Availability Markup

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 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 target_triple parameter controls the deployment target. For example lit can be invoked with --param=target_triple=x86_64-apple-macosx10.12. Default is the current host.
• The use_system_cxx_lib parameter indicates that the test suite is being compiled with the intent of being run against the system library for the given triple, AND that it is being run against it.

Tests can be marked as XFAIL based on multiple features made available by lit. If use_system_cxx_lib is true, then assuming target_triple=x86_64-apple-macosx10.12, the following features will be made available:

• with_system_cxx_lib=macosx
• with_system_cxx_lib=macosx10.12
• with_system_cxx_lib=x86_64-apple-macosx10.12

These features are used to XFAIL a test that fails when deployed on (or is compiled for) 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, it can be marked as XFAIL with one of the above features.

It is sometimes useful to check that a test fails specifically when compiled for a given deployment target. For example, this is the case when testing availability markup, where we want to make sure that using the annotated facility on a deployment target that doesn't support it will fail at compile time, not at runtime. This can be achieved by creating a .compile.pass.cpp and XFAILing it for the right deployment target. If the test doesn't fail at compile-time like it's supposed to, the test will XPASS. Another option is to create a .verify.cpp test that checks for the right errors, and mark that test as requiring with_system_cxx_lib=<something>.