1 GNU C Library NEWS -- history of user-visible changes. 2009-1-30
2 Copyright (C) 1992-2008, 2009 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
3 See the end for copying conditions.
5 Please send GNU C library bug reports via <http://sources.redhat.com/bugzilla/>
6 using `glibc' in the "product" field.
10 * New Linux interface: accept4
12 * Correct declarations of string function when used in C++ code. This
13 could lead to compile error for invalid C++ code.
18 * Unified lookup for getaddrinfo: IPv4 and IPv6 addresses are now looked
19 up at the same time. Implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
21 * TLS descriptors for LD and GD on x86 and x86-64.
22 Implemented by Alexandre Oliva.
24 * getaddrinfo now handles DCCP and UDPlite.
25 Implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
27 * New fixed-size conversion macros: htobe16, htole16, be16toh, le16toh,
28 htobe32, htole32, be32toh, le32toh, htobe64, htole64, be64toh, le64toh.
29 Implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
31 * New implementation of memmem, strstr, and strcasestr which is O(n).
32 Implemented by Eric Blake.
34 * New Linux interfaces: inotify_init1, dup3, epoll_create1, pipe2
36 * Implement "e" option for popen to open file descriptor with the
37 close-on-exec flag set. Implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
39 * Implement "b" mode for fmemopen. In this mode writes writes don't
40 implicitly add a NUL byte and seeks from the end of the buffer really
41 use the buffer end, not the string length as the basis.
42 Implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
44 * Many functions, exported and internal, now atomically set the close-on-exec
45 flag when run on a sufficiently new kernel. Implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
47 * Sorting rules for some Indian languages (Kannada, Gurumukhi, Telugu,
49 Implemented by Pravin Satpute.
51 * New locales: sd_IN, sd_IN@devanagari, ks_IN@devanagari, ht_HT, en_AG, nl_AW.
55 * New locales: bo_CN, bo_IN, shs_CA.
57 * New encoding: HP-ROMAN9, HP-GREEK8, HP-THAI8, HP-TURKISH8.
59 * Sorting rules for some Indian languages (Devanagari and Gujarati).
60 Implemented by Pravin Satpute.
62 * IPV6 addresses in /etc/resolv.conf can now have a scope ID
64 * nscd caches now all timeouts for DNS entries
65 Implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
67 * nscd is more efficient and wakes up less often.
68 Implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
70 * More checking functions: asprintf, dprintf, obstack_printf, vasprintf,
71 vdprintf, and obstack_vprintf.
72 Implemented by Jakub Jelinek.
74 * Faster memset for x86-64.
75 Implemented by Harsha Jagasia and H.J. Lu.
77 * Faster memcpy on x86.
78 Implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
80 * ARG_MAX is not anymore constant on Linux. Use sysconf(_SC_ARG_MAX).
81 Implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
83 * Faster sqrt and sqrtf implemention for some PPC variants.
84 Implemented by Stephen Munroe.
88 * More checking functions: fread, fread_unlocked, open*, mq_open.
89 Implemented by Jakub Jelinek and Ulrich Drepper.
91 * Extend fortification to C++. Implemented by Jakub Jelinek.
93 * Implement 'm' modifier for scanf. Add stricter C99/SUS compliance
94 by not recognizing 'a' as a modifier when those specs are requested.
95 Implemented by Jakub Jelinek.
97 * PPC optimizations to math and string functions.
98 Implemented by Steven Munroe.
100 * New interfaces: mkostemp, mkostemp64. Like mkstemp* but allow additional
101 options to be passed. Implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
103 * More CPU set manipulation functions. Implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
105 * New Linux interfaces: signalfd, eventfd, eventfd_read, and eventfd_write.
106 Implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
108 * Handle private futexes in the NPTL implementation.
109 Implemented by Jakub Jelinek and Ulrich Drepper.
111 * Add support for O_CLOEXEC. Implement in Hurd. Use throughout libc.
112 Implemented by Roland McGrath and Ulrich Drepper.
114 * Linux/x86-64 vDSO support. Implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
116 * SHA-256 and SHA-512 based password encryption.
117 Implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
119 * New locales: ber_DZ, ber_MA, en_NG, fil_PH, fur_IT, fy_DE, ha_NG, ig_NG,
120 ik_CA, iu_CA, li_BE, li_NL, nds_DE, nds_NL, pap_AN, sc_IT, tk_TM, ug_CN,
123 + New iconv modules: MAC-CENTRALEUROPE, ISO-8859-9E, KOI8-RU.
124 Implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
128 * New Linux interfaces: epoll_pwait, sched_getcpu.
130 * New generic interfaces: strerror_l.
132 * nscd can now cache the services database. Implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
137 * For Linux, the sorting of addresses returned by getaddrinfo now also
138 handles rules 3, 4, and 7 from RFC 3484. I.e., all rules are handled.
139 Implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
141 * Allow system admin to configure getaddrinfo with the /etc/gai.conf file.
142 Implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
144 * New Linux interfaces: splice, tee, sync_file_range, vmsplice.
146 * New iconv module for MIK. Contributed by Alexander Shopov.
148 * For sites with broken group and/or passwd database, the auto-propagate
149 option of nscd can prevent creating ID lookup entries from the results
150 of a name lookup and vice versa. This usually is no problem but some
151 site might have problems with the default behavior.
152 Implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
154 * Iterating over entire database in NIS can be slow. With the
155 SETENT_BATCH_READ option in /etc/default/nss a system admin can decide
156 to trade time for memory. The entire database will be read at once.
157 Implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
159 * The interfaces introduced in RFC 3542 have been implemented by
162 * Support for the new ELF hash table format was added by Ulrich Drepper.
164 * Support for priority inheritance mutexes added by Jakub Jelinek and
167 * Support for priority protected mutexes added by Jakub Jelinek.
169 * New locales: nr_ZA, pa_PK, ca_AD, ca_FR, ca_IT, el_CY, tr_CY, as_IN,
170 or_IN, csb_PL, fy_NL, sr_ME.
174 * More overflow detection functions.
176 * New iconv converters for IBM1025, IBM1122, IBM1137, IBM1153,
177 IBM1154, IBM1155, IBM1156, IBM1157, and IBM1158 contributed by Jiro Sekiba.
179 More converters for IBM803, IBM901, IBM902, IBM921, IBM1008, IBM1097,
180 IBM1112, IBM1123, IBM1130, IBM1140, IBM1141, IBM1142, IBM1143, IBM1144,
181 IBM1145, IBM1146, IBM1147, IBM1148, IBM1149, IBM1166, IBM1167, IBM4517,
182 IBM4899, IBM4909, IBM4971, IBM5347, IBM9030, IBM9066, IBM9448, IBM12712,
183 IBM16804, IBM1364, IBM1371, IBM1388, IBM1390, and IBM1399 contributed
184 by Masahide Washizawa.
186 * It is now possible to install audit libraries for the dynamic linker using
187 LD_AUDIT. Implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
189 * The LinuxThreads add-on, providing pthreads on Linux 2.4 kernels, is no
190 longer supported. The new NPTL implementation requires Linux 2.6 kernels.
191 For a libc and libpthread that works well on Linux 2.4 kernels, we
192 recommend using the stable 2.3 branch.
194 * The new function open_wmemstream acts like open_memstream,
195 but uses a wchar_t wide character buffer.
197 * The new function ppoll is an improved version of poll, similar to pselect.
199 * New interfaces: fdopendir, openat, fstatat, fchmodat, fchownat,
200 futimesat, faccessat, mkdirat, mkfifoat, mknodat,
201 renameat, unlinkat, linkat, symlinkat, readlinkat.
203 * New Linux kernel system calls: unshare,
204 inotify_init, inotify_add_watch, inotify_rm_watch.
206 * The euidaccess function is now also known by the alias eaccess,
207 for compatibility with some other systems.
209 * Timezone data updated to 2006b version.
213 * The following bugs are resolved with this release:
215 38, 253, 549, 622, 653, 721, 758, 851, 877, 915, 934, 955, 961,
216 1016, 1037, 1076, 1079, 1080, 1081, 1082, 1083, 1084, 1085, 1086,
217 1087, 1088, 1090, 1091, 1092, 1093, 1094, 1095, 1096, 1097, 1098,
218 1099, 1100, 1101, 1102, 1103, 1104, 1105, 1106, 1107, 1108, 1109,
219 1110, 1111, 1112, 1113, 1125, 1137, 1138, 1249, 1250, 1251, 1252,
220 1253, 1254, 1350, 1358, 1394, 1438, 1498, 1534
222 Visit <http://sources.redhat.com/bugzilla/> for the details of each bug.
224 * As of this release, GCC 4 can be used to compile the C Library.
226 * Timezone data updated to 2005m version.
230 * The following bugs are resolved with this release:
232 284, 592, 602, 626, 633, 640, 650, 661, 671, 681, 693, 700, 710, 719,
233 722, 723, 725, 726, 727, 728, 729, 730, 731, 732, 733, 734, 735, 736,
234 737, 738, 739, 740, 741, 742, 743, 744, 745, 765, 767, 768, 769, 776,
235 777, 787, 821, 822, 823, 825
237 Visit <http://sources.redhat.com/bugzilla/> for the details of each bug.
241 * Support for RFC 3678. Real implementations exist only for Linux so far.
242 Implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
244 * nscd can now cache entries persistently. Expiring entries are reloaded.
245 For speedups the cache can be shared in memory with client processes.
246 Implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
248 * nscd can now perform SELinux checks.
249 Implemented by Matthew Rickard <mjricka@epoch.ncsc.mil>.
251 * getaddrinfo queries are now cached. Canonical name lookup is performed
253 Implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
255 * The nothrow function attribute is used when headers are used by gcc when
256 compiling C code. This can avoid significant amounts of exception
259 * The malloc functions perform more error checking and are stricter when
260 it comes to reacting on errors. The default action is to terminate
261 the process after showing an error message. Implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
263 * Reverse lookups of IPv6 addresses does not use bit string or .ip6.int
264 lookups anymore unless explicitly requested. Implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
266 * Namespaces in ld.so are implemented. DSOs can be loaded in separate
267 namespaces using the new function dlmopen(). This feature is of course,
268 like most other dynamic loading functionality, not available in statically
269 linked applications. Implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
271 * Low-overhead boundary checking variants of string and some stdio functions
272 were added. These are to be used in conjunction with a gcc patch by
273 Jakub Jelinek which adds calls to these functions if possible.
274 Implemented by Jakub Jelinek and Ulrich Drepper.
276 * Old code for several operating systems and machine architectures that
277 have not been in working condition in a long time have been removed from
278 the main source tree maintained by the GNU C Library's maintainers.
279 These files are now reside in the separate `ports' source module
280 that is usable as an add-on when building the library.
284 * New functions `dladdr1' and `dlinfo' in <dlfcn.h> provide more ways to
285 interrogate the dynamic linker, compatible with the Solaris interface.
287 * ELF thread-local storage support (TLS) now works on PowerPC and PowerPC64;
288 implemented by Paul Mackerras, Steven Munroe, and Roland McGrath.
290 * getifaddrs now uses the netlink interface on Linux to get its information.
291 Implemented by Thorsten Kukuk.
293 * getaddrinfo now implements AI_V4MAPPED, AI_ALL, and AI_ADDRCONF.
294 Implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
296 * support for non-executable stacks on x86 has been added. Changes mostly
299 * regex is now much faster for multibyte locales. Changes by Jakub Jelinek
302 * getaddrinfo now performs destination address selection according to
307 * Thread-safe interfaces for many functions that access locale data
308 were added in version 2.3, but these features were omitted from NEWS.
309 Many functions have variants with an `_l' suffix that take a `locale_t'
310 object as a parameter rather than consulting the current locale.
311 The new functions `newlocale', `duplocale', and `freelocale' in <locale.h>
312 create and maintain `locale_t' objects. Additionally, the new function
313 `uselocale' sets "the current locale" (as used by functions not so
314 parameterized) set for an individual thread. These features were added
315 in version 2.3, implemented by Ulrich Drepper and Roland McGrath.
317 * The functions getresuid, getresgid, setresuid, and setresgid, which
318 have long been available on Linux, are now declared in <unistd.h>
319 and are now also available on the Hurd.
321 * ELF thread-local storage support (TLS) now works on x86-64.
323 * The new dynamic string token $LIB is expanded in shared library names.
324 This normally expands to lib, but on some 64-bit platforms to lib64 instead.
326 * Aldy Hernandez contributed complete software floating point support for
327 PowerPC machines with no FPU.
329 * fexecve is implemented on Linux.
331 * The `btowc' function should work at least twice as fast due to
332 specialized callbacks in the iconv modules. Implemented by Bruno Haible.
334 * With approriate thread add-ons cancelable functions are now implemented
335 in libc.so as well. No need to call the function in libpthread. This
336 change allowed to finally disable the incorrect and expensive handling
337 of weak definition in ld.so.
339 * Yet more PLT entries in libc.so have been removed. We finally arrived
340 at the bare minimum. Startup times improved appropriately.
342 * Support for the new Linux/x86 system call interface was added. The
343 AT_SYSINFO auxiliary vector entry is recognized and handled.
347 * Masahide Washizawa contributed iconv modules for IBM1163 and IBM1164
350 * iconv (the program and the interface) now accepts empty names (excluding
351 options like //TRANSLIT) to mean "use charset of current locale".
353 * localedef can now transliterate characters in strings which are not in
354 the provided charmap. The information from the input locale is used.
356 * Prelinking support was added for ELF targets. This requires additional
357 tools and recent versions of the GNU binutils. Contributed by Jakub Jelinek.
359 * Read-only stdio streams now use mmap to speed up operation by eliminating
360 copying and buffer underflows. To use add 'm' to the mode string of
361 the fopen/fdopen/freopen call. Implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
363 * The malloc functions were completely rewritten by Wolfram Gloger based
364 on Doug Lea's malloc-2.7.0.c.
366 * Isamu Hasegawa contributed a completely new and POSIX-conformant
367 implementation of regex.
369 * Bruno Haible upgraded the iconv and locale implementation to support
372 * Contents of the LC_* and LANG environment variables in the CEN style are
373 not recognized anymore. It never was used. Change by Ulrich Drepper.
375 * The runtime (ld.so, libc, libpthread for Linux) now can handle the ELF
376 thread-local storage (TLS) ABI on some platforms.
377 Changes by Ulrich Drepper. SH support by Kaz Kojima.
379 * Bruno Haible contributed iconv converters for ISO-2022-JP-3, SHIFT JIS-X0213,
380 EUC-JISX0213, and TSCII.
382 * New header <ifaddrs.h> with functions `getifaddrs' and `freeifaddrs':
383 BSD-compatible interface for getting all network interface addresses.
384 Implementation for IPv4 by Roland McGrath.
386 * Loading of locale data is faster due to the introduction of a locale
387 archive. Implemented by Roland McGrath and Ulrich Drepper.
389 * Startup times are significantly reduced by not using exported functions
390 inside the library itself. Changes by Jakub Jelinek, Roland McGrath,
393 * Steven Munroe contributed a port to PowerPC64/Linux.
397 * The Hurd now uses the GNU libio implementation of stdio rather than the
398 old GNU stdio implementation, and uses a new ABI (libc.so.0.3).
400 * The Hurd on x86 now has the `ioperm' function and <sys/io.h> header file
401 with the same behavior as the Linux system call of the same name.
405 * Stephen Moshier implemented log2, log10, powl and cbrtl for the
406 128-bit long double format.
408 * Masahide Washizawa contributed iconv modules for IBM1132, IBM1133, IBM1160,
409 IBM1161, and IBM1162 charsets.
411 * Andreas Jaeger contributed a port to x86-64/Linux.
413 * Peter Bruin contributed a port to PowerPC/Hurd.
415 * libc functions using I/O streams now can handle wide-oriented streams
418 * optimizations in the dynamic linker. Binaries created by recent binutils
419 versions start up quicker due to reduced time spent on relocations.
421 * Support for use of gcc3 added by Jakub Jelinek and HJ Lu.
425 * Stephen Moshier implemented cosh, expm1, log1p, acos, sinh, tanh,
426 asinh, atanh, j0 for the 128-bit long double format.
428 * Bruno Haible updated all the code handling Unicode in some form to
431 * Speed of regex for single-byte locales is back to previous levels.
432 Patch by Isamu Hasegawa.
434 * Alpha, SPARC, and IA-64 now also using floating stacks.
436 * Startup time of internationalized applications greatly improved through
437 iconv cache. Use iconvconfig to generate the cache file.
438 Contributed by Ulrich Drepper.
440 * The IA-64 specific part of ld.so was rewritten to eliminate some pretty
441 severe performance problems. Patch by David Mosberger.
443 * The Hurd port got a lot more functionality like AIO, various stdio
444 extensions, etc. Mainly done by Roland McGrath.
446 * mtrace can now lookup symbols in shared libraries.
450 * Intel's IA-64 math library is largely integrated. It provides fast and
451 accurate implementatations for most basic and standard math functions
452 in float, double, and long double format.
454 * Stephen Moshier implemented j0, j1, jn, y0, y1, yn, lgamma, erf, erfc,
455 and asin for the 96-bit long double format and asin, log, tan for the
456 128-bit long double format.
458 * The beginning of a last-bit accurate math library by IBM Haifa were added.
459 The basic double functions exist today. Contributed by Abraham Ziv
460 <ziv@il.ibm.com>, Moshe Olshansky <olshansk@il.ibm.com>, Ealan Henis
461 <ealan@il.ibm.com>, and Anna Reitman <reitman@il.ibm.com>.
463 * An asynchronous name lookup library was added. The interface is designed
464 after POSIX AIO. The proposal was circulated beforehand to get comments.
465 No negative ones came in. Implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
467 * Port to S390/64bit contributed by Martin Schwidefsky
468 <schwidefsky@de.ibm.com>.
470 * David Mosberger <davidm@hpl.hp.com> implemented the setcontext family
471 of functions for Linux/IA-64.
473 * The RPC code is now thread safe. Threads can now use the same service
474 of different services at the same time. Patch by Eric Norum
475 <eric.norum@usask.ca> with some help by Ulrich Drepper.
477 * Martin Schwidefsky <schwidefsky@de.ibm.com> implemented the setcontext
478 family of functions for Linux/S390.
480 * Ulrich Drepper <drepper@redhat.com> implemented the setcontext family
481 of functions for Linux/x86.
483 * Port to Linux/CRIS contributed by Axis Communications.
487 * Lots of headers were cleaned up. Using the tool in the conform/ subdir
488 we can now check for namespace violations and missing declarations. The
489 result is that almost all headers are now Unix-compliant (as defined in
490 the upcoming XPG6). The negative side is that some programs might need
491 corrections, too, if they depend on the incorrect form of the headers in
492 previous versions which defined too many symbols and included too many
495 * regex now handles multibyte character sets correctly.
496 Contributed by Isamu Hasegawa <isamu@yamato.ibm.com>.
498 * iconv (the program) does now conform to the upcoming XPG6 and handles
499 charmaps. Instead of the charset names the path of charmaps can be
500 provided and the conversion happens based on this data.
501 Contributed by Ulrich Drepper.
503 * The locale program now provides detailed information about the installed
508 only lists the names of the supported locales
512 provides details such as country, language, and codeset name.
513 Contributed by Ulrich Drepper.
517 * The gencat program now parses the input file according to the charset
518 selected by the LC_CTYPE category. This is important for stateful
519 character sets. To make generating catalogs easier there is a way
520 to overwrite the charset selected by the locale: before the first
521 message or $ quote line the catalog can contain a line like
525 to select the charset (ISO-8859-2 in this case).
527 Implemented by Shinya Hanataka and Ulrich Drepper.
529 * New codeset conversion modules: IBM-922 (Estonia PC codeset),
530 IBM-1124 (Ukraine PC codeset), IBM-1129 (Vietnamese PC codeset).
531 Contributed by Masahide Washizawa <washi@jp.ibm.com>.
533 * Optimized string functions for Alpha ev6 and ev67 by Richard Henderson
534 <rth@redhat.com> and Rick Gorton <rick.gorton@alpha-processor.com>.
536 * The LANGUAGE environment variable is now ignored unless the locale is
537 changed from the default "C" locale.
539 * The usual bug fixes.
543 * Greg McGary added runtime support for bounds checking using gcc's
544 new -fbounded-pointers option. ix86 target is complete. PowerPC
547 * Thorsten Kukuk added secure mode support to nscd.
549 * The Berkeley db libraries have been removed.
551 Related, the nss_db module is now in a separate package since it
552 obviously requires a database library being available.
554 * Wide character I/O streams implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
556 * Functions from the extended socket API added by Ulrich Drepper.
558 * Functions feenableexcept and fedisableexcept to control the
559 behaviour of individual exceptions have been added by Andreas Jaeger.
561 * ldconfig program added by Andreas Jaeger and Jakub Jelinek.
563 * The resolver code has been updated from bind 8.2.3-T5B which supports
564 threads. The integration was done by Andreas Jaeger, Adam D. Bradley,
567 This change could in some situations effect backward compatibility. Since
568 now `_res' is a thread-local instead of a global variable, modifying it
569 in one thread does not have any effect in other threads.
571 The resolver library was also extended to allow IPv6 as the transport
572 protocol for the requests. This work was done by Stig Venaas.
574 * Compatibility code for K&R C compilers has been removed from the
575 header files. A ISO C compiler is needed to use the library
576 (conforming to either C89 or C99 standard).
578 * Complete rewrite of the localedef program to support multibyte character
579 sets. Implement handling of ISO 14651 and ISO 14652. Rewrite strcoll,
580 strxfrm, wcscoll, and wcsxfrm functions. Make isw*() functions work.
581 Implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
583 Bruno Haible significantly improved the generation and use of the data
584 structures for the wide character tables.
586 * Plural handling in gettext implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
588 * The utmp daemon has been removed.
590 * The port to MIPS-Linux has been finished by Andreas Jaeger.
592 * A port to Hitachi SH3 and SH4 has been contributed by Kazumoto Kojima
595 * POSIX clocks and timers implemented by Kaz Kylheku and Ulrich Drepper.
597 * POSIX barriers implemented by Kaz Kylheku.
599 * POSIX spawn function family implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
601 * POSIX spinlocks are now available.
603 * Timed wait functions for mutex, rwlock, and semaphores are implemented.
605 * the configure option --enable-kernel=X.Y.Z allows to strip out
606 compatibility for kernel versions before X.Y.Z. This is currently only
607 implemented for Linux.
609 * the sockaddr_in6 structure changed. The IPv6 working group added a new
610 field sin6_scope_id. This means that all programs using IPv6 should be
611 recompiled. Don't expect binary compatibility with previous glibc
614 * various conversion modules for IBM character sets contributed by
617 * IA-64 port by Jes Sorensen and HJ Lu.
619 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
620 Compiling the GNU C Library for Linux/ia64
621 ******************************************
623 Please refer to the file INSTALL in the same directory as you found
624 this file for general information about configuring and compiling
627 For general inquiries about glibc under Linux/ia64 please use the
628 following mailing list linux-ia64@linuxia64.org or one of the relevant
631 Recommended Tools for Compilation
632 =================================
634 In order for glibc-2.2 to build correctly on the ia64 you need at
635 least the following versions of the GNU tools (the :
637 * The Cygnus toolchain snapshot for the ia64 as of August 4
638 including the provided set of patches. It is however recommend
639 you use the October 24 toolchain snapshot or a more recent version.
641 OR alternatively you can try the following (the Cygnus toolchain is
642 the recommended solution):
644 * GCC and binutils, GAS and GNU LD out of CVS from
645 sources.redhat.com as of August 28, 2000 or later. The CVS tree
646 may require special patches to work properly on the ia64.
648 Configuring and compiling GNU Libc for Linux/ia64
649 =================================================
651 The library requires Linux kernel version 2.4.0-test4-000728 or
652 later to funtion properly. Besides that it support for debug libraries
653 is currently untested. Hence the following options
654 are required for configuring the library:
656 --disable-debug --enable-kernel=2.4.0
658 It is also important that you make sure the library picks up the
659 appropriate kernel header files, if you do not have recent enough
660 kernel headers in /usr/src/linux/include, you should use the
661 --with-headers=<path> option to specify the location.
663 As an example I personally use the following options to configure
668 --enable-kernel=2.4.0
672 --with-headers=/home/jes/linux/include
677 Jes Sorensen <jes@linuxcare.com>,
679 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
693 * New ISO C 9x function _Exit, imaxabs, and imaxdiv are added.
695 * New xdr functions are added; some rpc functions are now 64bit clean.
697 * Fixed a number of bugs and memory leaks (especially in NIS+ code).
699 * Fixed known incompatibilities with glibc 2.0.
701 * New functions lock64, strchrnul, rawmemchr, getutmp and getutmpx.
703 * Optimized a number of functions (especially the ELF dynamic loader).
705 * Update timezone data files.
707 * lots of charmaps corrections
709 * some new locale definitions and charmaps
714 * Richard Henderson corrected size of struct timeval on Linux/Alpha to
715 conform to POSIX member type requirements. Symbol versions have been
716 adjusted as needed within the library, and for direct use by applications,
717 but there is potential for problems if third-party libraries use
718 struct timeval as part of their interface. This does not present
719 a problem for X and other "essential" system libraries.
721 * An additional locale model to support C++ Standard Library locale
722 model and probably more was implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
724 * Eric Youngdale and Ulrich Drepper implemented versioning of objects on
727 * Miles Bader provided the `argp' function family to support hierachical
728 command line argument parsing, layered on top of getopt.
730 * strtod accepts new hexadecimal floating-point format from ISO C 9X.
732 * printf has two new specifiers %a and %A to print hexadecimal flaoting-point
735 * scanf recognizes the %a and %A format for scanning floating point numbers.
737 * the new headers <stdint.h> and <inttypes.h> from ISO C 9X provides
738 information and interfaces for the available integer types.
740 * about 130 new math functions were added to implement the ISO C9x math
743 * the new header <complex.h> contains definitions of the complex math
744 functions from ISO C 9X.
746 * the new header <tgmath.h> defines generic macros to use complex or
747 real valued functions.
749 * Thorsten Kukuk provided an implementation for NIS+, securelevel 0, 1 and 2.
751 * Andreas Jaeger provided a test suite for the math library.
753 * Mark Kettenis implemented the utmpx interface and an utmp daemon.
755 * Ulrich Drepper added character set conversion functions (iconv).
757 * Optimized string functions have been added.
759 * The localedata addon is now part of glibc.
761 * An implementation of profiling shared libraries was added by Ulrich Drepper.
763 * Thorsten Kukuk and Ulrich Drepper provided an implementation for a caching
764 daemon for NSS (nscd).
766 Missing a better place here are some numbers on improvements. Under
767 Linux 2.1.125 un-tar-ing the kernel sources takes
771 using local files 12.19s 6.88s 22.91s
773 using NIS 13.92s 8.91s 26.34s
775 using NIS & nscd 10.37s 7.34s 25.30s
777 using NIS+ 27.57s 30.37s 640.46s
779 using NIS+ & nscd 10.25s 7.83s 26.51s
781 using NIS & old nscd [1] 13.83s 8.32s 29.60s
783 Keep in mind that non-namelookup related operations dominate above times.
784 It was just a common complain that using NIS+ unpacking the kernel is
787 [1] The old nscd implementation is not available anymore since it was
788 distributed with glibc up to version 2.0.98 and thus is now replaced.
790 * Tim Waugh provided an implementation of the POSIX.2 wordexp function family.
792 * Mark Kettenis provided a Hesiod NSS module.
794 * The ELF dynamic loader knows how to process dynamic string tokens ($ORIGIN
795 and $PLATFORM) in RPATHs and similar strings (Ulrich Drepper).
797 * rcmd can now handle netgroups (Dick Streefland).
799 * A port to the ARM was contributed by Phil Blundell, Pat Beirne and Scott
802 * Support for the IPv6 protocol has been added to the socket API, as per the
803 latest draft standards.
805 * Support for Linux 2.2 has been added.
807 * Interface changes relative to the latest 2.0.x release:
808 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
809 addseverity NEW: Unix98
811 argp_err_exit_status NEW: argp, GNU ext
812 argp_error NEW: argp, GNU ext
813 argp_failure NEW: argp, GNU ext
814 argp_help NEW: argp, GNU ext
815 argp_parse NEW: argp, GNU ext
816 argp_program_bug_address NEW: argp, GNU ext
817 argp_program_version NEW: argp, GNU ext
818 argp_program_version_hook NEW: argp, GNU ext
819 argp_state_help NEW: argp, GNU ext
820 argp_usage NEW: argp, GNU ext
821 authdes_create NEW: Secure RPC
822 authdes_getucred NEW: Secure RPC
823 authdes_pk_create NEW: Secure RPC
824 backtrace NEW: GNU ext.
825 backtrace_symbols NEW: GNU ext.
826 backtrace_symbols_fd NEW: GNU ext.
830 cacoshf NEW: ISO C 9x
831 cacoshl NEW: ISO C 9x
841 casinhf NEW: ISO C 9x
842 casinhl NEW: ISO C 9x
847 catanhf NEW: ISO C 9x
848 catanhl NEW: ISO C 9x
850 cbc_crypt NEW: Secure RPC
863 clearerr_locked REMOVED
864 clntunix_create NEW: sunrpc ext
867 clog10f NEW: ISO C 9x
868 clog10l NEW: ISO C 9x
899 des_setparity NEW: Secure RPC
900 ecb_crypt NEW: Secure RPC
901 endutxent NEW: Unix98
913 feclearexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
914 fegetenv NEW: ISO C 9x
915 fegetexceptflag NEW: ISO C 9x
916 fegetround NEW: ISO C 9x
917 feholdexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
919 feraiseexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
920 ferror_locked REMOVED
921 fesetenv NEW: ISO C 9x
922 fesetexceptflag NEW: ISO C 9x
923 fesetround NEW: ISO C 9x
924 fetestexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
925 feupdateenv NEW: ISO C 9x
926 fflush_locked REMOVED
930 fgets_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
931 fileno_locked REMOVED
944 fputs_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
945 fread_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
956 fwrite_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
957 gai_strerror NEW: IPv6
961 getchar_locked REMOVED
963 getdate_err NEW: Unix98
964 getdate_r NEW: GNU ext.
966 getnameinfo NEW: IPv6
967 getnetname NEW: Secure RPC
969 getpt NEW: Unix98 PTY
971 getutxent NEW: Unix98
973 getutxline NEW: Unix98
975 globfree64 NEW: GNU ext.
976 gnu_get_libc_release NEW: GNU ext.
977 gnu_get_libc_version NEW: GNU ext.
978 grantpt NEW: Unix98 PTY
979 host2netname NEW: Secure RPC
981 iconv_close NEW: iconv
982 iconv_open NEW: iconv
983 if_freenameindex NEW: IPv6
984 if_indextoname NEW: IPv6
985 if_nameindex NEW: IPv6
986 if_nametoindex NEW: IPv6
987 in6addr_any NEW: IPv6
988 in6addr_loopback NEW: IPv6
989 inet6_isipv4mapped NEW: IPv6
990 isastream NEW: STREAMS
991 iswblank NEW: GNU ext.
992 key_decryptsession NEW: Secure RPC
993 key_decryptsession_pk NEW: Secure RPC
994 key_encryptsession NEW: Secure RPC
995 key_encryptsession_pk NEW: Secure RPC
996 key_gendes NEW: Secure RPC
997 key_get_conv NEW: Secure RPC
998 key_secretkey_is_set NEW: Secure RPC
999 key_setnet NEW: Secure RPC
1000 key_setsecret NEW: Secure RPC
1001 llrint NEW: ISO C 9x
1002 llrintf NEW: ISO C 9x
1003 llrintl NEW: ISO C 9x
1004 llround NEW: ISO C 9x
1005 llroundf NEW: ISO C 9x
1006 llroundl NEW: ISO C 9x
1011 lrintf NEW: ISO C 9x
1012 lrintl NEW: ISO C 9x
1013 lround NEW: ISO C 9x
1014 lroundf NEW: ISO C 9x
1015 lroundl NEW: ISO C 9x
1017 makecontext NEW: Unix98
1018 mempcpy NEW: GNU ext.
1021 modify_ldt NEW: kernel
1025 nearbyint NEW: ISO C 9x
1026 nearbyintf NEW: ISO C 9x
1027 nearbyintl NEW: ISO C 9x
1028 netname2host NEW: Secure RPC
1029 netname2user NEW: Secure RPC
1030 nexttoward NEW: ISO C 9x
1031 nexttowardf NEW: ISO C 9x
1032 nexttowardl NEW: ISO C 9x
1036 passwd2des NEW: Secure RPC
1038 pow10f NEW: GNU ext.
1039 pow10l NEW: GNU ext.
1042 printf_size NEW: GNU ext.
1043 printf_size_info NEW: GNU ext.
1044 profil_counter REMOVED
1045 pthread_mutexattr_getkind_np REPLACED
1046 pthread_mutexattr_setkind_np REPLACED
1047 ptsname NEW: Unix98 PTY
1048 ptsname_r NEW: Unix98 PTY
1050 putchar_locked REMOVED
1051 putgrent NEW: GNU ext.
1053 putpmsg NEW: STREAMS
1054 pututxline NEW: Unix98
1058 readdir64_r NEW: LFS
1059 remquo NEW: ISO C 9x
1060 remquof NEW: ISO C 9x
1061 remquol NEW: ISO C 9x
1063 roundf NEW: ISO C 9x
1064 roundl NEW: ISO C 9x
1066 scalbln NEW: ISO C 9x
1067 scalblnf NEW: ISO C 9x
1068 scalblnl NEW: ISO C 9x
1070 sendfile NEW: kernel
1071 setcontext NEW: Unix98
1072 setrlimit64 NEW: LFS
1073 setutxent NEW: Unix98
1075 sigignore NEW: Unix98
1076 sigqueue NEW: POSIX.1b
1077 sigrelse NEW: Unix98
1078 sigset NEW: POSIX.1b
1079 sigtimedwait NEW: POSIX.1b
1080 sigwaitinfo NEW: POSIX.1b
1081 sincos NEW: GNU ext.
1082 sincosf NEW: GNU ext.
1083 sincosl NEW: GNU ext.
1087 strcasestr NEW: GNU ext.
1088 strtoimax NEW: ISO C 9x
1089 strtoumax NEW: ISO C 9x
1090 strverscmp NEW: GNU ext.
1091 svcauthdes_stats NEW: Secure RPC
1092 svcunix_create NEW: sunrpc etx
1093 svcunixfd_create NEW: sunrpc ext
1094 swapcontext NEW: Unix98
1095 tcgetsid NEW: Unix98 PTY
1096 tdestroy NEW: GNU ext.
1097 tgamma NEW: ISO C 9x
1098 tgammaf NEW: ISO C 9x
1099 tgammal NEW: ISO C 9x
1103 truncf NEW: ISO C 9x
1104 truncl NEW: ISO C 9x
1106 unlockpt NEW: Unix98 PTY
1107 updwtmpx NEW: Unix98
1108 user2netname NEW: Secure RPC
1109 utmpxname NEW: Unix98
1110 versionsort NEW: GNU ext.
1111 versionsort64 NEW: GNU ext.
1113 wcscasecmp NEW: GNU ext.
1114 wcsncasecmp NEW: GNU ext.
1115 wcsnlen NEW: GNU ext.
1116 wcstoimax NEW: ISO C 9x
1117 wcstoll NEW: ISO C 9x
1118 wcstoull NEW: ISO C 9x
1119 wcstoumax NEW: ISO C 9x
1121 wordexp NEW: POSIX.2
1122 wordfree NEW: POSIX.2
1123 write_profiling REMOVED
1124 xdecrypt NEW: Secure RPC
1125 xdr_authdes_cred NEW: Secure RPC
1126 xdr_authdes_verf NEW: Secure RPC
1127 xdr_cryptkeyarg NEW: Secure RPC
1128 xdr_cryptkeyarg2 NEW: Secure RPC
1129 xdr_cryptkeyres NEW: Secure RPC
1130 xdr_getcredres NEW: Secure RPC
1131 xdr_key_netstarg NEW: Secure RPC
1132 xdr_key_netstres NEW: Secure RPC
1133 xdr_keybuf NEW: Secure RPC
1134 xdr_keystatus NEW: Secure RPC
1135 xdr_netnamestr NEW: Secure RPC
1136 xdr_sizeof NEW: Secure RPC
1137 xdr_unixcred NEW: sunrpc ext
1138 xencrypt NEW: Secure RPC
1139 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1150 * inet_ntoa is thread-safe
1152 * updwtmp is moved from libutil to libc
1154 * rewrite of cbrt function
1156 * update of timezone data
1170 * add atoll function
1172 * fix complex problems in Berkeley DB code
1174 * fix math functions
1178 * fixed lots of header problems (especially Linux/GNU specific)
1180 * dynamic loader preserves all registers
1182 * Roland McGrath provided support for handling of auxiliary objects in
1183 the ELF dynamic loader.
1185 * support for parallel builds is improved
1189 * GNU extensions are no longer declared by default. To enable them you
1190 must define the macro `_GNU_SOURCE' in your program or compile with
1193 * The library has changed from using GNU ld symbol aliases to using weak
1194 symbols where available. The ELF object file format supports weak
1195 symbols; GNU ld also supports weak symbols in the a.out format. (There
1196 is also now support for other GNU ld extensions in ELF. Use the
1197 `--with-elf' option to configure to indicate you have ELF, and
1198 `--with-gnu-ld' if using GNU ld.) This change resulted in the deletion
1199 of many files which contained only symbol aliases, reducing the size of
1200 the source and the compiled library; many other files were renamed to
1201 less cryptic names previously occupied by the symbol alias files.
1202 There is a new header file <elf.h> for programs which operate on
1203 files in the ELF format.
1205 * Converted to Autoconf version 2, so `configure' has more options.
1206 Run `configure --help' to see the details.
1208 * The library can now be configured to build profiling, highly-optimized
1209 (but undebuggable), and/or shared libraries (ELF with GNU ld only). The
1210 `--enable-profile', `--enable-omitfp', and `--enable-shared' options to
1211 `configure' enable building these extra libraries. The shared library is
1212 built by default when using both ELF and GNU ld. When shared libraries
1213 are enabled, the new library `-ldl' is available for arbitrary run-time
1214 loading of shared objects; its interface is defined in <dlfcn.h>. The
1215 new header file <link.h> gives access to the internals of the run-time
1216 dynamic linker, `ld.so'. The shell script `ldd' is similar to the
1217 application of same name on other systems and it provides information
1218 about dynamically linked binaries.
1220 * The C library now provides the run-time support code for profiling
1221 executables compiled with `-pg'. Programs can control the profiling code
1222 through the interface in <sys/gmon.h>. The `gmon.out' files written by
1223 the GNU C library can be read only by GNU `gprof' (from GNU binutils);
1224 the support for this file format was contributed by David Mosberger-Tang.
1226 * The math code has been replaced with a math library based on fdlibm from
1227 Sun, and modified by JT Conklin and Ulrich Drepper with i387 support, by
1228 Ian Taylor with `float' functions and by Ulrich Drepper with `long double'
1229 functions. The math functions now reside in a separate library, so
1230 programs using them will need to use `-lm' their linking commands.
1232 * John C. Bowman contributed optimized ix87 assembler inline functions.
1234 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed support for an `/etc/nsswitch.conf'
1235 mechanism similar to that found in Solaris 2. This is now used for the
1236 group, passwd, hosts, networks, services, protocols, rpc, ethers,
1237 shadow, netgroup, publickey, and alias databases. The `nsswitch.conf'
1238 file controls what services are used for each individual database. This
1239 works by loading shared libraries with names specified in `nsswitch.conf',
1240 so service modules can be changed or added at any time without even
1241 relinking any program. Currently there are the file, db, and NIS based
1242 NSS services available.
1244 * The new functions `strtoq' and `strtouq' parse integer values from
1245 strings, like `strtol' and `strtoul', but they return `long long int' and
1246 `unsigned long long int' values, respectively (64-bit quantities).
1248 * The new functions `strtof' and `strtold' parse floating-point values from
1249 strings, like `strtod', but they return `float' and `long double' values,
1250 respectively (on some machines `double' and `long double' are the same).
1252 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new implementations of the floating-point
1253 printing and reading code used in the `printf' family of functions and
1254 `strtod', `strtof', and `strtold'. These new functions are perfectly
1255 accurate, and much faster than the old ones.
1257 * The implementation of the POSIX locale model was completely rewritten by
1258 Ulrich Drepper. This includes the new programs `localedef' and `locale'
1259 to compile the POSIX locale definition.
1261 * The former dummy implementations of the strcoll and strxfrm function are
1262 now replaced by fully functional code contributed by Ulrich Drepper. The
1263 collation information comes from the POSIX locale definitions.
1265 * The new header <langinfo.h> defines an interface for accessing
1266 various locale-dependent data (using the locale chosen with `setlocale').
1268 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed a new suite of functions for operation on
1269 wide-character and multibyte-character strings, in <wchar.h>;
1270 and classification and case conversion of wide characters, in <wctype.h>.
1271 These new functions are conforming to the ISO C, Amendement 1 specification.
1273 * There is now a second implementation of the standard I/O library available.
1274 It comes from GNU libg++ as was written by Per Bothner, heavily modified
1275 by Hongjiu Lu and made thread safe by Ulrich Drepper.
1277 * You can now use positional parameter specifications in format strings
1278 for the `printf' and `scanf' families of functions. For example,
1279 `printf ("Number %2$d, Mr %1$s\n", "Jones", 6);'' prints
1280 ``Number 6, Mr Jones''. This is mainly useful when providing different
1281 format strings for different languages, whose grammars may dictate
1282 different orderings of the values being printed. To support this
1283 feature, the interface for `register_printf_handler' has changed; see
1284 the header file <printf.h> for details.
1286 * The `printf' and `scanf' families of functions now understand a new
1287 formatting flag for numeric conversions: the ' flag (e.g. %'d or %'f) says
1288 to group numbers as indicated by the locale; for `scanf' and friends, this
1289 says to accept as valid only a number with all the proper grouping
1290 separators in the right places. In the default "C" locale, numbers are
1291 not grouped; but locales for specific countries will define the usual
1292 conventions (i.e. separate thousands with `,' in the US locale).
1294 * The pgrp functions have been regularized, slightly incompatibly but much
1295 less confusingly. The core functions are now `getpgid' and `setpgid',
1296 which take arguments for the PID to operate on; the POSIX.1 `getpgrp' (no
1297 argument) and BSD `setpgrp' (identical to `setpgid') functions are
1298 provided for compatibility. There is no longer an incompatible `getpgrp'
1299 with an argument declared under _BSD_SOURCE; no BSD code uses it.
1301 * The new header file <fts.h> and suite of functions simplify programs that
1302 operate on directory trees. This code comes from 4.4 BSD.
1304 * The resolver code has been updated from the BIND 4.9.5-P1 release.
1305 Parts of the code were heavily modified by Ulrich Drepper to fit in the
1306 NSS scheme used in glibc.
1308 * There is a new malloc debugging hook `__memalign_hook'.
1310 * There are new typedefs `ushort' for `unsigned short int' and `uint' for
1311 `unsigned int' in <sys/types.h>. These are for compatibility only and
1312 their use is discouraged.
1314 * The `-lmcheck' library to enable standard malloc debugging hooks is now
1315 done differently, so that it works even without GNU ld.
1317 * New function `euidaccess' checks allowed access to a file like `access',
1318 but using the effective IDs instead of the real IDs.
1320 * The time zone data files have been updated for the latest and greatest
1321 local time conventions of the countries of the world.
1323 * The new function `dirfd' extracts the file descriptor used by a DIR stream;
1326 * The new functions `ecvt', `fcvt', and `gcvt' provide an obsolete interface
1327 for formatting floating-point numbers. They are provided only for
1328 compatibility; new programs should use `sprintf' instead. There are
1329 also equivalent function for the `long double' floating-point type and
1330 all functions also exist in a reentrant form.
1332 * The new auxiliary library `-lutil' from 4.4 BSD contains various
1333 functions for maintaining the login-record files (primarily of use to
1334 system programs such as `login'), and convenient functions for
1335 allocating and initializing a pseudo-terminal (pty) device.
1337 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new support for System V style
1338 shared memory and IPC on systems that support it.
1340 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed several miscellaneous new functions found
1341 in System V: The `hsearch' family of functions provide an effective
1342 implementation of hash tables; `a64l' and `l64a' provide a very simple
1343 binary to ASCII mapping; `drand48' and friends provide a 48-bit random
1346 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new reentrant counterparts for the
1347 `random' and `hsearch' families of functions; `random_r', `hsearch_r', etc.
1349 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new, highly-optimized versions of several
1350 string functions for the i486/Pentium family of processors.
1352 * Ulrich Drepper has updated the Linux-specific code, based largely
1353 on work done in Hongjiu Lu's version of GNU libc for Linux.
1354 The GNU library now supports Linux versions 2.0.10 and later,
1355 using the ELF object file format (i[3456]86-*-linux).
1357 * Andreas Schwab has ported the C library to Linux/m68k (m68k-*-linux).
1359 * David Mosberger-Tang and Richard Henderson have ported the C library
1360 to Linux/Alpha (alpha-*-linux). Richard Henderson contributed the
1361 dynamic linking support for ELF/Alpha.
1363 * Richard Henderson contributed several Alpha optimized assembler function
1364 for arithmetic and string handling.
1366 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed a new set of message catalog functions to
1367 support multiple languages using the <libintl.h> interface, for use with
1368 his new package GNU gettext. Translation volunteers have contributed
1369 catalogs of the library's messages in Spanish, German, and Korean.
1371 * For compatibility with XPG4, Ulrich Drepper has contributed the `gencat'
1372 program and the `catgets' function for reading the catalog files it
1373 creates. (The <libintl.h> interface is preferred; we include the
1374 <nl_types.h> interface using `catgets' only for source compatibility with
1375 programs already written to use it.)
1377 * New header file <values.h> gives SVID-compatible names for <limits.h>
1380 * Various new macros, declarations, and small header files for compatibility
1383 * New function `group_member' is a convenient way to check if a process has
1384 a given effective group ID.
1386 * When using GCC 2.7 and later, the socket functions are now declared in a
1387 special way so that passing an argument of type `struct sockaddr_in *',
1388 `struct sockaddr_ns *', or `struct sockaddr_un *' instead of the generic
1389 `struct sockaddr *' type, does not generate a type-clash warning.
1391 * New function `error' declared in header file <error.h> is a convenient
1392 function for printing error messages and optionally exiting; this is the
1393 canonical function used in GNU programs. The new functions `err', `warn',
1394 and friends in header file <err.h> are the canonical 4.4 BSD interface for
1395 doing the same thing.
1397 * The <glob.h> interface has several new flags from 4.4 BSD that extend the
1398 POSIX.2 `glob' function to do ~ and {...} expansion.
1400 * New function `unsetenv' complements `setenv' for compatibility with 4.4 BSD.
1401 `clearenv' which is used in POSIX.9 is also available.
1403 * New function `getsid' returns session ID number on systems that support it.
1405 * We have incorporated the 4.4 BSD `db' library (version 1.85). New header
1406 files <db.h> and <mpool.h> provide a rich set of functions for several
1407 types of simple databases stored in memory and in files, and <ndbm.h> is
1408 an old `ndbm'-compatible interface using the `db' functions. Link with
1409 `-ldb' to get these functions.
1411 * New macro `strdupa' copies a string like `strdup', but uses local stack
1412 space from `alloca' instead of dynamic heap space from `malloc'.
1414 * New function `strnlen' is like `strlen' but searches only a given maximum
1415 number of characters for the null terminator. `stpncpy', `strndup' and
1416 `strndupa' are similar variants for the `stpcpy', `strdup' and `strdupa'
1419 * New function `statfs' in header <sys/statfs.h>.
1421 * The new <argz.h> and <envz.h> interfaces contributed by Miles Bader
1422 provide convenient functions for operating on blocks of null-terminated
1425 * A new suite of functions in <utmp.h> handle all the details of reading
1426 and writing the utmp file.
1428 * An implementation of the NIS/YP(tm) based NSS service was contributed by
1431 * Paul Eggert and Ulrich Drepper modified the `strftime' function to be
1432 completely POSIX compliant and also implemented the extended functionality
1433 to handle alternate digit representation and alternate era date formats.
1435 * Ulrich Drepper provided an implementation of the `strptime' function
1436 defined in XPG4.2 which transforms a string into a `struct tm' value.
1438 * Paul Eggert provided the tzselect shell script as part of the timezone
1439 code. The shell script makes it easy to select the correct timezone
1442 * The implementation of the malloc family of functions is completely replaced
1443 by a new implementation by Doug Lea with many improvements by Wolfram Gloger.
1444 The implementation uses the mmap function (if available) and it is
1445 optimized for the use in multi threaded programs.
1447 * Ulrich Drepper contributed a MD5 "encryption" for the crypt family of
1448 functions. This new functionality is usable by specifying a special
1449 salt string and it is compatible with implementation on *BSD systems.
1451 * Lots of functions from the XPG4.2 standard were added by Ulrich Drepper:
1452 `getsubopt' to handle second level command line options, `bsd_signal'
1453 to access BSD style `signal' functionality, the obsolete `regexp' style
1456 * the `lchown' function is available on system which support this
1459 * The implementation of the shadow password handling function was contributed
1462 * David Mosberger-Tang changed the SunRPC implementation to be 64bit safe.
1464 * POSIX.1g support was added. The <sys/select.h> header is available,
1465 `isfdtype' and `pselect' are implemented. Craig Metz contributed an
1466 implementation of `getaddrinfo'.
1470 * For cross-compilation you should now set `BUILD_CC' instead of `HOST_CC'.
1472 * New header file <fstab.h> and new functions `getfsspec', `getfsent' and
1473 friends, for parsing /etc/fstab. This code comes from 4.4 BSD.
1475 * The new function `daemon' from 4.4 BSD is useful for server programs that
1476 want to put themselves in the background.
1478 * Joel Sherrill has contributed support for several standalone boards that
1479 run without an operating system.
1481 * `printf', `scanf' and friends now accept a `q' type modifier for long
1482 long int as well as `ll'. Formats using these might be `%qu' or `%lld'.
1484 * All of the code taken from BSD (notably most of the math and networking
1485 routines) has been updated from the BSD 4.4-Lite release.
1487 * The resolver code has been updated from the BIND-4.9.3-BETA9 release.
1489 * The new functions `getdomainname' and `setdomainname' fetch or change the
1490 YP/NIS domain name. These are system calls which exist on systems which
1493 * The time zone data files have been updated for the latest international
1496 * The SunRPC programs `portmap' and `rpcinfo' are now installed in
1497 $(sbindir) (usually /usr/local/sbin) instead of $(bindir).
1501 * The C library now includes support for Sun RPC, from Sun's free
1502 RPCSRC-4.0 distribution. The `portmap', `rpcinfo', and `rpcgen' programs
1503 are included. (There is still no support for YP.)
1505 * Tom Quinn has contributed a port of the C library to SGI machines running
1506 Irix 4 (mips-sgi-irix4).
1508 * The new `lockf' function is a simplified interface to the locking
1509 facilities of `fcntl', included for compatibility.
1511 * New time functions `timegm', `timelocal', and `dysize' for compatibility.
1513 * New header file <sys/timeb.h> and new function `ftime' for compatibility.
1515 * New header files <poll.h> and <sys/poll.h> and new function `poll' for
1518 * The error message printed by `assert' for a failed assertion now includes
1519 the name of the program (if using GNU ld) and the name of the calling
1520 function (with versions of GCC that support this).
1522 * The `psignal' function is now declared in <signal.h>, not <stdio.h>.
1524 * The library now includes the <sys/mman.h> header file and memory
1525 management functions `mmap', `munmap', `mprotect', `msync', and
1526 `madvise', on systems that support those facilities.
1528 * The interface for `mcheck' has changed slightly: the function called to
1529 abort the program when an allocation inconsistency is detected now takes
1530 an argument that indicates the type of failure. The new function
1531 `mprobe' lets you request a consistency check for a particular block at
1532 any time (checks are normally done only when you call `free' or `realloc'
1535 * It is now possible to easily cross-compile the C library, building on one
1536 system a library to run on another machine and/or operating system. All
1537 you need to do is set the variable `HOST_CC' in `configparms' to the
1538 native compiler for programs to run on the machine you are building on (a
1539 few generator programs are used on Unix systems); set `CC' to the
1542 * The new function `fexecve' (only implemented on the GNU system) executes
1543 a program file given a file descriptor already open on the file.
1547 * Brendan Kehoe has contributed most of a port to the DEC Alpha
1548 running OSF/1 (alpha-dec-osf1). He says it is 75% complete.
1550 * You can set the variable `libprefix' in `configparms' to specify a prefix
1551 to be prepended to installed library files; this makes it easy to install
1552 the GNU C library to be linked as `-lgnuc' or whatever.
1554 * The new `stpncpy' is a cross between `stpcpy' and `strncpy': It
1555 copies a limited number of characters from a string, and returns the
1556 address of the last character written.
1558 * You no longer need to check for whether the installed `stddef.h' is
1559 compatible with the GNU C library. configure now checks for you.
1561 * You can now define a per-stream `fileno' function to convert the
1562 stream's cookie into an integral file descriptor.
1564 * ``malloc (0)'' no longer returns a null pointer. Instead, it
1565 allocates zero bytes of storage, and returns a unique pointer which
1566 you can pass to `realloc' or `free'. The behavior is undefined if
1567 you dereference this pointer.
1569 * The C library now runs on Sony NEWS m68k machines running either
1570 NewsOS 3 or NewsOS 4.
1572 * The new `syscall' function is a system-dependent primitive function
1573 for invoking system calls. It has the canonical behavior on Unix
1574 systems, including unreliable return values for some calls (such as
1575 `pipe', `fork' and `getppid').
1577 * The error code `EWOULDBLOCK' is now obsolete; it is always defined
1578 to `EAGAIN', which is the preferred name. On systems whose kernels
1579 use two distinct codes, the C library now translates EWOULDBLOCK to
1580 EAGAIN in every system call function.
1584 * The GNU C Library Reference Manual is now distributed with the library.
1585 `make dvi' will produce a DVI file of the printed manual.
1586 `make info' will produce Info files that you can read on line using C-h i
1587 in Emacs or the `info' program.
1588 Please send comments on the manual to bug-glibc-manual@gnu.org.
1590 * The library now supports SVR4 on i386s (i386-unknown-sysv4).
1592 * Brendan Kehoe has contributed a port to Sun SPARCs running Solaris 2.
1594 * Jason Merrill has contributed a port to the Sequent Symmetry running
1595 Dynix version 3 (i386-sequent-dynix).
1597 * The library has been ported to i386s running SCO 3.2.4 (also known as SCO
1598 ODT 2.0; i386-unknown-sco3.2.4) or SCO 3.2 (i386-unknown-sco3.2).
1600 * New function `memory_warnings' lets you arrange to get warnings when
1601 malloc is running out of memory to allocate, like Emacs gives you.
1603 * The C library now contains the relocating allocator used in Emacs 19 for
1604 its editing buffers. This allocator (ralloc) minimizes allocation
1605 overhead and fragmentation by moving allocated regions around whenever it
1606 needs to. You always refer to a ralloc'd region with a "handle" (a
1607 pointer to a pointer--an object of type `void **').
1609 * There is a new `printf' format: `%m' gives you the string corresponding
1610 to the error code in `errno'.
1612 * In `scanf' formats, you can now use `%as' or `%a[' to do the normal `%s'
1613 or `%[' conversion, but instead of filling in a fixed-sized buffer you
1614 pass, the `a' modifier says to fill in a `char **' you pass with a
1617 * The `fnmatch' function supports the new flag bits `FNM_LEADING_DIR' and
1618 `FNM_CASEFOLD'. `FNM_LEADING_DIR' lets a pattern like `foo*' match a
1619 name like `foo/bar'. `FNM_CASEFOLD' says to ignore case in matching.
1621 * `mkstemp' is a traditional Unix function to atomically create and open a
1622 uniquely-named temporary file.
1626 * The standard location for the file that says what the local timezone is
1627 has changed again. It is now `/usr/local/etc/localtime' (or more
1628 precisely, `${prefix}/etc/localtime') rather than `/etc/localtime'.
1630 * The distribution no longer contains any files with names longer than 14
1633 * `struct ttyent' has two new flag bits: TTY_TRUSTED and TTY_CONSOLE.
1634 These are set by the new `trusted' and `console' keywords in `/etc/ttys'.
1636 * New functions `ttyslot' and `syslog' from 4.4 BSD.
1640 * The configuration process has changed quite a bit. The `configure'
1641 script is now used just like the configuration scripts for other GNU
1642 packages. The `sysdeps' directory hierarchy is much rearranged.
1643 The file `INSTALL' explains the new scheme in detail.
1645 * The header files no longer need to be processed into ANSI C and
1646 traditional C versions. There is just one set of files to install, and
1647 it will work with ANSI or old C compilers (including `gcc -traditional').
1649 * Brendan Kehoe and Ian Lance Taylor have ported the library to the
1650 MIPS DECStation running Ultrix 4.
1652 * The Sun 4 startup code (crt0) can now properly load SunOS 4 shared libraries.
1653 Tom Quinn contributed the initial code. The GNU C library can NOT yet be
1654 made itself into a shared library.
1656 * Yet further improved support for the i386, running 4.3 BSD-like systems
1657 (such as Mach 3 with the Unix single-server), or System V.
1659 * New function `strncasecmp' to do case-insensitive string comparison
1660 with limited length.
1662 * New function `strsep' is a reentrant alternative to `strtok'.
1664 * New functions `scandir' and `alphasort' for searching directories.
1666 * New function `setenv' is a better interface to `putenv'.
1668 * Ian Lance Taylor has contributed an implementation of the SVID `ftw'
1669 function for traversing a directory tree.
1671 * The GNU obstack package is now also part of the C library.
1672 The new function `open_obstack_stream' creates a stdio stream that
1673 writes onto an obstack; `obstack_printf' and `obstack_vprintf' do
1674 formatted output directly to an obstack.
1676 * Miscellaneous new functions: reboot, nice, sigaltstack (4.4 BSD only),
1677 cfmakeraw, getusershell, getpass, swab, getttyent, seteuid, setegid.
1679 * `FNM_FILE_NAME' is another name for `FNM_PATHNAME', used with `fnmatch'.
1681 * The new functions `strfry' and `memfrob' do mysterious and wonderful
1682 things to your strings.
1684 * There are some new test programs: test-fseek, testmb, and testrand.
1686 * Some work has been done to begin porting the library to 4.4 BSD and Linux.
1687 These ports are not finished, but are a good starting place for really
1688 supporting those systems.
1690 * `/etc/localtime' is now the standard location for the file that says what
1691 the local timezone is, rather than `/usr/local/lib/zoneinfo/localtime'.
1692 This follows the general principle that `/etc' is the place for all local
1693 configuration files.
1695 * The C library header files now use `extern "C"' when used by the C++
1696 compiler, so the C library should now work with C++ code.
1698 * The header file <bstring.h> is gone. <string.h> now declares bcopy,
1699 bcmp, bzero, and ffs. (Update: nowadays these functions are declared
1702 * Mike Haertel (of GNU e?grep and malloc fame) has written a new sorting
1703 function which uses the `merge sort' algorithm, and is said to be
1704 significantly faster than the old GNU `qsort' function. Merge sort is
1705 now the standard `qsort' function. The new algorithm can require a lot
1706 of temporary storage; so, the old sorting function is called when the
1707 required storage is not available.
1709 * The C library now includes Michael Glad's Ultra Fast Crypt, which
1710 provides the Unix `crypt' function, plus some other entry points.
1712 * The code and header files taken from 4.4 BSD have been updated with the
1713 latest files released from Berkeley.
1715 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
1716 Copyright information:
1718 Copyright (C) 1992-1999,2000,2001,2002,2003,2004,2005,2006
1719 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
1721 Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim copies
1722 of this document as received, in any medium, provided that the
1723 copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved,
1724 thus giving the recipient permission to redistribute in turn.
1726 Permission is granted to distribute modified versions
1727 of this document, or of portions of it,
1728 under the above conditions, provided also that they
1729 carry prominent notices stating who last changed them.
1732 version-control: never