Provided by: abigail-tools_1.2-1_amd64 
NAME
abidiff - compare ABIs of ELF files
abidiff compares the Application Binary Interfaces (ABI) of two shared libraries in ELF format. It emits
a meaningful report describing the differences between the two ABIs.
This tool can also compare the textual representations of the ABI of two ELF binaries (as emitted by
abidw) or an ELF binary against a textual representation of another ELF binary.
For a comprehensive ABI change report that includes changes about function and variable sub-types, the
two input shared libraries must be accompanied with their debug information in DWARF format. Otherwise,
only ELF symbols that were added or removed are reported.
INVOCATION
abidiff [options] <first-shared-library> <second-shared-library>
ENVIRONMENT
abidiff loads two default suppression specifications files, merges their content and use it to filter out
ABI change reports that might be considered as false positives to users.
• Default system-wide suppression specification file
It’s located by the optional environment variable LIBABIGAIL_DEFAULT_SYSTEM_SUPPRESSION_FILE. If that
environment variable is not set, then abidiff tries to load the suppression file
$libdir/libabigail/libabigail-default.abignore. If that file is not present, then no default
system-wide suppression specification file is loaded.
• Default user suppression specification file.
It’s located by the optional environment LIBABIGAIL_DEFAULT_USER_SUPPRESSION_FILE. If that environment
variable is not set, then abidiff tries to load the suppression file $HOME/.abignore. If that file is
not present, then no default user suppression specification is loaded.
OPTIONS
• --help | -h
Display a short help about the command and exit.
• --version | -v
Display the version of the program and exit.
• --debug-info-dir1 | --d1 <di-path1>
For cases where the debug information for first-shared-library is split out into a separate file,
tells abidiff where to find that separate debug information file.
Note that di-path must point to the root directory under which the debug information is arranged in
a tree-like manner. Under Red Hat based systems, that directory is usually <root>/usr/lib/debug.
Note also that this option is not mandatory for split debug information installed by your system’s
package manager because then abidiff knows where to find it.
• --debug-info-dir2 | --d2 <di-path2>
Like --debug-info-dir1, this options tells abidiff where to find the split debug information for the
second-shared-library file.
• --headers-dir1 | --hd1 <headers-directory-path-1>
Specifies where to find the public headers of the first shared library that the tool has to
consider. The tool will thus filter out ABI changes on types that are not defined in public
headers.
• --headers-dir2 | --hd2 <headers-directory-path-1>
Specifies where to find the public headers of the second shared library that the tool has to
consider. The tool will thus filter out ABI changes on types that are not defined in public
headers.
• --no-linux-kernel-mode
Without this option, if abidiff detects that the binaries it is looking at are Linux Kernel binaries
(either vmlinux or modules) then it only considers functions and variables which ELF symbols are
listed in the __ksymtab and __ksymtab_gpl sections.
With this option, abidiff considers the binary as a non-special ELF binary. It thus considers
functions and variables which are defined and exported in the ELF sense.
• --kmi-whitelist | -kaw <path-to-whitelist>
When analyzing a Linux kernel binary, this option points to the white list of names of ELF symbols
of functions and variables which ABI must be considered. That white list is called a “Kernel Module
Interface white list”. This is because for the Kernel, we don’t talk about ABI; we rather talk
about the interface between the Kernel and its module. Hence the term KMI rather than ABI.
Any other function or variable which ELF symbol are not present in that white list will not be
considered by this tool.
If this option is not provided – thus if no white list is provided – then the entire KMI, that is,
the set of all publicly defined and exported functions and global variables by the Linux Kernel
binaries, is considered.
• --drop-private-types
This option is to be used with the --headers-dir1 and --headers-dir2 options. With this option,
types that are NOT defined in the headers are entirely dropped from the internal representation
build by Libabigail to represent the ABI. They thus don’t have to be filtered out from the final
ABI change report because they are not even present in Libabigail’s representation.
Without this option however, those private types are kept in the internal representation and later
filtered out from the report.
This options thus potentially makes Libabigail consume less memory. It’s meant to be mainly used to
optimize the memory consumption of the tool on binaries with a lot of publicly defined and exported
types.
• --stat
Rather than displaying the detailed ABI differences between first-shared-library and
second-shared-library, just display some summary statistics about these differences.
• --symtabs
Only display the symbol tables of the first-shared-library and second-shared-library.
• --deleted-fns
In the resulting report about the differences between first-shared-library and
second-shared-library, only display the globally defined functions that got deleted from
first-shared-library.
• --changed-fns
In the resulting report about the differences between first-shared-library and
second-shared-library, only display the changes in sub-types of the global functions defined in
first-shared-library.
• --added-fns
In the resulting report about the differences between first-shared-library and
second-shared-library, only display the globally defined functions that were added to
second-shared-library.
• --deleted-vars
In the resulting report about the differences between first-shared-library and
second-shared-library, only display the globally defined variables that were deleted from
first-shared-library.
• --changed-vars
In the resulting report about the differences between first-shared-library and
second-shared-library, only display the changes in the sub-types of the global variables defined in
first-shared-library
• --added-vars
In the resulting report about the differences between first-shared-library and
second-shared-library, only display the global variables that were added (defined) to
second-shared-library.
• --no-added-syms
In the resulting report about the differences between first-shared-library and
second-shared-library, do not display added functions or variables. Do not display added functions
or variables ELF symbols either. All other kinds of changes are displayed unless they are
explicitely forbidden by other options on the command line.
• --no-linkage-name
In the resulting report, do not display the linkage names of the added, removed, or changed
functions or variables.
• --no-show-locs
Do not show information about where in the second shared library the respective type was changed.
• --no-show-relative-offset-changes
Without this option, when the offset of a data member changes, the change report not only mentions
the older and newer offset, but it also mentions by how many bits the data member changes. With
this option, the latter is not shown.
• --no-unreferenced-symbols
In the resulting report, do not display change information about function and variable symbols that
are not referenced by any debug information. Note that for these symbols not referenced by any
debug information, the change information displayed is either added or removed symbols.
• --no-default-suppression
Do not load the default suppression specification files.
• --suppressions | --suppr <path-to-suppressions>
Use a suppression specification file located at path-to-suppressions. Note that this option can
appear multiple times on the command line. In that case, all of the provided suppression
specification files are taken into account.
Please note that, by default, if this option is not provided, then the default suppression
specification files are loaded .
• --drop <regex>
When reading the first-shared-library and second-shared-library ELF input files, drop the globally
defined functions and variables which name match the regular expression regex. As a result, no
change involving these functions or variables will be emitted in the diff report.
• --drop-fn <regex>
When reading the first-shared-library and second-shared-library ELF input files, drop the globally
defined functions which name match the regular expression regex. As a result, no change involving
these functions will be emitted in the diff report.
• --drop-var <regex>
When reading the first-shared-library and second-shared-library ELF input files, drop the globally
defined variables matching a the regular expression regex.
• --keep <regex>
When reading the first-shared-library and second-shared-library ELF input files, keep the globally
defined functions and variables which names match the regular expression regex. All other functions
and variables are dropped on the floor and will thus not appear in the resulting diff report.
• --keep-fn <regex>
When reading the first-shared-library and second-shared-library ELF input files, keep the globally
defined functions which name match the regular expression regex. All other functions are dropped on
the floor and will thus not appear in the resulting diff report.
• --keep-var <regex>
When reading the first-shared-library and second-shared-library ELF input files, keep the globally
defined which names match the regular expression regex. All other variables are dropped on the
floor and will thus not appear in the resulting diff report.
• --harmless
In the diff report, display only the harmless changes. By default, the harmless changes are
filtered out of the diff report keep the clutter to a minimum and have a greater chance to spot real
ABI issues.
• --no-harmful
In the diff report, do not display the harmful changes. By default, only the harmful changes are
displayed in diff report.
• --redundant
In the diff report, do display redundant changes. A redundant change is a change that has been
displayed elsewhere in the report.
• --no-redundant
In the diff report, do NOT display redundant changes. A redundant change is a change that has been
displayed elsewhere in the report. This option is switched on by default.
• --no-architecture
Do not take architecture in account when comparing ABIs.
• --no-corpus-path
Do not emit the path attribute for the ABI corpus.
• --leaf-changes-only|-l only show leaf changes, so don’t show impact analysis report.
The typical output of abidiff when comparing two binaries looks like this
$ abidiff libtest-v0.so libtest-v1.so
Functions changes summary: 0 Removed, 1 Changed, 0 Added function
Variables changes summary: 0 Removed, 0 Changed, 0 Added variable
1 function with some indirect sub-type change:
[C]'function void fn(C&)' at test-v1.cc:13:1 has some indirect sub-type changes:
parameter 1 of type 'C&' has sub-type changes:
in referenced type 'struct C' at test-v1.cc:7:1:
type size hasn't changed
1 data member change:
type of 'leaf* C::m0' changed:
in pointed to type 'struct leaf' at test-v1.cc:1:1:
type size changed from 32 to 64 bits
1 data member insertion:
'char leaf::m1', at offset 32 (in bits) at test-v1.cc:4:1
$
So in that example the report emits information about how the data member insertion change of
“struct leaf” is reachable from function “void fn(C&)”. In other words, the report not only shows
the data member change on “struct leaf”, but it also shows the impact of that change on the function
“void fn(C&)”.
In abidiff parlance, the change on “struct leaf” is called a leaf change. So the
--leaf-changes-only --impacted-interfaces options show, well, only the leaf change. And it goes
like this:
$ abidiff -l libtest-v0.so libtest-v1.so
'struct leaf' changed:
type size changed from 32 to 64 bits
1 data member insertion:
'char leaf::m1', at offset 32 (in bits) at test-v1.cc:4:1
one impacted interface:
function void fn(C&)
$
Note how the report ends by showing the list of interfaces impacted by the leaf change.
Now if you don’t want to see that list of impacted interfaces, then you can just avoid using the
--impacted-interface option. You can learn about that option below, in any case.
• --impacted-interfaces
When showing leaf changes, this option instructs abidiff to show the list of impacted interfaces.
This option is thus to be used in addition the --leaf-changes-only option, otherwise, it’s ignored.
• --dump-diff-tree
After the diff report, emit a textual representation of the diff nodes tree used by the comparison
engine to represent the changed functions and variables. That representation is emitted to the
error output for debugging purposes. Note that this diff tree is relevant only to functions and
variables that have some sub-type changes. Added or removed functions and variables do not have
any diff nodes tree associated to them.
• --stats
Emit statistics about various internal things.
• --verbose
Emit verbose logs about the progress of miscellaneous internal things.
RETURN VALUES
The exit code of the abidiff 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.
Note that, at the moment, there are only a few kinds of ABI changes that would result in setting the flag
ABIDIFF_ABI_INCOMPATIBLE_CHANGE. Those ABI changes are either:
• the removal of the symbol of a function or variable that has been defined and exported.
• the modification of the index of a member of a virtual function table (for C++ programs and
libraries).
With time, when more ABI change patterns are found to always constitute incompatible ABI changes, we will
adapt the code to recognize those cases and set the ABIDIFF_ABI_INCOMPATIBLE_CHANGE accordingly. So, if
you find such patterns, please let us know.
The remaining bits are not used for the moment.
USAGE EXAMPLES
1. Detecting a change in a sub-type of a function:
$ cat -n test-v0.cc
1 // Compile this with:
2 // g++ -g -Wall -shared -o libtest-v0.so test-v0.cc
3
4 struct S0
5 {
6 int m0;
7 };
8
9 void
10 foo(S0* /*parameter_name*/)
11 {
12 // do something with parameter_name.
13 }
$
$ cat -n test-v1.cc
1 // Compile this with:
2 // g++ -g -Wall -shared -o libtest-v1.so test-v1.cc
3
4 struct type_base
5 {
6 int inserted;
7 };
8
9 struct S0 : public type_base
10 {
11 int m0;
12 };
13
14 void
15 foo(S0* /*parameter_name*/)
16 {
17 // do something with parameter_name.
18 }
$
$ g++ -g -Wall -shared -o libtest-v0.so test-v0.cc
$ g++ -g -Wall -shared -o libtest-v1.so test-v1.cc
$
$ ../build/tools/abidiff libtest-v0.so libtest-v1.so
Functions changes summary: 0 Removed, 1 Changed, 0 Added function
Variables changes summary: 0 Removed, 0 Changed, 0 Added variable
1 function with some indirect sub-type change:
[C]'function void foo(S0*)' has some indirect sub-type changes:
parameter 0 of type 'S0*' has sub-type changes:
in pointed to type 'struct S0':
size changed from 32 to 64 bits
1 base class insertion:
struct type_base
1 data member change:
'int S0::m0' offset changed from 0 to 32
$
2. Detecting another change in a sub-type of a function:
$ cat -n test-v0.cc
1 // Compile this with:
2 // g++ -g -Wall -shared -o libtest-v0.so test-v0.cc
3
4 struct S0
5 {
6 int m0;
7 };
8
9 void
10 foo(S0& /*parameter_name*/)
11 {
12 // do something with parameter_name.
13 }
$
$ cat -n test-v1.cc
1 // Compile this with:
2 // g++ -g -Wall -shared -o libtest-v1.so test-v1.cc
3
4 struct S0
5 {
6 char inserted_member;
7 int m0;
8 };
9
10 void
11 foo(S0& /*parameter_name*/)
12 {
13 // do something with parameter_name.
14 }
$
$ g++ -g -Wall -shared -o libtest-v0.so test-v0.cc
$ g++ -g -Wall -shared -o libtest-v1.so test-v1.cc
$
$ ../build/tools/abidiff libtest-v0.so libtest-v1.so
Functions changes summary: 0 Removed, 1 Changed, 0 Added function
Variables changes summary: 0 Removed, 0 Changed, 0 Added variable
1 function with some indirect sub-type change:
[C]'function void foo(S0&)' has some indirect sub-type changes:
parameter 0 of type 'S0&' has sub-type changes:
in referenced type 'struct S0':
size changed from 32 to 64 bits
1 data member insertion:
'char S0::inserted_member', at offset 0 (in bits)
1 data member change:
'int S0::m0' offset changed from 0 to 32
$
3. Detecting that functions got removed or added to a library:
$ cat -n test-v0.cc
1 // Compile this with:
2 // g++ -g -Wall -shared -o libtest-v0.so test-v0.cc
3
4 struct S0
5 {
6 int m0;
7 };
8
9 void
10 foo(S0& /*parameter_name*/)
11 {
12 // do something with parameter_name.
13 }
$
$ cat -n test-v1.cc
1 // Compile this with:
2 // g++ -g -Wall -shared -o libtest-v1.so test-v1.cc
3
4 struct S0
5 {
6 char inserted_member;
7 int m0;
8 };
9
10 void
11 bar(S0& /*parameter_name*/)
12 {
13 // do something with parameter_name.
14 }
$
$ g++ -g -Wall -shared -o libtest-v0.so test-v0.cc
$ g++ -g -Wall -shared -o libtest-v1.so test-v1.cc
$
$ ../build/tools/abidiff libtest-v0.so libtest-v1.so
Functions changes summary: 1 Removed, 0 Changed, 1 Added functions
Variables changes summary: 0 Removed, 0 Changed, 0 Added variable
1 Removed function:
'function void foo(S0&)' {_Z3fooR2S0}
1 Added function:
'function void bar(S0&)' {_Z3barR2S0}
$
AUTHOR
Dodji Seketeli
COPYRIGHT
2014-2018, Red Hat, Inc.
Apr 24, 2018 ABIDIFF(1)