1 GNU C Library NEWS -- history of user-visible changes. 1999-08-25
3 Copyright (C) 1992, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99 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 * Update from Berkeley db 2.7.5.
16 * Wide character I/O streams implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
18 * functions from the extended socket API added by Ulrich Drepper.
28 * New ISO C 9x function _Exit, imaxabs, and imaxdiv are added.
30 * New xdr functions are added; some rpc functions are now 64bit clean.
32 * Fixed a number of bugs and memory leaks (especially in NIS+ code).
34 * Fixed known incompatibilities with glibc 2.0.
36 * New functions lock64, strchrnul, rawmemchr, getutmp and getutmpx.
38 * Optimized a number of functions (especially the ELF dynamic loader).
40 * Update timezone data files.
42 * lots of charmaps corrections
44 * some new locale definitions and charmaps
49 * Richard Henderson corrected size of struct timeval on Linux/Alpha to
50 conform to POSIX member type requirements. Symbol versions have been
51 adjusted as needed within the library, and for direct use by applications,
52 but there is potential for problems if third-party libraries use
53 struct timeval as part of their interface. This does not present
54 a problem for X and other "essential" system libraries.
56 * An additional locale model to support C++ Standard Library locale
57 model and probably more was implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
59 * Eric Youngdale and Ulrich Drepper implemented versioning of objects on
62 * Miles Bader provided the `argp' function family to support hierachical
63 command line argument parsing, layered on top of getopt.
65 * strtod accepts new hexadecimal floating-point format from ISO C 9X.
67 * printf has two new specifiers %a and %A to print hexadecimal flaoting-point
70 * scanf recognizes the %a and %A format for scanning floating point numbers.
72 * the new headers <stdint.h> and <inttypes.h> from ISO C 9X provides
73 information and interfaces for the available integer types.
75 * about 130 new math functions were added to implement the ISO C9x math
78 * the new header <complex.h> contains definitions of the complex math
79 functions from ISO C 9X.
81 * the new header <tgmath.h> defines generic macros to use complex or
82 real valued functions.
84 * Thorsten Kukuk provided an implementation for NIS+, securelevel 0, 1 and 2.
86 * Andreas Jaeger provided a test suite for the math library.
88 * Mark Kettenis implemented the utmpx interface and an utmp daemon.
90 * Ulrich Drepper added character set conversion functions (iconv).
92 * Optimized string functions have been added.
94 * The localedata addon is now part of glibc.
96 * An implementation of profiling shared libraries was added by Ulrich Drepper.
98 * Thorsten Kukuk and Ulrich Drepper provided an implementation for a caching
99 daemon for NSS (nscd).
101 Missing a better place here are some numbers on improvements. Under
102 Linux 2.1.125 un-tar-ing the kernel sources takes
106 using local files 12.19s 6.88s 22.91s
108 using NIS 13.92s 8.91s 26.34s
110 using NIS & nscd 10.37s 7.34s 25.30s
112 using NIS+ 27.57s 30.37s 640.46s
114 using NIS+ & nscd 10.25s 7.83s 26.51s
116 using NIS & old nscd [1] 13.83s 8.32s 29.60s
118 Keep in mind that non-namelookup related operations dominate above times.
119 It was just a common complain that using NIS+ unpacking the kernel is
122 [1] The old nscd implementation is not available anymore since it was
123 distributed with glibc up to version 2.0.98 and thus is now replaced.
125 * Tim Waugh provided an implementation of the POSIX.2 wordexp function family.
127 * Mark Kettenis provided a Hesiod NSS module.
129 * The ELF dynamic loader knows how to process dynamic string tokens ($ORIGIN
130 and $PLATFORM) in RPATHs and similar strings (Ulrich Drepper).
132 * rcmd can now handle netgroups (Dick Streefland).
134 * A port to the ARM was contributed by Phil Blundell, Pat Beirne and Scott
137 * Support for the IPv6 protocol has been added to the socket API, as per the
138 latest draft standards.
140 * Support for Linux 2.2 has been added.
142 * Interface changes relative to the latest 2.0.x release:
143 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
144 addseverity NEW: Unix98
146 argp_err_exit_status NEW: argp, GNU ext
147 argp_error NEW: argp, GNU ext
148 argp_failure NEW: argp, GNU ext
149 argp_help NEW: argp, GNU ext
150 argp_parse NEW: argp, GNU ext
151 argp_program_bug_address NEW: argp, GNU ext
152 argp_program_version NEW: argp, GNU ext
153 argp_program_version_hook NEW: argp, GNU ext
154 argp_state_help NEW: argp, GNU ext
155 argp_usage NEW: argp, GNU ext
156 authdes_create NEW: Secure RPC
157 authdes_getucred NEW: Secure RPC
158 authdes_pk_create NEW: Secure RPC
159 backtrace NEW: GNU ext.
160 backtrace_symbols NEW: GNU ext.
161 backtrace_symbols_fd NEW: GNU ext.
165 cacoshf NEW: ISO C 9x
166 cacoshl NEW: ISO C 9x
176 casinhf NEW: ISO C 9x
177 casinhl NEW: ISO C 9x
182 catanhf NEW: ISO C 9x
183 catanhl NEW: ISO C 9x
185 cbc_crypt NEW: Secure RPC
198 clearerr_locked REMOVED
199 clntunix_create NEW: sunrpc ext
202 clog10f NEW: ISO C 9x
203 clog10l NEW: ISO C 9x
234 des_setparity NEW: Secure RPC
235 ecb_crypt NEW: Secure RPC
236 endutxent NEW: Unix98
248 feclearexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
249 fegetenv NEW: ISO C 9x
250 fegetexceptflag NEW: ISO C 9x
251 fegetround NEW: ISO C 9x
252 feholdexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
254 feraiseexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
255 ferror_locked REMOVED
256 fesetenv NEW: ISO C 9x
257 fesetexceptflag NEW: ISO C 9x
258 fesetround NEW: ISO C 9x
259 fetestexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
260 feupdateenv NEW: ISO C 9x
261 fflush_locked REMOVED
265 fgets_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
266 fileno_locked REMOVED
279 fputs_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
280 fread_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
291 fwrite_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
292 gai_strerror NEW: IPv6
296 getchar_locked REMOVED
298 getdate_err NEW: Unix98
299 getdate_r NEW: GNU ext.
301 getnameinfo NEW: IPv6
302 getnetname NEW: Secure RPC
304 getpt NEW: Unix98 PTY
306 getutxent NEW: Unix98
308 getutxline NEW: Unix98
310 globfree64 NEW: GNU ext.
311 gnu_get_libc_release NEW: GNU ext.
312 gnu_get_libc_version NEW: GNU ext.
313 grantpt NEW: Unix98 PTY
314 host2netname NEW: Secure RPC
316 iconv_close NEW: iconv
317 iconv_open NEW: iconv
318 if_freenameindex NEW: IPv6
319 if_indextoname NEW: IPv6
320 if_nameindex NEW: IPv6
321 if_nametoindex NEW: IPv6
322 in6addr_any NEW: IPv6
323 in6addr_loopback NEW: IPv6
324 inet6_isipv4mapped NEW: IPv6
325 isastream NEW: STREAMS
326 iswblank NEW: GNU ext.
327 key_decryptsession NEW: Secure RPC
328 key_decryptsession_pk NEW: Secure RPC
329 key_encryptsession NEW: Secure RPC
330 key_encryptsession_pk NEW: Secure RPC
331 key_gendes NEW: Secure RPC
332 key_get_conv NEW: Secure RPC
333 key_secretkey_is_set NEW: Secure RPC
334 key_setnet NEW: Secure RPC
335 key_setsecret NEW: Secure RPC
337 llrintf NEW: ISO C 9x
338 llrintl NEW: ISO C 9x
339 llround NEW: ISO C 9x
340 llroundf NEW: ISO C 9x
341 llroundl NEW: ISO C 9x
349 lroundf NEW: ISO C 9x
350 lroundl NEW: ISO C 9x
352 makecontext NEW: Unix98
353 mempcpy NEW: GNU ext.
356 modify_ldt NEW: kernel
360 nearbyint NEW: ISO C 9x
361 nearbyintf NEW: ISO C 9x
362 nearbyintl NEW: ISO C 9x
363 netname2host NEW: Secure RPC
364 netname2user NEW: Secure RPC
365 nexttoward NEW: ISO C 9x
366 nexttowardf NEW: ISO C 9x
367 nexttowardl NEW: ISO C 9x
371 passwd2des NEW: Secure RPC
377 printf_size NEW: GNU ext.
378 printf_size_info NEW: GNU ext.
379 profil_counter REMOVED
380 pthread_mutexattr_getkind_np REPLACED
381 pthread_mutexattr_setkind_np REPLACED
382 ptsname NEW: Unix98 PTY
383 ptsname_r NEW: Unix98 PTY
385 putchar_locked REMOVED
386 putgrent NEW: GNU ext.
389 pututxline NEW: Unix98
395 remquof NEW: ISO C 9x
396 remquol NEW: ISO C 9x
401 scalbln NEW: ISO C 9x
402 scalblnf NEW: ISO C 9x
403 scalblnl NEW: ISO C 9x
406 setcontext NEW: Unix98
408 setutxent NEW: Unix98
410 sigignore NEW: Unix98
411 sigqueue NEW: POSIX.1b
414 sigtimedwait NEW: POSIX.1b
415 sigwaitinfo NEW: POSIX.1b
417 sincosf NEW: GNU ext.
418 sincosl NEW: GNU ext.
422 strcasestr NEW: GNU ext.
423 strtoimax NEW: ISO C 9x
424 strtoumax NEW: ISO C 9x
425 strverscmp NEW: GNU ext.
426 svcauthdes_stats NEW: Secure RPC
427 svcunix_create NEW: sunrpc etx
428 svcunixfd_create NEW: sunrpc ext
429 swapcontext NEW: Unix98
430 tcgetsid NEW: Unix98 PTY
431 tdestroy NEW: GNU ext.
433 tgammaf NEW: ISO C 9x
434 tgammal NEW: ISO C 9x
441 unlockpt NEW: Unix98 PTY
443 user2netname NEW: Secure RPC
444 utmpxname NEW: Unix98
445 versionsort NEW: GNU ext.
446 versionsort64 NEW: GNU ext.
448 wcscasecmp NEW: GNU ext.
449 wcsncasecmp NEW: GNU ext.
450 wcsnlen NEW: GNU ext.
451 wcstoimax NEW: ISO C 9x
452 wcstoll NEW: ISO C 9x
453 wcstoull NEW: ISO C 9x
454 wcstoumax NEW: ISO C 9x
457 wordfree NEW: POSIX.2
458 write_profiling REMOVED
459 xdecrypt NEW: Secure RPC
460 xdr_authdes_cred NEW: Secure RPC
461 xdr_authdes_verf NEW: Secure RPC
462 xdr_cryptkeyarg NEW: Secure RPC
463 xdr_cryptkeyarg2 NEW: Secure RPC
464 xdr_cryptkeyres NEW: Secure RPC
465 xdr_getcredres NEW: Secure RPC
466 xdr_key_netstarg NEW: Secure RPC
467 xdr_key_netstres NEW: Secure RPC
468 xdr_keybuf NEW: Secure RPC
469 xdr_keystatus NEW: Secure RPC
470 xdr_netnamestr NEW: Secure RPC
471 xdr_sizeof NEW: Secure RPC
472 xdr_unixcred NEW: sunrpc ext
473 xencrypt NEW: Secure RPC
474 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
485 * inet_ntoa is thread-safe
487 * updwtmp is moved from libutil to libc
489 * rewrite of cbrt function
491 * update of timezone data
507 * fix complex problems in Berkeley DB code
513 * fixed lots of header problems (especially Linux/GNU specific)
515 * dynamic loader preserves all registers
517 * Roland McGrath provided support for handling of auxiliary objects in
518 the ELF dynamic loader.
520 * support for parallel builds is improved
524 * GNU extensions are no longer declared by default. To enable them you
525 must define the macro `_GNU_SOURCE' in your program or compile with
528 * The library has changed from using GNU ld symbol aliases to using weak
529 symbols where available. The ELF object file format supports weak
530 symbols; GNU ld also supports weak symbols in the a.out format. (There
531 is also now support for other GNU ld extensions in ELF. Use the
532 `--with-elf' option to configure to indicate you have ELF, and
533 `--with-gnu-ld' if using GNU ld.) This change resulted in the deletion
534 of many files which contained only symbol aliases, reducing the size of
535 the source and the compiled library; many other files were renamed to
536 less cryptic names previously occupied by the symbol alias files.
537 There is a new header file <elf.h> for programs which operate on
538 files in the ELF format.
540 * Converted to Autoconf version 2, so `configure' has more options.
541 Run `configure --help' to see the details.
543 * The library can now be configured to build profiling, highly-optimized
544 (but undebuggable), and/or shared libraries (ELF with GNU ld only). The
545 `--enable-profile', `--enable-omitfp', and `--enable-shared' options to
546 `configure' enable building these extra libraries. The shared library is
547 built by default when using both ELF and GNU ld. When shared libraries
548 are enabled, the new library `-ldl' is available for arbitrary run-time
549 loading of shared objects; its interface is defined in <dlfcn.h>. The
550 new header file <link.h> gives access to the internals of the run-time
551 dynamic linker, `ld.so'. The shell script `ldd' is similar to the
552 application of same name on other systems and it provides information
553 about dynamically linked binaries.
555 * The C library now provides the run-time support code for profiling
556 executables compiled with `-pg'. Programs can control the profiling code
557 through the interface in <sys/gmon.h>. The `gmon.out' files written by
558 the GNU C library can be read only by GNU `gprof' (from GNU binutils);
559 the support for this file format was contributed by David Mosberger-Tang.
561 * The math code has been replaced with a math library based on fdlibm from
562 Sun, and modified by JT Conklin and Ulrich Drepper with i387 support, by
563 Ian Taylor with `float' functions and by Ulrich Drepper with `long double'
564 functions. The math functions now reside in a separate library, so
565 programs using them will need to use `-lm' their linking commands.
567 * John C. Bowman contributed optimized ix87 assembler inline functions.
569 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed support for an `/etc/nsswitch.conf'
570 mechanism similar to that found in Solaris 2. This is now used for the
571 group, passwd, hosts, networks, services, protocols, rpc, ethers,
572 shadow, netgroup, publickey, and alias databases. The `nsswitch.conf'
573 file controls what services are used for each individual database. This
574 works by loading shared libraries with names specified in `nsswitch.conf',
575 so service modules can be changed or added at any time without even
576 relinking any program. Currently there are the file, db, and NIS based
577 NSS services available.
579 * The new functions `strtoq' and `strtouq' parse integer values from
580 strings, like `strtol' and `strtoul', but they return `long long int' and
581 `unsigned long long int' values, respectively (64-bit quantities).
583 * The new functions `strtof' and `strtold' parse floating-point values from
584 strings, like `strtod', but they return `float' and `long double' values,
585 respectively (on some machines `double' and `long double' are the same).
587 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new implementations of the floating-point
588 printing and reading code used in the `printf' family of functions and
589 `strtod', `strtof', and `strtold'. These new functions are perfectly
590 accurate, and much faster than the old ones.
592 * The implementation of the POSIX locale model was completely rewritten by
593 Ulrich Drepper. This includes the new programs `localedef' and `locale'
594 to compile the POSIX locale definition.
596 * The former dummy implementations of the strcoll and strxfrm function are
597 now replaced by fully functional code contributed by Ulrich Drepper. The
598 collation information comes from the POSIX locale definitions.
600 * The new header <langinfo.h> defines an interface for accessing
601 various locale-dependent data (using the locale chosen with `setlocale').
603 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed a new suite of functions for operation on
604 wide-character and multibyte-character strings, in <wchar.h>;
605 and classification and case conversion of wide characters, in <wctype.h>.
606 These new functions are conforming to the ISO C, Amendement 1 specification.
608 * There is now a second implementation of the standard I/O library available.
609 It comes from GNU libg++ as was written by Per Bothner, heavily modified
610 by Hongjiu Lu and made thread safe by Ulrich Drepper.
612 * You can now use positional parameter specifications in format strings
613 for the `printf' and `scanf' families of functions. For example,
614 `printf ("Number %2$d, Mr %1$s\n", "Jones", 6);'' prints
615 ``Number 6, Mr Jones''. This is mainly useful when providing different
616 format strings for different languages, whose grammars may dictate
617 different orderings of the values being printed. To support this
618 feature, the interface for `register_printf_handler' has changed; see
619 the header file <printf.h> for details.
621 * The `printf' and `scanf' families of functions now understand a new
622 formatting flag for numeric conversions: the ' flag (e.g. %'d or %'f) says
623 to group numbers as indicated by the locale; for `scanf' and friends, this
624 says to accept as valid only a number with all the proper grouping
625 separators in the right places. In the default "C" locale, numbers are
626 not grouped; but locales for specific countries will define the usual
627 conventions (i.e. separate thousands with `,' in the US locale).
629 * The pgrp functions have been regularized, slightly incompatibly but much
630 less confusingly. The core functions are now `getpgid' and `setpgid',
631 which take arguments for the PID to operate on; the POSIX.1 `getpgrp' (no
632 argument) and BSD `setpgrp' (identical to `setpgid') functions are
633 provided for compatibility. There is no longer an incompatible `getpgrp'
634 with an argument declared under _BSD_SOURCE; no BSD code uses it.
636 * The new header file <fts.h> and suite of functions simplify programs that
637 operate on directory trees. This code comes from 4.4 BSD.
639 * The resolver code has been updated from the BIND 4.9.5-P1 release.
640 Parts of the code were heavily modified by Ulrich Drepper to fit in the
641 NSS scheme used in glibc.
643 * There is a new malloc debugging hook `__memalign_hook'.
645 * There are new typedefs `ushort' for `unsigned short int' and `uint' for
646 `unsigned int' in <sys/types.h>. These are for compatibility only and
647 their use is discouraged.
649 * The `-lmcheck' library to enable standard malloc debugging hooks is now
650 done differently, so that it works even without GNU ld.
652 * New function `euidaccess' checks allowed access to a file like `access',
653 but using the effective IDs instead of the real IDs.
655 * The time zone data files have been updated for the latest and greatest
656 local time conventions of the countries of the world.
658 * The new function `dirfd' extracts the file descriptor used by a DIR stream;
661 * The new functions `ecvt', `fcvt', and `gcvt' provide an obsolete interface
662 for formatting floating-point numbers. They are provided only for
663 compatibility; new programs should use `sprintf' instead. There are
664 also equivalent function for the `long double' floating-point type and
665 all functions also exist in a reentrant form.
667 * The new auxiliary library `-lutil' from 4.4 BSD contains various
668 functions for maintaining the login-record files (primarily of use to
669 system programs such as `login'), and convenient functions for
670 allocating and initializing a pseudo-terminal (pty) device.
672 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new support for System V style
673 shared memory and IPC on systems that support it.
675 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed several miscellaneous new functions found
676 in System V: The `hsearch' family of functions provide an effective
677 implementation of hash tables; `a64l' and `l64a' provide a very simple
678 binary to ASCII mapping; `drand48' and friends provide a 48-bit random
681 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new reentrant counterparts for the
682 `random' and `hsearch' families of functions; `random_r', `hsearch_r', etc.
684 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new, highly-optimized versions of several
685 string functions for the i486/Pentium family of processors.
687 * Ulrich Drepper has updated the Linux-specific code, based largely
688 on work done in Hongjiu Lu's version of GNU libc for Linux.
689 The GNU library now supports Linux versions 2.0.10 and later,
690 using the ELF object file format (i[3456]86-*-linux).
692 * Andreas Schwab has ported the C library to Linux/m68k (m68k-*-linux).
694 * David Mosberger-Tang and Richard Henderson have ported the C library
695 to Linux/Alpha (alpha-*-linux). Richard Henderson contributed the
696 dynamic linking support for ELF/Alpha.
698 * Richard Henderson contributed several Alpha optimized assembler function
699 for arithmetic and string handling.
701 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed a new set of message catalog functions to
702 support multiple languages using the <libintl.h> interface, for use with
703 his new package GNU gettext. Translation volunteers have contributed
704 catalogs of the library's messages in Spanish, German, and Korean.
706 * For compatibility with XPG4, Ulrich Drepper has contributed the `gencat'
707 program and the `catgets' function for reading the catalog files it
708 creates. (The <libintl.h> interface is preferred; we include the
709 <nl_types.h> interface using `catgets' only for source compatibility with
710 programs already written to use it.)
712 * New header file <values.h> gives SVID-compatible names for <limits.h>
715 * Various new macros, declarations, and small header files for compatibility
718 * New function `group_member' is a convenient way to check if a process has
719 a given effective group ID.
721 * When using GCC 2.7 and later, the socket functions are now declared in a
722 special way so that passing an argument of type `struct sockaddr_in *',
723 `struct sockaddr_ns *', or `struct sockaddr_un *' instead of the generic
724 `struct sockaddr *' type, does not generate a type-clash warning.
726 * New function `error' declared in header file <error.h> is a convenient
727 function for printing error messages and optionally exiting; this is the
728 canonical function used in GNU programs. The new functions `err', `warn',
729 and friends in header file <err.h> are the canonical 4.4 BSD interface for
730 doing the same thing.
732 * The <glob.h> interface has several new flags from 4.4 BSD that extend the
733 POSIX.2 `glob' function to do ~ and {...} expansion.
735 * New function `unsetenv' complements `setenv' for compatibility with 4.4 BSD.
736 `clearenv' which is used in POSIX.9 is also available.
738 * New function `getsid' returns session ID number on systems that support it.
740 * We have incorporated the 4.4 BSD `db' library (version 1.85). New header
741 files <db.h> and <mpool.h> provide a rich set of functions for several
742 types of simple databases stored in memory and in files, and <ndbm.h> is
743 an old `ndbm'-compatible interface using the `db' functions. Link with
744 `-ldb' to get these functions.
746 * New macro `strdupa' copies a string like `strdup', but uses local stack
747 space from `alloca' instead of dynamic heap space from `malloc'.
749 * New function `strnlen' is like `strlen' but searches only a given maximum
750 number of characters for the null terminator. `stpncpy', `strndup' and
751 `strndupa' are similar variants for the `stpcpy', `strdup' and `strdupa'
754 * New function `statfs' in header <sys/statfs.h>.
756 * The new <argz.h> and <envz.h> interfaces contributed by Miles Bader
757 provide convenient functions for operating on blocks of null-terminated
760 * A new suite of functions in <utmp.h> handle all the details of reading
761 and writing the utmp file.
763 * An implementation of the NIS/YP(tm) based NSS service was contributed by
766 * Paul Eggert and Ulrich Drepper modified the `strftime' function to be
767 completely POSIX compliant and also implemented the extended functionality
768 to handle alternate digit representation and alternate era date formats.
770 * Ulrich Drepper provided an implementation of the `strptime' function
771 defined in XPG4.2 which transforms a string into a `struct tm' value.
773 * Paul Eggert provided the tzselect shell script as part of the timezone
774 code. The shell script makes it easy to select the correct timezone
777 * The implementation of the malloc family of functions is completely replaced
778 by a new implementation by Doug Lea with many improvements by Wolfram Gloger.
779 The implementation uses the mmap function (if available) and it is
780 optimized for the use in multi threaded programs.
782 * Ulrich Drepper contributed a MD5 "encryption" for the crypt family of
783 functions. This new functionality is usable by specifying a special
784 salt string and it is compatible with implementation on *BSD systems.
786 * Lots of functions from the XPG4.2 standard were added by Ulrich Drepper:
787 `getsubopt' to handle second level command line options, `bsd_signal'
788 to access BSD style `signal' functionality, the obsolete `regexp' style
791 * the `lchown' function is available on system which support this
794 * The implementation of the shadow password handling function was contributed
797 * David Mosberger-Tang changed the SunRPC implementation to be 64bit safe.
799 * POSIX.1g support was added. The <sys/select.h> header is available,
800 `isfdtype' and `pselect' are implemented. Craig Metz contributed an
801 implementation of `getaddrinfo'.
805 * For cross-compilation you should now set `BUILD_CC' instead of `HOST_CC'.
807 * New header file <fstab.h> and new functions `getfsspec', `getfsent' and
808 friends, for parsing /etc/fstab. This code comes from 4.4 BSD.
810 * The new function `daemon' from 4.4 BSD is useful for server programs that
811 want to put themselves in the background.
813 * Joel Sherrill has contributed support for several standalone boards that
814 run without an operating system.
816 * `printf', `scanf' and friends now accept a `q' type modifier for long
817 long int as well as `ll'. Formats using these might be `%qu' or `%lld'.
819 * All of the code taken from BSD (notably most of the math and networking
820 routines) has been updated from the BSD 4.4-Lite release.
822 * The resolver code has been updated from the BIND-4.9.3-BETA9 release.
824 * The new functions `getdomainname' and `setdomainname' fetch or change the
825 YP/NIS domain name. These are system calls which exist on systems which
828 * The time zone data files have been updated for the latest international
831 * The SunRPC programs `portmap' and `rpcinfo' are now installed in
832 $(sbindir) (usually /usr/local/sbin) instead of $(bindir).
836 * The C library now includes support for Sun RPC, from Sun's free
837 RPCSRC-4.0 distribution. The `portmap', `rpcinfo', and `rpcgen' programs
838 are included. (There is still no support for YP.)
840 * Tom Quinn has contributed a port of the C library to SGI machines running
841 Irix 4 (mips-sgi-irix4).
843 * The new `lockf' function is a simplified interface to the locking
844 facilities of `fcntl', included for compatibility.
846 * New time functions `timegm', `timelocal', and `dysize' for compatibility.
848 * New header file <sys/timeb.h> and new function `ftime' for compatibility.
850 * New header files <poll.h> and <sys/poll.h> and new function `poll' for
853 * The error message printed by `assert' for a failed assertion now includes
854 the name of the program (if using GNU ld) and the name of the calling
855 function (with versions of GCC that support this).
857 * The `psignal' function is now declared in <signal.h>, not <stdio.h>.
859 * The library now includes the <sys/mman.h> header file and memory
860 management functions `mmap', `munmap', `mprotect', `msync', and
861 `madvise', on systems that support those facilities.
863 * The interface for `mcheck' has changed slightly: the function called to
864 abort the program when an allocation inconsistency is detected now takes
865 an argument that indicates the type of failure. The new function
866 `mprobe' lets you request a consistency check for a particular block at
867 any time (checks are normally done only when you call `free' or `realloc'
870 * It is now possible to easily cross-compile the C library, building on one
871 system a library to run on another machine and/or operating system. All
872 you need to do is set the variable `HOST_CC' in `configparms' to the
873 native compiler for programs to run on the machine you are building on (a
874 few generator programs are used on Unix systems); set `CC' to the
877 * The new function `fexecve' (only implemented on the GNU system) executes
878 a program file given a file descriptor already open on the file.
882 * Brendan Kehoe has contributed most of a port to the DEC Alpha
883 running OSF/1 (alpha-dec-osf1). He says it is 75% complete.
885 * You can set the variable `libprefix' in `configparms' to specify a prefix
886 to be prepended to installed library files; this makes it easy to install
887 the GNU C library to be linked as `-lgnuc' or whatever.
889 * The new `stpncpy' is a cross between `stpcpy' and `strncpy': It
890 copies a limited number of characters from a string, and returns the
891 address of the last character written.
893 * You no longer need to check for whether the installed `stddef.h' is
894 compatible with the GNU C library. configure now checks for you.
896 * You can now define a per-stream `fileno' function to convert the
897 stream's cookie into an integral file descriptor.
899 * ``malloc (0)'' no longer returns a null pointer. Instead, it
900 allocates zero bytes of storage, and returns a unique pointer which
901 you can pass to `realloc' or `free'. The behavior is undefined if
902 you dereference this pointer.
904 * The C library now runs on Sony NEWS m68k machines running either
905 NewsOS 3 or NewsOS 4.
907 * The new `syscall' function is a system-dependent primitive function
908 for invoking system calls. It has the canonical behavior on Unix
909 systems, including unreliable return values for some calls (such as
910 `pipe', `fork' and `getppid').
912 * The error code `EWOULDBLOCK' is now obsolete; it is always defined
913 to `EAGAIN', which is the preferred name. On systems whose kernels
914 use two distinct codes, the C library now translates EWOULDBLOCK to
915 EAGAIN in every system call function.
919 * The GNU C Library Reference Manual is now distributed with the library.
920 `make dvi' will produce a DVI file of the printed manual.
921 `make info' will produce Info files that you can read on line using C-h i
922 in Emacs or the `info' program.
923 Please send comments on the manual to bug-glibc-manual@gnu.org.
925 * The library now supports SVR4 on i386s (i386-unknown-sysv4).
927 * Brendan Kehoe has contributed a port to Sun SPARCs running Solaris 2.
929 * Jason Merrill has contributed a port to the Sequent Symmetry running
930 Dynix version 3 (i386-sequent-dynix).
932 * The library has been ported to i386s running SCO 3.2.4 (also known as SCO
933 ODT 2.0; i386-unknown-sco3.2.4) or SCO 3.2 (i386-unknown-sco3.2).
935 * New function `memory_warnings' lets you arrange to get warnings when
936 malloc is running out of memory to allocate, like Emacs gives you.
938 * The C library now contains the relocating allocator used in Emacs 19 for
939 its editing buffers. This allocator (ralloc) minimizes allocation
940 overhead and fragmentation by moving allocated regions around whenever it
941 needs to. You always refer to a ralloc'd region with a "handle" (a
942 pointer to a pointer--an object of type `void **').
944 * There is a new `printf' format: `%m' gives you the string corresponding
945 to the error code in `errno'.
947 * In `scanf' formats, you can now use `%as' or `%a[' to do the normal `%s'
948 or `%[' conversion, but instead of filling in a fixed-sized buffer you
949 pass, the `a' modifier says to fill in a `char **' you pass with a
952 * The `fnmatch' function supports the new flag bits `FNM_LEADING_DIR' and
953 `FNM_CASEFOLD'. `FNM_LEADING_DIR' lets a pattern like `foo*' match a
954 name like `foo/bar'. `FNM_CASEFOLD' says to ignore case in matching.
956 * `mkstemp' is a traditional Unix function to atomically create and open a
957 uniquely-named temporary file.
961 * The standard location for the file that says what the local timezone is
962 has changed again. It is now `/usr/local/etc/localtime' (or more
963 precisely, `${prefix}/etc/localtime') rather than `/etc/localtime'.
965 * The distribution no longer contains any files with names longer than 14
968 * `struct ttyent' has two new flag bits: TTY_TRUSTED and TTY_CONSOLE.
969 These are set by the new `trusted' and `console' keywords in `/etc/ttys'.
971 * New functions `ttyslot' and `syslog' from 4.4 BSD.
975 * The configuration process has changed quite a bit. The `configure'
976 script is now used just like the configuration scripts for other GNU
977 packages. The `sysdeps' directory hierarchy is much rearranged.
978 The file `INSTALL' explains the new scheme in detail.
980 * The header files no longer need to be processed into ANSI C and
981 traditional C versions. There is just one set of files to install, and
982 it will work with ANSI or old C compilers (including `gcc -traditional').
984 * Brendan Kehoe and Ian Lance Taylor have ported the library to the
985 MIPS DECStation running Ultrix 4.
987 * The Sun 4 startup code (crt0) can now properly load SunOS 4 shared libraries.
988 Tom Quinn contributed the initial code. The GNU C library can NOT yet be
989 made itself into a shared library.
991 * Yet further improved support for the i386, running 4.3 BSD-like systems
992 (such as Mach 3 with the Unix single-server), or System V.
994 * New function `strncasecmp' to do case-insensitive string comparison
997 * New function `strsep' is a reentrant alternative to `strtok'.
999 * New functions `scandir' and `alphasort' for searching directories.
1001 * New function `setenv' is a better interface to `putenv'.
1003 * Ian Lance Taylor has contributed an implementation of the SVID `ftw'
1004 function for traversing a directory tree.
1006 * The GNU obstack package is now also part of the C library.
1007 The new function `open_obstack_stream' creates a stdio stream that
1008 writes onto an obstack; `obstack_printf' and `obstack_vprintf' do
1009 formatted output directly to an obstack.
1011 * Miscellaneous new functions: reboot, nice, sigaltstack (4.4 BSD only),
1012 cfmakeraw, getusershell, getpass, swab, getttyent, seteuid, setegid.
1014 * `FNM_FILE_NAME' is another name for `FNM_PATHNAME', used with `fnmatch'.
1016 * The new functions `strfry' and `memfrob' do mysterious and wonderful
1017 things to your strings.
1019 * There are some new test programs: test-fseek, testmb, and testrand.
1021 * Some work has been done to begin porting the library to 4.4 BSD and Linux.
1022 These ports are not finished, but are a good starting place for really
1023 supporting those systems.
1025 * `/etc/localtime' is now the standard location for the file that says what
1026 the local timezone is, rather than `/usr/local/lib/zoneinfo/localtime'.
1027 This follows the general principle that `/etc' is the place for all local
1028 configuration files.
1030 * The C library header files now use `extern "C"' when used by the C++
1031 compiler, so the C library should now work with C++ code.
1033 * The header file <bstring.h> is gone. <string.h> now declares bcopy,
1034 bcmp, bzero, and ffs.
1036 * Mike Haertel (of GNU e?grep and malloc fame) has written a new sorting
1037 function which uses the `merge sort' algorithm, and is said to be
1038 significantly faster than the old GNU `qsort' function. Merge sort is
1039 now the standard `qsort' function. The new algorithm can require a lot
1040 of temporary storage; so, the old sorting function is called when the
1041 required storage is not available.
1043 * The C library now includes Michael Glad's Ultra Fast Crypt, which
1044 provides the Unix `crypt' function, plus some other entry points.
1045 Because of the United States export restriction on DES implementations,
1046 we are distributing this code separately from the rest of the C library.
1047 There is an extra distribution tar file just for crypt; it is called
1048 `glibc-VERSION-crypt.tar.Z', e.g. `glibc-1.04-crypt.tar.Z'. You can just
1049 unpack the crypt distribution along with the rest of the C library and
1050 build; you can also build the library without getting crypt. Users
1051 outside the USA can get the crypt distribution via anonymous FTP from
1052 ftp.uni-c.dk [129.142.6.74], or another archive site outside the U.S.
1054 * The code and header files taken from 4.4 BSD have been updated with the
1055 latest files released from Berkeley.
1057 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
1058 Copyright information:
1060 Copyright (C) 1992, 93, 94, 95, 96 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
1062 Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim copies
1063 of this document as received, in any medium, provided that the
1064 copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved,
1065 thus giving the recipient permission to redistribute in turn.
1067 Permission is granted to distribute modified versions
1068 of this document, or of portions of it,
1069 under the above conditions, provided also that they
1070 carry prominent notices stating who last changed them.
1073 version-control: never
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