1 GNU C Library NEWS -- history of user-visible changes. 2000-05-28
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 * Thorsten Kukuk added secure mode support to nscd.
14 * The Berkeley db libraries have been removed.
16 * Wide character I/O streams implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
18 * Functions from the extended socket API added by Ulrich Drepper.
20 * Functions feenableexcept and fedisableexcept to control the
21 behaviour of individual exceptions have been added by Andreas Jaeger.
23 * ldconfig program added by Andreas Jaeger and Jakub Jelinek.
25 * The resolver code has been updated from bind 8.2.2-5 which supports
26 threads. The integration was done by Andreas Jaeger and Adam D. Bradley.
28 This change could in some situations effect backward compatibility. Since
29 now `_res' is a thread-local instead of a global variable, modifying it
30 in one thread does not have any effect in other threads.
32 * Compatibility code for K&R C compilers has been removed from the
33 header files. A ISO C compiler is needed to use the library
34 (conforming to either C89 or C99 standard).
36 * Complete rewrite of the localedef program to support multibyte character
37 sets. Implement handling of ISO 14651 and ISO 14652. Rewrite strcoll,
38 strxfrm, wcscoll, and wcsxfrm functions. Make isw*() functions work.
39 Implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
41 * Plural handling in gettext implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
43 * The utmp daemon has been removed.
45 * The port to MIPS-Linux has been finished by Andreas Jaeger.
47 * A port to Hitachi SH3 and SH4 has been contributed by Kazumoto Kojima
63 * New ISO C 9x function _Exit, imaxabs, and imaxdiv are added.
65 * New xdr functions are added; some rpc functions are now 64bit clean.
67 * Fixed a number of bugs and memory leaks (especially in NIS+ code).
69 * Fixed known incompatibilities with glibc 2.0.
71 * New functions lock64, strchrnul, rawmemchr, getutmp and getutmpx.
73 * Optimized a number of functions (especially the ELF dynamic loader).
75 * Update timezone data files.
77 * lots of charmaps corrections
79 * some new locale definitions and charmaps
84 * Richard Henderson corrected size of struct timeval on Linux/Alpha to
85 conform to POSIX member type requirements. Symbol versions have been
86 adjusted as needed within the library, and for direct use by applications,
87 but there is potential for problems if third-party libraries use
88 struct timeval as part of their interface. This does not present
89 a problem for X and other "essential" system libraries.
91 * An additional locale model to support C++ Standard Library locale
92 model and probably more was implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
94 * Eric Youngdale and Ulrich Drepper implemented versioning of objects on
97 * Miles Bader provided the `argp' function family to support hierachical
98 command line argument parsing, layered on top of getopt.
100 * strtod accepts new hexadecimal floating-point format from ISO C 9X.
102 * printf has two new specifiers %a and %A to print hexadecimal flaoting-point
105 * scanf recognizes the %a and %A format for scanning floating point numbers.
107 * the new headers <stdint.h> and <inttypes.h> from ISO C 9X provides
108 information and interfaces for the available integer types.
110 * about 130 new math functions were added to implement the ISO C9x math
113 * the new header <complex.h> contains definitions of the complex math
114 functions from ISO C 9X.
116 * the new header <tgmath.h> defines generic macros to use complex or
117 real valued functions.
119 * Thorsten Kukuk provided an implementation for NIS+, securelevel 0, 1 and 2.
121 * Andreas Jaeger provided a test suite for the math library.
123 * Mark Kettenis implemented the utmpx interface and an utmp daemon.
125 * Ulrich Drepper added character set conversion functions (iconv).
127 * Optimized string functions have been added.
129 * The localedata addon is now part of glibc.
131 * An implementation of profiling shared libraries was added by Ulrich Drepper.
133 * Thorsten Kukuk and Ulrich Drepper provided an implementation for a caching
134 daemon for NSS (nscd).
136 Missing a better place here are some numbers on improvements. Under
137 Linux 2.1.125 un-tar-ing the kernel sources takes
141 using local files 12.19s 6.88s 22.91s
143 using NIS 13.92s 8.91s 26.34s
145 using NIS & nscd 10.37s 7.34s 25.30s
147 using NIS+ 27.57s 30.37s 640.46s
149 using NIS+ & nscd 10.25s 7.83s 26.51s
151 using NIS & old nscd [1] 13.83s 8.32s 29.60s
153 Keep in mind that non-namelookup related operations dominate above times.
154 It was just a common complain that using NIS+ unpacking the kernel is
157 [1] The old nscd implementation is not available anymore since it was
158 distributed with glibc up to version 2.0.98 and thus is now replaced.
160 * Tim Waugh provided an implementation of the POSIX.2 wordexp function family.
162 * Mark Kettenis provided a Hesiod NSS module.
164 * The ELF dynamic loader knows how to process dynamic string tokens ($ORIGIN
165 and $PLATFORM) in RPATHs and similar strings (Ulrich Drepper).
167 * rcmd can now handle netgroups (Dick Streefland).
169 * A port to the ARM was contributed by Phil Blundell, Pat Beirne and Scott
172 * Support for the IPv6 protocol has been added to the socket API, as per the
173 latest draft standards.
175 * Support for Linux 2.2 has been added.
177 * Interface changes relative to the latest 2.0.x release:
178 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
179 addseverity NEW: Unix98
181 argp_err_exit_status NEW: argp, GNU ext
182 argp_error NEW: argp, GNU ext
183 argp_failure NEW: argp, GNU ext
184 argp_help NEW: argp, GNU ext
185 argp_parse NEW: argp, GNU ext
186 argp_program_bug_address NEW: argp, GNU ext
187 argp_program_version NEW: argp, GNU ext
188 argp_program_version_hook NEW: argp, GNU ext
189 argp_state_help NEW: argp, GNU ext
190 argp_usage NEW: argp, GNU ext
191 authdes_create NEW: Secure RPC
192 authdes_getucred NEW: Secure RPC
193 authdes_pk_create NEW: Secure RPC
194 backtrace NEW: GNU ext.
195 backtrace_symbols NEW: GNU ext.
196 backtrace_symbols_fd NEW: GNU ext.
200 cacoshf NEW: ISO C 9x
201 cacoshl NEW: ISO C 9x
211 casinhf NEW: ISO C 9x
212 casinhl NEW: ISO C 9x
217 catanhf NEW: ISO C 9x
218 catanhl NEW: ISO C 9x
220 cbc_crypt NEW: Secure RPC
233 clearerr_locked REMOVED
234 clntunix_create NEW: sunrpc ext
237 clog10f NEW: ISO C 9x
238 clog10l NEW: ISO C 9x
269 des_setparity NEW: Secure RPC
270 ecb_crypt NEW: Secure RPC
271 endutxent NEW: Unix98
283 feclearexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
284 fegetenv NEW: ISO C 9x
285 fegetexceptflag NEW: ISO C 9x
286 fegetround NEW: ISO C 9x
287 feholdexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
289 feraiseexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
290 ferror_locked REMOVED
291 fesetenv NEW: ISO C 9x
292 fesetexceptflag NEW: ISO C 9x
293 fesetround NEW: ISO C 9x
294 fetestexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
295 feupdateenv NEW: ISO C 9x
296 fflush_locked REMOVED
300 fgets_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
301 fileno_locked REMOVED
314 fputs_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
315 fread_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
326 fwrite_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
327 gai_strerror NEW: IPv6
331 getchar_locked REMOVED
333 getdate_err NEW: Unix98
334 getdate_r NEW: GNU ext.
336 getnameinfo NEW: IPv6
337 getnetname NEW: Secure RPC
339 getpt NEW: Unix98 PTY
341 getutxent NEW: Unix98
343 getutxline NEW: Unix98
345 globfree64 NEW: GNU ext.
346 gnu_get_libc_release NEW: GNU ext.
347 gnu_get_libc_version NEW: GNU ext.
348 grantpt NEW: Unix98 PTY
349 host2netname NEW: Secure RPC
351 iconv_close NEW: iconv
352 iconv_open NEW: iconv
353 if_freenameindex NEW: IPv6
354 if_indextoname NEW: IPv6
355 if_nameindex NEW: IPv6
356 if_nametoindex NEW: IPv6
357 in6addr_any NEW: IPv6
358 in6addr_loopback NEW: IPv6
359 inet6_isipv4mapped NEW: IPv6
360 isastream NEW: STREAMS
361 iswblank NEW: GNU ext.
362 key_decryptsession NEW: Secure RPC
363 key_decryptsession_pk NEW: Secure RPC
364 key_encryptsession NEW: Secure RPC
365 key_encryptsession_pk NEW: Secure RPC
366 key_gendes NEW: Secure RPC
367 key_get_conv NEW: Secure RPC
368 key_secretkey_is_set NEW: Secure RPC
369 key_setnet NEW: Secure RPC
370 key_setsecret NEW: Secure RPC
372 llrintf NEW: ISO C 9x
373 llrintl NEW: ISO C 9x
374 llround NEW: ISO C 9x
375 llroundf NEW: ISO C 9x
376 llroundl NEW: ISO C 9x
384 lroundf NEW: ISO C 9x
385 lroundl NEW: ISO C 9x
387 makecontext NEW: Unix98
388 mempcpy NEW: GNU ext.
391 modify_ldt NEW: kernel
395 nearbyint NEW: ISO C 9x
396 nearbyintf NEW: ISO C 9x
397 nearbyintl NEW: ISO C 9x
398 netname2host NEW: Secure RPC
399 netname2user NEW: Secure RPC
400 nexttoward NEW: ISO C 9x
401 nexttowardf NEW: ISO C 9x
402 nexttowardl NEW: ISO C 9x
406 passwd2des NEW: Secure RPC
412 printf_size NEW: GNU ext.
413 printf_size_info NEW: GNU ext.
414 profil_counter REMOVED
415 pthread_mutexattr_getkind_np REPLACED
416 pthread_mutexattr_setkind_np REPLACED
417 ptsname NEW: Unix98 PTY
418 ptsname_r NEW: Unix98 PTY
420 putchar_locked REMOVED
421 putgrent NEW: GNU ext.
424 pututxline NEW: Unix98
430 remquof NEW: ISO C 9x
431 remquol NEW: ISO C 9x
436 scalbln NEW: ISO C 9x
437 scalblnf NEW: ISO C 9x
438 scalblnl NEW: ISO C 9x
441 setcontext NEW: Unix98
443 setutxent NEW: Unix98
445 sigignore NEW: Unix98
446 sigqueue NEW: POSIX.1b
449 sigtimedwait NEW: POSIX.1b
450 sigwaitinfo NEW: POSIX.1b
452 sincosf NEW: GNU ext.
453 sincosl NEW: GNU ext.
457 strcasestr NEW: GNU ext.
458 strtoimax NEW: ISO C 9x
459 strtoumax NEW: ISO C 9x
460 strverscmp NEW: GNU ext.
461 svcauthdes_stats NEW: Secure RPC
462 svcunix_create NEW: sunrpc etx
463 svcunixfd_create NEW: sunrpc ext
464 swapcontext NEW: Unix98
465 tcgetsid NEW: Unix98 PTY
466 tdestroy NEW: GNU ext.
468 tgammaf NEW: ISO C 9x
469 tgammal NEW: ISO C 9x
476 unlockpt NEW: Unix98 PTY
478 user2netname NEW: Secure RPC
479 utmpxname NEW: Unix98
480 versionsort NEW: GNU ext.
481 versionsort64 NEW: GNU ext.
483 wcscasecmp NEW: GNU ext.
484 wcsncasecmp NEW: GNU ext.
485 wcsnlen NEW: GNU ext.
486 wcstoimax NEW: ISO C 9x
487 wcstoll NEW: ISO C 9x
488 wcstoull NEW: ISO C 9x
489 wcstoumax NEW: ISO C 9x
492 wordfree NEW: POSIX.2
493 write_profiling REMOVED
494 xdecrypt NEW: Secure RPC
495 xdr_authdes_cred NEW: Secure RPC
496 xdr_authdes_verf NEW: Secure RPC
497 xdr_cryptkeyarg NEW: Secure RPC
498 xdr_cryptkeyarg2 NEW: Secure RPC
499 xdr_cryptkeyres NEW: Secure RPC
500 xdr_getcredres NEW: Secure RPC
501 xdr_key_netstarg NEW: Secure RPC
502 xdr_key_netstres NEW: Secure RPC
503 xdr_keybuf NEW: Secure RPC
504 xdr_keystatus NEW: Secure RPC
505 xdr_netnamestr NEW: Secure RPC
506 xdr_sizeof NEW: Secure RPC
507 xdr_unixcred NEW: sunrpc ext
508 xencrypt NEW: Secure RPC
509 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
520 * inet_ntoa is thread-safe
522 * updwtmp is moved from libutil to libc
524 * rewrite of cbrt function
526 * update of timezone data
542 * fix complex problems in Berkeley DB code
548 * fixed lots of header problems (especially Linux/GNU specific)
550 * dynamic loader preserves all registers
552 * Roland McGrath provided support for handling of auxiliary objects in
553 the ELF dynamic loader.
555 * support for parallel builds is improved
559 * GNU extensions are no longer declared by default. To enable them you
560 must define the macro `_GNU_SOURCE' in your program or compile with
563 * The library has changed from using GNU ld symbol aliases to using weak
564 symbols where available. The ELF object file format supports weak
565 symbols; GNU ld also supports weak symbols in the a.out format. (There
566 is also now support for other GNU ld extensions in ELF. Use the
567 `--with-elf' option to configure to indicate you have ELF, and
568 `--with-gnu-ld' if using GNU ld.) This change resulted in the deletion
569 of many files which contained only symbol aliases, reducing the size of
570 the source and the compiled library; many other files were renamed to
571 less cryptic names previously occupied by the symbol alias files.
572 There is a new header file <elf.h> for programs which operate on
573 files in the ELF format.
575 * Converted to Autoconf version 2, so `configure' has more options.
576 Run `configure --help' to see the details.
578 * The library can now be configured to build profiling, highly-optimized
579 (but undebuggable), and/or shared libraries (ELF with GNU ld only). The
580 `--enable-profile', `--enable-omitfp', and `--enable-shared' options to
581 `configure' enable building these extra libraries. The shared library is
582 built by default when using both ELF and GNU ld. When shared libraries
583 are enabled, the new library `-ldl' is available for arbitrary run-time
584 loading of shared objects; its interface is defined in <dlfcn.h>. The
585 new header file <link.h> gives access to the internals of the run-time
586 dynamic linker, `ld.so'. The shell script `ldd' is similar to the
587 application of same name on other systems and it provides information
588 about dynamically linked binaries.
590 * The C library now provides the run-time support code for profiling
591 executables compiled with `-pg'. Programs can control the profiling code
592 through the interface in <sys/gmon.h>. The `gmon.out' files written by
593 the GNU C library can be read only by GNU `gprof' (from GNU binutils);
594 the support for this file format was contributed by David Mosberger-Tang.
596 * The math code has been replaced with a math library based on fdlibm from
597 Sun, and modified by JT Conklin and Ulrich Drepper with i387 support, by
598 Ian Taylor with `float' functions and by Ulrich Drepper with `long double'
599 functions. The math functions now reside in a separate library, so
600 programs using them will need to use `-lm' their linking commands.
602 * John C. Bowman contributed optimized ix87 assembler inline functions.
604 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed support for an `/etc/nsswitch.conf'
605 mechanism similar to that found in Solaris 2. This is now used for the
606 group, passwd, hosts, networks, services, protocols, rpc, ethers,
607 shadow, netgroup, publickey, and alias databases. The `nsswitch.conf'
608 file controls what services are used for each individual database. This
609 works by loading shared libraries with names specified in `nsswitch.conf',
610 so service modules can be changed or added at any time without even
611 relinking any program. Currently there are the file, db, and NIS based
612 NSS services available.
614 * The new functions `strtoq' and `strtouq' parse integer values from
615 strings, like `strtol' and `strtoul', but they return `long long int' and
616 `unsigned long long int' values, respectively (64-bit quantities).
618 * The new functions `strtof' and `strtold' parse floating-point values from
619 strings, like `strtod', but they return `float' and `long double' values,
620 respectively (on some machines `double' and `long double' are the same).
622 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new implementations of the floating-point
623 printing and reading code used in the `printf' family of functions and
624 `strtod', `strtof', and `strtold'. These new functions are perfectly
625 accurate, and much faster than the old ones.
627 * The implementation of the POSIX locale model was completely rewritten by
628 Ulrich Drepper. This includes the new programs `localedef' and `locale'
629 to compile the POSIX locale definition.
631 * The former dummy implementations of the strcoll and strxfrm function are
632 now replaced by fully functional code contributed by Ulrich Drepper. The
633 collation information comes from the POSIX locale definitions.
635 * The new header <langinfo.h> defines an interface for accessing
636 various locale-dependent data (using the locale chosen with `setlocale').
638 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed a new suite of functions for operation on
639 wide-character and multibyte-character strings, in <wchar.h>;
640 and classification and case conversion of wide characters, in <wctype.h>.
641 These new functions are conforming to the ISO C, Amendement 1 specification.
643 * There is now a second implementation of the standard I/O library available.
644 It comes from GNU libg++ as was written by Per Bothner, heavily modified
645 by Hongjiu Lu and made thread safe by Ulrich Drepper.
647 * You can now use positional parameter specifications in format strings
648 for the `printf' and `scanf' families of functions. For example,
649 `printf ("Number %2$d, Mr %1$s\n", "Jones", 6);'' prints
650 ``Number 6, Mr Jones''. This is mainly useful when providing different
651 format strings for different languages, whose grammars may dictate
652 different orderings of the values being printed. To support this
653 feature, the interface for `register_printf_handler' has changed; see
654 the header file <printf.h> for details.
656 * The `printf' and `scanf' families of functions now understand a new
657 formatting flag for numeric conversions: the ' flag (e.g. %'d or %'f) says
658 to group numbers as indicated by the locale; for `scanf' and friends, this
659 says to accept as valid only a number with all the proper grouping
660 separators in the right places. In the default "C" locale, numbers are
661 not grouped; but locales for specific countries will define the usual
662 conventions (i.e. separate thousands with `,' in the US locale).
664 * The pgrp functions have been regularized, slightly incompatibly but much
665 less confusingly. The core functions are now `getpgid' and `setpgid',
666 which take arguments for the PID to operate on; the POSIX.1 `getpgrp' (no
667 argument) and BSD `setpgrp' (identical to `setpgid') functions are
668 provided for compatibility. There is no longer an incompatible `getpgrp'
669 with an argument declared under _BSD_SOURCE; no BSD code uses it.
671 * The new header file <fts.h> and suite of functions simplify programs that
672 operate on directory trees. This code comes from 4.4 BSD.
674 * The resolver code has been updated from the BIND 4.9.5-P1 release.
675 Parts of the code were heavily modified by Ulrich Drepper to fit in the
676 NSS scheme used in glibc.
678 * There is a new malloc debugging hook `__memalign_hook'.
680 * There are new typedefs `ushort' for `unsigned short int' and `uint' for
681 `unsigned int' in <sys/types.h>. These are for compatibility only and
682 their use is discouraged.
684 * The `-lmcheck' library to enable standard malloc debugging hooks is now
685 done differently, so that it works even without GNU ld.
687 * New function `euidaccess' checks allowed access to a file like `access',
688 but using the effective IDs instead of the real IDs.
690 * The time zone data files have been updated for the latest and greatest
691 local time conventions of the countries of the world.
693 * The new function `dirfd' extracts the file descriptor used by a DIR stream;
696 * The new functions `ecvt', `fcvt', and `gcvt' provide an obsolete interface
697 for formatting floating-point numbers. They are provided only for
698 compatibility; new programs should use `sprintf' instead. There are
699 also equivalent function for the `long double' floating-point type and
700 all functions also exist in a reentrant form.
702 * The new auxiliary library `-lutil' from 4.4 BSD contains various
703 functions for maintaining the login-record files (primarily of use to
704 system programs such as `login'), and convenient functions for
705 allocating and initializing a pseudo-terminal (pty) device.
707 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new support for System V style
708 shared memory and IPC on systems that support it.
710 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed several miscellaneous new functions found
711 in System V: The `hsearch' family of functions provide an effective
712 implementation of hash tables; `a64l' and `l64a' provide a very simple
713 binary to ASCII mapping; `drand48' and friends provide a 48-bit random
716 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new reentrant counterparts for the
717 `random' and `hsearch' families of functions; `random_r', `hsearch_r', etc.
719 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new, highly-optimized versions of several
720 string functions for the i486/Pentium family of processors.
722 * Ulrich Drepper has updated the Linux-specific code, based largely
723 on work done in Hongjiu Lu's version of GNU libc for Linux.
724 The GNU library now supports Linux versions 2.0.10 and later,
725 using the ELF object file format (i[3456]86-*-linux).
727 * Andreas Schwab has ported the C library to Linux/m68k (m68k-*-linux).
729 * David Mosberger-Tang and Richard Henderson have ported the C library
730 to Linux/Alpha (alpha-*-linux). Richard Henderson contributed the
731 dynamic linking support for ELF/Alpha.
733 * Richard Henderson contributed several Alpha optimized assembler function
734 for arithmetic and string handling.
736 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed a new set of message catalog functions to
737 support multiple languages using the <libintl.h> interface, for use with
738 his new package GNU gettext. Translation volunteers have contributed
739 catalogs of the library's messages in Spanish, German, and Korean.
741 * For compatibility with XPG4, Ulrich Drepper has contributed the `gencat'
742 program and the `catgets' function for reading the catalog files it
743 creates. (The <libintl.h> interface is preferred; we include the
744 <nl_types.h> interface using `catgets' only for source compatibility with
745 programs already written to use it.)
747 * New header file <values.h> gives SVID-compatible names for <limits.h>
750 * Various new macros, declarations, and small header files for compatibility
753 * New function `group_member' is a convenient way to check if a process has
754 a given effective group ID.
756 * When using GCC 2.7 and later, the socket functions are now declared in a
757 special way so that passing an argument of type `struct sockaddr_in *',
758 `struct sockaddr_ns *', or `struct sockaddr_un *' instead of the generic
759 `struct sockaddr *' type, does not generate a type-clash warning.
761 * New function `error' declared in header file <error.h> is a convenient
762 function for printing error messages and optionally exiting; this is the
763 canonical function used in GNU programs. The new functions `err', `warn',
764 and friends in header file <err.h> are the canonical 4.4 BSD interface for
765 doing the same thing.
767 * The <glob.h> interface has several new flags from 4.4 BSD that extend the
768 POSIX.2 `glob' function to do ~ and {...} expansion.
770 * New function `unsetenv' complements `setenv' for compatibility with 4.4 BSD.
771 `clearenv' which is used in POSIX.9 is also available.
773 * New function `getsid' returns session ID number on systems that support it.
775 * We have incorporated the 4.4 BSD `db' library (version 1.85). New header
776 files <db.h> and <mpool.h> provide a rich set of functions for several
777 types of simple databases stored in memory and in files, and <ndbm.h> is
778 an old `ndbm'-compatible interface using the `db' functions. Link with
779 `-ldb' to get these functions.
781 * New macro `strdupa' copies a string like `strdup', but uses local stack
782 space from `alloca' instead of dynamic heap space from `malloc'.
784 * New function `strnlen' is like `strlen' but searches only a given maximum
785 number of characters for the null terminator. `stpncpy', `strndup' and
786 `strndupa' are similar variants for the `stpcpy', `strdup' and `strdupa'
789 * New function `statfs' in header <sys/statfs.h>.
791 * The new <argz.h> and <envz.h> interfaces contributed by Miles Bader
792 provide convenient functions for operating on blocks of null-terminated
795 * A new suite of functions in <utmp.h> handle all the details of reading
796 and writing the utmp file.
798 * An implementation of the NIS/YP(tm) based NSS service was contributed by
801 * Paul Eggert and Ulrich Drepper modified the `strftime' function to be
802 completely POSIX compliant and also implemented the extended functionality
803 to handle alternate digit representation and alternate era date formats.
805 * Ulrich Drepper provided an implementation of the `strptime' function
806 defined in XPG4.2 which transforms a string into a `struct tm' value.
808 * Paul Eggert provided the tzselect shell script as part of the timezone
809 code. The shell script makes it easy to select the correct timezone
812 * The implementation of the malloc family of functions is completely replaced
813 by a new implementation by Doug Lea with many improvements by Wolfram Gloger.
814 The implementation uses the mmap function (if available) and it is
815 optimized for the use in multi threaded programs.
817 * Ulrich Drepper contributed a MD5 "encryption" for the crypt family of
818 functions. This new functionality is usable by specifying a special
819 salt string and it is compatible with implementation on *BSD systems.
821 * Lots of functions from the XPG4.2 standard were added by Ulrich Drepper:
822 `getsubopt' to handle second level command line options, `bsd_signal'
823 to access BSD style `signal' functionality, the obsolete `regexp' style
826 * the `lchown' function is available on system which support this
829 * The implementation of the shadow password handling function was contributed
832 * David Mosberger-Tang changed the SunRPC implementation to be 64bit safe.
834 * POSIX.1g support was added. The <sys/select.h> header is available,
835 `isfdtype' and `pselect' are implemented. Craig Metz contributed an
836 implementation of `getaddrinfo'.
840 * For cross-compilation you should now set `BUILD_CC' instead of `HOST_CC'.
842 * New header file <fstab.h> and new functions `getfsspec', `getfsent' and
843 friends, for parsing /etc/fstab. This code comes from 4.4 BSD.
845 * The new function `daemon' from 4.4 BSD is useful for server programs that
846 want to put themselves in the background.
848 * Joel Sherrill has contributed support for several standalone boards that
849 run without an operating system.
851 * `printf', `scanf' and friends now accept a `q' type modifier for long
852 long int as well as `ll'. Formats using these might be `%qu' or `%lld'.
854 * All of the code taken from BSD (notably most of the math and networking
855 routines) has been updated from the BSD 4.4-Lite release.
857 * The resolver code has been updated from the BIND-4.9.3-BETA9 release.
859 * The new functions `getdomainname' and `setdomainname' fetch or change the
860 YP/NIS domain name. These are system calls which exist on systems which
863 * The time zone data files have been updated for the latest international
866 * The SunRPC programs `portmap' and `rpcinfo' are now installed in
867 $(sbindir) (usually /usr/local/sbin) instead of $(bindir).
871 * The C library now includes support for Sun RPC, from Sun's free
872 RPCSRC-4.0 distribution. The `portmap', `rpcinfo', and `rpcgen' programs
873 are included. (There is still no support for YP.)
875 * Tom Quinn has contributed a port of the C library to SGI machines running
876 Irix 4 (mips-sgi-irix4).
878 * The new `lockf' function is a simplified interface to the locking
879 facilities of `fcntl', included for compatibility.
881 * New time functions `timegm', `timelocal', and `dysize' for compatibility.
883 * New header file <sys/timeb.h> and new function `ftime' for compatibility.
885 * New header files <poll.h> and <sys/poll.h> and new function `poll' for
888 * The error message printed by `assert' for a failed assertion now includes
889 the name of the program (if using GNU ld) and the name of the calling
890 function (with versions of GCC that support this).
892 * The `psignal' function is now declared in <signal.h>, not <stdio.h>.
894 * The library now includes the <sys/mman.h> header file and memory
895 management functions `mmap', `munmap', `mprotect', `msync', and
896 `madvise', on systems that support those facilities.
898 * The interface for `mcheck' has changed slightly: the function called to
899 abort the program when an allocation inconsistency is detected now takes
900 an argument that indicates the type of failure. The new function
901 `mprobe' lets you request a consistency check for a particular block at
902 any time (checks are normally done only when you call `free' or `realloc'
905 * It is now possible to easily cross-compile the C library, building on one
906 system a library to run on another machine and/or operating system. All
907 you need to do is set the variable `HOST_CC' in `configparms' to the
908 native compiler for programs to run on the machine you are building on (a
909 few generator programs are used on Unix systems); set `CC' to the
912 * The new function `fexecve' (only implemented on the GNU system) executes
913 a program file given a file descriptor already open on the file.
917 * Brendan Kehoe has contributed most of a port to the DEC Alpha
918 running OSF/1 (alpha-dec-osf1). He says it is 75% complete.
920 * You can set the variable `libprefix' in `configparms' to specify a prefix
921 to be prepended to installed library files; this makes it easy to install
922 the GNU C library to be linked as `-lgnuc' or whatever.
924 * The new `stpncpy' is a cross between `stpcpy' and `strncpy': It
925 copies a limited number of characters from a string, and returns the
926 address of the last character written.
928 * You no longer need to check for whether the installed `stddef.h' is
929 compatible with the GNU C library. configure now checks for you.
931 * You can now define a per-stream `fileno' function to convert the
932 stream's cookie into an integral file descriptor.
934 * ``malloc (0)'' no longer returns a null pointer. Instead, it
935 allocates zero bytes of storage, and returns a unique pointer which
936 you can pass to `realloc' or `free'. The behavior is undefined if
937 you dereference this pointer.
939 * The C library now runs on Sony NEWS m68k machines running either
940 NewsOS 3 or NewsOS 4.
942 * The new `syscall' function is a system-dependent primitive function
943 for invoking system calls. It has the canonical behavior on Unix
944 systems, including unreliable return values for some calls (such as
945 `pipe', `fork' and `getppid').
947 * The error code `EWOULDBLOCK' is now obsolete; it is always defined
948 to `EAGAIN', which is the preferred name. On systems whose kernels
949 use two distinct codes, the C library now translates EWOULDBLOCK to
950 EAGAIN in every system call function.
954 * The GNU C Library Reference Manual is now distributed with the library.
955 `make dvi' will produce a DVI file of the printed manual.
956 `make info' will produce Info files that you can read on line using C-h i
957 in Emacs or the `info' program.
958 Please send comments on the manual to bug-glibc-manual@gnu.org.
960 * The library now supports SVR4 on i386s (i386-unknown-sysv4).
962 * Brendan Kehoe has contributed a port to Sun SPARCs running Solaris 2.
964 * Jason Merrill has contributed a port to the Sequent Symmetry running
965 Dynix version 3 (i386-sequent-dynix).
967 * The library has been ported to i386s running SCO 3.2.4 (also known as SCO
968 ODT 2.0; i386-unknown-sco3.2.4) or SCO 3.2 (i386-unknown-sco3.2).
970 * New function `memory_warnings' lets you arrange to get warnings when
971 malloc is running out of memory to allocate, like Emacs gives you.
973 * The C library now contains the relocating allocator used in Emacs 19 for
974 its editing buffers. This allocator (ralloc) minimizes allocation
975 overhead and fragmentation by moving allocated regions around whenever it
976 needs to. You always refer to a ralloc'd region with a "handle" (a
977 pointer to a pointer--an object of type `void **').
979 * There is a new `printf' format: `%m' gives you the string corresponding
980 to the error code in `errno'.
982 * In `scanf' formats, you can now use `%as' or `%a[' to do the normal `%s'
983 or `%[' conversion, but instead of filling in a fixed-sized buffer you
984 pass, the `a' modifier says to fill in a `char **' you pass with a
987 * The `fnmatch' function supports the new flag bits `FNM_LEADING_DIR' and
988 `FNM_CASEFOLD'. `FNM_LEADING_DIR' lets a pattern like `foo*' match a
989 name like `foo/bar'. `FNM_CASEFOLD' says to ignore case in matching.
991 * `mkstemp' is a traditional Unix function to atomically create and open a
992 uniquely-named temporary file.
996 * The standard location for the file that says what the local timezone is
997 has changed again. It is now `/usr/local/etc/localtime' (or more
998 precisely, `${prefix}/etc/localtime') rather than `/etc/localtime'.
1000 * The distribution no longer contains any files with names longer than 14
1003 * `struct ttyent' has two new flag bits: TTY_TRUSTED and TTY_CONSOLE.
1004 These are set by the new `trusted' and `console' keywords in `/etc/ttys'.
1006 * New functions `ttyslot' and `syslog' from 4.4 BSD.
1010 * The configuration process has changed quite a bit. The `configure'
1011 script is now used just like the configuration scripts for other GNU
1012 packages. The `sysdeps' directory hierarchy is much rearranged.
1013 The file `INSTALL' explains the new scheme in detail.
1015 * The header files no longer need to be processed into ANSI C and
1016 traditional C versions. There is just one set of files to install, and
1017 it will work with ANSI or old C compilers (including `gcc -traditional').
1019 * Brendan Kehoe and Ian Lance Taylor have ported the library to the
1020 MIPS DECStation running Ultrix 4.
1022 * The Sun 4 startup code (crt0) can now properly load SunOS 4 shared libraries.
1023 Tom Quinn contributed the initial code. The GNU C library can NOT yet be
1024 made itself into a shared library.
1026 * Yet further improved support for the i386, running 4.3 BSD-like systems
1027 (such as Mach 3 with the Unix single-server), or System V.
1029 * New function `strncasecmp' to do case-insensitive string comparison
1030 with limited length.
1032 * New function `strsep' is a reentrant alternative to `strtok'.
1034 * New functions `scandir' and `alphasort' for searching directories.
1036 * New function `setenv' is a better interface to `putenv'.
1038 * Ian Lance Taylor has contributed an implementation of the SVID `ftw'
1039 function for traversing a directory tree.
1041 * The GNU obstack package is now also part of the C library.
1042 The new function `open_obstack_stream' creates a stdio stream that
1043 writes onto an obstack; `obstack_printf' and `obstack_vprintf' do
1044 formatted output directly to an obstack.
1046 * Miscellaneous new functions: reboot, nice, sigaltstack (4.4 BSD only),
1047 cfmakeraw, getusershell, getpass, swab, getttyent, seteuid, setegid.
1049 * `FNM_FILE_NAME' is another name for `FNM_PATHNAME', used with `fnmatch'.
1051 * The new functions `strfry' and `memfrob' do mysterious and wonderful
1052 things to your strings.
1054 * There are some new test programs: test-fseek, testmb, and testrand.
1056 * Some work has been done to begin porting the library to 4.4 BSD and Linux.
1057 These ports are not finished, but are a good starting place for really
1058 supporting those systems.
1060 * `/etc/localtime' is now the standard location for the file that says what
1061 the local timezone is, rather than `/usr/local/lib/zoneinfo/localtime'.
1062 This follows the general principle that `/etc' is the place for all local
1063 configuration files.
1065 * The C library header files now use `extern "C"' when used by the C++
1066 compiler, so the C library should now work with C++ code.
1068 * The header file <bstring.h> is gone. <string.h> now declares bcopy,
1069 bcmp, bzero, and ffs.
1071 * Mike Haertel (of GNU e?grep and malloc fame) has written a new sorting
1072 function which uses the `merge sort' algorithm, and is said to be
1073 significantly faster than the old GNU `qsort' function. Merge sort is
1074 now the standard `qsort' function. The new algorithm can require a lot
1075 of temporary storage; so, the old sorting function is called when the
1076 required storage is not available.
1078 * The C library now includes Michael Glad's Ultra Fast Crypt, which
1079 provides the Unix `crypt' function, plus some other entry points.
1080 Because of the United States export restriction on DES implementations,
1081 we are distributing this code separately from the rest of the C library.
1082 There is an extra distribution tar file just for crypt; it is called
1083 `glibc-VERSION-crypt.tar.Z', e.g. `glibc-1.04-crypt.tar.Z'. You can just
1084 unpack the crypt distribution along with the rest of the C library and
1085 build; you can also build the library without getting crypt. Users
1086 outside the USA can get the crypt distribution via anonymous FTP from
1087 ftp.uni-c.dk [129.142.6.74], or another archive site outside the U.S.
1089 * The code and header files taken from 4.4 BSD have been updated with the
1090 latest files released from Berkeley.
1092 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
1093 Copyright information:
1095 Copyright (C) 1992, 93, 94, 95, 96 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
1097 Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim copies
1098 of this document as received, in any medium, provided that the
1099 copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved,
1100 thus giving the recipient permission to redistribute in turn.
1102 Permission is granted to distribute modified versions
1103 of this document, or of portions of it,
1104 under the above conditions, provided also that they
1105 carry prominent notices stating who last changed them.
1108 version-control: never