1<section xmlns="http://docbook.org/ns/docbook" version="5.0"
2	 xml:id="appendix.porting.abi" xreflabel="abi">
3<?dbhtml filename="abi.html"?>
4
5<info><title>ABI Policy and Guidelines</title>
6  <keywordset>
7    <keyword>C++</keyword>
8    <keyword>ABI</keyword>
9    <keyword>version</keyword>
10    <keyword>dynamic</keyword>
11    <keyword>shared</keyword>
12    <keyword>compatibility</keyword>
13  </keywordset>
14</info>
15
16
17
18<para>
19</para>
20
21<section xml:id="abi.cxx_interface"><info><title>The C++ Interface</title></info>
22
23
24<para>
25  C++ applications often depend on specific language support
26  routines, say for throwing exceptions, or catching exceptions, and
27  perhaps also depend on features in the C++ Standard Library.
28</para>
29
30<para>
31  The C++ Standard Library has many include files, types defined in
32  those include files, specific named functions, and other
33  behavior. The text of these behaviors, as written in source include
34  files, is called the Application Programing Interface, or API.
35</para>
36
37<para>
38  Furthermore, C++ source that is compiled into object files is
39  transformed by the compiler: it arranges objects with specific
40  alignment and in a particular layout, mangling names according to a
41  well-defined algorithm, has specific arrangements for the support of
42  virtual functions, etc. These details are defined as the compiler
43  Application Binary Interface, or ABI. From GCC version 3 onwards the
44  GNU C++ compiler uses an industry-standard C++ ABI, the
45  <link linkend="biblio.cxxabi">Itanium C++ ABI</link>.
46</para>
47
48<para>
49 The GNU C++ compiler, g++, has a compiler command line option to
50  switch between various different C++ ABIs. This explicit version
51  switch is the flag <code>-fabi-version</code>. In addition, some
52  g++ command line options may change the ABI as a side-effect of
53  use. Such flags include <code>-fpack-struct</code> and
54  <code>-fno-exceptions</code>, but include others: see the complete
55  list in the GCC manual under the heading <link xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/Code-Gen-Options.html#Code%20Gen%20Options">Options
56  for Code Generation Conventions</link>.
57</para>
58
59<para>
60  The configure options used when building a specific libstdc++
61  version may also impact the resulting library ABI. The available
62  configure options, and their impact on the library ABI, are
63  documented
64<link linkend="manual.intro.setup.configure">here</link>.
65</para>
66
67<para> Putting all of these ideas together results in the C++ Standard
68Library ABI, which is the compilation of a given library API by a
69given compiler ABI. In a nutshell:
70</para>
71
72<para>
73  <quote>
74    library API + compiler ABI = library ABI
75  </quote>
76</para>
77
78<para>
79 The library ABI is mostly of interest for end-users who have
80 unresolved symbols and are linking dynamically to the C++ Standard
81 library, and who thus must be careful to compile their application
82 with a compiler that is compatible with the available C++ Standard
83 library binary. In this case, compatible is defined with the equation
84 above: given an application compiled with a given compiler ABI and
85 library API, it will work correctly with a Standard C++ Library
86 created with the same constraints.
87</para>
88
89<para>
90  To use a specific version of the C++ ABI, one must use a
91  corresponding GNU C++ toolchain (i.e., g++ and libstdc++) that
92  implements the C++ ABI in question.
93</para>
94
95</section>
96
97<section xml:id="abi.versioning"><info><title>Versioning</title></info>
98
99
100<para> The C++ interface has evolved throughout the history of the GNU
101C++ toolchain. With each release, various details have been changed so
102as to give distinct versions to the C++ interface.
103</para>
104
105  <section xml:id="abi.versioning.goals"><info><title>Goals</title></info>
106
107
108<para>Extending existing, stable ABIs. Versioning gives subsequent
109releases of library binaries the ability to add new symbols and add
110functionality, all the while retaining compatibility with the previous
111releases in the series. Thus, program binaries linked with the initial
112release of a library binary will still run correctly if the library
113binary is replaced by carefully-managed subsequent library
114binaries. This is called forward compatibility.
115</para>
116<para>
117The reverse (backwards compatibility) is not true. It is not possible
118to take program binaries linked with the latest version of a library
119binary in a release series (with additional symbols added), substitute
120in the initial release of the library binary, and remain link
121compatible.
122</para>
123
124<para>Allows multiple, incompatible ABIs to coexist at the same time.
125</para>
126  </section>
127
128  <section xml:id="abi.versioning.history"><info><title>History</title></info>
129
130
131<para>
132 How can this complexity be managed? What does C++ versioning mean?
133  Because library and compiler changes often make binaries compiled
134  with one version of the GNU tools incompatible with binaries
135  compiled with other (either newer or older) versions of the same GNU
136  tools, specific techniques are used to make managing this complexity
137  easier.
138</para>
139
140<para>
141  The following techniques are used:
142</para>
143
144  <orderedlist>
145
146    <listitem><para>Release versioning on the libgcc_s.so binary. </para>
147
148    <para>This is implemented via file names and the ELF
149    <constant>DT_SONAME</constant> mechanism (at least on ELF
150    systems). It is versioned as follows:
151    </para>
152
153    <itemizedlist>
154    <listitem><para>GCC 3.x: libgcc_s.so.1</para></listitem>
155    <listitem><para>GCC 4.x: libgcc_s.so.1</para></listitem>
156    </itemizedlist>
157
158    <para>For m68k-linux the versions differ as follows: </para>
159
160    <itemizedlist>
161    <listitem><para>GCC 3.4, GCC 4.x: libgcc_s.so.1
162    when configuring <code>--with-sjlj-exceptions</code>, or
163    libgcc_s.so.2 </para> </listitem>
164    </itemizedlist>
165
166    <para>For hppa-linux the versions differ as follows: </para>
167
168    <itemizedlist>
169    <listitem><para>GCC 3.4, GCC 4.[0-1]: either libgcc_s.so.1
170    when configuring <code>--with-sjlj-exceptions</code>, or
171    libgcc_s.so.2 </para> </listitem>
172    <listitem><para>GCC 4.[2-7]: either libgcc_s.so.3 when configuring
173    <code>--with-sjlj-exceptions</code>) or libgcc_s.so.4
174    </para> </listitem>
175    </itemizedlist>
176
177  </listitem>
178
179    <listitem><para>Symbol versioning on the libgcc_s.so binary.</para>
180
181    <para>It is versioned with the following labels and version
182   definitions, where the version definition is the maximum for a
183   particular release. Labels are cumulative. If a particular release
184   is not listed, it has the same version labels as the preceding
185   release.</para>
186
187    <para>This corresponds to the mapfile: gcc/libgcc-std.ver</para>
188    <itemizedlist>
189    <listitem><para>GCC 3.0.0: GCC_3.0</para></listitem>
190    <listitem><para>GCC 3.3.0: GCC_3.3</para></listitem>
191    <listitem><para>GCC 3.3.1: GCC_3.3.1</para></listitem>
192    <listitem><para>GCC 3.3.2: GCC_3.3.2</para></listitem>
193    <listitem><para>GCC 3.3.4: GCC_3.3.4</para></listitem>
194    <listitem><para>GCC 3.4.0: GCC_3.4</para></listitem>
195    <listitem><para>GCC 3.4.2: GCC_3.4.2</para></listitem>
196    <listitem><para>GCC 3.4.4: GCC_3.4.4</para></listitem>
197    <listitem><para>GCC 4.0.0: GCC_4.0.0</para></listitem>
198    <listitem><para>GCC 4.1.0: GCC_4.1.0</para></listitem>
199    <listitem><para>GCC 4.2.0: GCC_4.2.0</para></listitem>
200    <listitem><para>GCC 4.3.0: GCC_4.3.0</para></listitem>
201    <listitem><para>GCC 4.4.0: GCC_4.4.0</para></listitem>
202    <listitem><para>GCC 4.5.0: GCC_4.5.0</para></listitem>
203    <listitem><para>GCC 4.6.0: GCC_4.6.0</para></listitem>
204    <listitem><para>GCC 4.7.0: GCC_4.7.0</para></listitem>
205    <listitem><para>GCC 4.8.0: GCC_4.8.0</para></listitem>
206    </itemizedlist>
207    </listitem>
208
209    <listitem>
210      <para>
211	Release versioning on the libstdc++.so binary, implemented in
212	the same way as the libgcc_s.so binary above. Listed is the
213	filename: <constant>DT_SONAME</constant> can be deduced from
214	the filename by removing the last two period-delimited numbers. For
215	example, filename <filename>libstdc++.so.5.0.4</filename>
216	corresponds to a <constant>DT_SONAME</constant> of
217	<constant>libstdc++.so.5</constant>. Binaries with equivalent
218	<constant>DT_SONAME</constant>s are forward-compatibile: in
219	the table below, releases incompatible with the previous
220	one are explicitly noted.
221	If a particular release is not listed, its libstdc++.so binary
222	has the same filename and <constant>DT_SONAME</constant> as the
223	preceding release.
224      </para>
225
226    <para>It is versioned as follows:
227    </para>
228    <itemizedlist>
229    <listitem><para>GCC 3.0.0: libstdc++.so.3.0.0</para></listitem>
230    <listitem><para>GCC 3.0.1: libstdc++.so.3.0.1</para></listitem>
231    <listitem><para>GCC 3.0.2: libstdc++.so.3.0.2</para></listitem>
232    <listitem><para>GCC 3.0.3: libstdc++.so.3.0.2 (See Note 1)</para></listitem>
233    <listitem><para>GCC 3.0.4: libstdc++.so.3.0.4</para></listitem>
234    <listitem><para>GCC 3.1.0: libstdc++.so.4.0.0 <emphasis>(Incompatible with previous)</emphasis></para></listitem>
235    <listitem><para>GCC 3.1.1: libstdc++.so.4.0.1</para></listitem>
236    <listitem><para>GCC 3.2.0: libstdc++.so.5.0.0 <emphasis>(Incompatible with previous)</emphasis></para></listitem>
237    <listitem><para>GCC 3.2.1: libstdc++.so.5.0.1</para></listitem>
238    <listitem><para>GCC 3.2.2: libstdc++.so.5.0.2</para></listitem>
239    <listitem><para>GCC 3.2.3: libstdc++.so.5.0.3 (See Note 2)</para></listitem>
240    <listitem><para>GCC 3.3.0: libstdc++.so.5.0.4</para></listitem>
241    <listitem><para>GCC 3.3.1: libstdc++.so.5.0.5</para></listitem>
242    <listitem><para>GCC 3.4.0: libstdc++.so.6.0.0 <emphasis>(Incompatible with previous)</emphasis></para></listitem>
243    <listitem><para>GCC 3.4.1: libstdc++.so.6.0.1</para></listitem>
244    <listitem><para>GCC 3.4.2: libstdc++.so.6.0.2</para></listitem>
245    <listitem><para>GCC 3.4.3: libstdc++.so.6.0.3</para></listitem>
246    <listitem><para>GCC 4.0.0: libstdc++.so.6.0.4</para></listitem>
247    <listitem><para>GCC 4.0.1: libstdc++.so.6.0.5</para></listitem>
248    <listitem><para>GCC 4.0.2: libstdc++.so.6.0.6</para></listitem>
249    <listitem><para>GCC 4.0.3: libstdc++.so.6.0.7</para></listitem>
250    <listitem><para>GCC 4.1.0: libstdc++.so.6.0.7</para></listitem>
251    <listitem><para>GCC 4.1.1: libstdc++.so.6.0.8</para></listitem>
252    <listitem><para>GCC 4.2.0: libstdc++.so.6.0.9</para></listitem>
253    <listitem><para>GCC 4.2.1: libstdc++.so.6.0.9 (See Note 3)</para></listitem>
254    <listitem><para>GCC 4.2.2: libstdc++.so.6.0.9</para></listitem>
255    <listitem><para>GCC 4.3.0: libstdc++.so.6.0.10</para></listitem>
256    <listitem><para>GCC 4.4.0: libstdc++.so.6.0.11</para></listitem>
257    <listitem><para>GCC 4.4.1: libstdc++.so.6.0.12</para></listitem>
258    <listitem><para>GCC 4.4.2: libstdc++.so.6.0.13</para></listitem>
259    <listitem><para>GCC 4.5.0: libstdc++.so.6.0.14</para></listitem>
260    <listitem><para>GCC 4.6.0: libstdc++.so.6.0.15</para></listitem>
261    <listitem><para>GCC 4.6.1: libstdc++.so.6.0.16</para></listitem>
262    <listitem><para>GCC 4.7.0: libstdc++.so.6.0.17</para></listitem>
263    <listitem><para>GCC 4.8.0: libstdc++.so.6.0.18</para></listitem>
264    <listitem><para>GCC 4.8.3: libstdc++.so.6.0.19</para></listitem>
265    <listitem><para>GCC 4.9.0: libstdc++.so.6.0.20</para></listitem>
266    <listitem><para>GCC 5.1.0: libstdc++.so.6.0.21</para></listitem>
267    <listitem><para>GCC 6.1.0: libstdc++.so.6.0.22</para></listitem>
268    <listitem><para>GCC 7.1.0: libstdc++.so.6.0.23</para></listitem>
269    <listitem><para>GCC 7.2.0: libstdc++.so.6.0.24</para></listitem>
270    <listitem><para>GCC 8.1.0: libstdc++.so.6.0.25</para></listitem>
271    <listitem><para>GCC 9.1.0: libstdc++.so.6.0.26</para></listitem>
272    <listitem><para>GCC 9.2.0: libstdc++.so.6.0.27</para></listitem>
273    <listitem><para>GCC 9.3.0: libstdc++.so.6.0.28</para></listitem>
274    <listitem><para>GCC 10.1.0: libstdc++.so.6.0.28</para></listitem>
275    <listitem><para>GCC 11.1.0: libstdc++.so.6.0.29</para></listitem>
276    <listitem><para>GCC 12.1.0: libstdc++.so.6.0.30</para></listitem>
277    </itemizedlist>
278    <para>
279      Note 1: Error should be libstdc++.so.3.0.3.
280    </para>
281    <para>
282      Note 2: Not strictly required.
283    </para>
284    <para>
285      Note 3: This release (but not previous or subsequent) has one
286      known incompatibility, see <link xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="http://gcc.gnu.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=33678">33678</link>
287      in the GCC bug database.
288    </para>
289    </listitem>
290
291    <listitem><para>Symbol versioning on the libstdc++.so binary.</para>
292
293    <para>mapfile: libstdc++-v3/config/abi/pre/gnu.ver</para>
294    <para>It is versioned with the following labels and version
295   definitions, where the version definition is the maximum for a
296   particular release. Note, only symbols which are newly introduced
297   will use the maximum version definition. Thus, for release series
298   with the same label, but incremented version definitions, the later
299   release has both versions. (An example of this would be the
300   GCC 3.2.1 release, which has GLIBCPP_3.2.1 for new symbols and
301   GLIBCPP_3.2 for symbols that were introduced in the GCC 3.2.0
302   release.) If a particular release is not listed, it has the same
303   version labels as the preceding release.
304   </para>
305    <itemizedlist>
306    <listitem><para>GCC 3.0.0: (Error, not versioned)</para></listitem>
307    <listitem><para>GCC 3.0.1: (Error, not versioned)</para></listitem>
308    <listitem><para>GCC 3.0.2: (Error, not versioned)</para></listitem>
309    <listitem><para>GCC 3.0.3: (Error, not versioned)</para></listitem>
310    <listitem><para>GCC 3.0.4: (Error, not versioned)</para></listitem>
311    <listitem><para>GCC 3.1.0: GLIBCPP_3.1, CXXABI_1</para></listitem>
312    <listitem><para>GCC 3.1.1: GLIBCPP_3.1, CXXABI_1</para></listitem>
313    <listitem><para>GCC 3.2.0: GLIBCPP_3.2, CXXABI_1.2</para></listitem>
314    <listitem><para>GCC 3.2.1: GLIBCPP_3.2.1, CXXABI_1.2</para></listitem>
315    <listitem><para>GCC 3.2.2: GLIBCPP_3.2.2, CXXABI_1.2</para></listitem>
316    <listitem><para>GCC 3.2.3: GLIBCPP_3.2.2, CXXABI_1.2</para></listitem>
317    <listitem><para>GCC 3.3.0: GLIBCPP_3.2.2, CXXABI_1.2.1</para></listitem>
318    <listitem><para>GCC 3.3.1: GLIBCPP_3.2.3, CXXABI_1.2.1</para></listitem>
319    <listitem><para>GCC 3.3.2: GLIBCPP_3.2.3, CXXABI_1.2.1</para></listitem>
320    <listitem><para>GCC 3.3.3: GLIBCPP_3.2.3, CXXABI_1.2.1</para></listitem>
321    <listitem><para>GCC 3.4.0: GLIBCXX_3.4, CXXABI_1.3</para></listitem>
322    <listitem><para>GCC 3.4.1: GLIBCXX_3.4.1, CXXABI_1.3</para></listitem>
323    <listitem><para>GCC 3.4.2: GLIBCXX_3.4.2</para></listitem>
324    <listitem><para>GCC 3.4.3: GLIBCXX_3.4.3</para></listitem>
325    <listitem><para>GCC 4.0.0: GLIBCXX_3.4.4, CXXABI_1.3.1</para></listitem>
326    <listitem><para>GCC 4.0.1: GLIBCXX_3.4.5</para></listitem>
327    <listitem><para>GCC 4.0.2: GLIBCXX_3.4.6</para></listitem>
328    <listitem><para>GCC 4.0.3: GLIBCXX_3.4.7</para></listitem>
329    <listitem><para>GCC 4.1.1: GLIBCXX_3.4.8</para></listitem>
330    <listitem><para>GCC 4.2.0: GLIBCXX_3.4.9</para></listitem>
331    <listitem><para>GCC 4.3.0: GLIBCXX_3.4.10, CXXABI_1.3.2</para></listitem>
332    <listitem><para>GCC 4.4.0: GLIBCXX_3.4.11, CXXABI_1.3.3</para></listitem>
333    <listitem><para>GCC 4.4.1: GLIBCXX_3.4.12, CXXABI_1.3.3</para></listitem>
334    <listitem><para>GCC 4.4.2: GLIBCXX_3.4.13, CXXABI_1.3.3</para></listitem>
335    <listitem><para>GCC 4.5.0: GLIBCXX_3.4.14, CXXABI_1.3.4</para></listitem>
336    <listitem><para>GCC 4.6.0: GLIBCXX_3.4.15, CXXABI_1.3.5</para></listitem>
337    <listitem><para>GCC 4.6.1: GLIBCXX_3.4.16, CXXABI_1.3.5</para></listitem>
338    <listitem><para>GCC 4.7.0: GLIBCXX_3.4.17, CXXABI_1.3.6</para></listitem>
339    <listitem><para>GCC 4.8.0: GLIBCXX_3.4.18, CXXABI_1.3.7</para></listitem>
340    <listitem><para>GCC 4.8.3: GLIBCXX_3.4.19, CXXABI_1.3.7</para></listitem>
341    <listitem><para>GCC 4.9.0: GLIBCXX_3.4.20, CXXABI_1.3.8</para></listitem>
342    <listitem><para>GCC 5.1.0: GLIBCXX_3.4.21, CXXABI_1.3.9</para></listitem>
343    <listitem><para>GCC 6.1.0: GLIBCXX_3.4.22, CXXABI_1.3.10</para></listitem>
344    <listitem><para>GCC 7.1.0: GLIBCXX_3.4.23, CXXABI_1.3.11</para></listitem>
345    <listitem><para>GCC 7.2.0: GLIBCXX_3.4.24, CXXABI_1.3.11</para></listitem>
346    <listitem><para>GCC 8.1.0: GLIBCXX_3.4.25, CXXABI_1.3.11</para></listitem>
347    <listitem><para>GCC 9.1.0: GLIBCXX_3.4.26, CXXABI_1.3.12</para></listitem>
348    <listitem><para>GCC 9.2.0: GLIBCXX_3.4.27, CXXABI_1.3.12</para></listitem>
349    <listitem><para>GCC 9.3.0: GLIBCXX_3.4.28, CXXABI_1.3.12</para></listitem>
350    <listitem><para>GCC 10.1.0: GLIBCXX_3.4.28, CXXABI_1.3.12</para></listitem>
351    <listitem><para>GCC 11.1.0: GLIBCXX_3.4.29, CXXABI_1.3.13</para></listitem>
352    <listitem><para>GCC 12.1.0: GLIBCXX_3.4.30, CXXABI_1.3.13</para></listitem>
353
354    </itemizedlist>
355    </listitem>
356
357    <listitem>
358    <para>Incremental bumping of a compiler pre-defined macro,
359    __GXX_ABI_VERSION. This macro is defined as the version of the
360    compiler v3 ABI, with g++ 3.0 being version 100. This macro will
361    be automatically defined whenever g++ is used (the curious can
362    test this by invoking g++ with the '-v' flag.)
363    </para>
364
365    <para>
366    This macro was defined in the file "lang-specs.h" in the gcc/cp directory.
367    Later versions defined it in "c-common.c" in the gcc directory, and from
368    G++ 3.4 it is defined in c-cppbuiltin.c and its value determined by the
369    '-fabi-version' command line option.
370    </para>
371
372    <para>
373    It is versioned as follows, where 'n' is given by '-fabi-version=n':
374    </para>
375    <itemizedlist>
376    <listitem><para>GCC 3.0: 100</para></listitem>
377    <listitem><para>GCC 3.1: 100 (Error, should be 101)</para></listitem>
378    <listitem><para>GCC 3.2: 102</para></listitem>
379    <listitem><para>GCC 3.3: 102</para></listitem>
380    <listitem><para>GCC 3.4, GCC 4.x: 102 (when n=1)</para></listitem>
381    <listitem><para>GCC 3.4, GCC 4.x: 1000 + n (when n&gt;1) </para></listitem>
382    <listitem><para>GCC 3.4, GCC 4.x: 999999 (when n=0)</para></listitem>
383    </itemizedlist>
384    <para/>
385    </listitem>
386
387    <listitem>
388    <para>Changes to the default compiler option for
389    <code>-fabi-version</code>.
390    </para>
391   <para>
392    It is versioned as follows:
393    </para>
394    <itemizedlist>
395    <listitem><para>GCC 3.0: (Error, not versioned) </para></listitem>
396    <listitem><para>GCC 3.1: (Error, not versioned) </para></listitem>
397    <listitem><para>GCC 3.2: <code>-fabi-version=1</code></para></listitem>
398    <listitem><para>GCC 3.3: <code>-fabi-version=1</code></para></listitem>
399    <listitem><para>GCC 3.4, GCC 4.x: <code>-fabi-version=2</code> <emphasis>(Incompatible with previous)</emphasis></para></listitem>
400    <listitem><para>GCC 5 and higher: <code>-fabi-version=0</code> <emphasis>(See GCC manual for meaning)</emphasis></para></listitem>
401    </itemizedlist>
402    <para/>
403    </listitem>
404
405   <listitem xml:id="abi.versioning.__GLIBCXX__">
406    <para>Incremental bumping of a library pre-defined macro. For releases
407    before 3.4.0, the macro is <symbol>__GLIBCPP__</symbol>. For later
408    releases, it's <symbol>__GLIBCXX__</symbol>. (The libstdc++ project
409    generously changed from CPP to CXX throughout its source to allow the
410    "C" pre-processor the CPP macro namespace.) These macros are defined
411    as the date the library was released, in compressed ISO date format,
412    as an integer constant.
413    </para>
414
415    <para>
416    This macro is defined in the file
417    <filename class="headerfile">c++config</filename> in the
418    <filename class="directory">libstdc++-v3/include/bits</filename>
419    directory.  Up to GCC 4.1.0, it was
420    changed every night by an automated script. Since GCC 4.1.0 it is set
421    during configuration to the same value as
422    <filename>gcc/DATESTAMP</filename>, so for an official release its value
423    is the same as the date of the release, which is given in the <link
424      xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
425      xlink:href="https://gcc.gnu.org/develop.html#timeline">GCC Release
426    Timeline</link>.
427    </para>
428
429    <para>
430    This macro can be used in code to detect whether the C++ Standard Library
431    implementation in use is libstdc++, but is not useful for detecting the
432    libstdc++ version, nor whether particular features are supported.
433    The macro value might be a date after a feature was added to the
434    development trunk, but the release could be from an older branch without
435    the feature. For example, in the 5.4.0 release the macro has the value
436    <literal>20160603</literal> which is greater than the
437    <literal>20160427</literal> value of the macro in the 6.1.0 release,
438    but there are features supported in the 6.1.0 release that are not
439    supported in the 5.4.0 release.
440    You also can't test for the exact values listed below to try and
441    identify a release, because a snapshot taken from the gcc-5-branch on
442    2016-04-27 would have the same value for the macro as the 6.1.0 release
443    despite being a different version.
444    Many GNU/Linux distributions build their GCC packages from snapshots, so
445    the macro can have dates that don't correspond to official releases.
446    </para>
447
448    <para>
449    It is versioned as follows:
450    </para>
451    <itemizedlist>
452    <listitem><para>GCC 3.0.0: <literal>20010615</literal></para></listitem>
453    <listitem><para>GCC 3.0.1: <literal>20010819</literal></para></listitem>
454    <listitem><para>GCC 3.0.2: <literal>20011023</literal></para></listitem>
455    <listitem><para>GCC 3.0.3: <literal>20011220</literal></para></listitem>
456    <listitem><para>GCC 3.0.4: <literal>20020220</literal></para></listitem>
457    <listitem><para>GCC 3.1.0: <literal>20020514</literal></para></listitem>
458    <listitem><para>GCC 3.1.1: <literal>20020725</literal></para></listitem>
459    <listitem><para>GCC 3.2.0: <literal>20020814</literal></para></listitem>
460    <listitem><para>GCC 3.2.1: <literal>20021119</literal></para></listitem>
461    <listitem><para>GCC 3.2.2: <literal>20030205</literal></para></listitem>
462    <listitem><para>GCC 3.2.3: <literal>20030422</literal></para></listitem>
463    <listitem><para>GCC 3.3.0: <literal>20030513</literal></para></listitem>
464    <listitem><para>GCC 3.3.1: <literal>20030804</literal></para></listitem>
465    <listitem><para>GCC 3.3.2: <literal>20031016</literal></para></listitem>
466    <listitem><para>GCC 3.3.3: <literal>20040214</literal></para></listitem>
467    <listitem><para>GCC 3.4.0: <literal>20040419</literal></para></listitem>
468    <listitem><para>GCC 3.4.1: <literal>20040701</literal></para></listitem>
469    <listitem><para>GCC 3.4.2: <literal>20040906</literal></para></listitem>
470    <listitem><para>GCC 3.4.3: <literal>20041105</literal></para></listitem>
471    <listitem><para>GCC 3.4.4: <literal>20050519</literal></para></listitem>
472    <listitem><para>GCC 3.4.5: <literal>20051201</literal></para></listitem>
473    <listitem><para>GCC 3.4.6: <literal>20060306</literal></para></listitem>
474    <listitem><para>GCC 4.0.0: <literal>20050421</literal></para></listitem>
475    <listitem><para>GCC 4.0.1: <literal>20050707</literal></para></listitem>
476    <listitem><para>GCC 4.0.2: <literal>20050921</literal></para></listitem>
477    <listitem><para>GCC 4.0.3: <literal>20060309</literal></para></listitem>
478    <listitem><para>
479      GCC 4.1.0 and later: the GCC release date, as shown in the
480      <link xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
481        xlink:href="https://gcc.gnu.org/develop.html#timeline">GCC
482      Release Timeline</link>
483    </para></listitem>
484    </itemizedlist>
485    <para/>
486    </listitem>
487
488    <listitem>
489    <para>
490    Since GCC 7, incremental bumping of a library pre-defined macro,
491    <symbol>_GLIBCXX_RELEASE</symbol>. This macro is defined to the GCC
492    major version that the libstdc++ headers belong to, as an integer constant.
493    When compiling with GCC it has the same value as GCC's pre-defined
494    macro <symbol>__GNUC__</symbol>.
495    This macro can be used when libstdc++ is used with a non-GNU
496    compiler where <symbol>__GNUC__</symbol> is not defined, or has a
497    different value that doesn't correspond to the libstdc++ version.
498    </para>
499
500    <para>
501    This macro is defined in the file
502    <filename class="headerfile">c++config</filename> in the
503    <filename class="directory">libstdc++-v3/include/bits</filename>
504    directory and is generated automatically by autoconf as part of the
505    configure-time generation of
506    <filename class="headerfile">config.h</filename> and subsequently
507    <filename class="headerfile">&lt;bits/c++config.h&gt;</filename>.
508    </para>
509    </listitem>
510
511    <listitem>
512    <para>
513    Historically, incremental bumping of a library pre-defined macro,
514    <symbol>_GLIBCPP_VERSION</symbol>. This macro was defined as the
515    released version of the library, as a string literal. This was only
516    implemented in GCC 3.1.0 releases and higher, and was deprecated in
517    3.4.x (where it was called <symbol>_GLIBCXX_VERSION</symbol>),
518    and is not defined in 4.0.0 and higher.
519    </para>
520
521    <para>
522    This macro is defined in the same file as
523    <symbol>_GLIBCXX_RELEASE</symbol>, described above.
524    </para>
525
526    <para>
527    It is versioned as follows:
528    </para>
529    <itemizedlist>
530    <listitem><para>GCC 3.0.0: <literal>"3.0.0"</literal></para></listitem>
531    <listitem><para>GCC 3.0.1: <literal>"3.0.0"</literal> (Error, should be <literal>"3.0.1"</literal>)</para></listitem>
532    <listitem><para>GCC 3.0.2: <literal>"3.0.0"</literal> (Error, should be <literal>"3.0.2"</literal>)</para></listitem>
533    <listitem><para>GCC 3.0.3: <literal>"3.0.0"</literal> (Error, should be <literal>"3.0.3"</literal>)</para></listitem>
534    <listitem><para>GCC 3.0.4: <literal>"3.0.0"</literal> (Error, should be <literal>"3.0.4"</literal>)</para></listitem>
535    <listitem><para>GCC 3.1.0: <literal>"3.1.0"</literal></para></listitem>
536    <listitem><para>GCC 3.1.1: <literal>"3.1.1"</literal></para></listitem>
537    <listitem><para>GCC 3.2.0: <literal>"3.2"</literal></para></listitem>
538    <listitem><para>GCC 3.2.1: <literal>"3.2.1"</literal></para></listitem>
539    <listitem><para>GCC 3.2.2: <literal>"3.2.2"</literal></para></listitem>
540    <listitem><para>GCC 3.2.3: <literal>"3.2.3"</literal></para></listitem>
541    <listitem><para>GCC 3.3.0: <literal>"3.3"</literal></para></listitem>
542    <listitem><para>GCC 3.3.1: <literal>"3.3.1"</literal></para></listitem>
543    <listitem><para>GCC 3.3.2: <literal>"3.3.2"</literal></para></listitem>
544    <listitem><para>GCC 3.3.3: <literal>"3.3.3"</literal></para></listitem>
545    <listitem><para>GCC 3.4: <literal>"version-unused"</literal></para></listitem>
546    <listitem><para>GCC 4 and later: not defined</para></listitem>
547    </itemizedlist>
548    <para/>
549    </listitem>
550
551    <listitem>
552    <para>
553    Matching each specific C++ compiler release to a specific set of
554    C++ include files. This is only implemented in GCC 3.1.1 releases
555    and higher.
556    </para>
557    <para>
558    All C++ includes are installed in
559    <filename class="directory">include/c++</filename>, then nested in a
560    directory hierarchy corresponding to the C++ compiler's released
561    version. This version corresponds to the variable "gcc_version" in
562    "libstdc++-v3/acinclude.m4," and more details can be found in that
563    file's macro GLIBCXX_CONFIGURE (GLIBCPP_CONFIGURE before GCC 3.4.0).
564    </para>
565    <para>
566    C++ includes are versioned as follows:
567    </para>
568    <itemizedlist>
569    <listitem><para>GCC 3.0.0: include/g++-v3</para></listitem>
570    <listitem><para>GCC 3.0.1: include/g++-v3</para></listitem>
571    <listitem><para>GCC 3.0.2: include/g++-v3</para></listitem>
572    <listitem><para>GCC 3.0.3: include/g++-v3</para></listitem>
573    <listitem><para>GCC 3.0.4: include/g++-v3</para></listitem>
574    <listitem><para>GCC 3.1.0: include/g++-v3</para></listitem>
575    <listitem><para>GCC 3.1.1: include/c++/3.1.1</para></listitem>
576    <listitem><para>GCC 3.2.0: include/c++/3.2</para></listitem>
577    <listitem><para>GCC 3.2.1: include/c++/3.2.1</para></listitem>
578    <listitem><para>GCC 3.2.2: include/c++/3.2.2</para></listitem>
579    <listitem><para>GCC 3.2.3: include/c++/3.2.3</para></listitem>
580    <listitem><para>GCC 3.3.0: include/c++/3.3</para></listitem>
581    <listitem><para>GCC 3.3.1: include/c++/3.3.1</para></listitem>
582    <listitem><para>GCC 3.3.2: include/c++/3.3.2</para></listitem>
583    <listitem><para>GCC 3.3.3: include/c++/3.3.3</para></listitem>
584    <listitem><para>GCC 3.4.x: include/c++/3.4.x</para></listitem>
585    <listitem><para>GCC 4.x.y: include/c++/4.x.y</para></listitem>
586    <listitem><para>GCC 5.1.0: include/c++/5.1.0</para></listitem>
587    <listitem>
588      <para>GCC x.y.0: include/c++/x.y.0 (for releases after GCC 5.1.0)</para>
589    </listitem>
590    </itemizedlist>
591    <para/>
592    </listitem>
593  </orderedlist>
594
595<para>
596  Taken together, these techniques can accurately specify interface
597  and implementation changes in the GNU C++ tools themselves. Used
598  properly, they allow both the GNU C++ tools implementation, and
599  programs using them, an evolving yet controlled development that
600  maintains backward compatibility.
601</para>
602
603
604  </section>
605
606  <section xml:id="abi.versioning.prereq"><info><title>Prerequisites</title></info>
607
608    <para>
609      Minimum environment that supports a versioned ABI: A supported
610      dynamic linker, a GNU linker of sufficient vintage to understand
611      demangled C++ name globbing (ld) or the Sun linker, a shared
612      executable compiled
613      with g++, and shared libraries (libgcc_s, libstdc++) compiled by
614      a compiler (g++) with a compatible ABI. Phew.
615    </para>
616
617    <para>
618      On top of all that, an additional constraint: libstdc++ did not
619      attempt to version symbols (or age gracefully, really) until
620      version 3.1.0.
621    </para>
622
623    <para>
624      Most modern GNU/Linux and BSD versions, particularly ones using
625      GCC 3.1 and later, will meet the
626      requirements above, as does Solaris 2.5 and up.
627    </para>
628  </section>
629
630  <section xml:id="abi.versioning.config"><info><title>Configuring</title></info>
631
632
633    <para>
634      It turns out that most of the configure options that change
635      default behavior will impact the mangled names of exported
636      symbols, and thus impact versioning and compatibility.
637    </para>
638
639    <para>
640      For more information on configure options, including ABI
641      impacts, see:
642      <link linkend="manual.intro.setup.configure">here</link>
643    </para>
644
645    <para>
646      There is one flag that explicitly deals with symbol versioning:
647      --enable-symvers.
648    </para>
649
650    <para>
651      In particular, libstdc++-v3/acinclude.m4 has a macro called
652      GLIBCXX_ENABLE_SYMVERS that defaults to yes (or the argument
653      passed in via --enable-symvers=foo). At that point, the macro
654      attempts to make sure that all the requirement for symbol
655      versioning are in place. For more information, please consult
656      acinclude.m4.
657    </para>
658  </section>
659
660  <section xml:id="abi.versioning.active"><info><title>Checking Active</title></info>
661
662
663    <para>
664      When the GNU C++ library is being built with symbol versioning
665      on, you should see the following at configure time for
666      libstdc++ (showing either 'gnu' or another of the supported styles):
667    </para>
668
669<screen>
670<computeroutput>
671  checking versioning on shared library symbols... gnu
672</computeroutput>
673</screen>
674
675<para>
676  If you don't see this line in the configure output, or if this line
677  appears but the last word is 'no', then you are out of luck.
678</para>
679
680<para>
681  If the compiler is pre-installed, a quick way to test is to compile
682  the following (or any) simple C++ file and link it to the shared
683  libstdc++ library:
684</para>
685
686<programlisting>
687#include &lt;iostream&gt;
688
689int main()
690{ std::cout &lt;&lt; "hello" &lt;&lt; std::endl; return 0; }
691
692%g++ hello.cc -o hello.out
693
694%ldd hello.out
695	libstdc++.so.5 =&gt; /usr/lib/libstdc++.so.5 (0x00764000)
696	libm.so.6 =&gt; /lib/tls/libm.so.6 (0x004a8000)
697	libgcc_s.so.1 =&gt; /mnt/hd/bld/gcc/gcc/libgcc_s.so.1 (0x40016000)
698	libc.so.6 =&gt; /lib/tls/libc.so.6 (0x0036d000)
699	/lib/ld-linux.so.2 =&gt; /lib/ld-linux.so.2 (0x00355000)
700
701%nm hello.out
702</programlisting>
703
704<para>
705If you see symbols in the resulting output with "GLIBCXX_3" as part
706of the name, then the executable is versioned. Here's an example:
707</para>
708
709<para>
710   <code>U _ZNSt8ios_base4InitC1Ev@@GLIBCXX_3.4</code>
711</para>
712
713<para>
714On Solaris 2, you can use <code>pvs -r</code> instead:
715</para>
716
717<programlisting>
718%g++ hello.cc -o hello.out
719
720%pvs -r hello.out
721        libstdc++.so.6 (GLIBCXX_3.4, GLIBCXX_3.4.12);
722        libgcc_s.so.1 (GCC_3.0);
723        libc.so.1 (SUNWprivate_1.1, SYSVABI_1.3);
724</programlisting>
725
726<para>
727<code>ldd -v</code> works too, but is very verbose.
728</para>
729
730  </section>
731</section>
732
733<section xml:id="abi.changes_allowed"><info><title>Allowed Changes</title></info>
734
735
736<para>
737The following will cause the library minor version number to
738increase, say from "libstdc++.so.3.0.4" to "libstdc++.so.3.0.5".
739</para>
740<orderedlist>
741 <listitem><para>Adding an exported global or static data member</para></listitem>
742 <listitem><para>Adding an exported function, static or non-virtual member function</para></listitem>
743 <listitem><para>Adding an exported symbol or symbols by additional instantiations</para></listitem>
744</orderedlist>
745<para>
746Other allowed changes are possible.
747</para>
748
749</section>
750
751<section xml:id="abi.changes_no"><info><title>Prohibited Changes</title></info>
752
753
754<para>
755The following non-exhaustive list will cause the library major version
756number to increase, say from "libstdc++.so.3.0.4" to
757"libstdc++.so.4.0.0".
758</para>
759
760<orderedlist>
761 <listitem><para>Changes in the gcc/g++ compiler ABI</para></listitem>
762<listitem><para>Changing size of an exported symbol</para></listitem>
763<listitem><para>Changing alignment of an exported symbol</para></listitem>
764<listitem><para>Changing the layout of an exported symbol</para></listitem>
765<listitem><para>Changing mangling on an exported symbol</para></listitem>
766<listitem><para>Deleting an exported symbol</para></listitem>
767<listitem><para>Changing the inheritance properties of a type by adding or removing
768    base classes</para></listitem>
769<listitem><para>
770  Changing the size, alignment, or layout of types
771  specified in the C++ standard. These may not necessarily be
772  instantiated or otherwise exported in the library binary, and
773  include all the required locale facets, as well as things like
774  std::basic_streambuf, et al.
775</para></listitem>
776
777<listitem><para> Adding an explicit copy constructor or destructor to a
778class that would otherwise have implicit versions. This will change
779the way the compiler deals with this class in by-value return
780statements or parameters: instead of passing instances of this
781class in registers, the compiler will be forced to use memory. See the
782section on <link xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="https://itanium-cxx-abi.github.io/cxx-abi/abi.html#calls">Function
783Calling Conventions and APIs</link>
784 of the C++ ABI documentation for further details.
785</para></listitem>
786
787</orderedlist>
788
789</section>
790
791
792
793<section xml:id="abi.impl"><info><title>Implementation</title></info>
794
795
796<orderedlist>
797 <listitem>
798   <para>
799     Separation of interface and implementation
800   </para>
801   <para>
802     This is accomplished by two techniques that separate the API from
803     the ABI: forcing undefined references to link against a library
804     binary for definitions.
805   </para>
806
807<variablelist>
808  <varlistentry>
809    <term>Include files have declarations, source files have defines</term>
810
811    <listitem>
812      <para>
813	For non-templatized types, such as much of <code>class
814	locale</code>, the appropriate standard C++ include, say
815	<code>locale</code>, can contain full declarations, while
816	various source files (say <code> locale.cc, locale_init.cc,
817	localename.cc</code>) contain definitions.
818      </para>
819    </listitem>
820  </varlistentry>
821
822  <varlistentry>
823  <term>Extern template on required types</term>
824
825   <listitem>
826     <para>
827       For parts of the standard that have an explicit list of
828       required instantiations, the GNU extension syntax <code> extern
829       template </code> can be used to control where template
830       definitions reside. By marking required instantiations as
831       <code> extern template </code> in include files, and providing
832       explicit instantiations in the appropriate instantiation files,
833       non-inlined template functions can be versioned. This technique
834       is mostly used on parts of the standard that require <code>
835       char</code> and <code> wchar_t</code> instantiations, and
836       includes <code> basic_string</code>, the locale facets, and the
837       types in <code> iostreams</code>.
838     </para>
839   </listitem>
840  </varlistentry>
841
842 </variablelist>
843
844 <para>
845   In addition, these techniques have the additional benefit that they
846   reduce binary size, which can increase runtime performance.
847 </para>
848 </listitem>
849
850 <listitem>
851   <para>
852     Namespaces linking symbol definitions to export mapfiles
853   </para>
854   <para>
855     All symbols in the shared library binary are processed by a
856     linker script at build time that either allows or disallows
857     external linkage. Because of this, some symbols, regardless of
858     normal C/C++ linkage, are not visible. Symbols that are internal
859     have several appealing characteristics: by not exporting the
860     symbols, there are no relocations when the shared library is
861     started and thus this makes for faster runtime loading
862     performance by the underlying dynamic loading mechanism. In
863     addition, they have the possibility of changing without impacting
864     ABI compatibility.
865   </para>
866
867<para>The following namespaces are transformed by the mapfile:</para>
868
869<variablelist>
870
871  <varlistentry>
872<term><code>namespace std</code></term>
873<listitem><para> Defaults to exporting all symbols in label
874<code>GLIBCXX</code> that do not begin with an underscore, i.e.,
875<code>__test_func</code> would not be exported by default. Select
876exceptional symbols are allowed to be visible.</para></listitem>
877  </varlistentry>
878
879  <varlistentry>
880<term><code>namespace __gnu_cxx</code></term>
881<listitem><para> Defaults to not exporting any symbols in label
882<code>GLIBCXX</code>, select items are allowed to be visible.</para></listitem>
883  </varlistentry>
884
885  <varlistentry>
886<term><code>namespace __gnu_internal</code></term>
887<listitem><para> Defaults to not exported, no items are allowed to be visible.</para></listitem>
888  </varlistentry>
889
890  <varlistentry>
891<term><code>namespace __cxxabiv1</code>, aliased to <code> namespace abi</code></term>
892<listitem><para> Defaults to not exporting any symbols in label
893<code>CXXABI</code>, select items are allowed to be visible.</para></listitem>
894  </varlistentry>
895
896</variablelist>
897<para>
898</para>
899</listitem>
900
901 <listitem><para>Freezing the API</para>
902 <para>Disallowed changes, as above, are not made on a stable release
903branch. Enforcement tends to be less strict with GNU extensions that
904standard includes.</para>
905</listitem>
906</orderedlist>
907
908</section>
909
910<section xml:id="abi.testing"><info><title>Testing</title></info>
911
912
913  <section xml:id="abi.testing.single"><info><title>Single ABI Testing</title></info>
914
915
916    <para>
917      Testing for GNU C++ ABI changes is composed of two distinct
918      areas: testing the C++ compiler (g++) for compiler changes, and
919      testing the C++ library (libstdc++) for library changes.
920    </para>
921
922    <para>
923      Testing the C++ compiler ABI can be done various ways.
924    </para>
925
926    <para>
927      One.  Intel ABI checker.
928    </para>
929
930<para>
931Two.
932The second is yet unreleased, but has been announced on the gcc
933mailing list. It is yet unspecified if these tools will be freely
934available, and able to be included in a GNU project. Please contact
935Mark Mitchell (mark@codesourcery.com) for more details, and current
936status.
937</para>
938
939<para>
940Three.
941Involves using the vlad.consistency test framework. This has also been
942discussed on the gcc mailing lists.
943</para>
944
945<para>
946Testing the C++ library ABI can also be done various ways.
947</para>
948
949<para>
950One.
951(Brendan Kehoe, Jeff Law suggestion to run 'make check-c++' two ways,
952one with a new compiler and an old library, and the other with an old
953compiler and a new library, and look for testsuite regressions)
954</para>
955
956<para>
957Details on how to set this kind of test up can be found here:
958http://gcc.gnu.org/ml/gcc/2002-08/msg00142.html
959</para>
960
961<para>
962Two.
963Use the 'make check-abi' rule in the libstdc++ Makefile.
964</para>
965
966<para>
967This is a proactive check of the library ABI. Currently, exported symbol
968names that are either weak or defined are checked against a last known
969good baseline. Currently, this baseline is keyed off of 3.4.0
970binaries, as this was the last time the .so number was incremented. In
971addition, all exported names are demangled, and the exported objects
972are checked to make sure they are the same size as the same object in
973the baseline.
974
975Notice that each baseline is relative to a <emphasis>default</emphasis>
976configured library and compiler: in particular, if options such as
977--enable-clocale, or --with-cpu, in case of multilibs, are used at
978configure time, the check may fail, either because of substantive
979differences or because of limitations of the current checking
980machinery.
981</para>
982
983<para>
984This dataset is insufficient, yet a start. Also needed is a
985comprehensive check for all user-visible types part of the standard
986library for sizeof() and alignof() changes.
987</para>
988
989<para>
990Verifying compatible layouts of objects is not even attempted.  It
991should be possible to use sizeof, alignof, and offsetof to compute
992offsets for each structure and type in the standard library, saving to
993another datafile. Then, compute this in a similar way for new
994binaries, and look for differences.
995</para>
996
997<para>
998Another approach might be to use the -fdump-class-hierarchy flag to
999get information. However, currently this approach gives insufficient
1000data for use in library testing, as class data members, their offsets,
1001and other detailed data is not displayed with this flag.
1002(See PR g++/7470 on how this was used to find bugs.)
1003</para>
1004
1005<para>
1006Perhaps there are other C++ ABI checkers. If so, please notify
1007us. We'd like to know about them!
1008</para>
1009
1010  </section>
1011  <section xml:id="abi.testing.multi"><info><title>Multiple ABI Testing</title></info>
1012
1013<para>
1014A "C" application, dynamically linked to two shared libraries, liba,
1015libb. The dependent library liba is a C++ shared library compiled with
1016GCC 3.3, and uses io, exceptions, locale, etc. The dependent library
1017libb is a C++ shared library compiled with GCC 3.4, and also uses io,
1018exceptions, locale, etc.
1019</para>
1020
1021<para> As above, libone is constructed as follows: </para>
1022<programlisting>
1023%$bld/H-x86-gcc-3.4.0/bin/g++ -fPIC -DPIC -c a.cc
1024
1025%$bld/H-x86-gcc-3.4.0/bin/g++ -shared -Wl,-soname -Wl,libone.so.1 -Wl,-O1 -Wl,-z,defs a.o -o libone.so.1.0.0
1026
1027%ln -s libone.so.1.0.0 libone.so
1028
1029%$bld/H-x86-gcc-3.4.0/bin/g++ -c a.cc
1030
1031%ar cru libone.a a.o
1032</programlisting>
1033
1034<para> And, libtwo is constructed as follows: </para>
1035
1036<programlisting>
1037%$bld/H-x86-gcc-3.3.3/bin/g++ -fPIC -DPIC -c b.cc
1038
1039%$bld/H-x86-gcc-3.3.3/bin/g++ -shared -Wl,-soname -Wl,libtwo.so.1 -Wl,-O1 -Wl,-z,defs b.o -o libtwo.so.1.0.0
1040
1041%ln -s libtwo.so.1.0.0 libtwo.so
1042
1043%$bld/H-x86-gcc-3.3.3/bin/g++ -c b.cc
1044
1045%ar cru libtwo.a b.o
1046</programlisting>
1047
1048<para> ...with the resulting libraries looking like </para>
1049
1050<screen>
1051<computeroutput>
1052%ldd libone.so.1.0.0
1053	libstdc++.so.6 =&gt; /usr/lib/libstdc++.so.6 (0x40016000)
1054	libm.so.6 =&gt; /lib/tls/libm.so.6 (0x400fa000)
1055	libgcc_s.so.1 =&gt; /mnt/hd/bld/gcc/gcc/libgcc_s.so.1 (0x4011c000)
1056	libc.so.6 =&gt; /lib/tls/libc.so.6 (0x40125000)
1057	/lib/ld-linux.so.2 =&gt; /lib/ld-linux.so.2 (0x00355000)
1058
1059%ldd libtwo.so.1.0.0
1060	libstdc++.so.5 =&gt; /usr/lib/libstdc++.so.5 (0x40027000)
1061	libm.so.6 =&gt; /lib/tls/libm.so.6 (0x400e1000)
1062	libgcc_s.so.1 =&gt; /mnt/hd/bld/gcc/gcc/libgcc_s.so.1 (0x40103000)
1063	libc.so.6 =&gt; /lib/tls/libc.so.6 (0x4010c000)
1064	/lib/ld-linux.so.2 =&gt; /lib/ld-linux.so.2 (0x00355000)
1065</computeroutput>
1066</screen>
1067
1068<para>
1069  Then, the "C" compiler is used to compile a source file that uses
1070  functions from each library.
1071</para>
1072<programlisting>
1073gcc test.c -g -O2 -L. -lone -ltwo /usr/lib/libstdc++.so.5 /usr/lib/libstdc++.so.6
1074</programlisting>
1075
1076<para>
1077  Which gives the expected:
1078</para>
1079
1080<screen>
1081<computeroutput>
1082%ldd a.out
1083	libstdc++.so.5 =&gt; /usr/lib/libstdc++.so.5 (0x00764000)
1084	libstdc++.so.6 =&gt; /usr/lib/libstdc++.so.6 (0x40015000)
1085	libc.so.6 =&gt; /lib/tls/libc.so.6 (0x0036d000)
1086	libm.so.6 =&gt; /lib/tls/libm.so.6 (0x004a8000)
1087	libgcc_s.so.1 =&gt; /mnt/hd/bld/gcc/gcc/libgcc_s.so.1 (0x400e5000)
1088	/lib/ld-linux.so.2 =&gt; /lib/ld-linux.so.2 (0x00355000)
1089</computeroutput>
1090</screen>
1091
1092<para>
1093  This resulting binary, when executed, will be able to safely use
1094  code from both liba, and the dependent libstdc++.so.6, and libb,
1095  with the dependent libstdc++.so.5.
1096</para>
1097  </section>
1098</section>
1099
1100<section xml:id="abi.issues"><info><title>Outstanding Issues</title></info>
1101
1102
1103<para>
1104  Some features in the C++ language make versioning especially
1105  difficult. In particular, compiler generated constructs such as
1106  implicit instantiations for templates, typeinfo information, and
1107  virtual tables all may cause ABI leakage across shared library
1108  boundaries. Because of this, mixing C++ ABIs is not recommended at
1109  this time.
1110</para>
1111
1112<para>
1113  For more background on this issue, see these bugzilla entries:
1114</para>
1115
1116<para>
1117<link xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="http://gcc.gnu.org/PR24660">24660: versioning weak symbols in libstdc++</link>
1118</para>
1119
1120<para>
1121<link xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="http://gcc.gnu.org/PR19664">19664: libstdc++ headers should have pop/push of the visibility around the declarations</link>
1122</para>
1123
1124</section>
1125
1126<bibliography xml:id="abi.biblio"><info><title>Bibliography</title></info>
1127
1128    <biblioentry xml:id="biblio.abicheck">
1129      <title>
1130	<link xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
1131	      xlink:href="http://abicheck.sourceforge.net">
1132	  ABIcheck
1133	</link>
1134      </title>
1135    </biblioentry>
1136
1137    <biblioentry xml:id="biblio.cxxabi">
1138      <title>
1139	<link xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
1140	      xlink:href="https://itanium-cxx-abi.github.io/cxx-abi/">
1141	  Itanium C++ ABI
1142	</link>
1143      </title>
1144    </biblioentry>
1145
1146  <biblioentry>
1147      <title>
1148	<link xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
1149	      xlink:href="https://docs.oracle.com/cd/E23824_01/html/819-0690/index.html">
1150	Linker and Libraries Guide (document 819-0690)
1151	</link>
1152      </title>
1153  </biblioentry>
1154
1155
1156  <biblioentry>
1157      <title>
1158	<link xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
1159	      xlink:href="https://docs.oracle.com/cd/E19422-01/819-3689/">
1160      Sun Studio 11: C++ Migration Guide (document 819-3689)
1161	</link>
1162      </title>
1163  </biblioentry>
1164
1165  <biblioentry>
1166      <title>
1167	<link xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
1168	      xlink:href="https://www.akkadia.org/drepper/dsohowto.pdf">
1169      How to Write Shared Libraries
1170	</link>
1171      </title>
1172
1173    <author>
1174    <personname>
1175    <firstname>Ulrich</firstname><surname>Drepper</surname>
1176    </personname>
1177    </author>
1178  </biblioentry>
1179
1180  <biblioentry>
1181      <title>
1182	<link xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
1183	      xlink:href="https://developer.arm.com/documentation/ihi0036/latest/">
1184      C++ ABI for the ARM Architecture
1185	</link>
1186      </title>
1187  </biblioentry>
1188
1189  <biblioentry>
1190      <title>
1191	<link xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
1192	      xlink:href="http://www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg21/docs/papers/2006/n1976.html">
1193      Dynamic Shared Objects: Survey and Issues
1194	</link>
1195      </title>
1196
1197    <subtitle>
1198      ISO C++ J16/06-0046
1199    </subtitle>
1200    <author><personname><firstname>Benjamin</firstname><surname>Kosnik</surname></personname></author>
1201  </biblioentry>
1202
1203  <biblioentry>
1204      <title>
1205	<link xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
1206	      xlink:href="http://www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg21/docs/papers/2006/n2013.html">
1207	Versioning With Namespaces
1208	</link>
1209      </title>
1210    <subtitle>
1211      ISO C++ J16/06-0083
1212    </subtitle>
1213    <author><personname><firstname>Benjamin</firstname><surname>Kosnik</surname></personname></author>
1214  </biblioentry>
1215
1216  <biblioentry>
1217     <title>
1218	<link xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
1219	      xlink:href="http://syrcose.ispras.ru/2009/files/02_paper.pdf">
1220      Binary Compatibility of Shared Libraries Implemented in C++
1221      on GNU/Linux Systems
1222	</link>
1223      </title>
1224
1225    <subtitle>
1226      SYRCoSE 2009
1227    </subtitle>
1228    <author><personname><firstname>Pavel</firstname><surname>Shved</surname></personname></author>
1229    <author><personname><firstname>Denis</firstname><surname>Silakov</surname></personname></author>
1230  </biblioentry>
1231</bibliography>
1232
1233</section>
1234