1 GNU C Library NEWS -- history of user-visible changes. 2001-3-16
3 Copyright (C) 1992-1999, 2000, 2001 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
4 See the end for copying conditions.
6 Please send GNU C library bug reports using the `glibcbug' script to
7 <bugs@gnu.org>. Questions and suggestions should be send to
12 * Intel's IA-64 math library is largely integrated. It provides fast and
13 accurate implementatations for most basic and standard math functions
14 in float, double, and long double format.
16 * Stephen Moshier implemented j0, j1, jn, y0, y1, yn, lgamma, erf, and
17 erfc for the 96-bit long double format.
19 * The beginning of a last-bit accurate math library by IBM Haifa were added.
20 The basic double functions exist today. Contributed by Abraham Ziv
21 <ziv@il.ibm.com>, Moshe Olshansky <olshansk@il.ibm.com>, Ealan Henis
22 <ealan@il.ibm.com>, and Anna Reitman <reitman@il.ibm.com>.
24 * An asynchronous name lookup library was added. The interface is designed
25 after POSIX AIO. The proposal was circulated beforehand to get comments.
26 No negative ones came in. Implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
28 * Port to S390/64bit contributed by Martin Schwidefsky
29 <schwidefsky@de.ibm.com>.
31 * David Mosberger <davidm@hpl.hp.com> implemented the setcontext family
32 of functions for Linux/IA-64.
34 * The RPC code is now thread safe. Threads can now use the same service
35 of different services at the same time. Patch by Eric Norum
36 <eric.norum@usask.ca> with some help by Ulrich Drepper.
40 * Lots of headers were cleaned up. Using the tool in the conform/ subdir
41 we can now check for namespace violations and missing declarations. The
42 result is that almost all headers are now Unix-compliant (as defined in
43 the upcoming XPG6). The negative side is that some programs might need
44 corrections, too, if they depend on the incorrect form of the headers in
45 previous versions which defined too many symbols and included too many
48 * regex now handles multibyte character sets correctly.
49 Contributed by Isamu Hasegawa <isamu@yamato.ibm.com>.
51 * iconv (the program) does now conform to the upcoming XPG6 and handles
52 charmaps. Instead of the charset names the path of charmaps can be
53 provided and the conversion happens based on this data.
54 Contributed by Ulrich Drepper.
56 * The locale program now provides detailed information about the installed
61 only lists the names of the supported locales
65 provides details such as country, language, and codeset name.
66 Contributed by Ulrich Drepper.
70 * The gencat program now parses the input file according to the charset
71 selected by the LC_CTYPE category. This is important for stateful
72 character sets. To make generating catalogs easier there is a way
73 to overwrite the charset selected by the locale: before the first
74 message or $ quote line the catalog can contain a line like
78 to select the charset (ISO-8859-2 in this case).
80 Implemented by Shinya Hanataka and Ulrich Drepper.
82 * New codeset conversion modules: IBM-922 (Estonia PC codeset),
83 IBM-1124 (Ukraine PC codeset), IBM-1129 (Vietnamese PC codeset).
84 Contributed by Masahide Washizawa <washi@jp.ibm.com>.
86 * Optimized string functions for Alpha ev6 and ev67 by Richard Henderson
87 <rth@redhat.com> and Rick Gorton <rick.gorton@alpha-processor.com>.
89 * The LANGUAGE environment variable is now ignored unless the locale is
90 changed from the default "C" locale.
92 * The usual bug fixes.
96 * Greg McGary added runtime support for bounds checking using gcc's
97 new -fbounded-pointers option. ix86 target is complete. PowerPC
100 * Thorsten Kukuk added secure mode support to nscd.
102 * The Berkeley db libraries have been removed.
104 Related, the nss_db module is now in a separate package since it
105 obviously requires a database library being available.
107 * Wide character I/O streams implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
109 * Functions from the extended socket API added by Ulrich Drepper.
111 * Functions feenableexcept and fedisableexcept to control the
112 behaviour of individual exceptions have been added by Andreas Jaeger.
114 * ldconfig program added by Andreas Jaeger and Jakub Jelinek.
116 * The resolver code has been updated from bind 8.2.3-T5B which supports
117 threads. The integration was done by Andreas Jaeger, Adam D. Bradley,
120 This change could in some situations effect backward compatibility. Since
121 now `_res' is a thread-local instead of a global variable, modifying it
122 in one thread does not have any effect in other threads.
124 The resolver library was also extended to allow IPv6 as the transport
125 protocol for the requests. This work was done by Stig Venaas.
127 * Compatibility code for K&R C compilers has been removed from the
128 header files. A ISO C compiler is needed to use the library
129 (conforming to either C89 or C99 standard).
131 * Complete rewrite of the localedef program to support multibyte character
132 sets. Implement handling of ISO 14651 and ISO 14652. Rewrite strcoll,
133 strxfrm, wcscoll, and wcsxfrm functions. Make isw*() functions work.
134 Implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
136 Bruno Haible significantly improved the generation and use of the data
137 structures for the wide character tables.
139 * Plural handling in gettext implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
141 * The utmp daemon has been removed.
143 * The port to MIPS-Linux has been finished by Andreas Jaeger.
145 * A port to Hitachi SH3 and SH4 has been contributed by Kazumoto Kojima
148 * POSIX clocks and timers implemented by Kaz Kylheku and Ulrich Drepper.
150 * POSIX barriers implemented by Kaz Kylheku.
152 * POSIX spawn function family implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
154 * POSIX spinlocks are now available.
156 * Timed wait functions for mutex, rwlock, and semaphores are implemented.
158 * the configure option --enable-kernel=X.Y.Z allows to strip out
159 compatibility for kernel versions before X.Y.Z. This is currently only
160 implemented for Linux.
162 * the sockaddr_in6 structure changed. The IPv6 working group added a new
163 field sin6_scope_id. This means that all programs using IPv6 should be
164 recompiled. Don't expect binary compatibility with previous glibc
167 * various conversion modules for IBM character sets contributed by
170 * IA-64 port by Jes Sorensen and HJ Lu.
172 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
173 Compiling the GNU C Library for Linux/ia64
174 ******************************************
176 Please refer to the file INSTALL in the same directory as you found
177 this file for general information about configuring and compiling
180 For general inquiries about glibc under Linux/ia64 please use the
181 following mailing list linux-ia64@linuxia64.org or one of the relevant
184 Recommended Tools for Compilation
185 =================================
187 In order for glibc-2.2 to build correctly on the ia64 you need at
188 least the following versions of the GNU tools (the :
190 * The Cygnus toolchain snapshot for the ia64 as of August 4
191 including the provided set of patches. It is however recommend
192 you use the October 24 toolchain snapshot or a more recent version.
194 OR alternatively you can try the following (the Cygnus toolchain is
195 the recommended solution):
197 * GCC and binutils, GAS and GNU LD out of CVS from
198 sources.redhat.com as of August 28, 2000 or later. The CVS tree
199 may require special patches to work properly on the ia64.
201 Configuring and compiling GNU Libc for Linux/ia64
202 =================================================
204 The library requires Linux kernel version 2.4.0-test4-000728 or
205 later to funtion properly. Besides that it support for debug libraries
206 is currently untested. Hence the following options
207 are required for configuring the library:
209 --disable-debug --enable-kernel=2.4.0
211 It is also important that you make sure the library picks up the
212 appropriate kernel header files, if you do not have recent enough
213 kernel headers in /usr/src/linux/include, you should use the
214 --with-headers=<path> option to specify the location.
216 As an example I personally use the following options to configure
221 --enable-kernel=2.4.0
225 --with-headers=/home/jes/linux/include
230 Jes Sorensen <jes@linuxcare.com>,
232 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
246 * New ISO C 9x function _Exit, imaxabs, and imaxdiv are added.
248 * New xdr functions are added; some rpc functions are now 64bit clean.
250 * Fixed a number of bugs and memory leaks (especially in NIS+ code).
252 * Fixed known incompatibilities with glibc 2.0.
254 * New functions lock64, strchrnul, rawmemchr, getutmp and getutmpx.
256 * Optimized a number of functions (especially the ELF dynamic loader).
258 * Update timezone data files.
260 * lots of charmaps corrections
262 * some new locale definitions and charmaps
267 * Richard Henderson corrected size of struct timeval on Linux/Alpha to
268 conform to POSIX member type requirements. Symbol versions have been
269 adjusted as needed within the library, and for direct use by applications,
270 but there is potential for problems if third-party libraries use
271 struct timeval as part of their interface. This does not present
272 a problem for X and other "essential" system libraries.
274 * An additional locale model to support C++ Standard Library locale
275 model and probably more was implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
277 * Eric Youngdale and Ulrich Drepper implemented versioning of objects on
280 * Miles Bader provided the `argp' function family to support hierachical
281 command line argument parsing, layered on top of getopt.
283 * strtod accepts new hexadecimal floating-point format from ISO C 9X.
285 * printf has two new specifiers %a and %A to print hexadecimal flaoting-point
288 * scanf recognizes the %a and %A format for scanning floating point numbers.
290 * the new headers <stdint.h> and <inttypes.h> from ISO C 9X provides
291 information and interfaces for the available integer types.
293 * about 130 new math functions were added to implement the ISO C9x math
296 * the new header <complex.h> contains definitions of the complex math
297 functions from ISO C 9X.
299 * the new header <tgmath.h> defines generic macros to use complex or
300 real valued functions.
302 * Thorsten Kukuk provided an implementation for NIS+, securelevel 0, 1 and 2.
304 * Andreas Jaeger provided a test suite for the math library.
306 * Mark Kettenis implemented the utmpx interface and an utmp daemon.
308 * Ulrich Drepper added character set conversion functions (iconv).
310 * Optimized string functions have been added.
312 * The localedata addon is now part of glibc.
314 * An implementation of profiling shared libraries was added by Ulrich Drepper.
316 * Thorsten Kukuk and Ulrich Drepper provided an implementation for a caching
317 daemon for NSS (nscd).
319 Missing a better place here are some numbers on improvements. Under
320 Linux 2.1.125 un-tar-ing the kernel sources takes
324 using local files 12.19s 6.88s 22.91s
326 using NIS 13.92s 8.91s 26.34s
328 using NIS & nscd 10.37s 7.34s 25.30s
330 using NIS+ 27.57s 30.37s 640.46s
332 using NIS+ & nscd 10.25s 7.83s 26.51s
334 using NIS & old nscd [1] 13.83s 8.32s 29.60s
336 Keep in mind that non-namelookup related operations dominate above times.
337 It was just a common complain that using NIS+ unpacking the kernel is
340 [1] The old nscd implementation is not available anymore since it was
341 distributed with glibc up to version 2.0.98 and thus is now replaced.
343 * Tim Waugh provided an implementation of the POSIX.2 wordexp function family.
345 * Mark Kettenis provided a Hesiod NSS module.
347 * The ELF dynamic loader knows how to process dynamic string tokens ($ORIGIN
348 and $PLATFORM) in RPATHs and similar strings (Ulrich Drepper).
350 * rcmd can now handle netgroups (Dick Streefland).
352 * A port to the ARM was contributed by Phil Blundell, Pat Beirne and Scott
355 * Support for the IPv6 protocol has been added to the socket API, as per the
356 latest draft standards.
358 * Support for Linux 2.2 has been added.
360 * Interface changes relative to the latest 2.0.x release:
361 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
362 addseverity NEW: Unix98
364 argp_err_exit_status NEW: argp, GNU ext
365 argp_error NEW: argp, GNU ext
366 argp_failure NEW: argp, GNU ext
367 argp_help NEW: argp, GNU ext
368 argp_parse NEW: argp, GNU ext
369 argp_program_bug_address NEW: argp, GNU ext
370 argp_program_version NEW: argp, GNU ext
371 argp_program_version_hook NEW: argp, GNU ext
372 argp_state_help NEW: argp, GNU ext
373 argp_usage NEW: argp, GNU ext
374 authdes_create NEW: Secure RPC
375 authdes_getucred NEW: Secure RPC
376 authdes_pk_create NEW: Secure RPC
377 backtrace NEW: GNU ext.
378 backtrace_symbols NEW: GNU ext.
379 backtrace_symbols_fd NEW: GNU ext.
383 cacoshf NEW: ISO C 9x
384 cacoshl NEW: ISO C 9x
394 casinhf NEW: ISO C 9x
395 casinhl NEW: ISO C 9x
400 catanhf NEW: ISO C 9x
401 catanhl NEW: ISO C 9x
403 cbc_crypt NEW: Secure RPC
416 clearerr_locked REMOVED
417 clntunix_create NEW: sunrpc ext
420 clog10f NEW: ISO C 9x
421 clog10l NEW: ISO C 9x
452 des_setparity NEW: Secure RPC
453 ecb_crypt NEW: Secure RPC
454 endutxent NEW: Unix98
466 feclearexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
467 fegetenv NEW: ISO C 9x
468 fegetexceptflag NEW: ISO C 9x
469 fegetround NEW: ISO C 9x
470 feholdexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
472 feraiseexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
473 ferror_locked REMOVED
474 fesetenv NEW: ISO C 9x
475 fesetexceptflag NEW: ISO C 9x
476 fesetround NEW: ISO C 9x
477 fetestexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
478 feupdateenv NEW: ISO C 9x
479 fflush_locked REMOVED
483 fgets_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
484 fileno_locked REMOVED
497 fputs_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
498 fread_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
509 fwrite_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
510 gai_strerror NEW: IPv6
514 getchar_locked REMOVED
516 getdate_err NEW: Unix98
517 getdate_r NEW: GNU ext.
519 getnameinfo NEW: IPv6
520 getnetname NEW: Secure RPC
522 getpt NEW: Unix98 PTY
524 getutxent NEW: Unix98
526 getutxline NEW: Unix98
528 globfree64 NEW: GNU ext.
529 gnu_get_libc_release NEW: GNU ext.
530 gnu_get_libc_version NEW: GNU ext.
531 grantpt NEW: Unix98 PTY
532 host2netname NEW: Secure RPC
534 iconv_close NEW: iconv
535 iconv_open NEW: iconv
536 if_freenameindex NEW: IPv6
537 if_indextoname NEW: IPv6
538 if_nameindex NEW: IPv6
539 if_nametoindex NEW: IPv6
540 in6addr_any NEW: IPv6
541 in6addr_loopback NEW: IPv6
542 inet6_isipv4mapped NEW: IPv6
543 isastream NEW: STREAMS
544 iswblank NEW: GNU ext.
545 key_decryptsession NEW: Secure RPC
546 key_decryptsession_pk NEW: Secure RPC
547 key_encryptsession NEW: Secure RPC
548 key_encryptsession_pk NEW: Secure RPC
549 key_gendes NEW: Secure RPC
550 key_get_conv NEW: Secure RPC
551 key_secretkey_is_set NEW: Secure RPC
552 key_setnet NEW: Secure RPC
553 key_setsecret NEW: Secure RPC
555 llrintf NEW: ISO C 9x
556 llrintl NEW: ISO C 9x
557 llround NEW: ISO C 9x
558 llroundf NEW: ISO C 9x
559 llroundl NEW: ISO C 9x
567 lroundf NEW: ISO C 9x
568 lroundl NEW: ISO C 9x
570 makecontext NEW: Unix98
571 mempcpy NEW: GNU ext.
574 modify_ldt NEW: kernel
578 nearbyint NEW: ISO C 9x
579 nearbyintf NEW: ISO C 9x
580 nearbyintl NEW: ISO C 9x
581 netname2host NEW: Secure RPC
582 netname2user NEW: Secure RPC
583 nexttoward NEW: ISO C 9x
584 nexttowardf NEW: ISO C 9x
585 nexttowardl NEW: ISO C 9x
589 passwd2des NEW: Secure RPC
595 printf_size NEW: GNU ext.
596 printf_size_info NEW: GNU ext.
597 profil_counter REMOVED
598 pthread_mutexattr_getkind_np REPLACED
599 pthread_mutexattr_setkind_np REPLACED
600 ptsname NEW: Unix98 PTY
601 ptsname_r NEW: Unix98 PTY
603 putchar_locked REMOVED
604 putgrent NEW: GNU ext.
607 pututxline NEW: Unix98
613 remquof NEW: ISO C 9x
614 remquol NEW: ISO C 9x
619 scalbln NEW: ISO C 9x
620 scalblnf NEW: ISO C 9x
621 scalblnl NEW: ISO C 9x
624 setcontext NEW: Unix98
626 setutxent NEW: Unix98
628 sigignore NEW: Unix98
629 sigqueue NEW: POSIX.1b
632 sigtimedwait NEW: POSIX.1b
633 sigwaitinfo NEW: POSIX.1b
635 sincosf NEW: GNU ext.
636 sincosl NEW: GNU ext.
640 strcasestr NEW: GNU ext.
641 strtoimax NEW: ISO C 9x
642 strtoumax NEW: ISO C 9x
643 strverscmp NEW: GNU ext.
644 svcauthdes_stats NEW: Secure RPC
645 svcunix_create NEW: sunrpc etx
646 svcunixfd_create NEW: sunrpc ext
647 swapcontext NEW: Unix98
648 tcgetsid NEW: Unix98 PTY
649 tdestroy NEW: GNU ext.
651 tgammaf NEW: ISO C 9x
652 tgammal NEW: ISO C 9x
659 unlockpt NEW: Unix98 PTY
661 user2netname NEW: Secure RPC
662 utmpxname NEW: Unix98
663 versionsort NEW: GNU ext.
664 versionsort64 NEW: GNU ext.
666 wcscasecmp NEW: GNU ext.
667 wcsncasecmp NEW: GNU ext.
668 wcsnlen NEW: GNU ext.
669 wcstoimax NEW: ISO C 9x
670 wcstoll NEW: ISO C 9x
671 wcstoull NEW: ISO C 9x
672 wcstoumax NEW: ISO C 9x
675 wordfree NEW: POSIX.2
676 write_profiling REMOVED
677 xdecrypt NEW: Secure RPC
678 xdr_authdes_cred NEW: Secure RPC
679 xdr_authdes_verf NEW: Secure RPC
680 xdr_cryptkeyarg NEW: Secure RPC
681 xdr_cryptkeyarg2 NEW: Secure RPC
682 xdr_cryptkeyres NEW: Secure RPC
683 xdr_getcredres NEW: Secure RPC
684 xdr_key_netstarg NEW: Secure RPC
685 xdr_key_netstres NEW: Secure RPC
686 xdr_keybuf NEW: Secure RPC
687 xdr_keystatus NEW: Secure RPC
688 xdr_netnamestr NEW: Secure RPC
689 xdr_sizeof NEW: Secure RPC
690 xdr_unixcred NEW: sunrpc ext
691 xencrypt NEW: Secure RPC
692 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
703 * inet_ntoa is thread-safe
705 * updwtmp is moved from libutil to libc
707 * rewrite of cbrt function
709 * update of timezone data
725 * fix complex problems in Berkeley DB code
731 * fixed lots of header problems (especially Linux/GNU specific)
733 * dynamic loader preserves all registers
735 * Roland McGrath provided support for handling of auxiliary objects in
736 the ELF dynamic loader.
738 * support for parallel builds is improved
742 * GNU extensions are no longer declared by default. To enable them you
743 must define the macro `_GNU_SOURCE' in your program or compile with
746 * The library has changed from using GNU ld symbol aliases to using weak
747 symbols where available. The ELF object file format supports weak
748 symbols; GNU ld also supports weak symbols in the a.out format. (There
749 is also now support for other GNU ld extensions in ELF. Use the
750 `--with-elf' option to configure to indicate you have ELF, and
751 `--with-gnu-ld' if using GNU ld.) This change resulted in the deletion
752 of many files which contained only symbol aliases, reducing the size of
753 the source and the compiled library; many other files were renamed to
754 less cryptic names previously occupied by the symbol alias files.
755 There is a new header file <elf.h> for programs which operate on
756 files in the ELF format.
758 * Converted to Autoconf version 2, so `configure' has more options.
759 Run `configure --help' to see the details.
761 * The library can now be configured to build profiling, highly-optimized
762 (but undebuggable), and/or shared libraries (ELF with GNU ld only). The
763 `--enable-profile', `--enable-omitfp', and `--enable-shared' options to
764 `configure' enable building these extra libraries. The shared library is
765 built by default when using both ELF and GNU ld. When shared libraries
766 are enabled, the new library `-ldl' is available for arbitrary run-time
767 loading of shared objects; its interface is defined in <dlfcn.h>. The
768 new header file <link.h> gives access to the internals of the run-time
769 dynamic linker, `ld.so'. The shell script `ldd' is similar to the
770 application of same name on other systems and it provides information
771 about dynamically linked binaries.
773 * The C library now provides the run-time support code for profiling
774 executables compiled with `-pg'. Programs can control the profiling code
775 through the interface in <sys/gmon.h>. The `gmon.out' files written by
776 the GNU C library can be read only by GNU `gprof' (from GNU binutils);
777 the support for this file format was contributed by David Mosberger-Tang.
779 * The math code has been replaced with a math library based on fdlibm from
780 Sun, and modified by JT Conklin and Ulrich Drepper with i387 support, by
781 Ian Taylor with `float' functions and by Ulrich Drepper with `long double'
782 functions. The math functions now reside in a separate library, so
783 programs using them will need to use `-lm' their linking commands.
785 * John C. Bowman contributed optimized ix87 assembler inline functions.
787 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed support for an `/etc/nsswitch.conf'
788 mechanism similar to that found in Solaris 2. This is now used for the
789 group, passwd, hosts, networks, services, protocols, rpc, ethers,
790 shadow, netgroup, publickey, and alias databases. The `nsswitch.conf'
791 file controls what services are used for each individual database. This
792 works by loading shared libraries with names specified in `nsswitch.conf',
793 so service modules can be changed or added at any time without even
794 relinking any program. Currently there are the file, db, and NIS based
795 NSS services available.
797 * The new functions `strtoq' and `strtouq' parse integer values from
798 strings, like `strtol' and `strtoul', but they return `long long int' and
799 `unsigned long long int' values, respectively (64-bit quantities).
801 * The new functions `strtof' and `strtold' parse floating-point values from
802 strings, like `strtod', but they return `float' and `long double' values,
803 respectively (on some machines `double' and `long double' are the same).
805 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new implementations of the floating-point
806 printing and reading code used in the `printf' family of functions and
807 `strtod', `strtof', and `strtold'. These new functions are perfectly
808 accurate, and much faster than the old ones.
810 * The implementation of the POSIX locale model was completely rewritten by
811 Ulrich Drepper. This includes the new programs `localedef' and `locale'
812 to compile the POSIX locale definition.
814 * The former dummy implementations of the strcoll and strxfrm function are
815 now replaced by fully functional code contributed by Ulrich Drepper. The
816 collation information comes from the POSIX locale definitions.
818 * The new header <langinfo.h> defines an interface for accessing
819 various locale-dependent data (using the locale chosen with `setlocale').
821 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed a new suite of functions for operation on
822 wide-character and multibyte-character strings, in <wchar.h>;
823 and classification and case conversion of wide characters, in <wctype.h>.
824 These new functions are conforming to the ISO C, Amendement 1 specification.
826 * There is now a second implementation of the standard I/O library available.
827 It comes from GNU libg++ as was written by Per Bothner, heavily modified
828 by Hongjiu Lu and made thread safe by Ulrich Drepper.
830 * You can now use positional parameter specifications in format strings
831 for the `printf' and `scanf' families of functions. For example,
832 `printf ("Number %2$d, Mr %1$s\n", "Jones", 6);'' prints
833 ``Number 6, Mr Jones''. This is mainly useful when providing different
834 format strings for different languages, whose grammars may dictate
835 different orderings of the values being printed. To support this
836 feature, the interface for `register_printf_handler' has changed; see
837 the header file <printf.h> for details.
839 * The `printf' and `scanf' families of functions now understand a new
840 formatting flag for numeric conversions: the ' flag (e.g. %'d or %'f) says
841 to group numbers as indicated by the locale; for `scanf' and friends, this
842 says to accept as valid only a number with all the proper grouping
843 separators in the right places. In the default "C" locale, numbers are
844 not grouped; but locales for specific countries will define the usual
845 conventions (i.e. separate thousands with `,' in the US locale).
847 * The pgrp functions have been regularized, slightly incompatibly but much
848 less confusingly. The core functions are now `getpgid' and `setpgid',
849 which take arguments for the PID to operate on; the POSIX.1 `getpgrp' (no
850 argument) and BSD `setpgrp' (identical to `setpgid') functions are
851 provided for compatibility. There is no longer an incompatible `getpgrp'
852 with an argument declared under _BSD_SOURCE; no BSD code uses it.
854 * The new header file <fts.h> and suite of functions simplify programs that
855 operate on directory trees. This code comes from 4.4 BSD.
857 * The resolver code has been updated from the BIND 4.9.5-P1 release.
858 Parts of the code were heavily modified by Ulrich Drepper to fit in the
859 NSS scheme used in glibc.
861 * There is a new malloc debugging hook `__memalign_hook'.
863 * There are new typedefs `ushort' for `unsigned short int' and `uint' for
864 `unsigned int' in <sys/types.h>. These are for compatibility only and
865 their use is discouraged.
867 * The `-lmcheck' library to enable standard malloc debugging hooks is now
868 done differently, so that it works even without GNU ld.
870 * New function `euidaccess' checks allowed access to a file like `access',
871 but using the effective IDs instead of the real IDs.
873 * The time zone data files have been updated for the latest and greatest
874 local time conventions of the countries of the world.
876 * The new function `dirfd' extracts the file descriptor used by a DIR stream;
879 * The new functions `ecvt', `fcvt', and `gcvt' provide an obsolete interface
880 for formatting floating-point numbers. They are provided only for
881 compatibility; new programs should use `sprintf' instead. There are
882 also equivalent function for the `long double' floating-point type and
883 all functions also exist in a reentrant form.
885 * The new auxiliary library `-lutil' from 4.4 BSD contains various
886 functions for maintaining the login-record files (primarily of use to
887 system programs such as `login'), and convenient functions for
888 allocating and initializing a pseudo-terminal (pty) device.
890 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new support for System V style
891 shared memory and IPC on systems that support it.
893 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed several miscellaneous new functions found
894 in System V: The `hsearch' family of functions provide an effective
895 implementation of hash tables; `a64l' and `l64a' provide a very simple
896 binary to ASCII mapping; `drand48' and friends provide a 48-bit random
899 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new reentrant counterparts for the
900 `random' and `hsearch' families of functions; `random_r', `hsearch_r', etc.
902 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new, highly-optimized versions of several
903 string functions for the i486/Pentium family of processors.
905 * Ulrich Drepper has updated the Linux-specific code, based largely
906 on work done in Hongjiu Lu's version of GNU libc for Linux.
907 The GNU library now supports Linux versions 2.0.10 and later,
908 using the ELF object file format (i[3456]86-*-linux).
910 * Andreas Schwab has ported the C library to Linux/m68k (m68k-*-linux).
912 * David Mosberger-Tang and Richard Henderson have ported the C library
913 to Linux/Alpha (alpha-*-linux). Richard Henderson contributed the
914 dynamic linking support for ELF/Alpha.
916 * Richard Henderson contributed several Alpha optimized assembler function
917 for arithmetic and string handling.
919 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed a new set of message catalog functions to
920 support multiple languages using the <libintl.h> interface, for use with
921 his new package GNU gettext. Translation volunteers have contributed
922 catalogs of the library's messages in Spanish, German, and Korean.
924 * For compatibility with XPG4, Ulrich Drepper has contributed the `gencat'
925 program and the `catgets' function for reading the catalog files it
926 creates. (The <libintl.h> interface is preferred; we include the
927 <nl_types.h> interface using `catgets' only for source compatibility with
928 programs already written to use it.)
930 * New header file <values.h> gives SVID-compatible names for <limits.h>
933 * Various new macros, declarations, and small header files for compatibility
936 * New function `group_member' is a convenient way to check if a process has
937 a given effective group ID.
939 * When using GCC 2.7 and later, the socket functions are now declared in a
940 special way so that passing an argument of type `struct sockaddr_in *',
941 `struct sockaddr_ns *', or `struct sockaddr_un *' instead of the generic
942 `struct sockaddr *' type, does not generate a type-clash warning.
944 * New function `error' declared in header file <error.h> is a convenient
945 function for printing error messages and optionally exiting; this is the
946 canonical function used in GNU programs. The new functions `err', `warn',
947 and friends in header file <err.h> are the canonical 4.4 BSD interface for
948 doing the same thing.
950 * The <glob.h> interface has several new flags from 4.4 BSD that extend the
951 POSIX.2 `glob' function to do ~ and {...} expansion.
953 * New function `unsetenv' complements `setenv' for compatibility with 4.4 BSD.
954 `clearenv' which is used in POSIX.9 is also available.
956 * New function `getsid' returns session ID number on systems that support it.
958 * We have incorporated the 4.4 BSD `db' library (version 1.85). New header
959 files <db.h> and <mpool.h> provide a rich set of functions for several
960 types of simple databases stored in memory and in files, and <ndbm.h> is
961 an old `ndbm'-compatible interface using the `db' functions. Link with
962 `-ldb' to get these functions.
964 * New macro `strdupa' copies a string like `strdup', but uses local stack
965 space from `alloca' instead of dynamic heap space from `malloc'.
967 * New function `strnlen' is like `strlen' but searches only a given maximum
968 number of characters for the null terminator. `stpncpy', `strndup' and
969 `strndupa' are similar variants for the `stpcpy', `strdup' and `strdupa'
972 * New function `statfs' in header <sys/statfs.h>.
974 * The new <argz.h> and <envz.h> interfaces contributed by Miles Bader
975 provide convenient functions for operating on blocks of null-terminated
978 * A new suite of functions in <utmp.h> handle all the details of reading
979 and writing the utmp file.
981 * An implementation of the NIS/YP(tm) based NSS service was contributed by
984 * Paul Eggert and Ulrich Drepper modified the `strftime' function to be
985 completely POSIX compliant and also implemented the extended functionality
986 to handle alternate digit representation and alternate era date formats.
988 * Ulrich Drepper provided an implementation of the `strptime' function
989 defined in XPG4.2 which transforms a string into a `struct tm' value.
991 * Paul Eggert provided the tzselect shell script as part of the timezone
992 code. The shell script makes it easy to select the correct timezone
995 * The implementation of the malloc family of functions is completely replaced
996 by a new implementation by Doug Lea with many improvements by Wolfram Gloger.
997 The implementation uses the mmap function (if available) and it is
998 optimized for the use in multi threaded programs.
1000 * Ulrich Drepper contributed a MD5 "encryption" for the crypt family of
1001 functions. This new functionality is usable by specifying a special
1002 salt string and it is compatible with implementation on *BSD systems.
1004 * Lots of functions from the XPG4.2 standard were added by Ulrich Drepper:
1005 `getsubopt' to handle second level command line options, `bsd_signal'
1006 to access BSD style `signal' functionality, the obsolete `regexp' style
1009 * the `lchown' function is available on system which support this
1012 * The implementation of the shadow password handling function was contributed
1015 * David Mosberger-Tang changed the SunRPC implementation to be 64bit safe.
1017 * POSIX.1g support was added. The <sys/select.h> header is available,
1018 `isfdtype' and `pselect' are implemented. Craig Metz contributed an
1019 implementation of `getaddrinfo'.
1023 * For cross-compilation you should now set `BUILD_CC' instead of `HOST_CC'.
1025 * New header file <fstab.h> and new functions `getfsspec', `getfsent' and
1026 friends, for parsing /etc/fstab. This code comes from 4.4 BSD.
1028 * The new function `daemon' from 4.4 BSD is useful for server programs that
1029 want to put themselves in the background.
1031 * Joel Sherrill has contributed support for several standalone boards that
1032 run without an operating system.
1034 * `printf', `scanf' and friends now accept a `q' type modifier for long
1035 long int as well as `ll'. Formats using these might be `%qu' or `%lld'.
1037 * All of the code taken from BSD (notably most of the math and networking
1038 routines) has been updated from the BSD 4.4-Lite release.
1040 * The resolver code has been updated from the BIND-4.9.3-BETA9 release.
1042 * The new functions `getdomainname' and `setdomainname' fetch or change the
1043 YP/NIS domain name. These are system calls which exist on systems which
1046 * The time zone data files have been updated for the latest international
1049 * The SunRPC programs `portmap' and `rpcinfo' are now installed in
1050 $(sbindir) (usually /usr/local/sbin) instead of $(bindir).
1054 * The C library now includes support for Sun RPC, from Sun's free
1055 RPCSRC-4.0 distribution. The `portmap', `rpcinfo', and `rpcgen' programs
1056 are included. (There is still no support for YP.)
1058 * Tom Quinn has contributed a port of the C library to SGI machines running
1059 Irix 4 (mips-sgi-irix4).
1061 * The new `lockf' function is a simplified interface to the locking
1062 facilities of `fcntl', included for compatibility.
1064 * New time functions `timegm', `timelocal', and `dysize' for compatibility.
1066 * New header file <sys/timeb.h> and new function `ftime' for compatibility.
1068 * New header files <poll.h> and <sys/poll.h> and new function `poll' for
1071 * The error message printed by `assert' for a failed assertion now includes
1072 the name of the program (if using GNU ld) and the name of the calling
1073 function (with versions of GCC that support this).
1075 * The `psignal' function is now declared in <signal.h>, not <stdio.h>.
1077 * The library now includes the <sys/mman.h> header file and memory
1078 management functions `mmap', `munmap', `mprotect', `msync', and
1079 `madvise', on systems that support those facilities.
1081 * The interface for `mcheck' has changed slightly: the function called to
1082 abort the program when an allocation inconsistency is detected now takes
1083 an argument that indicates the type of failure. The new function
1084 `mprobe' lets you request a consistency check for a particular block at
1085 any time (checks are normally done only when you call `free' or `realloc'
1088 * It is now possible to easily cross-compile the C library, building on one
1089 system a library to run on another machine and/or operating system. All
1090 you need to do is set the variable `HOST_CC' in `configparms' to the
1091 native compiler for programs to run on the machine you are building on (a
1092 few generator programs are used on Unix systems); set `CC' to the
1095 * The new function `fexecve' (only implemented on the GNU system) executes
1096 a program file given a file descriptor already open on the file.
1100 * Brendan Kehoe has contributed most of a port to the DEC Alpha
1101 running OSF/1 (alpha-dec-osf1). He says it is 75% complete.
1103 * You can set the variable `libprefix' in `configparms' to specify a prefix
1104 to be prepended to installed library files; this makes it easy to install
1105 the GNU C library to be linked as `-lgnuc' or whatever.
1107 * The new `stpncpy' is a cross between `stpcpy' and `strncpy': It
1108 copies a limited number of characters from a string, and returns the
1109 address of the last character written.
1111 * You no longer need to check for whether the installed `stddef.h' is
1112 compatible with the GNU C library. configure now checks for you.
1114 * You can now define a per-stream `fileno' function to convert the
1115 stream's cookie into an integral file descriptor.
1117 * ``malloc (0)'' no longer returns a null pointer. Instead, it
1118 allocates zero bytes of storage, and returns a unique pointer which
1119 you can pass to `realloc' or `free'. The behavior is undefined if
1120 you dereference this pointer.
1122 * The C library now runs on Sony NEWS m68k machines running either
1123 NewsOS 3 or NewsOS 4.
1125 * The new `syscall' function is a system-dependent primitive function
1126 for invoking system calls. It has the canonical behavior on Unix
1127 systems, including unreliable return values for some calls (such as
1128 `pipe', `fork' and `getppid').
1130 * The error code `EWOULDBLOCK' is now obsolete; it is always defined
1131 to `EAGAIN', which is the preferred name. On systems whose kernels
1132 use two distinct codes, the C library now translates EWOULDBLOCK to
1133 EAGAIN in every system call function.
1137 * The GNU C Library Reference Manual is now distributed with the library.
1138 `make dvi' will produce a DVI file of the printed manual.
1139 `make info' will produce Info files that you can read on line using C-h i
1140 in Emacs or the `info' program.
1141 Please send comments on the manual to bug-glibc-manual@gnu.org.
1143 * The library now supports SVR4 on i386s (i386-unknown-sysv4).
1145 * Brendan Kehoe has contributed a port to Sun SPARCs running Solaris 2.
1147 * Jason Merrill has contributed a port to the Sequent Symmetry running
1148 Dynix version 3 (i386-sequent-dynix).
1150 * The library has been ported to i386s running SCO 3.2.4 (also known as SCO
1151 ODT 2.0; i386-unknown-sco3.2.4) or SCO 3.2 (i386-unknown-sco3.2).
1153 * New function `memory_warnings' lets you arrange to get warnings when
1154 malloc is running out of memory to allocate, like Emacs gives you.
1156 * The C library now contains the relocating allocator used in Emacs 19 for
1157 its editing buffers. This allocator (ralloc) minimizes allocation
1158 overhead and fragmentation by moving allocated regions around whenever it
1159 needs to. You always refer to a ralloc'd region with a "handle" (a
1160 pointer to a pointer--an object of type `void **').
1162 * There is a new `printf' format: `%m' gives you the string corresponding
1163 to the error code in `errno'.
1165 * In `scanf' formats, you can now use `%as' or `%a[' to do the normal `%s'
1166 or `%[' conversion, but instead of filling in a fixed-sized buffer you
1167 pass, the `a' modifier says to fill in a `char **' you pass with a
1170 * The `fnmatch' function supports the new flag bits `FNM_LEADING_DIR' and
1171 `FNM_CASEFOLD'. `FNM_LEADING_DIR' lets a pattern like `foo*' match a
1172 name like `foo/bar'. `FNM_CASEFOLD' says to ignore case in matching.
1174 * `mkstemp' is a traditional Unix function to atomically create and open a
1175 uniquely-named temporary file.
1179 * The standard location for the file that says what the local timezone is
1180 has changed again. It is now `/usr/local/etc/localtime' (or more
1181 precisely, `${prefix}/etc/localtime') rather than `/etc/localtime'.
1183 * The distribution no longer contains any files with names longer than 14
1186 * `struct ttyent' has two new flag bits: TTY_TRUSTED and TTY_CONSOLE.
1187 These are set by the new `trusted' and `console' keywords in `/etc/ttys'.
1189 * New functions `ttyslot' and `syslog' from 4.4 BSD.
1193 * The configuration process has changed quite a bit. The `configure'
1194 script is now used just like the configuration scripts for other GNU
1195 packages. The `sysdeps' directory hierarchy is much rearranged.
1196 The file `INSTALL' explains the new scheme in detail.
1198 * The header files no longer need to be processed into ANSI C and
1199 traditional C versions. There is just one set of files to install, and
1200 it will work with ANSI or old C compilers (including `gcc -traditional').
1202 * Brendan Kehoe and Ian Lance Taylor have ported the library to the
1203 MIPS DECStation running Ultrix 4.
1205 * The Sun 4 startup code (crt0) can now properly load SunOS 4 shared libraries.
1206 Tom Quinn contributed the initial code. The GNU C library can NOT yet be
1207 made itself into a shared library.
1209 * Yet further improved support for the i386, running 4.3 BSD-like systems
1210 (such as Mach 3 with the Unix single-server), or System V.
1212 * New function `strncasecmp' to do case-insensitive string comparison
1213 with limited length.
1215 * New function `strsep' is a reentrant alternative to `strtok'.
1217 * New functions `scandir' and `alphasort' for searching directories.
1219 * New function `setenv' is a better interface to `putenv'.
1221 * Ian Lance Taylor has contributed an implementation of the SVID `ftw'
1222 function for traversing a directory tree.
1224 * The GNU obstack package is now also part of the C library.
1225 The new function `open_obstack_stream' creates a stdio stream that
1226 writes onto an obstack; `obstack_printf' and `obstack_vprintf' do
1227 formatted output directly to an obstack.
1229 * Miscellaneous new functions: reboot, nice, sigaltstack (4.4 BSD only),
1230 cfmakeraw, getusershell, getpass, swab, getttyent, seteuid, setegid.
1232 * `FNM_FILE_NAME' is another name for `FNM_PATHNAME', used with `fnmatch'.
1234 * The new functions `strfry' and `memfrob' do mysterious and wonderful
1235 things to your strings.
1237 * There are some new test programs: test-fseek, testmb, and testrand.
1239 * Some work has been done to begin porting the library to 4.4 BSD and Linux.
1240 These ports are not finished, but are a good starting place for really
1241 supporting those systems.
1243 * `/etc/localtime' is now the standard location for the file that says what
1244 the local timezone is, rather than `/usr/local/lib/zoneinfo/localtime'.
1245 This follows the general principle that `/etc' is the place for all local
1246 configuration files.
1248 * The C library header files now use `extern "C"' when used by the C++
1249 compiler, so the C library should now work with C++ code.
1251 * The header file <bstring.h> is gone. <string.h> now declares bcopy,
1252 bcmp, bzero, and ffs. (Update: nowadays these functions are declared
1255 * Mike Haertel (of GNU e?grep and malloc fame) has written a new sorting
1256 function which uses the `merge sort' algorithm, and is said to be
1257 significantly faster than the old GNU `qsort' function. Merge sort is
1258 now the standard `qsort' function. The new algorithm can require a lot
1259 of temporary storage; so, the old sorting function is called when the
1260 required storage is not available.
1262 * The C library now includes Michael Glad's Ultra Fast Crypt, which
1263 provides the Unix `crypt' function, plus some other entry points.
1265 * The code and header files taken from 4.4 BSD have been updated with the
1266 latest files released from Berkeley.
1268 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
1269 Copyright information:
1271 Copyright (C) 1992-1999, 2000 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
1273 Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim copies
1274 of this document as received, in any medium, provided that the
1275 copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved,
1276 thus giving the recipient permission to redistribute in turn.
1278 Permission is granted to distribute modified versions
1279 of this document, or of portions of it,
1280 under the above conditions, provided also that they
1281 carry prominent notices stating who last changed them.
1284 version-control: never