Targets and compatibility
Cloth’s source-level types and rules are portable. Numeric aliases do not depend on pointer width, and binary-data operations select byte order explicitly.
Outputs
| Operation | x86-64 | wasm32 |
|---|---|---|
| Source checking | Supported | Supported |
| LLVM IR emission | Supported | Supported |
| Native executable generation | Supported | Not currently supported |
Structs support native lowering and compiled dependencies. Their inline storage and contained managed references are handled by the compiler and runtime.
Versioned boundaries
The current contracts are:
| Boundary | Version |
|---|---|
| Shuttle manifest schema | 1 |
| Shuttle compiler process protocol | 2 |
| Compiler artifact format | 8 |
| Compiler ABI | 7 |
| Runtime ABI | 12 |
| Build receipt schema | 1 |
| Toolchain metadata schema | 1 |
These versions are independent. The process protocol describes communication between tools; the artifact and ABI versions describe the compiled data and code they exchange.
Shuttle advertises and validates artifact format 8 through public capabilities
and receipts. Runtime ABI 12 is compiler-owned metadata inside the opaque
artifact; clothc validates it during inspection, reuse, and linking.
Rebuild older artifacts when moving to the current compiler/runtime contract. Incompatible versions must fail validation rather than being guessed or silently adapted. Source-free dependencies preserve type identity, public contracts, and the private layout information needed for correct linking and reference tracing.
Ordinary source code should use the language’s types, members, and meta operations. Internal tags, field offsets, symbol encodings, and printed type names are not portable persistence formats.