |
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| SPARC64 | FreeBSD | GCC |
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| SPARC64 | Solaris | Oracle Solaris Studio C |
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| TILE-Gx/TILEPro | Linux | GCC |
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| VAX | OpenBSD/vax | GCC |
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| X86 | FreeBSD | GCC |
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| X86 | GNU HURD | GCC |
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| X86 | Interix | GCC |
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| X86 | kFreeBSD | GCC |
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| X86 | Linux | GCC |
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| X86 | OpenBSD | GCC |
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| X86 | OS/2 | GCC |
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| X86 | Solaris | GCC |
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| X86 | Solaris | Oracle Solaris Studio C |
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| X86 | Windows/Cygwin | GCC |
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| X86 | Windows/MingW | GCC |
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| X86-64 | FreeBSD | GCC |
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| X86-64 | Linux | GCC |
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| X86-64 | Linux/x32 | GCC |
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| X86-64 | OpenBSD | GCC |
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| X86-64 | Solaris | Oracle Solaris Studio C |
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| X86-64 | Windows/Cygwin | GCC |
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| X86-64 | Windows/MingW | GCC |
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| X86-64 | Mac OSX | GCC |
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| Xtensa | Linux | GCC |
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Please send additional platform test results to
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libffi-discuss@sourceware.org.
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Installing libffi
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=================
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First you must configure the distribution for your particular
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system. Go to the directory you wish to build libffi in and run the
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"configure" program found in the root directory of the libffi source
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distribution. Note that building libffi requires a C99 compatible
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compiler.
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If you're building libffi directly from git hosted sources, configure
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won't exist yet; run ./autogen.sh first. This will require that you
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install autoconf, automake and libtool.
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You may want to tell configure where to install the libffi library and
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header files. To do that, use the ``--prefix`` configure switch. Libffi
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will install under /usr/local by default.
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If you want to enable extra run-time debugging checks use the the
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``--enable-debug`` configure switch. This is useful when your program dies
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mysteriously while using libffi.
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Another useful configure switch is ``--enable-purify-safety``. Using this
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will add some extra code which will suppress certain warnings when you
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are using Purify with libffi. Only use this switch when using
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Purify, as it will slow down the library.
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If you don't want to build documentation, use the ``--disable-docs``
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configure switch.
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It's also possible to build libffi on Windows platforms with
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Microsoft's Visual C++ compiler. In this case, use the msvcc.sh
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wrapper script during configuration like so:
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path/to/configure CC=path/to/msvcc.sh CXX=path/to/msvcc.sh LD=link CPP="cl -nologo -EP" CPPFLAGS="-DFFI_BUILDING_DLL"
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For 64-bit Windows builds, use ``CC="path/to/msvcc.sh -m64"`` and
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``CXX="path/to/msvcc.sh -m64"``. You may also need to specify
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``--build`` appropriately.
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It is also possible to build libffi on Windows platforms with the LLVM
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project's clang-cl compiler, like below:
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path/to/configure CC="path/to/msvcc.sh -clang-cl" CXX="path/to/msvcc.sh -clang-cl" LD=link CPP="clang-cl -EP"
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When building with MSVC under a MingW environment, you may need to
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remove the line in configure that sets 'fix_srcfile_path' to a 'cygpath'
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command. ('cygpath' is not present in MingW, and is not required when
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using MingW-style paths.)
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To build static library for ARM64 with MSVC using visual studio solution, msvc_build folder have
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aarch64/Ffi_staticLib.sln
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required header files in aarch64/aarch64_include/
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SPARC Solaris builds require the use of the GNU assembler and linker.
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Point ``AS`` and ``LD`` environment variables at those tool prior to
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configuration.
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For iOS builds, the ``libffi.xcodeproj`` Xcode project is available.
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Configure has many other options. Use ``configure --help`` to see them all.
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Once configure has finished, type "make". Note that you must be using
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GNU make. You can ftp GNU make from ftp.gnu.org:/pub/gnu/make .
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To ensure that libffi is working as advertised, type "make check".
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This will require that you have DejaGNU installed.
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To install the library and header files, type ``make install``.
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History
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=======
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See the git log for details at http://github.com/libffi/libffi.
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3.4.2 Jun-28-21
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Add static trampoline support for Linux on x86_64 and ARM64.
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Add support for Alibaba's CSKY architecture.
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Add support for Kalray's KVX architecture.
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Add support for Intel Control-flow Enforcement Technology (CET).
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Add support for ARM Pointer Authentication (PA).
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Fix 32-bit PPC regression.
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Fix MIPS soft-float problem.
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Enable tmpdir override with the $LIBFFI_TMPDIR environment variable.
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Enable compatibility with MSVC runtime stack checking.
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Reject float and small integer argument in ffi_prep_cif_var().
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Callers must promote these types themselves.
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3.3 Nov-23-19
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Add RISC-V support.
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New API in support of GO closures.
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Add IEEE754 binary128 long double support for 64-bit Power
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Default to Microsoft's 64 bit long double ABI with Visual C++.
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GNU compiler uses 80 bits (128 in memory) FFI_GNUW64 ABI.
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Add Windows on ARM64 (WOA) support.
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Add Windows 32-bit ARM support.
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Raw java (gcj) API deprecated.
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Add pre-built PDF documentation to source distribution.
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Many new test cases and bug fixes.
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3.2.1 Nov-12-14
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Build fix for non-iOS AArch64 targets.
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3.2 Nov-11-14
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Add C99 Complex Type support (currently only supported on
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s390).
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Add support for PASCAL and REGISTER calling conventions on x86
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Windows/Linux.
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Add OpenRISC and Cygwin-64 support.
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Bug fixes.
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3.1 May-19-14
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Add AArch64 (ARM64) iOS support.
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Add Nios II support.
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Add m88k and DEC VAX support.
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Add support for stdcall, thiscall, and fastcall on non-Windows
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32-bit x86 targets such as Linux.
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Various Android, MIPS N32, x86, FreeBSD and UltraSPARC IIi
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fixes.
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Make the testsuite more robust: eliminate several spurious
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failures, and respect the $CC and $CXX environment variables.
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Archive off the manually maintained ChangeLog in favor of git
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log.
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3.0.13 Mar-17-13
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Add Meta support.
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Add missing Moxie bits.
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Fix stack alignment bug on 32-bit x86.
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Build fix for m68000 targets.
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Build fix for soft-float Power targets.
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Fix the install dir location for some platforms when building
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with GCC (OS X, Solaris).
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Fix Cygwin regression.
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3.0.12 Feb-11-13
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Add Moxie support.
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Add AArch64 support.
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Add Blackfin support.
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Add TILE-Gx/TILEPro support.
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Add MicroBlaze support.
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Add Xtensa support.
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Add support for PaX enabled kernels with MPROTECT.
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Add support for native vendor compilers on
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Solaris and AIX.
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Work around LLVM/GCC interoperability issue on x86_64.
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3.0.11 Apr-11-12
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Lots of build fixes.
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Add support for variadic functions (ffi_prep_cif_var).
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Add Linux/x32 support.
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Add thiscall, fastcall and MSVC cdecl support on Windows.
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Add Amiga and newer MacOS support.
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Add m68k FreeMiNT support.
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Integration with iOS' xcode build tools.
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Fix Octeon and MC68881 support.
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Fix code pessimizations.
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3.0.10 Aug-23-11
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Add support for Apple's iOS.
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Add support for ARM VFP ABI.
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Add RTEMS support for MIPS and M68K.
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Fix instruction cache clearing problems on
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ARM and SPARC.
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Fix the N64 build on mips-sgi-irix6.5.
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Enable builds with Microsoft's compiler.
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Enable x86 builds with Oracle's Solaris compiler.
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Fix support for calling code compiled with Oracle's Sparc
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Solaris compiler.
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Testsuite fixes for Tru64 Unix.
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Additional platform support.
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3.0.9 Dec-31-09
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Add AVR32 and win64 ports. Add ARM softfp support.
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Many fixes for AIX, Solaris, HP-UX, *BSD.
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Several PowerPC and x86-64 bug fixes.
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Build DLL for windows.
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3.0.8 Dec-19-08
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Add *BSD, BeOS, and PA-Linux support.
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3.0.7 Nov-11-08
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Fix for ppc FreeBSD.
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(thanks to Andreas Tobler)
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3.0.6 Jul-17-08
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Fix for closures on sh.
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Mark the sh/sh64 stack as non-executable.
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(both thanks to Kaz Kojima)
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3.0.5 Apr-3-08
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Fix libffi.pc file.
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Fix #define ARM for IcedTea users.
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Fix x86 closure bug.
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3.0.4 Feb-24-08
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Fix x86 OpenBSD configury.
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3.0.3 Feb-22-08
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Enable x86 OpenBSD thanks to Thomas Heller, and
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x86-64 FreeBSD thanks to Björn König and Andreas Tobler.
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Clean up test instruction in README.
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3.0.2 Feb-21-08
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Improved x86 FreeBSD support.
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Thanks to Björn König.
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3.0.1 Feb-15-08
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Fix instruction cache flushing bug on MIPS.
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Thanks to David Daney.
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3.0.0 Feb-15-08
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Many changes, mostly thanks to the GCC project.
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Cygnus Solutions is now Red Hat.
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[10 years go by...]
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1.20 Oct-5-98
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Raffaele Sena produces ARM port.
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1.19 Oct-5-98
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Fixed x86 long double and long long return support.
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m68k bug fixes from Andreas Schwab.
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Patch for DU assembler compatibility for the Alpha from Richard
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Henderson.
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1.18 Apr-17-98
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Bug fixes and MIPS configuration changes.
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1.17 Feb-24-98
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Bug fixes and m68k port from Andreas Schwab. PowerPC port from
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Geoffrey Keating. Various bug x86, Sparc and MIPS bug fixes.
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1.16 Feb-11-98
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Richard Henderson produces Alpha port.
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1.15 Dec-4-97
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Fixed an n32 ABI bug. New libtool, auto* support.
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1.14 May-13-97
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libtool is now used to generate shared and static libraries.
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Fixed a minor portability problem reported by Russ McManus
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<mcmanr@eq.gs.com>.
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1.13 Dec-2-96
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Added --enable-purify-safety to keep Purify from complaining
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about certain low level code.
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Sparc fix for calling functions with < 6 args.
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Linux x86 a.out fix.
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1.12 Nov-22-96
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Added missing ffi_type_void, needed for supporting void return
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types. Fixed test case for non MIPS machines. Cygnus Support
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is now Cygnus Solutions.
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1.11 Oct-30-96
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Added notes about GNU make.
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1.10 Oct-29-96
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Added configuration fix for non GNU compilers.
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1.09 Oct-29-96
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Added --enable-debug configure switch. Clean-ups based on LCLint
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feedback. ffi_mips.h is always installed. Many configuration
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fixes. Fixed ffitest.c for sparc builds.
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1.08 Oct-15-96
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Fixed n32 problem. Many clean-ups.
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1.07 Oct-14-96
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Gordon Irlam rewrites v8.S again. Bug fixes.
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1.06 Oct-14-96
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Gordon Irlam improved the sparc port.
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1.05 Oct-14-96
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Interface changes based on feedback.
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1.04 Oct-11-96
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Sparc port complete (modulo struct passing bug).
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1.03 Oct-10-96
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Passing struct args, and returning struct values works for
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all architectures/calling conventions. Expanded tests.
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1.02 Oct-9-96
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Added SGI n32 support. Fixed bugs in both o32 and Linux support.
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Added "make test".
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1.01 Oct-8-96
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Fixed float passing bug in mips version. Restructured some
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of the code. Builds cleanly with SGI tools.
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1.00 Oct-7-96
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First release. No public announcement.
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Authors & Credits
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=================
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libffi was originally written by Anthony Green <green@moxielogic.com>.
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The developers of the GNU Compiler Collection project have made
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innumerable valuable contributions. See the ChangeLog file for
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details.
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Some of the ideas behind libffi were inspired by Gianni Mariani's free
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gencall library for Silicon Graphics machines.
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The closure mechanism was designed and implemented by Kresten Krab
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Thorup.
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Major processor architecture ports were contributed by the following
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developers:
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aarch64 Marcus Shawcroft, James Greenhalgh
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alpha Richard Henderson
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arc Hackers at Synopsis
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arm Raffaele Sena
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avr32 Bradley Smith
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blackfin Alexandre Keunecke I. de Mendonca
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cris Simon Posnjak, Hans-Peter Nilsson
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csky Ma Jun, Zhang Wenmeng
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frv Anthony Green
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ia64 Hans Boehm
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kvx Yann Sionneau
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m32r Kazuhiro Inaoka
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m68k Andreas Schwab
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m88k Miod Vallat
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metag Hackers at Imagination Technologies
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microblaze Nathan Rossi
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mips Anthony Green, Casey Marshall
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mips64 David Daney
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moxie Anthony Green
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nios ii Sandra Loosemore
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openrisc Sebastian Macke
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pa Randolph Chung, Dave Anglin, Andreas Tobler
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powerpc Geoffrey Keating, Andreas Tobler,
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David Edelsohn, John Hornkvist
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powerpc64 Jakub Jelinek
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riscv Michael Knyszek, Andrew Waterman, Stef O'Rear
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s390 Gerhard Tonn, Ulrich Weigand
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sh Kaz Kojima
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sh64 Kaz Kojima
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sparc Anthony Green, Gordon Irlam
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tile-gx/tilepro Walter Lee
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vax Miod Vallat
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x86 Anthony Green, Jon Beniston
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x86-64 Bo Thorsen
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xtensa Chris Zankel
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Jesper Skov and Andrew Haley both did more than their fair share of
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stepping through the code and tracking down bugs.
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Thanks also to Tom Tromey for bug fixes, documentation and
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configuration help.
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Thanks to Jim Blandy, who provided some useful feedback on the libffi
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interface.
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Andreas Tobler has done a tremendous amount of work on the testsuite.
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Alex Oliva solved the executable page problem for SElinux.
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The list above is almost certainly incomplete and inaccurate. I'm
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happy to make corrections or additions upon request.
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If you have a problem, or have found a bug, please file an issue on
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our issue tracker at https://github.com/libffi/libffi/issues.
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The author can be reached at green@moxielogic.com.
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To subscribe/unsubscribe to our mailing lists, visit:
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https://sourceware.org/mailman/listinfo/libffi-announce
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https://sourceware.org/mailman/listinfo/libffi-discuss
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