Introduction
The motivation behind this foreign function interface (FFI) specification is
to make it possible to describe in Haskell source code
the interface to foreign functionality in a Haskell system independent
manner. It builds on experiences made with the previous foreign function
interfaces provided by GHC and Hugs. However, the FFI specified in this
document is not in the market of trying to completely bridge the gap between
the actual type of an external function, and what is a
convenient type for that function to the Haskell
programmer. That is the domain of tools like HaskellDirect or Green Card, both
of which are capable of generating Haskell code that uses this FFI.
Generally, the FFI consists of three parts:
extensions to the base language Haskell 98 (most notably foreign
import and foreign export declarations), which
are specified in the present document,
a low-level marshalling library, which is part of the
Language part of the Haskell Extension
Library (see ), and a
a high-level marshalling library, which is still under development.
Before diving into the details of the language extension coming with the FFI,
let us briefly outline the two other components of the interface.
The low-level marshalling library consists of a portion that is independent of
the targeted foreign language and dedicated support for Haskell bindings to C
libraries (special support for other languages may be added in the future).
The language independent part is given by the module
Foreign module (see ). It
provides support for handling references to foreign structures, for passing
references to Haskell structures out to foreign routines, and for storing
primitive data types in raw memory blocks in a portable manner. The support
for C libraries essentially provides Haskell representations for all basic
types of C (see and ).
The high-level library, of which the interface definition is not yet
finalised, provides routines for marshalling complex Haskell structures as
well as handling out and in-out parameters in a convenient, yet protable way.
In the following, we will discuss the language extensions of the FFI (ie, the
first point above). They can be split up into two complementary halves; one
half that provides Haskell constructs for importing foreign functionality into
Haskell, the other which lets you expose Haskell functions to the outside
world. We start with the former, how to import external functionality into
Haskell.
Calling foreign functions
To bind a Haskell variable name and type to an external function, we
introduce a new construct: foreign import. It defines the type of a Haskell function together with the name of an external function that actually implements it. The syntax of foreign import construct is as follows:
topdecl
: ...
..
| 'foreign' 'import' [callconv] [ext_fun] ['unsafe'] varid '::' prim_type
A foreign import declaration is only allowed as a toplevel
declaration. It consists of two parts, one giving the Haskell type
(prim_type), Haskell name (varid) and a flag indicating whether the
primitive is unsafe, the other giving details of the name of the
external function (ext_fun) and its calling interface
(callconv.)
Giving a Haskell name and type to an external entry point is clearly
an unsafe thing to do, as the external name will in most cases be
untyped. The onus is on the programmer using foreign import to
ensure that the Haskell type given correctly maps on to the
type of the external function.
specifies the mapping from
Haskell types to external types.
Giving the external function a Haskell name
The external function has to be given a Haskell name. The name
must be a Haskell varid, so the language rules regarding
variable names must be followed, i.e., it must start with a
lower case letter followed by a sequence of alphanumeric
(`in the Unicode sense') characters or '.
Notice that with Haskell 98, underscore ('_') is included in
the character class small.
varid : small ( small | large | udigit | ' )*
Naming the external function
The name of the external function consists of two parts,
one specifying its location, the other its name:
ext_fun : ext_loc ext_name
| ext_name
ext_name : string
ext_loc : string
For example,
foreign import stdcall "Advapi32" "RegCloseKey" regCloseKey :: Addr -> IO ()
states that the external function named RegCloseKey at location
Advapi32 should be bound to the Haskell name regCloseKey.
For a Win32 Haskell implementation that supports the loading of DLLs
on-the-fly, this declaration will most likely cause the run-time
system to load the Advapi32.dll DLL before looking up the
function RegCloseKey() therein to get at the function pointer
to use when invoking regCloseKey.
Compiled implementations may do something completely different, i.e.,
mangle "RegCloseKey" to convert it into an archive/import library
symbol, that's assumed to be in scope when linking. The details of
which are platform (and compiler command-line) dependent.
If the location part is left out, the name of the external function
specifies a symbol that is assumed to be in scope when linking.
The location part can either contain an absolute `address' (i.e.,
path) of the archive/DLL, or just its name, leaving it up to the
underlying system (system meaning both RTS/compiler and OS) to resolve
the name to its real location.
An implementation is expected to be able to intelligently
transform the ext_loc location to fit platform-specific
practices for naming dynamic libraries. For instance, given the
declaration
foreign import "Foo" "foo" foo :: Int -> Int -> IO ()
an implementation should map Foo to "Foo.dll" on a Win32
platform, and libFoo.so on ELF platforms. If the lookup of the
dynamic library with this transformed location name should fail, the
implementation should then attempt to use the original name before
eventually giving up. As part of their documentation, implementations
of foreign import should specify the exact details of how
ext_locs are transformed and resolved, including the list of
directories searched (and the order in which they are.)
In the case the Haskell name of the imported function is identical to
the external name, the ext_fun can be omitted. i.e.,
foreign import sin :: Double -> IO Double
is identical to
foreign import "sin" sin :: Double -> IO Double
Calling conventions
The number of calling conventions supported is fixed:
callconv : ccall | stdcall
ccall
The 'default' calling convention on a platform, i.e., the one
used to do (C) function calls.
In the case of x86 platforms, the caller pushes function arguments
from right to left on the C stack before calling. The caller is
responsible for popping the arguments off of the C stack on return.
stdcall
A Win32 specific calling convention. The same as ccall, except
that the callee cleans up the C stack before returning.
The stdcall is a Microsoft Win32 specific wrinkle; it's used
throughout the Win32 API, for instance. On platforms where
stdcall isn't meaningful, it should be treated as being equal
to ccall.
Some remarks:
Interoperating well with external code is the name of the game here,
so the guiding principle when deciding on what calling conventions
to include in callconv is that there's a demonstrated need for
a particular calling convention. Should it emerge that the inclusion
of other calling conventions will generally improve the quality of
this Haskell FFI, they will be considered for future inclusion in
callconv.
Supporting stdcall (and perhaps other platform-specific calling
conventions) raises the issue of whether a Haskell FFI should allow
the user to write platform-specific Haskell code. The calling
convention is clearly an integral part of an external function's
interface, so if the one used differs from the standard one specified
by the platform's ABI and that convention is used by a
non-trivial amount of external functions, the view of the FFI authors
is that a Haskell FFI should support it.
For foreign import (and other foreign declarations),
supplying the calling convention is optional. If it isn't supplied,
it is treated as if ccall was specified. Users are encouraged
to leave out the specification of the calling convention, if possible.
External function types
The range of types that can be passed as arguments to an external
function is restricted (as are the range of results coming back):
prim_type : IO prim_result
| prim_result
| prim_arg '->' prim_type
If you associate a non-IO type with an external function, you
have the same 'proof obligations' as when you make use of
IOExts.unsafePerformIO in your Haskell programs.
The external function is strict in all its arguments.
GHC only: The GHC FFI implementation provides one extension
to prim_type:
prim_type : ...
| unsafe_arr_ty '->' prim_type
unsafe_arr_ty : ByteArray a
| MutableByteArray i s a
GHC permits the passing of its byte array primitive types
to external functions. There's some restrictions on when
they can be used; see
for more details.
defines
prim_result;
defines prim_arg.
Argument types
The external function expects zero or more arguments. The set of legal
argument types is restricted to the following set:
prim_arg : ext_ty | new_ty | ForeignObj
new_ty : a Haskell newtype of a prim_arg.
ext_ty : int_ty | word_ty | float_ty
| Addr | Char | StablePtr a
| Bool
int_ty : Int | Int8 | Int16 | Int32 | Int64
word_ty : Word8 | Word16 | Word32 | Word64
float_ty : Float | Double
ext_ty represent the set of basic types supported by
C-like languages, although the numeric types are explicitly sized.
The stable pointer StablePtr type looks out of place in
this list of C-like types, but it has a well-defined and simple
C mapping, see
for details.
prim_arg represent the set of permissible argument types. In
addition to ext_ty, ForeignObj is also included.
The ForeignObj type represent values that are pointers to some
external entity/object. It differs from the Addr type in that
ForeignObjs are finalized, i.e., once the garbage collector
determines that a ForeignObj is unreachable, it will invoke a
finalising procedure attached to the ForeignObj to notify the
outside world that we're through with using it.
Haskell newtypes that wrap up a prim_arg type can also
be passed to external functions.
Haskell type synonyms for any of the above can also be used
in foreign import declarations. Qualified names likewise,
i.e. Word.Word32 is legal.
foreign import does not support the binding to external
constants/variables. A foreign import declaration that takes no
arguments represent a binding to a function with no arguments.
GHC only: GHC's implementation of the FFI provides
two extensions:
Support for passing heap allocated byte arrays to an external
function
prim_type : ...
| prim_arg '->' prim_type
| unsafe_arr_ty '->' prim_type
unsafe_arr_ty : ByteArray a
| MutableByteArray i s a
GHC's ByteArray and MutableByteArray primitive types are
(im)mutable chunks of memory allocated on the Haskell heap, and
pointers to these can be passed to foreign imported external
functions provided they are marked as unsafe. Since it is
inherently unsafe to hand out references to objects in the Haskell
heap if the external call may cause a garbage collection to happen,
you have to annotate the foreign import declaration with
the attribute unsafe. By doing so, the user explicitly states
that the external function won't provoke a garbage collection,
so passing out heap references to the external function is allright.
Another GHC extension is the support for unboxed types:
prim_arg : ... | unboxed_h_ty
ext_ty : .... | unboxed_ext_ty
unboxed_ext_ty : Int# | Word# | Char#
| Float# | Double# | Addr#
| StablePtr# a
unboxed_h_ty : MutableByteArray# | ForeignObj#
| ByteArray#
Clearly, if you want to be portable across Haskell systems, using
system-specific extensions such as this is not advisable; avoid
using them if you can. (Support for using unboxed types might
be withdrawn sometime in the future.)
Result type
An external function is permitted to return the following
range of types:
prim_result : ext_ty | new_ext_ty | ()
new_ext_ty : a Haskell newtype of an ext_ty.
where () represents void / no result.
External functions cannot raise exceptions (IO exceptions or non-IO ones.)
It is the responsibility of the foreign import user to layer
any error handling on top of an external function.
Only external types (ext_ty) can be passed back, i.e., returning
ForeignObjs is not supported/allowed.
Haskell newtypes that wrap up ext_ty are also permitted.
Type mapping
For the FFI to be of any practical use, the properties and sizes of
the various types that can be communicated between the Haskell world
and the outside, needs to be precisely defined. We do this by
presenting a mapping to C, as it is commonly used and most other
languages define a mapping to it. Table
defines the mapping between Haskell and C types.
Mapping of Haskell types to C types
Haskell type
C type
requirement
range (9)
Char
HsChar
unspec. integral type
HS_CHAR_MIN .. HS_CHAR_MAX
Int
HsInt
signed integral of unspec. size(4)
HS_INT_MIN ..
HS_INT_MAX
Int8 (2)
HsInt8
8 bit signed integral
HS_INT8_MIN
..
HS_INT8_MAX
Int16 (2)
HsInt16
16 bit signed integral
HS_INT16_MIN
.. HS_INT16_MAX
Int32 (2)
HsInt32
32 bit signed integral
HS_INT32_MIN ..
HS_INT32_MAX
Int64 (2,3)
HsInt64
64 bit signed integral (3)
HS_INT64_MIN ..
HS_INT64_MAX
Word8 (2)
HsWord8
8 bit unsigned integral
0 ..
HS_WORD8_MAX
Word16 (2)
HsWord16
16 bit unsigned integral
0 ..
HS_WORD16_MAX
Word32 (2)
HsWord32
32 bit unsigned integral
0 ..
HS_WORD32_MAX
Word64 (2,3)
HsWord64
64 bit unsigned integral (3)
0 ..
HS_WORD64_MAX
Float
HsFloat
floating point of unspec. size (5)
(10)
Double
HsDouble
floating point of unspec. size (5)
(10)
Bool
HsBool
unspec. integral type
(11)
Addr
HsAddr
void* (6)
ForeignObj
HsForeignObj
void* (7)
StablePtr
HsStablePtr
void* (8)
Some remarks:
A Haskell system that implements the FFI will supply a header file
HsFFI.h that includes target platform specific definitions
for the above types and values.
The sized numeric types Hs{Int,Word}{8,16,32,64} have
a 1-1 mapping to ISO C 99's {,u}int{8,16,32,64}_t. For systems
that doesn't support this revision of ISO C, a best-fit mapping
onto the supported C types is provided.
An implementation which does not support 64 bit integral types
on the C side should implement Hs{Int,Word}64 as a struct. In
this case the bounds HS_INT64_{MIN,MAX} and HS_WORD64_MAX
are undefined.
A valid Haskell representation of Int has to be equal to or
wider than 30 bits. The HsInt synonym is guaranteed to map
onto a C type that satisifies Haskell's requirement for Int.
It is guaranteed that Hs{Float,Double} are one of C's
floating-point types float/double/long double.
It is guaranteed that HsAddr is of the same size as void*, so
any other pointer type can be converted to and from HsAddr without any
loss of information (K&R, Appendix A6.8).
Foreign objects are handled like Addr by the FFI, so there
is again the guarantee that HsForeignObj is the same as
void*. The separate name is meant as a reminder that there is
a finalizer attached to the object pointed to.
Stable pointers are passed as addresses by the FFI, but this is
only because a void* is used as a generic container in most
APIs, not because they are real addresses. To make this special
case clear, a separate C type is used here.
The bounds are preprocessor macros, so they can be used in
#if and for array bounds.
Floating-point limits are a little bit more complicated, so
preprocessor macros mirroring ISO C's float.h are provided:
HS_{FLOAT,DOUBLE}_RADIX
HS_{FLOAT,DOUBLE}_ROUNDS
HS_{FLOAT,DOUBLE}_EPSILON
HS_{FLOAT,DOUBLE}_DIG
HS_{FLOAT,DOUBLE}_MANT_DIG
HS_{FLOAT,DOUBLE}_MIN
HS_{FLOAT,DOUBLE}_MIN_EXP
HS_{FLOAT,DOUBLE}_MIN_10_EXP
HS_{FLOAT,DOUBLE}_MAX
HS_{FLOAT,DOUBLE}_MAX_EXP
HS_{FLOAT,DOUBLE}_MAX_10_EXP
It is guaranteed that Haskell's False/True map to
C's 0/1, respectively, and vice versa. The mapping of
any other integral value to Bool is left unspecified.
To avoid name clashes, identifiers starting with Hs and
macros starting with HS_ are reserved for the FFI.
GHC only: The GHC specific types ByteArray and
MutableByteArray both map to char*.
Invoking external functions via a pointer
A foreign import declaration imports an external
function into Haskell. (The name of the external function
is statically known, but the loading/linking of it may very well
be delayed until run-time.) A foreign import declaration is then
(approximately) just a type cast of an external function with a
statically known name.
An extension of foreign import is the support for dynamic type
casts of external names/addresses:
topdecl
: ...
..
| 'foreign' 'import' [callconv] 'dynamic' ['unsafe']
varid :: Addr -> (prim_args -> IO prim_result)
i.e., identical to a foreign import declaration, but for the
specification of dynamic instead of the name of an external
function. The presence of dynamic indicates that when an
application of varid is evaluated, the function pointed to by its
first argument will be invoked, passing it the rest of varid's
arguments.
What are the uses of this? Native invocation of COM methods,
Or the interfacing to any other software component technologies.
Haskell libraries that want to be dressed up as C libs (and hence may have
to support C callbacks), Haskell code that need to dynamically load
and execute code.
Exposing Haskell functions
So far we've provided the Haskell programmer with ways of importing
external functions into the Haskell world. The other half of the FFI
coin is how to expose Haskell functionality to the outside world. So,
dual to the foreign import declaration is foreign export:
topdecl
: ...
..
| 'foreign' 'export' callconv [ext_name] varid :: prim_type
A foreign export declaration tells the compiler to expose a
locally defined Haskell function to the outside world, i.e., wrap
it up behind a calling interface that's useable from C. It is only
permitted at the toplevel, where you have to specify the type at
which you want to export the function, along with the calling
convention to use. For instance, the following export declaration:
foreign export ccall "foo" bar :: Int -> Addr -> IO Double
will cause a Haskell system to generate the following C callable
function:
HsDouble foo(HsInt arg1, HsAddr arg2);
When invoked, it will call the Haskell function bar, passing
it the two arguments that was passed to foo().
The range of types that can be passed as arguments and results
is restricted, since varid has got a prim_type.
It is not possible to directly export operator symbols.
The type checker will verify that the type given for the
foreign export declaration is compatible with the type given to
function definition itself. The type in the foreign export may
be less general than that of the function itself. For example,
this is legal:
f :: Num a => a -> a
foreign export ccall "fInt" f :: Int -> Int
foreign export ccall "fFloat" f :: Float -> Float
These declarations export two C-callable procedures fInt and
fFloat, both of which are implemented by the (overloaded)
Haskell function f.
The foreign exported IO action must catch all exceptions, as
the FFI does not address how to signal Haskell exceptions to the
outside world.
Exposing Haskell function values
The foreign export declaration gives the C programmer access to
statically defined Haskell functions. It does not allow you to
conveniently expose dynamically-created Haskell function values as C
function pointers though. To permit this, the FFI supports
dynamic foreign exports:
topdecl
: ...
..
| 'foreign' 'export' [callconv] 'dynamic' varid :: prim_type -> IO Addr
A foreign export dynamic declaration declares a C function
pointer generator. Given a Haskell function value of some restricted
type, the generator wraps it up behind an externally callable interface,
returning an Addr to an externally callable (C) function pointer.
When that function pointer is eventually called, the corresponding
Haskell function value is applied to the function pointer's arguments
and evaluated, returning the result (if any) back to the caller.
The mapping between the argument to a foreign export dynamic
declaration and its corresponding C function pointer type, is as
follows:
typedef cType[[Res]] (*Varid_FunPtr)
(cType[[Ty_1]] ,.., cType[[Ty_n]]);
where cType[[]] is the Haskell to C type mapping presented
in .
To make it all a bit more concrete, here's an example:
foreign export dynamic mkCallback :: (Int -> IO Int) -> IO Addr
foreign import registerCallback :: Addr -> IO ()
exportCallback :: (Int -> IO Int) -> IO ()
exportCallback f = do
fx <- mkCallback f
registerCallback fx
The exportCallback lets you register a Haskell function value as
a callback function to some external library. The C type of the
callback that the external library expects in registerCallback(),
is:
An FFI implementation is encouraged to generate the C typedef corresponding
to a foreign export dynamic declaration, but isn't required
to do so.
typedef HsInt (*mkCallback_FunPtr) (HsInt arg1);
Creating the view of a Haskell closure as a C function pointer entails
registering the Haskell closure as a 'root' with the underlying
Haskell storage system, so that it won't be garbage collected. The FFI
implementation takes care of this, but when the outside world is
through with using a C function pointer generated by a foreign
export dynamic declaration, it needs to be explicitly freed. This is
done by calling:
void freeHaskellFunctionPtr(void *ptr);
In the event you need to free these function pointers from within
Haskell, a standard 'foreign import'ed binding of the above C entry
point is also provided,
Foreign.freeHaskellFunctionPtr :: Addr -> IO ()
Code addresses
The foreign import declaration allows us to invoke an external
function by name from within the comforts of the Haskell world, while
foreign import dynamic lets us invoke an external function by
address. However, there's no way of getting at the code address of
some particular external label though, which is at times useful,
e.g. for the construction of method tables for, say, Haskell COM
components. To support this, the FFI has got foreign labels:
foreign label "freeAtLast" addrOf_freeAtLast :: Addr
The meaning of this declaration is that addrOf_freeAtLast will now
contain the address of the label freeAtLast.