1 GNU C Library NEWS -- history of user-visible changes. 2000-08-03
3 Copyright (C) 1992-1999, 2000 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 * Greg McGary added runtime support for bounds checking using gcc's
13 new -fbounded-pointers option. ix86 target is complete. PowerPC
16 * Thorsten Kukuk added secure mode support to nscd.
18 * The Berkeley db libraries have been removed.
20 * Wide character I/O streams implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
22 * Functions from the extended socket API added by Ulrich Drepper.
24 * Functions feenableexcept and fedisableexcept to control the
25 behaviour of individual exceptions have been added by Andreas Jaeger.
27 * ldconfig program added by Andreas Jaeger and Jakub Jelinek.
29 * The resolver code has been updated from bind 8.2.3-T5B which supports
30 threads. The integration was done by Andreas Jaeger, Adam D. Bradley,
33 This change could in some situations effect backward compatibility. Since
34 now `_res' is a thread-local instead of a global variable, modifying it
35 in one thread does not have any effect in other threads.
37 The reoslver library was also extended to allow IPv6 as the transport
38 protocol for the requests. This work was done by Stig Venaas.
40 * Compatibility code for K&R C compilers has been removed from the
41 header files. A ISO C compiler is needed to use the library
42 (conforming to either C89 or C99 standard).
44 * Complete rewrite of the localedef program to support multibyte character
45 sets. Implement handling of ISO 14651 and ISO 14652. Rewrite strcoll,
46 strxfrm, wcscoll, and wcsxfrm functions. Make isw*() functions work.
47 Implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
49 * Plural handling in gettext implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
51 * The utmp daemon has been removed.
53 * The port to MIPS-Linux has been finished by Andreas Jaeger.
55 * A port to Hitachi SH3 and SH4 has been contributed by Kazumoto Kojima
58 * POSIX clocks and timers implemented by Kaz Kylheku and Ulrich Drepper.
60 * POSIX barriers implemented by Kaz Kylheku.
62 * POSIX spawn function family implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
64 * POSIX spinlocks are now available.
66 * Timed wait functions for mutex, rwlock, and semaphores are implemented.
81 * New ISO C 9x function _Exit, imaxabs, and imaxdiv are added.
83 * New xdr functions are added; some rpc functions are now 64bit clean.
85 * Fixed a number of bugs and memory leaks (especially in NIS+ code).
87 * Fixed known incompatibilities with glibc 2.0.
89 * New functions lock64, strchrnul, rawmemchr, getutmp and getutmpx.
91 * Optimized a number of functions (especially the ELF dynamic loader).
93 * Update timezone data files.
95 * lots of charmaps corrections
97 * some new locale definitions and charmaps
102 * Richard Henderson corrected size of struct timeval on Linux/Alpha to
103 conform to POSIX member type requirements. Symbol versions have been
104 adjusted as needed within the library, and for direct use by applications,
105 but there is potential for problems if third-party libraries use
106 struct timeval as part of their interface. This does not present
107 a problem for X and other "essential" system libraries.
109 * An additional locale model to support C++ Standard Library locale
110 model and probably more was implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
112 * Eric Youngdale and Ulrich Drepper implemented versioning of objects on
115 * Miles Bader provided the `argp' function family to support hierachical
116 command line argument parsing, layered on top of getopt.
118 * strtod accepts new hexadecimal floating-point format from ISO C 9X.
120 * printf has two new specifiers %a and %A to print hexadecimal flaoting-point
123 * scanf recognizes the %a and %A format for scanning floating point numbers.
125 * the new headers <stdint.h> and <inttypes.h> from ISO C 9X provides
126 information and interfaces for the available integer types.
128 * about 130 new math functions were added to implement the ISO C9x math
131 * the new header <complex.h> contains definitions of the complex math
132 functions from ISO C 9X.
134 * the new header <tgmath.h> defines generic macros to use complex or
135 real valued functions.
137 * Thorsten Kukuk provided an implementation for NIS+, securelevel 0, 1 and 2.
139 * Andreas Jaeger provided a test suite for the math library.
141 * Mark Kettenis implemented the utmpx interface and an utmp daemon.
143 * Ulrich Drepper added character set conversion functions (iconv).
145 * Optimized string functions have been added.
147 * The localedata addon is now part of glibc.
149 * An implementation of profiling shared libraries was added by Ulrich Drepper.
151 * Thorsten Kukuk and Ulrich Drepper provided an implementation for a caching
152 daemon for NSS (nscd).
154 Missing a better place here are some numbers on improvements. Under
155 Linux 2.1.125 un-tar-ing the kernel sources takes
159 using local files 12.19s 6.88s 22.91s
161 using NIS 13.92s 8.91s 26.34s
163 using NIS & nscd 10.37s 7.34s 25.30s
165 using NIS+ 27.57s 30.37s 640.46s
167 using NIS+ & nscd 10.25s 7.83s 26.51s
169 using NIS & old nscd [1] 13.83s 8.32s 29.60s
171 Keep in mind that non-namelookup related operations dominate above times.
172 It was just a common complain that using NIS+ unpacking the kernel is
175 [1] The old nscd implementation is not available anymore since it was
176 distributed with glibc up to version 2.0.98 and thus is now replaced.
178 * Tim Waugh provided an implementation of the POSIX.2 wordexp function family.
180 * Mark Kettenis provided a Hesiod NSS module.
182 * The ELF dynamic loader knows how to process dynamic string tokens ($ORIGIN
183 and $PLATFORM) in RPATHs and similar strings (Ulrich Drepper).
185 * rcmd can now handle netgroups (Dick Streefland).
187 * A port to the ARM was contributed by Phil Blundell, Pat Beirne and Scott
190 * Support for the IPv6 protocol has been added to the socket API, as per the
191 latest draft standards.
193 * Support for Linux 2.2 has been added.
195 * Interface changes relative to the latest 2.0.x release:
196 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
197 addseverity NEW: Unix98
199 argp_err_exit_status NEW: argp, GNU ext
200 argp_error NEW: argp, GNU ext
201 argp_failure NEW: argp, GNU ext
202 argp_help NEW: argp, GNU ext
203 argp_parse NEW: argp, GNU ext
204 argp_program_bug_address NEW: argp, GNU ext
205 argp_program_version NEW: argp, GNU ext
206 argp_program_version_hook NEW: argp, GNU ext
207 argp_state_help NEW: argp, GNU ext
208 argp_usage NEW: argp, GNU ext
209 authdes_create NEW: Secure RPC
210 authdes_getucred NEW: Secure RPC
211 authdes_pk_create NEW: Secure RPC
212 backtrace NEW: GNU ext.
213 backtrace_symbols NEW: GNU ext.
214 backtrace_symbols_fd NEW: GNU ext.
218 cacoshf NEW: ISO C 9x
219 cacoshl NEW: ISO C 9x
229 casinhf NEW: ISO C 9x
230 casinhl NEW: ISO C 9x
235 catanhf NEW: ISO C 9x
236 catanhl NEW: ISO C 9x
238 cbc_crypt NEW: Secure RPC
251 clearerr_locked REMOVED
252 clntunix_create NEW: sunrpc ext
255 clog10f NEW: ISO C 9x
256 clog10l NEW: ISO C 9x
287 des_setparity NEW: Secure RPC
288 ecb_crypt NEW: Secure RPC
289 endutxent NEW: Unix98
301 feclearexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
302 fegetenv NEW: ISO C 9x
303 fegetexceptflag NEW: ISO C 9x
304 fegetround NEW: ISO C 9x
305 feholdexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
307 feraiseexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
308 ferror_locked REMOVED
309 fesetenv NEW: ISO C 9x
310 fesetexceptflag NEW: ISO C 9x
311 fesetround NEW: ISO C 9x
312 fetestexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
313 feupdateenv NEW: ISO C 9x
314 fflush_locked REMOVED
318 fgets_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
319 fileno_locked REMOVED
332 fputs_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
333 fread_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
344 fwrite_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
345 gai_strerror NEW: IPv6
349 getchar_locked REMOVED
351 getdate_err NEW: Unix98
352 getdate_r NEW: GNU ext.
354 getnameinfo NEW: IPv6
355 getnetname NEW: Secure RPC
357 getpt NEW: Unix98 PTY
359 getutxent NEW: Unix98
361 getutxline NEW: Unix98
363 globfree64 NEW: GNU ext.
364 gnu_get_libc_release NEW: GNU ext.
365 gnu_get_libc_version NEW: GNU ext.
366 grantpt NEW: Unix98 PTY
367 host2netname NEW: Secure RPC
369 iconv_close NEW: iconv
370 iconv_open NEW: iconv
371 if_freenameindex NEW: IPv6
372 if_indextoname NEW: IPv6
373 if_nameindex NEW: IPv6
374 if_nametoindex NEW: IPv6
375 in6addr_any NEW: IPv6
376 in6addr_loopback NEW: IPv6
377 inet6_isipv4mapped NEW: IPv6
378 isastream NEW: STREAMS
379 iswblank NEW: GNU ext.
380 key_decryptsession NEW: Secure RPC
381 key_decryptsession_pk NEW: Secure RPC
382 key_encryptsession NEW: Secure RPC
383 key_encryptsession_pk NEW: Secure RPC
384 key_gendes NEW: Secure RPC
385 key_get_conv NEW: Secure RPC
386 key_secretkey_is_set NEW: Secure RPC
387 key_setnet NEW: Secure RPC
388 key_setsecret NEW: Secure RPC
390 llrintf NEW: ISO C 9x
391 llrintl NEW: ISO C 9x
392 llround NEW: ISO C 9x
393 llroundf NEW: ISO C 9x
394 llroundl NEW: ISO C 9x
402 lroundf NEW: ISO C 9x
403 lroundl NEW: ISO C 9x
405 makecontext NEW: Unix98
406 mempcpy NEW: GNU ext.
409 modify_ldt NEW: kernel
413 nearbyint NEW: ISO C 9x
414 nearbyintf NEW: ISO C 9x
415 nearbyintl NEW: ISO C 9x
416 netname2host NEW: Secure RPC
417 netname2user NEW: Secure RPC
418 nexttoward NEW: ISO C 9x
419 nexttowardf NEW: ISO C 9x
420 nexttowardl NEW: ISO C 9x
424 passwd2des NEW: Secure RPC
430 printf_size NEW: GNU ext.
431 printf_size_info NEW: GNU ext.
432 profil_counter REMOVED
433 pthread_mutexattr_getkind_np REPLACED
434 pthread_mutexattr_setkind_np REPLACED
435 ptsname NEW: Unix98 PTY
436 ptsname_r NEW: Unix98 PTY
438 putchar_locked REMOVED
439 putgrent NEW: GNU ext.
442 pututxline NEW: Unix98
448 remquof NEW: ISO C 9x
449 remquol NEW: ISO C 9x
454 scalbln NEW: ISO C 9x
455 scalblnf NEW: ISO C 9x
456 scalblnl NEW: ISO C 9x
459 setcontext NEW: Unix98
461 setutxent NEW: Unix98
463 sigignore NEW: Unix98
464 sigqueue NEW: POSIX.1b
467 sigtimedwait NEW: POSIX.1b
468 sigwaitinfo NEW: POSIX.1b
470 sincosf NEW: GNU ext.
471 sincosl NEW: GNU ext.
475 strcasestr NEW: GNU ext.
476 strtoimax NEW: ISO C 9x
477 strtoumax NEW: ISO C 9x
478 strverscmp NEW: GNU ext.
479 svcauthdes_stats NEW: Secure RPC
480 svcunix_create NEW: sunrpc etx
481 svcunixfd_create NEW: sunrpc ext
482 swapcontext NEW: Unix98
483 tcgetsid NEW: Unix98 PTY
484 tdestroy NEW: GNU ext.
486 tgammaf NEW: ISO C 9x
487 tgammal NEW: ISO C 9x
494 unlockpt NEW: Unix98 PTY
496 user2netname NEW: Secure RPC
497 utmpxname NEW: Unix98
498 versionsort NEW: GNU ext.
499 versionsort64 NEW: GNU ext.
501 wcscasecmp NEW: GNU ext.
502 wcsncasecmp NEW: GNU ext.
503 wcsnlen NEW: GNU ext.
504 wcstoimax NEW: ISO C 9x
505 wcstoll NEW: ISO C 9x
506 wcstoull NEW: ISO C 9x
507 wcstoumax NEW: ISO C 9x
510 wordfree NEW: POSIX.2
511 write_profiling REMOVED
512 xdecrypt NEW: Secure RPC
513 xdr_authdes_cred NEW: Secure RPC
514 xdr_authdes_verf NEW: Secure RPC
515 xdr_cryptkeyarg NEW: Secure RPC
516 xdr_cryptkeyarg2 NEW: Secure RPC
517 xdr_cryptkeyres NEW: Secure RPC
518 xdr_getcredres NEW: Secure RPC
519 xdr_key_netstarg NEW: Secure RPC
520 xdr_key_netstres NEW: Secure RPC
521 xdr_keybuf NEW: Secure RPC
522 xdr_keystatus NEW: Secure RPC
523 xdr_netnamestr NEW: Secure RPC
524 xdr_sizeof NEW: Secure RPC
525 xdr_unixcred NEW: sunrpc ext
526 xencrypt NEW: Secure RPC
527 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
538 * inet_ntoa is thread-safe
540 * updwtmp is moved from libutil to libc
542 * rewrite of cbrt function
544 * update of timezone data
560 * fix complex problems in Berkeley DB code
566 * fixed lots of header problems (especially Linux/GNU specific)
568 * dynamic loader preserves all registers
570 * Roland McGrath provided support for handling of auxiliary objects in
571 the ELF dynamic loader.
573 * support for parallel builds is improved
577 * GNU extensions are no longer declared by default. To enable them you
578 must define the macro `_GNU_SOURCE' in your program or compile with
581 * The library has changed from using GNU ld symbol aliases to using weak
582 symbols where available. The ELF object file format supports weak
583 symbols; GNU ld also supports weak symbols in the a.out format. (There
584 is also now support for other GNU ld extensions in ELF. Use the
585 `--with-elf' option to configure to indicate you have ELF, and
586 `--with-gnu-ld' if using GNU ld.) This change resulted in the deletion
587 of many files which contained only symbol aliases, reducing the size of
588 the source and the compiled library; many other files were renamed to
589 less cryptic names previously occupied by the symbol alias files.
590 There is a new header file <elf.h> for programs which operate on
591 files in the ELF format.
593 * Converted to Autoconf version 2, so `configure' has more options.
594 Run `configure --help' to see the details.
596 * The library can now be configured to build profiling, highly-optimized
597 (but undebuggable), and/or shared libraries (ELF with GNU ld only). The
598 `--enable-profile', `--enable-omitfp', and `--enable-shared' options to
599 `configure' enable building these extra libraries. The shared library is
600 built by default when using both ELF and GNU ld. When shared libraries
601 are enabled, the new library `-ldl' is available for arbitrary run-time
602 loading of shared objects; its interface is defined in <dlfcn.h>. The
603 new header file <link.h> gives access to the internals of the run-time
604 dynamic linker, `ld.so'. The shell script `ldd' is similar to the
605 application of same name on other systems and it provides information
606 about dynamically linked binaries.
608 * The C library now provides the run-time support code for profiling
609 executables compiled with `-pg'. Programs can control the profiling code
610 through the interface in <sys/gmon.h>. The `gmon.out' files written by
611 the GNU C library can be read only by GNU `gprof' (from GNU binutils);
612 the support for this file format was contributed by David Mosberger-Tang.
614 * The math code has been replaced with a math library based on fdlibm from
615 Sun, and modified by JT Conklin and Ulrich Drepper with i387 support, by
616 Ian Taylor with `float' functions and by Ulrich Drepper with `long double'
617 functions. The math functions now reside in a separate library, so
618 programs using them will need to use `-lm' their linking commands.
620 * John C. Bowman contributed optimized ix87 assembler inline functions.
622 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed support for an `/etc/nsswitch.conf'
623 mechanism similar to that found in Solaris 2. This is now used for the
624 group, passwd, hosts, networks, services, protocols, rpc, ethers,
625 shadow, netgroup, publickey, and alias databases. The `nsswitch.conf'
626 file controls what services are used for each individual database. This
627 works by loading shared libraries with names specified in `nsswitch.conf',
628 so service modules can be changed or added at any time without even
629 relinking any program. Currently there are the file, db, and NIS based
630 NSS services available.
632 * The new functions `strtoq' and `strtouq' parse integer values from
633 strings, like `strtol' and `strtoul', but they return `long long int' and
634 `unsigned long long int' values, respectively (64-bit quantities).
636 * The new functions `strtof' and `strtold' parse floating-point values from
637 strings, like `strtod', but they return `float' and `long double' values,
638 respectively (on some machines `double' and `long double' are the same).
640 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new implementations of the floating-point
641 printing and reading code used in the `printf' family of functions and
642 `strtod', `strtof', and `strtold'. These new functions are perfectly
643 accurate, and much faster than the old ones.
645 * The implementation of the POSIX locale model was completely rewritten by
646 Ulrich Drepper. This includes the new programs `localedef' and `locale'
647 to compile the POSIX locale definition.
649 * The former dummy implementations of the strcoll and strxfrm function are
650 now replaced by fully functional code contributed by Ulrich Drepper. The
651 collation information comes from the POSIX locale definitions.
653 * The new header <langinfo.h> defines an interface for accessing
654 various locale-dependent data (using the locale chosen with `setlocale').
656 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed a new suite of functions for operation on
657 wide-character and multibyte-character strings, in <wchar.h>;
658 and classification and case conversion of wide characters, in <wctype.h>.
659 These new functions are conforming to the ISO C, Amendement 1 specification.
661 * There is now a second implementation of the standard I/O library available.
662 It comes from GNU libg++ as was written by Per Bothner, heavily modified
663 by Hongjiu Lu and made thread safe by Ulrich Drepper.
665 * You can now use positional parameter specifications in format strings
666 for the `printf' and `scanf' families of functions. For example,
667 `printf ("Number %2$d, Mr %1$s\n", "Jones", 6);'' prints
668 ``Number 6, Mr Jones''. This is mainly useful when providing different
669 format strings for different languages, whose grammars may dictate
670 different orderings of the values being printed. To support this
671 feature, the interface for `register_printf_handler' has changed; see
672 the header file <printf.h> for details.
674 * The `printf' and `scanf' families of functions now understand a new
675 formatting flag for numeric conversions: the ' flag (e.g. %'d or %'f) says
676 to group numbers as indicated by the locale; for `scanf' and friends, this
677 says to accept as valid only a number with all the proper grouping
678 separators in the right places. In the default "C" locale, numbers are
679 not grouped; but locales for specific countries will define the usual
680 conventions (i.e. separate thousands with `,' in the US locale).
682 * The pgrp functions have been regularized, slightly incompatibly but much
683 less confusingly. The core functions are now `getpgid' and `setpgid',
684 which take arguments for the PID to operate on; the POSIX.1 `getpgrp' (no
685 argument) and BSD `setpgrp' (identical to `setpgid') functions are
686 provided for compatibility. There is no longer an incompatible `getpgrp'
687 with an argument declared under _BSD_SOURCE; no BSD code uses it.
689 * The new header file <fts.h> and suite of functions simplify programs that
690 operate on directory trees. This code comes from 4.4 BSD.
692 * The resolver code has been updated from the BIND 4.9.5-P1 release.
693 Parts of the code were heavily modified by Ulrich Drepper to fit in the
694 NSS scheme used in glibc.
696 * There is a new malloc debugging hook `__memalign_hook'.
698 * There are new typedefs `ushort' for `unsigned short int' and `uint' for
699 `unsigned int' in <sys/types.h>. These are for compatibility only and
700 their use is discouraged.
702 * The `-lmcheck' library to enable standard malloc debugging hooks is now
703 done differently, so that it works even without GNU ld.
705 * New function `euidaccess' checks allowed access to a file like `access',
706 but using the effective IDs instead of the real IDs.
708 * The time zone data files have been updated for the latest and greatest
709 local time conventions of the countries of the world.
711 * The new function `dirfd' extracts the file descriptor used by a DIR stream;
714 * The new functions `ecvt', `fcvt', and `gcvt' provide an obsolete interface
715 for formatting floating-point numbers. They are provided only for
716 compatibility; new programs should use `sprintf' instead. There are
717 also equivalent function for the `long double' floating-point type and
718 all functions also exist in a reentrant form.
720 * The new auxiliary library `-lutil' from 4.4 BSD contains various
721 functions for maintaining the login-record files (primarily of use to
722 system programs such as `login'), and convenient functions for
723 allocating and initializing a pseudo-terminal (pty) device.
725 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new support for System V style
726 shared memory and IPC on systems that support it.
728 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed several miscellaneous new functions found
729 in System V: The `hsearch' family of functions provide an effective
730 implementation of hash tables; `a64l' and `l64a' provide a very simple
731 binary to ASCII mapping; `drand48' and friends provide a 48-bit random
734 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new reentrant counterparts for the
735 `random' and `hsearch' families of functions; `random_r', `hsearch_r', etc.
737 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new, highly-optimized versions of several
738 string functions for the i486/Pentium family of processors.
740 * Ulrich Drepper has updated the Linux-specific code, based largely
741 on work done in Hongjiu Lu's version of GNU libc for Linux.
742 The GNU library now supports Linux versions 2.0.10 and later,
743 using the ELF object file format (i[3456]86-*-linux).
745 * Andreas Schwab has ported the C library to Linux/m68k (m68k-*-linux).
747 * David Mosberger-Tang and Richard Henderson have ported the C library
748 to Linux/Alpha (alpha-*-linux). Richard Henderson contributed the
749 dynamic linking support for ELF/Alpha.
751 * Richard Henderson contributed several Alpha optimized assembler function
752 for arithmetic and string handling.
754 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed a new set of message catalog functions to
755 support multiple languages using the <libintl.h> interface, for use with
756 his new package GNU gettext. Translation volunteers have contributed
757 catalogs of the library's messages in Spanish, German, and Korean.
759 * For compatibility with XPG4, Ulrich Drepper has contributed the `gencat'
760 program and the `catgets' function for reading the catalog files it
761 creates. (The <libintl.h> interface is preferred; we include the
762 <nl_types.h> interface using `catgets' only for source compatibility with
763 programs already written to use it.)
765 * New header file <values.h> gives SVID-compatible names for <limits.h>
768 * Various new macros, declarations, and small header files for compatibility
771 * New function `group_member' is a convenient way to check if a process has
772 a given effective group ID.
774 * When using GCC 2.7 and later, the socket functions are now declared in a
775 special way so that passing an argument of type `struct sockaddr_in *',
776 `struct sockaddr_ns *', or `struct sockaddr_un *' instead of the generic
777 `struct sockaddr *' type, does not generate a type-clash warning.
779 * New function `error' declared in header file <error.h> is a convenient
780 function for printing error messages and optionally exiting; this is the
781 canonical function used in GNU programs. The new functions `err', `warn',
782 and friends in header file <err.h> are the canonical 4.4 BSD interface for
783 doing the same thing.
785 * The <glob.h> interface has several new flags from 4.4 BSD that extend the
786 POSIX.2 `glob' function to do ~ and {...} expansion.
788 * New function `unsetenv' complements `setenv' for compatibility with 4.4 BSD.
789 `clearenv' which is used in POSIX.9 is also available.
791 * New function `getsid' returns session ID number on systems that support it.
793 * We have incorporated the 4.4 BSD `db' library (version 1.85). New header
794 files <db.h> and <mpool.h> provide a rich set of functions for several
795 types of simple databases stored in memory and in files, and <ndbm.h> is
796 an old `ndbm'-compatible interface using the `db' functions. Link with
797 `-ldb' to get these functions.
799 * New macro `strdupa' copies a string like `strdup', but uses local stack
800 space from `alloca' instead of dynamic heap space from `malloc'.
802 * New function `strnlen' is like `strlen' but searches only a given maximum
803 number of characters for the null terminator. `stpncpy', `strndup' and
804 `strndupa' are similar variants for the `stpcpy', `strdup' and `strdupa'
807 * New function `statfs' in header <sys/statfs.h>.
809 * The new <argz.h> and <envz.h> interfaces contributed by Miles Bader
810 provide convenient functions for operating on blocks of null-terminated
813 * A new suite of functions in <utmp.h> handle all the details of reading
814 and writing the utmp file.
816 * An implementation of the NIS/YP(tm) based NSS service was contributed by
819 * Paul Eggert and Ulrich Drepper modified the `strftime' function to be
820 completely POSIX compliant and also implemented the extended functionality
821 to handle alternate digit representation and alternate era date formats.
823 * Ulrich Drepper provided an implementation of the `strptime' function
824 defined in XPG4.2 which transforms a string into a `struct tm' value.
826 * Paul Eggert provided the tzselect shell script as part of the timezone
827 code. The shell script makes it easy to select the correct timezone
830 * The implementation of the malloc family of functions is completely replaced
831 by a new implementation by Doug Lea with many improvements by Wolfram Gloger.
832 The implementation uses the mmap function (if available) and it is
833 optimized for the use in multi threaded programs.
835 * Ulrich Drepper contributed a MD5 "encryption" for the crypt family of
836 functions. This new functionality is usable by specifying a special
837 salt string and it is compatible with implementation on *BSD systems.
839 * Lots of functions from the XPG4.2 standard were added by Ulrich Drepper:
840 `getsubopt' to handle second level command line options, `bsd_signal'
841 to access BSD style `signal' functionality, the obsolete `regexp' style
844 * the `lchown' function is available on system which support this
847 * The implementation of the shadow password handling function was contributed
850 * David Mosberger-Tang changed the SunRPC implementation to be 64bit safe.
852 * POSIX.1g support was added. The <sys/select.h> header is available,
853 `isfdtype' and `pselect' are implemented. Craig Metz contributed an
854 implementation of `getaddrinfo'.
858 * For cross-compilation you should now set `BUILD_CC' instead of `HOST_CC'.
860 * New header file <fstab.h> and new functions `getfsspec', `getfsent' and
861 friends, for parsing /etc/fstab. This code comes from 4.4 BSD.
863 * The new function `daemon' from 4.4 BSD is useful for server programs that
864 want to put themselves in the background.
866 * Joel Sherrill has contributed support for several standalone boards that
867 run without an operating system.
869 * `printf', `scanf' and friends now accept a `q' type modifier for long
870 long int as well as `ll'. Formats using these might be `%qu' or `%lld'.
872 * All of the code taken from BSD (notably most of the math and networking
873 routines) has been updated from the BSD 4.4-Lite release.
875 * The resolver code has been updated from the BIND-4.9.3-BETA9 release.
877 * The new functions `getdomainname' and `setdomainname' fetch or change the
878 YP/NIS domain name. These are system calls which exist on systems which
881 * The time zone data files have been updated for the latest international
884 * The SunRPC programs `portmap' and `rpcinfo' are now installed in
885 $(sbindir) (usually /usr/local/sbin) instead of $(bindir).
889 * The C library now includes support for Sun RPC, from Sun's free
890 RPCSRC-4.0 distribution. The `portmap', `rpcinfo', and `rpcgen' programs
891 are included. (There is still no support for YP.)
893 * Tom Quinn has contributed a port of the C library to SGI machines running
894 Irix 4 (mips-sgi-irix4).
896 * The new `lockf' function is a simplified interface to the locking
897 facilities of `fcntl', included for compatibility.
899 * New time functions `timegm', `timelocal', and `dysize' for compatibility.
901 * New header file <sys/timeb.h> and new function `ftime' for compatibility.
903 * New header files <poll.h> and <sys/poll.h> and new function `poll' for
906 * The error message printed by `assert' for a failed assertion now includes
907 the name of the program (if using GNU ld) and the name of the calling
908 function (with versions of GCC that support this).
910 * The `psignal' function is now declared in <signal.h>, not <stdio.h>.
912 * The library now includes the <sys/mman.h> header file and memory
913 management functions `mmap', `munmap', `mprotect', `msync', and
914 `madvise', on systems that support those facilities.
916 * The interface for `mcheck' has changed slightly: the function called to
917 abort the program when an allocation inconsistency is detected now takes
918 an argument that indicates the type of failure. The new function
919 `mprobe' lets you request a consistency check for a particular block at
920 any time (checks are normally done only when you call `free' or `realloc'
923 * It is now possible to easily cross-compile the C library, building on one
924 system a library to run on another machine and/or operating system. All
925 you need to do is set the variable `HOST_CC' in `configparms' to the
926 native compiler for programs to run on the machine you are building on (a
927 few generator programs are used on Unix systems); set `CC' to the
930 * The new function `fexecve' (only implemented on the GNU system) executes
931 a program file given a file descriptor already open on the file.
935 * Brendan Kehoe has contributed most of a port to the DEC Alpha
936 running OSF/1 (alpha-dec-osf1). He says it is 75% complete.
938 * You can set the variable `libprefix' in `configparms' to specify a prefix
939 to be prepended to installed library files; this makes it easy to install
940 the GNU C library to be linked as `-lgnuc' or whatever.
942 * The new `stpncpy' is a cross between `stpcpy' and `strncpy': It
943 copies a limited number of characters from a string, and returns the
944 address of the last character written.
946 * You no longer need to check for whether the installed `stddef.h' is
947 compatible with the GNU C library. configure now checks for you.
949 * You can now define a per-stream `fileno' function to convert the
950 stream's cookie into an integral file descriptor.
952 * ``malloc (0)'' no longer returns a null pointer. Instead, it
953 allocates zero bytes of storage, and returns a unique pointer which
954 you can pass to `realloc' or `free'. The behavior is undefined if
955 you dereference this pointer.
957 * The C library now runs on Sony NEWS m68k machines running either
958 NewsOS 3 or NewsOS 4.
960 * The new `syscall' function is a system-dependent primitive function
961 for invoking system calls. It has the canonical behavior on Unix
962 systems, including unreliable return values for some calls (such as
963 `pipe', `fork' and `getppid').
965 * The error code `EWOULDBLOCK' is now obsolete; it is always defined
966 to `EAGAIN', which is the preferred name. On systems whose kernels
967 use two distinct codes, the C library now translates EWOULDBLOCK to
968 EAGAIN in every system call function.
972 * The GNU C Library Reference Manual is now distributed with the library.
973 `make dvi' will produce a DVI file of the printed manual.
974 `make info' will produce Info files that you can read on line using C-h i
975 in Emacs or the `info' program.
976 Please send comments on the manual to bug-glibc-manual@gnu.org.
978 * The library now supports SVR4 on i386s (i386-unknown-sysv4).
980 * Brendan Kehoe has contributed a port to Sun SPARCs running Solaris 2.
982 * Jason Merrill has contributed a port to the Sequent Symmetry running
983 Dynix version 3 (i386-sequent-dynix).
985 * The library has been ported to i386s running SCO 3.2.4 (also known as SCO
986 ODT 2.0; i386-unknown-sco3.2.4) or SCO 3.2 (i386-unknown-sco3.2).
988 * New function `memory_warnings' lets you arrange to get warnings when
989 malloc is running out of memory to allocate, like Emacs gives you.
991 * The C library now contains the relocating allocator used in Emacs 19 for
992 its editing buffers. This allocator (ralloc) minimizes allocation
993 overhead and fragmentation by moving allocated regions around whenever it
994 needs to. You always refer to a ralloc'd region with a "handle" (a
995 pointer to a pointer--an object of type `void **').
997 * There is a new `printf' format: `%m' gives you the string corresponding
998 to the error code in `errno'.
1000 * In `scanf' formats, you can now use `%as' or `%a[' to do the normal `%s'
1001 or `%[' conversion, but instead of filling in a fixed-sized buffer you
1002 pass, the `a' modifier says to fill in a `char **' you pass with a
1005 * The `fnmatch' function supports the new flag bits `FNM_LEADING_DIR' and
1006 `FNM_CASEFOLD'. `FNM_LEADING_DIR' lets a pattern like `foo*' match a
1007 name like `foo/bar'. `FNM_CASEFOLD' says to ignore case in matching.
1009 * `mkstemp' is a traditional Unix function to atomically create and open a
1010 uniquely-named temporary file.
1014 * The standard location for the file that says what the local timezone is
1015 has changed again. It is now `/usr/local/etc/localtime' (or more
1016 precisely, `${prefix}/etc/localtime') rather than `/etc/localtime'.
1018 * The distribution no longer contains any files with names longer than 14
1021 * `struct ttyent' has two new flag bits: TTY_TRUSTED and TTY_CONSOLE.
1022 These are set by the new `trusted' and `console' keywords in `/etc/ttys'.
1024 * New functions `ttyslot' and `syslog' from 4.4 BSD.
1028 * The configuration process has changed quite a bit. The `configure'
1029 script is now used just like the configuration scripts for other GNU
1030 packages. The `sysdeps' directory hierarchy is much rearranged.
1031 The file `INSTALL' explains the new scheme in detail.
1033 * The header files no longer need to be processed into ANSI C and
1034 traditional C versions. There is just one set of files to install, and
1035 it will work with ANSI or old C compilers (including `gcc -traditional').
1037 * Brendan Kehoe and Ian Lance Taylor have ported the library to the
1038 MIPS DECStation running Ultrix 4.
1040 * The Sun 4 startup code (crt0) can now properly load SunOS 4 shared libraries.
1041 Tom Quinn contributed the initial code. The GNU C library can NOT yet be
1042 made itself into a shared library.
1044 * Yet further improved support for the i386, running 4.3 BSD-like systems
1045 (such as Mach 3 with the Unix single-server), or System V.
1047 * New function `strncasecmp' to do case-insensitive string comparison
1048 with limited length.
1050 * New function `strsep' is a reentrant alternative to `strtok'.
1052 * New functions `scandir' and `alphasort' for searching directories.
1054 * New function `setenv' is a better interface to `putenv'.
1056 * Ian Lance Taylor has contributed an implementation of the SVID `ftw'
1057 function for traversing a directory tree.
1059 * The GNU obstack package is now also part of the C library.
1060 The new function `open_obstack_stream' creates a stdio stream that
1061 writes onto an obstack; `obstack_printf' and `obstack_vprintf' do
1062 formatted output directly to an obstack.
1064 * Miscellaneous new functions: reboot, nice, sigaltstack (4.4 BSD only),
1065 cfmakeraw, getusershell, getpass, swab, getttyent, seteuid, setegid.
1067 * `FNM_FILE_NAME' is another name for `FNM_PATHNAME', used with `fnmatch'.
1069 * The new functions `strfry' and `memfrob' do mysterious and wonderful
1070 things to your strings.
1072 * There are some new test programs: test-fseek, testmb, and testrand.
1074 * Some work has been done to begin porting the library to 4.4 BSD and Linux.
1075 These ports are not finished, but are a good starting place for really
1076 supporting those systems.
1078 * `/etc/localtime' is now the standard location for the file that says what
1079 the local timezone is, rather than `/usr/local/lib/zoneinfo/localtime'.
1080 This follows the general principle that `/etc' is the place for all local
1081 configuration files.
1083 * The C library header files now use `extern "C"' when used by the C++
1084 compiler, so the C library should now work with C++ code.
1086 * The header file <bstring.h> is gone. <string.h> now declares bcopy,
1087 bcmp, bzero, and ffs.
1089 * Mike Haertel (of GNU e?grep and malloc fame) has written a new sorting
1090 function which uses the `merge sort' algorithm, and is said to be
1091 significantly faster than the old GNU `qsort' function. Merge sort is
1092 now the standard `qsort' function. The new algorithm can require a lot
1093 of temporary storage; so, the old sorting function is called when the
1094 required storage is not available.
1096 * The C library now includes Michael Glad's Ultra Fast Crypt, which
1097 provides the Unix `crypt' function, plus some other entry points.
1098 Because of the United States export restriction on DES implementations,
1099 we are distributing this code separately from the rest of the C library.
1100 There is an extra distribution tar file just for crypt; it is called
1101 `glibc-VERSION-crypt.tar.Z', e.g. `glibc-1.04-crypt.tar.Z'. You can just
1102 unpack the crypt distribution along with the rest of the C library and
1103 build; you can also build the library without getting crypt. Users
1104 outside the USA can get the crypt distribution via anonymous FTP from
1105 ftp.uni-c.dk [129.142.6.74], or another archive site outside the U.S.
1107 * The code and header files taken from 4.4 BSD have been updated with the
1108 latest files released from Berkeley.
1110 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
1111 Copyright information:
1113 Copyright (C) 1992, 93, 94, 95, 96 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
1115 Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim copies
1116 of this document as received, in any medium, provided that the
1117 copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved,
1118 thus giving the recipient permission to redistribute in turn.
1120 Permission is granted to distribute modified versions
1121 of this document, or of portions of it,
1122 under the above conditions, provided also that they
1123 carry prominent notices stating who last changed them.
1126 version-control: never