FFI(3)

✨ NAME ✨

FFI — Foreign Function Interface

okay so bestie, you're reading FFI(3), and this is the manual page for the foreign function interface 💖 it's lowkey iconic, highkey useful, and we're gonna get you comfy with it.

🎀 LIBRARY 🎀

• libffi — the library itself, and you link against it with -lffi ✨

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

#include <ffi.h>

ffi_status
ffi_prep_cif(ffi_cif *cif, ffi_abi abi, unsigned int nargs,
    ffi_type *rtype, ffi_type **atypes);

void
ffi_prep_cif_var(ffi_cif *cif, ffi_abi abi, unsigned int nfixedargs,
    unsigned int ntotalargs, ffi_type *rtype, ffi_type **atypes);

void
ffi_call(ffi_cif *cif, void (*fn)(void), void *rvalue, void **avalue);

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so like, the foreign function interface provides a mechanism by which a function can generate a call to another function at runtime — and it does not require knowledge of the called function's interface at compile time. it's giving "call it later, figure it out live," and it ate 💅

literally the whole point is runtime flexibility, no cap.

💜 SEE ALSO 💜

• ffi_prep_cif(3)
• ffi_prep_cif_var(3)
• ffi_call(3)

💖 that's the whole page, bestie — FFI(3), dated February 15, 2008. mwah 💋