1 GNU C Library NEWS -- history of user-visible changes. 2000-07-01
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
50 * POSIX clocks and timers implemented by Kaz Kylheku and Ulrich Drepper.
52 * POSIX barriers implemented by Kaz Kylheku.
54 * POSIX spawn function family implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
56 * POSIX spinlocks are now available.
58 * Timed wait functions for mutex, rwlock, and semaphores are implemented.
73 * New ISO C 9x function _Exit, imaxabs, and imaxdiv are added.
75 * New xdr functions are added; some rpc functions are now 64bit clean.
77 * Fixed a number of bugs and memory leaks (especially in NIS+ code).
79 * Fixed known incompatibilities with glibc 2.0.
81 * New functions lock64, strchrnul, rawmemchr, getutmp and getutmpx.
83 * Optimized a number of functions (especially the ELF dynamic loader).
85 * Update timezone data files.
87 * lots of charmaps corrections
89 * some new locale definitions and charmaps
94 * Richard Henderson corrected size of struct timeval on Linux/Alpha to
95 conform to POSIX member type requirements. Symbol versions have been
96 adjusted as needed within the library, and for direct use by applications,
97 but there is potential for problems if third-party libraries use
98 struct timeval as part of their interface. This does not present
99 a problem for X and other "essential" system libraries.
101 * An additional locale model to support C++ Standard Library locale
102 model and probably more was implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
104 * Eric Youngdale and Ulrich Drepper implemented versioning of objects on
107 * Miles Bader provided the `argp' function family to support hierachical
108 command line argument parsing, layered on top of getopt.
110 * strtod accepts new hexadecimal floating-point format from ISO C 9X.
112 * printf has two new specifiers %a and %A to print hexadecimal flaoting-point
115 * scanf recognizes the %a and %A format for scanning floating point numbers.
117 * the new headers <stdint.h> and <inttypes.h> from ISO C 9X provides
118 information and interfaces for the available integer types.
120 * about 130 new math functions were added to implement the ISO C9x math
123 * the new header <complex.h> contains definitions of the complex math
124 functions from ISO C 9X.
126 * the new header <tgmath.h> defines generic macros to use complex or
127 real valued functions.
129 * Thorsten Kukuk provided an implementation for NIS+, securelevel 0, 1 and 2.
131 * Andreas Jaeger provided a test suite for the math library.
133 * Mark Kettenis implemented the utmpx interface and an utmp daemon.
135 * Ulrich Drepper added character set conversion functions (iconv).
137 * Optimized string functions have been added.
139 * The localedata addon is now part of glibc.
141 * An implementation of profiling shared libraries was added by Ulrich Drepper.
143 * Thorsten Kukuk and Ulrich Drepper provided an implementation for a caching
144 daemon for NSS (nscd).
146 Missing a better place here are some numbers on improvements. Under
147 Linux 2.1.125 un-tar-ing the kernel sources takes
151 using local files 12.19s 6.88s 22.91s
153 using NIS 13.92s 8.91s 26.34s
155 using NIS & nscd 10.37s 7.34s 25.30s
157 using NIS+ 27.57s 30.37s 640.46s
159 using NIS+ & nscd 10.25s 7.83s 26.51s
161 using NIS & old nscd [1] 13.83s 8.32s 29.60s
163 Keep in mind that non-namelookup related operations dominate above times.
164 It was just a common complain that using NIS+ unpacking the kernel is
167 [1] The old nscd implementation is not available anymore since it was
168 distributed with glibc up to version 2.0.98 and thus is now replaced.
170 * Tim Waugh provided an implementation of the POSIX.2 wordexp function family.
172 * Mark Kettenis provided a Hesiod NSS module.
174 * The ELF dynamic loader knows how to process dynamic string tokens ($ORIGIN
175 and $PLATFORM) in RPATHs and similar strings (Ulrich Drepper).
177 * rcmd can now handle netgroups (Dick Streefland).
179 * A port to the ARM was contributed by Phil Blundell, Pat Beirne and Scott
182 * Support for the IPv6 protocol has been added to the socket API, as per the
183 latest draft standards.
185 * Support for Linux 2.2 has been added.
187 * Interface changes relative to the latest 2.0.x release:
188 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
189 addseverity NEW: Unix98
191 argp_err_exit_status NEW: argp, GNU ext
192 argp_error NEW: argp, GNU ext
193 argp_failure NEW: argp, GNU ext
194 argp_help NEW: argp, GNU ext
195 argp_parse NEW: argp, GNU ext
196 argp_program_bug_address NEW: argp, GNU ext
197 argp_program_version NEW: argp, GNU ext
198 argp_program_version_hook NEW: argp, GNU ext
199 argp_state_help NEW: argp, GNU ext
200 argp_usage NEW: argp, GNU ext
201 authdes_create NEW: Secure RPC
202 authdes_getucred NEW: Secure RPC
203 authdes_pk_create NEW: Secure RPC
204 backtrace NEW: GNU ext.
205 backtrace_symbols NEW: GNU ext.
206 backtrace_symbols_fd NEW: GNU ext.
210 cacoshf NEW: ISO C 9x
211 cacoshl NEW: ISO C 9x
221 casinhf NEW: ISO C 9x
222 casinhl NEW: ISO C 9x
227 catanhf NEW: ISO C 9x
228 catanhl NEW: ISO C 9x
230 cbc_crypt NEW: Secure RPC
243 clearerr_locked REMOVED
244 clntunix_create NEW: sunrpc ext
247 clog10f NEW: ISO C 9x
248 clog10l NEW: ISO C 9x
279 des_setparity NEW: Secure RPC
280 ecb_crypt NEW: Secure RPC
281 endutxent NEW: Unix98
293 feclearexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
294 fegetenv NEW: ISO C 9x
295 fegetexceptflag NEW: ISO C 9x
296 fegetround NEW: ISO C 9x
297 feholdexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
299 feraiseexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
300 ferror_locked REMOVED
301 fesetenv NEW: ISO C 9x
302 fesetexceptflag NEW: ISO C 9x
303 fesetround NEW: ISO C 9x
304 fetestexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
305 feupdateenv NEW: ISO C 9x
306 fflush_locked REMOVED
310 fgets_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
311 fileno_locked REMOVED
324 fputs_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
325 fread_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
336 fwrite_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
337 gai_strerror NEW: IPv6
341 getchar_locked REMOVED
343 getdate_err NEW: Unix98
344 getdate_r NEW: GNU ext.
346 getnameinfo NEW: IPv6
347 getnetname NEW: Secure RPC
349 getpt NEW: Unix98 PTY
351 getutxent NEW: Unix98
353 getutxline NEW: Unix98
355 globfree64 NEW: GNU ext.
356 gnu_get_libc_release NEW: GNU ext.
357 gnu_get_libc_version NEW: GNU ext.
358 grantpt NEW: Unix98 PTY
359 host2netname NEW: Secure RPC
361 iconv_close NEW: iconv
362 iconv_open NEW: iconv
363 if_freenameindex NEW: IPv6
364 if_indextoname NEW: IPv6
365 if_nameindex NEW: IPv6
366 if_nametoindex NEW: IPv6
367 in6addr_any NEW: IPv6
368 in6addr_loopback NEW: IPv6
369 inet6_isipv4mapped NEW: IPv6
370 isastream NEW: STREAMS
371 iswblank NEW: GNU ext.
372 key_decryptsession NEW: Secure RPC
373 key_decryptsession_pk NEW: Secure RPC
374 key_encryptsession NEW: Secure RPC
375 key_encryptsession_pk NEW: Secure RPC
376 key_gendes NEW: Secure RPC
377 key_get_conv NEW: Secure RPC
378 key_secretkey_is_set NEW: Secure RPC
379 key_setnet NEW: Secure RPC
380 key_setsecret NEW: Secure RPC
382 llrintf NEW: ISO C 9x
383 llrintl NEW: ISO C 9x
384 llround NEW: ISO C 9x
385 llroundf NEW: ISO C 9x
386 llroundl NEW: ISO C 9x
394 lroundf NEW: ISO C 9x
395 lroundl NEW: ISO C 9x
397 makecontext NEW: Unix98
398 mempcpy NEW: GNU ext.
401 modify_ldt NEW: kernel
405 nearbyint NEW: ISO C 9x
406 nearbyintf NEW: ISO C 9x
407 nearbyintl NEW: ISO C 9x
408 netname2host NEW: Secure RPC
409 netname2user NEW: Secure RPC
410 nexttoward NEW: ISO C 9x
411 nexttowardf NEW: ISO C 9x
412 nexttowardl NEW: ISO C 9x
416 passwd2des NEW: Secure RPC
422 printf_size NEW: GNU ext.
423 printf_size_info NEW: GNU ext.
424 profil_counter REMOVED
425 pthread_mutexattr_getkind_np REPLACED
426 pthread_mutexattr_setkind_np REPLACED
427 ptsname NEW: Unix98 PTY
428 ptsname_r NEW: Unix98 PTY
430 putchar_locked REMOVED
431 putgrent NEW: GNU ext.
434 pututxline NEW: Unix98
440 remquof NEW: ISO C 9x
441 remquol NEW: ISO C 9x
446 scalbln NEW: ISO C 9x
447 scalblnf NEW: ISO C 9x
448 scalblnl NEW: ISO C 9x
451 setcontext NEW: Unix98
453 setutxent NEW: Unix98
455 sigignore NEW: Unix98
456 sigqueue NEW: POSIX.1b
459 sigtimedwait NEW: POSIX.1b
460 sigwaitinfo NEW: POSIX.1b
462 sincosf NEW: GNU ext.
463 sincosl NEW: GNU ext.
467 strcasestr NEW: GNU ext.
468 strtoimax NEW: ISO C 9x
469 strtoumax NEW: ISO C 9x
470 strverscmp NEW: GNU ext.
471 svcauthdes_stats NEW: Secure RPC
472 svcunix_create NEW: sunrpc etx
473 svcunixfd_create NEW: sunrpc ext
474 swapcontext NEW: Unix98
475 tcgetsid NEW: Unix98 PTY
476 tdestroy NEW: GNU ext.
478 tgammaf NEW: ISO C 9x
479 tgammal NEW: ISO C 9x
486 unlockpt NEW: Unix98 PTY
488 user2netname NEW: Secure RPC
489 utmpxname NEW: Unix98
490 versionsort NEW: GNU ext.
491 versionsort64 NEW: GNU ext.
493 wcscasecmp NEW: GNU ext.
494 wcsncasecmp NEW: GNU ext.
495 wcsnlen NEW: GNU ext.
496 wcstoimax NEW: ISO C 9x
497 wcstoll NEW: ISO C 9x
498 wcstoull NEW: ISO C 9x
499 wcstoumax NEW: ISO C 9x
502 wordfree NEW: POSIX.2
503 write_profiling REMOVED
504 xdecrypt NEW: Secure RPC
505 xdr_authdes_cred NEW: Secure RPC
506 xdr_authdes_verf NEW: Secure RPC
507 xdr_cryptkeyarg NEW: Secure RPC
508 xdr_cryptkeyarg2 NEW: Secure RPC
509 xdr_cryptkeyres NEW: Secure RPC
510 xdr_getcredres NEW: Secure RPC
511 xdr_key_netstarg NEW: Secure RPC
512 xdr_key_netstres NEW: Secure RPC
513 xdr_keybuf NEW: Secure RPC
514 xdr_keystatus NEW: Secure RPC
515 xdr_netnamestr NEW: Secure RPC
516 xdr_sizeof NEW: Secure RPC
517 xdr_unixcred NEW: sunrpc ext
518 xencrypt NEW: Secure RPC
519 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
530 * inet_ntoa is thread-safe
532 * updwtmp is moved from libutil to libc
534 * rewrite of cbrt function
536 * update of timezone data
552 * fix complex problems in Berkeley DB code
558 * fixed lots of header problems (especially Linux/GNU specific)
560 * dynamic loader preserves all registers
562 * Roland McGrath provided support for handling of auxiliary objects in
563 the ELF dynamic loader.
565 * support for parallel builds is improved
569 * GNU extensions are no longer declared by default. To enable them you
570 must define the macro `_GNU_SOURCE' in your program or compile with
573 * The library has changed from using GNU ld symbol aliases to using weak
574 symbols where available. The ELF object file format supports weak
575 symbols; GNU ld also supports weak symbols in the a.out format. (There
576 is also now support for other GNU ld extensions in ELF. Use the
577 `--with-elf' option to configure to indicate you have ELF, and
578 `--with-gnu-ld' if using GNU ld.) This change resulted in the deletion
579 of many files which contained only symbol aliases, reducing the size of
580 the source and the compiled library; many other files were renamed to
581 less cryptic names previously occupied by the symbol alias files.
582 There is a new header file <elf.h> for programs which operate on
583 files in the ELF format.
585 * Converted to Autoconf version 2, so `configure' has more options.
586 Run `configure --help' to see the details.
588 * The library can now be configured to build profiling, highly-optimized
589 (but undebuggable), and/or shared libraries (ELF with GNU ld only). The
590 `--enable-profile', `--enable-omitfp', and `--enable-shared' options to
591 `configure' enable building these extra libraries. The shared library is
592 built by default when using both ELF and GNU ld. When shared libraries
593 are enabled, the new library `-ldl' is available for arbitrary run-time
594 loading of shared objects; its interface is defined in <dlfcn.h>. The
595 new header file <link.h> gives access to the internals of the run-time
596 dynamic linker, `ld.so'. The shell script `ldd' is similar to the
597 application of same name on other systems and it provides information
598 about dynamically linked binaries.
600 * The C library now provides the run-time support code for profiling
601 executables compiled with `-pg'. Programs can control the profiling code
602 through the interface in <sys/gmon.h>. The `gmon.out' files written by
603 the GNU C library can be read only by GNU `gprof' (from GNU binutils);
604 the support for this file format was contributed by David Mosberger-Tang.
606 * The math code has been replaced with a math library based on fdlibm from
607 Sun, and modified by JT Conklin and Ulrich Drepper with i387 support, by
608 Ian Taylor with `float' functions and by Ulrich Drepper with `long double'
609 functions. The math functions now reside in a separate library, so
610 programs using them will need to use `-lm' their linking commands.
612 * John C. Bowman contributed optimized ix87 assembler inline functions.
614 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed support for an `/etc/nsswitch.conf'
615 mechanism similar to that found in Solaris 2. This is now used for the
616 group, passwd, hosts, networks, services, protocols, rpc, ethers,
617 shadow, netgroup, publickey, and alias databases. The `nsswitch.conf'
618 file controls what services are used for each individual database. This
619 works by loading shared libraries with names specified in `nsswitch.conf',
620 so service modules can be changed or added at any time without even
621 relinking any program. Currently there are the file, db, and NIS based
622 NSS services available.
624 * The new functions `strtoq' and `strtouq' parse integer values from
625 strings, like `strtol' and `strtoul', but they return `long long int' and
626 `unsigned long long int' values, respectively (64-bit quantities).
628 * The new functions `strtof' and `strtold' parse floating-point values from
629 strings, like `strtod', but they return `float' and `long double' values,
630 respectively (on some machines `double' and `long double' are the same).
632 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new implementations of the floating-point
633 printing and reading code used in the `printf' family of functions and
634 `strtod', `strtof', and `strtold'. These new functions are perfectly
635 accurate, and much faster than the old ones.
637 * The implementation of the POSIX locale model was completely rewritten by
638 Ulrich Drepper. This includes the new programs `localedef' and `locale'
639 to compile the POSIX locale definition.
641 * The former dummy implementations of the strcoll and strxfrm function are
642 now replaced by fully functional code contributed by Ulrich Drepper. The
643 collation information comes from the POSIX locale definitions.
645 * The new header <langinfo.h> defines an interface for accessing
646 various locale-dependent data (using the locale chosen with `setlocale').
648 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed a new suite of functions for operation on
649 wide-character and multibyte-character strings, in <wchar.h>;
650 and classification and case conversion of wide characters, in <wctype.h>.
651 These new functions are conforming to the ISO C, Amendement 1 specification.
653 * There is now a second implementation of the standard I/O library available.
654 It comes from GNU libg++ as was written by Per Bothner, heavily modified
655 by Hongjiu Lu and made thread safe by Ulrich Drepper.
657 * You can now use positional parameter specifications in format strings
658 for the `printf' and `scanf' families of functions. For example,
659 `printf ("Number %2$d, Mr %1$s\n", "Jones", 6);'' prints
660 ``Number 6, Mr Jones''. This is mainly useful when providing different
661 format strings for different languages, whose grammars may dictate
662 different orderings of the values being printed. To support this
663 feature, the interface for `register_printf_handler' has changed; see
664 the header file <printf.h> for details.
666 * The `printf' and `scanf' families of functions now understand a new
667 formatting flag for numeric conversions: the ' flag (e.g. %'d or %'f) says
668 to group numbers as indicated by the locale; for `scanf' and friends, this
669 says to accept as valid only a number with all the proper grouping
670 separators in the right places. In the default "C" locale, numbers are
671 not grouped; but locales for specific countries will define the usual
672 conventions (i.e. separate thousands with `,' in the US locale).
674 * The pgrp functions have been regularized, slightly incompatibly but much
675 less confusingly. The core functions are now `getpgid' and `setpgid',
676 which take arguments for the PID to operate on; the POSIX.1 `getpgrp' (no
677 argument) and BSD `setpgrp' (identical to `setpgid') functions are
678 provided for compatibility. There is no longer an incompatible `getpgrp'
679 with an argument declared under _BSD_SOURCE; no BSD code uses it.
681 * The new header file <fts.h> and suite of functions simplify programs that
682 operate on directory trees. This code comes from 4.4 BSD.
684 * The resolver code has been updated from the BIND 4.9.5-P1 release.
685 Parts of the code were heavily modified by Ulrich Drepper to fit in the
686 NSS scheme used in glibc.
688 * There is a new malloc debugging hook `__memalign_hook'.
690 * There are new typedefs `ushort' for `unsigned short int' and `uint' for
691 `unsigned int' in <sys/types.h>. These are for compatibility only and
692 their use is discouraged.
694 * The `-lmcheck' library to enable standard malloc debugging hooks is now
695 done differently, so that it works even without GNU ld.
697 * New function `euidaccess' checks allowed access to a file like `access',
698 but using the effective IDs instead of the real IDs.
700 * The time zone data files have been updated for the latest and greatest
701 local time conventions of the countries of the world.
703 * The new function `dirfd' extracts the file descriptor used by a DIR stream;
706 * The new functions `ecvt', `fcvt', and `gcvt' provide an obsolete interface
707 for formatting floating-point numbers. They are provided only for
708 compatibility; new programs should use `sprintf' instead. There are
709 also equivalent function for the `long double' floating-point type and
710 all functions also exist in a reentrant form.
712 * The new auxiliary library `-lutil' from 4.4 BSD contains various
713 functions for maintaining the login-record files (primarily of use to
714 system programs such as `login'), and convenient functions for
715 allocating and initializing a pseudo-terminal (pty) device.
717 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new support for System V style
718 shared memory and IPC on systems that support it.
720 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed several miscellaneous new functions found
721 in System V: The `hsearch' family of functions provide an effective
722 implementation of hash tables; `a64l' and `l64a' provide a very simple
723 binary to ASCII mapping; `drand48' and friends provide a 48-bit random
726 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new reentrant counterparts for the
727 `random' and `hsearch' families of functions; `random_r', `hsearch_r', etc.
729 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new, highly-optimized versions of several
730 string functions for the i486/Pentium family of processors.
732 * Ulrich Drepper has updated the Linux-specific code, based largely
733 on work done in Hongjiu Lu's version of GNU libc for Linux.
734 The GNU library now supports Linux versions 2.0.10 and later,
735 using the ELF object file format (i[3456]86-*-linux).
737 * Andreas Schwab has ported the C library to Linux/m68k (m68k-*-linux).
739 * David Mosberger-Tang and Richard Henderson have ported the C library
740 to Linux/Alpha (alpha-*-linux). Richard Henderson contributed the
741 dynamic linking support for ELF/Alpha.
743 * Richard Henderson contributed several Alpha optimized assembler function
744 for arithmetic and string handling.
746 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed a new set of message catalog functions to
747 support multiple languages using the <libintl.h> interface, for use with
748 his new package GNU gettext. Translation volunteers have contributed
749 catalogs of the library's messages in Spanish, German, and Korean.
751 * For compatibility with XPG4, Ulrich Drepper has contributed the `gencat'
752 program and the `catgets' function for reading the catalog files it
753 creates. (The <libintl.h> interface is preferred; we include the
754 <nl_types.h> interface using `catgets' only for source compatibility with
755 programs already written to use it.)
757 * New header file <values.h> gives SVID-compatible names for <limits.h>
760 * Various new macros, declarations, and small header files for compatibility
763 * New function `group_member' is a convenient way to check if a process has
764 a given effective group ID.
766 * When using GCC 2.7 and later, the socket functions are now declared in a
767 special way so that passing an argument of type `struct sockaddr_in *',
768 `struct sockaddr_ns *', or `struct sockaddr_un *' instead of the generic
769 `struct sockaddr *' type, does not generate a type-clash warning.
771 * New function `error' declared in header file <error.h> is a convenient
772 function for printing error messages and optionally exiting; this is the
773 canonical function used in GNU programs. The new functions `err', `warn',
774 and friends in header file <err.h> are the canonical 4.4 BSD interface for
775 doing the same thing.
777 * The <glob.h> interface has several new flags from 4.4 BSD that extend the
778 POSIX.2 `glob' function to do ~ and {...} expansion.
780 * New function `unsetenv' complements `setenv' for compatibility with 4.4 BSD.
781 `clearenv' which is used in POSIX.9 is also available.
783 * New function `getsid' returns session ID number on systems that support it.
785 * We have incorporated the 4.4 BSD `db' library (version 1.85). New header
786 files <db.h> and <mpool.h> provide a rich set of functions for several
787 types of simple databases stored in memory and in files, and <ndbm.h> is
788 an old `ndbm'-compatible interface using the `db' functions. Link with
789 `-ldb' to get these functions.
791 * New macro `strdupa' copies a string like `strdup', but uses local stack
792 space from `alloca' instead of dynamic heap space from `malloc'.
794 * New function `strnlen' is like `strlen' but searches only a given maximum
795 number of characters for the null terminator. `stpncpy', `strndup' and
796 `strndupa' are similar variants for the `stpcpy', `strdup' and `strdupa'
799 * New function `statfs' in header <sys/statfs.h>.
801 * The new <argz.h> and <envz.h> interfaces contributed by Miles Bader
802 provide convenient functions for operating on blocks of null-terminated
805 * A new suite of functions in <utmp.h> handle all the details of reading
806 and writing the utmp file.
808 * An implementation of the NIS/YP(tm) based NSS service was contributed by
811 * Paul Eggert and Ulrich Drepper modified the `strftime' function to be
812 completely POSIX compliant and also implemented the extended functionality
813 to handle alternate digit representation and alternate era date formats.
815 * Ulrich Drepper provided an implementation of the `strptime' function
816 defined in XPG4.2 which transforms a string into a `struct tm' value.
818 * Paul Eggert provided the tzselect shell script as part of the timezone
819 code. The shell script makes it easy to select the correct timezone
822 * The implementation of the malloc family of functions is completely replaced
823 by a new implementation by Doug Lea with many improvements by Wolfram Gloger.
824 The implementation uses the mmap function (if available) and it is
825 optimized for the use in multi threaded programs.
827 * Ulrich Drepper contributed a MD5 "encryption" for the crypt family of
828 functions. This new functionality is usable by specifying a special
829 salt string and it is compatible with implementation on *BSD systems.
831 * Lots of functions from the XPG4.2 standard were added by Ulrich Drepper:
832 `getsubopt' to handle second level command line options, `bsd_signal'
833 to access BSD style `signal' functionality, the obsolete `regexp' style
836 * the `lchown' function is available on system which support this
839 * The implementation of the shadow password handling function was contributed
842 * David Mosberger-Tang changed the SunRPC implementation to be 64bit safe.
844 * POSIX.1g support was added. The <sys/select.h> header is available,
845 `isfdtype' and `pselect' are implemented. Craig Metz contributed an
846 implementation of `getaddrinfo'.
850 * For cross-compilation you should now set `BUILD_CC' instead of `HOST_CC'.
852 * New header file <fstab.h> and new functions `getfsspec', `getfsent' and
853 friends, for parsing /etc/fstab. This code comes from 4.4 BSD.
855 * The new function `daemon' from 4.4 BSD is useful for server programs that
856 want to put themselves in the background.
858 * Joel Sherrill has contributed support for several standalone boards that
859 run without an operating system.
861 * `printf', `scanf' and friends now accept a `q' type modifier for long
862 long int as well as `ll'. Formats using these might be `%qu' or `%lld'.
864 * All of the code taken from BSD (notably most of the math and networking
865 routines) has been updated from the BSD 4.4-Lite release.
867 * The resolver code has been updated from the BIND-4.9.3-BETA9 release.
869 * The new functions `getdomainname' and `setdomainname' fetch or change the
870 YP/NIS domain name. These are system calls which exist on systems which
873 * The time zone data files have been updated for the latest international
876 * The SunRPC programs `portmap' and `rpcinfo' are now installed in
877 $(sbindir) (usually /usr/local/sbin) instead of $(bindir).
881 * The C library now includes support for Sun RPC, from Sun's free
882 RPCSRC-4.0 distribution. The `portmap', `rpcinfo', and `rpcgen' programs
883 are included. (There is still no support for YP.)
885 * Tom Quinn has contributed a port of the C library to SGI machines running
886 Irix 4 (mips-sgi-irix4).
888 * The new `lockf' function is a simplified interface to the locking
889 facilities of `fcntl', included for compatibility.
891 * New time functions `timegm', `timelocal', and `dysize' for compatibility.
893 * New header file <sys/timeb.h> and new function `ftime' for compatibility.
895 * New header files <poll.h> and <sys/poll.h> and new function `poll' for
898 * The error message printed by `assert' for a failed assertion now includes
899 the name of the program (if using GNU ld) and the name of the calling
900 function (with versions of GCC that support this).
902 * The `psignal' function is now declared in <signal.h>, not <stdio.h>.
904 * The library now includes the <sys/mman.h> header file and memory
905 management functions `mmap', `munmap', `mprotect', `msync', and
906 `madvise', on systems that support those facilities.
908 * The interface for `mcheck' has changed slightly: the function called to
909 abort the program when an allocation inconsistency is detected now takes
910 an argument that indicates the type of failure. The new function
911 `mprobe' lets you request a consistency check for a particular block at
912 any time (checks are normally done only when you call `free' or `realloc'
915 * It is now possible to easily cross-compile the C library, building on one
916 system a library to run on another machine and/or operating system. All
917 you need to do is set the variable `HOST_CC' in `configparms' to the
918 native compiler for programs to run on the machine you are building on (a
919 few generator programs are used on Unix systems); set `CC' to the
922 * The new function `fexecve' (only implemented on the GNU system) executes
923 a program file given a file descriptor already open on the file.
927 * Brendan Kehoe has contributed most of a port to the DEC Alpha
928 running OSF/1 (alpha-dec-osf1). He says it is 75% complete.
930 * You can set the variable `libprefix' in `configparms' to specify a prefix
931 to be prepended to installed library files; this makes it easy to install
932 the GNU C library to be linked as `-lgnuc' or whatever.
934 * The new `stpncpy' is a cross between `stpcpy' and `strncpy': It
935 copies a limited number of characters from a string, and returns the
936 address of the last character written.
938 * You no longer need to check for whether the installed `stddef.h' is
939 compatible with the GNU C library. configure now checks for you.
941 * You can now define a per-stream `fileno' function to convert the
942 stream's cookie into an integral file descriptor.
944 * ``malloc (0)'' no longer returns a null pointer. Instead, it
945 allocates zero bytes of storage, and returns a unique pointer which
946 you can pass to `realloc' or `free'. The behavior is undefined if
947 you dereference this pointer.
949 * The C library now runs on Sony NEWS m68k machines running either
950 NewsOS 3 or NewsOS 4.
952 * The new `syscall' function is a system-dependent primitive function
953 for invoking system calls. It has the canonical behavior on Unix
954 systems, including unreliable return values for some calls (such as
955 `pipe', `fork' and `getppid').
957 * The error code `EWOULDBLOCK' is now obsolete; it is always defined
958 to `EAGAIN', which is the preferred name. On systems whose kernels
959 use two distinct codes, the C library now translates EWOULDBLOCK to
960 EAGAIN in every system call function.
964 * The GNU C Library Reference Manual is now distributed with the library.
965 `make dvi' will produce a DVI file of the printed manual.
966 `make info' will produce Info files that you can read on line using C-h i
967 in Emacs or the `info' program.
968 Please send comments on the manual to bug-glibc-manual@gnu.org.
970 * The library now supports SVR4 on i386s (i386-unknown-sysv4).
972 * Brendan Kehoe has contributed a port to Sun SPARCs running Solaris 2.
974 * Jason Merrill has contributed a port to the Sequent Symmetry running
975 Dynix version 3 (i386-sequent-dynix).
977 * The library has been ported to i386s running SCO 3.2.4 (also known as SCO
978 ODT 2.0; i386-unknown-sco3.2.4) or SCO 3.2 (i386-unknown-sco3.2).
980 * New function `memory_warnings' lets you arrange to get warnings when
981 malloc is running out of memory to allocate, like Emacs gives you.
983 * The C library now contains the relocating allocator used in Emacs 19 for
984 its editing buffers. This allocator (ralloc) minimizes allocation
985 overhead and fragmentation by moving allocated regions around whenever it
986 needs to. You always refer to a ralloc'd region with a "handle" (a
987 pointer to a pointer--an object of type `void **').
989 * There is a new `printf' format: `%m' gives you the string corresponding
990 to the error code in `errno'.
992 * In `scanf' formats, you can now use `%as' or `%a[' to do the normal `%s'
993 or `%[' conversion, but instead of filling in a fixed-sized buffer you
994 pass, the `a' modifier says to fill in a `char **' you pass with a
997 * The `fnmatch' function supports the new flag bits `FNM_LEADING_DIR' and
998 `FNM_CASEFOLD'. `FNM_LEADING_DIR' lets a pattern like `foo*' match a
999 name like `foo/bar'. `FNM_CASEFOLD' says to ignore case in matching.
1001 * `mkstemp' is a traditional Unix function to atomically create and open a
1002 uniquely-named temporary file.
1006 * The standard location for the file that says what the local timezone is
1007 has changed again. It is now `/usr/local/etc/localtime' (or more
1008 precisely, `${prefix}/etc/localtime') rather than `/etc/localtime'.
1010 * The distribution no longer contains any files with names longer than 14
1013 * `struct ttyent' has two new flag bits: TTY_TRUSTED and TTY_CONSOLE.
1014 These are set by the new `trusted' and `console' keywords in `/etc/ttys'.
1016 * New functions `ttyslot' and `syslog' from 4.4 BSD.
1020 * The configuration process has changed quite a bit. The `configure'
1021 script is now used just like the configuration scripts for other GNU
1022 packages. The `sysdeps' directory hierarchy is much rearranged.
1023 The file `INSTALL' explains the new scheme in detail.
1025 * The header files no longer need to be processed into ANSI C and
1026 traditional C versions. There is just one set of files to install, and
1027 it will work with ANSI or old C compilers (including `gcc -traditional').
1029 * Brendan Kehoe and Ian Lance Taylor have ported the library to the
1030 MIPS DECStation running Ultrix 4.
1032 * The Sun 4 startup code (crt0) can now properly load SunOS 4 shared libraries.
1033 Tom Quinn contributed the initial code. The GNU C library can NOT yet be
1034 made itself into a shared library.
1036 * Yet further improved support for the i386, running 4.3 BSD-like systems
1037 (such as Mach 3 with the Unix single-server), or System V.
1039 * New function `strncasecmp' to do case-insensitive string comparison
1040 with limited length.
1042 * New function `strsep' is a reentrant alternative to `strtok'.
1044 * New functions `scandir' and `alphasort' for searching directories.
1046 * New function `setenv' is a better interface to `putenv'.
1048 * Ian Lance Taylor has contributed an implementation of the SVID `ftw'
1049 function for traversing a directory tree.
1051 * The GNU obstack package is now also part of the C library.
1052 The new function `open_obstack_stream' creates a stdio stream that
1053 writes onto an obstack; `obstack_printf' and `obstack_vprintf' do
1054 formatted output directly to an obstack.
1056 * Miscellaneous new functions: reboot, nice, sigaltstack (4.4 BSD only),
1057 cfmakeraw, getusershell, getpass, swab, getttyent, seteuid, setegid.
1059 * `FNM_FILE_NAME' is another name for `FNM_PATHNAME', used with `fnmatch'.
1061 * The new functions `strfry' and `memfrob' do mysterious and wonderful
1062 things to your strings.
1064 * There are some new test programs: test-fseek, testmb, and testrand.
1066 * Some work has been done to begin porting the library to 4.4 BSD and Linux.
1067 These ports are not finished, but are a good starting place for really
1068 supporting those systems.
1070 * `/etc/localtime' is now the standard location for the file that says what
1071 the local timezone is, rather than `/usr/local/lib/zoneinfo/localtime'.
1072 This follows the general principle that `/etc' is the place for all local
1073 configuration files.
1075 * The C library header files now use `extern "C"' when used by the C++
1076 compiler, so the C library should now work with C++ code.
1078 * The header file <bstring.h> is gone. <string.h> now declares bcopy,
1079 bcmp, bzero, and ffs.
1081 * Mike Haertel (of GNU e?grep and malloc fame) has written a new sorting
1082 function which uses the `merge sort' algorithm, and is said to be
1083 significantly faster than the old GNU `qsort' function. Merge sort is
1084 now the standard `qsort' function. The new algorithm can require a lot
1085 of temporary storage; so, the old sorting function is called when the
1086 required storage is not available.
1088 * The C library now includes Michael Glad's Ultra Fast Crypt, which
1089 provides the Unix `crypt' function, plus some other entry points.
1090 Because of the United States export restriction on DES implementations,
1091 we are distributing this code separately from the rest of the C library.
1092 There is an extra distribution tar file just for crypt; it is called
1093 `glibc-VERSION-crypt.tar.Z', e.g. `glibc-1.04-crypt.tar.Z'. You can just
1094 unpack the crypt distribution along with the rest of the C library and
1095 build; you can also build the library without getting crypt. Users
1096 outside the USA can get the crypt distribution via anonymous FTP from
1097 ftp.uni-c.dk [129.142.6.74], or another archive site outside the U.S.
1099 * The code and header files taken from 4.4 BSD have been updated with the
1100 latest files released from Berkeley.
1102 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
1103 Copyright information:
1105 Copyright (C) 1992, 93, 94, 95, 96 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
1107 Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim copies
1108 of this document as received, in any medium, provided that the
1109 copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved,
1110 thus giving the recipient permission to redistribute in turn.
1112 Permission is granted to distribute modified versions
1113 of this document, or of portions of it,
1114 under the above conditions, provided also that they
1115 carry prominent notices stating who last changed them.
1118 version-control: never
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