README
1All headers under include/export/ are export headers that are intended for
2inclusion in third-party code which needs to interact with TF-A data structures
3or interfaces. They must follow these special rules:
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5- Header guards should start with ARM_TRUSTED_FIRMWARE_ to reduce clash risk.
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7- All definitions should be sufficiently namespaced (e.g. with BL_ or TF_) to
8 make name clashes with third-party code unlikely.
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10- They must not #include any headers except other export headers, and those
11 includes must use relative paths with "../double_quotes.h" notation.
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13- They must not rely on any type definitions other that <stdint.h> types defined
14 in the ISO C standard (i.e. uint64_t is fine, but not u_register_t). They
15 should still not #include <stdint.h>. Instead, wrapper headers including
16 export headers need to ensure that they #include <stdint.h> earlier in their
17 include order.
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19- They must not rely on any macro definitions other than those which are
20 pre-defined by all common compilers (e.g. __ASSEMBLER__ or __aarch64__).
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22- They must only contain macro, type and structure definitions, no prototypes.
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24- They should avoid using integer types with architecture-dependent widths
25 (e.g. long, uintptr_t, pointer types) where possible. (Some existing export
26 headers are violating this for now.)
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28- Their names should always end in "_exp.h".
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30- Normal TF-A code should never include export headers directly. Instead, it
31 should include a wrapper header that ensures the export header is included in
32 the right manner. (The wrapper header for include/export/x/y/z_exp.h should
33 normally be placed at include/x/y/z.h.)
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