1 GNU C Library NEWS -- history of user-visible changes. 2001-3-4
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 * Intel's IA-64 math library is largely integrated. It provides fast and
13 accurate implementatations for most basic and standard math functions
14 in float, double, and long double format.
16 * Stephen Moshier implemented j0, j1, jn, y0, y1, yn, and lgamma for the
17 96-bit long double format.
19 * An asynchronous name lookup library was added. The interface is designed
20 after POSIX AIO. The proposal was circulated beforehand to get comments.
21 No negative ones came in. Implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
25 * Lots of headers were cleaned up. Using the tool in the conform/ subdir
26 we can now check for namespace violations and missing declarations. The
27 result is that almost all headers are now Unix-compliant (as defined in
28 the upcoming XPG6). The negative side is that some programs might need
29 corrections, too, if they depend on the incorrect form of the headers in
30 previous versions which defined too many symbols and included too many
33 * regex now handles multibyte character sets correctly.
34 Contributed by Isamu Hasegawa <isamu@yamato.ibm.com>.
36 * iconv (the program) does now conform to the upcoming XPG6 and handles
37 charmaps. Instead of the charset names the path of charmaps can be
38 provided and the conversion happens based on this data.
39 Contributed by Ulrich Drepper.
41 * The locale program now provides detailed information about the installed
46 only lists the names of the supported locales
50 provides details such as country, language, and codeset name.
51 Contributed by Ulrich Drepper.
55 * The gencat program now parses the input file according to the charset
56 selected by the LC_CTYPE category. This is important for stateful
57 character sets. To make generating catalogs easier there is a way
58 to overwrite the charset selected by the locale: before the first
59 message or $ quote line the catalog can contain a line like
63 to select the charset (ISO-8859-2 in this case).
65 Implemented by Shinya Hanataka and Ulrich Drepper.
67 * New codeset conversion modules: IBM-922 (Estonia PC codeset),
68 IBM-1124 (Ukraine PC codeset), IBM-1129 (Vietnamese PC codeset).
69 Contributed by Masahide Washizawa <washi@jp.ibm.com>.
71 * Optimized string functions for Alpha ev6 and ev67 by Richard Henderson
72 <rth@redhat.com> and Rick Gorton <rick.gorton@alpha-processor.com>.
74 * The LANGUAGE environment variable is now ignored unless the locale is
75 changed from the default "C" locale.
77 * The usual bug fixes.
81 * Greg McGary added runtime support for bounds checking using gcc's
82 new -fbounded-pointers option. ix86 target is complete. PowerPC
85 * Thorsten Kukuk added secure mode support to nscd.
87 * The Berkeley db libraries have been removed.
89 Related, the nss_db module is now in a separate package since it
90 obviously requires a database library being available.
92 * Wide character I/O streams implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
94 * Functions from the extended socket API added by Ulrich Drepper.
96 * Functions feenableexcept and fedisableexcept to control the
97 behaviour of individual exceptions have been added by Andreas Jaeger.
99 * ldconfig program added by Andreas Jaeger and Jakub Jelinek.
101 * The resolver code has been updated from bind 8.2.3-T5B which supports
102 threads. The integration was done by Andreas Jaeger, Adam D. Bradley,
105 This change could in some situations effect backward compatibility. Since
106 now `_res' is a thread-local instead of a global variable, modifying it
107 in one thread does not have any effect in other threads.
109 The resolver library was also extended to allow IPv6 as the transport
110 protocol for the requests. This work was done by Stig Venaas.
112 * Compatibility code for K&R C compilers has been removed from the
113 header files. A ISO C compiler is needed to use the library
114 (conforming to either C89 or C99 standard).
116 * Complete rewrite of the localedef program to support multibyte character
117 sets. Implement handling of ISO 14651 and ISO 14652. Rewrite strcoll,
118 strxfrm, wcscoll, and wcsxfrm functions. Make isw*() functions work.
119 Implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
121 Bruno Haible significantly improved the generation and use of the data
122 structures for the wide character tables.
124 * Plural handling in gettext implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
126 * The utmp daemon has been removed.
128 * The port to MIPS-Linux has been finished by Andreas Jaeger.
130 * A port to Hitachi SH3 and SH4 has been contributed by Kazumoto Kojima
133 * POSIX clocks and timers implemented by Kaz Kylheku and Ulrich Drepper.
135 * POSIX barriers implemented by Kaz Kylheku.
137 * POSIX spawn function family implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
139 * POSIX spinlocks are now available.
141 * Timed wait functions for mutex, rwlock, and semaphores are implemented.
143 * the configure option --enable-kernel=X.Y.Z allows to strip out
144 compatibility for kernel versions before X.Y.Z. This is currently only
145 implemented for Linux.
147 * the sockaddr_in6 structure changed. The IPv6 working group added a new
148 field sin6_scope_id. This means that all programs using IPv6 should be
149 recompiled. Don't expect binary compatibility with previous glibc
152 * various conversion modules for IBM character sets contributed by
155 * IA-64 port by Jes Sorensen and HJ Lu.
157 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
158 Compiling the GNU C Library for Linux/ia64
159 ******************************************
161 Please refer to the file INSTALL in the same directory as you found
162 this file for general information about configuring and compiling
165 For general inquiries about glibc under Linux/ia64 please use the
166 following mailing list linux-ia64@linuxia64.org or one of the relevant
169 Recommended Tools for Compilation
170 =================================
172 In order for glibc-2.2 to build correctly on the ia64 you need at
173 least the following versions of the GNU tools (the :
175 * The Cygnus toolchain snapshot for the ia64 as of August 4
176 including the provided set of patches. It is however recommend
177 you use the October 24 toolchain snapshot or a more recent version.
179 OR alternatively you can try the following (the Cygnus toolchain is
180 the recommended solution):
182 * GCC and binutils, GAS and GNU LD out of CVS from
183 sources.redhat.com as of August 28, 2000 or later. The CVS tree
184 may require special patches to work properly on the ia64.
186 Configuring and compiling GNU Libc for Linux/ia64
187 =================================================
189 The library requires Linux kernel version 2.4.0-test4-000728 or
190 later to funtion properly. Besides that it support for debug libraries
191 is currently untested. Hence the following options
192 are required for configuring the library:
194 --disable-debug --enable-kernel=2.4.0
196 It is also important that you make sure the library picks up the
197 appropriate kernel header files, if you do not have recent enough
198 kernel headers in /usr/src/linux/include, you should use the
199 --with-headers=<path> option to specify the location.
201 As an example I personally use the following options to configure
206 --enable-kernel=2.4.0
210 --with-headers=/home/jes/linux/include
215 Jes Sorensen <jes@linuxcare.com>,
217 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
231 * New ISO C 9x function _Exit, imaxabs, and imaxdiv are added.
233 * New xdr functions are added; some rpc functions are now 64bit clean.
235 * Fixed a number of bugs and memory leaks (especially in NIS+ code).
237 * Fixed known incompatibilities with glibc 2.0.
239 * New functions lock64, strchrnul, rawmemchr, getutmp and getutmpx.
241 * Optimized a number of functions (especially the ELF dynamic loader).
243 * Update timezone data files.
245 * lots of charmaps corrections
247 * some new locale definitions and charmaps
252 * Richard Henderson corrected size of struct timeval on Linux/Alpha to
253 conform to POSIX member type requirements. Symbol versions have been
254 adjusted as needed within the library, and for direct use by applications,
255 but there is potential for problems if third-party libraries use
256 struct timeval as part of their interface. This does not present
257 a problem for X and other "essential" system libraries.
259 * An additional locale model to support C++ Standard Library locale
260 model and probably more was implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
262 * Eric Youngdale and Ulrich Drepper implemented versioning of objects on
265 * Miles Bader provided the `argp' function family to support hierachical
266 command line argument parsing, layered on top of getopt.
268 * strtod accepts new hexadecimal floating-point format from ISO C 9X.
270 * printf has two new specifiers %a and %A to print hexadecimal flaoting-point
273 * scanf recognizes the %a and %A format for scanning floating point numbers.
275 * the new headers <stdint.h> and <inttypes.h> from ISO C 9X provides
276 information and interfaces for the available integer types.
278 * about 130 new math functions were added to implement the ISO C9x math
281 * the new header <complex.h> contains definitions of the complex math
282 functions from ISO C 9X.
284 * the new header <tgmath.h> defines generic macros to use complex or
285 real valued functions.
287 * Thorsten Kukuk provided an implementation for NIS+, securelevel 0, 1 and 2.
289 * Andreas Jaeger provided a test suite for the math library.
291 * Mark Kettenis implemented the utmpx interface and an utmp daemon.
293 * Ulrich Drepper added character set conversion functions (iconv).
295 * Optimized string functions have been added.
297 * The localedata addon is now part of glibc.
299 * An implementation of profiling shared libraries was added by Ulrich Drepper.
301 * Thorsten Kukuk and Ulrich Drepper provided an implementation for a caching
302 daemon for NSS (nscd).
304 Missing a better place here are some numbers on improvements. Under
305 Linux 2.1.125 un-tar-ing the kernel sources takes
309 using local files 12.19s 6.88s 22.91s
311 using NIS 13.92s 8.91s 26.34s
313 using NIS & nscd 10.37s 7.34s 25.30s
315 using NIS+ 27.57s 30.37s 640.46s
317 using NIS+ & nscd 10.25s 7.83s 26.51s
319 using NIS & old nscd [1] 13.83s 8.32s 29.60s
321 Keep in mind that non-namelookup related operations dominate above times.
322 It was just a common complain that using NIS+ unpacking the kernel is
325 [1] The old nscd implementation is not available anymore since it was
326 distributed with glibc up to version 2.0.98 and thus is now replaced.
328 * Tim Waugh provided an implementation of the POSIX.2 wordexp function family.
330 * Mark Kettenis provided a Hesiod NSS module.
332 * The ELF dynamic loader knows how to process dynamic string tokens ($ORIGIN
333 and $PLATFORM) in RPATHs and similar strings (Ulrich Drepper).
335 * rcmd can now handle netgroups (Dick Streefland).
337 * A port to the ARM was contributed by Phil Blundell, Pat Beirne and Scott
340 * Support for the IPv6 protocol has been added to the socket API, as per the
341 latest draft standards.
343 * Support for Linux 2.2 has been added.
345 * Interface changes relative to the latest 2.0.x release:
346 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
347 addseverity NEW: Unix98
349 argp_err_exit_status NEW: argp, GNU ext
350 argp_error NEW: argp, GNU ext
351 argp_failure NEW: argp, GNU ext
352 argp_help NEW: argp, GNU ext
353 argp_parse NEW: argp, GNU ext
354 argp_program_bug_address NEW: argp, GNU ext
355 argp_program_version NEW: argp, GNU ext
356 argp_program_version_hook NEW: argp, GNU ext
357 argp_state_help NEW: argp, GNU ext
358 argp_usage NEW: argp, GNU ext
359 authdes_create NEW: Secure RPC
360 authdes_getucred NEW: Secure RPC
361 authdes_pk_create NEW: Secure RPC
362 backtrace NEW: GNU ext.
363 backtrace_symbols NEW: GNU ext.
364 backtrace_symbols_fd NEW: GNU ext.
368 cacoshf NEW: ISO C 9x
369 cacoshl NEW: ISO C 9x
379 casinhf NEW: ISO C 9x
380 casinhl NEW: ISO C 9x
385 catanhf NEW: ISO C 9x
386 catanhl NEW: ISO C 9x
388 cbc_crypt NEW: Secure RPC
401 clearerr_locked REMOVED
402 clntunix_create NEW: sunrpc ext
405 clog10f NEW: ISO C 9x
406 clog10l NEW: ISO C 9x
437 des_setparity NEW: Secure RPC
438 ecb_crypt NEW: Secure RPC
439 endutxent NEW: Unix98
451 feclearexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
452 fegetenv NEW: ISO C 9x
453 fegetexceptflag NEW: ISO C 9x
454 fegetround NEW: ISO C 9x
455 feholdexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
457 feraiseexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
458 ferror_locked REMOVED
459 fesetenv NEW: ISO C 9x
460 fesetexceptflag NEW: ISO C 9x
461 fesetround NEW: ISO C 9x
462 fetestexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
463 feupdateenv NEW: ISO C 9x
464 fflush_locked REMOVED
468 fgets_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
469 fileno_locked REMOVED
482 fputs_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
483 fread_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
494 fwrite_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
495 gai_strerror NEW: IPv6
499 getchar_locked REMOVED
501 getdate_err NEW: Unix98
502 getdate_r NEW: GNU ext.
504 getnameinfo NEW: IPv6
505 getnetname NEW: Secure RPC
507 getpt NEW: Unix98 PTY
509 getutxent NEW: Unix98
511 getutxline NEW: Unix98
513 globfree64 NEW: GNU ext.
514 gnu_get_libc_release NEW: GNU ext.
515 gnu_get_libc_version NEW: GNU ext.
516 grantpt NEW: Unix98 PTY
517 host2netname NEW: Secure RPC
519 iconv_close NEW: iconv
520 iconv_open NEW: iconv
521 if_freenameindex NEW: IPv6
522 if_indextoname NEW: IPv6
523 if_nameindex NEW: IPv6
524 if_nametoindex NEW: IPv6
525 in6addr_any NEW: IPv6
526 in6addr_loopback NEW: IPv6
527 inet6_isipv4mapped NEW: IPv6
528 isastream NEW: STREAMS
529 iswblank NEW: GNU ext.
530 key_decryptsession NEW: Secure RPC
531 key_decryptsession_pk NEW: Secure RPC
532 key_encryptsession NEW: Secure RPC
533 key_encryptsession_pk NEW: Secure RPC
534 key_gendes NEW: Secure RPC
535 key_get_conv NEW: Secure RPC
536 key_secretkey_is_set NEW: Secure RPC
537 key_setnet NEW: Secure RPC
538 key_setsecret NEW: Secure RPC
540 llrintf NEW: ISO C 9x
541 llrintl NEW: ISO C 9x
542 llround NEW: ISO C 9x
543 llroundf NEW: ISO C 9x
544 llroundl NEW: ISO C 9x
552 lroundf NEW: ISO C 9x
553 lroundl NEW: ISO C 9x
555 makecontext NEW: Unix98
556 mempcpy NEW: GNU ext.
559 modify_ldt NEW: kernel
563 nearbyint NEW: ISO C 9x
564 nearbyintf NEW: ISO C 9x
565 nearbyintl NEW: ISO C 9x
566 netname2host NEW: Secure RPC
567 netname2user NEW: Secure RPC
568 nexttoward NEW: ISO C 9x
569 nexttowardf NEW: ISO C 9x
570 nexttowardl NEW: ISO C 9x
574 passwd2des NEW: Secure RPC
580 printf_size NEW: GNU ext.
581 printf_size_info NEW: GNU ext.
582 profil_counter REMOVED
583 pthread_mutexattr_getkind_np REPLACED
584 pthread_mutexattr_setkind_np REPLACED
585 ptsname NEW: Unix98 PTY
586 ptsname_r NEW: Unix98 PTY
588 putchar_locked REMOVED
589 putgrent NEW: GNU ext.
592 pututxline NEW: Unix98
598 remquof NEW: ISO C 9x
599 remquol NEW: ISO C 9x
604 scalbln NEW: ISO C 9x
605 scalblnf NEW: ISO C 9x
606 scalblnl NEW: ISO C 9x
609 setcontext NEW: Unix98
611 setutxent NEW: Unix98
613 sigignore NEW: Unix98
614 sigqueue NEW: POSIX.1b
617 sigtimedwait NEW: POSIX.1b
618 sigwaitinfo NEW: POSIX.1b
620 sincosf NEW: GNU ext.
621 sincosl NEW: GNU ext.
625 strcasestr NEW: GNU ext.
626 strtoimax NEW: ISO C 9x
627 strtoumax NEW: ISO C 9x
628 strverscmp NEW: GNU ext.
629 svcauthdes_stats NEW: Secure RPC
630 svcunix_create NEW: sunrpc etx
631 svcunixfd_create NEW: sunrpc ext
632 swapcontext NEW: Unix98
633 tcgetsid NEW: Unix98 PTY
634 tdestroy NEW: GNU ext.
636 tgammaf NEW: ISO C 9x
637 tgammal NEW: ISO C 9x
644 unlockpt NEW: Unix98 PTY
646 user2netname NEW: Secure RPC
647 utmpxname NEW: Unix98
648 versionsort NEW: GNU ext.
649 versionsort64 NEW: GNU ext.
651 wcscasecmp NEW: GNU ext.
652 wcsncasecmp NEW: GNU ext.
653 wcsnlen NEW: GNU ext.
654 wcstoimax NEW: ISO C 9x
655 wcstoll NEW: ISO C 9x
656 wcstoull NEW: ISO C 9x
657 wcstoumax NEW: ISO C 9x
660 wordfree NEW: POSIX.2
661 write_profiling REMOVED
662 xdecrypt NEW: Secure RPC
663 xdr_authdes_cred NEW: Secure RPC
664 xdr_authdes_verf NEW: Secure RPC
665 xdr_cryptkeyarg NEW: Secure RPC
666 xdr_cryptkeyarg2 NEW: Secure RPC
667 xdr_cryptkeyres NEW: Secure RPC
668 xdr_getcredres NEW: Secure RPC
669 xdr_key_netstarg NEW: Secure RPC
670 xdr_key_netstres NEW: Secure RPC
671 xdr_keybuf NEW: Secure RPC
672 xdr_keystatus NEW: Secure RPC
673 xdr_netnamestr NEW: Secure RPC
674 xdr_sizeof NEW: Secure RPC
675 xdr_unixcred NEW: sunrpc ext
676 xencrypt NEW: Secure RPC
677 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
688 * inet_ntoa is thread-safe
690 * updwtmp is moved from libutil to libc
692 * rewrite of cbrt function
694 * update of timezone data
710 * fix complex problems in Berkeley DB code
716 * fixed lots of header problems (especially Linux/GNU specific)
718 * dynamic loader preserves all registers
720 * Roland McGrath provided support for handling of auxiliary objects in
721 the ELF dynamic loader.
723 * support for parallel builds is improved
727 * GNU extensions are no longer declared by default. To enable them you
728 must define the macro `_GNU_SOURCE' in your program or compile with
731 * The library has changed from using GNU ld symbol aliases to using weak
732 symbols where available. The ELF object file format supports weak
733 symbols; GNU ld also supports weak symbols in the a.out format. (There
734 is also now support for other GNU ld extensions in ELF. Use the
735 `--with-elf' option to configure to indicate you have ELF, and
736 `--with-gnu-ld' if using GNU ld.) This change resulted in the deletion
737 of many files which contained only symbol aliases, reducing the size of
738 the source and the compiled library; many other files were renamed to
739 less cryptic names previously occupied by the symbol alias files.
740 There is a new header file <elf.h> for programs which operate on
741 files in the ELF format.
743 * Converted to Autoconf version 2, so `configure' has more options.
744 Run `configure --help' to see the details.
746 * The library can now be configured to build profiling, highly-optimized
747 (but undebuggable), and/or shared libraries (ELF with GNU ld only). The
748 `--enable-profile', `--enable-omitfp', and `--enable-shared' options to
749 `configure' enable building these extra libraries. The shared library is
750 built by default when using both ELF and GNU ld. When shared libraries
751 are enabled, the new library `-ldl' is available for arbitrary run-time
752 loading of shared objects; its interface is defined in <dlfcn.h>. The
753 new header file <link.h> gives access to the internals of the run-time
754 dynamic linker, `ld.so'. The shell script `ldd' is similar to the
755 application of same name on other systems and it provides information
756 about dynamically linked binaries.
758 * The C library now provides the run-time support code for profiling
759 executables compiled with `-pg'. Programs can control the profiling code
760 through the interface in <sys/gmon.h>. The `gmon.out' files written by
761 the GNU C library can be read only by GNU `gprof' (from GNU binutils);
762 the support for this file format was contributed by David Mosberger-Tang.
764 * The math code has been replaced with a math library based on fdlibm from
765 Sun, and modified by JT Conklin and Ulrich Drepper with i387 support, by
766 Ian Taylor with `float' functions and by Ulrich Drepper with `long double'
767 functions. The math functions now reside in a separate library, so
768 programs using them will need to use `-lm' their linking commands.
770 * John C. Bowman contributed optimized ix87 assembler inline functions.
772 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed support for an `/etc/nsswitch.conf'
773 mechanism similar to that found in Solaris 2. This is now used for the
774 group, passwd, hosts, networks, services, protocols, rpc, ethers,
775 shadow, netgroup, publickey, and alias databases. The `nsswitch.conf'
776 file controls what services are used for each individual database. This
777 works by loading shared libraries with names specified in `nsswitch.conf',
778 so service modules can be changed or added at any time without even
779 relinking any program. Currently there are the file, db, and NIS based
780 NSS services available.
782 * The new functions `strtoq' and `strtouq' parse integer values from
783 strings, like `strtol' and `strtoul', but they return `long long int' and
784 `unsigned long long int' values, respectively (64-bit quantities).
786 * The new functions `strtof' and `strtold' parse floating-point values from
787 strings, like `strtod', but they return `float' and `long double' values,
788 respectively (on some machines `double' and `long double' are the same).
790 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new implementations of the floating-point
791 printing and reading code used in the `printf' family of functions and
792 `strtod', `strtof', and `strtold'. These new functions are perfectly
793 accurate, and much faster than the old ones.
795 * The implementation of the POSIX locale model was completely rewritten by
796 Ulrich Drepper. This includes the new programs `localedef' and `locale'
797 to compile the POSIX locale definition.
799 * The former dummy implementations of the strcoll and strxfrm function are
800 now replaced by fully functional code contributed by Ulrich Drepper. The
801 collation information comes from the POSIX locale definitions.
803 * The new header <langinfo.h> defines an interface for accessing
804 various locale-dependent data (using the locale chosen with `setlocale').
806 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed a new suite of functions for operation on
807 wide-character and multibyte-character strings, in <wchar.h>;
808 and classification and case conversion of wide characters, in <wctype.h>.
809 These new functions are conforming to the ISO C, Amendement 1 specification.
811 * There is now a second implementation of the standard I/O library available.
812 It comes from GNU libg++ as was written by Per Bothner, heavily modified
813 by Hongjiu Lu and made thread safe by Ulrich Drepper.
815 * You can now use positional parameter specifications in format strings
816 for the `printf' and `scanf' families of functions. For example,
817 `printf ("Number %2$d, Mr %1$s\n", "Jones", 6);'' prints
818 ``Number 6, Mr Jones''. This is mainly useful when providing different
819 format strings for different languages, whose grammars may dictate
820 different orderings of the values being printed. To support this
821 feature, the interface for `register_printf_handler' has changed; see
822 the header file <printf.h> for details.
824 * The `printf' and `scanf' families of functions now understand a new
825 formatting flag for numeric conversions: the ' flag (e.g. %'d or %'f) says
826 to group numbers as indicated by the locale; for `scanf' and friends, this
827 says to accept as valid only a number with all the proper grouping
828 separators in the right places. In the default "C" locale, numbers are
829 not grouped; but locales for specific countries will define the usual
830 conventions (i.e. separate thousands with `,' in the US locale).
832 * The pgrp functions have been regularized, slightly incompatibly but much
833 less confusingly. The core functions are now `getpgid' and `setpgid',
834 which take arguments for the PID to operate on; the POSIX.1 `getpgrp' (no
835 argument) and BSD `setpgrp' (identical to `setpgid') functions are
836 provided for compatibility. There is no longer an incompatible `getpgrp'
837 with an argument declared under _BSD_SOURCE; no BSD code uses it.
839 * The new header file <fts.h> and suite of functions simplify programs that
840 operate on directory trees. This code comes from 4.4 BSD.
842 * The resolver code has been updated from the BIND 4.9.5-P1 release.
843 Parts of the code were heavily modified by Ulrich Drepper to fit in the
844 NSS scheme used in glibc.
846 * There is a new malloc debugging hook `__memalign_hook'.
848 * There are new typedefs `ushort' for `unsigned short int' and `uint' for
849 `unsigned int' in <sys/types.h>. These are for compatibility only and
850 their use is discouraged.
852 * The `-lmcheck' library to enable standard malloc debugging hooks is now
853 done differently, so that it works even without GNU ld.
855 * New function `euidaccess' checks allowed access to a file like `access',
856 but using the effective IDs instead of the real IDs.
858 * The time zone data files have been updated for the latest and greatest
859 local time conventions of the countries of the world.
861 * The new function `dirfd' extracts the file descriptor used by a DIR stream;
864 * The new functions `ecvt', `fcvt', and `gcvt' provide an obsolete interface
865 for formatting floating-point numbers. They are provided only for
866 compatibility; new programs should use `sprintf' instead. There are
867 also equivalent function for the `long double' floating-point type and
868 all functions also exist in a reentrant form.
870 * The new auxiliary library `-lutil' from 4.4 BSD contains various
871 functions for maintaining the login-record files (primarily of use to
872 system programs such as `login'), and convenient functions for
873 allocating and initializing a pseudo-terminal (pty) device.
875 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new support for System V style
876 shared memory and IPC on systems that support it.
878 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed several miscellaneous new functions found
879 in System V: The `hsearch' family of functions provide an effective
880 implementation of hash tables; `a64l' and `l64a' provide a very simple
881 binary to ASCII mapping; `drand48' and friends provide a 48-bit random
884 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new reentrant counterparts for the
885 `random' and `hsearch' families of functions; `random_r', `hsearch_r', etc.
887 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new, highly-optimized versions of several
888 string functions for the i486/Pentium family of processors.
890 * Ulrich Drepper has updated the Linux-specific code, based largely
891 on work done in Hongjiu Lu's version of GNU libc for Linux.
892 The GNU library now supports Linux versions 2.0.10 and later,
893 using the ELF object file format (i[3456]86-*-linux).
895 * Andreas Schwab has ported the C library to Linux/m68k (m68k-*-linux).
897 * David Mosberger-Tang and Richard Henderson have ported the C library
898 to Linux/Alpha (alpha-*-linux). Richard Henderson contributed the
899 dynamic linking support for ELF/Alpha.
901 * Richard Henderson contributed several Alpha optimized assembler function
902 for arithmetic and string handling.
904 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed a new set of message catalog functions to
905 support multiple languages using the <libintl.h> interface, for use with
906 his new package GNU gettext. Translation volunteers have contributed
907 catalogs of the library's messages in Spanish, German, and Korean.
909 * For compatibility with XPG4, Ulrich Drepper has contributed the `gencat'
910 program and the `catgets' function for reading the catalog files it
911 creates. (The <libintl.h> interface is preferred; we include the
912 <nl_types.h> interface using `catgets' only for source compatibility with
913 programs already written to use it.)
915 * New header file <values.h> gives SVID-compatible names for <limits.h>
918 * Various new macros, declarations, and small header files for compatibility
921 * New function `group_member' is a convenient way to check if a process has
922 a given effective group ID.
924 * When using GCC 2.7 and later, the socket functions are now declared in a
925 special way so that passing an argument of type `struct sockaddr_in *',
926 `struct sockaddr_ns *', or `struct sockaddr_un *' instead of the generic
927 `struct sockaddr *' type, does not generate a type-clash warning.
929 * New function `error' declared in header file <error.h> is a convenient
930 function for printing error messages and optionally exiting; this is the
931 canonical function used in GNU programs. The new functions `err', `warn',
932 and friends in header file <err.h> are the canonical 4.4 BSD interface for
933 doing the same thing.
935 * The <glob.h> interface has several new flags from 4.4 BSD that extend the
936 POSIX.2 `glob' function to do ~ and {...} expansion.
938 * New function `unsetenv' complements `setenv' for compatibility with 4.4 BSD.
939 `clearenv' which is used in POSIX.9 is also available.
941 * New function `getsid' returns session ID number on systems that support it.
943 * We have incorporated the 4.4 BSD `db' library (version 1.85). New header
944 files <db.h> and <mpool.h> provide a rich set of functions for several
945 types of simple databases stored in memory and in files, and <ndbm.h> is
946 an old `ndbm'-compatible interface using the `db' functions. Link with
947 `-ldb' to get these functions.
949 * New macro `strdupa' copies a string like `strdup', but uses local stack
950 space from `alloca' instead of dynamic heap space from `malloc'.
952 * New function `strnlen' is like `strlen' but searches only a given maximum
953 number of characters for the null terminator. `stpncpy', `strndup' and
954 `strndupa' are similar variants for the `stpcpy', `strdup' and `strdupa'
957 * New function `statfs' in header <sys/statfs.h>.
959 * The new <argz.h> and <envz.h> interfaces contributed by Miles Bader
960 provide convenient functions for operating on blocks of null-terminated
963 * A new suite of functions in <utmp.h> handle all the details of reading
964 and writing the utmp file.
966 * An implementation of the NIS/YP(tm) based NSS service was contributed by
969 * Paul Eggert and Ulrich Drepper modified the `strftime' function to be
970 completely POSIX compliant and also implemented the extended functionality
971 to handle alternate digit representation and alternate era date formats.
973 * Ulrich Drepper provided an implementation of the `strptime' function
974 defined in XPG4.2 which transforms a string into a `struct tm' value.
976 * Paul Eggert provided the tzselect shell script as part of the timezone
977 code. The shell script makes it easy to select the correct timezone
980 * The implementation of the malloc family of functions is completely replaced
981 by a new implementation by Doug Lea with many improvements by Wolfram Gloger.
982 The implementation uses the mmap function (if available) and it is
983 optimized for the use in multi threaded programs.
985 * Ulrich Drepper contributed a MD5 "encryption" for the crypt family of
986 functions. This new functionality is usable by specifying a special
987 salt string and it is compatible with implementation on *BSD systems.
989 * Lots of functions from the XPG4.2 standard were added by Ulrich Drepper:
990 `getsubopt' to handle second level command line options, `bsd_signal'
991 to access BSD style `signal' functionality, the obsolete `regexp' style
994 * the `lchown' function is available on system which support this
997 * The implementation of the shadow password handling function was contributed
1000 * David Mosberger-Tang changed the SunRPC implementation to be 64bit safe.
1002 * POSIX.1g support was added. The <sys/select.h> header is available,
1003 `isfdtype' and `pselect' are implemented. Craig Metz contributed an
1004 implementation of `getaddrinfo'.
1008 * For cross-compilation you should now set `BUILD_CC' instead of `HOST_CC'.
1010 * New header file <fstab.h> and new functions `getfsspec', `getfsent' and
1011 friends, for parsing /etc/fstab. This code comes from 4.4 BSD.
1013 * The new function `daemon' from 4.4 BSD is useful for server programs that
1014 want to put themselves in the background.
1016 * Joel Sherrill has contributed support for several standalone boards that
1017 run without an operating system.
1019 * `printf', `scanf' and friends now accept a `q' type modifier for long
1020 long int as well as `ll'. Formats using these might be `%qu' or `%lld'.
1022 * All of the code taken from BSD (notably most of the math and networking
1023 routines) has been updated from the BSD 4.4-Lite release.
1025 * The resolver code has been updated from the BIND-4.9.3-BETA9 release.
1027 * The new functions `getdomainname' and `setdomainname' fetch or change the
1028 YP/NIS domain name. These are system calls which exist on systems which
1031 * The time zone data files have been updated for the latest international
1034 * The SunRPC programs `portmap' and `rpcinfo' are now installed in
1035 $(sbindir) (usually /usr/local/sbin) instead of $(bindir).
1039 * The C library now includes support for Sun RPC, from Sun's free
1040 RPCSRC-4.0 distribution. The `portmap', `rpcinfo', and `rpcgen' programs
1041 are included. (There is still no support for YP.)
1043 * Tom Quinn has contributed a port of the C library to SGI machines running
1044 Irix 4 (mips-sgi-irix4).
1046 * The new `lockf' function is a simplified interface to the locking
1047 facilities of `fcntl', included for compatibility.
1049 * New time functions `timegm', `timelocal', and `dysize' for compatibility.
1051 * New header file <sys/timeb.h> and new function `ftime' for compatibility.
1053 * New header files <poll.h> and <sys/poll.h> and new function `poll' for
1056 * The error message printed by `assert' for a failed assertion now includes
1057 the name of the program (if using GNU ld) and the name of the calling
1058 function (with versions of GCC that support this).
1060 * The `psignal' function is now declared in <signal.h>, not <stdio.h>.
1062 * The library now includes the <sys/mman.h> header file and memory
1063 management functions `mmap', `munmap', `mprotect', `msync', and
1064 `madvise', on systems that support those facilities.
1066 * The interface for `mcheck' has changed slightly: the function called to
1067 abort the program when an allocation inconsistency is detected now takes
1068 an argument that indicates the type of failure. The new function
1069 `mprobe' lets you request a consistency check for a particular block at
1070 any time (checks are normally done only when you call `free' or `realloc'
1073 * It is now possible to easily cross-compile the C library, building on one
1074 system a library to run on another machine and/or operating system. All
1075 you need to do is set the variable `HOST_CC' in `configparms' to the
1076 native compiler for programs to run on the machine you are building on (a
1077 few generator programs are used on Unix systems); set `CC' to the
1080 * The new function `fexecve' (only implemented on the GNU system) executes
1081 a program file given a file descriptor already open on the file.
1085 * Brendan Kehoe has contributed most of a port to the DEC Alpha
1086 running OSF/1 (alpha-dec-osf1). He says it is 75% complete.
1088 * You can set the variable `libprefix' in `configparms' to specify a prefix
1089 to be prepended to installed library files; this makes it easy to install
1090 the GNU C library to be linked as `-lgnuc' or whatever.
1092 * The new `stpncpy' is a cross between `stpcpy' and `strncpy': It
1093 copies a limited number of characters from a string, and returns the
1094 address of the last character written.
1096 * You no longer need to check for whether the installed `stddef.h' is
1097 compatible with the GNU C library. configure now checks for you.
1099 * You can now define a per-stream `fileno' function to convert the
1100 stream's cookie into an integral file descriptor.
1102 * ``malloc (0)'' no longer returns a null pointer. Instead, it
1103 allocates zero bytes of storage, and returns a unique pointer which
1104 you can pass to `realloc' or `free'. The behavior is undefined if
1105 you dereference this pointer.
1107 * The C library now runs on Sony NEWS m68k machines running either
1108 NewsOS 3 or NewsOS 4.
1110 * The new `syscall' function is a system-dependent primitive function
1111 for invoking system calls. It has the canonical behavior on Unix
1112 systems, including unreliable return values for some calls (such as
1113 `pipe', `fork' and `getppid').
1115 * The error code `EWOULDBLOCK' is now obsolete; it is always defined
1116 to `EAGAIN', which is the preferred name. On systems whose kernels
1117 use two distinct codes, the C library now translates EWOULDBLOCK to
1118 EAGAIN in every system call function.
1122 * The GNU C Library Reference Manual is now distributed with the library.
1123 `make dvi' will produce a DVI file of the printed manual.
1124 `make info' will produce Info files that you can read on line using C-h i
1125 in Emacs or the `info' program.
1126 Please send comments on the manual to bug-glibc-manual@gnu.org.
1128 * The library now supports SVR4 on i386s (i386-unknown-sysv4).
1130 * Brendan Kehoe has contributed a port to Sun SPARCs running Solaris 2.
1132 * Jason Merrill has contributed a port to the Sequent Symmetry running
1133 Dynix version 3 (i386-sequent-dynix).
1135 * The library has been ported to i386s running SCO 3.2.4 (also known as SCO
1136 ODT 2.0; i386-unknown-sco3.2.4) or SCO 3.2 (i386-unknown-sco3.2).
1138 * New function `memory_warnings' lets you arrange to get warnings when
1139 malloc is running out of memory to allocate, like Emacs gives you.
1141 * The C library now contains the relocating allocator used in Emacs 19 for
1142 its editing buffers. This allocator (ralloc) minimizes allocation
1143 overhead and fragmentation by moving allocated regions around whenever it
1144 needs to. You always refer to a ralloc'd region with a "handle" (a
1145 pointer to a pointer--an object of type `void **').
1147 * There is a new `printf' format: `%m' gives you the string corresponding
1148 to the error code in `errno'.
1150 * In `scanf' formats, you can now use `%as' or `%a[' to do the normal `%s'
1151 or `%[' conversion, but instead of filling in a fixed-sized buffer you
1152 pass, the `a' modifier says to fill in a `char **' you pass with a
1155 * The `fnmatch' function supports the new flag bits `FNM_LEADING_DIR' and
1156 `FNM_CASEFOLD'. `FNM_LEADING_DIR' lets a pattern like `foo*' match a
1157 name like `foo/bar'. `FNM_CASEFOLD' says to ignore case in matching.
1159 * `mkstemp' is a traditional Unix function to atomically create and open a
1160 uniquely-named temporary file.
1164 * The standard location for the file that says what the local timezone is
1165 has changed again. It is now `/usr/local/etc/localtime' (or more
1166 precisely, `${prefix}/etc/localtime') rather than `/etc/localtime'.
1168 * The distribution no longer contains any files with names longer than 14
1171 * `struct ttyent' has two new flag bits: TTY_TRUSTED and TTY_CONSOLE.
1172 These are set by the new `trusted' and `console' keywords in `/etc/ttys'.
1174 * New functions `ttyslot' and `syslog' from 4.4 BSD.
1178 * The configuration process has changed quite a bit. The `configure'
1179 script is now used just like the configuration scripts for other GNU
1180 packages. The `sysdeps' directory hierarchy is much rearranged.
1181 The file `INSTALL' explains the new scheme in detail.
1183 * The header files no longer need to be processed into ANSI C and
1184 traditional C versions. There is just one set of files to install, and
1185 it will work with ANSI or old C compilers (including `gcc -traditional').
1187 * Brendan Kehoe and Ian Lance Taylor have ported the library to the
1188 MIPS DECStation running Ultrix 4.
1190 * The Sun 4 startup code (crt0) can now properly load SunOS 4 shared libraries.
1191 Tom Quinn contributed the initial code. The GNU C library can NOT yet be
1192 made itself into a shared library.
1194 * Yet further improved support for the i386, running 4.3 BSD-like systems
1195 (such as Mach 3 with the Unix single-server), or System V.
1197 * New function `strncasecmp' to do case-insensitive string comparison
1198 with limited length.
1200 * New function `strsep' is a reentrant alternative to `strtok'.
1202 * New functions `scandir' and `alphasort' for searching directories.
1204 * New function `setenv' is a better interface to `putenv'.
1206 * Ian Lance Taylor has contributed an implementation of the SVID `ftw'
1207 function for traversing a directory tree.
1209 * The GNU obstack package is now also part of the C library.
1210 The new function `open_obstack_stream' creates a stdio stream that
1211 writes onto an obstack; `obstack_printf' and `obstack_vprintf' do
1212 formatted output directly to an obstack.
1214 * Miscellaneous new functions: reboot, nice, sigaltstack (4.4 BSD only),
1215 cfmakeraw, getusershell, getpass, swab, getttyent, seteuid, setegid.
1217 * `FNM_FILE_NAME' is another name for `FNM_PATHNAME', used with `fnmatch'.
1219 * The new functions `strfry' and `memfrob' do mysterious and wonderful
1220 things to your strings.
1222 * There are some new test programs: test-fseek, testmb, and testrand.
1224 * Some work has been done to begin porting the library to 4.4 BSD and Linux.
1225 These ports are not finished, but are a good starting place for really
1226 supporting those systems.
1228 * `/etc/localtime' is now the standard location for the file that says what
1229 the local timezone is, rather than `/usr/local/lib/zoneinfo/localtime'.
1230 This follows the general principle that `/etc' is the place for all local
1231 configuration files.
1233 * The C library header files now use `extern "C"' when used by the C++
1234 compiler, so the C library should now work with C++ code.
1236 * The header file <bstring.h> is gone. <string.h> now declares bcopy,
1237 bcmp, bzero, and ffs. (Update: nowadays these functions are declared
1240 * Mike Haertel (of GNU e?grep and malloc fame) has written a new sorting
1241 function which uses the `merge sort' algorithm, and is said to be
1242 significantly faster than the old GNU `qsort' function. Merge sort is
1243 now the standard `qsort' function. The new algorithm can require a lot
1244 of temporary storage; so, the old sorting function is called when the
1245 required storage is not available.
1247 * The C library now includes Michael Glad's Ultra Fast Crypt, which
1248 provides the Unix `crypt' function, plus some other entry points.
1250 * The code and header files taken from 4.4 BSD have been updated with the
1251 latest files released from Berkeley.
1253 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
1254 Copyright information:
1256 Copyright (C) 1992-1999, 2000 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
1258 Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim copies
1259 of this document as received, in any medium, provided that the
1260 copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved,
1261 thus giving the recipient permission to redistribute in turn.
1263 Permission is granted to distribute modified versions
1264 of this document, or of portions of it,
1265 under the above conditions, provided also that they
1266 carry prominent notices stating who last changed them.
1269 version-control: never