libabigail/doc/manuals/abidiff.rst
Dodji Seketeli 2f296a7846 Initial documentation for libabigail
* doc/manuals/Makefile: New file, generated by sphinx-quickstart.
	* doc/manuals/abidiff.rst: New manual for abidiff.
	* doc/manuals/abidw.rst: New manual for abidw.
	* doc/manuals/abilint.rst: New manual for abilint.
	* doc/manuals/conf.py: New configuration file generated by sphinx-quickstart.
	* doc/manuals/index.rst: The root of the this documentation.
	* doc/manuals/libabigail-overview.rst: The overview of libabigail.
	* doc/manuals/tools.rst: The root of the tools manuals.

Signed-off-by: Dodji Seketeli <dodji@redhat.com>
2014-09-26 17:06:12 +02:00

206 lines
6.5 KiB
ReStructuredText

=======
abidiff
=======
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.
The two input shared libraries must be accompanied with their debug
information in `DWARF`_ format.
Invocation
==========
::
abidiff [options] <first-shared-library> <second-shared-library>
Options
=======
* --help
Displays a short help about the command and exit.
* --debug-info-dir1 <*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 <*di-path2*>
Like ``--debug-info-dir1``, this options tells ``abidiff`` where
to find the split debug information for the
*second-shared-library* file.
* --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-linkage-name
In the resulting report, do not display the linkage names of
the added, removed, or changed functions or variables.
* --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-fn <*regex*>
When reading the *first-shared-library* and
*second-shared-library* ELF input files, drop the globally defined
functions matching a 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 :ref:`harmless <harmlesslabel>`
changes. By default, the harmless changes are filtered out of the
diff report keep the clutter to a minimum and have a greater
change to spot real ABI issues.
* --no-harmful
In the diff report, do not display the :ref:`harmful <harmfullabel>`
changes. By default, only the harmful changes are displayed in
diff report.
* --redundant
In the diff report, do not display redundant changes. A redundant
change is a change that has been displayed elsewhere in the report.
Notes
=====
.. _harmlesslabel:
Harmless changes
----------------
A change in the diff report is considered harmless if it will not
cause any ABI compatibility issue. That is, it will not prevent
an application dynamically linked against *first-shared-library*
to keep working reasonably with *second-shared-library*.
By default, ``abidiff`` filters harmless changes from the diff report.
.. _harmfullabel:
Harmful changes
--------------
A change in the diff report is considered harmful if it might cause
ABI compatibility issues. That is, it might prevent an application
dynamically linked against *first-shared-library* to keep working
reasonably with *second-shared-library*.
.. _ELF: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executable_and_Linkable_Format
.. _DWARF: http://www.dwarfstd.org