diff --git a/libcxx/docs/DesignDocs/ABIVersioning.rst b/libcxx/docs/DesignDocs/ABIVersioning.rst --- a/libcxx/docs/DesignDocs/ABIVersioning.rst +++ b/libcxx/docs/DesignDocs/ABIVersioning.rst @@ -3,15 +3,22 @@ Libc++ ABI stability ==================== -Libc++ aims to preserve stable ABI to avoid subtle bugs when code built to the old ABI -is linked with the code build to the new ABI. At the same time, libc++ allows ABI-breaking -improvements and bugfixes for the scenarios when ABI change is not a issue. +Libc++ aims to preserve a stable ABI to avoid subtle bugs when code built under the old ABI +is linked with code built under the new ABI. At the same time, libc++ wants to make +ABI-breaking improvements and bugfixes in scenarios where the user doesn't mind ABI breaks. -To support both cases, libc++ allows specifying the ABI version at the -build time. The version is defined with a cmake option -LIBCXX_ABI_VERSION. Another option LIBCXX_ABI_UNSTABLE can be used to -include all present ABI breaking features. These options translate -into C++ macro definitions _LIBCPP_ABI_VERSION, _LIBCPP_ABI_UNSTABLE. +To support both cases, libc++ allows specifying an ABI version at +build time. The version is defined with CMake option ``LIBCXX_ABI_VERSION``. +Currently supported values are ``1`` (the stable default) +and ``2`` (the unstable "next" version). At some point "ABI version 2" will be +frozen and new ABI-breaking changes will start being applied to version ``3``; +but this has not happened yet. -Any ABI-changing feature is placed under it's own macro, _LIBCPP_ABI_XXX, which is enabled -based on the value of _LIBCPP_ABI_VERSION. _LIBCPP_ABI_UNSTABLE, if set, enables all features at once. +To always use the most cutting-edge, most unstable ABI (which is currently ``2`` +but at some point will become ``3``), set the CMake option ``LIBCXX_ABI_UNSTABLE``. + +Internally, each ABI-changing feature is placed under its own C++ macro, +``_LIBCPP_ABI_XXX``. These macros' definitions are controlled by the C++ macro +``_LIBCPP_ABI_VERSION``, which is controlled by the ``LIBCXX_ABI_VERSION`` set +at build time. Libc++ does not intend users to interact with these C++ macros +directly.