1 GNU C Library NEWS -- history of user-visible changes. 2001-1-12
3 Copyright (C) 1992-1999, 2000, 2001 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
4 See the end for copying conditions.
6 Please send GNU C library bug reports using the `glibcbug' script to
7 <bugs@gnu.org>. Questions and suggestions should be send to
12 * The gencat program now parses the input file according to the charset
13 selected by the LC_CTYPE category. This is important for stateful
14 character sets. To make generating catalogs easier there is a way
15 to overwrite the charset selected by the locale: before the first
16 message or $ quote line the catalog can contain a line like
20 to select the charset (ISO-8859-2 in this case).
22 Implemented by Shinya Hanataka and Ulrich Drepper.
24 * New codeset conversion modules: IBM-922 (Estonia PC codeset),
25 IBM-1124 (Ukraine PC codeset), IBM-1129 (Vietnamese PC codeset).
26 Contributed by Masahide Washizawa <washi@jp.ibm.com>.
28 * Optimized string functions for Alpha ev6 and ev67 by Richard Henderson
29 <rth@redhat.com> and Rick Gorton <rick.gorton@alpha-processor.com>.
31 * The LANGUAGE environment variable is now ignored unless the locale is
32 changed from the default "C" locale.
34 * The usual bug fixes.
38 * Greg McGary added runtime support for bounds checking using gcc's
39 new -fbounded-pointers option. ix86 target is complete. PowerPC
42 * Thorsten Kukuk added secure mode support to nscd.
44 * The Berkeley db libraries have been removed.
46 Related, the nss_db module is now in a separate package since it
47 obviously requires a database library being available.
49 * Wide character I/O streams implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
51 * Functions from the extended socket API added by Ulrich Drepper.
53 * Functions feenableexcept and fedisableexcept to control the
54 behaviour of individual exceptions have been added by Andreas Jaeger.
56 * ldconfig program added by Andreas Jaeger and Jakub Jelinek.
58 * The resolver code has been updated from bind 8.2.3-T5B which supports
59 threads. The integration was done by Andreas Jaeger, Adam D. Bradley,
62 This change could in some situations effect backward compatibility. Since
63 now `_res' is a thread-local instead of a global variable, modifying it
64 in one thread does not have any effect in other threads.
66 The resolver library was also extended to allow IPv6 as the transport
67 protocol for the requests. This work was done by Stig Venaas.
69 * Compatibility code for K&R C compilers has been removed from the
70 header files. A ISO C compiler is needed to use the library
71 (conforming to either C89 or C99 standard).
73 * Complete rewrite of the localedef program to support multibyte character
74 sets. Implement handling of ISO 14651 and ISO 14652. Rewrite strcoll,
75 strxfrm, wcscoll, and wcsxfrm functions. Make isw*() functions work.
76 Implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
78 Bruno Haible significantly improved the generation and use of the data
79 structures for the wide character tables.
81 * Plural handling in gettext implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
83 * The utmp daemon has been removed.
85 * The port to MIPS-Linux has been finished by Andreas Jaeger.
87 * A port to Hitachi SH3 and SH4 has been contributed by Kazumoto Kojima
90 * POSIX clocks and timers implemented by Kaz Kylheku and Ulrich Drepper.
92 * POSIX barriers implemented by Kaz Kylheku.
94 * POSIX spawn function family implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
96 * POSIX spinlocks are now available.
98 * Timed wait functions for mutex, rwlock, and semaphores are implemented.
100 * the configure option --enable-kernel=X.Y.Z allows to strip out
101 compatibility for kernel versions before X.Y.Z. This is currently only
102 implemented for Linux.
104 * the sockaddr_in6 structure changed. The IPv6 working group added a new
105 field sin6_scope_id. This means that all programs using IPv6 should be
106 recompiled. Don't expect binary compatibility with previous glibc
109 * various conversion modules for IBM character sets contributed by
112 * IA-64 port by Jes Sorensen and HJ Lu.
114 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
115 Compiling the GNU C Library for Linux/ia64
116 ******************************************
118 Please refer to the file INSTALL in the same directory as you found
119 this file for general information about configuring and compiling
122 For general inquiries about glibc under Linux/ia64 please use the
123 following mailing list linux-ia64@linuxia64.org or one of the relevant
126 Recommended Tools for Compilation
127 =================================
129 In order for glibc-2.2 to build correctly on the ia64 you need at
130 least the following versions of the GNU tools (the :
132 * The Cygnus toolchain snapshot for the ia64 as of August 4
133 including the provided set of patches. It is however recommend
134 you use the October 24 toolchain snapshot or a more recent version.
136 OR alternatively you can try the following (the Cygnus toolchain is
137 the recommended solution):
139 * GCC and binutils, GAS and GNU LD out of CVS from
140 sources.redhat.com as of August 28, 2000 or later. The CVS tree
141 may require special patches to work properly on the ia64.
143 Configuring and compiling GNU Libc for Linux/ia64
144 =================================================
146 The library requires Linux kernel version 2.4.0-test4-000728 or
147 later to funtion properly. Besides that it support for debug libraries
148 is currently untested. Hence the following options
149 are required for configuring the library:
151 --disable-debug --enable-kernel=2.4.0
153 It is also important that you make sure the library picks up the
154 appropriate kernel header files, if you do not have recent enough
155 kernel headers in /usr/src/linux/include, you should use the
156 --with-headers=<path> option to specify the location.
158 As an example I personally use the following options to configure
163 --enable-kernel=2.4.0
167 --with-headers=/home/jes/linux/include
172 Jes Sorensen <jes@linuxcare.com>,
174 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
188 * New ISO C 9x function _Exit, imaxabs, and imaxdiv are added.
190 * New xdr functions are added; some rpc functions are now 64bit clean.
192 * Fixed a number of bugs and memory leaks (especially in NIS+ code).
194 * Fixed known incompatibilities with glibc 2.0.
196 * New functions lock64, strchrnul, rawmemchr, getutmp and getutmpx.
198 * Optimized a number of functions (especially the ELF dynamic loader).
200 * Update timezone data files.
202 * lots of charmaps corrections
204 * some new locale definitions and charmaps
209 * Richard Henderson corrected size of struct timeval on Linux/Alpha to
210 conform to POSIX member type requirements. Symbol versions have been
211 adjusted as needed within the library, and for direct use by applications,
212 but there is potential for problems if third-party libraries use
213 struct timeval as part of their interface. This does not present
214 a problem for X and other "essential" system libraries.
216 * An additional locale model to support C++ Standard Library locale
217 model and probably more was implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
219 * Eric Youngdale and Ulrich Drepper implemented versioning of objects on
222 * Miles Bader provided the `argp' function family to support hierachical
223 command line argument parsing, layered on top of getopt.
225 * strtod accepts new hexadecimal floating-point format from ISO C 9X.
227 * printf has two new specifiers %a and %A to print hexadecimal flaoting-point
230 * scanf recognizes the %a and %A format for scanning floating point numbers.
232 * the new headers <stdint.h> and <inttypes.h> from ISO C 9X provides
233 information and interfaces for the available integer types.
235 * about 130 new math functions were added to implement the ISO C9x math
238 * the new header <complex.h> contains definitions of the complex math
239 functions from ISO C 9X.
241 * the new header <tgmath.h> defines generic macros to use complex or
242 real valued functions.
244 * Thorsten Kukuk provided an implementation for NIS+, securelevel 0, 1 and 2.
246 * Andreas Jaeger provided a test suite for the math library.
248 * Mark Kettenis implemented the utmpx interface and an utmp daemon.
250 * Ulrich Drepper added character set conversion functions (iconv).
252 * Optimized string functions have been added.
254 * The localedata addon is now part of glibc.
256 * An implementation of profiling shared libraries was added by Ulrich Drepper.
258 * Thorsten Kukuk and Ulrich Drepper provided an implementation for a caching
259 daemon for NSS (nscd).
261 Missing a better place here are some numbers on improvements. Under
262 Linux 2.1.125 un-tar-ing the kernel sources takes
266 using local files 12.19s 6.88s 22.91s
268 using NIS 13.92s 8.91s 26.34s
270 using NIS & nscd 10.37s 7.34s 25.30s
272 using NIS+ 27.57s 30.37s 640.46s
274 using NIS+ & nscd 10.25s 7.83s 26.51s
276 using NIS & old nscd [1] 13.83s 8.32s 29.60s
278 Keep in mind that non-namelookup related operations dominate above times.
279 It was just a common complain that using NIS+ unpacking the kernel is
282 [1] The old nscd implementation is not available anymore since it was
283 distributed with glibc up to version 2.0.98 and thus is now replaced.
285 * Tim Waugh provided an implementation of the POSIX.2 wordexp function family.
287 * Mark Kettenis provided a Hesiod NSS module.
289 * The ELF dynamic loader knows how to process dynamic string tokens ($ORIGIN
290 and $PLATFORM) in RPATHs and similar strings (Ulrich Drepper).
292 * rcmd can now handle netgroups (Dick Streefland).
294 * A port to the ARM was contributed by Phil Blundell, Pat Beirne and Scott
297 * Support for the IPv6 protocol has been added to the socket API, as per the
298 latest draft standards.
300 * Support for Linux 2.2 has been added.
302 * Interface changes relative to the latest 2.0.x release:
303 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
304 addseverity NEW: Unix98
306 argp_err_exit_status NEW: argp, GNU ext
307 argp_error NEW: argp, GNU ext
308 argp_failure NEW: argp, GNU ext
309 argp_help NEW: argp, GNU ext
310 argp_parse NEW: argp, GNU ext
311 argp_program_bug_address NEW: argp, GNU ext
312 argp_program_version NEW: argp, GNU ext
313 argp_program_version_hook NEW: argp, GNU ext
314 argp_state_help NEW: argp, GNU ext
315 argp_usage NEW: argp, GNU ext
316 authdes_create NEW: Secure RPC
317 authdes_getucred NEW: Secure RPC
318 authdes_pk_create NEW: Secure RPC
319 backtrace NEW: GNU ext.
320 backtrace_symbols NEW: GNU ext.
321 backtrace_symbols_fd NEW: GNU ext.
325 cacoshf NEW: ISO C 9x
326 cacoshl NEW: ISO C 9x
336 casinhf NEW: ISO C 9x
337 casinhl NEW: ISO C 9x
342 catanhf NEW: ISO C 9x
343 catanhl NEW: ISO C 9x
345 cbc_crypt NEW: Secure RPC
358 clearerr_locked REMOVED
359 clntunix_create NEW: sunrpc ext
362 clog10f NEW: ISO C 9x
363 clog10l NEW: ISO C 9x
394 des_setparity NEW: Secure RPC
395 ecb_crypt NEW: Secure RPC
396 endutxent NEW: Unix98
408 feclearexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
409 fegetenv NEW: ISO C 9x
410 fegetexceptflag NEW: ISO C 9x
411 fegetround NEW: ISO C 9x
412 feholdexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
414 feraiseexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
415 ferror_locked REMOVED
416 fesetenv NEW: ISO C 9x
417 fesetexceptflag NEW: ISO C 9x
418 fesetround NEW: ISO C 9x
419 fetestexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
420 feupdateenv NEW: ISO C 9x
421 fflush_locked REMOVED
425 fgets_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
426 fileno_locked REMOVED
439 fputs_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
440 fread_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
451 fwrite_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
452 gai_strerror NEW: IPv6
456 getchar_locked REMOVED
458 getdate_err NEW: Unix98
459 getdate_r NEW: GNU ext.
461 getnameinfo NEW: IPv6
462 getnetname NEW: Secure RPC
464 getpt NEW: Unix98 PTY
466 getutxent NEW: Unix98
468 getutxline NEW: Unix98
470 globfree64 NEW: GNU ext.
471 gnu_get_libc_release NEW: GNU ext.
472 gnu_get_libc_version NEW: GNU ext.
473 grantpt NEW: Unix98 PTY
474 host2netname NEW: Secure RPC
476 iconv_close NEW: iconv
477 iconv_open NEW: iconv
478 if_freenameindex NEW: IPv6
479 if_indextoname NEW: IPv6
480 if_nameindex NEW: IPv6
481 if_nametoindex NEW: IPv6
482 in6addr_any NEW: IPv6
483 in6addr_loopback NEW: IPv6
484 inet6_isipv4mapped NEW: IPv6
485 isastream NEW: STREAMS
486 iswblank NEW: GNU ext.
487 key_decryptsession NEW: Secure RPC
488 key_decryptsession_pk NEW: Secure RPC
489 key_encryptsession NEW: Secure RPC
490 key_encryptsession_pk NEW: Secure RPC
491 key_gendes NEW: Secure RPC
492 key_get_conv NEW: Secure RPC
493 key_secretkey_is_set NEW: Secure RPC
494 key_setnet NEW: Secure RPC
495 key_setsecret NEW: Secure RPC
497 llrintf NEW: ISO C 9x
498 llrintl NEW: ISO C 9x
499 llround NEW: ISO C 9x
500 llroundf NEW: ISO C 9x
501 llroundl NEW: ISO C 9x
509 lroundf NEW: ISO C 9x
510 lroundl NEW: ISO C 9x
512 makecontext NEW: Unix98
513 mempcpy NEW: GNU ext.
516 modify_ldt NEW: kernel
520 nearbyint NEW: ISO C 9x
521 nearbyintf NEW: ISO C 9x
522 nearbyintl NEW: ISO C 9x
523 netname2host NEW: Secure RPC
524 netname2user NEW: Secure RPC
525 nexttoward NEW: ISO C 9x
526 nexttowardf NEW: ISO C 9x
527 nexttowardl NEW: ISO C 9x
531 passwd2des NEW: Secure RPC
537 printf_size NEW: GNU ext.
538 printf_size_info NEW: GNU ext.
539 profil_counter REMOVED
540 pthread_mutexattr_getkind_np REPLACED
541 pthread_mutexattr_setkind_np REPLACED
542 ptsname NEW: Unix98 PTY
543 ptsname_r NEW: Unix98 PTY
545 putchar_locked REMOVED
546 putgrent NEW: GNU ext.
549 pututxline NEW: Unix98
555 remquof NEW: ISO C 9x
556 remquol NEW: ISO C 9x
561 scalbln NEW: ISO C 9x
562 scalblnf NEW: ISO C 9x
563 scalblnl NEW: ISO C 9x
566 setcontext NEW: Unix98
568 setutxent NEW: Unix98
570 sigignore NEW: Unix98
571 sigqueue NEW: POSIX.1b
574 sigtimedwait NEW: POSIX.1b
575 sigwaitinfo NEW: POSIX.1b
577 sincosf NEW: GNU ext.
578 sincosl NEW: GNU ext.
582 strcasestr NEW: GNU ext.
583 strtoimax NEW: ISO C 9x
584 strtoumax NEW: ISO C 9x
585 strverscmp NEW: GNU ext.
586 svcauthdes_stats NEW: Secure RPC
587 svcunix_create NEW: sunrpc etx
588 svcunixfd_create NEW: sunrpc ext
589 swapcontext NEW: Unix98
590 tcgetsid NEW: Unix98 PTY
591 tdestroy NEW: GNU ext.
593 tgammaf NEW: ISO C 9x
594 tgammal NEW: ISO C 9x
601 unlockpt NEW: Unix98 PTY
603 user2netname NEW: Secure RPC
604 utmpxname NEW: Unix98
605 versionsort NEW: GNU ext.
606 versionsort64 NEW: GNU ext.
608 wcscasecmp NEW: GNU ext.
609 wcsncasecmp NEW: GNU ext.
610 wcsnlen NEW: GNU ext.
611 wcstoimax NEW: ISO C 9x
612 wcstoll NEW: ISO C 9x
613 wcstoull NEW: ISO C 9x
614 wcstoumax NEW: ISO C 9x
617 wordfree NEW: POSIX.2
618 write_profiling REMOVED
619 xdecrypt NEW: Secure RPC
620 xdr_authdes_cred NEW: Secure RPC
621 xdr_authdes_verf NEW: Secure RPC
622 xdr_cryptkeyarg NEW: Secure RPC
623 xdr_cryptkeyarg2 NEW: Secure RPC
624 xdr_cryptkeyres NEW: Secure RPC
625 xdr_getcredres NEW: Secure RPC
626 xdr_key_netstarg NEW: Secure RPC
627 xdr_key_netstres NEW: Secure RPC
628 xdr_keybuf NEW: Secure RPC
629 xdr_keystatus NEW: Secure RPC
630 xdr_netnamestr NEW: Secure RPC
631 xdr_sizeof NEW: Secure RPC
632 xdr_unixcred NEW: sunrpc ext
633 xencrypt NEW: Secure RPC
634 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
645 * inet_ntoa is thread-safe
647 * updwtmp is moved from libutil to libc
649 * rewrite of cbrt function
651 * update of timezone data
667 * fix complex problems in Berkeley DB code
673 * fixed lots of header problems (especially Linux/GNU specific)
675 * dynamic loader preserves all registers
677 * Roland McGrath provided support for handling of auxiliary objects in
678 the ELF dynamic loader.
680 * support for parallel builds is improved
684 * GNU extensions are no longer declared by default. To enable them you
685 must define the macro `_GNU_SOURCE' in your program or compile with
688 * The library has changed from using GNU ld symbol aliases to using weak
689 symbols where available. The ELF object file format supports weak
690 symbols; GNU ld also supports weak symbols in the a.out format. (There
691 is also now support for other GNU ld extensions in ELF. Use the
692 `--with-elf' option to configure to indicate you have ELF, and
693 `--with-gnu-ld' if using GNU ld.) This change resulted in the deletion
694 of many files which contained only symbol aliases, reducing the size of
695 the source and the compiled library; many other files were renamed to
696 less cryptic names previously occupied by the symbol alias files.
697 There is a new header file <elf.h> for programs which operate on
698 files in the ELF format.
700 * Converted to Autoconf version 2, so `configure' has more options.
701 Run `configure --help' to see the details.
703 * The library can now be configured to build profiling, highly-optimized
704 (but undebuggable), and/or shared libraries (ELF with GNU ld only). The
705 `--enable-profile', `--enable-omitfp', and `--enable-shared' options to
706 `configure' enable building these extra libraries. The shared library is
707 built by default when using both ELF and GNU ld. When shared libraries
708 are enabled, the new library `-ldl' is available for arbitrary run-time
709 loading of shared objects; its interface is defined in <dlfcn.h>. The
710 new header file <link.h> gives access to the internals of the run-time
711 dynamic linker, `ld.so'. The shell script `ldd' is similar to the
712 application of same name on other systems and it provides information
713 about dynamically linked binaries.
715 * The C library now provides the run-time support code for profiling
716 executables compiled with `-pg'. Programs can control the profiling code
717 through the interface in <sys/gmon.h>. The `gmon.out' files written by
718 the GNU C library can be read only by GNU `gprof' (from GNU binutils);
719 the support for this file format was contributed by David Mosberger-Tang.
721 * The math code has been replaced with a math library based on fdlibm from
722 Sun, and modified by JT Conklin and Ulrich Drepper with i387 support, by
723 Ian Taylor with `float' functions and by Ulrich Drepper with `long double'
724 functions. The math functions now reside in a separate library, so
725 programs using them will need to use `-lm' their linking commands.
727 * John C. Bowman contributed optimized ix87 assembler inline functions.
729 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed support for an `/etc/nsswitch.conf'
730 mechanism similar to that found in Solaris 2. This is now used for the
731 group, passwd, hosts, networks, services, protocols, rpc, ethers,
732 shadow, netgroup, publickey, and alias databases. The `nsswitch.conf'
733 file controls what services are used for each individual database. This
734 works by loading shared libraries with names specified in `nsswitch.conf',
735 so service modules can be changed or added at any time without even
736 relinking any program. Currently there are the file, db, and NIS based
737 NSS services available.
739 * The new functions `strtoq' and `strtouq' parse integer values from
740 strings, like `strtol' and `strtoul', but they return `long long int' and
741 `unsigned long long int' values, respectively (64-bit quantities).
743 * The new functions `strtof' and `strtold' parse floating-point values from
744 strings, like `strtod', but they return `float' and `long double' values,
745 respectively (on some machines `double' and `long double' are the same).
747 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new implementations of the floating-point
748 printing and reading code used in the `printf' family of functions and
749 `strtod', `strtof', and `strtold'. These new functions are perfectly
750 accurate, and much faster than the old ones.
752 * The implementation of the POSIX locale model was completely rewritten by
753 Ulrich Drepper. This includes the new programs `localedef' and `locale'
754 to compile the POSIX locale definition.
756 * The former dummy implementations of the strcoll and strxfrm function are
757 now replaced by fully functional code contributed by Ulrich Drepper. The
758 collation information comes from the POSIX locale definitions.
760 * The new header <langinfo.h> defines an interface for accessing
761 various locale-dependent data (using the locale chosen with `setlocale').
763 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed a new suite of functions for operation on
764 wide-character and multibyte-character strings, in <wchar.h>;
765 and classification and case conversion of wide characters, in <wctype.h>.
766 These new functions are conforming to the ISO C, Amendement 1 specification.
768 * There is now a second implementation of the standard I/O library available.
769 It comes from GNU libg++ as was written by Per Bothner, heavily modified
770 by Hongjiu Lu and made thread safe by Ulrich Drepper.
772 * You can now use positional parameter specifications in format strings
773 for the `printf' and `scanf' families of functions. For example,
774 `printf ("Number %2$d, Mr %1$s\n", "Jones", 6);'' prints
775 ``Number 6, Mr Jones''. This is mainly useful when providing different
776 format strings for different languages, whose grammars may dictate
777 different orderings of the values being printed. To support this
778 feature, the interface for `register_printf_handler' has changed; see
779 the header file <printf.h> for details.
781 * The `printf' and `scanf' families of functions now understand a new
782 formatting flag for numeric conversions: the ' flag (e.g. %'d or %'f) says
783 to group numbers as indicated by the locale; for `scanf' and friends, this
784 says to accept as valid only a number with all the proper grouping
785 separators in the right places. In the default "C" locale, numbers are
786 not grouped; but locales for specific countries will define the usual
787 conventions (i.e. separate thousands with `,' in the US locale).
789 * The pgrp functions have been regularized, slightly incompatibly but much
790 less confusingly. The core functions are now `getpgid' and `setpgid',
791 which take arguments for the PID to operate on; the POSIX.1 `getpgrp' (no
792 argument) and BSD `setpgrp' (identical to `setpgid') functions are
793 provided for compatibility. There is no longer an incompatible `getpgrp'
794 with an argument declared under _BSD_SOURCE; no BSD code uses it.
796 * The new header file <fts.h> and suite of functions simplify programs that
797 operate on directory trees. This code comes from 4.4 BSD.
799 * The resolver code has been updated from the BIND 4.9.5-P1 release.
800 Parts of the code were heavily modified by Ulrich Drepper to fit in the
801 NSS scheme used in glibc.
803 * There is a new malloc debugging hook `__memalign_hook'.
805 * There are new typedefs `ushort' for `unsigned short int' and `uint' for
806 `unsigned int' in <sys/types.h>. These are for compatibility only and
807 their use is discouraged.
809 * The `-lmcheck' library to enable standard malloc debugging hooks is now
810 done differently, so that it works even without GNU ld.
812 * New function `euidaccess' checks allowed access to a file like `access',
813 but using the effective IDs instead of the real IDs.
815 * The time zone data files have been updated for the latest and greatest
816 local time conventions of the countries of the world.
818 * The new function `dirfd' extracts the file descriptor used by a DIR stream;
821 * The new functions `ecvt', `fcvt', and `gcvt' provide an obsolete interface
822 for formatting floating-point numbers. They are provided only for
823 compatibility; new programs should use `sprintf' instead. There are
824 also equivalent function for the `long double' floating-point type and
825 all functions also exist in a reentrant form.
827 * The new auxiliary library `-lutil' from 4.4 BSD contains various
828 functions for maintaining the login-record files (primarily of use to
829 system programs such as `login'), and convenient functions for
830 allocating and initializing a pseudo-terminal (pty) device.
832 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new support for System V style
833 shared memory and IPC on systems that support it.
835 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed several miscellaneous new functions found
836 in System V: The `hsearch' family of functions provide an effective
837 implementation of hash tables; `a64l' and `l64a' provide a very simple
838 binary to ASCII mapping; `drand48' and friends provide a 48-bit random
841 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new reentrant counterparts for the
842 `random' and `hsearch' families of functions; `random_r', `hsearch_r', etc.
844 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new, highly-optimized versions of several
845 string functions for the i486/Pentium family of processors.
847 * Ulrich Drepper has updated the Linux-specific code, based largely
848 on work done in Hongjiu Lu's version of GNU libc for Linux.
849 The GNU library now supports Linux versions 2.0.10 and later,
850 using the ELF object file format (i[3456]86-*-linux).
852 * Andreas Schwab has ported the C library to Linux/m68k (m68k-*-linux).
854 * David Mosberger-Tang and Richard Henderson have ported the C library
855 to Linux/Alpha (alpha-*-linux). Richard Henderson contributed the
856 dynamic linking support for ELF/Alpha.
858 * Richard Henderson contributed several Alpha optimized assembler function
859 for arithmetic and string handling.
861 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed a new set of message catalog functions to
862 support multiple languages using the <libintl.h> interface, for use with
863 his new package GNU gettext. Translation volunteers have contributed
864 catalogs of the library's messages in Spanish, German, and Korean.
866 * For compatibility with XPG4, Ulrich Drepper has contributed the `gencat'
867 program and the `catgets' function for reading the catalog files it
868 creates. (The <libintl.h> interface is preferred; we include the
869 <nl_types.h> interface using `catgets' only for source compatibility with
870 programs already written to use it.)
872 * New header file <values.h> gives SVID-compatible names for <limits.h>
875 * Various new macros, declarations, and small header files for compatibility
878 * New function `group_member' is a convenient way to check if a process has
879 a given effective group ID.
881 * When using GCC 2.7 and later, the socket functions are now declared in a
882 special way so that passing an argument of type `struct sockaddr_in *',
883 `struct sockaddr_ns *', or `struct sockaddr_un *' instead of the generic
884 `struct sockaddr *' type, does not generate a type-clash warning.
886 * New function `error' declared in header file <error.h> is a convenient
887 function for printing error messages and optionally exiting; this is the
888 canonical function used in GNU programs. The new functions `err', `warn',
889 and friends in header file <err.h> are the canonical 4.4 BSD interface for
890 doing the same thing.
892 * The <glob.h> interface has several new flags from 4.4 BSD that extend the
893 POSIX.2 `glob' function to do ~ and {...} expansion.
895 * New function `unsetenv' complements `setenv' for compatibility with 4.4 BSD.
896 `clearenv' which is used in POSIX.9 is also available.
898 * New function `getsid' returns session ID number on systems that support it.
900 * We have incorporated the 4.4 BSD `db' library (version 1.85). New header
901 files <db.h> and <mpool.h> provide a rich set of functions for several
902 types of simple databases stored in memory and in files, and <ndbm.h> is
903 an old `ndbm'-compatible interface using the `db' functions. Link with
904 `-ldb' to get these functions.
906 * New macro `strdupa' copies a string like `strdup', but uses local stack
907 space from `alloca' instead of dynamic heap space from `malloc'.
909 * New function `strnlen' is like `strlen' but searches only a given maximum
910 number of characters for the null terminator. `stpncpy', `strndup' and
911 `strndupa' are similar variants for the `stpcpy', `strdup' and `strdupa'
914 * New function `statfs' in header <sys/statfs.h>.
916 * The new <argz.h> and <envz.h> interfaces contributed by Miles Bader
917 provide convenient functions for operating on blocks of null-terminated
920 * A new suite of functions in <utmp.h> handle all the details of reading
921 and writing the utmp file.
923 * An implementation of the NIS/YP(tm) based NSS service was contributed by
926 * Paul Eggert and Ulrich Drepper modified the `strftime' function to be
927 completely POSIX compliant and also implemented the extended functionality
928 to handle alternate digit representation and alternate era date formats.
930 * Ulrich Drepper provided an implementation of the `strptime' function
931 defined in XPG4.2 which transforms a string into a `struct tm' value.
933 * Paul Eggert provided the tzselect shell script as part of the timezone
934 code. The shell script makes it easy to select the correct timezone
937 * The implementation of the malloc family of functions is completely replaced
938 by a new implementation by Doug Lea with many improvements by Wolfram Gloger.
939 The implementation uses the mmap function (if available) and it is
940 optimized for the use in multi threaded programs.
942 * Ulrich Drepper contributed a MD5 "encryption" for the crypt family of
943 functions. This new functionality is usable by specifying a special
944 salt string and it is compatible with implementation on *BSD systems.
946 * Lots of functions from the XPG4.2 standard were added by Ulrich Drepper:
947 `getsubopt' to handle second level command line options, `bsd_signal'
948 to access BSD style `signal' functionality, the obsolete `regexp' style
951 * the `lchown' function is available on system which support this
954 * The implementation of the shadow password handling function was contributed
957 * David Mosberger-Tang changed the SunRPC implementation to be 64bit safe.
959 * POSIX.1g support was added. The <sys/select.h> header is available,
960 `isfdtype' and `pselect' are implemented. Craig Metz contributed an
961 implementation of `getaddrinfo'.
965 * For cross-compilation you should now set `BUILD_CC' instead of `HOST_CC'.
967 * New header file <fstab.h> and new functions `getfsspec', `getfsent' and
968 friends, for parsing /etc/fstab. This code comes from 4.4 BSD.
970 * The new function `daemon' from 4.4 BSD is useful for server programs that
971 want to put themselves in the background.
973 * Joel Sherrill has contributed support for several standalone boards that
974 run without an operating system.
976 * `printf', `scanf' and friends now accept a `q' type modifier for long
977 long int as well as `ll'. Formats using these might be `%qu' or `%lld'.
979 * All of the code taken from BSD (notably most of the math and networking
980 routines) has been updated from the BSD 4.4-Lite release.
982 * The resolver code has been updated from the BIND-4.9.3-BETA9 release.
984 * The new functions `getdomainname' and `setdomainname' fetch or change the
985 YP/NIS domain name. These are system calls which exist on systems which
988 * The time zone data files have been updated for the latest international
991 * The SunRPC programs `portmap' and `rpcinfo' are now installed in
992 $(sbindir) (usually /usr/local/sbin) instead of $(bindir).
996 * The C library now includes support for Sun RPC, from Sun's free
997 RPCSRC-4.0 distribution. The `portmap', `rpcinfo', and `rpcgen' programs
998 are included. (There is still no support for YP.)
1000 * Tom Quinn has contributed a port of the C library to SGI machines running
1001 Irix 4 (mips-sgi-irix4).
1003 * The new `lockf' function is a simplified interface to the locking
1004 facilities of `fcntl', included for compatibility.
1006 * New time functions `timegm', `timelocal', and `dysize' for compatibility.
1008 * New header file <sys/timeb.h> and new function `ftime' for compatibility.
1010 * New header files <poll.h> and <sys/poll.h> and new function `poll' for
1013 * The error message printed by `assert' for a failed assertion now includes
1014 the name of the program (if using GNU ld) and the name of the calling
1015 function (with versions of GCC that support this).
1017 * The `psignal' function is now declared in <signal.h>, not <stdio.h>.
1019 * The library now includes the <sys/mman.h> header file and memory
1020 management functions `mmap', `munmap', `mprotect', `msync', and
1021 `madvise', on systems that support those facilities.
1023 * The interface for `mcheck' has changed slightly: the function called to
1024 abort the program when an allocation inconsistency is detected now takes
1025 an argument that indicates the type of failure. The new function
1026 `mprobe' lets you request a consistency check for a particular block at
1027 any time (checks are normally done only when you call `free' or `realloc'
1030 * It is now possible to easily cross-compile the C library, building on one
1031 system a library to run on another machine and/or operating system. All
1032 you need to do is set the variable `HOST_CC' in `configparms' to the
1033 native compiler for programs to run on the machine you are building on (a
1034 few generator programs are used on Unix systems); set `CC' to the
1037 * The new function `fexecve' (only implemented on the GNU system) executes
1038 a program file given a file descriptor already open on the file.
1042 * Brendan Kehoe has contributed most of a port to the DEC Alpha
1043 running OSF/1 (alpha-dec-osf1). He says it is 75% complete.
1045 * You can set the variable `libprefix' in `configparms' to specify a prefix
1046 to be prepended to installed library files; this makes it easy to install
1047 the GNU C library to be linked as `-lgnuc' or whatever.
1049 * The new `stpncpy' is a cross between `stpcpy' and `strncpy': It
1050 copies a limited number of characters from a string, and returns the
1051 address of the last character written.
1053 * You no longer need to check for whether the installed `stddef.h' is
1054 compatible with the GNU C library. configure now checks for you.
1056 * You can now define a per-stream `fileno' function to convert the
1057 stream's cookie into an integral file descriptor.
1059 * ``malloc (0)'' no longer returns a null pointer. Instead, it
1060 allocates zero bytes of storage, and returns a unique pointer which
1061 you can pass to `realloc' or `free'. The behavior is undefined if
1062 you dereference this pointer.
1064 * The C library now runs on Sony NEWS m68k machines running either
1065 NewsOS 3 or NewsOS 4.
1067 * The new `syscall' function is a system-dependent primitive function
1068 for invoking system calls. It has the canonical behavior on Unix
1069 systems, including unreliable return values for some calls (such as
1070 `pipe', `fork' and `getppid').
1072 * The error code `EWOULDBLOCK' is now obsolete; it is always defined
1073 to `EAGAIN', which is the preferred name. On systems whose kernels
1074 use two distinct codes, the C library now translates EWOULDBLOCK to
1075 EAGAIN in every system call function.
1079 * The GNU C Library Reference Manual is now distributed with the library.
1080 `make dvi' will produce a DVI file of the printed manual.
1081 `make info' will produce Info files that you can read on line using C-h i
1082 in Emacs or the `info' program.
1083 Please send comments on the manual to bug-glibc-manual@gnu.org.
1085 * The library now supports SVR4 on i386s (i386-unknown-sysv4).
1087 * Brendan Kehoe has contributed a port to Sun SPARCs running Solaris 2.
1089 * Jason Merrill has contributed a port to the Sequent Symmetry running
1090 Dynix version 3 (i386-sequent-dynix).
1092 * The library has been ported to i386s running SCO 3.2.4 (also known as SCO
1093 ODT 2.0; i386-unknown-sco3.2.4) or SCO 3.2 (i386-unknown-sco3.2).
1095 * New function `memory_warnings' lets you arrange to get warnings when
1096 malloc is running out of memory to allocate, like Emacs gives you.
1098 * The C library now contains the relocating allocator used in Emacs 19 for
1099 its editing buffers. This allocator (ralloc) minimizes allocation
1100 overhead and fragmentation by moving allocated regions around whenever it
1101 needs to. You always refer to a ralloc'd region with a "handle" (a
1102 pointer to a pointer--an object of type `void **').
1104 * There is a new `printf' format: `%m' gives you the string corresponding
1105 to the error code in `errno'.
1107 * In `scanf' formats, you can now use `%as' or `%a[' to do the normal `%s'
1108 or `%[' conversion, but instead of filling in a fixed-sized buffer you
1109 pass, the `a' modifier says to fill in a `char **' you pass with a
1112 * The `fnmatch' function supports the new flag bits `FNM_LEADING_DIR' and
1113 `FNM_CASEFOLD'. `FNM_LEADING_DIR' lets a pattern like `foo*' match a
1114 name like `foo/bar'. `FNM_CASEFOLD' says to ignore case in matching.
1116 * `mkstemp' is a traditional Unix function to atomically create and open a
1117 uniquely-named temporary file.
1121 * The standard location for the file that says what the local timezone is
1122 has changed again. It is now `/usr/local/etc/localtime' (or more
1123 precisely, `${prefix}/etc/localtime') rather than `/etc/localtime'.
1125 * The distribution no longer contains any files with names longer than 14
1128 * `struct ttyent' has two new flag bits: TTY_TRUSTED and TTY_CONSOLE.
1129 These are set by the new `trusted' and `console' keywords in `/etc/ttys'.
1131 * New functions `ttyslot' and `syslog' from 4.4 BSD.
1135 * The configuration process has changed quite a bit. The `configure'
1136 script is now used just like the configuration scripts for other GNU
1137 packages. The `sysdeps' directory hierarchy is much rearranged.
1138 The file `INSTALL' explains the new scheme in detail.
1140 * The header files no longer need to be processed into ANSI C and
1141 traditional C versions. There is just one set of files to install, and
1142 it will work with ANSI or old C compilers (including `gcc -traditional').
1144 * Brendan Kehoe and Ian Lance Taylor have ported the library to the
1145 MIPS DECStation running Ultrix 4.
1147 * The Sun 4 startup code (crt0) can now properly load SunOS 4 shared libraries.
1148 Tom Quinn contributed the initial code. The GNU C library can NOT yet be
1149 made itself into a shared library.
1151 * Yet further improved support for the i386, running 4.3 BSD-like systems
1152 (such as Mach 3 with the Unix single-server), or System V.
1154 * New function `strncasecmp' to do case-insensitive string comparison
1155 with limited length.
1157 * New function `strsep' is a reentrant alternative to `strtok'.
1159 * New functions `scandir' and `alphasort' for searching directories.
1161 * New function `setenv' is a better interface to `putenv'.
1163 * Ian Lance Taylor has contributed an implementation of the SVID `ftw'
1164 function for traversing a directory tree.
1166 * The GNU obstack package is now also part of the C library.
1167 The new function `open_obstack_stream' creates a stdio stream that
1168 writes onto an obstack; `obstack_printf' and `obstack_vprintf' do
1169 formatted output directly to an obstack.
1171 * Miscellaneous new functions: reboot, nice, sigaltstack (4.4 BSD only),
1172 cfmakeraw, getusershell, getpass, swab, getttyent, seteuid, setegid.
1174 * `FNM_FILE_NAME' is another name for `FNM_PATHNAME', used with `fnmatch'.
1176 * The new functions `strfry' and `memfrob' do mysterious and wonderful
1177 things to your strings.
1179 * There are some new test programs: test-fseek, testmb, and testrand.
1181 * Some work has been done to begin porting the library to 4.4 BSD and Linux.
1182 These ports are not finished, but are a good starting place for really
1183 supporting those systems.
1185 * `/etc/localtime' is now the standard location for the file that says what
1186 the local timezone is, rather than `/usr/local/lib/zoneinfo/localtime'.
1187 This follows the general principle that `/etc' is the place for all local
1188 configuration files.
1190 * The C library header files now use `extern "C"' when used by the C++
1191 compiler, so the C library should now work with C++ code.
1193 * The header file <bstring.h> is gone. <string.h> now declares bcopy,
1194 bcmp, bzero, and ffs. (Update: nowadays these functions are declared
1197 * Mike Haertel (of GNU e?grep and malloc fame) has written a new sorting
1198 function which uses the `merge sort' algorithm, and is said to be
1199 significantly faster than the old GNU `qsort' function. Merge sort is
1200 now the standard `qsort' function. The new algorithm can require a lot
1201 of temporary storage; so, the old sorting function is called when the
1202 required storage is not available.
1204 * The C library now includes Michael Glad's Ultra Fast Crypt, which
1205 provides the Unix `crypt' function, plus some other entry points.
1207 * The code and header files taken from 4.4 BSD have been updated with the
1208 latest files released from Berkeley.
1210 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
1211 Copyright information:
1213 Copyright (C) 1992-1999, 2000 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
1215 Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim copies
1216 of this document as received, in any medium, provided that the
1217 copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved,
1218 thus giving the recipient permission to redistribute in turn.
1220 Permission is granted to distribute modified versions
1221 of this document, or of portions of it,
1222 under the above conditions, provided also that they
1223 carry prominent notices stating who last changed them.
1226 version-control: never