What is Application binary interface (ABI)?

The machine-level agreement that lets compiled programs and libraries work together, covering the calling convention, data type sizes and alignment, how system calls are made and more.

Field: ISA & Assembly

Application binary interface (ABI) in the explanations

Questions that mention Application binary interface (ABI) (3)

  1. Which correctly describes an ABI (application binary interface)?
  2. What is the main purpose of defining a calling convention?
  3. When building a shared library, what is the advantage of exporting only the public functions and giving internal functions "hidden" symbol visibility?

Related terms

Calling convention Instruction set architecture (ISA) Shared library Procedure linkage table (PLT) Dynamic linker Addressing mode Assembler Branch delay slot Callee-saved register Caller-saved register

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