1 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
2 <!DOCTYPE pkgmetadata SYSTEM "https://www.gentoo.org/dtd/metadata.dtd">
5 <longdescription lang="en">
6 Compilers for high level languages generate code that follow certain
7 conventions. These conventions are necessary, in part, for separate
8 compilation to work. One such convention is the "calling
9 convention". The "calling convention" is essentially a set of
10 assumptions made by the compiler about where function arguments will
11 be found on entry to a function. A "calling convention" also specifies
12 where the return value for a function is found.
14 Some programs may not know at the time of compilation what arguments
15 are to be passed to a function. For instance, an interpreter may be
16 told at run-time about the number and types of arguments used to call
17 a given function. Libffi can be used in such programs to provide a
18 bridge from the interpreter program to compiled code.
20 The libffi library provides a portable, high level programming
21 interface to various calling conventions. This allows a programmer to
22 call any function specified by a call interface description at run
25 Ffi stands for Foreign Function Interface. A foreign function
26 interface is the popular name for the interface that allows code
27 written in one language to call code written in another language. The
28 libffi library really only provides the lowest, machine dependent
29 layer of a fully featured foreign function interface. A layer must
30 exist above libffi that handles type conversions for values passed
31 between the two languages.
34 <flag name='pax_kernel'>Use PaX emulated trampolines, for we can't use PROT_EXEC</flag>