Provided by: abigail-tools_1.0~rc3-1_amd64 bug

NAME

       abicompat - check ABI compatibility

       abicompat  checks  that  an application that links against a given shared library is still
       ABI compatible with a subsequent version of that library.   If  the  new  version  of  the
       library  introduces  an ABI incompatibility, then abicompat hints the user at what exactly
       that incompatibility is.

INVOCATION

          abicompat [options] [<application> <shared-library-first-version> <shared-library-second-version>]

OPTIONS

--help

            Display a short help about the command and exit.

          • --version | -v

            Display the version of the program and exit.

          • --list-undefined-symbols | -u

            Display the list of undefined symbols of the application and exit.

          • --show-base-names | -b

            In the resulting report emitted by the tool, this option makes  the  application  and
            libraries be referred to by their base names only; not by a full absolute name.  This
            can be useful for use in scripts that wants to compare names of the  application  and
            libraries independently of what their directory names are.

          • --app-debug-info-dir <path-to-app-debug-info-directory>

            Set the path to the directory under which the debug information of the application is
            supposed to be laid out.  This is useful for application binaries for which the debug
            info is in a separate set of files.

          • --lib-debug-info-dir1 <path-to-lib1-debug-info>

            Set  the path to the directory under which the debug information of the first version
            of the shared library is supposed to be laid out.  This is useful for shared  library
            binaries for which the debug info is in a separate set of files.

          • --lib-debug-info-dir2 <path-to-lib1-debug-info>

            Set the path to the directory under which the debug information of the second version
            of the shared library is supposed to be laid out.  This is useful for shared  library
            binaries for which the debug info is in a separate set of files.

          • --no-show-locs
              Do  not  show  information  about where in the second shared library the respective
              type was changed.

          • --weak-mode

            This triggers the weak mode of abicompat.  In this mode,  only  one  version  of  the
            library is required.  That is, abicompat is invoked like this:

                abicompat --weak-mode <the-application> <the-library>

            Note  that  the  --weak-mode  option  can  even be omitted if only one version of the
            library is given, along with the application; in that case,  abicompat  automatically
            switches to operate in weak mode:

                abicompat <the-application> <the-library>

            In  this  weak mode, the types of functions and variables exported by the library and
            consumed by the application (as in, the symbols of the these functions and  variables
            are  undefined  in  the  application and are defined and exported by the library) are
            compared to the version of these types as expected by the application.  And if  these
            two  versions  of  types are different, abicompat tells the user what the differences
            are.

            In other words, in this mode, abicompat checks that the types of  the  functions  and
            variables  exported  by  the  library  mean  the  same  thing as what the application
            expects, as far as the ABI is concerned.

            Note that in this mode, abicompat doesn't  detect  exported  functions  or  variables
            (symbols) that are expected by the application but that are removed from the library.
            That is why it is called weak mode.

RETURN VALUES

       The exit code of the abicompat command is either 0  if  the  ABI  of  the  binaries  being
       compared are equal, or non-zero if they differ or if the tool encountered an error.

       In  the  later  case,  the  exit  code  is a 8-bits-wide bit field in which each bit has a
       specific meaning.

       The first bit, of value 1, named ABIDIFF_ERROR means there was an error.

       The second bit, of value 2, named ABIDIFF_USAGE_ERROR means there was an error in the  way
       the  user  invoked  the tool.  It might be set, for instance, if the user invoked the tool
       with an unknown command line switch, with a wrong number or argument, etc.  If this bit is
       set, then the ABIDIFF_ERROR bit must be set as well.

       The  third  bit,  of value 4, named ABIDIFF_ABI_CHANGE means the ABI of the binaries being
       compared are different.

       The fourth bit, of value 8, named ABIDIFF_ABI_INCOMPATIBLE_CHANGE means  the  ABI  of  the
       binaries  compared  are  different  in  an incompatible way.  If this bit is set, then the
       ABIDIFF_ABI_CHANGE bit must be set as well.  If the  ABIDIFF_ABI_CHANGE  is  set  and  the
       ABIDIFF_INCOMPATIBLE_CHANGE  is  NOT set, then it means that the ABIs being compared might
       or might not be compatible.  In that case, a human being needs to review the  ABI  changes
       to decide if they are compatible or not.

       The remaining bits are not used for the moment.

USAGE EXAMPLES

          • Detecting a possible ABI incompatibility in a new shared library version:

                $ cat -n test0.h
                     1  struct foo
                     2  {
                     3    int m0;
                     4
                     5    foo()
                     6      : m0()
                     7    {}
                     8  };
                     9
                    10  foo*
                    11  first_func();
                    12
                    13  void
                    14  second_func(foo&);
                    15
                    16  void
                    17  third_func();
                $

                $ cat -n test-app.cc
                     1  // Compile with:
                     2  //  g++ -g -Wall -o test-app -L. -ltest-0 test-app.cc
                     3
                     4  #include "test0.h"
                     5
                     6  int
                     7  main()
                     8  {
                     9    foo* f = first_func();
                    10    second_func(*f);
                    11    return 0;
                    12  }
                $

                $ cat -n test0.cc
                     1  // Compile this with:
                     2  //  g++ -g -Wall -shared -o libtest-0.so test0.cc
                     3
                     4  #include "test0.h"
                     5
                     6  foo*
                     7  first_func()
                     8  {
                     9    foo* f = new foo();
                    10    return f;
                    11  }
                    12
                    13  void
                    14  second_func(foo&)
                    15  {
                    16  }
                    17
                    18  void
                    19  third_func()
                    20  {
                    21  }
                $

                $ cat -n test1.h
                     1  struct foo
                     2  {
                     3    int  m0;
                     4    char m1; /* <-- a new member got added here! */
                     5
                     6    foo()
                     7    : m0(),
                     8      m1()
                     9    {}
                    10  };
                    11
                    12  foo*
                    13  first_func();
                    14
                    15  void
                    16  second_func(foo&);
                    17
                    18  void
                    19  third_func();
                $

                $ cat -n test1.cc
                     1  // Compile this with:
                     2  //  g++ -g -Wall -shared -o libtest-1.so test1.cc
                     3
                     4  #include "test1.h"
                     5
                     6  foo*
                     7  first_func()
                     8  {
                     9    foo* f = new foo();
                    10    return f;
                    11  }
                    12
                    13  void
                    14  second_func(foo&)
                    15  {
                    16  }
                    17
                    18  /* Let's comment out the definition of third_func()
                    19     void
                    20     third_func()
                    21     {
                    22     }
                    23  */
                $

            • Compile   the  first  and  second  versions  of  the  libraries:  libtest-0.so  and
              libtest-1.so:

                  $ g++ -g -Wall -shared -o libtest-0.so test0.cc
                  $ g++ -g -Wall -shared -o libtest-1.so test1.cc

            • Compile the application and link it against  the  first  version  of  the  library,
              creating the test-app binary:

                  $ g++ -g -Wall -o test-app -L. -ltest-0.so test-app.cc

            • Now,  use abicompat to see if libtest-1.so is ABI compatible with app, with respect
              to the ABI of libtest-0.so:

                  $ abicompat test-app libtest-0.so libtest-1.so
                  ELF file 'test-app' might not be ABI compatible with 'libtest-1.so' due to differences with 'libtest-0.so' below:
                  Functions changes summary: 0 Removed, 2 Changed, 0 Added functions
                  Variables changes summary: 0 Removed, 0 Changed, 0 Added variable

                  2 functions with some indirect sub-type change:

                    [C]'function foo* first_func()' has some indirect sub-type changes:
                      return type changed:
                        in pointed to type 'struct foo':
                          size changed from 32 to 64 bits
                          1 data member insertion:
                            'char foo::m1', at offset 32 (in bits)
                    [C]'function void second_func(foo&)' has some indirect sub-type changes:
                      parameter 0 of type 'foo&' has sub-type changes:
                        referenced type 'struct foo' changed, as reported earlier

                  $

            • Now use the weak mode of abicompat, that is, providing just the application and the
              new version of the library:

                  $ abicompat --weak-mode test-app libtest-1.so
                  functions defined in library
                      'libtest-1.so'
                  have sub-types that are different from what application
                      'test-app'
                  expects:

                    function foo* first_func():
                      return type changed:
                        in pointed to type 'struct foo':
                          size changed from 32 to 64 bits
                          1 data member insertion:
                            'char foo::m1', at offset 32 (in bits)

                  $

AUTHOR

       Dodji Seketeli

COPYRIGHT

       2014, Red Hat, Inc.

                                          March 10, 2016                             ABICOMPAT(1)