1 GNU C Library NEWS -- history of user-visible changes. 2000-08-03
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 * Greg McGary added runtime support for bounds checking using gcc's
13 new -fbounded-pointers option. ix86 target is complete. PowerPC
16 * Thorsten Kukuk added secure mode support to nscd.
18 * The Berkeley db libraries have been removed.
20 * Wide character I/O streams implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
22 * Functions from the extended socket API added by Ulrich Drepper.
24 * Functions feenableexcept and fedisableexcept to control the
25 behaviour of individual exceptions have been added by Andreas Jaeger.
27 * ldconfig program added by Andreas Jaeger and Jakub Jelinek.
29 * The resolver code has been updated from bind 8.2.2-5 which supports
30 threads. The integration was done by Andreas Jaeger and Adam D. Bradley.
32 This change could in some situations effect backward compatibility. Since
33 now `_res' is a thread-local instead of a global variable, modifying it
34 in one thread does not have any effect in other threads.
36 * Compatibility code for K&R C compilers has been removed from the
37 header files. A ISO C compiler is needed to use the library
38 (conforming to either C89 or C99 standard).
40 * Complete rewrite of the localedef program to support multibyte character
41 sets. Implement handling of ISO 14651 and ISO 14652. Rewrite strcoll,
42 strxfrm, wcscoll, and wcsxfrm functions. Make isw*() functions work.
43 Implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
45 * Plural handling in gettext implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
47 * The utmp daemon has been removed.
49 * The port to MIPS-Linux has been finished by Andreas Jaeger.
51 * A port to Hitachi SH3 and SH4 has been contributed by Kazumoto Kojima
54 * POSIX clocks and timers implemented by Kaz Kylheku and Ulrich Drepper.
56 * POSIX barriers implemented by Kaz Kylheku.
58 * POSIX spawn function family implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
60 * POSIX spinlocks are now available.
62 * Timed wait functions for mutex, rwlock, and semaphores are implemented.
77 * New ISO C 9x function _Exit, imaxabs, and imaxdiv are added.
79 * New xdr functions are added; some rpc functions are now 64bit clean.
81 * Fixed a number of bugs and memory leaks (especially in NIS+ code).
83 * Fixed known incompatibilities with glibc 2.0.
85 * New functions lock64, strchrnul, rawmemchr, getutmp and getutmpx.
87 * Optimized a number of functions (especially the ELF dynamic loader).
89 * Update timezone data files.
91 * lots of charmaps corrections
93 * some new locale definitions and charmaps
98 * Richard Henderson corrected size of struct timeval on Linux/Alpha to
99 conform to POSIX member type requirements. Symbol versions have been
100 adjusted as needed within the library, and for direct use by applications,
101 but there is potential for problems if third-party libraries use
102 struct timeval as part of their interface. This does not present
103 a problem for X and other "essential" system libraries.
105 * An additional locale model to support C++ Standard Library locale
106 model and probably more was implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
108 * Eric Youngdale and Ulrich Drepper implemented versioning of objects on
111 * Miles Bader provided the `argp' function family to support hierachical
112 command line argument parsing, layered on top of getopt.
114 * strtod accepts new hexadecimal floating-point format from ISO C 9X.
116 * printf has two new specifiers %a and %A to print hexadecimal flaoting-point
119 * scanf recognizes the %a and %A format for scanning floating point numbers.
121 * the new headers <stdint.h> and <inttypes.h> from ISO C 9X provides
122 information and interfaces for the available integer types.
124 * about 130 new math functions were added to implement the ISO C9x math
127 * the new header <complex.h> contains definitions of the complex math
128 functions from ISO C 9X.
130 * the new header <tgmath.h> defines generic macros to use complex or
131 real valued functions.
133 * Thorsten Kukuk provided an implementation for NIS+, securelevel 0, 1 and 2.
135 * Andreas Jaeger provided a test suite for the math library.
137 * Mark Kettenis implemented the utmpx interface and an utmp daemon.
139 * Ulrich Drepper added character set conversion functions (iconv).
141 * Optimized string functions have been added.
143 * The localedata addon is now part of glibc.
145 * An implementation of profiling shared libraries was added by Ulrich Drepper.
147 * Thorsten Kukuk and Ulrich Drepper provided an implementation for a caching
148 daemon for NSS (nscd).
150 Missing a better place here are some numbers on improvements. Under
151 Linux 2.1.125 un-tar-ing the kernel sources takes
155 using local files 12.19s 6.88s 22.91s
157 using NIS 13.92s 8.91s 26.34s
159 using NIS & nscd 10.37s 7.34s 25.30s
161 using NIS+ 27.57s 30.37s 640.46s
163 using NIS+ & nscd 10.25s 7.83s 26.51s
165 using NIS & old nscd [1] 13.83s 8.32s 29.60s
167 Keep in mind that non-namelookup related operations dominate above times.
168 It was just a common complain that using NIS+ unpacking the kernel is
171 [1] The old nscd implementation is not available anymore since it was
172 distributed with glibc up to version 2.0.98 and thus is now replaced.
174 * Tim Waugh provided an implementation of the POSIX.2 wordexp function family.
176 * Mark Kettenis provided a Hesiod NSS module.
178 * The ELF dynamic loader knows how to process dynamic string tokens ($ORIGIN
179 and $PLATFORM) in RPATHs and similar strings (Ulrich Drepper).
181 * rcmd can now handle netgroups (Dick Streefland).
183 * A port to the ARM was contributed by Phil Blundell, Pat Beirne and Scott
186 * Support for the IPv6 protocol has been added to the socket API, as per the
187 latest draft standards.
189 * Support for Linux 2.2 has been added.
191 * Interface changes relative to the latest 2.0.x release:
192 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
193 addseverity NEW: Unix98
195 argp_err_exit_status NEW: argp, GNU ext
196 argp_error NEW: argp, GNU ext
197 argp_failure NEW: argp, GNU ext
198 argp_help NEW: argp, GNU ext
199 argp_parse NEW: argp, GNU ext
200 argp_program_bug_address NEW: argp, GNU ext
201 argp_program_version NEW: argp, GNU ext
202 argp_program_version_hook NEW: argp, GNU ext
203 argp_state_help NEW: argp, GNU ext
204 argp_usage NEW: argp, GNU ext
205 authdes_create NEW: Secure RPC
206 authdes_getucred NEW: Secure RPC
207 authdes_pk_create NEW: Secure RPC
208 backtrace NEW: GNU ext.
209 backtrace_symbols NEW: GNU ext.
210 backtrace_symbols_fd NEW: GNU ext.
214 cacoshf NEW: ISO C 9x
215 cacoshl NEW: ISO C 9x
225 casinhf NEW: ISO C 9x
226 casinhl NEW: ISO C 9x
231 catanhf NEW: ISO C 9x
232 catanhl NEW: ISO C 9x
234 cbc_crypt NEW: Secure RPC
247 clearerr_locked REMOVED
248 clntunix_create NEW: sunrpc ext
251 clog10f NEW: ISO C 9x
252 clog10l NEW: ISO C 9x
283 des_setparity NEW: Secure RPC
284 ecb_crypt NEW: Secure RPC
285 endutxent NEW: Unix98
297 feclearexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
298 fegetenv NEW: ISO C 9x
299 fegetexceptflag NEW: ISO C 9x
300 fegetround NEW: ISO C 9x
301 feholdexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
303 feraiseexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
304 ferror_locked REMOVED
305 fesetenv NEW: ISO C 9x
306 fesetexceptflag NEW: ISO C 9x
307 fesetround NEW: ISO C 9x
308 fetestexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
309 feupdateenv NEW: ISO C 9x
310 fflush_locked REMOVED
314 fgets_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
315 fileno_locked REMOVED
328 fputs_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
329 fread_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
340 fwrite_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
341 gai_strerror NEW: IPv6
345 getchar_locked REMOVED
347 getdate_err NEW: Unix98
348 getdate_r NEW: GNU ext.
350 getnameinfo NEW: IPv6
351 getnetname NEW: Secure RPC
353 getpt NEW: Unix98 PTY
355 getutxent NEW: Unix98
357 getutxline NEW: Unix98
359 globfree64 NEW: GNU ext.
360 gnu_get_libc_release NEW: GNU ext.
361 gnu_get_libc_version NEW: GNU ext.
362 grantpt NEW: Unix98 PTY
363 host2netname NEW: Secure RPC
365 iconv_close NEW: iconv
366 iconv_open NEW: iconv
367 if_freenameindex NEW: IPv6
368 if_indextoname NEW: IPv6
369 if_nameindex NEW: IPv6
370 if_nametoindex NEW: IPv6
371 in6addr_any NEW: IPv6
372 in6addr_loopback NEW: IPv6
373 inet6_isipv4mapped NEW: IPv6
374 isastream NEW: STREAMS
375 iswblank NEW: GNU ext.
376 key_decryptsession NEW: Secure RPC
377 key_decryptsession_pk NEW: Secure RPC
378 key_encryptsession NEW: Secure RPC
379 key_encryptsession_pk NEW: Secure RPC
380 key_gendes NEW: Secure RPC
381 key_get_conv NEW: Secure RPC
382 key_secretkey_is_set NEW: Secure RPC
383 key_setnet NEW: Secure RPC
384 key_setsecret NEW: Secure RPC
386 llrintf NEW: ISO C 9x
387 llrintl NEW: ISO C 9x
388 llround NEW: ISO C 9x
389 llroundf NEW: ISO C 9x
390 llroundl NEW: ISO C 9x
398 lroundf NEW: ISO C 9x
399 lroundl NEW: ISO C 9x
401 makecontext NEW: Unix98
402 mempcpy NEW: GNU ext.
405 modify_ldt NEW: kernel
409 nearbyint NEW: ISO C 9x
410 nearbyintf NEW: ISO C 9x
411 nearbyintl NEW: ISO C 9x
412 netname2host NEW: Secure RPC
413 netname2user NEW: Secure RPC
414 nexttoward NEW: ISO C 9x
415 nexttowardf NEW: ISO C 9x
416 nexttowardl NEW: ISO C 9x
420 passwd2des NEW: Secure RPC
426 printf_size NEW: GNU ext.
427 printf_size_info NEW: GNU ext.
428 profil_counter REMOVED
429 pthread_mutexattr_getkind_np REPLACED
430 pthread_mutexattr_setkind_np REPLACED
431 ptsname NEW: Unix98 PTY
432 ptsname_r NEW: Unix98 PTY
434 putchar_locked REMOVED
435 putgrent NEW: GNU ext.
438 pututxline NEW: Unix98
444 remquof NEW: ISO C 9x
445 remquol NEW: ISO C 9x
450 scalbln NEW: ISO C 9x
451 scalblnf NEW: ISO C 9x
452 scalblnl NEW: ISO C 9x
455 setcontext NEW: Unix98
457 setutxent NEW: Unix98
459 sigignore NEW: Unix98
460 sigqueue NEW: POSIX.1b
463 sigtimedwait NEW: POSIX.1b
464 sigwaitinfo NEW: POSIX.1b
466 sincosf NEW: GNU ext.
467 sincosl NEW: GNU ext.
471 strcasestr NEW: GNU ext.
472 strtoimax NEW: ISO C 9x
473 strtoumax NEW: ISO C 9x
474 strverscmp NEW: GNU ext.
475 svcauthdes_stats NEW: Secure RPC
476 svcunix_create NEW: sunrpc etx
477 svcunixfd_create NEW: sunrpc ext
478 swapcontext NEW: Unix98
479 tcgetsid NEW: Unix98 PTY
480 tdestroy NEW: GNU ext.
482 tgammaf NEW: ISO C 9x
483 tgammal NEW: ISO C 9x
490 unlockpt NEW: Unix98 PTY
492 user2netname NEW: Secure RPC
493 utmpxname NEW: Unix98
494 versionsort NEW: GNU ext.
495 versionsort64 NEW: GNU ext.
497 wcscasecmp NEW: GNU ext.
498 wcsncasecmp NEW: GNU ext.
499 wcsnlen NEW: GNU ext.
500 wcstoimax NEW: ISO C 9x
501 wcstoll NEW: ISO C 9x
502 wcstoull NEW: ISO C 9x
503 wcstoumax NEW: ISO C 9x
506 wordfree NEW: POSIX.2
507 write_profiling REMOVED
508 xdecrypt NEW: Secure RPC
509 xdr_authdes_cred NEW: Secure RPC
510 xdr_authdes_verf NEW: Secure RPC
511 xdr_cryptkeyarg NEW: Secure RPC
512 xdr_cryptkeyarg2 NEW: Secure RPC
513 xdr_cryptkeyres NEW: Secure RPC
514 xdr_getcredres NEW: Secure RPC
515 xdr_key_netstarg NEW: Secure RPC
516 xdr_key_netstres NEW: Secure RPC
517 xdr_keybuf NEW: Secure RPC
518 xdr_keystatus NEW: Secure RPC
519 xdr_netnamestr NEW: Secure RPC
520 xdr_sizeof NEW: Secure RPC
521 xdr_unixcred NEW: sunrpc ext
522 xencrypt NEW: Secure RPC
523 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
534 * inet_ntoa is thread-safe
536 * updwtmp is moved from libutil to libc
538 * rewrite of cbrt function
540 * update of timezone data
556 * fix complex problems in Berkeley DB code
562 * fixed lots of header problems (especially Linux/GNU specific)
564 * dynamic loader preserves all registers
566 * Roland McGrath provided support for handling of auxiliary objects in
567 the ELF dynamic loader.
569 * support for parallel builds is improved
573 * GNU extensions are no longer declared by default. To enable them you
574 must define the macro `_GNU_SOURCE' in your program or compile with
577 * The library has changed from using GNU ld symbol aliases to using weak
578 symbols where available. The ELF object file format supports weak
579 symbols; GNU ld also supports weak symbols in the a.out format. (There
580 is also now support for other GNU ld extensions in ELF. Use the
581 `--with-elf' option to configure to indicate you have ELF, and
582 `--with-gnu-ld' if using GNU ld.) This change resulted in the deletion
583 of many files which contained only symbol aliases, reducing the size of
584 the source and the compiled library; many other files were renamed to
585 less cryptic names previously occupied by the symbol alias files.
586 There is a new header file <elf.h> for programs which operate on
587 files in the ELF format.
589 * Converted to Autoconf version 2, so `configure' has more options.
590 Run `configure --help' to see the details.
592 * The library can now be configured to build profiling, highly-optimized
593 (but undebuggable), and/or shared libraries (ELF with GNU ld only). The
594 `--enable-profile', `--enable-omitfp', and `--enable-shared' options to
595 `configure' enable building these extra libraries. The shared library is
596 built by default when using both ELF and GNU ld. When shared libraries
597 are enabled, the new library `-ldl' is available for arbitrary run-time
598 loading of shared objects; its interface is defined in <dlfcn.h>. The
599 new header file <link.h> gives access to the internals of the run-time
600 dynamic linker, `ld.so'. The shell script `ldd' is similar to the
601 application of same name on other systems and it provides information
602 about dynamically linked binaries.
604 * The C library now provides the run-time support code for profiling
605 executables compiled with `-pg'. Programs can control the profiling code
606 through the interface in <sys/gmon.h>. The `gmon.out' files written by
607 the GNU C library can be read only by GNU `gprof' (from GNU binutils);
608 the support for this file format was contributed by David Mosberger-Tang.
610 * The math code has been replaced with a math library based on fdlibm from
611 Sun, and modified by JT Conklin and Ulrich Drepper with i387 support, by
612 Ian Taylor with `float' functions and by Ulrich Drepper with `long double'
613 functions. The math functions now reside in a separate library, so
614 programs using them will need to use `-lm' their linking commands.
616 * John C. Bowman contributed optimized ix87 assembler inline functions.
618 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed support for an `/etc/nsswitch.conf'
619 mechanism similar to that found in Solaris 2. This is now used for the
620 group, passwd, hosts, networks, services, protocols, rpc, ethers,
621 shadow, netgroup, publickey, and alias databases. The `nsswitch.conf'
622 file controls what services are used for each individual database. This
623 works by loading shared libraries with names specified in `nsswitch.conf',
624 so service modules can be changed or added at any time without even
625 relinking any program. Currently there are the file, db, and NIS based
626 NSS services available.
628 * The new functions `strtoq' and `strtouq' parse integer values from
629 strings, like `strtol' and `strtoul', but they return `long long int' and
630 `unsigned long long int' values, respectively (64-bit quantities).
632 * The new functions `strtof' and `strtold' parse floating-point values from
633 strings, like `strtod', but they return `float' and `long double' values,
634 respectively (on some machines `double' and `long double' are the same).
636 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new implementations of the floating-point
637 printing and reading code used in the `printf' family of functions and
638 `strtod', `strtof', and `strtold'. These new functions are perfectly
639 accurate, and much faster than the old ones.
641 * The implementation of the POSIX locale model was completely rewritten by
642 Ulrich Drepper. This includes the new programs `localedef' and `locale'
643 to compile the POSIX locale definition.
645 * The former dummy implementations of the strcoll and strxfrm function are
646 now replaced by fully functional code contributed by Ulrich Drepper. The
647 collation information comes from the POSIX locale definitions.
649 * The new header <langinfo.h> defines an interface for accessing
650 various locale-dependent data (using the locale chosen with `setlocale').
652 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed a new suite of functions for operation on
653 wide-character and multibyte-character strings, in <wchar.h>;
654 and classification and case conversion of wide characters, in <wctype.h>.
655 These new functions are conforming to the ISO C, Amendement 1 specification.
657 * There is now a second implementation of the standard I/O library available.
658 It comes from GNU libg++ as was written by Per Bothner, heavily modified
659 by Hongjiu Lu and made thread safe by Ulrich Drepper.
661 * You can now use positional parameter specifications in format strings
662 for the `printf' and `scanf' families of functions. For example,
663 `printf ("Number %2$d, Mr %1$s\n", "Jones", 6);'' prints
664 ``Number 6, Mr Jones''. This is mainly useful when providing different
665 format strings for different languages, whose grammars may dictate
666 different orderings of the values being printed. To support this
667 feature, the interface for `register_printf_handler' has changed; see
668 the header file <printf.h> for details.
670 * The `printf' and `scanf' families of functions now understand a new
671 formatting flag for numeric conversions: the ' flag (e.g. %'d or %'f) says
672 to group numbers as indicated by the locale; for `scanf' and friends, this
673 says to accept as valid only a number with all the proper grouping
674 separators in the right places. In the default "C" locale, numbers are
675 not grouped; but locales for specific countries will define the usual
676 conventions (i.e. separate thousands with `,' in the US locale).
678 * The pgrp functions have been regularized, slightly incompatibly but much
679 less confusingly. The core functions are now `getpgid' and `setpgid',
680 which take arguments for the PID to operate on; the POSIX.1 `getpgrp' (no
681 argument) and BSD `setpgrp' (identical to `setpgid') functions are
682 provided for compatibility. There is no longer an incompatible `getpgrp'
683 with an argument declared under _BSD_SOURCE; no BSD code uses it.
685 * The new header file <fts.h> and suite of functions simplify programs that
686 operate on directory trees. This code comes from 4.4 BSD.
688 * The resolver code has been updated from the BIND 4.9.5-P1 release.
689 Parts of the code were heavily modified by Ulrich Drepper to fit in the
690 NSS scheme used in glibc.
692 * There is a new malloc debugging hook `__memalign_hook'.
694 * There are new typedefs `ushort' for `unsigned short int' and `uint' for
695 `unsigned int' in <sys/types.h>. These are for compatibility only and
696 their use is discouraged.
698 * The `-lmcheck' library to enable standard malloc debugging hooks is now
699 done differently, so that it works even without GNU ld.
701 * New function `euidaccess' checks allowed access to a file like `access',
702 but using the effective IDs instead of the real IDs.
704 * The time zone data files have been updated for the latest and greatest
705 local time conventions of the countries of the world.
707 * The new function `dirfd' extracts the file descriptor used by a DIR stream;
710 * The new functions `ecvt', `fcvt', and `gcvt' provide an obsolete interface
711 for formatting floating-point numbers. They are provided only for
712 compatibility; new programs should use `sprintf' instead. There are
713 also equivalent function for the `long double' floating-point type and
714 all functions also exist in a reentrant form.
716 * The new auxiliary library `-lutil' from 4.4 BSD contains various
717 functions for maintaining the login-record files (primarily of use to
718 system programs such as `login'), and convenient functions for
719 allocating and initializing a pseudo-terminal (pty) device.
721 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new support for System V style
722 shared memory and IPC on systems that support it.
724 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed several miscellaneous new functions found
725 in System V: The `hsearch' family of functions provide an effective
726 implementation of hash tables; `a64l' and `l64a' provide a very simple
727 binary to ASCII mapping; `drand48' and friends provide a 48-bit random
730 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new reentrant counterparts for the
731 `random' and `hsearch' families of functions; `random_r', `hsearch_r', etc.
733 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new, highly-optimized versions of several
734 string functions for the i486/Pentium family of processors.
736 * Ulrich Drepper has updated the Linux-specific code, based largely
737 on work done in Hongjiu Lu's version of GNU libc for Linux.
738 The GNU library now supports Linux versions 2.0.10 and later,
739 using the ELF object file format (i[3456]86-*-linux).
741 * Andreas Schwab has ported the C library to Linux/m68k (m68k-*-linux).
743 * David Mosberger-Tang and Richard Henderson have ported the C library
744 to Linux/Alpha (alpha-*-linux). Richard Henderson contributed the
745 dynamic linking support for ELF/Alpha.
747 * Richard Henderson contributed several Alpha optimized assembler function
748 for arithmetic and string handling.
750 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed a new set of message catalog functions to
751 support multiple languages using the <libintl.h> interface, for use with
752 his new package GNU gettext. Translation volunteers have contributed
753 catalogs of the library's messages in Spanish, German, and Korean.
755 * For compatibility with XPG4, Ulrich Drepper has contributed the `gencat'
756 program and the `catgets' function for reading the catalog files it
757 creates. (The <libintl.h> interface is preferred; we include the
758 <nl_types.h> interface using `catgets' only for source compatibility with
759 programs already written to use it.)
761 * New header file <values.h> gives SVID-compatible names for <limits.h>
764 * Various new macros, declarations, and small header files for compatibility
767 * New function `group_member' is a convenient way to check if a process has
768 a given effective group ID.
770 * When using GCC 2.7 and later, the socket functions are now declared in a
771 special way so that passing an argument of type `struct sockaddr_in *',
772 `struct sockaddr_ns *', or `struct sockaddr_un *' instead of the generic
773 `struct sockaddr *' type, does not generate a type-clash warning.
775 * New function `error' declared in header file <error.h> is a convenient
776 function for printing error messages and optionally exiting; this is the
777 canonical function used in GNU programs. The new functions `err', `warn',
778 and friends in header file <err.h> are the canonical 4.4 BSD interface for
779 doing the same thing.
781 * The <glob.h> interface has several new flags from 4.4 BSD that extend the
782 POSIX.2 `glob' function to do ~ and {...} expansion.
784 * New function `unsetenv' complements `setenv' for compatibility with 4.4 BSD.
785 `clearenv' which is used in POSIX.9 is also available.
787 * New function `getsid' returns session ID number on systems that support it.
789 * We have incorporated the 4.4 BSD `db' library (version 1.85). New header
790 files <db.h> and <mpool.h> provide a rich set of functions for several
791 types of simple databases stored in memory and in files, and <ndbm.h> is
792 an old `ndbm'-compatible interface using the `db' functions. Link with
793 `-ldb' to get these functions.
795 * New macro `strdupa' copies a string like `strdup', but uses local stack
796 space from `alloca' instead of dynamic heap space from `malloc'.
798 * New function `strnlen' is like `strlen' but searches only a given maximum
799 number of characters for the null terminator. `stpncpy', `strndup' and
800 `strndupa' are similar variants for the `stpcpy', `strdup' and `strdupa'
803 * New function `statfs' in header <sys/statfs.h>.
805 * The new <argz.h> and <envz.h> interfaces contributed by Miles Bader
806 provide convenient functions for operating on blocks of null-terminated
809 * A new suite of functions in <utmp.h> handle all the details of reading
810 and writing the utmp file.
812 * An implementation of the NIS/YP(tm) based NSS service was contributed by
815 * Paul Eggert and Ulrich Drepper modified the `strftime' function to be
816 completely POSIX compliant and also implemented the extended functionality
817 to handle alternate digit representation and alternate era date formats.
819 * Ulrich Drepper provided an implementation of the `strptime' function
820 defined in XPG4.2 which transforms a string into a `struct tm' value.
822 * Paul Eggert provided the tzselect shell script as part of the timezone
823 code. The shell script makes it easy to select the correct timezone
826 * The implementation of the malloc family of functions is completely replaced
827 by a new implementation by Doug Lea with many improvements by Wolfram Gloger.
828 The implementation uses the mmap function (if available) and it is
829 optimized for the use in multi threaded programs.
831 * Ulrich Drepper contributed a MD5 "encryption" for the crypt family of
832 functions. This new functionality is usable by specifying a special
833 salt string and it is compatible with implementation on *BSD systems.
835 * Lots of functions from the XPG4.2 standard were added by Ulrich Drepper:
836 `getsubopt' to handle second level command line options, `bsd_signal'
837 to access BSD style `signal' functionality, the obsolete `regexp' style
840 * the `lchown' function is available on system which support this
843 * The implementation of the shadow password handling function was contributed
846 * David Mosberger-Tang changed the SunRPC implementation to be 64bit safe.
848 * POSIX.1g support was added. The <sys/select.h> header is available,
849 `isfdtype' and `pselect' are implemented. Craig Metz contributed an
850 implementation of `getaddrinfo'.
854 * For cross-compilation you should now set `BUILD_CC' instead of `HOST_CC'.
856 * New header file <fstab.h> and new functions `getfsspec', `getfsent' and
857 friends, for parsing /etc/fstab. This code comes from 4.4 BSD.
859 * The new function `daemon' from 4.4 BSD is useful for server programs that
860 want to put themselves in the background.
862 * Joel Sherrill has contributed support for several standalone boards that
863 run without an operating system.
865 * `printf', `scanf' and friends now accept a `q' type modifier for long
866 long int as well as `ll'. Formats using these might be `%qu' or `%lld'.
868 * All of the code taken from BSD (notably most of the math and networking
869 routines) has been updated from the BSD 4.4-Lite release.
871 * The resolver code has been updated from the BIND-4.9.3-BETA9 release.
873 * The new functions `getdomainname' and `setdomainname' fetch or change the
874 YP/NIS domain name. These are system calls which exist on systems which
877 * The time zone data files have been updated for the latest international
880 * The SunRPC programs `portmap' and `rpcinfo' are now installed in
881 $(sbindir) (usually /usr/local/sbin) instead of $(bindir).
885 * The C library now includes support for Sun RPC, from Sun's free
886 RPCSRC-4.0 distribution. The `portmap', `rpcinfo', and `rpcgen' programs
887 are included. (There is still no support for YP.)
889 * Tom Quinn has contributed a port of the C library to SGI machines running
890 Irix 4 (mips-sgi-irix4).
892 * The new `lockf' function is a simplified interface to the locking
893 facilities of `fcntl', included for compatibility.
895 * New time functions `timegm', `timelocal', and `dysize' for compatibility.
897 * New header file <sys/timeb.h> and new function `ftime' for compatibility.
899 * New header files <poll.h> and <sys/poll.h> and new function `poll' for
902 * The error message printed by `assert' for a failed assertion now includes
903 the name of the program (if using GNU ld) and the name of the calling
904 function (with versions of GCC that support this).
906 * The `psignal' function is now declared in <signal.h>, not <stdio.h>.
908 * The library now includes the <sys/mman.h> header file and memory
909 management functions `mmap', `munmap', `mprotect', `msync', and
910 `madvise', on systems that support those facilities.
912 * The interface for `mcheck' has changed slightly: the function called to
913 abort the program when an allocation inconsistency is detected now takes
914 an argument that indicates the type of failure. The new function
915 `mprobe' lets you request a consistency check for a particular block at
916 any time (checks are normally done only when you call `free' or `realloc'
919 * It is now possible to easily cross-compile the C library, building on one
920 system a library to run on another machine and/or operating system. All
921 you need to do is set the variable `HOST_CC' in `configparms' to the
922 native compiler for programs to run on the machine you are building on (a
923 few generator programs are used on Unix systems); set `CC' to the
926 * The new function `fexecve' (only implemented on the GNU system) executes
927 a program file given a file descriptor already open on the file.
931 * Brendan Kehoe has contributed most of a port to the DEC Alpha
932 running OSF/1 (alpha-dec-osf1). He says it is 75% complete.
934 * You can set the variable `libprefix' in `configparms' to specify a prefix
935 to be prepended to installed library files; this makes it easy to install
936 the GNU C library to be linked as `-lgnuc' or whatever.
938 * The new `stpncpy' is a cross between `stpcpy' and `strncpy': It
939 copies a limited number of characters from a string, and returns the
940 address of the last character written.
942 * You no longer need to check for whether the installed `stddef.h' is
943 compatible with the GNU C library. configure now checks for you.
945 * You can now define a per-stream `fileno' function to convert the
946 stream's cookie into an integral file descriptor.
948 * ``malloc (0)'' no longer returns a null pointer. Instead, it
949 allocates zero bytes of storage, and returns a unique pointer which
950 you can pass to `realloc' or `free'. The behavior is undefined if
951 you dereference this pointer.
953 * The C library now runs on Sony NEWS m68k machines running either
954 NewsOS 3 or NewsOS 4.
956 * The new `syscall' function is a system-dependent primitive function
957 for invoking system calls. It has the canonical behavior on Unix
958 systems, including unreliable return values for some calls (such as
959 `pipe', `fork' and `getppid').
961 * The error code `EWOULDBLOCK' is now obsolete; it is always defined
962 to `EAGAIN', which is the preferred name. On systems whose kernels
963 use two distinct codes, the C library now translates EWOULDBLOCK to
964 EAGAIN in every system call function.
968 * The GNU C Library Reference Manual is now distributed with the library.
969 `make dvi' will produce a DVI file of the printed manual.
970 `make info' will produce Info files that you can read on line using C-h i
971 in Emacs or the `info' program.
972 Please send comments on the manual to bug-glibc-manual@gnu.org.
974 * The library now supports SVR4 on i386s (i386-unknown-sysv4).
976 * Brendan Kehoe has contributed a port to Sun SPARCs running Solaris 2.
978 * Jason Merrill has contributed a port to the Sequent Symmetry running
979 Dynix version 3 (i386-sequent-dynix).
981 * The library has been ported to i386s running SCO 3.2.4 (also known as SCO
982 ODT 2.0; i386-unknown-sco3.2.4) or SCO 3.2 (i386-unknown-sco3.2).
984 * New function `memory_warnings' lets you arrange to get warnings when
985 malloc is running out of memory to allocate, like Emacs gives you.
987 * The C library now contains the relocating allocator used in Emacs 19 for
988 its editing buffers. This allocator (ralloc) minimizes allocation
989 overhead and fragmentation by moving allocated regions around whenever it
990 needs to. You always refer to a ralloc'd region with a "handle" (a
991 pointer to a pointer--an object of type `void **').
993 * There is a new `printf' format: `%m' gives you the string corresponding
994 to the error code in `errno'.
996 * In `scanf' formats, you can now use `%as' or `%a[' to do the normal `%s'
997 or `%[' conversion, but instead of filling in a fixed-sized buffer you
998 pass, the `a' modifier says to fill in a `char **' you pass with a
1001 * The `fnmatch' function supports the new flag bits `FNM_LEADING_DIR' and
1002 `FNM_CASEFOLD'. `FNM_LEADING_DIR' lets a pattern like `foo*' match a
1003 name like `foo/bar'. `FNM_CASEFOLD' says to ignore case in matching.
1005 * `mkstemp' is a traditional Unix function to atomically create and open a
1006 uniquely-named temporary file.
1010 * The standard location for the file that says what the local timezone is
1011 has changed again. It is now `/usr/local/etc/localtime' (or more
1012 precisely, `${prefix}/etc/localtime') rather than `/etc/localtime'.
1014 * The distribution no longer contains any files with names longer than 14
1017 * `struct ttyent' has two new flag bits: TTY_TRUSTED and TTY_CONSOLE.
1018 These are set by the new `trusted' and `console' keywords in `/etc/ttys'.
1020 * New functions `ttyslot' and `syslog' from 4.4 BSD.
1024 * The configuration process has changed quite a bit. The `configure'
1025 script is now used just like the configuration scripts for other GNU
1026 packages. The `sysdeps' directory hierarchy is much rearranged.
1027 The file `INSTALL' explains the new scheme in detail.
1029 * The header files no longer need to be processed into ANSI C and
1030 traditional C versions. There is just one set of files to install, and
1031 it will work with ANSI or old C compilers (including `gcc -traditional').
1033 * Brendan Kehoe and Ian Lance Taylor have ported the library to the
1034 MIPS DECStation running Ultrix 4.
1036 * The Sun 4 startup code (crt0) can now properly load SunOS 4 shared libraries.
1037 Tom Quinn contributed the initial code. The GNU C library can NOT yet be
1038 made itself into a shared library.
1040 * Yet further improved support for the i386, running 4.3 BSD-like systems
1041 (such as Mach 3 with the Unix single-server), or System V.
1043 * New function `strncasecmp' to do case-insensitive string comparison
1044 with limited length.
1046 * New function `strsep' is a reentrant alternative to `strtok'.
1048 * New functions `scandir' and `alphasort' for searching directories.
1050 * New function `setenv' is a better interface to `putenv'.
1052 * Ian Lance Taylor has contributed an implementation of the SVID `ftw'
1053 function for traversing a directory tree.
1055 * The GNU obstack package is now also part of the C library.
1056 The new function `open_obstack_stream' creates a stdio stream that
1057 writes onto an obstack; `obstack_printf' and `obstack_vprintf' do
1058 formatted output directly to an obstack.
1060 * Miscellaneous new functions: reboot, nice, sigaltstack (4.4 BSD only),
1061 cfmakeraw, getusershell, getpass, swab, getttyent, seteuid, setegid.
1063 * `FNM_FILE_NAME' is another name for `FNM_PATHNAME', used with `fnmatch'.
1065 * The new functions `strfry' and `memfrob' do mysterious and wonderful
1066 things to your strings.
1068 * There are some new test programs: test-fseek, testmb, and testrand.
1070 * Some work has been done to begin porting the library to 4.4 BSD and Linux.
1071 These ports are not finished, but are a good starting place for really
1072 supporting those systems.
1074 * `/etc/localtime' is now the standard location for the file that says what
1075 the local timezone is, rather than `/usr/local/lib/zoneinfo/localtime'.
1076 This follows the general principle that `/etc' is the place for all local
1077 configuration files.
1079 * The C library header files now use `extern "C"' when used by the C++
1080 compiler, so the C library should now work with C++ code.
1082 * The header file <bstring.h> is gone. <string.h> now declares bcopy,
1083 bcmp, bzero, and ffs.
1085 * Mike Haertel (of GNU e?grep and malloc fame) has written a new sorting
1086 function which uses the `merge sort' algorithm, and is said to be
1087 significantly faster than the old GNU `qsort' function. Merge sort is
1088 now the standard `qsort' function. The new algorithm can require a lot
1089 of temporary storage; so, the old sorting function is called when the
1090 required storage is not available.
1092 * The C library now includes Michael Glad's Ultra Fast Crypt, which
1093 provides the Unix `crypt' function, plus some other entry points.
1094 Because of the United States export restriction on DES implementations,
1095 we are distributing this code separately from the rest of the C library.
1096 There is an extra distribution tar file just for crypt; it is called
1097 `glibc-VERSION-crypt.tar.Z', e.g. `glibc-1.04-crypt.tar.Z'. You can just
1098 unpack the crypt distribution along with the rest of the C library and
1099 build; you can also build the library without getting crypt. Users
1100 outside the USA can get the crypt distribution via anonymous FTP from
1101 ftp.uni-c.dk [129.142.6.74], or another archive site outside the U.S.
1103 * The code and header files taken from 4.4 BSD have been updated with the
1104 latest files released from Berkeley.
1106 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
1107 Copyright information:
1109 Copyright (C) 1992, 93, 94, 95, 96 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
1111 Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim copies
1112 of this document as received, in any medium, provided that the
1113 copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved,
1114 thus giving the recipient permission to redistribute in turn.
1116 Permission is granted to distribute modified versions
1117 of this document, or of portions of it,
1118 under the above conditions, provided also that they
1119 carry prominent notices stating who last changed them.
1122 version-control: never
projects / platform / upstream / glibc.git / blob