Changelog#

Version history#

Koffi 2.3#

Koffi 2.3.20#

Main fixes:

  • Support explicit library unloading with lib.unload()

Koffi 2.3.19#

Main fixes:

  • Actually allow non-ambiguous [string] values for void * arguments

Koffi 2.3.18#

Main fixes:

  • Fix possible crash on exit caused by unregistered callbacks

Koffi 2.3.17#

Main changes:

  • Allow strings for input void *, int8_t * and int16_t * pointer arguments

  • Support using [string] (single-element string arrays) for polymorphic input/output arguments

Koffi 2.3.16#

Main changes:

  • Fix Windows ARM64 build to work with official Node.js version

  • Compile Windows builds with Visual Studio 2022 17.5.3

Other changes:

  • Support null in koffi.free() and koffi.address()

Koffi 2.3.15#

Main changes:

  • Improve manual decoding of 0-terminated strings

  • Add checks around array conversion hints

Koffi 2.3.14#

Main changes:

  • Add koffi.errno() function to get and set current errno value

  • Add koffi.os.errno object with valid errno codes

Koffi 2.3.13#

Main changes:

  • Add koffi.address() to get the raw value of a wrapper pointer

Koffi 2.3.12#

Main fixes:

  • Fix broken syntax in TS definition file

  • Add missing exported properties in TS file

Koffi 2.3.11#

Main changes:

  • Allow numbers and BigInts to be used for pointer arguments

Other changes:

  • Use SQLITE_TRANSIENT in SQLite test code

  • Avoid using statx() to allow compilation with glibc < 2.28

  • Reorganize NPM package files to be less convoluted

Koffi 2.3.9#

Main changes:

  • Relicense under MIT license

Koffi 2.3.8#

Main fixes:

  • Disable non-ready union support

  • Simplify Windows stack allocation and drop NOACCESS and GUARD pages

  • Adjust Windows TEB SEH chain and GuaranteedStackBytes for Koffi calls

Koffi 2.3.7#

Main fixes:

  • Fix missing require in index.js (@gastonFrecceroNapse)

  • Reduce NPM package bloat (from 65 MB to 20 MB) caused by changes in 2.3.6

Koffi 2.3.6#

Main changes:

  • Fix broken TS definition file

  • Keep all prebuilt binaries and load correct one at runtime

Koffi 2.3.5#

Main fixes:

  • Fix rare random crashes with async callbacks

  • Fix some bugs with RISC-V 64 ABI

Other changes:

  • Expose array type hint in koffi.introspect()

  • Add missing koffi.array() export in TS definition

  • Make KoffiFunction more flexible in TS definition (@insraq)

  • Add a KoffiFunc helper type in TS typing (@insraq)

  • Mark optional properties in TS TypeInfo class

  • Minor performance improvements

Koffi 2.3.4#

Main fixes:

  • Fix error when installing Koffi on Windows (2.3.2)

Koffi 2.3.2#

Main changes:

Other changes:

  • Avoid CNoke dependency

  • Clear out development dependencies from package.json

Koffi 2.3.1#

Main changes:

  • Error out when trying to use ambiguous void * arguments (input and/or output)

  • Adjust TypeScript definitions (@insraq)

  • Fix possible crash when parsing invalid prototype

Koffi 2.3.0#

Main changes:

Other changes:

  • Drop TypedArray type check for array and pointer values (only the size matters)

  • Allow ArrayBuffer everywhere TypedArray is supported

  • Add TypeScript definition for Koffi (@insraq)

  • Improve documentation about opaque and polymorphic structs

  • Improve documentation for koffi.decode()

  • Reduce NPM package size (from 100 MB to 25 MB) by removing test code and dependencies

Koffi 2.2#

Koffi 2.2.5#

Main changes:

  • Relicense Koffi under LGPL 3.0

Koffi 2.2.4#

Main fixes:

  • Fix memory leak on Windows (in Koffi 2.2.3) when running many async calls

Other changes:

  • Reorganize documentation pages

Koffi 2.2.3#

Main fixes:

Other changes:

  • Try to use ebp/rbp as frame pointer in x86/x64 ASM code

Koffi 2.2.2#

Main fixes:

  • Support transparent asynchronous callbacks

  • Expand from a maximum of 16+16 to 1024 callbacks running in parallel

Other fixes:

  • Fix bundler support by removing shebang from index.js

  • Fix bugs when loading Koffi multiples times in same process (context aware module)

  • Check N-API version when module is loaded

  • Optimize callback unregistration

Koffi 2.2.1#

Main fixes:

Koffi 2.2.0#

New features:

Other fixes:

  • Correctly validate output parameter types

  • Fix assertion with void * parameters

Koffi 2.1#

Koffi 2.1.5#

Main fixes:

  • Add missing README.md file to NPM package

Koffi 2.1.4#

Main changes:

  • Increase maximum type size from 32 kiB to 64 MiB

  • Add configurable option for maximum type size

Other changes:

Koffi 2.1.3#

Main changes:

  • Support up to 16 output parameters (instead of 8)

Koffi 2.1.2#

Main changes:

  • Support up to 8 output parameters (instead of 4)

Koffi 2.1.1#

Main fixes:

  • Fix potential memory allocation bugs

Koffi 2.1.0#

Main changes:

  • Add koffi.as() to support polymorphic APIs based on void * parameters

  • Add endian-sensitive integer types: intX_le_t, intX_be_t, uintX_le_t, uintX_be_t

  • Accept typed arrays for void * parameters

  • Introduce koffi.opaque() to replace koffi.handle() (which remains supported until Koffi 3.0)

  • Support JS Array and TypedArray to fill struct and array pointer members

Other changes:

  • Improve global performance with inlining and unity builds

  • Add size_t primitive type

  • Support member-specific alignement values in structs

  • Detect impossible parameter and return types (such as non-pointer opaque types)

  • Various documentation fixes and improvements

Koffi 2.0#

Koffi 2.0.1#

Main changes:

  • Return undefined (instead of null) for void functions

Koffi 2.0.0#

Major new features:

  • Add disposable types for automatic disposal of C values (such as heap-allocated strings)

  • Add support for registered callbacks, that can be called after the initial FFI call

  • Support named pointer types

  • Support complex type specifications outside of prototype parser

Minor new features:

  • Support type aliases with koffi.alias()

  • Add koffi.resolve() to resolve type strings

  • Expose all primitive type aliases in koffi.types

  • Correctly pass exceptions thrown in JS callbacks

Breaking API changes:

  • Change handling of callback types, which must be used through pointers

  • Change handling of opaque handles, which must be used through pointers

  • Support all types in koffi.introspect(type)

Consult the migration guide for more information.

Koffi 1.3#

Koffi 1.3.12#

Main fixes:

  • Fix support for Yarn package manager

Koffi 1.3.11#

Main fixes:

  • Fix broken parsing of void * when used for first parameter

Koffi 1.3.10#

Main fixes:

  • Fix support for callbacks with more than 4 parameters on Windows x64

  • Fix support for callbacks with multiple floating-point arguments on ARM32 platforms

  • Fix possibly incorrect conversion for uint32_t callback parameters

Other changes:

  • Various documentation fixes and improvements

Koffi 1.3.9#

Main fixes:

  • Fix prebuild compatibility with Electron on Windows x64

Koffi 1.3.8#

Main changes:

  • Prevent callback reuse beyond FFI call

  • Add BTI support for AAarch64 platforms (except Windows)

Other changes:

  • Fix and harmonize a few error messages

Koffi 1.3.7#

Main fixes:

  • Fix crash when using callbacks inside structs

  • Support for null strings in record members

Other changes:

  • Add intptr_t and uintptr_t primitive types

  • Add str/str16 type aliases for string/string16

  • Various documentation fixes and improvements

Koffi 1.3.6#

Main fixes:

  • Fix install error with Node < 15 on Windows (build system bug)

Other changes:

  • Detect incompatible Node.js versions when installing Koffi

  • Prebuild with Clang for Windows x64 and Linux x64 binaries

  • Various documentation improvements

Koffi 1.3.5#

Main changes:

  • Fix memory leak when many async calls are running

  • Add configurable limit for maximum number of async calls (max_async_calls)

Other changes:

  • Reduce default async memory stack and heap size

  • Various documentation improvements

Koffi 1.3.4#

Main fixes:

  • Fix possible OpenBSD i386 crash with (void) functions

Koffi 1.3.3#

Main fixes:

  • Fix misconversion of signed integer return value as unsigned

Other changes:

  • Support (void) (empty) function signatures

  • Disable unsafe compiler optimizations

  • Various documentation improvements

Koffi 1.3.2#

Main fixes:

  • Support compilation in C++14 mode (graceful degradation)

  • Support older toolchains on Linux (tested on Debian 9)

Koffi 1.3.1#

Main fixes:

  • The prebuilt binary is tested when Koffi is installed, and a rebuild happens if it fails to load

Koffi 1.3.0#

Major changes:

  • Expand and move documentation to https://koffi.dev/

  • Support JS arrays and TypedArrays for pointer arguments (input, output and mixed)

Other changes:

  • Convert NULL string pointers to null instead of crashing (return values, struct and array members, callbacks)

  • Default to ‘string’ array hint for char, char16 and char16_t arrays

  • Fix definition of long types on Windows x64 (LLP64 model)

  • Restrict automatic string conversion to signed char types

  • Detect floating-point ABI before using prebuilt binaries (ARM32, RISC-V)

  • Forbid duplicate member names in struct types

Koffi 1.2#

Koffi 1.2.4#

New features:

  • Windows ARM64 is now supported

Koffi 1.2.3#

New features:

  • A prebuilt binary for macOS ARM64 (M1) is now included

Koffi 1.2.1#

This entry documents changes since version 1.1.0.

New features:

  • JS functions can be used as C callbacks (cdecl, stdcall) on all platforms

  • RISC-V 64 LP64D ABI is supported (LP64 is untested)

  • Expose settings for memory usage of synchronous and asynchronous calls

  • Transparent conversion between C buffers and strings

  • Tentative support for Windows ARM64 (untested)

Main fixes:

  • Fix excessive stack alignment of structs on x86 platforms

  • Fix potential problems with big int64_t/uint64_t values

  • Fix possible struct layout errors in push/pop code

  • Fix alignment issues in ARM32 push code

  • Fix incomplete/buggy support for HFA structs on ARM32 and ARM64

  • Fix crashes on OpenBSD caused by missing MAP_STACK flag

  • Fix non-sense “duplicate array type” errors

  • Fix value koffi.internal to false in module (normal) builds

  • Make sure we have a redzone below the stack for all architectures

  • Use slower allocation for big objects instead of failing

Todo list#

The following features and improvements are planned, not necessarily in that order:

  • Optimize passing of structs and arrays (avoid setting named properties one by one? separate HFA-specific helper functions?)

  • Automate Windows/AArch64 (qemu) and macOS/AArch64 (how? … thanks Apple) tests

  • Create a real-world example, using several libraries (Raylib, SQLite, libsodium) to illustrate various C API styles

  • Add simple struct type parser

  • Add more ways to manually encode and decode various types to and from byte arrays

  • Add support for unions

  • Port Koffi to PowerPC (POWER9+) ABI

  • Fix assembly unwind and CFI directives for better debugging experience