• --help | -h
Display a short help about the command and exit.
• --debug
In this mode, error messages are emitted for types which
fail type canonicalization.
This is an optional ebugging and sanity check option. To
enable it the libabigail package needs to be configured with
the --enable-debug-self-comparison option.
• --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.
This option can be provided several times with different
root directories. In that case, abidiff will potentially
look into all those root directories to find the split debug
info for first-shared-library.
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.
This option can be provided several times with different
root directories. In that case, abidiff will potentially
look into all those root directories to find the split debug
info for second-shared-library.
• --headers-dir1 | --hd1 <headers-directory-path-1>
Specifies where to find the public headers of the first
shared library (or binary in general) that the tool has to
consider. The tool will thus filter out ABI changes on
types that are not defined in public headers.
Note that several public header directories can be specified
for the first shared library. In that case the
--headers-dir1 option should be present several times on the
command line, like in the following example:
$ abidiff --headers-dir1 /some/path \
--headers-dir1 /some/other/path \
binary-version-1 binary-version-2
• --header-file1 | --hf1 <header-file-path-1>
Specifies where to find one public header 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.
Note that several public header directories can be specified
for the second shared library. In that case the
--headers-dir2 option should be present several times like
in the following example:
$ abidiff --headers-dir2 /some/path \
--headers-dir2 /some/other/path \
binary-version-1 binary-version-2
• --header-file2 | --hf2 <header-file-path-2>
Specifies where to find one public header 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,
header-file1, header-file2 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.
• --non-reachable-types|-t
Analyze and emit change reports for all the types of the
binary, including those that are not reachable from global
functions and variables.
This option might incur some serious performance degradation
as the number of types analyzed can be huge. However, if
paired with the --headers-dir{1,2} and/or header-file{1,2}
options, the additional non-reachable types analyzed are
restricted to those defined in public headers files, thus
hopefully making the performance hit acceptable.
Also, using this option alongside suppression specifications
(by also using the --suppressions option) might help keep
the number of analyzed types (and the potential performance
degradation) in control.
Note that without this option, only types that are reachable
from global functions and variables are analyzed, so the
tool detects and reports changes on these reachable types
only.
• --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.
• --show-bytes
Show sizes and offsets in bytes, not bits. By default,
sizes and offsets are shown in bits.
• --show-bits
Show sizes and offsets in bits, not bytes. This option is
activated by default.
• --show-hex
Show sizes and offsets in hexadecimal base.
• --show-dec
Show sizes and offsets in decimal base. This option is
activated by default.
• --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.
• --fail-no-debug-info
If no debug info was found, then this option makes the
program to fail. Otherwise, without this option, the
program will attempt to compare properties of the binaries
that are not related to debug info, like pure ELF
properties.
• --leaf-changes-only|-l only show leaf changes, so don't show
impact analysis report. This option implies --redundant.
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.
