libffcall ☆
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Description:
GNU Foreign Function Interface library
Type: Formula  |  Tracked Since: Dec 28, 2025
Links: Homepage  |  formulae.brew.sh
Category: Developer tools
Tags: c-library ffi gnu development language-implementation
Install: brew install libffcall
About:
Libffcall is a GNU library that provides an interface for calling arbitrary C functions dynamically at runtime. It enables programs to build and call native machine code functions from memory, which is essential for implementing foreign function interfaces in higher-level languages. Its core value is providing low-level machinery for language implementers needing to interface with C libraries.
Key Features:
  • Dynamic function call construction and execution
  • Support for multiple architectures (x86, ARM, PowerPC, etc.)
  • Trampoline mechanism for closures and callbacks
  • Low-level assembly routines for maximum performance
Use Cases:
  • Building interpreters for dynamic languages that need to call C libraries
  • Implementing callback mechanisms in native extensions
  • Creating Just-In-Time (JIT) compilers that interface with system APIs
Alternatives:
  • libffi – Libffcall is GNU's alternative to libffi; both provide similar functionality for foreign function calls, though libffi is often more widely adopted in cross-platform projects.
  • ctypes (Python) – A higher-level FFI library built into Python; Libffcall provides the low-level assembly primitives that such high-level wrappers might rely on.
Version History
Detected Version Rev Change Commit
Sep 14, 2025 3:16am 0 VERSION_BUMP dd4216c0
Sep 13, 2024 2:29pm 0 VERSION_BUMP 1387b12d
Nov 22, 2022 4:13am 0 VERSION_BUMP 767454c6
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