1 Installing the GNU C Library
2 ****************************
4 Before you do anything else, you should read the FAQ at
5 <http://sourceware.org/glibc/wiki/FAQ>. It answers common questions and
6 describes problems you may experience with compilation and installation.
8 Features can be added to the GNU C Library via "add-on" bundles.
9 These are separate tar files, which you unpack into the top level of the
10 source tree. Then you give 'configure' the '--enable-add-ons' option to
11 activate them, and they will be compiled into the library.
13 You will need recent versions of several GNU tools: definitely GCC
14 and GNU Make, and possibly others. *Note Tools for Compilation::,
17 Configuring and compiling the GNU C Library
18 ===========================================
20 The GNU C Library cannot be compiled in the source directory. You must
21 build it in a separate build directory. For example, if you have
22 unpacked the GNU C Library sources in '/src/gnu/glibc-VERSION', create a
23 directory '/src/gnu/glibc-build' to put the object files in. This
24 allows removing the whole build directory in case an error occurs, which
25 is the safest way to get a fresh start and should always be done.
27 From your object directory, run the shell script 'configure' located
28 at the top level of the source tree. In the scenario above, you'd type
30 $ ../glibc-VERSION/configure ARGS...
32 Please note that even though you're building in a separate build
33 directory, the compilation may need to create or modify files and
34 directories in the source directory.
36 'configure' takes many options, but the only one that is usually
37 mandatory is '--prefix'. This option tells 'configure' where you want
38 the GNU C Library installed. This defaults to '/usr/local', but the
39 normal setting to install as the standard system library is
40 '--prefix=/usr' for GNU/Linux systems and '--prefix=' (an empty prefix)
43 It may also be useful to set the CC and CFLAGS variables in the
44 environment when running 'configure'. CC selects the C compiler that
45 will be used, and CFLAGS sets optimization options for the compiler.
47 The following list describes all of the available options for
51 Install machine-independent data files in subdirectories of
52 'DIRECTORY'. The default is to install in '/usr/local'.
54 '--exec-prefix=DIRECTORY'
55 Install the library and other machine-dependent files in
56 subdirectories of 'DIRECTORY'. The default is to the '--prefix'
57 directory if that option is specified, or '/usr/local' otherwise.
59 '--with-headers=DIRECTORY'
60 Look for kernel header files in DIRECTORY, not '/usr/include'. The
61 GNU C Library needs information from the kernel's header files
62 describing the interface to the kernel. The GNU C Library will
63 normally look in '/usr/include' for them, but if you specify this
64 option, it will look in DIRECTORY instead.
66 This option is primarily of use on a system where the headers in
67 '/usr/include' come from an older version of the GNU C Library.
68 Conflicts can occasionally happen in this case. You can also use
69 this option if you want to compile the GNU C Library with a newer
70 set of kernel headers than the ones found in '/usr/include'.
72 '--enable-add-ons[=LIST]'
73 Specify add-on packages to include in the build. If this option is
74 specified with no list, it enables all the add-on packages it finds
75 in the main source directory; this is the default behavior. You
76 may specify an explicit list of add-ons to use in LIST, separated
77 by spaces or commas (if you use spaces, remember to quote them from
78 the shell). Each add-on in LIST can be an absolute directory name
79 or can be a directory name relative to the main source directory,
80 or relative to the build directory (that is, the current working
81 directory). For example,
82 '--enable-add-ons=nptl,../glibc-libidn-VERSION'.
84 '--enable-kernel=VERSION'
85 This option is currently only useful on GNU/Linux systems. The
86 VERSION parameter should have the form X.Y.Z and describes the
87 smallest version of the Linux kernel the generated library is
88 expected to support. The higher the VERSION number is, the less
89 compatibility code is added, and the faster the code gets.
91 '--with-binutils=DIRECTORY'
92 Use the binutils (assembler and linker) in 'DIRECTORY', not the
93 ones the C compiler would default to. You can use this option if
94 the default binutils on your system cannot deal with all the
95 constructs in the GNU C Library. In that case, 'configure' will
96 detect the problem and suppress these constructs, so that the
97 library will still be usable, but functionality may be lost--for
98 example, you can't build a shared libc with old binutils.
101 Use this option if your computer lacks hardware floating-point
102 support and your operating system does not emulate an FPU.
105 Don't build shared libraries even if it is possible. Not all
106 systems support shared libraries; you need ELF support and
107 (currently) the GNU linker.
110 Don't build libraries with profiling information. You may want to
111 use this option if you don't plan to do profiling.
113 '--enable-static-nss'
114 Compile static versions of the NSS (Name Service Switch) libraries.
115 This is not recommended because it defeats the purpose of NSS; a
116 program linked statically with the NSS libraries cannot be
117 dynamically reconfigured to use a different name database.
119 '--enable-hardcoded-path-in-tests'
120 By default, dynamic tests are linked to run with the installed C
121 library. This option hardcodes the newly built C library path in
122 dynamic tests so that they can be invoked directly.
124 '--disable-timezone-tools'
125 By default, timezone related utilities ('zic', 'zdump', and
126 'tzselect') are installed with the GNU C Library. If you are
127 building these independently (e.g. by using the 'tzcode' package),
128 then this option will allow disabling the install of these.
130 Note that you need to make sure the external tools are kept in sync
131 with the versions that the GNU C Library expects as the data
132 formats may change over time. Consult the 'timezone' subdirectory
135 '--enable-lock-elision=yes'
136 Enable lock elision for pthread mutexes by default.
138 '--enable-stack-protector'
139 '--enable-stack-protector=strong'
140 '--enable-stack-protector=all'
141 Compile the C library and all other parts of the glibc package
142 (including the threading and math libraries, NSS modules, and
143 transliteration modules) using the GCC '-fstack-protector',
144 '-fstack-protector-strong' or '-fstack-protector-all' options to
145 detect stack overruns. Only the dynamic linker and a small number
146 of routines called directly from assembler are excluded from this
150 The file 'pt_chown' is a helper binary for 'grantpt' (*note
151 Pseudo-Terminals: Allocation.) that is installed setuid root to fix
152 up pseudo-terminal ownership. It is not built by default because
153 systems using the Linux kernel are commonly built with the 'devpts'
154 filesystem enabled and mounted at '/dev/pts', which manages
155 pseudo-terminal ownership automatically. By using
156 '--enable-pt_chown', you may build 'pt_chown' and install it setuid
157 and owned by 'root'. The use of 'pt_chown' introduces additional
158 security risks to the system and you should enable it only if you
159 understand and accept those risks.
162 By default, the GNU C Library is built with '-Werror'. If you wish
163 to build without this option (for example, if building with a newer
164 version of GCC than this version of the GNU C Library was tested
165 with, so new warnings cause the build with '-Werror' to fail), you
166 can configure with '--disable-werror'.
169 By default for x86_64, the GNU C Library is built with the vector
170 math library. Use this option to disable the vector math library.
173 Tunables support allows additional library parameters to be
174 customized at runtime. This is an experimental feature and affects
175 startup time and is thus disabled by default. This option can take
176 the following values:
179 This is the default if the option is not passed to configure.
180 This disables tunables.
183 This is the default if the option is passed to configure.
184 This enables tunables and selects the default frontend
185 (currently 'valstring').
188 This enables tunables and selects the 'valstring' frontend for
189 tunables. This frontend allows users to specify tunables as a
190 colon-separated list in a single environment variable
193 '--build=BUILD-SYSTEM'
195 These options are for cross-compiling. If you specify both options
196 and BUILD-SYSTEM is different from HOST-SYSTEM, 'configure' will
197 prepare to cross-compile the GNU C Library from BUILD-SYSTEM to be
198 used on HOST-SYSTEM. You'll probably need the '--with-headers'
199 option too, and you may have to override CONFIGURE's selection of
200 the compiler and/or binutils.
202 If you only specify '--host', 'configure' will prepare for a native
203 compile but use what you specify instead of guessing what your
204 system is. This is most useful to change the CPU submodel. For
205 example, if 'configure' guesses your machine as 'i686-pc-linux-gnu'
206 but you want to compile a library for 586es, give
207 '--host=i586-pc-linux-gnu' or just '--host=i586-linux' and add the
208 appropriate compiler flags ('-mcpu=i586' will do the trick) to
211 If you specify just '--build', 'configure' will get confused.
213 '--with-pkgversion=VERSION'
214 Specify a description, possibly including a build number or build
215 date, of the binaries being built, to be included in '--version'
216 output from programs installed with the GNU C Library. For
217 example, '--with-pkgversion='FooBar GNU/Linux glibc build 123''.
218 The default value is 'GNU libc'.
221 Specify the URL that users should visit if they wish to report a
222 bug, to be included in '--help' output from programs installed with
223 the GNU C Library. The default value refers to the main
224 bug-reporting information for the GNU C Library.
226 To build the library and related programs, type 'make'. This will
227 produce a lot of output, some of which may look like errors from 'make'
228 but aren't. Look for error messages from 'make' containing '***'.
229 Those indicate that something is seriously wrong.
231 The compilation process can take a long time, depending on the
232 configuration and the speed of your machine. Some complex modules may
233 take a very long time to compile, as much as several minutes on slower
234 machines. Do not panic if the compiler appears to hang.
236 If you want to run a parallel make, simply pass the '-j' option with
237 an appropriate numeric parameter to 'make'. You need a recent GNU
238 'make' version, though.
240 To build and run test programs which exercise some of the library
241 facilities, type 'make check'. If it does not complete successfully, do
242 not use the built library, and report a bug after verifying that the
243 problem is not already known. *Note Reporting Bugs::, for instructions
244 on reporting bugs. Note that some of the tests assume they are not
245 being run by 'root'. We recommend you compile and test the GNU C
246 Library as an unprivileged user.
248 Before reporting bugs make sure there is no problem with your system.
249 The tests (and later installation) use some pre-existing files of the
250 system such as '/etc/passwd', '/etc/nsswitch.conf' and others. These
251 files must all contain correct and sensible content.
253 Normally, 'make check' will run all the tests before reporting all
254 problems found and exiting with error status if any problems occurred.
255 You can specify 'stop-on-test-failure=y' when running 'make check' to
256 make the test run stop and exit with an error status immediately when a
259 The GNU C Library pretty printers come with their own set of scripts
260 for testing, which run together with the rest of the testsuite through
261 'make check'. These scripts require the following tools to run
264 * Python 2.7.6/3.4.3 or later
266 Python is required for running the printers' test scripts.
270 The printer tests drive GDB through test programs and compare its
271 output to the printers'. PExpect is used to capture the output of
272 GDB, and should be compatible with the Python version in your
275 * GDB 7.8 or later with support for Python 2.7.6/3.4.3 or later
277 GDB itself needs to be configured with Python support in order to
278 use the pretty printers. Notice that your system having Python
279 available doesn't imply that GDB supports it, nor that your
280 system's Python and GDB's have the same version.
282 If these tools are absent, the printer tests will report themselves as
283 'UNSUPPORTED'. Notice that some of the printer tests require the GNU C
284 Library to be compiled with debugging symbols.
286 To format the 'GNU C Library Reference Manual' for printing, type
287 'make dvi'. You need a working TeX installation to do this. The
288 distribution builds the on-line formatted version of the manual, as Info
289 files, as part of the build process. You can build them manually with
292 The library has a number of special-purpose configuration parameters
293 which you can find in 'Makeconfig'. These can be overwritten with the
294 file 'configparms'. To change them, create a 'configparms' in your
295 build directory and add values as appropriate for your system. The file
296 is included and parsed by 'make' and has to follow the conventions for
299 It is easy to configure the GNU C Library for cross-compilation by
300 setting a few variables in 'configparms'. Set 'CC' to the
301 cross-compiler for the target you configured the library for; it is
302 important to use this same 'CC' value when running 'configure', like
303 this: 'CC=TARGET-gcc configure TARGET'. Set 'BUILD_CC' to the compiler
304 to use for programs run on the build system as part of compiling the
305 library. You may need to set 'AR' to cross-compiling versions of 'ar'
306 if the native tools are not configured to work with object files for the
307 target you configured for. When cross-compiling the GNU C Library, it
308 may be tested using 'make check
309 test-wrapper="SRCDIR/scripts/cross-test-ssh.sh HOSTNAME"', where SRCDIR
310 is the absolute directory name for the main source directory and
311 HOSTNAME is the host name of a system that can run the newly built
312 binaries of the GNU C Library. The source and build directories must be
313 visible at the same locations on both the build system and HOSTNAME.
315 In general, when testing the GNU C Library, 'test-wrapper' may be set
316 to the name and arguments of any program to run newly built binaries.
317 This program must preserve the arguments to the binary being run, its
318 working directory and the standard input, output and error file
319 descriptors. If 'TEST-WRAPPER env' will not work to run a program with
320 environment variables set, then 'test-wrapper-env' must be set to a
321 program that runs a newly built program with environment variable
322 assignments in effect, those assignments being specified as 'VAR=VALUE'
323 before the name of the program to be run. If multiple assignments to
324 the same variable are specified, the last assignment specified must take
325 precedence. Similarly, if 'TEST-WRAPPER env -i' will not work to run a
326 program with an environment completely empty of variables except those
327 directly assigned, then 'test-wrapper-env-only' must be set; its use has
328 the same syntax as 'test-wrapper-env', the only difference in its
329 semantics being starting with an empty set of environment variables
330 rather than the ambient set.
332 Installing the C Library
333 ========================
335 To install the library and its header files, and the Info files of the
336 manual, type 'make install'. This will build things, if necessary,
337 before installing them; however, you should still compile everything
338 first. If you are installing the GNU C Library as your primary C
339 library, we recommend that you shut the system down to single-user mode
340 first, and reboot afterward. This minimizes the risk of breaking things
341 when the library changes out from underneath.
343 'make install' will do the entire job of upgrading from a previous
344 installation of the GNU C Library version 2.x. There may sometimes be
345 headers left behind from the previous installation, but those are
346 generally harmless. If you want to avoid leaving headers behind you can
347 do things in the following order.
349 You must first build the library ('make'), optionally check it ('make
350 check'), switch the include directories and then install ('make
351 install'). The steps must be done in this order. Not moving the
352 directory before install will result in an unusable mixture of header
353 files from both libraries, but configuring, building, and checking the
354 library requires the ability to compile and run programs against the old
355 library. The new '/usr/include', after switching the include
356 directories and before installing the library should contain the Linux
357 headers, but nothing else. If you do this, you will need to restore any
358 headers from libraries other than the GNU C Library yourself after
359 installing the library.
361 You can install the GNU C Library somewhere other than where you
362 configured it to go by setting the 'DESTDIR' GNU standard make variable
363 on the command line for 'make install'. The value of this variable is
364 prepended to all the paths for installation. This is useful when
365 setting up a chroot environment or preparing a binary distribution. The
366 directory should be specified with an absolute file name. Installing
367 with the 'prefix' and 'exec_prefix' GNU standard make variables set is
370 The GNU C Library includes a daemon called 'nscd', which you may or
371 may not want to run. 'nscd' caches name service lookups; it can
372 dramatically improve performance with NIS+, and may help with DNS as
375 One auxiliary program, '/usr/libexec/pt_chown', is installed setuid
376 'root' if the '--enable-pt_chown' configuration option is used. This
377 program is invoked by the 'grantpt' function; it sets the permissions on
378 a pseudoterminal so it can be used by the calling process. If you are
379 using a Linux kernel with the 'devpts' filesystem enabled and mounted at
380 '/dev/pts', you don't need this program.
382 After installation you might want to configure the timezone and
383 locale installation of your system. The GNU C Library comes with a
384 locale database which gets configured with 'localedef'. For example, to
385 set up a German locale with name 'de_DE', simply issue the command
386 'localedef -i de_DE -f ISO-8859-1 de_DE'. To configure all locales that
387 are supported by the GNU C Library, you can issue from your build
388 directory the command 'make localedata/install-locales'.
390 To configure the locally used timezone, set the 'TZ' environment
391 variable. The script 'tzselect' helps you to select the right value.
392 As an example, for Germany, 'tzselect' would tell you to use
393 'TZ='Europe/Berlin''. For a system wide installation (the given paths
394 are for an installation with '--prefix=/usr'), link the timezone file
395 which is in '/usr/share/zoneinfo' to the file '/etc/localtime'. For
396 Germany, you might execute 'ln -s /usr/share/zoneinfo/Europe/Berlin
399 Recommended Tools for Compilation
400 =================================
402 We recommend installing the following GNU tools before attempting to
403 build the GNU C Library:
405 * GNU 'make' 3.79 or newer
407 You need the latest version of GNU 'make'. Modifying the GNU C
408 Library to work with other 'make' programs would be so difficult
409 that we recommend you port GNU 'make' instead. *Really.* We
410 recommend GNU 'make' version 3.79. All earlier versions have
411 severe bugs or lack features.
415 GCC 4.7 or higher is required. In general it is recommended to use
416 the newest version of the compiler that is known to work for
417 building the GNU C Library, as newer compilers usually produce
418 better code. As of release time, GCC 6.3 is the newest compiler
419 verified to work to build the GNU C Library.
421 For multi-arch support it is recommended to use a GCC which has
422 been built with support for GNU indirect functions. This ensures
423 that correct debugging information is generated for functions
424 selected by IFUNC resolvers. This support can either be enabled by
425 configuring GCC with '--enable-gnu-indirect-function', or by
426 enabling it by default by setting 'default_gnu_indirect_function'
427 variable for a particular architecture in the GCC source file
430 You can use whatever compiler you like to compile programs that use
433 Check the FAQ for any special compiler issues on particular
436 * GNU 'binutils' 2.22 or later
438 You must use GNU 'binutils' (as and ld) to build the GNU C Library.
439 No other assembler or linker has the necessary functionality at the
440 moment. As of release time, GNU 'binutils' 2.25 is the newest
441 verified to work to build the GNU C Library.
443 * GNU 'texinfo' 4.7 or later
445 To correctly translate and install the Texinfo documentation you
446 need this version of the 'texinfo' package. Earlier versions do
447 not understand all the tags used in the document, and the
448 installation mechanism for the info files is not present or works
449 differently. As of release time, 'texinfo' 6.0 is the newest
450 verified to work to build the GNU C Library.
452 * GNU 'awk' 3.1.2, or higher
454 'awk' is used in several places to generate files. Some 'gawk'
455 extensions are used, including the 'asorti' function, which was
456 introduced in version 3.1.2 of 'gawk'. As of release time, 'gawk'
457 version 4.1.3 is the newest verified to work to build the GNU C
462 Perl is not required, but it is used if present to test the
463 installation. We may decide to use it elsewhere in the future.
465 * GNU 'sed' 3.02 or newer
467 'Sed' is used in several places to generate files. Most scripts
468 work with any version of 'sed'. As of release time, 'sed' version
469 4.2.2 is the newest verified to work to build the GNU C Library.
471 If you change any of the 'configure.ac' files you will also need
473 * GNU 'autoconf' 2.69 (exactly)
475 and if you change any of the message translation files you will need
477 * GNU 'gettext' 0.10.36 or later
479 If you wish to regenerate the 'yacc' parser code in the 'intl'
480 subdirectory you will need
482 * GNU 'bison' 2.7 or later
484 You may also need these packages if you upgrade your source tree using
485 patches, although we try to avoid this.
487 Specific advice for GNU/Linux systems
488 =====================================
490 If you are installing the GNU C Library on GNU/Linux systems, you need
491 to have the header files from a 3.2 or newer kernel around for
492 reference. These headers must be installed using 'make
493 headers_install'; the headers present in the kernel source directory are
494 not suitable for direct use by the GNU C Library. You do not need to
495 use that kernel, just have its headers installed where the GNU C Library
496 can access them, referred to here as INSTALL-DIRECTORY. The easiest way
497 to do this is to unpack it in a directory such as
498 '/usr/src/linux-VERSION'. In that directory, run 'make headers_install
499 INSTALL_HDR_PATH=INSTALL-DIRECTORY'. Finally, configure the GNU C
500 Library with the option '--with-headers=INSTALL-DIRECTORY/include'. Use
501 the most recent kernel you can get your hands on. (If you are
502 cross-compiling the GNU C Library, you need to specify
503 'ARCH=ARCHITECTURE' in the 'make headers_install' command, where
504 ARCHITECTURE is the architecture name used by the Linux kernel, such as
507 After installing the GNU C Library, you may need to remove or rename
508 directories such as '/usr/include/linux' and '/usr/include/asm', and
509 replace them with copies of directories such as 'linux' and 'asm' from
510 'INSTALL-DIRECTORY/include'. All directories present in
511 'INSTALL-DIRECTORY/include' should be copied, except that the GNU C
512 Library provides its own version of '/usr/include/scsi'; the files
513 provided by the kernel should be copied without replacing those provided
514 by the GNU C Library. The 'linux', 'asm' and 'asm-generic' directories
515 are required to compile programs using the GNU C Library; the other
516 directories describe interfaces to the kernel but are not required if
517 not compiling programs using those interfaces. You do not need to copy
518 kernel headers if you did not specify an alternate kernel header source
519 using '--with-headers'.
521 The Filesystem Hierarchy Standard for GNU/Linux systems expects some
522 components of the GNU C Library installation to be in '/lib' and some in
523 '/usr/lib'. This is handled automatically if you configure the GNU C
524 Library with '--prefix=/usr'. If you set some other prefix or allow it
525 to default to '/usr/local', then all the components are installed there.
530 There are probably bugs in the GNU C Library. There are certainly
531 errors and omissions in this manual. If you report them, they will get
532 fixed. If you don't, no one will ever know about them and they will
533 remain unfixed for all eternity, if not longer.
535 It is a good idea to verify that the problem has not already been
536 reported. Bugs are documented in two places: The file 'BUGS' describes
537 a number of well known bugs and the central GNU C Library bug tracking
538 system has a WWW interface at <http://sourceware.org/bugzilla/>. The
539 WWW interface gives you access to open and closed reports. A closed
540 report normally includes a patch or a hint on solving the problem.
542 To report a bug, first you must find it. With any luck, this will be
543 the hard part. Once you've found a bug, make sure it's really a bug. A
544 good way to do this is to see if the GNU C Library behaves the same way
545 some other C library does. If so, probably you are wrong and the
546 libraries are right (but not necessarily). If not, one of the libraries
547 is probably wrong. It might not be the GNU C Library. Many historical
548 Unix C libraries permit things that we don't, such as closing a file
551 If you think you have found some way in which the GNU C Library does
552 not conform to the ISO and POSIX standards (*note Standards and
553 Portability::), that is definitely a bug. Report it!
555 Once you're sure you've found a bug, try to narrow it down to the
556 smallest test case that reproduces the problem. In the case of a C
557 library, you really only need to narrow it down to one library function
558 call, if possible. This should not be too difficult.
560 The final step when you have a simple test case is to report the bug.
561 Do this at <http://www.gnu.org/software/libc/bugs.html>.
563 If you are not sure how a function should behave, and this manual
564 doesn't tell you, that's a bug in the manual. Report that too! If the
565 function's behavior disagrees with the manual, then either the library
566 or the manual has a bug, so report the disagreement. If you find any
567 errors or omissions in this manual, please report them to the bug
568 database. If you refer to specific sections of the manual, please
569 include the section names for easier identification.