xref: /freebsd/share/man/man9/cdefs.9 (revision 5680cf6dc6e25cffa3930e9cb06f6982fcb80209)
1.\"-
2.\" Copyright (c) 2024 M. Warner Losh <imp@FreeBSD.org>
3.\"
4.\" SPDX-License-Identifier: BSD-2-Clause
5.\"
6.Dd July 20, 2024
7.Dt CDEFS 9
8.Os
9.Sh NAME
10.Nm cdefs
11.Nd compiler portability macro definitions
12.Sh DESCRIPTION
13.In sys/cdefs.h
14defines macros for compiler, C language standard portability, POSIX standards
15compliance and symbol visibility.
16It defines programming interfaces for the system header files to adopt to the
17many environments
18.Fx
19supports compilation for.
20It defines convenience macros for the
21.Fx
22sources, tailored to the base
23system's needs.
24.Pp
25Most of these macros are for use inside the
26.Fx
27sources only.
28They are not intended as a general portability layer.
29.Sh Supported Compilers
30.Bl -tag -offset 2n -width 0
31.It Compilers supported for building programs on Fx :
32.Bl -column -offset 0n indent-two
33.It Sy Compiler Ta Sy Versions
34.It gcc Ta 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14
35.It clang Ta 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18
36.It TinyC (tcc) Ta 0.9
37.It pcc Ta 1.1
38.El
39.Pp
40Due to testing constraints, tcc and pcc may not always work.
41.It Compilers supported for building Fx itself:
42.Bl -column -offset 0n indent-two
43.It Sy Compiler Ta Sy Major Versions Supported
44.It gcc Ta 12, 13, 14
45.It clang Ta 16, 17, 18
46.El
47.Pp
48Please note: Not every single minor versions of these compilers
49will work or are supported.
50.Sh Macros and Magic for Programming Environment
51.Nm
52defines (or refrains from defining) a number of macros to increase portability
53of compiled programs.
54These are to allow more advanced language features to appear in header files.
55The header files assume a compiler that accepts C prototype function
56declarations.
57They also assume that the compiler accepts ANSI C89 keywords for all language
58dialects.
59.Ss General Macros
60General macros that facilitate multiple language environments and language
61dialects.
62.Bl -column "---------------"
63.It Sy Macro Ta Sy Description
64.It Dv __volatile Ta expands to volatile in C++ and C89 and newer environments,
65__volatile in pre-ANSI environments that support this extension or nothing
66otherwise.
67.It Dv __inline Ta expands to inline in C++ and C89 and newer environments,
68__inline in pre-ANSI environments that support this extension or nothing
69otherwise.
70.It Dv __restrict Ta expands to restrict in C99 and newer environments, or
71__restrict otherwise.
72.It Dv __CONCAT Ta used to paste two pre-processor tokens.
73.It Dv __STRING Ta used to convert the argument to a string.
74.It Dv __BEGIN_DECLS Ta Start a group of functions.
75.It Dv __END_DECLS Ta End a group of functions.
76In a C environment, these are defined as nothing.
77In a C++ environment, these declare the functions to have
78.Dq C
79linkage.
80.El
81.Ss Function, Structure and Variable Modifiers
82.Bl -column "---------------"
83.It Sy Macro Ta Sy Description
84.It Sy __weak_symbol Ta Declare the symbol to be a weak symbol
85.It Sy __dead2 Ta Function will not return
86.It Sy __pure2 Ta Function has no side effects
87.It Sy __unused Ta To Variable may be unused (usually arguments), so do not warn about it
88.It Sy __used Ta Function really is used, so emit it even if it appears unused.
89.It Sy __packed Ta \&Do not have space between structure elements for natural alignment.
90Used when communicating with external protocols.
91.It Sy __aligned(x) Ta Specify in bytes the minimum alignment for the specified field, structure or variable
92.It Sy __section(x) Ta Place function or variable in section Fa x
93.It Sy __writeonly Ta Hint that the variable is only assigned to, but do not warn about it.
94Useful for macros and other places the eventual use of the result is unknown.
95.It Sy __alloc_size(x) Ta The function always returns at least the number of
96bytes determined by argument number Fa x
97.It Sy __alloc_size2(x,n) Ta  The function always returns an array, whose size
98is at least the number of bytes determined by argument number Fa x times the
99number of elements specified by argument number Fa n
100.It Sy __alloc_align(x) Ta Function either returns a pointer aligned to Fa x bytes
101or Dv NULL.
102.It Sy __min_size Ta Declare the array to have a certain, minimum size
103.It Sy __malloc_like Ta Function behaves like the
104.Dq malloc
105family of functions.
106.It Sy __pure Ta Function has no side effects
107.It Sy __always_inline Ta Always inline this function when called
108.It Sy __fastcall Ta Use the
109.Dq fastcall
110ABI to call and name mangle this function.
111.It Sy __result_use_check Ta Warn if function caller does not use it's return value
112.It Sy __result_use_or_ignore_check Ta Warn if function caller does not use it's return value.
113Allows the value to be explicitly ignored with a (void) cast.
114.It Sy __returns_twice Ta Returns multiple times, like
115.Xr fork 2
116.It Sy __unreachable Ta This code is not reachable at runtime
117.It Sy __predict_true(x) Ta Hint to the compiler that
118.Fa x
119is true most of the time.
120Should only be used when performance is improved for a frequently called bit of code.
121.It Sy __predict_false(x) Ta Hint to the compiler that
122.Fa x
123is false most of the time.
124Should only be used when performance is improved for a frequently called bit of code.
125.It Sy __null_sentinel Ta The varadic function contains a parameter that is
126a NULL sentinel to mark the end of its arguments.
127.It Sy __exported Ta
128.It Sy __hidden Ta
129.It Sy __printflike(fmtarg,firstvararg) Ta Function is similar to
130.Fn printf
131which specifies the format argument with
132.Fa fmtarg
133and where the arguments formatted by that format start with the
134.Fa firstvararg ,
135with 0 meaning that
136.Dv va_arg
137is used and cannot be checked.
138.It Sy __scanflike(fmtarg,firstvararg) Ta Function is similar to
139.Fn scanf
140which specifies the format argument with
141.Fa fmtarg
142and where the arguments formatted by that format start with the
143.Fa firstvararg ,
144with 0 meaning that
145.Dv va_arg
146is used and cannot be checked.
147.It Sy __format_arg(f) Ta Specifies that arg
148.Fa f
149contains a string that will be passed to a function like
150.Fn printf
151or
152.Fa scanf
153after being translated in some way.
154.It Sy __strfmonlike(fmtarg,firstvararg) Ta Function is similar to
155.Fn scanf
156which specifies the format argument with
157.Fa fmtarg
158and where the arguments formatted by that format start with the
159.Fa firstvararg ,
160with 0 meaning that
161.Dv va_arg
162is used and cannot be checked.
163.It Sy __strtimelike(fmtarg,firstvararg) Ta Function is similar to
164.Fn scanf
165which specifies the format argument with
166.Fa fmtarg
167and where the arguments formatted by that format start with the
168.Fa firstvararg ,
169with 0 meaning that
170.Dv va_arg
171is used and cannot be checked.
172.It Sy __printf0like(fmtarg,firstvararg) Ta Exactly the same
173as
174.Sy __printflike
175except
176.Fa fmtarg
177may be
178.Dv NULL.
179.It Sy __strong_reference(sym,aliassym) Ta
180.It Sy __weak_reference(sym,alias) Ta
181.It Sy __warn_references(sym,msg) Ta
182.It Sy __sym_compat(sym,impl,verid) Ta
183.It Sy __sym_default(sym,impl,verid) Ta
184.It Sy __GLOBAL(sym) Ta
185.It Sy __WEAK(sym) Ta
186.It Sy __DECONST(type,var) Ta
187.It Sy __DEVOLATILE(type,var) Ta
188.It Sy __DEQUALIFY(type,var) Ta
189.It Sy __RENAME(x) Ta
190.It Sy __arg_type_tag Ta
191.It Sy __datatype_type_tag Ta
192.It Sy __align_up(x,y) Ta
193.It Sy __align_down(x,y) Ta
194.It Sy __is_aligned(x,y) Ta
195.El
196.Ss Locking and Debugging Macros
197Macros for lock annotation and debugging, as well as some general debugging
198macros for address sanitizers.
199.Bl -column "---------------"
200.It Sy __lock_annotate(x) Ta
201.It Sy __lockable Ta
202.It Sy __locks_exclusive Ta
203.It Sy __locks_shared Ta
204.It Sy __trylocks_exclusive Ta
205.It Sy __trylocks_shared Ta
206.It Sy __unlocks Ta
207.It Sy __asserts_exclusive Ta
208.It Sy __asserts_shared Ta
209.It Sy __requires_exclusive Ta
210.It Sy __requires_shared Ta
211.It Sy __requires_unlocked Ta
212.It Sy __no_lock_analysis Ta
213.It Sy __nosanitizeaddress Ta
214.It Sy __nosanitizememory Ta
215.It Sy __nosanitizethread Ta
216.It Sy __nostackprotector Ta
217.It Sy __guarded_by(x) Ta
218.It Sy __pt_guarded_by(x) Ta
219.El
220.Ss Emulated Keywords
221As C evolves, many of the old macros we once used have been incorporated into
222the standard language.
223As this happens, we add support for these keywords as macros for older
224compilation environments.
225Sometimes this results in a nop in the older environment.
226.Bl -column "---------------"
227.It Sy Keyword Ta Sy Description
228.It Sy _Alignas(x) Ta
229.It Sy _Alignof(x) Ta
230.It Sy _Noreturn Ta Expands to
231.Dq [[noreturn]]
232in C++-11 and newer compilation environments, otherwise
233.Dq __dead2
234.It Sy _Static_assert(x, y) Ta Compile time assertion that
235.Fa x
236is true, otherwise emit
237.Fa y
238as the error message.
239.It Sy _Thread_local Ta Designate variable as thread local storage
240.It Sy __generic Ta implement _Generic-like features which aren't entirely possible to emulate the _Generic keyword
241.It Sy __noexcept Ta to emulate the C++11 argument-less noexcept form
242.It Sy __noexcept_if Ta to emulate the C++11 conditional noexcept form
243.It Sy _Nonnull Ta
244.It Sy _Nullable Ta
245.It Sy _Null_unspecified Ta
246.El
247.Ss Support Macros
248The following macros are defined, or have specific values, to denote certain
249things about the build environment.
250.Bl -column "---------------"
251.It Sy Macro Ta Sy Description
252.It Sy __LONG_LONG_SUPPORTED Ta Variables may be declared
253.Dq long long .
254This is defined for C99 or newer and C++ environments.
255.It Sy __STDC_LIMIT_MACROS Ta
256.It Sy __STDC_CONSTANT_MACROS Ta
257.El
258.Ss Convenience Macros
259These macros make it easier to do a number of things, even though strictly
260speaking the standard places their normal form in another header.
261.Bl -column "---------------"
262.It Sy Macro Ta Sy Description
263.It Sy __offsetof(type,field) Ta
264.It Sy __rangeof(type,start,end) Ta
265.It Sy __containerof(x,s,m) Ta
266.El
267.Ss ID Strings
268This section is deprecated, but is kept around because too much contrib software
269still uses these.
270.Bl -column "---------------"
271.It Sy Macro Ta Sy Description
272.It Sy __IDSTRING(name,string) Ta
273.It Sy __FBSDID(s) Ta
274.It Sy __RCSID(s) Ta
275.It Sy __RCSID_SOURCE(s) Ta
276.It Sy __SCCSID(s) Ta
277.It Sy __COPYRIGHT(s) Ta
278.El
279.Sh Supported C Environments
280.Fx
281supports a number C standard environments.
282Selection of the language dialect is a compiler-dependent command line option,
283though it is usually
284.Fl std=XX
285where XX is the standard to set for compiling, such as c89 or c23.
286.Fx
287provides a number of selection macros to control visibility of symbols.
288Please see the section on Selection Macros for the specifics.
289.Pp
290.Bl -tag
291.It K \*(Am R
292Pre-ANSI Kernighan and Ritchie C.
293Sometimes called
294.Dq knr
295or
296.Dq C78
297to distinguish it from newer standards.
298Support for this compilation environment is dependent on compilers supporting
299this configuration.
300Most of the old forms of C have been deprecated or removed in
301ISO/IEC 9899:2024 (“ISO C23”).
302Compilers make compiling in this mode increasingly difficult and support for it
303may ultimately be removed from the tree.
304.It St -ansiC
305.Dv __STDC__
306is defined, however
307.Dv __STDC_VERSION__
308is not.
309.Pp
310Strict environment selected with
311.Dv _ANSI_SOURCE .
312.It St -isoC-99
313.Dv __STDC_VERSION__ = 199901L
314.Pp
315Strict environment selected with
316.Dv _C99_SOURCE .
317.It St -isoC-2011
318.Dv __STDC_VERSION__ = 201112L
319.Pp
320Strict environment selected with
321.Dv _C11_SOURCE .
322.It ISO/IEC 9899:2018 (“ISO C17”)
323.Dv __STDC_VERSION__ = 201710L
324.Pp
325Strict environment selected with
326.Dv _C11_SOURCE
327since there are no new C17 only symbols or macros.
328.Pp
329This version of the standard did not introduce any new features, only made
330minor, technical corrections.
331.It ISO/IEC 9899:2024 (“ISO C23”)
332.Dv __STDC_VERSION__ = 202311L
333Strict environment selected with
334.Dv _C23_SOURCE
335though this is not yet implemented.
336.El
337.Pp
338For more information on C standards, see
339.Xr c 7 .
340.Ss Programming Environment Selection Macros
341Defining the macros outlined below requests that the system header files provide
342only the functions, structures and macros (symbols) defined by the appropriate
343standard, while suppressing all extensions.
344However, system headers not defined by that standard may define extensions.
345.Bl -column "---------------"
346.It Sy Macro Ta Sy Environment
347.It Dv _POSIX_SOURCE Ta St -p1003.1-88 including St -ansiC
348.It Dv _POSIX_C_SOURCE = 1 Ta St -p1003.1-88 including St -ansiC
349.It Dv _POSIX_C_SOURCE = 2 Ta St -p1003.1-90 including St -ansiC
350.It Dv _POSIX_C_SOURCE = 199309 Ta St -p1003.1b-93 including St -ansiC
351.It Dv _POSIX_C_SOURCE = 199506 Ta St -p1003.1c-95 including St -ansiC
352.It Dv _POSIX_C_SOURCE = 200112 Ta St -p1003.1-2001 including St -isoC-99
353.It Dv _POSIX_C_SOURCE = 200809 Ta St -p1003.1-2008 including St -isoC-99
354.It Dv _POSIX_C_SOURCE = 202405 Ta in the future IEEE Std 1003.1-2024 (“POSIX.1”) including ISO/IEC 9899:2024 (“ISO C23”)
355.It Dv _XOPEN_SOURCE = 500 Ta St -p1003.1c-95 and XPG extensions to St -susv2 including St -ansiC
356.It Dv _XOPEN_SOURCE = 600 Ta St -p1003.1-2001 and XPG extensions to St -susv3 including St -isoC-99
357.It Dv _XOPEN_SOURCE = 700 Ta St -p1003.1-2008 and XPG extensions to St -susv4 including St -isoC-99
358.It Dv _XOPEN_SOURCE = 800 Ta in the future IEEE Std 1003.1-2024 (“POSIX.1”) and XPG extensions to Version 5 of the Single UNIX Specification (“SUSv5”) including ISO/IEC 9899:2024 (“ISO C23”)
359.It Dv _ANSI_SOURCE Ta St -ansiC
360.It Dv _C99_SOURCE Ta St -isoC-99
361.It Dv _C11_SOURCE Ta St -isoC-2011
362.It Dv _C23_SOURCE Ta in the future ISO/IEC 9899:2024 (“ISO C23”)
363.It Dv _BSD_SOURCE Ta Everything, including Fx extensions
364.El
365.Pp
366When both POSIX and C environments are selected, the POSIX environment selects
367which C environment is used.
368However, when C11 dialect is selected with
369.St -p1003.1-2008 ,
370definitions for
371.St -isoC-11
372are included.
373.Ss Header Visibility Macros
374These macros are set by
375.Nm
376to control the visibility of different standards.
377Users should not use these, but they are documented here for developers.
378.Bl -column "---------------"
379.It Dv __XSI_VISIBLE Ta Restricts the visibility of XOPEN Single Unix Standard version.
380Possible values are 500, 600, 700 or 800, corresponding to Issue 5, 6, 7, or 8
381of the Single Unix Standard.
382These are extra functions in addition to the normal POSIX ones.
383.It Dv __POSIX_VISIBLE Ta Make symbols associated with certain standards versions visible.
384Set to the value assigned to
385.Dv _POSIX_C_SOURCE
386by convention with 199009 for
387.St -p1003.1-88
388and 199209
389.St -p1003.1-90 .
390.It Dv __ISO_C_VISIBLE Ta The C level that's visible.
391Possible values include 1990, 1999, and 2011 for
392.St -isoC-90 ,
393.St -isoC-99
394and
395.St -isoC-2011
396respectively.
397In the future, 2023 will be used for ISO C2023.
398.It Dv __BSD_VISIBLE Ta 1 if the
399.Fx
400extensions are visible, 0 otherwise.
401.It Dv __EXT1_VISIBLE Ta 1 if the
402.St -isoC-2011
403Appendix K 3.7.4.1
404extensions are visible, 0 otherwise.
405.Sh Supported C++ Environments
406.Fx
407supports C++11 and newer standards fully.
408.Bl -tag
409.It ISO/IEC 14882:1998 ("C++98")
410.Dv __cplusplus = 199711
411.Pp
412The first standardized version of C++.
413Unlike K \*(Am R support in C, compilers dropped support for versions of
414the language prior to C++98.
415.It ISO/IEC 14882:2003 ("C++03")
416.Dv __cplusplus = 199711
417.Pp
418Note, this is the same value as C++98.
419C++03 did not define a new value for
420.Dv __cplusplus .
421There is no way, at compile time, to detect the difference.
422The standard resolved a number of defect reports and slightly
423expanded value initialization.
424Most compilers support it the same as C++98.
425.It ISO/IEC 14882:2011 ("C++11")
426.Dv __cplusplus = 201103
427.It ISO/IEC 14882:2014 ("C++14")
428.Dv __cplusplus = 201402
429.It ISO/IEC 14882:2017 ("C++17")
430.Dv __cplusplus = 201703
431.It ISO/IEC 14882:2020 ("C++20")
432.Dv __cplusplus = 202002
433.It ISO/IEC 14882:2023 ("C++23")
434.Dv __cplusplus = 202302
435.El
436.Pp
437.Fx
438uses llvm project's libc++.
439However, they are removing support for C++ prior to C++11.
440While programs can still build with earlier environments for now, these changes
441mean that
442.Fl pedantic-errors
443cannot be reliably enabled for standards older than C++11.
444.Sh HISTORY
445.In sys/cdefs.h
446first appeared in
447.Bx 4.3 NET/2 .
448