libffi
It seems there is some renewed interest in libffi, the library used by ctypes and JNA to call functions in native libraries from Python and Java, respectively. Until recently, the efforts around libffi have been very fragmented, with various patches only being available in only ctypes or only JNA (or only elsewhere).
On the ctypes side, there are some patches to build libffi with Visual Studio, which are useful for Windows junkies like myself. There is also a patch for Win64 support, which really needs to get into JNA (Java on Windows Server 2003 x64 rocks!). Timothy Wall of JNA fame has also produced some patches. A lot of this work has featured on the gcc-patches mailing list.
Anthony Green is also doing some work on libffi, but this seems to be happening separately from the work of the gcc-patches folks. Hopefully all these disparate efforts can be unified so that we can all benefit from a single libffi that works on many platforms (including Win64, please!).
February 19th, 2008 at 5:15 pm
Glad Server 2003’s working out so well for you =) If you’re interested in Server 2008 at all, there’ll be plenty of into about switching over at the Heroes Happen Here launch events.
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Fred Reckling
Microsoft 2008 Joint Launch Team
http://www.microsoft.com/2008jointlaunch/