libcxx/docs/DesignDocs/AvailabilityMarkup.rst

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Availability Markup
===================

.. contents::
   :local:

Overview
========

Libc++ is used as a system library on macOS and iOS (amongst others). In order
for users to be able to compile a binary that is intended to be deployed to an
older version of the platform, clang provides the
`availability attribute <https://clang.llvm.org/docs/AttributeReference.html#availability>`_
that can be placed on declarations to describe the lifecycle of a symbol in the
library.

Design
======

When a new feature is introduced that requires dylib support, a macro should be
created in include/__config to mark this feature as unavailable for all the
systems. For example::

    // Define availability macros.
    #if defined(_LIBCPP_USE_AVAILABILITY_APPLE)
    # define _LIBCPP_AVAILABILITY_BAD_OPTIONAL_ACCESS __attribute__((unavailable))
    #else  if defined(_LIBCPP_USE_AVAILABILITY_SOME_OTHER_VENDOR)
    # define _LIBCPP_AVAILABILITY_BAD_OPTIONAL_ACCESS __attribute__((unavailable))
    #else
    # define _LIBCPP_AVAILABILITY_BAD_OPTIONAL_ACCESS
    #endif

When the library is updated by the platform vendor, the markup can be updated.
For example::

    #define _LIBCPP_AVAILABILITY_SHARED_MUTEX                                  \
      __attribute__((availability(macosx,strict,introduced=10.12)))            \
      __attribute__((availability(ios,strict,introduced=10.0)))                \
      __attribute__((availability(tvos,strict,introduced=10.0)))               \
      __attribute__((availability(watchos,strict,introduced=3.0)))

In the source code, the macro can be added on a class if the full class requires
type info from the library for example::

    _LIBCPP_BEGIN_NAMESPACE_EXPERIMENTAL
    class _LIBCPP_EXCEPTION_ABI _LIBCPP_AVAILABILITY_BAD_OPTIONAL_ACCESS bad_optional_access
      : public std::logic_error {

or on a particular symbol:

    _LIBCPP_OVERRIDABLE_FUNC_VIS _LIBCPP_AVAILABILITY_SIZED_NEW_DELETE void  operator delete(void* __p, std::size_t __sz) _NOEXCEPT;

Furthermore, a lit feature should be added to match that availability macro,
so that tests depending on that feature can be marked to XFAIL if the feature
is not supported. This way, the test suite will work on platforms that have
not shipped the feature yet. This can be done by adding the appropriate lit
feature in test/config.py.


Testing
=======

Some parameters can be passed to lit to run the test-suite and exercise the
availability.

* The `platform` parameter controls the deployment target. For example lit can
  be invoked with `--param=platform=macosx10.8`. Default is the current host.
* The `use_system_cxx_lib` parameter indicates to use another library than the
  just built one. Invoking lit with `--param=use_system_cxx_lib=true` will run
  the test-suite against the host system library. Alternatively a path to the
  directory containing a specific prebuilt libc++ can be used, for example:
  `--param=use_system_cxx_lib=/path/to/macOS/10.8/`.

Tests can be marked as XFAIL based on multiple features made available by lit:


* if `--param=platform=macosx10.8` is passed, the following features will be available:

  - availability
  - availability=x86_64
  - availability=macosx
  - availability=x86_64-macosx
  - availability=x86_64-apple-macosx10.8
  - availability=macosx10.8

  This feature is used to XFAIL a test that *is* using a class or a method marked
  as unavailable *and* that is expected to *fail* if deployed on an older system.

* if `use_system_cxx_lib` and `--param=platform=macosx10.8` are passed to lit,
  the following features will also be available:

  - with_system_cxx_lib
  - with_system_cxx_lib=x86_64
  - with_system_cxx_lib=macosx
  - with_system_cxx_lib=x86_64-macosx
  - with_system_cxx_lib=x86_64-apple-macosx10.8
  - with_system_cxx_lib=macosx10.8

  This feature is used to XFAIL a test that is *not* using a class or a method
  marked as unavailable *but* that is expected to fail if deployed on an older
  system. For example, if the test exhibits a bug in the libc on a particular
  system version, or if the test uses a symbol that is not available on an
  older version of the dylib (but for which there is no availability markup,
  otherwise the XFAIL should use `availability` above).