1 GNU C Library NEWS -- history of user-visible changes. 1999-02-07
3 Copyright (C) 1992, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99 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 * New ISO C 9x function _exit, imaxabs, and imaxdiv are added.
16 * Richard Henderson corrected size of struct timeval on Linux/Alpha to
17 conform to POSIX member type requirements. Symbol versions have been
18 adjusted as needed within the library, and for direct use by applications,
19 but there is potential for problems if third-party libraries use
20 struct timeval as part of their interface. This does not present
21 a problem for X and other "essential" system libraries.
23 * An additional locale model to support C++ Standard Library locale
24 model and probably more was implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
26 * Eric Youngdale and Ulrich Drepper implemented versioning of objects on
29 * Miles Bader provided the `argp' function family to support hierachical
30 command line argument parsing, layered on top of getopt.
32 * strtod accepts new hexadecimal floating-point format from ISO C 9X.
34 * printf has two new specifiers %a and %A to print hexadecimal flaoting-point
37 * scanf recognizes the %a and %A format for scanning floating point numbers.
39 * the new headers <stdint.h> and <inttypes.h> from ISO C 9X provides
40 information and interfaces for the available integer types.
42 * about 130 new math functions were added to implement the ISO C9x math
45 * the new header <complex.h> contains definitions of the complex math
46 functions from ISO C 9X.
48 * the new header <tgmath.h> defines generic macros to use complex or
49 real valued functions.
51 * Thorsten Kukuk provided an implementation for NIS+, securelevel 0, 1 and 2.
53 * Andreas Jaeger provided a test suite for the math library.
55 * Mark Kettenis implemented the utmpx interface and an utmp daemon.
57 * Ulrich Drepper added character set conversion functions (iconv).
59 * Optimized string functions have been added.
61 * The localedata addon is now part of glibc.
63 * An implementation of profiling shared libraries was added by Ulrich Drepper.
65 * Thorsten Kukuk and Ulrich Drepper provided an implementation for a caching
66 daemon for NSS (nscd).
68 Missing a better place here are some numbers on improvements. Under
69 Linux 2.1.125 un-tar-ing the kernel sources takes
73 using local files 12.19s 6.88s 22.91s
75 using NIS 13.92s 8.91s 26.34s
77 using NIS & nscd 10.37s 7.34s 25.30s
79 using NIS+ 27.57s 30.37s 640.46s
81 using NIS+ & nscd 10.25s 7.83s 26.51s
83 using NIS & old nscd [1] 13.83s 8.32s 29.60s
85 Keep in mind that non-namelookup related operations dominate above times.
86 It was just a common complain that using NIS+ unpacking the kernel is
89 [1] The old nscd implementation is not available anymore since it was
90 distributed with glibc up to version 2.0.98 and thus is now replaced.
92 * Tim Waugh provided an implementation of the POSIX.2 wordexp function family.
94 * Mark Kettenis provided a Hesiod NSS module.
96 * The ELF dynamic loader knows how to process dynamic string tokens ($ORIGIN
97 and $PLATFORM) in RPATHs and similar strings (Ulrich Drepper).
99 * rcmd can now handle netgroups (Dick Streefland).
101 * A port to the ARM was contributed by Phil Blundell, Pat Beirne and Scott
104 * Support for the IPv6 protocol has been added to the socket API, as per the
105 latest draft standards.
107 * Support for Linux 2.2 has been added.
109 * Interface changes relative to the latest 2.0.x release:
110 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
111 addseverity NEW: Unix98
113 argp_err_exit_status NEW: argp, GNU ext
114 argp_error NEW: argp, GNU ext
115 argp_failure NEW: argp, GNU ext
116 argp_help NEW: argp, GNU ext
117 argp_parse NEW: argp, GNU ext
118 argp_program_bug_address NEW: argp, GNU ext
119 argp_program_version NEW: argp, GNU ext
120 argp_program_version_hook NEW: argp, GNU ext
121 argp_state_help NEW: argp, GNU ext
122 argp_usage NEW: argp, GNU ext
123 authdes_create NEW: Secure RPC
124 authdes_getucred NEW: Secure RPC
125 authdes_pk_create NEW: Secure RPC
126 backtrace NEW: GNU ext.
127 backtrace_symbols NEW: GNU ext.
128 backtrace_symbols_fd NEW: GNU ext.
132 cacoshf NEW: ISO C 9x
133 cacoshl NEW: ISO C 9x
143 casinhf NEW: ISO C 9x
144 casinhl NEW: ISO C 9x
149 catanhf NEW: ISO C 9x
150 catanhl NEW: ISO C 9x
152 cbc_crypt NEW: Secure RPC
165 clearerr_locked REMOVED
166 clntunix_create NEW: sunrpc ext
169 clog10f NEW: ISO C 9x
170 clog10l NEW: ISO C 9x
201 des_setparity NEW: Secure RPC
202 ecb_crypt NEW: Secure RPC
203 endutxent NEW: Unix98
215 feclearexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
216 fegetenv NEW: ISO C 9x
217 fegetexceptflag NEW: ISO C 9x
218 fegetround NEW: ISO C 9x
219 feholdexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
221 feraiseexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
222 ferror_locked REMOVED
223 fesetenv NEW: ISO C 9x
224 fesetexceptflag NEW: ISO C 9x
225 fesetround NEW: ISO C 9x
226 fetestexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
227 feupdateenv NEW: ISO C 9x
228 fflush_locked REMOVED
232 fgets_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
233 fileno_locked REMOVED
246 fputs_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
247 fread_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
258 fwrite_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
259 gai_strerror NEW: IPv6
263 getchar_locked REMOVED
265 getdate_err NEW: Unix98
266 getdate_r NEW: GNU ext.
268 getnameinfo NEW: IPv6
269 getnetname NEW: Secure RPC
271 getpt NEW: Unix98 PTY
273 getutxent NEW: Unix98
275 getutxline NEW: Unix98
277 globfree64 NEW: GNU ext.
278 gnu_get_libc_release NEW: GNU ext.
279 gnu_get_libc_version NEW: GNU ext.
280 grantpt NEW: Unix98 PTY
281 host2netname NEW: Secure RPC
283 iconv_close NEW: iconv
284 iconv_open NEW: iconv
285 if_freenameindex NEW: IPv6
286 if_indextoname NEW: IPv6
287 if_nameindex NEW: IPv6
288 if_nametoindex NEW: IPv6
289 in6addr_any NEW: IPv6
290 in6addr_loopback NEW: IPv6
291 inet6_isipv4mapped NEW: IPv6
292 isastream NEW: STREAMS
293 iswblank NEW: GNU ext.
294 key_decryptsession NEW: Secure RPC
295 key_decryptsession_pk NEW: Secure RPC
296 key_encryptsession NEW: Secure RPC
297 key_encryptsession_pk NEW: Secure RPC
298 key_gendes NEW: Secure RPC
299 key_get_conv NEW: Secure RPC
300 key_secretkey_is_set NEW: Secure RPC
301 key_setnet NEW: Secure RPC
302 key_setsecret NEW: Secure RPC
304 llrintf NEW: ISO C 9x
305 llrintl NEW: ISO C 9x
306 llround NEW: ISO C 9x
307 llroundf NEW: ISO C 9x
308 llroundl NEW: ISO C 9x
316 lroundf NEW: ISO C 9x
317 lroundl NEW: ISO C 9x
319 makecontext NEW: Unix98
320 mempcpy NEW: GNU ext.
323 modify_ldt NEW: kernel
327 nearbyint NEW: ISO C 9x
328 nearbyintf NEW: ISO C 9x
329 nearbyintl NEW: ISO C 9x
330 netname2host NEW: Secure RPC
331 netname2user NEW: Secure RPC
332 nexttoward NEW: ISO C 9x
333 nexttowardf NEW: ISO C 9x
334 nexttowardl NEW: ISO C 9x
338 passwd2des NEW: Secure RPC
344 printf_size NEW: GNU ext.
345 printf_size_info NEW: GNU ext.
346 profil_counter REMOVED
347 pthread_mutexattr_getkind_np REPLACED
348 pthread_mutexattr_setkind_np REPLACED
349 ptsname NEW: Unix98 PTY
350 ptsname_r NEW: Unix98 PTY
352 putchar_locked REMOVED
353 putgrent NEW: GNU ext.
356 pututxline NEW: Unix98
362 remquof NEW: ISO C 9x
363 remquol NEW: ISO C 9x
368 scalbln NEW: ISO C 9x
369 scalblnf NEW: ISO C 9x
370 scalblnl NEW: ISO C 9x
373 setcontext NEW: Unix98
375 setutxent NEW: Unix98
377 sigignore NEW: Unix98
378 sigqueue NEW: POSIX.1b
381 sigtimedwait NEW: POSIX.1b
382 sigwaitinfo NEW: POSIX.1b
384 sincosf NEW: GNU ext.
385 sincosl NEW: GNU ext.
389 strcasestr NEW: GNU ext.
390 strtoimax NEW: ISO C 9x
391 strtoumax NEW: ISO C 9x
392 strverscmp NEW: GNU ext.
393 svcauthdes_stats NEW: Secure RPC
394 svcunix_create NEW: sunrpc etx
395 svcunixfd_create NEW: sunrpc ext
396 swapcontext NEW: Unix98
397 tcgetsid NEW: Unix98 PTY
398 tdestroy NEW: GNU ext.
400 tgammaf NEW: ISO C 9x
401 tgammal NEW: ISO C 9x
408 unlockpt NEW: Unix98 PTY
410 user2netname NEW: Secure RPC
411 utmpxname NEW: Unix98
412 versionsort NEW: GNU ext.
413 versionsort64 NEW: GNU ext.
415 wcscasecmp NEW: GNU ext.
416 wcsncasecmp NEW: GNU ext.
417 wcsnlen NEW: GNU ext.
418 wcstoimax NEW: ISO C 9x
419 wcstoll NEW: ISO C 9x
420 wcstoull NEW: ISO C 9x
421 wcstoumax NEW: ISO C 9x
424 wordfree NEW: POSIX.2
425 write_profiling REMOVED
426 xdecrypt NEW: Secure RPC
427 xdr_authdes_cred NEW: Secure RPC
428 xdr_authdes_verf NEW: Secure RPC
429 xdr_cryptkeyarg NEW: Secure RPC
430 xdr_cryptkeyarg2 NEW: Secure RPC
431 xdr_cryptkeyres NEW: Secure RPC
432 xdr_getcredres NEW: Secure RPC
433 xdr_key_netstarg NEW: Secure RPC
434 xdr_key_netstres NEW: Secure RPC
435 xdr_keybuf NEW: Secure RPC
436 xdr_keystatus NEW: Secure RPC
437 xdr_netnamestr NEW: Secure RPC
438 xdr_sizeof NEW: Secure RPC
439 xdr_unixcred NEW: sunrpc ext
440 xencrypt NEW: Secure RPC
441 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
452 * inet_ntoa is thread-safe
454 * updwtmp is moved from libutil to libc
456 * rewrite of cbrt function
458 * update of timezone data
474 * fix complex problems in Berkeley DB code
480 * fixed lots of header problems (especially Linux/GNU specific)
482 * dynamic loader preserves all registers
484 * Roland McGrath provided support for handling of auxiliary objects in
485 the ELF dynamic loader.
487 * support for parallel builds is improved
491 * GNU extensions are no longer declared by default. To enable them you
492 must define the macro `_GNU_SOURCE' in your program or compile with
495 * The library has changed from using GNU ld symbol aliases to using weak
496 symbols where available. The ELF object file format supports weak
497 symbols; GNU ld also supports weak symbols in the a.out format. (There
498 is also now support for other GNU ld extensions in ELF. Use the
499 `--with-elf' option to configure to indicate you have ELF, and
500 `--with-gnu-ld' if using GNU ld.) This change resulted in the deletion
501 of many files which contained only symbol aliases, reducing the size of
502 the source and the compiled library; many other files were renamed to
503 less cryptic names previously occupied by the symbol alias files.
504 There is a new header file <elf.h> for programs which operate on
505 files in the ELF format.
507 * Converted to Autoconf version 2, so `configure' has more options.
508 Run `configure --help' to see the details.
510 * The library can now be configured to build profiling, highly-optimized
511 (but undebuggable), and/or shared libraries (ELF with GNU ld only). The
512 `--enable-profile', `--enable-omitfp', and `--enable-shared' options to
513 `configure' enable building these extra libraries. The shared library is
514 built by default when using both ELF and GNU ld. When shared libraries
515 are enabled, the new library `-ldl' is available for arbitrary run-time
516 loading of shared objects; its interface is defined in <dlfcn.h>. The
517 new header file <link.h> gives access to the internals of the run-time
518 dynamic linker, `ld.so'. The shell script `ldd' is similar to the
519 application of same name on other systems and it provides information
520 about dynamically linked binaries.
522 * The C library now provides the run-time support code for profiling
523 executables compiled with `-pg'. Programs can control the profiling code
524 through the interface in <sys/gmon.h>. The `gmon.out' files written by
525 the GNU C library can be read only by GNU `gprof' (from GNU binutils);
526 the support for this file format was contributed by David Mosberger-Tang.
528 * The math code has been replaced with a math library based on fdlibm from
529 Sun, and modified by JT Conklin and Ulrich Drepper with i387 support, by
530 Ian Taylor with `float' functions and by Ulrich Drepper with `long double'
531 functions. The math functions now reside in a separate library, so
532 programs using them will need to use `-lm' their linking commands.
534 * John C. Bowman contributed optimized ix87 assembler inline functions.
536 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed support for an `/etc/nsswitch.conf'
537 mechanism similar to that found in Solaris 2. This is now used for the
538 group, passwd, hosts, networks, services, protocols, rpc, ethers,
539 shadow, netgroup, publickey, and alias databases. The `nsswitch.conf'
540 file controls what services are used for each individual database. This
541 works by loading shared libraries with names specified in `nsswitch.conf',
542 so service modules can be changed or added at any time without even
543 relinking any program. Currently there are the file, db, and NIS based
544 NSS services available.
546 * The new functions `strtoq' and `strtouq' parse integer values from
547 strings, like `strtol' and `strtoul', but they return `long long int' and
548 `unsigned long long int' values, respectively (64-bit quantities).
550 * The new functions `strtof' and `strtold' parse floating-point values from
551 strings, like `strtod', but they return `float' and `long double' values,
552 respectively (on some machines `double' and `long double' are the same).
554 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new implementations of the floating-point
555 printing and reading code used in the `printf' family of functions and
556 `strtod', `strtof', and `strtold'. These new functions are perfectly
557 accurate, and much faster than the old ones.
559 * The implementation of the POSIX locale model was completely rewritten by
560 Ulrich Drepper. This includes the new programs `localedef' and `locale'
561 to compile the POSIX locale definition.
563 * The former dummy implementations of the strcoll and strxfrm function are
564 now replaced by fully functional code contributed by Ulrich Drepper. The
565 collation information comes from the POSIX locale definitions.
567 * The new header <langinfo.h> defines an interface for accessing
568 various locale-dependent data (using the locale chosen with `setlocale').
570 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed a new suite of functions for operation on
571 wide-character and multibyte-character strings, in <wchar.h>;
572 and classification and case conversion of wide characters, in <wctype.h>.
573 These new functions are conforming to the ISO C, Amendement 1 specification.
575 * There is now a second implementation of the standard I/O library available.
576 It comes from GNU libg++ as was written by Per Bothner, heavily modified
577 by Hongjiu Lu and made thread safe by Ulrich Drepper.
579 * You can now use positional parameter specifications in format strings
580 for the `printf' and `scanf' families of functions. For example,
581 `printf ("Number %2$d, Mr %1$s\n", "Jones", 6);'' prints
582 ``Number 6, Mr Jones''. This is mainly useful when providing different
583 format strings for different languages, whose grammars may dictate
584 different orderings of the values being printed. To support this
585 feature, the interface for `register_printf_handler' has changed; see
586 the header file <printf.h> for details.
588 * The `printf' and `scanf' families of functions now understand a new
589 formatting flag for numeric conversions: the ' flag (e.g. %'d or %'f) says
590 to group numbers as indicated by the locale; for `scanf' and friends, this
591 says to accept as valid only a number with all the proper grouping
592 separators in the right places. In the default "C" locale, numbers are
593 not grouped; but locales for specific countries will define the usual
594 conventions (i.e. separate thousands with `,' in the US locale).
596 * The pgrp functions have been regularized, slightly incompatibly but much
597 less confusingly. The core functions are now `getpgid' and `setpgid',
598 which take arguments for the PID to operate on; the POSIX.1 `getpgrp' (no
599 argument) and BSD `setpgrp' (identical to `setpgid') functions are
600 provided for compatibility. There is no longer an incompatible `getpgrp'
601 with an argument declared under _BSD_SOURCE; no BSD code uses it.
603 * The new header file <fts.h> and suite of functions simplify programs that
604 operate on directory trees. This code comes from 4.4 BSD.
606 * The resolver code has been updated from the BIND 4.9.5-P1 release.
607 Parts of the code were heavily modified by Ulrich Drepper to fit in the
608 NSS scheme used in glibc.
610 * There is a new malloc debugging hook `__memalign_hook'.
612 * There are new typedefs `ushort' for `unsigned short int' and `uint' for
613 `unsigned int' in <sys/types.h>. These are for compatibility only and
614 their use is discouraged.
616 * The `-lmcheck' library to enable standard malloc debugging hooks is now
617 done differently, so that it works even without GNU ld.
619 * New function `euidaccess' checks allowed access to a file like `access',
620 but using the effective IDs instead of the real IDs.
622 * The time zone data files have been updated for the latest and greatest
623 local time conventions of the countries of the world.
625 * The new function `dirfd' extracts the file descriptor used by a DIR stream;
628 * The new functions `ecvt', `fcvt', and `gcvt' provide an obsolete interface
629 for formatting floating-point numbers. They are provided only for
630 compatibility; new programs should use `sprintf' instead. There are
631 also equivalent function for the `long double' floating-point type and
632 all functions also exist in a reentrant form.
634 * The new auxiliary library `-lutil' from 4.4 BSD contains various
635 functions for maintaining the login-record files (primarily of use to
636 system programs such as `login'), and convenient functions for
637 allocating and initializing a pseudo-terminal (pty) device.
639 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new support for System V style
640 shared memory and IPC on systems that support it.
642 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed several miscellaneous new functions found
643 in System V: The `hsearch' family of functions provide an effective
644 implementation of hash tables; `a64l' and `l64a' provide a very simple
645 binary to ASCII mapping; `drand48' and friends provide a 48-bit random
648 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new reentrant counterparts for the
649 `random' and `hsearch' families of functions; `random_r', `hsearch_r', etc.
651 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new, highly-optimized versions of several
652 string functions for the i486/Pentium family of processors.
654 * Ulrich Drepper has updated the Linux-specific code, based largely
655 on work done in Hongjiu Lu's version of GNU libc for Linux.
656 The GNU library now supports Linux versions 2.0.10 and later,
657 using the ELF object file format (i[3456]86-*-linux).
659 * Andreas Schwab has ported the C library to Linux/m68k (m68k-*-linux).
661 * David Mosberger-Tang and Richard Henderson have ported the C library
662 to Linux/Alpha (alpha-*-linux). Richard Henderson contributed the
663 dynamic linking support for ELF/Alpha.
665 * Richard Henderson contributed several Alpha optimized assembler function
666 for arithmetic and string handling.
668 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed a new set of message catalog functions to
669 support multiple languages using the <libintl.h> interface, for use with
670 his new package GNU gettext. Translation volunteers have contributed
671 catalogs of the library's messages in Spanish, German, and Korean.
673 * For compatibility with XPG4, Ulrich Drepper has contributed the `gencat'
674 program and the `catgets' function for reading the catalog files it
675 creates. (The <libintl.h> interface is preferred; we include the
676 <nl_types.h> interface using `catgets' only for source compatibility with
677 programs already written to use it.)
679 * New header file <values.h> gives SVID-compatible names for <limits.h>
682 * Various new macros, declarations, and small header files for compatibility
685 * New function `group_member' is a convenient way to check if a process has
686 a given effective group ID.
688 * When using GCC 2.7 and later, the socket functions are now declared in a
689 special way so that passing an argument of type `struct sockaddr_in *',
690 `struct sockaddr_ns *', or `struct sockaddr_un *' instead of the generic
691 `struct sockaddr *' type, does not generate a type-clash warning.
693 * New function `error' declared in header file <error.h> is a convenient
694 function for printing error messages and optionally exiting; this is the
695 canonical function used in GNU programs. The new functions `err', `warn',
696 and friends in header file <err.h> are the canonical 4.4 BSD interface for
697 doing the same thing.
699 * The <glob.h> interface has several new flags from 4.4 BSD that extend the
700 POSIX.2 `glob' function to do ~ and {...} expansion.
702 * New function `unsetenv' complements `setenv' for compatibility with 4.4 BSD.
703 `clearenv' which is used in POSIX.9 is also available.
705 * New function `getsid' returns session ID number on systems that support it.
707 * We have incorporated the 4.4 BSD `db' library (version 1.85). New header
708 files <db.h> and <mpool.h> provide a rich set of functions for several
709 types of simple databases stored in memory and in files, and <ndbm.h> is
710 an old `ndbm'-compatible interface using the `db' functions. Link with
711 `-ldb' to get these functions.
713 * New macro `strdupa' copies a string like `strdup', but uses local stack
714 space from `alloca' instead of dynamic heap space from `malloc'.
716 * New function `strnlen' is like `strlen' but searches only a given maximum
717 number of characters for the null terminator. `stpncpy', `strndup' and
718 `strndupa' are similar variants for the `stpcpy', `strdup' and `strdupa'
721 * New function `statfs' in header <sys/statfs.h>.
723 * The new <argz.h> and <envz.h> interfaces contributed by Miles Bader
724 provide convenient functions for operating on blocks of null-terminated
727 * A new suite of functions in <utmp.h> handle all the details of reading
728 and writing the utmp file.
730 * An implementation of the NIS/YP(tm) based NSS service was contributed by
733 * Paul Eggert and Ulrich Drepper modified the `strftime' function to be
734 completely POSIX compliant and also implemented the extended functionality
735 to handle alternate digit representation and alternate era date formats.
737 * Ulrich Drepper provided an implementation of the `strptime' function
738 defined in XPG4.2 which transforms a string into a `struct tm' value.
740 * Paul Eggert provided the tzselect shell script as part of the timezone
741 code. The shell script makes it easy to select the correct timezone
744 * The implementation of the malloc family of functions is completely replaced
745 by a new implementation by Doug Lea with many improvements by Wolfram Gloger.
746 The implementation uses the mmap function (if available) and it is
747 optimized for the use in multi threaded programs.
749 * Ulrich Drepper contributed a MD5 "encryption" for the crypt family of
750 functions. This new functionality is usable by specifying a special
751 salt string and it is compatible with implementation on *BSD systems.
753 * Lots of functions from the XPG4.2 standard were added by Ulrich Drepper:
754 `getsubopt' to handle second level command line options, `bsd_signal'
755 to access BSD style `signal' functionality, the obsolete `regexp' style
758 * the `lchown' function is available on system which support this
761 * The implementation of the shadow password handling function was contributed
764 * David Mosberger-Tang changed the SunRPC implementation to be 64bit safe.
766 * POSIX.1g support was added. The <sys/select.h> header is available,
767 `isfdtype' and `pselect' are implemented. Craig Metz contributed an
768 implementation of `getaddrinfo'.
772 * For cross-compilation you should now set `BUILD_CC' instead of `HOST_CC'.
774 * New header file <fstab.h> and new functions `getfsspec', `getfsent' and
775 friends, for parsing /etc/fstab. This code comes from 4.4 BSD.
777 * The new function `daemon' from 4.4 BSD is useful for server programs that
778 want to put themselves in the background.
780 * Joel Sherrill has contributed support for several standalone boards that
781 run without an operating system.
783 * `printf', `scanf' and friends now accept a `q' type modifier for long
784 long int as well as `ll'. Formats using these might be `%qu' or `%lld'.
786 * All of the code taken from BSD (notably most of the math and networking
787 routines) has been updated from the BSD 4.4-Lite release.
789 * The resolver code has been updated from the BIND-4.9.3-BETA9 release.
791 * The new functions `getdomainname' and `setdomainname' fetch or change the
792 YP/NIS domain name. These are system calls which exist on systems which
795 * The time zone data files have been updated for the latest international
798 * The SunRPC programs `portmap' and `rpcinfo' are now installed in
799 $(sbindir) (usually /usr/local/sbin) instead of $(bindir).
803 * The C library now includes support for Sun RPC, from Sun's free
804 RPCSRC-4.0 distribution. The `portmap', `rpcinfo', and `rpcgen' programs
805 are included. (There is still no support for YP.)
807 * Tom Quinn has contributed a port of the C library to SGI machines running
808 Irix 4 (mips-sgi-irix4).
810 * The new `lockf' function is a simplified interface to the locking
811 facilities of `fcntl', included for compatibility.
813 * New time functions `timegm', `timelocal', and `dysize' for compatibility.
815 * New header file <sys/timeb.h> and new function `ftime' for compatibility.
817 * New header files <poll.h> and <sys/poll.h> and new function `poll' for
820 * The error message printed by `assert' for a failed assertion now includes
821 the name of the program (if using GNU ld) and the name of the calling
822 function (with versions of GCC that support this).
824 * The `psignal' function is now declared in <signal.h>, not <stdio.h>.
826 * The library now includes the <sys/mman.h> header file and memory
827 management functions `mmap', `munmap', `mprotect', `msync', and
828 `madvise', on systems that support those facilities.
830 * The interface for `mcheck' has changed slightly: the function called to
831 abort the program when an allocation inconsistency is detected now takes
832 an argument that indicates the type of failure. The new function
833 `mprobe' lets you request a consistency check for a particular block at
834 any time (checks are normally done only when you call `free' or `realloc'
837 * It is now possible to easily cross-compile the C library, building on one
838 system a library to run on another machine and/or operating system. All
839 you need to do is set the variable `HOST_CC' in `configparms' to the
840 native compiler for programs to run on the machine you are building on (a
841 few generator programs are used on Unix systems); set `CC' to the
844 * The new function `fexecve' (only implemented on the GNU system) executes
845 a program file given a file descriptor already open on the file.
849 * Brendan Kehoe has contributed most of a port to the DEC Alpha
850 running OSF/1 (alpha-dec-osf1). He says it is 75% complete.
852 * You can set the variable `libprefix' in `configparms' to specify a prefix
853 to be prepended to installed library files; this makes it easy to install
854 the GNU C library to be linked as `-lgnuc' or whatever.
856 * The new `stpncpy' is a cross between `stpcpy' and `strncpy': It
857 copies a limited number of characters from a string, and returns the
858 address of the last character written.
860 * You no longer need to check for whether the installed `stddef.h' is
861 compatible with the GNU C library. configure now checks for you.
863 * You can now define a per-stream `fileno' function to convert the
864 stream's cookie into an integral file descriptor.
866 * ``malloc (0)'' no longer returns a null pointer. Instead, it
867 allocates zero bytes of storage, and returns a unique pointer which
868 you can pass to `realloc' or `free'. The behavior is undefined if
869 you dereference this pointer.
871 * The C library now runs on Sony NEWS m68k machines running either
872 NewsOS 3 or NewsOS 4.
874 * The new `syscall' function is a system-dependent primitive function
875 for invoking system calls. It has the canonical behavior on Unix
876 systems, including unreliable return values for some calls (such as
877 `pipe', `fork' and `getppid').
879 * The error code `EWOULDBLOCK' is now obsolete; it is always defined
880 to `EAGAIN', which is the preferred name. On systems whose kernels
881 use two distinct codes, the C library now translates EWOULDBLOCK to
882 EAGAIN in every system call function.
886 * The GNU C Library Reference Manual is now distributed with the library.
887 `make dvi' will produce a DVI file of the printed manual.
888 `make info' will produce Info files that you can read on line using C-h i
889 in Emacs or the `info' program.
890 Please send comments on the manual to bug-glibc-manual@gnu.org.
892 * The library now supports SVR4 on i386s (i386-unknown-sysv4).
894 * Brendan Kehoe has contributed a port to Sun SPARCs running Solaris 2.
896 * Jason Merrill has contributed a port to the Sequent Symmetry running
897 Dynix version 3 (i386-sequent-dynix).
899 * The library has been ported to i386s running SCO 3.2.4 (also known as SCO
900 ODT 2.0; i386-unknown-sco3.2.4) or SCO 3.2 (i386-unknown-sco3.2).
902 * New function `memory_warnings' lets you arrange to get warnings when
903 malloc is running out of memory to allocate, like Emacs gives you.
905 * The C library now contains the relocating allocator used in Emacs 19 for
906 its editing buffers. This allocator (ralloc) minimizes allocation
907 overhead and fragmentation by moving allocated regions around whenever it
908 needs to. You always refer to a ralloc'd region with a "handle" (a
909 pointer to a pointer--an object of type `void **').
911 * There is a new `printf' format: `%m' gives you the string corresponding
912 to the error code in `errno'.
914 * In `scanf' formats, you can now use `%as' or `%a[' to do the normal `%s'
915 or `%[' conversion, but instead of filling in a fixed-sized buffer you
916 pass, the `a' modifier says to fill in a `char **' you pass with a
919 * The `fnmatch' function supports the new flag bits `FNM_LEADING_DIR' and
920 `FNM_CASEFOLD'. `FNM_LEADING_DIR' lets a pattern like `foo*' match a
921 name like `foo/bar'. `FNM_CASEFOLD' says to ignore case in matching.
923 * `mkstemp' is a traditional Unix function to atomically create and open a
924 uniquely-named temporary file.
928 * The standard location for the file that says what the local timezone is
929 has changed again. It is now `/usr/local/etc/localtime' (or more
930 precisely, `${prefix}/etc/localtime') rather than `/etc/localtime'.
932 * The distribution no longer contains any files with names longer than 14
935 * `struct ttyent' has two new flag bits: TTY_TRUSTED and TTY_CONSOLE.
936 These are set by the new `trusted' and `console' keywords in `/etc/ttys'.
938 * New functions `ttyslot' and `syslog' from 4.4 BSD.
942 * The configuration process has changed quite a bit. The `configure'
943 script is now used just like the configuration scripts for other GNU
944 packages. The `sysdeps' directory hierarchy is much rearranged.
945 The file `INSTALL' explains the new scheme in detail.
947 * The header files no longer need to be processed into ANSI C and
948 traditional C versions. There is just one set of files to install, and
949 it will work with ANSI or old C compilers (including `gcc -traditional').
951 * Brendan Kehoe and Ian Lance Taylor have ported the library to the
952 MIPS DECStation running Ultrix 4.
954 * The Sun 4 startup code (crt0) can now properly load SunOS 4 shared libraries.
955 Tom Quinn contributed the initial code. The GNU C library can NOT yet be
956 made itself into a shared library.
958 * Yet further improved support for the i386, running 4.3 BSD-like systems
959 (such as Mach 3 with the Unix single-server), or System V.
961 * New function `strncasecmp' to do case-insensitive string comparison
964 * New function `strsep' is a reentrant alternative to `strtok'.
966 * New functions `scandir' and `alphasort' for searching directories.
968 * New function `setenv' is a better interface to `putenv'.
970 * Ian Lance Taylor has contributed an implementation of the SVID `ftw'
971 function for traversing a directory tree.
973 * The GNU obstack package is now also part of the C library.
974 The new function `open_obstack_stream' creates a stdio stream that
975 writes onto an obstack; `obstack_printf' and `obstack_vprintf' do
976 formatted output directly to an obstack.
978 * Miscellaneous new functions: reboot, nice, sigaltstack (4.4 BSD only),
979 cfmakeraw, getusershell, getpass, swab, getttyent, seteuid, setegid.
981 * `FNM_FILE_NAME' is another name for `FNM_PATHNAME', used with `fnmatch'.
983 * The new functions `strfry' and `memfrob' do mysterious and wonderful
984 things to your strings.
986 * There are some new test programs: test-fseek, testmb, and testrand.
988 * Some work has been done to begin porting the library to 4.4 BSD and Linux.
989 These ports are not finished, but are a good starting place for really
990 supporting those systems.
992 * `/etc/localtime' is now the standard location for the file that says what
993 the local timezone is, rather than `/usr/local/lib/zoneinfo/localtime'.
994 This follows the general principle that `/etc' is the place for all local
997 * The C library header files now use `extern "C"' when used by the C++
998 compiler, so the C library should now work with C++ code.
1000 * The header file <bstring.h> is gone. <string.h> now declares bcopy,
1001 bcmp, bzero, and ffs.
1003 * Mike Haertel (of GNU e?grep and malloc fame) has written a new sorting
1004 function which uses the `merge sort' algorithm, and is said to be
1005 significantly faster than the old GNU `qsort' function. Merge sort is
1006 now the standard `qsort' function. The new algorithm can require a lot
1007 of temporary storage; so, the old sorting function is called when the
1008 required storage is not available.
1010 * The C library now includes Michael Glad's Ultra Fast Crypt, which
1011 provides the Unix `crypt' function, plus some other entry points.
1012 Because of the United States export restriction on DES implementations,
1013 we are distributing this code separately from the rest of the C library.
1014 There is an extra distribution tar file just for crypt; it is called
1015 `glibc-VERSION-crypt.tar.Z', e.g. `glibc-1.04-crypt.tar.Z'. You can just
1016 unpack the crypt distribution along with the rest of the C library and
1017 build; you can also build the library without getting crypt. Users
1018 outside the USA can get the crypt distribution via anonymous FTP from
1019 ftp.uni-c.dk [129.142.6.74], or another archive site outside the U.S.
1021 * The code and header files taken from 4.4 BSD have been updated with the
1022 latest files released from Berkeley.
1024 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
1025 Copyright information:
1027 Copyright (C) 1992, 93, 94, 95, 96 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
1029 Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim copies
1030 of this document as received, in any medium, provided that the
1031 copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved,
1032 thus giving the recipient permission to redistribute in turn.
1034 Permission is granted to distribute modified versions
1035 of this document, or of portions of it,
1036 under the above conditions, provided also that they
1037 carry prominent notices stating who last changed them.
1040 version-control: never