1 GNU C Library NEWS -- history of user-visible changes. 2000-11-28
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 * The gencat program now parses the input file according to the charset
13 selected by the LC_CTYPE category. This is important for stateful
14 character sets. To make generating catalogs easier there is a way
15 to overwrite the charset selected by the locale: before the first
16 message or $ quote line the catalog can contain a line like
20 to select the charset (ISO-8859-2 in this case).
22 Implemented by Shinya Hanataka and Ulrich Drepper.
24 * New codeset conversion modules: IBM-922 (Estonia PC codeset),
25 IBM-1124 (Ukraine PC codeset), IBM-1129 (Vietnamese PC codeset).
26 Contributed by Masahide Washizawa <washi@jp.ibm.com>.
30 * Greg McGary added runtime support for bounds checking using gcc's
31 new -fbounded-pointers option. ix86 target is complete. PowerPC
34 * Thorsten Kukuk added secure mode support to nscd.
36 * The Berkeley db libraries have been removed.
38 Related, the nss_db module is now in a separate package since it
39 obviously requires a database library being available.
41 * Wide character I/O streams implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
43 * Functions from the extended socket API added by Ulrich Drepper.
45 * Functions feenableexcept and fedisableexcept to control the
46 behaviour of individual exceptions have been added by Andreas Jaeger.
48 * ldconfig program added by Andreas Jaeger and Jakub Jelinek.
50 * The resolver code has been updated from bind 8.2.3-T5B which supports
51 threads. The integration was done by Andreas Jaeger, Adam D. Bradley,
54 This change could in some situations effect backward compatibility. Since
55 now `_res' is a thread-local instead of a global variable, modifying it
56 in one thread does not have any effect in other threads.
58 The resolver library was also extended to allow IPv6 as the transport
59 protocol for the requests. This work was done by Stig Venaas.
61 * Compatibility code for K&R C compilers has been removed from the
62 header files. A ISO C compiler is needed to use the library
63 (conforming to either C89 or C99 standard).
65 * Complete rewrite of the localedef program to support multibyte character
66 sets. Implement handling of ISO 14651 and ISO 14652. Rewrite strcoll,
67 strxfrm, wcscoll, and wcsxfrm functions. Make isw*() functions work.
68 Implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
70 Bruno Haible significantly improved the generation and use of the data
71 structures for the wide character tables.
73 * Plural handling in gettext implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
75 * The utmp daemon has been removed.
77 * The port to MIPS-Linux has been finished by Andreas Jaeger.
79 * A port to Hitachi SH3 and SH4 has been contributed by Kazumoto Kojima
82 * POSIX clocks and timers implemented by Kaz Kylheku and Ulrich Drepper.
84 * POSIX barriers implemented by Kaz Kylheku.
86 * POSIX spawn function family implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
88 * POSIX spinlocks are now available.
90 * Timed wait functions for mutex, rwlock, and semaphores are implemented.
92 * the configure option --enable-kernel=X.Y.Z allows to strip out
93 compatibility for kernel versions before X.Y.Z. This is currently only
94 implemented for Linux.
96 * the sockaddr_in6 structure changed. The IPv6 working group added a new
97 field sin6_scope_id. This means that all programs using IPv6 should be
98 recompiled. Don't expect binary compatibility with previous glibc
101 * various conversion modules for IBM character sets contributed by
104 * IA-64 port by Jes Sorensen and HJ Lu.
106 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
107 Compiling the GNU C Library for Linux/ia64
108 ******************************************
110 Please refer to the file INSTALL in the same directory as you found
111 this file for general information about configuring and compiling
114 For general inquiries about glibc under Linux/ia64 please use the
115 following mailing list linux-ia64@linuxia64.org or one of the relevant
118 Recommended Tools for Compilation
119 =================================
121 In order for glibc-2.2 to build correctly on the ia64 you need at
122 least the following versions of the GNU tools (the :
124 * The Cygnus toolchain snapshot for the ia64 as of August 4
125 including the provided set of patches. It is however recommend
126 you use the October 24 toolchain snapshot or a more recent version.
128 OR alternatively you can try the following (the Cygnus toolchain is
129 the recommended solution):
131 * GCC and binutils, GAS and GNU LD out of CVS from
132 sources.redhat.com as of August 28, 2000 or later. The CVS tree
133 may require special patches to work properly on the ia64.
135 Configuring and compiling GNU Libc for Linux/ia64
136 =================================================
138 The library requires Linux kernel version 2.4.0-test4-000728 or
139 later to funtion properly. Besides that it support for debug libraries
140 is currently untested. Hence the following options
141 are required for configuring the library:
143 --disable-debug --enable-kernel=2.4.0
145 It is also important that you make sure the library picks up the
146 appropriate kernel header files, if you do not have recent enough
147 kernel headers in /usr/src/linux/include, you should use the
148 --with-headers=<path> option to specify the location.
150 As an example I personally use the following options to configure
155 --enable-kernel=2.4.0
159 --with-headers=/home/jes/linux/include
164 Jes Sorensen <jes@linuxcare.com>,
166 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
180 * New ISO C 9x function _Exit, imaxabs, and imaxdiv are added.
182 * New xdr functions are added; some rpc functions are now 64bit clean.
184 * Fixed a number of bugs and memory leaks (especially in NIS+ code).
186 * Fixed known incompatibilities with glibc 2.0.
188 * New functions lock64, strchrnul, rawmemchr, getutmp and getutmpx.
190 * Optimized a number of functions (especially the ELF dynamic loader).
192 * Update timezone data files.
194 * lots of charmaps corrections
196 * some new locale definitions and charmaps
201 * Richard Henderson corrected size of struct timeval on Linux/Alpha to
202 conform to POSIX member type requirements. Symbol versions have been
203 adjusted as needed within the library, and for direct use by applications,
204 but there is potential for problems if third-party libraries use
205 struct timeval as part of their interface. This does not present
206 a problem for X and other "essential" system libraries.
208 * An additional locale model to support C++ Standard Library locale
209 model and probably more was implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
211 * Eric Youngdale and Ulrich Drepper implemented versioning of objects on
214 * Miles Bader provided the `argp' function family to support hierachical
215 command line argument parsing, layered on top of getopt.
217 * strtod accepts new hexadecimal floating-point format from ISO C 9X.
219 * printf has two new specifiers %a and %A to print hexadecimal flaoting-point
222 * scanf recognizes the %a and %A format for scanning floating point numbers.
224 * the new headers <stdint.h> and <inttypes.h> from ISO C 9X provides
225 information and interfaces for the available integer types.
227 * about 130 new math functions were added to implement the ISO C9x math
230 * the new header <complex.h> contains definitions of the complex math
231 functions from ISO C 9X.
233 * the new header <tgmath.h> defines generic macros to use complex or
234 real valued functions.
236 * Thorsten Kukuk provided an implementation for NIS+, securelevel 0, 1 and 2.
238 * Andreas Jaeger provided a test suite for the math library.
240 * Mark Kettenis implemented the utmpx interface and an utmp daemon.
242 * Ulrich Drepper added character set conversion functions (iconv).
244 * Optimized string functions have been added.
246 * The localedata addon is now part of glibc.
248 * An implementation of profiling shared libraries was added by Ulrich Drepper.
250 * Thorsten Kukuk and Ulrich Drepper provided an implementation for a caching
251 daemon for NSS (nscd).
253 Missing a better place here are some numbers on improvements. Under
254 Linux 2.1.125 un-tar-ing the kernel sources takes
258 using local files 12.19s 6.88s 22.91s
260 using NIS 13.92s 8.91s 26.34s
262 using NIS & nscd 10.37s 7.34s 25.30s
264 using NIS+ 27.57s 30.37s 640.46s
266 using NIS+ & nscd 10.25s 7.83s 26.51s
268 using NIS & old nscd [1] 13.83s 8.32s 29.60s
270 Keep in mind that non-namelookup related operations dominate above times.
271 It was just a common complain that using NIS+ unpacking the kernel is
274 [1] The old nscd implementation is not available anymore since it was
275 distributed with glibc up to version 2.0.98 and thus is now replaced.
277 * Tim Waugh provided an implementation of the POSIX.2 wordexp function family.
279 * Mark Kettenis provided a Hesiod NSS module.
281 * The ELF dynamic loader knows how to process dynamic string tokens ($ORIGIN
282 and $PLATFORM) in RPATHs and similar strings (Ulrich Drepper).
284 * rcmd can now handle netgroups (Dick Streefland).
286 * A port to the ARM was contributed by Phil Blundell, Pat Beirne and Scott
289 * Support for the IPv6 protocol has been added to the socket API, as per the
290 latest draft standards.
292 * Support for Linux 2.2 has been added.
294 * Interface changes relative to the latest 2.0.x release:
295 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
296 addseverity NEW: Unix98
298 argp_err_exit_status NEW: argp, GNU ext
299 argp_error NEW: argp, GNU ext
300 argp_failure NEW: argp, GNU ext
301 argp_help NEW: argp, GNU ext
302 argp_parse NEW: argp, GNU ext
303 argp_program_bug_address NEW: argp, GNU ext
304 argp_program_version NEW: argp, GNU ext
305 argp_program_version_hook NEW: argp, GNU ext
306 argp_state_help NEW: argp, GNU ext
307 argp_usage NEW: argp, GNU ext
308 authdes_create NEW: Secure RPC
309 authdes_getucred NEW: Secure RPC
310 authdes_pk_create NEW: Secure RPC
311 backtrace NEW: GNU ext.
312 backtrace_symbols NEW: GNU ext.
313 backtrace_symbols_fd NEW: GNU ext.
317 cacoshf NEW: ISO C 9x
318 cacoshl NEW: ISO C 9x
328 casinhf NEW: ISO C 9x
329 casinhl NEW: ISO C 9x
334 catanhf NEW: ISO C 9x
335 catanhl NEW: ISO C 9x
337 cbc_crypt NEW: Secure RPC
350 clearerr_locked REMOVED
351 clntunix_create NEW: sunrpc ext
354 clog10f NEW: ISO C 9x
355 clog10l NEW: ISO C 9x
386 des_setparity NEW: Secure RPC
387 ecb_crypt NEW: Secure RPC
388 endutxent NEW: Unix98
400 feclearexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
401 fegetenv NEW: ISO C 9x
402 fegetexceptflag NEW: ISO C 9x
403 fegetround NEW: ISO C 9x
404 feholdexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
406 feraiseexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
407 ferror_locked REMOVED
408 fesetenv NEW: ISO C 9x
409 fesetexceptflag NEW: ISO C 9x
410 fesetround NEW: ISO C 9x
411 fetestexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
412 feupdateenv NEW: ISO C 9x
413 fflush_locked REMOVED
417 fgets_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
418 fileno_locked REMOVED
431 fputs_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
432 fread_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
443 fwrite_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
444 gai_strerror NEW: IPv6
448 getchar_locked REMOVED
450 getdate_err NEW: Unix98
451 getdate_r NEW: GNU ext.
453 getnameinfo NEW: IPv6
454 getnetname NEW: Secure RPC
456 getpt NEW: Unix98 PTY
458 getutxent NEW: Unix98
460 getutxline NEW: Unix98
462 globfree64 NEW: GNU ext.
463 gnu_get_libc_release NEW: GNU ext.
464 gnu_get_libc_version NEW: GNU ext.
465 grantpt NEW: Unix98 PTY
466 host2netname NEW: Secure RPC
468 iconv_close NEW: iconv
469 iconv_open NEW: iconv
470 if_freenameindex NEW: IPv6
471 if_indextoname NEW: IPv6
472 if_nameindex NEW: IPv6
473 if_nametoindex NEW: IPv6
474 in6addr_any NEW: IPv6
475 in6addr_loopback NEW: IPv6
476 inet6_isipv4mapped NEW: IPv6
477 isastream NEW: STREAMS
478 iswblank NEW: GNU ext.
479 key_decryptsession NEW: Secure RPC
480 key_decryptsession_pk NEW: Secure RPC
481 key_encryptsession NEW: Secure RPC
482 key_encryptsession_pk NEW: Secure RPC
483 key_gendes NEW: Secure RPC
484 key_get_conv NEW: Secure RPC
485 key_secretkey_is_set NEW: Secure RPC
486 key_setnet NEW: Secure RPC
487 key_setsecret NEW: Secure RPC
489 llrintf NEW: ISO C 9x
490 llrintl NEW: ISO C 9x
491 llround NEW: ISO C 9x
492 llroundf NEW: ISO C 9x
493 llroundl NEW: ISO C 9x
501 lroundf NEW: ISO C 9x
502 lroundl NEW: ISO C 9x
504 makecontext NEW: Unix98
505 mempcpy NEW: GNU ext.
508 modify_ldt NEW: kernel
512 nearbyint NEW: ISO C 9x
513 nearbyintf NEW: ISO C 9x
514 nearbyintl NEW: ISO C 9x
515 netname2host NEW: Secure RPC
516 netname2user NEW: Secure RPC
517 nexttoward NEW: ISO C 9x
518 nexttowardf NEW: ISO C 9x
519 nexttowardl NEW: ISO C 9x
523 passwd2des NEW: Secure RPC
529 printf_size NEW: GNU ext.
530 printf_size_info NEW: GNU ext.
531 profil_counter REMOVED
532 pthread_mutexattr_getkind_np REPLACED
533 pthread_mutexattr_setkind_np REPLACED
534 ptsname NEW: Unix98 PTY
535 ptsname_r NEW: Unix98 PTY
537 putchar_locked REMOVED
538 putgrent NEW: GNU ext.
541 pututxline NEW: Unix98
547 remquof NEW: ISO C 9x
548 remquol NEW: ISO C 9x
553 scalbln NEW: ISO C 9x
554 scalblnf NEW: ISO C 9x
555 scalblnl NEW: ISO C 9x
558 setcontext NEW: Unix98
560 setutxent NEW: Unix98
562 sigignore NEW: Unix98
563 sigqueue NEW: POSIX.1b
566 sigtimedwait NEW: POSIX.1b
567 sigwaitinfo NEW: POSIX.1b
569 sincosf NEW: GNU ext.
570 sincosl NEW: GNU ext.
574 strcasestr NEW: GNU ext.
575 strtoimax NEW: ISO C 9x
576 strtoumax NEW: ISO C 9x
577 strverscmp NEW: GNU ext.
578 svcauthdes_stats NEW: Secure RPC
579 svcunix_create NEW: sunrpc etx
580 svcunixfd_create NEW: sunrpc ext
581 swapcontext NEW: Unix98
582 tcgetsid NEW: Unix98 PTY
583 tdestroy NEW: GNU ext.
585 tgammaf NEW: ISO C 9x
586 tgammal NEW: ISO C 9x
593 unlockpt NEW: Unix98 PTY
595 user2netname NEW: Secure RPC
596 utmpxname NEW: Unix98
597 versionsort NEW: GNU ext.
598 versionsort64 NEW: GNU ext.
600 wcscasecmp NEW: GNU ext.
601 wcsncasecmp NEW: GNU ext.
602 wcsnlen NEW: GNU ext.
603 wcstoimax NEW: ISO C 9x
604 wcstoll NEW: ISO C 9x
605 wcstoull NEW: ISO C 9x
606 wcstoumax NEW: ISO C 9x
609 wordfree NEW: POSIX.2
610 write_profiling REMOVED
611 xdecrypt NEW: Secure RPC
612 xdr_authdes_cred NEW: Secure RPC
613 xdr_authdes_verf NEW: Secure RPC
614 xdr_cryptkeyarg NEW: Secure RPC
615 xdr_cryptkeyarg2 NEW: Secure RPC
616 xdr_cryptkeyres NEW: Secure RPC
617 xdr_getcredres NEW: Secure RPC
618 xdr_key_netstarg NEW: Secure RPC
619 xdr_key_netstres NEW: Secure RPC
620 xdr_keybuf NEW: Secure RPC
621 xdr_keystatus NEW: Secure RPC
622 xdr_netnamestr NEW: Secure RPC
623 xdr_sizeof NEW: Secure RPC
624 xdr_unixcred NEW: sunrpc ext
625 xencrypt NEW: Secure RPC
626 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
637 * inet_ntoa is thread-safe
639 * updwtmp is moved from libutil to libc
641 * rewrite of cbrt function
643 * update of timezone data
659 * fix complex problems in Berkeley DB code
665 * fixed lots of header problems (especially Linux/GNU specific)
667 * dynamic loader preserves all registers
669 * Roland McGrath provided support for handling of auxiliary objects in
670 the ELF dynamic loader.
672 * support for parallel builds is improved
676 * GNU extensions are no longer declared by default. To enable them you
677 must define the macro `_GNU_SOURCE' in your program or compile with
680 * The library has changed from using GNU ld symbol aliases to using weak
681 symbols where available. The ELF object file format supports weak
682 symbols; GNU ld also supports weak symbols in the a.out format. (There
683 is also now support for other GNU ld extensions in ELF. Use the
684 `--with-elf' option to configure to indicate you have ELF, and
685 `--with-gnu-ld' if using GNU ld.) This change resulted in the deletion
686 of many files which contained only symbol aliases, reducing the size of
687 the source and the compiled library; many other files were renamed to
688 less cryptic names previously occupied by the symbol alias files.
689 There is a new header file <elf.h> for programs which operate on
690 files in the ELF format.
692 * Converted to Autoconf version 2, so `configure' has more options.
693 Run `configure --help' to see the details.
695 * The library can now be configured to build profiling, highly-optimized
696 (but undebuggable), and/or shared libraries (ELF with GNU ld only). The
697 `--enable-profile', `--enable-omitfp', and `--enable-shared' options to
698 `configure' enable building these extra libraries. The shared library is
699 built by default when using both ELF and GNU ld. When shared libraries
700 are enabled, the new library `-ldl' is available for arbitrary run-time
701 loading of shared objects; its interface is defined in <dlfcn.h>. The
702 new header file <link.h> gives access to the internals of the run-time
703 dynamic linker, `ld.so'. The shell script `ldd' is similar to the
704 application of same name on other systems and it provides information
705 about dynamically linked binaries.
707 * The C library now provides the run-time support code for profiling
708 executables compiled with `-pg'. Programs can control the profiling code
709 through the interface in <sys/gmon.h>. The `gmon.out' files written by
710 the GNU C library can be read only by GNU `gprof' (from GNU binutils);
711 the support for this file format was contributed by David Mosberger-Tang.
713 * The math code has been replaced with a math library based on fdlibm from
714 Sun, and modified by JT Conklin and Ulrich Drepper with i387 support, by
715 Ian Taylor with `float' functions and by Ulrich Drepper with `long double'
716 functions. The math functions now reside in a separate library, so
717 programs using them will need to use `-lm' their linking commands.
719 * John C. Bowman contributed optimized ix87 assembler inline functions.
721 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed support for an `/etc/nsswitch.conf'
722 mechanism similar to that found in Solaris 2. This is now used for the
723 group, passwd, hosts, networks, services, protocols, rpc, ethers,
724 shadow, netgroup, publickey, and alias databases. The `nsswitch.conf'
725 file controls what services are used for each individual database. This
726 works by loading shared libraries with names specified in `nsswitch.conf',
727 so service modules can be changed or added at any time without even
728 relinking any program. Currently there are the file, db, and NIS based
729 NSS services available.
731 * The new functions `strtoq' and `strtouq' parse integer values from
732 strings, like `strtol' and `strtoul', but they return `long long int' and
733 `unsigned long long int' values, respectively (64-bit quantities).
735 * The new functions `strtof' and `strtold' parse floating-point values from
736 strings, like `strtod', but they return `float' and `long double' values,
737 respectively (on some machines `double' and `long double' are the same).
739 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new implementations of the floating-point
740 printing and reading code used in the `printf' family of functions and
741 `strtod', `strtof', and `strtold'. These new functions are perfectly
742 accurate, and much faster than the old ones.
744 * The implementation of the POSIX locale model was completely rewritten by
745 Ulrich Drepper. This includes the new programs `localedef' and `locale'
746 to compile the POSIX locale definition.
748 * The former dummy implementations of the strcoll and strxfrm function are
749 now replaced by fully functional code contributed by Ulrich Drepper. The
750 collation information comes from the POSIX locale definitions.
752 * The new header <langinfo.h> defines an interface for accessing
753 various locale-dependent data (using the locale chosen with `setlocale').
755 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed a new suite of functions for operation on
756 wide-character and multibyte-character strings, in <wchar.h>;
757 and classification and case conversion of wide characters, in <wctype.h>.
758 These new functions are conforming to the ISO C, Amendement 1 specification.
760 * There is now a second implementation of the standard I/O library available.
761 It comes from GNU libg++ as was written by Per Bothner, heavily modified
762 by Hongjiu Lu and made thread safe by Ulrich Drepper.
764 * You can now use positional parameter specifications in format strings
765 for the `printf' and `scanf' families of functions. For example,
766 `printf ("Number %2$d, Mr %1$s\n", "Jones", 6);'' prints
767 ``Number 6, Mr Jones''. This is mainly useful when providing different
768 format strings for different languages, whose grammars may dictate
769 different orderings of the values being printed. To support this
770 feature, the interface for `register_printf_handler' has changed; see
771 the header file <printf.h> for details.
773 * The `printf' and `scanf' families of functions now understand a new
774 formatting flag for numeric conversions: the ' flag (e.g. %'d or %'f) says
775 to group numbers as indicated by the locale; for `scanf' and friends, this
776 says to accept as valid only a number with all the proper grouping
777 separators in the right places. In the default "C" locale, numbers are
778 not grouped; but locales for specific countries will define the usual
779 conventions (i.e. separate thousands with `,' in the US locale).
781 * The pgrp functions have been regularized, slightly incompatibly but much
782 less confusingly. The core functions are now `getpgid' and `setpgid',
783 which take arguments for the PID to operate on; the POSIX.1 `getpgrp' (no
784 argument) and BSD `setpgrp' (identical to `setpgid') functions are
785 provided for compatibility. There is no longer an incompatible `getpgrp'
786 with an argument declared under _BSD_SOURCE; no BSD code uses it.
788 * The new header file <fts.h> and suite of functions simplify programs that
789 operate on directory trees. This code comes from 4.4 BSD.
791 * The resolver code has been updated from the BIND 4.9.5-P1 release.
792 Parts of the code were heavily modified by Ulrich Drepper to fit in the
793 NSS scheme used in glibc.
795 * There is a new malloc debugging hook `__memalign_hook'.
797 * There are new typedefs `ushort' for `unsigned short int' and `uint' for
798 `unsigned int' in <sys/types.h>. These are for compatibility only and
799 their use is discouraged.
801 * The `-lmcheck' library to enable standard malloc debugging hooks is now
802 done differently, so that it works even without GNU ld.
804 * New function `euidaccess' checks allowed access to a file like `access',
805 but using the effective IDs instead of the real IDs.
807 * The time zone data files have been updated for the latest and greatest
808 local time conventions of the countries of the world.
810 * The new function `dirfd' extracts the file descriptor used by a DIR stream;
813 * The new functions `ecvt', `fcvt', and `gcvt' provide an obsolete interface
814 for formatting floating-point numbers. They are provided only for
815 compatibility; new programs should use `sprintf' instead. There are
816 also equivalent function for the `long double' floating-point type and
817 all functions also exist in a reentrant form.
819 * The new auxiliary library `-lutil' from 4.4 BSD contains various
820 functions for maintaining the login-record files (primarily of use to
821 system programs such as `login'), and convenient functions for
822 allocating and initializing a pseudo-terminal (pty) device.
824 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new support for System V style
825 shared memory and IPC on systems that support it.
827 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed several miscellaneous new functions found
828 in System V: The `hsearch' family of functions provide an effective
829 implementation of hash tables; `a64l' and `l64a' provide a very simple
830 binary to ASCII mapping; `drand48' and friends provide a 48-bit random
833 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new reentrant counterparts for the
834 `random' and `hsearch' families of functions; `random_r', `hsearch_r', etc.
836 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new, highly-optimized versions of several
837 string functions for the i486/Pentium family of processors.
839 * Ulrich Drepper has updated the Linux-specific code, based largely
840 on work done in Hongjiu Lu's version of GNU libc for Linux.
841 The GNU library now supports Linux versions 2.0.10 and later,
842 using the ELF object file format (i[3456]86-*-linux).
844 * Andreas Schwab has ported the C library to Linux/m68k (m68k-*-linux).
846 * David Mosberger-Tang and Richard Henderson have ported the C library
847 to Linux/Alpha (alpha-*-linux). Richard Henderson contributed the
848 dynamic linking support for ELF/Alpha.
850 * Richard Henderson contributed several Alpha optimized assembler function
851 for arithmetic and string handling.
853 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed a new set of message catalog functions to
854 support multiple languages using the <libintl.h> interface, for use with
855 his new package GNU gettext. Translation volunteers have contributed
856 catalogs of the library's messages in Spanish, German, and Korean.
858 * For compatibility with XPG4, Ulrich Drepper has contributed the `gencat'
859 program and the `catgets' function for reading the catalog files it
860 creates. (The <libintl.h> interface is preferred; we include the
861 <nl_types.h> interface using `catgets' only for source compatibility with
862 programs already written to use it.)
864 * New header file <values.h> gives SVID-compatible names for <limits.h>
867 * Various new macros, declarations, and small header files for compatibility
870 * New function `group_member' is a convenient way to check if a process has
871 a given effective group ID.
873 * When using GCC 2.7 and later, the socket functions are now declared in a
874 special way so that passing an argument of type `struct sockaddr_in *',
875 `struct sockaddr_ns *', or `struct sockaddr_un *' instead of the generic
876 `struct sockaddr *' type, does not generate a type-clash warning.
878 * New function `error' declared in header file <error.h> is a convenient
879 function for printing error messages and optionally exiting; this is the
880 canonical function used in GNU programs. The new functions `err', `warn',
881 and friends in header file <err.h> are the canonical 4.4 BSD interface for
882 doing the same thing.
884 * The <glob.h> interface has several new flags from 4.4 BSD that extend the
885 POSIX.2 `glob' function to do ~ and {...} expansion.
887 * New function `unsetenv' complements `setenv' for compatibility with 4.4 BSD.
888 `clearenv' which is used in POSIX.9 is also available.
890 * New function `getsid' returns session ID number on systems that support it.
892 * We have incorporated the 4.4 BSD `db' library (version 1.85). New header
893 files <db.h> and <mpool.h> provide a rich set of functions for several
894 types of simple databases stored in memory and in files, and <ndbm.h> is
895 an old `ndbm'-compatible interface using the `db' functions. Link with
896 `-ldb' to get these functions.
898 * New macro `strdupa' copies a string like `strdup', but uses local stack
899 space from `alloca' instead of dynamic heap space from `malloc'.
901 * New function `strnlen' is like `strlen' but searches only a given maximum
902 number of characters for the null terminator. `stpncpy', `strndup' and
903 `strndupa' are similar variants for the `stpcpy', `strdup' and `strdupa'
906 * New function `statfs' in header <sys/statfs.h>.
908 * The new <argz.h> and <envz.h> interfaces contributed by Miles Bader
909 provide convenient functions for operating on blocks of null-terminated
912 * A new suite of functions in <utmp.h> handle all the details of reading
913 and writing the utmp file.
915 * An implementation of the NIS/YP(tm) based NSS service was contributed by
918 * Paul Eggert and Ulrich Drepper modified the `strftime' function to be
919 completely POSIX compliant and also implemented the extended functionality
920 to handle alternate digit representation and alternate era date formats.
922 * Ulrich Drepper provided an implementation of the `strptime' function
923 defined in XPG4.2 which transforms a string into a `struct tm' value.
925 * Paul Eggert provided the tzselect shell script as part of the timezone
926 code. The shell script makes it easy to select the correct timezone
929 * The implementation of the malloc family of functions is completely replaced
930 by a new implementation by Doug Lea with many improvements by Wolfram Gloger.
931 The implementation uses the mmap function (if available) and it is
932 optimized for the use in multi threaded programs.
934 * Ulrich Drepper contributed a MD5 "encryption" for the crypt family of
935 functions. This new functionality is usable by specifying a special
936 salt string and it is compatible with implementation on *BSD systems.
938 * Lots of functions from the XPG4.2 standard were added by Ulrich Drepper:
939 `getsubopt' to handle second level command line options, `bsd_signal'
940 to access BSD style `signal' functionality, the obsolete `regexp' style
943 * the `lchown' function is available on system which support this
946 * The implementation of the shadow password handling function was contributed
949 * David Mosberger-Tang changed the SunRPC implementation to be 64bit safe.
951 * POSIX.1g support was added. The <sys/select.h> header is available,
952 `isfdtype' and `pselect' are implemented. Craig Metz contributed an
953 implementation of `getaddrinfo'.
957 * For cross-compilation you should now set `BUILD_CC' instead of `HOST_CC'.
959 * New header file <fstab.h> and new functions `getfsspec', `getfsent' and
960 friends, for parsing /etc/fstab. This code comes from 4.4 BSD.
962 * The new function `daemon' from 4.4 BSD is useful for server programs that
963 want to put themselves in the background.
965 * Joel Sherrill has contributed support for several standalone boards that
966 run without an operating system.
968 * `printf', `scanf' and friends now accept a `q' type modifier for long
969 long int as well as `ll'. Formats using these might be `%qu' or `%lld'.
971 * All of the code taken from BSD (notably most of the math and networking
972 routines) has been updated from the BSD 4.4-Lite release.
974 * The resolver code has been updated from the BIND-4.9.3-BETA9 release.
976 * The new functions `getdomainname' and `setdomainname' fetch or change the
977 YP/NIS domain name. These are system calls which exist on systems which
980 * The time zone data files have been updated for the latest international
983 * The SunRPC programs `portmap' and `rpcinfo' are now installed in
984 $(sbindir) (usually /usr/local/sbin) instead of $(bindir).
988 * The C library now includes support for Sun RPC, from Sun's free
989 RPCSRC-4.0 distribution. The `portmap', `rpcinfo', and `rpcgen' programs
990 are included. (There is still no support for YP.)
992 * Tom Quinn has contributed a port of the C library to SGI machines running
993 Irix 4 (mips-sgi-irix4).
995 * The new `lockf' function is a simplified interface to the locking
996 facilities of `fcntl', included for compatibility.
998 * New time functions `timegm', `timelocal', and `dysize' for compatibility.
1000 * New header file <sys/timeb.h> and new function `ftime' for compatibility.
1002 * New header files <poll.h> and <sys/poll.h> and new function `poll' for
1005 * The error message printed by `assert' for a failed assertion now includes
1006 the name of the program (if using GNU ld) and the name of the calling
1007 function (with versions of GCC that support this).
1009 * The `psignal' function is now declared in <signal.h>, not <stdio.h>.
1011 * The library now includes the <sys/mman.h> header file and memory
1012 management functions `mmap', `munmap', `mprotect', `msync', and
1013 `madvise', on systems that support those facilities.
1015 * The interface for `mcheck' has changed slightly: the function called to
1016 abort the program when an allocation inconsistency is detected now takes
1017 an argument that indicates the type of failure. The new function
1018 `mprobe' lets you request a consistency check for a particular block at
1019 any time (checks are normally done only when you call `free' or `realloc'
1022 * It is now possible to easily cross-compile the C library, building on one
1023 system a library to run on another machine and/or operating system. All
1024 you need to do is set the variable `HOST_CC' in `configparms' to the
1025 native compiler for programs to run on the machine you are building on (a
1026 few generator programs are used on Unix systems); set `CC' to the
1029 * The new function `fexecve' (only implemented on the GNU system) executes
1030 a program file given a file descriptor already open on the file.
1034 * Brendan Kehoe has contributed most of a port to the DEC Alpha
1035 running OSF/1 (alpha-dec-osf1). He says it is 75% complete.
1037 * You can set the variable `libprefix' in `configparms' to specify a prefix
1038 to be prepended to installed library files; this makes it easy to install
1039 the GNU C library to be linked as `-lgnuc' or whatever.
1041 * The new `stpncpy' is a cross between `stpcpy' and `strncpy': It
1042 copies a limited number of characters from a string, and returns the
1043 address of the last character written.
1045 * You no longer need to check for whether the installed `stddef.h' is
1046 compatible with the GNU C library. configure now checks for you.
1048 * You can now define a per-stream `fileno' function to convert the
1049 stream's cookie into an integral file descriptor.
1051 * ``malloc (0)'' no longer returns a null pointer. Instead, it
1052 allocates zero bytes of storage, and returns a unique pointer which
1053 you can pass to `realloc' or `free'. The behavior is undefined if
1054 you dereference this pointer.
1056 * The C library now runs on Sony NEWS m68k machines running either
1057 NewsOS 3 or NewsOS 4.
1059 * The new `syscall' function is a system-dependent primitive function
1060 for invoking system calls. It has the canonical behavior on Unix
1061 systems, including unreliable return values for some calls (such as
1062 `pipe', `fork' and `getppid').
1064 * The error code `EWOULDBLOCK' is now obsolete; it is always defined
1065 to `EAGAIN', which is the preferred name. On systems whose kernels
1066 use two distinct codes, the C library now translates EWOULDBLOCK to
1067 EAGAIN in every system call function.
1071 * The GNU C Library Reference Manual is now distributed with the library.
1072 `make dvi' will produce a DVI file of the printed manual.
1073 `make info' will produce Info files that you can read on line using C-h i
1074 in Emacs or the `info' program.
1075 Please send comments on the manual to bug-glibc-manual@gnu.org.
1077 * The library now supports SVR4 on i386s (i386-unknown-sysv4).
1079 * Brendan Kehoe has contributed a port to Sun SPARCs running Solaris 2.
1081 * Jason Merrill has contributed a port to the Sequent Symmetry running
1082 Dynix version 3 (i386-sequent-dynix).
1084 * The library has been ported to i386s running SCO 3.2.4 (also known as SCO
1085 ODT 2.0; i386-unknown-sco3.2.4) or SCO 3.2 (i386-unknown-sco3.2).
1087 * New function `memory_warnings' lets you arrange to get warnings when
1088 malloc is running out of memory to allocate, like Emacs gives you.
1090 * The C library now contains the relocating allocator used in Emacs 19 for
1091 its editing buffers. This allocator (ralloc) minimizes allocation
1092 overhead and fragmentation by moving allocated regions around whenever it
1093 needs to. You always refer to a ralloc'd region with a "handle" (a
1094 pointer to a pointer--an object of type `void **').
1096 * There is a new `printf' format: `%m' gives you the string corresponding
1097 to the error code in `errno'.
1099 * In `scanf' formats, you can now use `%as' or `%a[' to do the normal `%s'
1100 or `%[' conversion, but instead of filling in a fixed-sized buffer you
1101 pass, the `a' modifier says to fill in a `char **' you pass with a
1104 * The `fnmatch' function supports the new flag bits `FNM_LEADING_DIR' and
1105 `FNM_CASEFOLD'. `FNM_LEADING_DIR' lets a pattern like `foo*' match a
1106 name like `foo/bar'. `FNM_CASEFOLD' says to ignore case in matching.
1108 * `mkstemp' is a traditional Unix function to atomically create and open a
1109 uniquely-named temporary file.
1113 * The standard location for the file that says what the local timezone is
1114 has changed again. It is now `/usr/local/etc/localtime' (or more
1115 precisely, `${prefix}/etc/localtime') rather than `/etc/localtime'.
1117 * The distribution no longer contains any files with names longer than 14
1120 * `struct ttyent' has two new flag bits: TTY_TRUSTED and TTY_CONSOLE.
1121 These are set by the new `trusted' and `console' keywords in `/etc/ttys'.
1123 * New functions `ttyslot' and `syslog' from 4.4 BSD.
1127 * The configuration process has changed quite a bit. The `configure'
1128 script is now used just like the configuration scripts for other GNU
1129 packages. The `sysdeps' directory hierarchy is much rearranged.
1130 The file `INSTALL' explains the new scheme in detail.
1132 * The header files no longer need to be processed into ANSI C and
1133 traditional C versions. There is just one set of files to install, and
1134 it will work with ANSI or old C compilers (including `gcc -traditional').
1136 * Brendan Kehoe and Ian Lance Taylor have ported the library to the
1137 MIPS DECStation running Ultrix 4.
1139 * The Sun 4 startup code (crt0) can now properly load SunOS 4 shared libraries.
1140 Tom Quinn contributed the initial code. The GNU C library can NOT yet be
1141 made itself into a shared library.
1143 * Yet further improved support for the i386, running 4.3 BSD-like systems
1144 (such as Mach 3 with the Unix single-server), or System V.
1146 * New function `strncasecmp' to do case-insensitive string comparison
1147 with limited length.
1149 * New function `strsep' is a reentrant alternative to `strtok'.
1151 * New functions `scandir' and `alphasort' for searching directories.
1153 * New function `setenv' is a better interface to `putenv'.
1155 * Ian Lance Taylor has contributed an implementation of the SVID `ftw'
1156 function for traversing a directory tree.
1158 * The GNU obstack package is now also part of the C library.
1159 The new function `open_obstack_stream' creates a stdio stream that
1160 writes onto an obstack; `obstack_printf' and `obstack_vprintf' do
1161 formatted output directly to an obstack.
1163 * Miscellaneous new functions: reboot, nice, sigaltstack (4.4 BSD only),
1164 cfmakeraw, getusershell, getpass, swab, getttyent, seteuid, setegid.
1166 * `FNM_FILE_NAME' is another name for `FNM_PATHNAME', used with `fnmatch'.
1168 * The new functions `strfry' and `memfrob' do mysterious and wonderful
1169 things to your strings.
1171 * There are some new test programs: test-fseek, testmb, and testrand.
1173 * Some work has been done to begin porting the library to 4.4 BSD and Linux.
1174 These ports are not finished, but are a good starting place for really
1175 supporting those systems.
1177 * `/etc/localtime' is now the standard location for the file that says what
1178 the local timezone is, rather than `/usr/local/lib/zoneinfo/localtime'.
1179 This follows the general principle that `/etc' is the place for all local
1180 configuration files.
1182 * The C library header files now use `extern "C"' when used by the C++
1183 compiler, so the C library should now work with C++ code.
1185 * The header file <bstring.h> is gone. <string.h> now declares bcopy,
1186 bcmp, bzero, and ffs. (Update: nowadays these functions are declared
1189 * Mike Haertel (of GNU e?grep and malloc fame) has written a new sorting
1190 function which uses the `merge sort' algorithm, and is said to be
1191 significantly faster than the old GNU `qsort' function. Merge sort is
1192 now the standard `qsort' function. The new algorithm can require a lot
1193 of temporary storage; so, the old sorting function is called when the
1194 required storage is not available.
1196 * The C library now includes Michael Glad's Ultra Fast Crypt, which
1197 provides the Unix `crypt' function, plus some other entry points.
1199 * The code and header files taken from 4.4 BSD have been updated with the
1200 latest files released from Berkeley.
1202 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
1203 Copyright information:
1205 Copyright (C) 1992-1999, 2000 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
1207 Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim copies
1208 of this document as received, in any medium, provided that the
1209 copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved,
1210 thus giving the recipient permission to redistribute in turn.
1212 Permission is granted to distribute modified versions
1213 of this document, or of portions of it,
1214 under the above conditions, provided also that they
1215 carry prominent notices stating who last changed them.
1218 version-control: never
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