How To Install libffi on Fedora 34

libffi is A portable foreign function interface library A portable foreign function interface library

Introduction

In this tutorial we learn how to install libffi on Fedora 34.

What is `libffi`

Compilers for high level languages generate code that follow certain conventions. These conventions are necessary, in part, for separate compilation to work. One such convention is the “calling convention”. The calling convention is a set of assumptions made by the compiler about where function arguments will be found on entry to a function. A calling convention also specifies where the return value for a function is found. Some programs may not know at the time of compilation what arguments are to be passed to a function. For instance, an interpreter may be told at run-time about the number and types of arguments used to call a given function. Libffi' can be used in such programs to provide a bridge from the interpreter program to compiled code. The libffi’ library provides a portable, high level programming interface to various calling conventions. This allows a programmer to call any function specified by a call interface description at run time. FFI stands for Foreign Function Interface. A foreign function interface is the popular name for the interface that allows code written in one language to call code written in another language. The libffi' library really only provides the lowest, machine dependent layer of a fully featured foreign function interface. A layer must exist above libffi’ that handles type conversions for values passed between the two languages. libffi 3.1 28.fc34 i686 32 k libffi-3.1-28.fc34.src.rpm fedora A portable foreign function interface library http MIT Compilers for high level languages generate code that follow certain conventions. These conventions are necessary, in part, for separate compilation to work. One such convention is the “calling convention”. The calling convention is a set of assumptions made by the compiler about where function arguments will be found on entry to a function. A calling convention also specifies where the return value for a function is found. Some programs may not know at the time of compilation what arguments are to be passed to a function. For instance, an interpreter may be told at run-time about the number and types of arguments used to call a given function. Libffi' can be used in such programs to provide a bridge from the interpreter program to compiled code. The libffi’ library provides a portable, high level programming interface to various calling conventions. This allows a programmer to call any function specified by a call interface description at run time. FFI stands for Foreign Function Interface. A foreign function interface is the popular name for the interface that allows code written in one language to call code written in another language. The libffi' library really only provides the lowest, machine dependent layer of a fully featured foreign function interface. A layer must exist above libffi’ that handles type conversions for values passed between the two languages.

We can use yum or dnf to install libffi on Fedora 34. In this tutorial we discuss both methods but you only need to choose one of method to install libffi.

Install libffi on Fedora 34 Using dnf

Update yum database with dnf using the following command.

sudo dnf makecache --refresh

The output should look something like this:

Fedora 34 - x86_64                               20 kB/s | 6.6 kB     00:00
Fedora 34 openh264 (From Cisco) - x86_64        1.4 kB/s | 989  B     00:00
Fedora Modular 34 - x86_64                       68 kB/s | 6.5 kB     00:00
Fedora 34 - x86_64 - Updates                    3.5 kB/s | 6.2 kB     00:01
Fedora Modular 34 - x86_64 - Updates             17 kB/s | 5.9 kB     00:00
Metadata cache created.

After updating yum database, We can install libffi using dnf by running the following command:

sudo dnf -y install libffi

Install libffi on Fedora 34 Using yum

Update yum database with yum using the following command.

sudo yum makecache --refresh

The output should look something like this:

Fedora 34 - x86_64                               20 kB/s | 6.6 kB     00:00
Fedora 34 openh264 (From Cisco) - x86_64        1.4 kB/s | 989  B     00:00
Fedora Modular 34 - x86_64                       68 kB/s | 6.5 kB     00:00
Fedora 34 - x86_64 - Updates                    3.5 kB/s | 6.2 kB     00:01
Fedora Modular 34 - x86_64 - Updates             17 kB/s | 5.9 kB     00:00
Metadata cache created.

After updating yum database, We can install libffi using yum by running the following command:

sudo yum -y install libffi

How To Uninstall libffi on Fedora 34

To uninstall only the libffi package we can use the following command:

sudo dnf remove libffi

libffi Package Contents on Fedora 34

/usr/lib/.build-id
/usr/lib/.build-id/79
/usr/lib/.build-id/79/19f46637f314538a614abc03b9580b96b026d4
/usr/lib64/libffi.so.6
/usr/lib64/libffi.so.6.0.2
/usr/share/doc/libffi
/usr/share/doc/libffi/README
/usr/share/licenses/libffi
/usr/share/licenses/libffi/LICENSE
/usr/lib/.build-id
/usr/lib/.build-id/d5
/usr/lib/.build-id/d5/30c4b9ddc48ad0af2f363885ef71a1c532bf2b
/usr/lib/libffi.so.6
/usr/lib/libffi.so.6.0.2
/usr/share/doc/libffi
/usr/share/doc/libffi/README
/usr/share/licenses/libffi
/usr/share/licenses/libffi/LICENSE

References

[libffi website](http://sourceware.org/libffi http://sourceware.org/libffi)

Summary

In this tutorial we learn how to install libffi on Fedora 34 using yum and dnf.