1 GNU C Library NEWS -- history of user-visible changes. 2007-10-17
2 Copyright (C) 1992-2006, 2007 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.
13 * More checking functions: fread, fread_unlocked, open*, mq_open.
14 Implemented by Jakub Jelinek and Ulrich Drepper.
16 * Extend fortification to C++. Implemented by Jakub Jelinek.
18 * Implement 'm' modifier for scanf. Add stricter C99/SUS compliance
19 by not recognizing 'a' as a modifier when those specs are requested.
20 Implemented by Jakub Jelinek.
22 * PPC optimizations to math and string functions.
23 Implemented by Steven Munroe.
25 * New interfaces: mkostemp, mkostemp64. Like mkstemp* but allow additional
26 options to be passed. Implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
28 * More CPU set manipulation functions. Implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
30 * New Linux interfaces: signalfd, eventfd, eventfd_read, and eventfd_write.
31 Implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
33 * Handle private futexes in the NPTL implementation.
34 Implemented by Jakub Jelinek and Ulrich Drepper.
36 * Add support for O_CLOEXEC. Implement in Hurd. Use throughout libc.
37 Implemented by Roland McGrath and Ulrich Drepper.
39 * Linux/x86-64 vDSO support. Implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
41 * SHA-256 and SHA-512 based password encryption.
42 Implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
44 * New locales: ber_DZ, ber_MA, en_NG, fil_PH, fur_IT, fy_DE, ha_NG, ig_NG,
45 ik_CA, iu_CA, li_BE, li_NL, nds_DE, nds_NL, pap_AN, sc_IT, tk_TM, ug_CN,
48 + New iconv modules: MAC-CENTRALEUROPE, ISO-8859-9E, KOI8-RU.
49 Implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
53 * New Linux interfaces: epoll_pwait, sched_getcpu.
55 * New generic interfaces: strerror_l.
57 * nscd can now cache the services database. Implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
62 * For Linux, the sorting of addresses returned by getaddrinfo now also
63 handles rules 3, 4, and 7 from RFC 3484. I.e., all rules are handled.
64 Implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
66 * Allow system admin to configure getaddrinfo with the /etc/gai.conf file.
67 Implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
69 * New Linux interfaces: splice, tee, sync_file_range, vmsplice.
71 * New iconv module for MIK. Contributed by Alexander Shopov.
73 * For sites with broken group and/or passwd database, the auto-propagate
74 option of nscd can prevent creating ID lookup entries from the results
75 of a name lookup and vice versa. This usually is no problem but some
76 site might have problems with the default behavior.
77 Implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
79 * Iterating over entire database in NIS can be slow. With the
80 SETENT_BATCH_READ option in /etc/default/nss a system admin can decide
81 to trade time for memory. The entire database will be read at once.
82 Implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
84 * The interfaces introduced in RFC 3542 have been implemented by
87 * Support for the new ELF hash table format was added by Ulrich Drepper.
89 * Support for priority inheritance mutexes added by Jakub Jelinek and
92 * Support for priority protected mutexes added by Jakub Jelinek.
94 * New locales: nr_ZA, pa_PK, ca_AD, ca_FR, ca_IT, el_CY, tr_CY, as_IN,
95 or_IN, csb_PL, fy_NL, sr_ME.
99 * More overflow detection functions.
101 * New iconv converters for IBM1025, IBM1122, IBM1137, IBM1153,
102 IBM1154, IBM1155, IBM1156, IBM1157, and IBM1158 contributed by Jiro Sekiba.
104 More converters for IBM803, IBM901, IBM902, IBM921, IBM1008, IBM1097,
105 IBM1112, IBM1123, IBM1130, IBM1140, IBM1141, IBM1142, IBM1143, IBM1144,
106 IBM1145, IBM1146, IBM1147, IBM1148, IBM1149, IBM1166, IBM1167, IBM4517,
107 IBM4899, IBM4909, IBM4971, IBM5347, IBM9030, IBM9066, IBM9448, IBM12712,
108 IBM16804, IBM1364, IBM1371, IBM1388, IBM1390, and IBM1399 contributed
109 by Masahide Washizawa.
111 * It is now possible to install audit libraries for the dynamic linker using
112 LD_AUDIT. Implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
114 * The LinuxThreads add-on, providing pthreads on Linux 2.4 kernels, is no
115 longer supported. The new NPTL implementation requires Linux 2.6 kernels.
116 For a libc and libpthread that works well on Linux 2.4 kernels, we
117 recommend using the stable 2.3 branch.
119 * The new function open_wmemstream acts like open_memstream,
120 but uses a wchar_t wide character buffer.
122 * The new function ppoll is an improved version of poll, similar to pselect.
124 * New interfaces: fdopendir, openat, fstatat, fchmodat, fchownat,
125 futimesat, faccessat, mkdirat, mkfifoat, mknodat,
126 renameat, unlinkat, linkat, symlinkat, readlinkat.
128 * New Linux kernel system calls: unshare,
129 inotify_init, inotify_add_watch, inotify_rm_watch.
131 * The euidaccess function is now also known by the alias eaccess,
132 for compatibility with some other systems.
134 * Timezone data updated to 2006b version.
138 * The following bugs are resolved with this release:
140 38, 253, 549, 622, 653, 721, 758, 851, 877, 915, 934, 955, 961,
141 1016, 1037, 1076, 1079, 1080, 1081, 1082, 1083, 1084, 1085, 1086,
142 1087, 1088, 1090, 1091, 1092, 1093, 1094, 1095, 1096, 1097, 1098,
143 1099, 1100, 1101, 1102, 1103, 1104, 1105, 1106, 1107, 1108, 1109,
144 1110, 1111, 1112, 1113, 1125, 1137, 1138, 1249, 1250, 1251, 1252,
145 1253, 1254, 1350, 1358, 1394, 1438, 1498, 1534
147 Visit <http://sources.redhat.com/bugzilla/> for the details of each bug.
149 * As of this release, GCC 4 can be used to compile the C Library.
151 * Timezone data updated to 2005m version.
155 * The following bugs are resolved with this release:
157 284, 592, 602, 626, 633, 640, 650, 661, 671, 681, 693, 700, 710, 719,
158 722, 723, 725, 726, 727, 728, 729, 730, 731, 732, 733, 734, 735, 736,
159 737, 738, 739, 740, 741, 742, 743, 744, 745, 765, 767, 768, 769, 776,
160 777, 787, 821, 822, 823, 825
162 Visit <http://sources.redhat.com/bugzilla/> for the details of each bug.
166 * Support for RFC 3678. Real implementations exist only for Linux so far.
167 Implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
169 * nscd can now cache entries persistently. Expiring entries are reloaded.
170 For speedups the cache can be shared in memory with client processes.
171 Implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
173 * nscd can now perform SELinux checks.
174 Implemented by Matthew Rickard <mjricka@epoch.ncsc.mil>.
176 * getaddrinfo queries are now cached. Canonical name lookup is performed
178 Implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
180 * The nothrow function attribute is used when headers are used by gcc when
181 compiling C code. This can avoid significant amounts of exception
184 * The malloc functions perform more error checking and are stricter when
185 it comes to reacting on errors. The default action is to terminate
186 the process after showing an error message. Implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
188 * Reverse lookups of IPv6 addresses does not use bit string or .ip6.int
189 lookups anymore unless explicitly requested. Implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
191 * Namespaces in ld.so are implemented. DSOs can be loaded in separate
192 namespaces using the new function dlmopen(). This feature is of course,
193 like most other dynamic loading functionality, not available in statically
194 linked applications. Implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
196 * Low-overhead boundary checking variants of string and some stdio functions
197 were added. These are to be used in conjunction with a gcc patch by
198 Jakub Jelinek which adds calls to these functions if possible.
199 Implemented by Jakub Jelinek and Ulrich Drepper.
201 * Old code for several operating systems and machine architectures that
202 have not been in working condition in a long time have been removed from
203 the main source tree maintained by the GNU C Library's maintainers.
204 These files are now reside in the separate `ports' source module
205 that is usable as an add-on when building the library.
209 * New functions `dladdr1' and `dlinfo' in <dlfcn.h> provide more ways to
210 interrogate the dynamic linker, compatible with the Solaris interface.
212 * ELF thread-local storage support (TLS) now works on PowerPC and PowerPC64;
213 implemented by Paul Mackerras, Steven Munroe, and Roland McGrath.
215 * getifaddrs now uses the netlink interface on Linux to get its information.
216 Implemented by Thorsten Kukuk.
218 * getaddrinfo now implements AI_V4MAPPED, AI_ALL, and AI_ADDRCONF.
219 Implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
221 * support for non-executable stacks on x86 has been added. Changes mostly
224 * regex is now much faster for multibyte locales. Changes by Jakub Jelinek
227 * getaddrinfo now performs destination address selection according to
232 * Thread-safe interfaces for many functions that access locale data
233 were added in version 2.3, but these features were omitted from NEWS.
234 Many functions have variants with an `_l' suffix that take a `locale_t'
235 object as a parameter rather than consulting the current locale.
236 The new functions `newlocale', `duplocale', and `freelocale' in <locale.h>
237 create and maintain `locale_t' objects. Additionally, the new function
238 `uselocale' sets "the current locale" (as used by functions not so
239 parameterized) set for an individual thread. These features were added
240 in version 2.3, implemented by Ulrich Drepper and Roland McGrath.
242 * The functions getresuid, getresgid, setresuid, and setresgid, which
243 have long been available on Linux, are now declared in <unistd.h>
244 and are now also available on the Hurd.
246 * ELF thread-local storage support (TLS) now works on x86-64.
248 * The new dynamic string token $LIB is expanded in shared library names.
249 This normally expands to lib, but on some 64-bit platforms to lib64 instead.
251 * Aldy Hernandez contributed complete software floating point support for
252 PowerPC machines with no FPU.
254 * fexecve is implemented on Linux.
256 * The `btowc' function should work at least twice as fast due to
257 specialized callbacks in the iconv modules. Implemented by Bruno Haible.
259 * With approriate thread add-ons cancelable functions are now implemented
260 in libc.so as well. No need to call the function in libpthread. This
261 change allowed to finally disable the incorrect and expensive handling
262 of weak definition in ld.so.
264 * Yet more PLT entries in libc.so have been removed. We finally arrived
265 at the bare minimum. Startup times improved appropriately.
267 * Support for the new Linux/x86 system call interface was added. The
268 AT_SYSINFO auxiliary vector entry is recognized and handled.
272 * Masahide Washizawa contributed iconv modules for IBM1163 and IBM1164
275 * iconv (the program and the interface) now accepts empty names (excluding
276 options like //TRANSLIT) to mean "use charset of current locale".
278 * localedef can now transliterate characters in strings which are not in
279 the provided charmap. The information from the input locale is used.
281 * Prelinking support was added for ELF targets. This requires additional
282 tools and recent versions of the GNU binutils. Contributed by Jakub Jelinek.
284 * Read-only stdio streams now use mmap to speed up operation by eliminating
285 copying and buffer underflows. To use add 'm' to the mode string of
286 the fopen/fdopen/freopen call. Implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
288 * The malloc functions were completely rewritten by Wolfram Gloger based
289 on Doug Lea's malloc-2.7.0.c.
291 * Isamu Hasegawa contributed a completely new and POSIX-conformant
292 implementation of regex.
294 * Bruno Haible upgraded the iconv and locale implementation to support
297 * Contents of the LC_* and LANG environment variables in the CEN style are
298 not recognized anymore. It never was used. Change by Ulrich Drepper.
300 * The runtime (ld.so, libc, libpthread for Linux) now can handle the ELF
301 thread-local storage (TLS) ABI on some platforms.
302 Changes by Ulrich Drepper. SH support by Kaz Kojima.
304 * Bruno Haible contributed iconv converters for ISO-2022-JP-3, SHIFT JIS-X0213,
305 EUC-JISX0213, and TSCII.
307 * New header <ifaddrs.h> with functions `getifaddrs' and `freeifaddrs':
308 BSD-compatible interface for getting all network interface addresses.
309 Implementation for IPv4 by Roland McGrath.
311 * Loading of locale data is faster due to the introduction of a locale
312 archive. Implemented by Roland McGrath and Ulrich Drepper.
314 * Startup times are significantly reduced by not using exported functions
315 inside the library itself. Changes by Jakub Jelinek, Roland McGrath,
318 * Steven Munroe contributed a port to PowerPC64/Linux.
322 * The Hurd now uses the GNU libio implementation of stdio rather than the
323 old GNU stdio implementation, and uses a new ABI (libc.so.0.3).
325 * The Hurd on x86 now has the `ioperm' function and <sys/io.h> header file
326 with the same behavior as the Linux system call of the same name.
330 * Stephen Moshier implemented log2, log10, powl and cbrtl for the
331 128-bit long double format.
333 * Masahide Washizawa contributed iconv modules for IBM1132, IBM1133, IBM1160,
334 IBM1161, and IBM1162 charsets.
336 * Andreas Jaeger contributed a port to x86-64/Linux.
338 * Peter Bruin contributed a port to PowerPC/Hurd.
340 * libc functions using I/O streams now can handle wide-oriented streams
343 * optimizations in the dynamic linker. Binaries created by recent binutils
344 versions start up quicker due to reduced time spent on relocations.
346 * Support for use of gcc3 added by Jakub Jelinek and HJ Lu.
350 * Stephen Moshier implemented cosh, expm1, log1p, acos, sinh, tanh,
351 asinh, atanh, j0 for the 128-bit long double format.
353 * Bruno Haible updated all the code handling Unicode in some form to
356 * Speed of regex for single-byte locales is back to previous levels.
357 Patch by Isamu Hasegawa.
359 * Alpha, SPARC, and IA-64 now also using floating stacks.
361 * Startup time of internationalized applications greatly improved through
362 iconv cache. Use iconvconfig to generate the cache file.
363 Contributed by Ulrich Drepper.
365 * The IA-64 specific part of ld.so was rewritten to eliminate some pretty
366 severe performance problems. Patch by David Mosberger.
368 * The Hurd port got a lot more functionality like AIO, various stdio
369 extensions, etc. Mainly done by Roland McGrath.
371 * mtrace can now lookup symbols in shared libraries.
375 * Intel's IA-64 math library is largely integrated. It provides fast and
376 accurate implementatations for most basic and standard math functions
377 in float, double, and long double format.
379 * Stephen Moshier implemented j0, j1, jn, y0, y1, yn, lgamma, erf, erfc,
380 and asin for the 96-bit long double format and asin, log, tan for the
381 128-bit long double format.
383 * The beginning of a last-bit accurate math library by IBM Haifa were added.
384 The basic double functions exist today. Contributed by Abraham Ziv
385 <ziv@il.ibm.com>, Moshe Olshansky <olshansk@il.ibm.com>, Ealan Henis
386 <ealan@il.ibm.com>, and Anna Reitman <reitman@il.ibm.com>.
388 * An asynchronous name lookup library was added. The interface is designed
389 after POSIX AIO. The proposal was circulated beforehand to get comments.
390 No negative ones came in. Implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
392 * Port to S390/64bit contributed by Martin Schwidefsky
393 <schwidefsky@de.ibm.com>.
395 * David Mosberger <davidm@hpl.hp.com> implemented the setcontext family
396 of functions for Linux/IA-64.
398 * The RPC code is now thread safe. Threads can now use the same service
399 of different services at the same time. Patch by Eric Norum
400 <eric.norum@usask.ca> with some help by Ulrich Drepper.
402 * Martin Schwidefsky <schwidefsky@de.ibm.com> implemented the setcontext
403 family of functions for Linux/S390.
405 * Ulrich Drepper <drepper@redhat.com> implemented the setcontext family
406 of functions for Linux/x86.
408 * Port to Linux/CRIS contributed by Axis Communications.
412 * Lots of headers were cleaned up. Using the tool in the conform/ subdir
413 we can now check for namespace violations and missing declarations. The
414 result is that almost all headers are now Unix-compliant (as defined in
415 the upcoming XPG6). The negative side is that some programs might need
416 corrections, too, if they depend on the incorrect form of the headers in
417 previous versions which defined too many symbols and included too many
420 * regex now handles multibyte character sets correctly.
421 Contributed by Isamu Hasegawa <isamu@yamato.ibm.com>.
423 * iconv (the program) does now conform to the upcoming XPG6 and handles
424 charmaps. Instead of the charset names the path of charmaps can be
425 provided and the conversion happens based on this data.
426 Contributed by Ulrich Drepper.
428 * The locale program now provides detailed information about the installed
433 only lists the names of the supported locales
437 provides details such as country, language, and codeset name.
438 Contributed by Ulrich Drepper.
442 * The gencat program now parses the input file according to the charset
443 selected by the LC_CTYPE category. This is important for stateful
444 character sets. To make generating catalogs easier there is a way
445 to overwrite the charset selected by the locale: before the first
446 message or $ quote line the catalog can contain a line like
450 to select the charset (ISO-8859-2 in this case).
452 Implemented by Shinya Hanataka and Ulrich Drepper.
454 * New codeset conversion modules: IBM-922 (Estonia PC codeset),
455 IBM-1124 (Ukraine PC codeset), IBM-1129 (Vietnamese PC codeset).
456 Contributed by Masahide Washizawa <washi@jp.ibm.com>.
458 * Optimized string functions for Alpha ev6 and ev67 by Richard Henderson
459 <rth@redhat.com> and Rick Gorton <rick.gorton@alpha-processor.com>.
461 * The LANGUAGE environment variable is now ignored unless the locale is
462 changed from the default "C" locale.
464 * The usual bug fixes.
468 * Greg McGary added runtime support for bounds checking using gcc's
469 new -fbounded-pointers option. ix86 target is complete. PowerPC
472 * Thorsten Kukuk added secure mode support to nscd.
474 * The Berkeley db libraries have been removed.
476 Related, the nss_db module is now in a separate package since it
477 obviously requires a database library being available.
479 * Wide character I/O streams implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
481 * Functions from the extended socket API added by Ulrich Drepper.
483 * Functions feenableexcept and fedisableexcept to control the
484 behaviour of individual exceptions have been added by Andreas Jaeger.
486 * ldconfig program added by Andreas Jaeger and Jakub Jelinek.
488 * The resolver code has been updated from bind 8.2.3-T5B which supports
489 threads. The integration was done by Andreas Jaeger, Adam D. Bradley,
492 This change could in some situations effect backward compatibility. Since
493 now `_res' is a thread-local instead of a global variable, modifying it
494 in one thread does not have any effect in other threads.
496 The resolver library was also extended to allow IPv6 as the transport
497 protocol for the requests. This work was done by Stig Venaas.
499 * Compatibility code for K&R C compilers has been removed from the
500 header files. A ISO C compiler is needed to use the library
501 (conforming to either C89 or C99 standard).
503 * Complete rewrite of the localedef program to support multibyte character
504 sets. Implement handling of ISO 14651 and ISO 14652. Rewrite strcoll,
505 strxfrm, wcscoll, and wcsxfrm functions. Make isw*() functions work.
506 Implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
508 Bruno Haible significantly improved the generation and use of the data
509 structures for the wide character tables.
511 * Plural handling in gettext implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
513 * The utmp daemon has been removed.
515 * The port to MIPS-Linux has been finished by Andreas Jaeger.
517 * A port to Hitachi SH3 and SH4 has been contributed by Kazumoto Kojima
520 * POSIX clocks and timers implemented by Kaz Kylheku and Ulrich Drepper.
522 * POSIX barriers implemented by Kaz Kylheku.
524 * POSIX spawn function family implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
526 * POSIX spinlocks are now available.
528 * Timed wait functions for mutex, rwlock, and semaphores are implemented.
530 * the configure option --enable-kernel=X.Y.Z allows to strip out
531 compatibility for kernel versions before X.Y.Z. This is currently only
532 implemented for Linux.
534 * the sockaddr_in6 structure changed. The IPv6 working group added a new
535 field sin6_scope_id. This means that all programs using IPv6 should be
536 recompiled. Don't expect binary compatibility with previous glibc
539 * various conversion modules for IBM character sets contributed by
542 * IA-64 port by Jes Sorensen and HJ Lu.
544 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
545 Compiling the GNU C Library for Linux/ia64
546 ******************************************
548 Please refer to the file INSTALL in the same directory as you found
549 this file for general information about configuring and compiling
552 For general inquiries about glibc under Linux/ia64 please use the
553 following mailing list linux-ia64@linuxia64.org or one of the relevant
556 Recommended Tools for Compilation
557 =================================
559 In order for glibc-2.2 to build correctly on the ia64 you need at
560 least the following versions of the GNU tools (the :
562 * The Cygnus toolchain snapshot for the ia64 as of August 4
563 including the provided set of patches. It is however recommend
564 you use the October 24 toolchain snapshot or a more recent version.
566 OR alternatively you can try the following (the Cygnus toolchain is
567 the recommended solution):
569 * GCC and binutils, GAS and GNU LD out of CVS from
570 sources.redhat.com as of August 28, 2000 or later. The CVS tree
571 may require special patches to work properly on the ia64.
573 Configuring and compiling GNU Libc for Linux/ia64
574 =================================================
576 The library requires Linux kernel version 2.4.0-test4-000728 or
577 later to funtion properly. Besides that it support for debug libraries
578 is currently untested. Hence the following options
579 are required for configuring the library:
581 --disable-debug --enable-kernel=2.4.0
583 It is also important that you make sure the library picks up the
584 appropriate kernel header files, if you do not have recent enough
585 kernel headers in /usr/src/linux/include, you should use the
586 --with-headers=<path> option to specify the location.
588 As an example I personally use the following options to configure
593 --enable-kernel=2.4.0
597 --with-headers=/home/jes/linux/include
602 Jes Sorensen <jes@linuxcare.com>,
604 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
618 * New ISO C 9x function _Exit, imaxabs, and imaxdiv are added.
620 * New xdr functions are added; some rpc functions are now 64bit clean.
622 * Fixed a number of bugs and memory leaks (especially in NIS+ code).
624 * Fixed known incompatibilities with glibc 2.0.
626 * New functions lock64, strchrnul, rawmemchr, getutmp and getutmpx.
628 * Optimized a number of functions (especially the ELF dynamic loader).
630 * Update timezone data files.
632 * lots of charmaps corrections
634 * some new locale definitions and charmaps
639 * Richard Henderson corrected size of struct timeval on Linux/Alpha to
640 conform to POSIX member type requirements. Symbol versions have been
641 adjusted as needed within the library, and for direct use by applications,
642 but there is potential for problems if third-party libraries use
643 struct timeval as part of their interface. This does not present
644 a problem for X and other "essential" system libraries.
646 * An additional locale model to support C++ Standard Library locale
647 model and probably more was implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
649 * Eric Youngdale and Ulrich Drepper implemented versioning of objects on
652 * Miles Bader provided the `argp' function family to support hierachical
653 command line argument parsing, layered on top of getopt.
655 * strtod accepts new hexadecimal floating-point format from ISO C 9X.
657 * printf has two new specifiers %a and %A to print hexadecimal flaoting-point
660 * scanf recognizes the %a and %A format for scanning floating point numbers.
662 * the new headers <stdint.h> and <inttypes.h> from ISO C 9X provides
663 information and interfaces for the available integer types.
665 * about 130 new math functions were added to implement the ISO C9x math
668 * the new header <complex.h> contains definitions of the complex math
669 functions from ISO C 9X.
671 * the new header <tgmath.h> defines generic macros to use complex or
672 real valued functions.
674 * Thorsten Kukuk provided an implementation for NIS+, securelevel 0, 1 and 2.
676 * Andreas Jaeger provided a test suite for the math library.
678 * Mark Kettenis implemented the utmpx interface and an utmp daemon.
680 * Ulrich Drepper added character set conversion functions (iconv).
682 * Optimized string functions have been added.
684 * The localedata addon is now part of glibc.
686 * An implementation of profiling shared libraries was added by Ulrich Drepper.
688 * Thorsten Kukuk and Ulrich Drepper provided an implementation for a caching
689 daemon for NSS (nscd).
691 Missing a better place here are some numbers on improvements. Under
692 Linux 2.1.125 un-tar-ing the kernel sources takes
696 using local files 12.19s 6.88s 22.91s
698 using NIS 13.92s 8.91s 26.34s
700 using NIS & nscd 10.37s 7.34s 25.30s
702 using NIS+ 27.57s 30.37s 640.46s
704 using NIS+ & nscd 10.25s 7.83s 26.51s
706 using NIS & old nscd [1] 13.83s 8.32s 29.60s
708 Keep in mind that non-namelookup related operations dominate above times.
709 It was just a common complain that using NIS+ unpacking the kernel is
712 [1] The old nscd implementation is not available anymore since it was
713 distributed with glibc up to version 2.0.98 and thus is now replaced.
715 * Tim Waugh provided an implementation of the POSIX.2 wordexp function family.
717 * Mark Kettenis provided a Hesiod NSS module.
719 * The ELF dynamic loader knows how to process dynamic string tokens ($ORIGIN
720 and $PLATFORM) in RPATHs and similar strings (Ulrich Drepper).
722 * rcmd can now handle netgroups (Dick Streefland).
724 * A port to the ARM was contributed by Phil Blundell, Pat Beirne and Scott
727 * Support for the IPv6 protocol has been added to the socket API, as per the
728 latest draft standards.
730 * Support for Linux 2.2 has been added.
732 * Interface changes relative to the latest 2.0.x release:
733 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
734 addseverity NEW: Unix98
736 argp_err_exit_status NEW: argp, GNU ext
737 argp_error NEW: argp, GNU ext
738 argp_failure NEW: argp, GNU ext
739 argp_help NEW: argp, GNU ext
740 argp_parse NEW: argp, GNU ext
741 argp_program_bug_address NEW: argp, GNU ext
742 argp_program_version NEW: argp, GNU ext
743 argp_program_version_hook NEW: argp, GNU ext
744 argp_state_help NEW: argp, GNU ext
745 argp_usage NEW: argp, GNU ext
746 authdes_create NEW: Secure RPC
747 authdes_getucred NEW: Secure RPC
748 authdes_pk_create NEW: Secure RPC
749 backtrace NEW: GNU ext.
750 backtrace_symbols NEW: GNU ext.
751 backtrace_symbols_fd NEW: GNU ext.
755 cacoshf NEW: ISO C 9x
756 cacoshl NEW: ISO C 9x
766 casinhf NEW: ISO C 9x
767 casinhl NEW: ISO C 9x
772 catanhf NEW: ISO C 9x
773 catanhl NEW: ISO C 9x
775 cbc_crypt NEW: Secure RPC
788 clearerr_locked REMOVED
789 clntunix_create NEW: sunrpc ext
792 clog10f NEW: ISO C 9x
793 clog10l NEW: ISO C 9x
824 des_setparity NEW: Secure RPC
825 ecb_crypt NEW: Secure RPC
826 endutxent NEW: Unix98
838 feclearexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
839 fegetenv NEW: ISO C 9x
840 fegetexceptflag NEW: ISO C 9x
841 fegetround NEW: ISO C 9x
842 feholdexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
844 feraiseexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
845 ferror_locked REMOVED
846 fesetenv NEW: ISO C 9x
847 fesetexceptflag NEW: ISO C 9x
848 fesetround NEW: ISO C 9x
849 fetestexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
850 feupdateenv NEW: ISO C 9x
851 fflush_locked REMOVED
855 fgets_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
856 fileno_locked REMOVED
869 fputs_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
870 fread_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
881 fwrite_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
882 gai_strerror NEW: IPv6
886 getchar_locked REMOVED
888 getdate_err NEW: Unix98
889 getdate_r NEW: GNU ext.
891 getnameinfo NEW: IPv6
892 getnetname NEW: Secure RPC
894 getpt NEW: Unix98 PTY
896 getutxent NEW: Unix98
898 getutxline NEW: Unix98
900 globfree64 NEW: GNU ext.
901 gnu_get_libc_release NEW: GNU ext.
902 gnu_get_libc_version NEW: GNU ext.
903 grantpt NEW: Unix98 PTY
904 host2netname NEW: Secure RPC
906 iconv_close NEW: iconv
907 iconv_open NEW: iconv
908 if_freenameindex NEW: IPv6
909 if_indextoname NEW: IPv6
910 if_nameindex NEW: IPv6
911 if_nametoindex NEW: IPv6
912 in6addr_any NEW: IPv6
913 in6addr_loopback NEW: IPv6
914 inet6_isipv4mapped NEW: IPv6
915 isastream NEW: STREAMS
916 iswblank NEW: GNU ext.
917 key_decryptsession NEW: Secure RPC
918 key_decryptsession_pk NEW: Secure RPC
919 key_encryptsession NEW: Secure RPC
920 key_encryptsession_pk NEW: Secure RPC
921 key_gendes NEW: Secure RPC
922 key_get_conv NEW: Secure RPC
923 key_secretkey_is_set NEW: Secure RPC
924 key_setnet NEW: Secure RPC
925 key_setsecret NEW: Secure RPC
927 llrintf NEW: ISO C 9x
928 llrintl NEW: ISO C 9x
929 llround NEW: ISO C 9x
930 llroundf NEW: ISO C 9x
931 llroundl NEW: ISO C 9x
939 lroundf NEW: ISO C 9x
940 lroundl NEW: ISO C 9x
942 makecontext NEW: Unix98
943 mempcpy NEW: GNU ext.
946 modify_ldt NEW: kernel
950 nearbyint NEW: ISO C 9x
951 nearbyintf NEW: ISO C 9x
952 nearbyintl NEW: ISO C 9x
953 netname2host NEW: Secure RPC
954 netname2user NEW: Secure RPC
955 nexttoward NEW: ISO C 9x
956 nexttowardf NEW: ISO C 9x
957 nexttowardl NEW: ISO C 9x
961 passwd2des NEW: Secure RPC
967 printf_size NEW: GNU ext.
968 printf_size_info NEW: GNU ext.
969 profil_counter REMOVED
970 pthread_mutexattr_getkind_np REPLACED
971 pthread_mutexattr_setkind_np REPLACED
972 ptsname NEW: Unix98 PTY
973 ptsname_r NEW: Unix98 PTY
975 putchar_locked REMOVED
976 putgrent NEW: GNU ext.
979 pututxline NEW: Unix98
985 remquof NEW: ISO C 9x
986 remquol NEW: ISO C 9x
991 scalbln NEW: ISO C 9x
992 scalblnf NEW: ISO C 9x
993 scalblnl NEW: ISO C 9x
996 setcontext NEW: Unix98
998 setutxent NEW: Unix98
1000 sigignore NEW: Unix98
1001 sigqueue NEW: POSIX.1b
1002 sigrelse NEW: Unix98
1003 sigset NEW: POSIX.1b
1004 sigtimedwait NEW: POSIX.1b
1005 sigwaitinfo NEW: POSIX.1b
1006 sincos NEW: GNU ext.
1007 sincosf NEW: GNU ext.
1008 sincosl NEW: GNU ext.
1012 strcasestr NEW: GNU ext.
1013 strtoimax NEW: ISO C 9x
1014 strtoumax NEW: ISO C 9x
1015 strverscmp NEW: GNU ext.
1016 svcauthdes_stats NEW: Secure RPC
1017 svcunix_create NEW: sunrpc etx
1018 svcunixfd_create NEW: sunrpc ext
1019 swapcontext NEW: Unix98
1020 tcgetsid NEW: Unix98 PTY
1021 tdestroy NEW: GNU ext.
1022 tgamma NEW: ISO C 9x
1023 tgammaf NEW: ISO C 9x
1024 tgammal NEW: ISO C 9x
1028 truncf NEW: ISO C 9x
1029 truncl NEW: ISO C 9x
1031 unlockpt NEW: Unix98 PTY
1032 updwtmpx NEW: Unix98
1033 user2netname NEW: Secure RPC
1034 utmpxname NEW: Unix98
1035 versionsort NEW: GNU ext.
1036 versionsort64 NEW: GNU ext.
1038 wcscasecmp NEW: GNU ext.
1039 wcsncasecmp NEW: GNU ext.
1040 wcsnlen NEW: GNU ext.
1041 wcstoimax NEW: ISO C 9x
1042 wcstoll NEW: ISO C 9x
1043 wcstoull NEW: ISO C 9x
1044 wcstoumax NEW: ISO C 9x
1046 wordexp NEW: POSIX.2
1047 wordfree NEW: POSIX.2
1048 write_profiling REMOVED
1049 xdecrypt NEW: Secure RPC
1050 xdr_authdes_cred NEW: Secure RPC
1051 xdr_authdes_verf NEW: Secure RPC
1052 xdr_cryptkeyarg NEW: Secure RPC
1053 xdr_cryptkeyarg2 NEW: Secure RPC
1054 xdr_cryptkeyres NEW: Secure RPC
1055 xdr_getcredres NEW: Secure RPC
1056 xdr_key_netstarg NEW: Secure RPC
1057 xdr_key_netstres NEW: Secure RPC
1058 xdr_keybuf NEW: Secure RPC
1059 xdr_keystatus NEW: Secure RPC
1060 xdr_netnamestr NEW: Secure RPC
1061 xdr_sizeof NEW: Secure RPC
1062 xdr_unixcred NEW: sunrpc ext
1063 xencrypt NEW: Secure RPC
1064 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1075 * inet_ntoa is thread-safe
1077 * updwtmp is moved from libutil to libc
1079 * rewrite of cbrt function
1081 * update of timezone data
1095 * add atoll function
1097 * fix complex problems in Berkeley DB code
1099 * fix math functions
1103 * fixed lots of header problems (especially Linux/GNU specific)
1105 * dynamic loader preserves all registers
1107 * Roland McGrath provided support for handling of auxiliary objects in
1108 the ELF dynamic loader.
1110 * support for parallel builds is improved
1114 * GNU extensions are no longer declared by default. To enable them you
1115 must define the macro `_GNU_SOURCE' in your program or compile with
1118 * The library has changed from using GNU ld symbol aliases to using weak
1119 symbols where available. The ELF object file format supports weak
1120 symbols; GNU ld also supports weak symbols in the a.out format. (There
1121 is also now support for other GNU ld extensions in ELF. Use the
1122 `--with-elf' option to configure to indicate you have ELF, and
1123 `--with-gnu-ld' if using GNU ld.) This change resulted in the deletion
1124 of many files which contained only symbol aliases, reducing the size of
1125 the source and the compiled library; many other files were renamed to
1126 less cryptic names previously occupied by the symbol alias files.
1127 There is a new header file <elf.h> for programs which operate on
1128 files in the ELF format.
1130 * Converted to Autoconf version 2, so `configure' has more options.
1131 Run `configure --help' to see the details.
1133 * The library can now be configured to build profiling, highly-optimized
1134 (but undebuggable), and/or shared libraries (ELF with GNU ld only). The
1135 `--enable-profile', `--enable-omitfp', and `--enable-shared' options to
1136 `configure' enable building these extra libraries. The shared library is
1137 built by default when using both ELF and GNU ld. When shared libraries
1138 are enabled, the new library `-ldl' is available for arbitrary run-time
1139 loading of shared objects; its interface is defined in <dlfcn.h>. The
1140 new header file <link.h> gives access to the internals of the run-time
1141 dynamic linker, `ld.so'. The shell script `ldd' is similar to the
1142 application of same name on other systems and it provides information
1143 about dynamically linked binaries.
1145 * The C library now provides the run-time support code for profiling
1146 executables compiled with `-pg'. Programs can control the profiling code
1147 through the interface in <sys/gmon.h>. The `gmon.out' files written by
1148 the GNU C library can be read only by GNU `gprof' (from GNU binutils);
1149 the support for this file format was contributed by David Mosberger-Tang.
1151 * The math code has been replaced with a math library based on fdlibm from
1152 Sun, and modified by JT Conklin and Ulrich Drepper with i387 support, by
1153 Ian Taylor with `float' functions and by Ulrich Drepper with `long double'
1154 functions. The math functions now reside in a separate library, so
1155 programs using them will need to use `-lm' their linking commands.
1157 * John C. Bowman contributed optimized ix87 assembler inline functions.
1159 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed support for an `/etc/nsswitch.conf'
1160 mechanism similar to that found in Solaris 2. This is now used for the
1161 group, passwd, hosts, networks, services, protocols, rpc, ethers,
1162 shadow, netgroup, publickey, and alias databases. The `nsswitch.conf'
1163 file controls what services are used for each individual database. This
1164 works by loading shared libraries with names specified in `nsswitch.conf',
1165 so service modules can be changed or added at any time without even
1166 relinking any program. Currently there are the file, db, and NIS based
1167 NSS services available.
1169 * The new functions `strtoq' and `strtouq' parse integer values from
1170 strings, like `strtol' and `strtoul', but they return `long long int' and
1171 `unsigned long long int' values, respectively (64-bit quantities).
1173 * The new functions `strtof' and `strtold' parse floating-point values from
1174 strings, like `strtod', but they return `float' and `long double' values,
1175 respectively (on some machines `double' and `long double' are the same).
1177 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new implementations of the floating-point
1178 printing and reading code used in the `printf' family of functions and
1179 `strtod', `strtof', and `strtold'. These new functions are perfectly
1180 accurate, and much faster than the old ones.
1182 * The implementation of the POSIX locale model was completely rewritten by
1183 Ulrich Drepper. This includes the new programs `localedef' and `locale'
1184 to compile the POSIX locale definition.
1186 * The former dummy implementations of the strcoll and strxfrm function are
1187 now replaced by fully functional code contributed by Ulrich Drepper. The
1188 collation information comes from the POSIX locale definitions.
1190 * The new header <langinfo.h> defines an interface for accessing
1191 various locale-dependent data (using the locale chosen with `setlocale').
1193 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed a new suite of functions for operation on
1194 wide-character and multibyte-character strings, in <wchar.h>;
1195 and classification and case conversion of wide characters, in <wctype.h>.
1196 These new functions are conforming to the ISO C, Amendement 1 specification.
1198 * There is now a second implementation of the standard I/O library available.
1199 It comes from GNU libg++ as was written by Per Bothner, heavily modified
1200 by Hongjiu Lu and made thread safe by Ulrich Drepper.
1202 * You can now use positional parameter specifications in format strings
1203 for the `printf' and `scanf' families of functions. For example,
1204 `printf ("Number %2$d, Mr %1$s\n", "Jones", 6);'' prints
1205 ``Number 6, Mr Jones''. This is mainly useful when providing different
1206 format strings for different languages, whose grammars may dictate
1207 different orderings of the values being printed. To support this
1208 feature, the interface for `register_printf_handler' has changed; see
1209 the header file <printf.h> for details.
1211 * The `printf' and `scanf' families of functions now understand a new
1212 formatting flag for numeric conversions: the ' flag (e.g. %'d or %'f) says
1213 to group numbers as indicated by the locale; for `scanf' and friends, this
1214 says to accept as valid only a number with all the proper grouping
1215 separators in the right places. In the default "C" locale, numbers are
1216 not grouped; but locales for specific countries will define the usual
1217 conventions (i.e. separate thousands with `,' in the US locale).
1219 * The pgrp functions have been regularized, slightly incompatibly but much
1220 less confusingly. The core functions are now `getpgid' and `setpgid',
1221 which take arguments for the PID to operate on; the POSIX.1 `getpgrp' (no
1222 argument) and BSD `setpgrp' (identical to `setpgid') functions are
1223 provided for compatibility. There is no longer an incompatible `getpgrp'
1224 with an argument declared under _BSD_SOURCE; no BSD code uses it.
1226 * The new header file <fts.h> and suite of functions simplify programs that
1227 operate on directory trees. This code comes from 4.4 BSD.
1229 * The resolver code has been updated from the BIND 4.9.5-P1 release.
1230 Parts of the code were heavily modified by Ulrich Drepper to fit in the
1231 NSS scheme used in glibc.
1233 * There is a new malloc debugging hook `__memalign_hook'.
1235 * There are new typedefs `ushort' for `unsigned short int' and `uint' for
1236 `unsigned int' in <sys/types.h>. These are for compatibility only and
1237 their use is discouraged.
1239 * The `-lmcheck' library to enable standard malloc debugging hooks is now
1240 done differently, so that it works even without GNU ld.
1242 * New function `euidaccess' checks allowed access to a file like `access',
1243 but using the effective IDs instead of the real IDs.
1245 * The time zone data files have been updated for the latest and greatest
1246 local time conventions of the countries of the world.
1248 * The new function `dirfd' extracts the file descriptor used by a DIR stream;
1251 * The new functions `ecvt', `fcvt', and `gcvt' provide an obsolete interface
1252 for formatting floating-point numbers. They are provided only for
1253 compatibility; new programs should use `sprintf' instead. There are
1254 also equivalent function for the `long double' floating-point type and
1255 all functions also exist in a reentrant form.
1257 * The new auxiliary library `-lutil' from 4.4 BSD contains various
1258 functions for maintaining the login-record files (primarily of use to
1259 system programs such as `login'), and convenient functions for
1260 allocating and initializing a pseudo-terminal (pty) device.
1262 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new support for System V style
1263 shared memory and IPC on systems that support it.
1265 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed several miscellaneous new functions found
1266 in System V: The `hsearch' family of functions provide an effective
1267 implementation of hash tables; `a64l' and `l64a' provide a very simple
1268 binary to ASCII mapping; `drand48' and friends provide a 48-bit random
1271 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new reentrant counterparts for the
1272 `random' and `hsearch' families of functions; `random_r', `hsearch_r', etc.
1274 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new, highly-optimized versions of several
1275 string functions for the i486/Pentium family of processors.
1277 * Ulrich Drepper has updated the Linux-specific code, based largely
1278 on work done in Hongjiu Lu's version of GNU libc for Linux.
1279 The GNU library now supports Linux versions 2.0.10 and later,
1280 using the ELF object file format (i[3456]86-*-linux).
1282 * Andreas Schwab has ported the C library to Linux/m68k (m68k-*-linux).
1284 * David Mosberger-Tang and Richard Henderson have ported the C library
1285 to Linux/Alpha (alpha-*-linux). Richard Henderson contributed the
1286 dynamic linking support for ELF/Alpha.
1288 * Richard Henderson contributed several Alpha optimized assembler function
1289 for arithmetic and string handling.
1291 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed a new set of message catalog functions to
1292 support multiple languages using the <libintl.h> interface, for use with
1293 his new package GNU gettext. Translation volunteers have contributed
1294 catalogs of the library's messages in Spanish, German, and Korean.
1296 * For compatibility with XPG4, Ulrich Drepper has contributed the `gencat'
1297 program and the `catgets' function for reading the catalog files it
1298 creates. (The <libintl.h> interface is preferred; we include the
1299 <nl_types.h> interface using `catgets' only for source compatibility with
1300 programs already written to use it.)
1302 * New header file <values.h> gives SVID-compatible names for <limits.h>
1305 * Various new macros, declarations, and small header files for compatibility
1308 * New function `group_member' is a convenient way to check if a process has
1309 a given effective group ID.
1311 * When using GCC 2.7 and later, the socket functions are now declared in a
1312 special way so that passing an argument of type `struct sockaddr_in *',
1313 `struct sockaddr_ns *', or `struct sockaddr_un *' instead of the generic
1314 `struct sockaddr *' type, does not generate a type-clash warning.
1316 * New function `error' declared in header file <error.h> is a convenient
1317 function for printing error messages and optionally exiting; this is the
1318 canonical function used in GNU programs. The new functions `err', `warn',
1319 and friends in header file <err.h> are the canonical 4.4 BSD interface for
1320 doing the same thing.
1322 * The <glob.h> interface has several new flags from 4.4 BSD that extend the
1323 POSIX.2 `glob' function to do ~ and {...} expansion.
1325 * New function `unsetenv' complements `setenv' for compatibility with 4.4 BSD.
1326 `clearenv' which is used in POSIX.9 is also available.
1328 * New function `getsid' returns session ID number on systems that support it.
1330 * We have incorporated the 4.4 BSD `db' library (version 1.85). New header
1331 files <db.h> and <mpool.h> provide a rich set of functions for several
1332 types of simple databases stored in memory and in files, and <ndbm.h> is
1333 an old `ndbm'-compatible interface using the `db' functions. Link with
1334 `-ldb' to get these functions.
1336 * New macro `strdupa' copies a string like `strdup', but uses local stack
1337 space from `alloca' instead of dynamic heap space from `malloc'.
1339 * New function `strnlen' is like `strlen' but searches only a given maximum
1340 number of characters for the null terminator. `stpncpy', `strndup' and
1341 `strndupa' are similar variants for the `stpcpy', `strdup' and `strdupa'
1344 * New function `statfs' in header <sys/statfs.h>.
1346 * The new <argz.h> and <envz.h> interfaces contributed by Miles Bader
1347 provide convenient functions for operating on blocks of null-terminated
1350 * A new suite of functions in <utmp.h> handle all the details of reading
1351 and writing the utmp file.
1353 * An implementation of the NIS/YP(tm) based NSS service was contributed by
1356 * Paul Eggert and Ulrich Drepper modified the `strftime' function to be
1357 completely POSIX compliant and also implemented the extended functionality
1358 to handle alternate digit representation and alternate era date formats.
1360 * Ulrich Drepper provided an implementation of the `strptime' function
1361 defined in XPG4.2 which transforms a string into a `struct tm' value.
1363 * Paul Eggert provided the tzselect shell script as part of the timezone
1364 code. The shell script makes it easy to select the correct timezone
1367 * The implementation of the malloc family of functions is completely replaced
1368 by a new implementation by Doug Lea with many improvements by Wolfram Gloger.
1369 The implementation uses the mmap function (if available) and it is
1370 optimized for the use in multi threaded programs.
1372 * Ulrich Drepper contributed a MD5 "encryption" for the crypt family of
1373 functions. This new functionality is usable by specifying a special
1374 salt string and it is compatible with implementation on *BSD systems.
1376 * Lots of functions from the XPG4.2 standard were added by Ulrich Drepper:
1377 `getsubopt' to handle second level command line options, `bsd_signal'
1378 to access BSD style `signal' functionality, the obsolete `regexp' style
1381 * the `lchown' function is available on system which support this
1384 * The implementation of the shadow password handling function was contributed
1387 * David Mosberger-Tang changed the SunRPC implementation to be 64bit safe.
1389 * POSIX.1g support was added. The <sys/select.h> header is available,
1390 `isfdtype' and `pselect' are implemented. Craig Metz contributed an
1391 implementation of `getaddrinfo'.
1395 * For cross-compilation you should now set `BUILD_CC' instead of `HOST_CC'.
1397 * New header file <fstab.h> and new functions `getfsspec', `getfsent' and
1398 friends, for parsing /etc/fstab. This code comes from 4.4 BSD.
1400 * The new function `daemon' from 4.4 BSD is useful for server programs that
1401 want to put themselves in the background.
1403 * Joel Sherrill has contributed support for several standalone boards that
1404 run without an operating system.
1406 * `printf', `scanf' and friends now accept a `q' type modifier for long
1407 long int as well as `ll'. Formats using these might be `%qu' or `%lld'.
1409 * All of the code taken from BSD (notably most of the math and networking
1410 routines) has been updated from the BSD 4.4-Lite release.
1412 * The resolver code has been updated from the BIND-4.9.3-BETA9 release.
1414 * The new functions `getdomainname' and `setdomainname' fetch or change the
1415 YP/NIS domain name. These are system calls which exist on systems which
1418 * The time zone data files have been updated for the latest international
1421 * The SunRPC programs `portmap' and `rpcinfo' are now installed in
1422 $(sbindir) (usually /usr/local/sbin) instead of $(bindir).
1426 * The C library now includes support for Sun RPC, from Sun's free
1427 RPCSRC-4.0 distribution. The `portmap', `rpcinfo', and `rpcgen' programs
1428 are included. (There is still no support for YP.)
1430 * Tom Quinn has contributed a port of the C library to SGI machines running
1431 Irix 4 (mips-sgi-irix4).
1433 * The new `lockf' function is a simplified interface to the locking
1434 facilities of `fcntl', included for compatibility.
1436 * New time functions `timegm', `timelocal', and `dysize' for compatibility.
1438 * New header file <sys/timeb.h> and new function `ftime' for compatibility.
1440 * New header files <poll.h> and <sys/poll.h> and new function `poll' for
1443 * The error message printed by `assert' for a failed assertion now includes
1444 the name of the program (if using GNU ld) and the name of the calling
1445 function (with versions of GCC that support this).
1447 * The `psignal' function is now declared in <signal.h>, not <stdio.h>.
1449 * The library now includes the <sys/mman.h> header file and memory
1450 management functions `mmap', `munmap', `mprotect', `msync', and
1451 `madvise', on systems that support those facilities.
1453 * The interface for `mcheck' has changed slightly: the function called to
1454 abort the program when an allocation inconsistency is detected now takes
1455 an argument that indicates the type of failure. The new function
1456 `mprobe' lets you request a consistency check for a particular block at
1457 any time (checks are normally done only when you call `free' or `realloc'
1460 * It is now possible to easily cross-compile the C library, building on one
1461 system a library to run on another machine and/or operating system. All
1462 you need to do is set the variable `HOST_CC' in `configparms' to the
1463 native compiler for programs to run on the machine you are building on (a
1464 few generator programs are used on Unix systems); set `CC' to the
1467 * The new function `fexecve' (only implemented on the GNU system) executes
1468 a program file given a file descriptor already open on the file.
1472 * Brendan Kehoe has contributed most of a port to the DEC Alpha
1473 running OSF/1 (alpha-dec-osf1). He says it is 75% complete.
1475 * You can set the variable `libprefix' in `configparms' to specify a prefix
1476 to be prepended to installed library files; this makes it easy to install
1477 the GNU C library to be linked as `-lgnuc' or whatever.
1479 * The new `stpncpy' is a cross between `stpcpy' and `strncpy': It
1480 copies a limited number of characters from a string, and returns the
1481 address of the last character written.
1483 * You no longer need to check for whether the installed `stddef.h' is
1484 compatible with the GNU C library. configure now checks for you.
1486 * You can now define a per-stream `fileno' function to convert the
1487 stream's cookie into an integral file descriptor.
1489 * ``malloc (0)'' no longer returns a null pointer. Instead, it
1490 allocates zero bytes of storage, and returns a unique pointer which
1491 you can pass to `realloc' or `free'. The behavior is undefined if
1492 you dereference this pointer.
1494 * The C library now runs on Sony NEWS m68k machines running either
1495 NewsOS 3 or NewsOS 4.
1497 * The new `syscall' function is a system-dependent primitive function
1498 for invoking system calls. It has the canonical behavior on Unix
1499 systems, including unreliable return values for some calls (such as
1500 `pipe', `fork' and `getppid').
1502 * The error code `EWOULDBLOCK' is now obsolete; it is always defined
1503 to `EAGAIN', which is the preferred name. On systems whose kernels
1504 use two distinct codes, the C library now translates EWOULDBLOCK to
1505 EAGAIN in every system call function.
1509 * The GNU C Library Reference Manual is now distributed with the library.
1510 `make dvi' will produce a DVI file of the printed manual.
1511 `make info' will produce Info files that you can read on line using C-h i
1512 in Emacs or the `info' program.
1513 Please send comments on the manual to bug-glibc-manual@gnu.org.
1515 * The library now supports SVR4 on i386s (i386-unknown-sysv4).
1517 * Brendan Kehoe has contributed a port to Sun SPARCs running Solaris 2.
1519 * Jason Merrill has contributed a port to the Sequent Symmetry running
1520 Dynix version 3 (i386-sequent-dynix).
1522 * The library has been ported to i386s running SCO 3.2.4 (also known as SCO
1523 ODT 2.0; i386-unknown-sco3.2.4) or SCO 3.2 (i386-unknown-sco3.2).
1525 * New function `memory_warnings' lets you arrange to get warnings when
1526 malloc is running out of memory to allocate, like Emacs gives you.
1528 * The C library now contains the relocating allocator used in Emacs 19 for
1529 its editing buffers. This allocator (ralloc) minimizes allocation
1530 overhead and fragmentation by moving allocated regions around whenever it
1531 needs to. You always refer to a ralloc'd region with a "handle" (a
1532 pointer to a pointer--an object of type `void **').
1534 * There is a new `printf' format: `%m' gives you the string corresponding
1535 to the error code in `errno'.
1537 * In `scanf' formats, you can now use `%as' or `%a[' to do the normal `%s'
1538 or `%[' conversion, but instead of filling in a fixed-sized buffer you
1539 pass, the `a' modifier says to fill in a `char **' you pass with a
1542 * The `fnmatch' function supports the new flag bits `FNM_LEADING_DIR' and
1543 `FNM_CASEFOLD'. `FNM_LEADING_DIR' lets a pattern like `foo*' match a
1544 name like `foo/bar'. `FNM_CASEFOLD' says to ignore case in matching.
1546 * `mkstemp' is a traditional Unix function to atomically create and open a
1547 uniquely-named temporary file.
1551 * The standard location for the file that says what the local timezone is
1552 has changed again. It is now `/usr/local/etc/localtime' (or more
1553 precisely, `${prefix}/etc/localtime') rather than `/etc/localtime'.
1555 * The distribution no longer contains any files with names longer than 14
1558 * `struct ttyent' has two new flag bits: TTY_TRUSTED and TTY_CONSOLE.
1559 These are set by the new `trusted' and `console' keywords in `/etc/ttys'.
1561 * New functions `ttyslot' and `syslog' from 4.4 BSD.
1565 * The configuration process has changed quite a bit. The `configure'
1566 script is now used just like the configuration scripts for other GNU
1567 packages. The `sysdeps' directory hierarchy is much rearranged.
1568 The file `INSTALL' explains the new scheme in detail.
1570 * The header files no longer need to be processed into ANSI C and
1571 traditional C versions. There is just one set of files to install, and
1572 it will work with ANSI or old C compilers (including `gcc -traditional').
1574 * Brendan Kehoe and Ian Lance Taylor have ported the library to the
1575 MIPS DECStation running Ultrix 4.
1577 * The Sun 4 startup code (crt0) can now properly load SunOS 4 shared libraries.
1578 Tom Quinn contributed the initial code. The GNU C library can NOT yet be
1579 made itself into a shared library.
1581 * Yet further improved support for the i386, running 4.3 BSD-like systems
1582 (such as Mach 3 with the Unix single-server), or System V.
1584 * New function `strncasecmp' to do case-insensitive string comparison
1585 with limited length.
1587 * New function `strsep' is a reentrant alternative to `strtok'.
1589 * New functions `scandir' and `alphasort' for searching directories.
1591 * New function `setenv' is a better interface to `putenv'.
1593 * Ian Lance Taylor has contributed an implementation of the SVID `ftw'
1594 function for traversing a directory tree.
1596 * The GNU obstack package is now also part of the C library.
1597 The new function `open_obstack_stream' creates a stdio stream that
1598 writes onto an obstack; `obstack_printf' and `obstack_vprintf' do
1599 formatted output directly to an obstack.
1601 * Miscellaneous new functions: reboot, nice, sigaltstack (4.4 BSD only),
1602 cfmakeraw, getusershell, getpass, swab, getttyent, seteuid, setegid.
1604 * `FNM_FILE_NAME' is another name for `FNM_PATHNAME', used with `fnmatch'.
1606 * The new functions `strfry' and `memfrob' do mysterious and wonderful
1607 things to your strings.
1609 * There are some new test programs: test-fseek, testmb, and testrand.
1611 * Some work has been done to begin porting the library to 4.4 BSD and Linux.
1612 These ports are not finished, but are a good starting place for really
1613 supporting those systems.
1615 * `/etc/localtime' is now the standard location for the file that says what
1616 the local timezone is, rather than `/usr/local/lib/zoneinfo/localtime'.
1617 This follows the general principle that `/etc' is the place for all local
1618 configuration files.
1620 * The C library header files now use `extern "C"' when used by the C++
1621 compiler, so the C library should now work with C++ code.
1623 * The header file <bstring.h> is gone. <string.h> now declares bcopy,
1624 bcmp, bzero, and ffs. (Update: nowadays these functions are declared
1627 * Mike Haertel (of GNU e?grep and malloc fame) has written a new sorting
1628 function which uses the `merge sort' algorithm, and is said to be
1629 significantly faster than the old GNU `qsort' function. Merge sort is
1630 now the standard `qsort' function. The new algorithm can require a lot
1631 of temporary storage; so, the old sorting function is called when the
1632 required storage is not available.
1634 * The C library now includes Michael Glad's Ultra Fast Crypt, which
1635 provides the Unix `crypt' function, plus some other entry points.
1637 * The code and header files taken from 4.4 BSD have been updated with the
1638 latest files released from Berkeley.
1640 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
1641 Copyright information:
1643 Copyright (C) 1992-1999,2000,2001,2002,2003,2004,2005,2006
1644 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
1646 Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim copies
1647 of this document as received, in any medium, provided that the
1648 copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved,
1649 thus giving the recipient permission to redistribute in turn.
1651 Permission is granted to distribute modified versions
1652 of this document, or of portions of it,
1653 under the above conditions, provided also that they
1654 carry prominent notices stating who last changed them.
1657 version-control: never