1 GNU C Library NEWS -- history of user-visible changes. 2001-4-5
3 Copyright (C) 1992-2000, 2001 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
4 See the end for copying conditions.
6 Please send GNU C library bug reports using the `glibcbug' script to
7 <bugs@gnu.org>. Questions and suggestions should be send to
12 * Intel's IA-64 math library is largely integrated. It provides fast and
13 accurate implementatations for most basic and standard math functions
14 in float, double, and long double format.
16 * Stephen Moshier implemented j0, j1, jn, y0, y1, yn, lgamma, erf, erfc,
17 and asin for the 96-bit long double format and logl for the 128-bit
20 * The beginning of a last-bit accurate math library by IBM Haifa were added.
21 The basic double functions exist today. Contributed by Abraham Ziv
22 <ziv@il.ibm.com>, Moshe Olshansky <olshansk@il.ibm.com>, Ealan Henis
23 <ealan@il.ibm.com>, and Anna Reitman <reitman@il.ibm.com>.
25 * An asynchronous name lookup library was added. The interface is designed
26 after POSIX AIO. The proposal was circulated beforehand to get comments.
27 No negative ones came in. Implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
29 * Port to S390/64bit contributed by Martin Schwidefsky
30 <schwidefsky@de.ibm.com>.
32 * David Mosberger <davidm@hpl.hp.com> implemented the setcontext family
33 of functions for Linux/IA-64.
35 * The RPC code is now thread safe. Threads can now use the same service
36 of different services at the same time. Patch by Eric Norum
37 <eric.norum@usask.ca> with some help by Ulrich Drepper.
39 * Martin Schwidefsky <schwidefsky@de.ibm.com> implemented the setcontext
40 family of functions for Linux/S390.
42 * Ulrich Drepper <drepper@redhat.com> implemented the setcontext family
43 of functions for Linux/x86.
47 * Lots of headers were cleaned up. Using the tool in the conform/ subdir
48 we can now check for namespace violations and missing declarations. The
49 result is that almost all headers are now Unix-compliant (as defined in
50 the upcoming XPG6). The negative side is that some programs might need
51 corrections, too, if they depend on the incorrect form of the headers in
52 previous versions which defined too many symbols and included too many
55 * regex now handles multibyte character sets correctly.
56 Contributed by Isamu Hasegawa <isamu@yamato.ibm.com>.
58 * iconv (the program) does now conform to the upcoming XPG6 and handles
59 charmaps. Instead of the charset names the path of charmaps can be
60 provided and the conversion happens based on this data.
61 Contributed by Ulrich Drepper.
63 * The locale program now provides detailed information about the installed
68 only lists the names of the supported locales
72 provides details such as country, language, and codeset name.
73 Contributed by Ulrich Drepper.
77 * The gencat program now parses the input file according to the charset
78 selected by the LC_CTYPE category. This is important for stateful
79 character sets. To make generating catalogs easier there is a way
80 to overwrite the charset selected by the locale: before the first
81 message or $ quote line the catalog can contain a line like
85 to select the charset (ISO-8859-2 in this case).
87 Implemented by Shinya Hanataka and Ulrich Drepper.
89 * New codeset conversion modules: IBM-922 (Estonia PC codeset),
90 IBM-1124 (Ukraine PC codeset), IBM-1129 (Vietnamese PC codeset).
91 Contributed by Masahide Washizawa <washi@jp.ibm.com>.
93 * Optimized string functions for Alpha ev6 and ev67 by Richard Henderson
94 <rth@redhat.com> and Rick Gorton <rick.gorton@alpha-processor.com>.
96 * The LANGUAGE environment variable is now ignored unless the locale is
97 changed from the default "C" locale.
99 * The usual bug fixes.
103 * Greg McGary added runtime support for bounds checking using gcc's
104 new -fbounded-pointers option. ix86 target is complete. PowerPC
107 * Thorsten Kukuk added secure mode support to nscd.
109 * The Berkeley db libraries have been removed.
111 Related, the nss_db module is now in a separate package since it
112 obviously requires a database library being available.
114 * Wide character I/O streams implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
116 * Functions from the extended socket API added by Ulrich Drepper.
118 * Functions feenableexcept and fedisableexcept to control the
119 behaviour of individual exceptions have been added by Andreas Jaeger.
121 * ldconfig program added by Andreas Jaeger and Jakub Jelinek.
123 * The resolver code has been updated from bind 8.2.3-T5B which supports
124 threads. The integration was done by Andreas Jaeger, Adam D. Bradley,
127 This change could in some situations effect backward compatibility. Since
128 now `_res' is a thread-local instead of a global variable, modifying it
129 in one thread does not have any effect in other threads.
131 The resolver library was also extended to allow IPv6 as the transport
132 protocol for the requests. This work was done by Stig Venaas.
134 * Compatibility code for K&R C compilers has been removed from the
135 header files. A ISO C compiler is needed to use the library
136 (conforming to either C89 or C99 standard).
138 * Complete rewrite of the localedef program to support multibyte character
139 sets. Implement handling of ISO 14651 and ISO 14652. Rewrite strcoll,
140 strxfrm, wcscoll, and wcsxfrm functions. Make isw*() functions work.
141 Implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
143 Bruno Haible significantly improved the generation and use of the data
144 structures for the wide character tables.
146 * Plural handling in gettext implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
148 * The utmp daemon has been removed.
150 * The port to MIPS-Linux has been finished by Andreas Jaeger.
152 * A port to Hitachi SH3 and SH4 has been contributed by Kazumoto Kojima
155 * POSIX clocks and timers implemented by Kaz Kylheku and Ulrich Drepper.
157 * POSIX barriers implemented by Kaz Kylheku.
159 * POSIX spawn function family implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
161 * POSIX spinlocks are now available.
163 * Timed wait functions for mutex, rwlock, and semaphores are implemented.
165 * the configure option --enable-kernel=X.Y.Z allows to strip out
166 compatibility for kernel versions before X.Y.Z. This is currently only
167 implemented for Linux.
169 * the sockaddr_in6 structure changed. The IPv6 working group added a new
170 field sin6_scope_id. This means that all programs using IPv6 should be
171 recompiled. Don't expect binary compatibility with previous glibc
174 * various conversion modules for IBM character sets contributed by
177 * IA-64 port by Jes Sorensen and HJ Lu.
179 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
180 Compiling the GNU C Library for Linux/ia64
181 ******************************************
183 Please refer to the file INSTALL in the same directory as you found
184 this file for general information about configuring and compiling
187 For general inquiries about glibc under Linux/ia64 please use the
188 following mailing list linux-ia64@linuxia64.org or one of the relevant
191 Recommended Tools for Compilation
192 =================================
194 In order for glibc-2.2 to build correctly on the ia64 you need at
195 least the following versions of the GNU tools (the :
197 * The Cygnus toolchain snapshot for the ia64 as of August 4
198 including the provided set of patches. It is however recommend
199 you use the October 24 toolchain snapshot or a more recent version.
201 OR alternatively you can try the following (the Cygnus toolchain is
202 the recommended solution):
204 * GCC and binutils, GAS and GNU LD out of CVS from
205 sources.redhat.com as of August 28, 2000 or later. The CVS tree
206 may require special patches to work properly on the ia64.
208 Configuring and compiling GNU Libc for Linux/ia64
209 =================================================
211 The library requires Linux kernel version 2.4.0-test4-000728 or
212 later to funtion properly. Besides that it support for debug libraries
213 is currently untested. Hence the following options
214 are required for configuring the library:
216 --disable-debug --enable-kernel=2.4.0
218 It is also important that you make sure the library picks up the
219 appropriate kernel header files, if you do not have recent enough
220 kernel headers in /usr/src/linux/include, you should use the
221 --with-headers=<path> option to specify the location.
223 As an example I personally use the following options to configure
228 --enable-kernel=2.4.0
232 --with-headers=/home/jes/linux/include
237 Jes Sorensen <jes@linuxcare.com>,
239 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
253 * New ISO C 9x function _Exit, imaxabs, and imaxdiv are added.
255 * New xdr functions are added; some rpc functions are now 64bit clean.
257 * Fixed a number of bugs and memory leaks (especially in NIS+ code).
259 * Fixed known incompatibilities with glibc 2.0.
261 * New functions lock64, strchrnul, rawmemchr, getutmp and getutmpx.
263 * Optimized a number of functions (especially the ELF dynamic loader).
265 * Update timezone data files.
267 * lots of charmaps corrections
269 * some new locale definitions and charmaps
274 * Richard Henderson corrected size of struct timeval on Linux/Alpha to
275 conform to POSIX member type requirements. Symbol versions have been
276 adjusted as needed within the library, and for direct use by applications,
277 but there is potential for problems if third-party libraries use
278 struct timeval as part of their interface. This does not present
279 a problem for X and other "essential" system libraries.
281 * An additional locale model to support C++ Standard Library locale
282 model and probably more was implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
284 * Eric Youngdale and Ulrich Drepper implemented versioning of objects on
287 * Miles Bader provided the `argp' function family to support hierachical
288 command line argument parsing, layered on top of getopt.
290 * strtod accepts new hexadecimal floating-point format from ISO C 9X.
292 * printf has two new specifiers %a and %A to print hexadecimal flaoting-point
295 * scanf recognizes the %a and %A format for scanning floating point numbers.
297 * the new headers <stdint.h> and <inttypes.h> from ISO C 9X provides
298 information and interfaces for the available integer types.
300 * about 130 new math functions were added to implement the ISO C9x math
303 * the new header <complex.h> contains definitions of the complex math
304 functions from ISO C 9X.
306 * the new header <tgmath.h> defines generic macros to use complex or
307 real valued functions.
309 * Thorsten Kukuk provided an implementation for NIS+, securelevel 0, 1 and 2.
311 * Andreas Jaeger provided a test suite for the math library.
313 * Mark Kettenis implemented the utmpx interface and an utmp daemon.
315 * Ulrich Drepper added character set conversion functions (iconv).
317 * Optimized string functions have been added.
319 * The localedata addon is now part of glibc.
321 * An implementation of profiling shared libraries was added by Ulrich Drepper.
323 * Thorsten Kukuk and Ulrich Drepper provided an implementation for a caching
324 daemon for NSS (nscd).
326 Missing a better place here are some numbers on improvements. Under
327 Linux 2.1.125 un-tar-ing the kernel sources takes
331 using local files 12.19s 6.88s 22.91s
333 using NIS 13.92s 8.91s 26.34s
335 using NIS & nscd 10.37s 7.34s 25.30s
337 using NIS+ 27.57s 30.37s 640.46s
339 using NIS+ & nscd 10.25s 7.83s 26.51s
341 using NIS & old nscd [1] 13.83s 8.32s 29.60s
343 Keep in mind that non-namelookup related operations dominate above times.
344 It was just a common complain that using NIS+ unpacking the kernel is
347 [1] The old nscd implementation is not available anymore since it was
348 distributed with glibc up to version 2.0.98 and thus is now replaced.
350 * Tim Waugh provided an implementation of the POSIX.2 wordexp function family.
352 * Mark Kettenis provided a Hesiod NSS module.
354 * The ELF dynamic loader knows how to process dynamic string tokens ($ORIGIN
355 and $PLATFORM) in RPATHs and similar strings (Ulrich Drepper).
357 * rcmd can now handle netgroups (Dick Streefland).
359 * A port to the ARM was contributed by Phil Blundell, Pat Beirne and Scott
362 * Support for the IPv6 protocol has been added to the socket API, as per the
363 latest draft standards.
365 * Support for Linux 2.2 has been added.
367 * Interface changes relative to the latest 2.0.x release:
368 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
369 addseverity NEW: Unix98
371 argp_err_exit_status NEW: argp, GNU ext
372 argp_error NEW: argp, GNU ext
373 argp_failure NEW: argp, GNU ext
374 argp_help NEW: argp, GNU ext
375 argp_parse NEW: argp, GNU ext
376 argp_program_bug_address NEW: argp, GNU ext
377 argp_program_version NEW: argp, GNU ext
378 argp_program_version_hook NEW: argp, GNU ext
379 argp_state_help NEW: argp, GNU ext
380 argp_usage NEW: argp, GNU ext
381 authdes_create NEW: Secure RPC
382 authdes_getucred NEW: Secure RPC
383 authdes_pk_create NEW: Secure RPC
384 backtrace NEW: GNU ext.
385 backtrace_symbols NEW: GNU ext.
386 backtrace_symbols_fd NEW: GNU ext.
390 cacoshf NEW: ISO C 9x
391 cacoshl NEW: ISO C 9x
401 casinhf NEW: ISO C 9x
402 casinhl NEW: ISO C 9x
407 catanhf NEW: ISO C 9x
408 catanhl NEW: ISO C 9x
410 cbc_crypt NEW: Secure RPC
423 clearerr_locked REMOVED
424 clntunix_create NEW: sunrpc ext
427 clog10f NEW: ISO C 9x
428 clog10l NEW: ISO C 9x
459 des_setparity NEW: Secure RPC
460 ecb_crypt NEW: Secure RPC
461 endutxent NEW: Unix98
473 feclearexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
474 fegetenv NEW: ISO C 9x
475 fegetexceptflag NEW: ISO C 9x
476 fegetround NEW: ISO C 9x
477 feholdexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
479 feraiseexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
480 ferror_locked REMOVED
481 fesetenv NEW: ISO C 9x
482 fesetexceptflag NEW: ISO C 9x
483 fesetround NEW: ISO C 9x
484 fetestexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
485 feupdateenv NEW: ISO C 9x
486 fflush_locked REMOVED
490 fgets_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
491 fileno_locked REMOVED
504 fputs_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
505 fread_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
516 fwrite_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
517 gai_strerror NEW: IPv6
521 getchar_locked REMOVED
523 getdate_err NEW: Unix98
524 getdate_r NEW: GNU ext.
526 getnameinfo NEW: IPv6
527 getnetname NEW: Secure RPC
529 getpt NEW: Unix98 PTY
531 getutxent NEW: Unix98
533 getutxline NEW: Unix98
535 globfree64 NEW: GNU ext.
536 gnu_get_libc_release NEW: GNU ext.
537 gnu_get_libc_version NEW: GNU ext.
538 grantpt NEW: Unix98 PTY
539 host2netname NEW: Secure RPC
541 iconv_close NEW: iconv
542 iconv_open NEW: iconv
543 if_freenameindex NEW: IPv6
544 if_indextoname NEW: IPv6
545 if_nameindex NEW: IPv6
546 if_nametoindex NEW: IPv6
547 in6addr_any NEW: IPv6
548 in6addr_loopback NEW: IPv6
549 inet6_isipv4mapped NEW: IPv6
550 isastream NEW: STREAMS
551 iswblank NEW: GNU ext.
552 key_decryptsession NEW: Secure RPC
553 key_decryptsession_pk NEW: Secure RPC
554 key_encryptsession NEW: Secure RPC
555 key_encryptsession_pk NEW: Secure RPC
556 key_gendes NEW: Secure RPC
557 key_get_conv NEW: Secure RPC
558 key_secretkey_is_set NEW: Secure RPC
559 key_setnet NEW: Secure RPC
560 key_setsecret NEW: Secure RPC
562 llrintf NEW: ISO C 9x
563 llrintl NEW: ISO C 9x
564 llround NEW: ISO C 9x
565 llroundf NEW: ISO C 9x
566 llroundl NEW: ISO C 9x
574 lroundf NEW: ISO C 9x
575 lroundl NEW: ISO C 9x
577 makecontext NEW: Unix98
578 mempcpy NEW: GNU ext.
581 modify_ldt NEW: kernel
585 nearbyint NEW: ISO C 9x
586 nearbyintf NEW: ISO C 9x
587 nearbyintl NEW: ISO C 9x
588 netname2host NEW: Secure RPC
589 netname2user NEW: Secure RPC
590 nexttoward NEW: ISO C 9x
591 nexttowardf NEW: ISO C 9x
592 nexttowardl NEW: ISO C 9x
596 passwd2des NEW: Secure RPC
602 printf_size NEW: GNU ext.
603 printf_size_info NEW: GNU ext.
604 profil_counter REMOVED
605 pthread_mutexattr_getkind_np REPLACED
606 pthread_mutexattr_setkind_np REPLACED
607 ptsname NEW: Unix98 PTY
608 ptsname_r NEW: Unix98 PTY
610 putchar_locked REMOVED
611 putgrent NEW: GNU ext.
614 pututxline NEW: Unix98
620 remquof NEW: ISO C 9x
621 remquol NEW: ISO C 9x
626 scalbln NEW: ISO C 9x
627 scalblnf NEW: ISO C 9x
628 scalblnl NEW: ISO C 9x
631 setcontext NEW: Unix98
633 setutxent NEW: Unix98
635 sigignore NEW: Unix98
636 sigqueue NEW: POSIX.1b
639 sigtimedwait NEW: POSIX.1b
640 sigwaitinfo NEW: POSIX.1b
642 sincosf NEW: GNU ext.
643 sincosl NEW: GNU ext.
647 strcasestr NEW: GNU ext.
648 strtoimax NEW: ISO C 9x
649 strtoumax NEW: ISO C 9x
650 strverscmp NEW: GNU ext.
651 svcauthdes_stats NEW: Secure RPC
652 svcunix_create NEW: sunrpc etx
653 svcunixfd_create NEW: sunrpc ext
654 swapcontext NEW: Unix98
655 tcgetsid NEW: Unix98 PTY
656 tdestroy NEW: GNU ext.
658 tgammaf NEW: ISO C 9x
659 tgammal NEW: ISO C 9x
666 unlockpt NEW: Unix98 PTY
668 user2netname NEW: Secure RPC
669 utmpxname NEW: Unix98
670 versionsort NEW: GNU ext.
671 versionsort64 NEW: GNU ext.
673 wcscasecmp NEW: GNU ext.
674 wcsncasecmp NEW: GNU ext.
675 wcsnlen NEW: GNU ext.
676 wcstoimax NEW: ISO C 9x
677 wcstoll NEW: ISO C 9x
678 wcstoull NEW: ISO C 9x
679 wcstoumax NEW: ISO C 9x
682 wordfree NEW: POSIX.2
683 write_profiling REMOVED
684 xdecrypt NEW: Secure RPC
685 xdr_authdes_cred NEW: Secure RPC
686 xdr_authdes_verf NEW: Secure RPC
687 xdr_cryptkeyarg NEW: Secure RPC
688 xdr_cryptkeyarg2 NEW: Secure RPC
689 xdr_cryptkeyres NEW: Secure RPC
690 xdr_getcredres NEW: Secure RPC
691 xdr_key_netstarg NEW: Secure RPC
692 xdr_key_netstres NEW: Secure RPC
693 xdr_keybuf NEW: Secure RPC
694 xdr_keystatus NEW: Secure RPC
695 xdr_netnamestr NEW: Secure RPC
696 xdr_sizeof NEW: Secure RPC
697 xdr_unixcred NEW: sunrpc ext
698 xencrypt NEW: Secure RPC
699 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
710 * inet_ntoa is thread-safe
712 * updwtmp is moved from libutil to libc
714 * rewrite of cbrt function
716 * update of timezone data
732 * fix complex problems in Berkeley DB code
738 * fixed lots of header problems (especially Linux/GNU specific)
740 * dynamic loader preserves all registers
742 * Roland McGrath provided support for handling of auxiliary objects in
743 the ELF dynamic loader.
745 * support for parallel builds is improved
749 * GNU extensions are no longer declared by default. To enable them you
750 must define the macro `_GNU_SOURCE' in your program or compile with
753 * The library has changed from using GNU ld symbol aliases to using weak
754 symbols where available. The ELF object file format supports weak
755 symbols; GNU ld also supports weak symbols in the a.out format. (There
756 is also now support for other GNU ld extensions in ELF. Use the
757 `--with-elf' option to configure to indicate you have ELF, and
758 `--with-gnu-ld' if using GNU ld.) This change resulted in the deletion
759 of many files which contained only symbol aliases, reducing the size of
760 the source and the compiled library; many other files were renamed to
761 less cryptic names previously occupied by the symbol alias files.
762 There is a new header file <elf.h> for programs which operate on
763 files in the ELF format.
765 * Converted to Autoconf version 2, so `configure' has more options.
766 Run `configure --help' to see the details.
768 * The library can now be configured to build profiling, highly-optimized
769 (but undebuggable), and/or shared libraries (ELF with GNU ld only). The
770 `--enable-profile', `--enable-omitfp', and `--enable-shared' options to
771 `configure' enable building these extra libraries. The shared library is
772 built by default when using both ELF and GNU ld. When shared libraries
773 are enabled, the new library `-ldl' is available for arbitrary run-time
774 loading of shared objects; its interface is defined in <dlfcn.h>. The
775 new header file <link.h> gives access to the internals of the run-time
776 dynamic linker, `ld.so'. The shell script `ldd' is similar to the
777 application of same name on other systems and it provides information
778 about dynamically linked binaries.
780 * The C library now provides the run-time support code for profiling
781 executables compiled with `-pg'. Programs can control the profiling code
782 through the interface in <sys/gmon.h>. The `gmon.out' files written by
783 the GNU C library can be read only by GNU `gprof' (from GNU binutils);
784 the support for this file format was contributed by David Mosberger-Tang.
786 * The math code has been replaced with a math library based on fdlibm from
787 Sun, and modified by JT Conklin and Ulrich Drepper with i387 support, by
788 Ian Taylor with `float' functions and by Ulrich Drepper with `long double'
789 functions. The math functions now reside in a separate library, so
790 programs using them will need to use `-lm' their linking commands.
792 * John C. Bowman contributed optimized ix87 assembler inline functions.
794 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed support for an `/etc/nsswitch.conf'
795 mechanism similar to that found in Solaris 2. This is now used for the
796 group, passwd, hosts, networks, services, protocols, rpc, ethers,
797 shadow, netgroup, publickey, and alias databases. The `nsswitch.conf'
798 file controls what services are used for each individual database. This
799 works by loading shared libraries with names specified in `nsswitch.conf',
800 so service modules can be changed or added at any time without even
801 relinking any program. Currently there are the file, db, and NIS based
802 NSS services available.
804 * The new functions `strtoq' and `strtouq' parse integer values from
805 strings, like `strtol' and `strtoul', but they return `long long int' and
806 `unsigned long long int' values, respectively (64-bit quantities).
808 * The new functions `strtof' and `strtold' parse floating-point values from
809 strings, like `strtod', but they return `float' and `long double' values,
810 respectively (on some machines `double' and `long double' are the same).
812 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new implementations of the floating-point
813 printing and reading code used in the `printf' family of functions and
814 `strtod', `strtof', and `strtold'. These new functions are perfectly
815 accurate, and much faster than the old ones.
817 * The implementation of the POSIX locale model was completely rewritten by
818 Ulrich Drepper. This includes the new programs `localedef' and `locale'
819 to compile the POSIX locale definition.
821 * The former dummy implementations of the strcoll and strxfrm function are
822 now replaced by fully functional code contributed by Ulrich Drepper. The
823 collation information comes from the POSIX locale definitions.
825 * The new header <langinfo.h> defines an interface for accessing
826 various locale-dependent data (using the locale chosen with `setlocale').
828 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed a new suite of functions for operation on
829 wide-character and multibyte-character strings, in <wchar.h>;
830 and classification and case conversion of wide characters, in <wctype.h>.
831 These new functions are conforming to the ISO C, Amendement 1 specification.
833 * There is now a second implementation of the standard I/O library available.
834 It comes from GNU libg++ as was written by Per Bothner, heavily modified
835 by Hongjiu Lu and made thread safe by Ulrich Drepper.
837 * You can now use positional parameter specifications in format strings
838 for the `printf' and `scanf' families of functions. For example,
839 `printf ("Number %2$d, Mr %1$s\n", "Jones", 6);'' prints
840 ``Number 6, Mr Jones''. This is mainly useful when providing different
841 format strings for different languages, whose grammars may dictate
842 different orderings of the values being printed. To support this
843 feature, the interface for `register_printf_handler' has changed; see
844 the header file <printf.h> for details.
846 * The `printf' and `scanf' families of functions now understand a new
847 formatting flag for numeric conversions: the ' flag (e.g. %'d or %'f) says
848 to group numbers as indicated by the locale; for `scanf' and friends, this
849 says to accept as valid only a number with all the proper grouping
850 separators in the right places. In the default "C" locale, numbers are
851 not grouped; but locales for specific countries will define the usual
852 conventions (i.e. separate thousands with `,' in the US locale).
854 * The pgrp functions have been regularized, slightly incompatibly but much
855 less confusingly. The core functions are now `getpgid' and `setpgid',
856 which take arguments for the PID to operate on; the POSIX.1 `getpgrp' (no
857 argument) and BSD `setpgrp' (identical to `setpgid') functions are
858 provided for compatibility. There is no longer an incompatible `getpgrp'
859 with an argument declared under _BSD_SOURCE; no BSD code uses it.
861 * The new header file <fts.h> and suite of functions simplify programs that
862 operate on directory trees. This code comes from 4.4 BSD.
864 * The resolver code has been updated from the BIND 4.9.5-P1 release.
865 Parts of the code were heavily modified by Ulrich Drepper to fit in the
866 NSS scheme used in glibc.
868 * There is a new malloc debugging hook `__memalign_hook'.
870 * There are new typedefs `ushort' for `unsigned short int' and `uint' for
871 `unsigned int' in <sys/types.h>. These are for compatibility only and
872 their use is discouraged.
874 * The `-lmcheck' library to enable standard malloc debugging hooks is now
875 done differently, so that it works even without GNU ld.
877 * New function `euidaccess' checks allowed access to a file like `access',
878 but using the effective IDs instead of the real IDs.
880 * The time zone data files have been updated for the latest and greatest
881 local time conventions of the countries of the world.
883 * The new function `dirfd' extracts the file descriptor used by a DIR stream;
886 * The new functions `ecvt', `fcvt', and `gcvt' provide an obsolete interface
887 for formatting floating-point numbers. They are provided only for
888 compatibility; new programs should use `sprintf' instead. There are
889 also equivalent function for the `long double' floating-point type and
890 all functions also exist in a reentrant form.
892 * The new auxiliary library `-lutil' from 4.4 BSD contains various
893 functions for maintaining the login-record files (primarily of use to
894 system programs such as `login'), and convenient functions for
895 allocating and initializing a pseudo-terminal (pty) device.
897 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new support for System V style
898 shared memory and IPC on systems that support it.
900 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed several miscellaneous new functions found
901 in System V: The `hsearch' family of functions provide an effective
902 implementation of hash tables; `a64l' and `l64a' provide a very simple
903 binary to ASCII mapping; `drand48' and friends provide a 48-bit random
906 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new reentrant counterparts for the
907 `random' and `hsearch' families of functions; `random_r', `hsearch_r', etc.
909 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new, highly-optimized versions of several
910 string functions for the i486/Pentium family of processors.
912 * Ulrich Drepper has updated the Linux-specific code, based largely
913 on work done in Hongjiu Lu's version of GNU libc for Linux.
914 The GNU library now supports Linux versions 2.0.10 and later,
915 using the ELF object file format (i[3456]86-*-linux).
917 * Andreas Schwab has ported the C library to Linux/m68k (m68k-*-linux).
919 * David Mosberger-Tang and Richard Henderson have ported the C library
920 to Linux/Alpha (alpha-*-linux). Richard Henderson contributed the
921 dynamic linking support for ELF/Alpha.
923 * Richard Henderson contributed several Alpha optimized assembler function
924 for arithmetic and string handling.
926 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed a new set of message catalog functions to
927 support multiple languages using the <libintl.h> interface, for use with
928 his new package GNU gettext. Translation volunteers have contributed
929 catalogs of the library's messages in Spanish, German, and Korean.
931 * For compatibility with XPG4, Ulrich Drepper has contributed the `gencat'
932 program and the `catgets' function for reading the catalog files it
933 creates. (The <libintl.h> interface is preferred; we include the
934 <nl_types.h> interface using `catgets' only for source compatibility with
935 programs already written to use it.)
937 * New header file <values.h> gives SVID-compatible names for <limits.h>
940 * Various new macros, declarations, and small header files for compatibility
943 * New function `group_member' is a convenient way to check if a process has
944 a given effective group ID.
946 * When using GCC 2.7 and later, the socket functions are now declared in a
947 special way so that passing an argument of type `struct sockaddr_in *',
948 `struct sockaddr_ns *', or `struct sockaddr_un *' instead of the generic
949 `struct sockaddr *' type, does not generate a type-clash warning.
951 * New function `error' declared in header file <error.h> is a convenient
952 function for printing error messages and optionally exiting; this is the
953 canonical function used in GNU programs. The new functions `err', `warn',
954 and friends in header file <err.h> are the canonical 4.4 BSD interface for
955 doing the same thing.
957 * The <glob.h> interface has several new flags from 4.4 BSD that extend the
958 POSIX.2 `glob' function to do ~ and {...} expansion.
960 * New function `unsetenv' complements `setenv' for compatibility with 4.4 BSD.
961 `clearenv' which is used in POSIX.9 is also available.
963 * New function `getsid' returns session ID number on systems that support it.
965 * We have incorporated the 4.4 BSD `db' library (version 1.85). New header
966 files <db.h> and <mpool.h> provide a rich set of functions for several
967 types of simple databases stored in memory and in files, and <ndbm.h> is
968 an old `ndbm'-compatible interface using the `db' functions. Link with
969 `-ldb' to get these functions.
971 * New macro `strdupa' copies a string like `strdup', but uses local stack
972 space from `alloca' instead of dynamic heap space from `malloc'.
974 * New function `strnlen' is like `strlen' but searches only a given maximum
975 number of characters for the null terminator. `stpncpy', `strndup' and
976 `strndupa' are similar variants for the `stpcpy', `strdup' and `strdupa'
979 * New function `statfs' in header <sys/statfs.h>.
981 * The new <argz.h> and <envz.h> interfaces contributed by Miles Bader
982 provide convenient functions for operating on blocks of null-terminated
985 * A new suite of functions in <utmp.h> handle all the details of reading
986 and writing the utmp file.
988 * An implementation of the NIS/YP(tm) based NSS service was contributed by
991 * Paul Eggert and Ulrich Drepper modified the `strftime' function to be
992 completely POSIX compliant and also implemented the extended functionality
993 to handle alternate digit representation and alternate era date formats.
995 * Ulrich Drepper provided an implementation of the `strptime' function
996 defined in XPG4.2 which transforms a string into a `struct tm' value.
998 * Paul Eggert provided the tzselect shell script as part of the timezone
999 code. The shell script makes it easy to select the correct timezone
1002 * The implementation of the malloc family of functions is completely replaced
1003 by a new implementation by Doug Lea with many improvements by Wolfram Gloger.
1004 The implementation uses the mmap function (if available) and it is
1005 optimized for the use in multi threaded programs.
1007 * Ulrich Drepper contributed a MD5 "encryption" for the crypt family of
1008 functions. This new functionality is usable by specifying a special
1009 salt string and it is compatible with implementation on *BSD systems.
1011 * Lots of functions from the XPG4.2 standard were added by Ulrich Drepper:
1012 `getsubopt' to handle second level command line options, `bsd_signal'
1013 to access BSD style `signal' functionality, the obsolete `regexp' style
1016 * the `lchown' function is available on system which support this
1019 * The implementation of the shadow password handling function was contributed
1022 * David Mosberger-Tang changed the SunRPC implementation to be 64bit safe.
1024 * POSIX.1g support was added. The <sys/select.h> header is available,
1025 `isfdtype' and `pselect' are implemented. Craig Metz contributed an
1026 implementation of `getaddrinfo'.
1030 * For cross-compilation you should now set `BUILD_CC' instead of `HOST_CC'.
1032 * New header file <fstab.h> and new functions `getfsspec', `getfsent' and
1033 friends, for parsing /etc/fstab. This code comes from 4.4 BSD.
1035 * The new function `daemon' from 4.4 BSD is useful for server programs that
1036 want to put themselves in the background.
1038 * Joel Sherrill has contributed support for several standalone boards that
1039 run without an operating system.
1041 * `printf', `scanf' and friends now accept a `q' type modifier for long
1042 long int as well as `ll'. Formats using these might be `%qu' or `%lld'.
1044 * All of the code taken from BSD (notably most of the math and networking
1045 routines) has been updated from the BSD 4.4-Lite release.
1047 * The resolver code has been updated from the BIND-4.9.3-BETA9 release.
1049 * The new functions `getdomainname' and `setdomainname' fetch or change the
1050 YP/NIS domain name. These are system calls which exist on systems which
1053 * The time zone data files have been updated for the latest international
1056 * The SunRPC programs `portmap' and `rpcinfo' are now installed in
1057 $(sbindir) (usually /usr/local/sbin) instead of $(bindir).
1061 * The C library now includes support for Sun RPC, from Sun's free
1062 RPCSRC-4.0 distribution. The `portmap', `rpcinfo', and `rpcgen' programs
1063 are included. (There is still no support for YP.)
1065 * Tom Quinn has contributed a port of the C library to SGI machines running
1066 Irix 4 (mips-sgi-irix4).
1068 * The new `lockf' function is a simplified interface to the locking
1069 facilities of `fcntl', included for compatibility.
1071 * New time functions `timegm', `timelocal', and `dysize' for compatibility.
1073 * New header file <sys/timeb.h> and new function `ftime' for compatibility.
1075 * New header files <poll.h> and <sys/poll.h> and new function `poll' for
1078 * The error message printed by `assert' for a failed assertion now includes
1079 the name of the program (if using GNU ld) and the name of the calling
1080 function (with versions of GCC that support this).
1082 * The `psignal' function is now declared in <signal.h>, not <stdio.h>.
1084 * The library now includes the <sys/mman.h> header file and memory
1085 management functions `mmap', `munmap', `mprotect', `msync', and
1086 `madvise', on systems that support those facilities.
1088 * The interface for `mcheck' has changed slightly: the function called to
1089 abort the program when an allocation inconsistency is detected now takes
1090 an argument that indicates the type of failure. The new function
1091 `mprobe' lets you request a consistency check for a particular block at
1092 any time (checks are normally done only when you call `free' or `realloc'
1095 * It is now possible to easily cross-compile the C library, building on one
1096 system a library to run on another machine and/or operating system. All
1097 you need to do is set the variable `HOST_CC' in `configparms' to the
1098 native compiler for programs to run on the machine you are building on (a
1099 few generator programs are used on Unix systems); set `CC' to the
1102 * The new function `fexecve' (only implemented on the GNU system) executes
1103 a program file given a file descriptor already open on the file.
1107 * Brendan Kehoe has contributed most of a port to the DEC Alpha
1108 running OSF/1 (alpha-dec-osf1). He says it is 75% complete.
1110 * You can set the variable `libprefix' in `configparms' to specify a prefix
1111 to be prepended to installed library files; this makes it easy to install
1112 the GNU C library to be linked as `-lgnuc' or whatever.
1114 * The new `stpncpy' is a cross between `stpcpy' and `strncpy': It
1115 copies a limited number of characters from a string, and returns the
1116 address of the last character written.
1118 * You no longer need to check for whether the installed `stddef.h' is
1119 compatible with the GNU C library. configure now checks for you.
1121 * You can now define a per-stream `fileno' function to convert the
1122 stream's cookie into an integral file descriptor.
1124 * ``malloc (0)'' no longer returns a null pointer. Instead, it
1125 allocates zero bytes of storage, and returns a unique pointer which
1126 you can pass to `realloc' or `free'. The behavior is undefined if
1127 you dereference this pointer.
1129 * The C library now runs on Sony NEWS m68k machines running either
1130 NewsOS 3 or NewsOS 4.
1132 * The new `syscall' function is a system-dependent primitive function
1133 for invoking system calls. It has the canonical behavior on Unix
1134 systems, including unreliable return values for some calls (such as
1135 `pipe', `fork' and `getppid').
1137 * The error code `EWOULDBLOCK' is now obsolete; it is always defined
1138 to `EAGAIN', which is the preferred name. On systems whose kernels
1139 use two distinct codes, the C library now translates EWOULDBLOCK to
1140 EAGAIN in every system call function.
1144 * The GNU C Library Reference Manual is now distributed with the library.
1145 `make dvi' will produce a DVI file of the printed manual.
1146 `make info' will produce Info files that you can read on line using C-h i
1147 in Emacs or the `info' program.
1148 Please send comments on the manual to bug-glibc-manual@gnu.org.
1150 * The library now supports SVR4 on i386s (i386-unknown-sysv4).
1152 * Brendan Kehoe has contributed a port to Sun SPARCs running Solaris 2.
1154 * Jason Merrill has contributed a port to the Sequent Symmetry running
1155 Dynix version 3 (i386-sequent-dynix).
1157 * The library has been ported to i386s running SCO 3.2.4 (also known as SCO
1158 ODT 2.0; i386-unknown-sco3.2.4) or SCO 3.2 (i386-unknown-sco3.2).
1160 * New function `memory_warnings' lets you arrange to get warnings when
1161 malloc is running out of memory to allocate, like Emacs gives you.
1163 * The C library now contains the relocating allocator used in Emacs 19 for
1164 its editing buffers. This allocator (ralloc) minimizes allocation
1165 overhead and fragmentation by moving allocated regions around whenever it
1166 needs to. You always refer to a ralloc'd region with a "handle" (a
1167 pointer to a pointer--an object of type `void **').
1169 * There is a new `printf' format: `%m' gives you the string corresponding
1170 to the error code in `errno'.
1172 * In `scanf' formats, you can now use `%as' or `%a[' to do the normal `%s'
1173 or `%[' conversion, but instead of filling in a fixed-sized buffer you
1174 pass, the `a' modifier says to fill in a `char **' you pass with a
1177 * The `fnmatch' function supports the new flag bits `FNM_LEADING_DIR' and
1178 `FNM_CASEFOLD'. `FNM_LEADING_DIR' lets a pattern like `foo*' match a
1179 name like `foo/bar'. `FNM_CASEFOLD' says to ignore case in matching.
1181 * `mkstemp' is a traditional Unix function to atomically create and open a
1182 uniquely-named temporary file.
1186 * The standard location for the file that says what the local timezone is
1187 has changed again. It is now `/usr/local/etc/localtime' (or more
1188 precisely, `${prefix}/etc/localtime') rather than `/etc/localtime'.
1190 * The distribution no longer contains any files with names longer than 14
1193 * `struct ttyent' has two new flag bits: TTY_TRUSTED and TTY_CONSOLE.
1194 These are set by the new `trusted' and `console' keywords in `/etc/ttys'.
1196 * New functions `ttyslot' and `syslog' from 4.4 BSD.
1200 * The configuration process has changed quite a bit. The `configure'
1201 script is now used just like the configuration scripts for other GNU
1202 packages. The `sysdeps' directory hierarchy is much rearranged.
1203 The file `INSTALL' explains the new scheme in detail.
1205 * The header files no longer need to be processed into ANSI C and
1206 traditional C versions. There is just one set of files to install, and
1207 it will work with ANSI or old C compilers (including `gcc -traditional').
1209 * Brendan Kehoe and Ian Lance Taylor have ported the library to the
1210 MIPS DECStation running Ultrix 4.
1212 * The Sun 4 startup code (crt0) can now properly load SunOS 4 shared libraries.
1213 Tom Quinn contributed the initial code. The GNU C library can NOT yet be
1214 made itself into a shared library.
1216 * Yet further improved support for the i386, running 4.3 BSD-like systems
1217 (such as Mach 3 with the Unix single-server), or System V.
1219 * New function `strncasecmp' to do case-insensitive string comparison
1220 with limited length.
1222 * New function `strsep' is a reentrant alternative to `strtok'.
1224 * New functions `scandir' and `alphasort' for searching directories.
1226 * New function `setenv' is a better interface to `putenv'.
1228 * Ian Lance Taylor has contributed an implementation of the SVID `ftw'
1229 function for traversing a directory tree.
1231 * The GNU obstack package is now also part of the C library.
1232 The new function `open_obstack_stream' creates a stdio stream that
1233 writes onto an obstack; `obstack_printf' and `obstack_vprintf' do
1234 formatted output directly to an obstack.
1236 * Miscellaneous new functions: reboot, nice, sigaltstack (4.4 BSD only),
1237 cfmakeraw, getusershell, getpass, swab, getttyent, seteuid, setegid.
1239 * `FNM_FILE_NAME' is another name for `FNM_PATHNAME', used with `fnmatch'.
1241 * The new functions `strfry' and `memfrob' do mysterious and wonderful
1242 things to your strings.
1244 * There are some new test programs: test-fseek, testmb, and testrand.
1246 * Some work has been done to begin porting the library to 4.4 BSD and Linux.
1247 These ports are not finished, but are a good starting place for really
1248 supporting those systems.
1250 * `/etc/localtime' is now the standard location for the file that says what
1251 the local timezone is, rather than `/usr/local/lib/zoneinfo/localtime'.
1252 This follows the general principle that `/etc' is the place for all local
1253 configuration files.
1255 * The C library header files now use `extern "C"' when used by the C++
1256 compiler, so the C library should now work with C++ code.
1258 * The header file <bstring.h> is gone. <string.h> now declares bcopy,
1259 bcmp, bzero, and ffs. (Update: nowadays these functions are declared
1262 * Mike Haertel (of GNU e?grep and malloc fame) has written a new sorting
1263 function which uses the `merge sort' algorithm, and is said to be
1264 significantly faster than the old GNU `qsort' function. Merge sort is
1265 now the standard `qsort' function. The new algorithm can require a lot
1266 of temporary storage; so, the old sorting function is called when the
1267 required storage is not available.
1269 * The C library now includes Michael Glad's Ultra Fast Crypt, which
1270 provides the Unix `crypt' function, plus some other entry points.
1272 * The code and header files taken from 4.4 BSD have been updated with the
1273 latest files released from Berkeley.
1275 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
1276 Copyright information:
1278 Copyright (C) 1992-1999, 2000 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
1280 Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim copies
1281 of this document as received, in any medium, provided that the
1282 copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved,
1283 thus giving the recipient permission to redistribute in turn.
1285 Permission is granted to distribute modified versions
1286 of this document, or of portions of it,
1287 under the above conditions, provided also that they
1288 carry prominent notices stating who last changed them.
1291 version-control: never
projects / platform / upstream / glibc.git / blob