WebAssembly / WebAssembly/tool-conventions

Create an ABI version for wasm object format

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Dominant language
WebAssembly
Stars
372
Forks
75
PR merge metrics
No merged PRs in 30d

Description

@sunfishcode proposed that we add an ABI version to the wasm object format.

In fact we probably want several concepts of version:

  1. An ABI version. This will allows the linker issue warning when we make changes to the C ABI. This information can come from the clang front-end and probably be stored as metadata in the bit code.

  2. Feature flags: To allow optional features in the ABI and for these optional features to be recording in the object format

  3. A version for the linking metadata. When we make changes to https://github.com/WebAssembly/tool-conventions/blob/master/Linking.md we would like the linker to be able issue warnings or errors on incompatible object files.

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First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start by reading the proposed changes in Linking.md and the issue's three versioning concepts: C ABI version, optional feature flags, and linking metadata version. Trace how clang could provide metadata and how the linker would consume it; done would require an agreed object-format design that supports compatibility warnings or errors.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
wasm
Domain
compilers
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Needs clarification
Newbie friendliness
25/100

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