This tool can be used to compare the ABIs of different versions of a shared
library. As part of the checking process, it invokes gcc in order to generate
a compiled header, which is not supported by gcc2. 
So: only execute this tool if you have gcc4 installed and set as your current
compiler!

Enclosed are a couple of example descriptors (*.desc), which have been used
to analyze the ABI compatibility of zlib, libpng and libjpeg.

If you want to do your own checks, you are expected to unpack the sources of
all libraries that you'd like to compare in a folder (such that there is a
subfolder for each library, as usually is the case with xxx.tar.gz 
distributions) and build each versions of library.

Before you can invoke the checker, you need to give it some info about each
library version, by means of a descriptor file. You can ask the checker to 
generate a generic descriptor template, or you can use one of the enclosed 
descriptor examples as a starting point.

abi-compliance-checker.pl -l <libname> -d1 <older>.desc -d2 <newer>.desc

More info can be found on the tool's homepage:

    http://ispras.linux-foundation.org/index.php/ABI_compliance_checker

Please send your haiku-specific questions my way: 
    Oliver Tappe <zooey@hirschkaefer.de>

Have fun.
