1 GNU C Library NEWS -- history of user-visible changes. 2000-05-28
3 Copyright (C) 1992-1999, 2000 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
4 See the end for copying conditions.
6 Please send GNU C library bug reports using the `glibcbug' script to
7 <bugs@gnu.org>. Questions and suggestions should be send to
12 * Thorsten Kukuk added secure mode support to nscd.
14 * The Berkeley db libraries have been removed.
16 * Wide character I/O streams implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
18 * Functions from the extended socket API added by Ulrich Drepper.
20 * Functions feenableexcept and fedisableexcept to control the
21 behaviour of individual exceptions have been added by Andreas Jaeger.
23 * ldconfig program added by Andreas Jaeger and Jakub Jelinek.
25 * The resolver code has been updated from bind 8.2.2-5 which supports
26 threads. The integration was done by Andreas Jaeger and Adam D. Bradley.
28 This change could in some situations effect backward compatibility. Since
29 now `_res' is a thread-local instead of a global variable, modifying it
30 in one thread does not have any effect in other threads.
32 * Compatibility code for K&R C compilers has been removed from the
33 header files. A ISO C compiler is needed to use the library
34 (conforming to either C89 or C99 standard).
36 * Complete rewrite of the localedef program to support multibyte character
37 sets. Implement handling of ISO 14651 and ISO 14652. Rewrite strcoll,
38 strxfrm, wcscoll, and wcsxfrm functions. Make isw*() functions work.
39 Implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
41 * Plural handling in gettext implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
43 * The utmp daemon has been removed.
45 * The port to MIPS-Linux has been finished by Andreas Jaeger.
60 * New ISO C 9x function _Exit, imaxabs, and imaxdiv are added.
62 * New xdr functions are added; some rpc functions are now 64bit clean.
64 * Fixed a number of bugs and memory leaks (especially in NIS+ code).
66 * Fixed known incompatibilities with glibc 2.0.
68 * New functions lock64, strchrnul, rawmemchr, getutmp and getutmpx.
70 * Optimized a number of functions (especially the ELF dynamic loader).
72 * Update timezone data files.
74 * lots of charmaps corrections
76 * some new locale definitions and charmaps
81 * Richard Henderson corrected size of struct timeval on Linux/Alpha to
82 conform to POSIX member type requirements. Symbol versions have been
83 adjusted as needed within the library, and for direct use by applications,
84 but there is potential for problems if third-party libraries use
85 struct timeval as part of their interface. This does not present
86 a problem for X and other "essential" system libraries.
88 * An additional locale model to support C++ Standard Library locale
89 model and probably more was implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
91 * Eric Youngdale and Ulrich Drepper implemented versioning of objects on
94 * Miles Bader provided the `argp' function family to support hierachical
95 command line argument parsing, layered on top of getopt.
97 * strtod accepts new hexadecimal floating-point format from ISO C 9X.
99 * printf has two new specifiers %a and %A to print hexadecimal flaoting-point
102 * scanf recognizes the %a and %A format for scanning floating point numbers.
104 * the new headers <stdint.h> and <inttypes.h> from ISO C 9X provides
105 information and interfaces for the available integer types.
107 * about 130 new math functions were added to implement the ISO C9x math
110 * the new header <complex.h> contains definitions of the complex math
111 functions from ISO C 9X.
113 * the new header <tgmath.h> defines generic macros to use complex or
114 real valued functions.
116 * Thorsten Kukuk provided an implementation for NIS+, securelevel 0, 1 and 2.
118 * Andreas Jaeger provided a test suite for the math library.
120 * Mark Kettenis implemented the utmpx interface and an utmp daemon.
122 * Ulrich Drepper added character set conversion functions (iconv).
124 * Optimized string functions have been added.
126 * The localedata addon is now part of glibc.
128 * An implementation of profiling shared libraries was added by Ulrich Drepper.
130 * Thorsten Kukuk and Ulrich Drepper provided an implementation for a caching
131 daemon for NSS (nscd).
133 Missing a better place here are some numbers on improvements. Under
134 Linux 2.1.125 un-tar-ing the kernel sources takes
138 using local files 12.19s 6.88s 22.91s
140 using NIS 13.92s 8.91s 26.34s
142 using NIS & nscd 10.37s 7.34s 25.30s
144 using NIS+ 27.57s 30.37s 640.46s
146 using NIS+ & nscd 10.25s 7.83s 26.51s
148 using NIS & old nscd [1] 13.83s 8.32s 29.60s
150 Keep in mind that non-namelookup related operations dominate above times.
151 It was just a common complain that using NIS+ unpacking the kernel is
154 [1] The old nscd implementation is not available anymore since it was
155 distributed with glibc up to version 2.0.98 and thus is now replaced.
157 * Tim Waugh provided an implementation of the POSIX.2 wordexp function family.
159 * Mark Kettenis provided a Hesiod NSS module.
161 * The ELF dynamic loader knows how to process dynamic string tokens ($ORIGIN
162 and $PLATFORM) in RPATHs and similar strings (Ulrich Drepper).
164 * rcmd can now handle netgroups (Dick Streefland).
166 * A port to the ARM was contributed by Phil Blundell, Pat Beirne and Scott
169 * Support for the IPv6 protocol has been added to the socket API, as per the
170 latest draft standards.
172 * Support for Linux 2.2 has been added.
174 * Interface changes relative to the latest 2.0.x release:
175 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
176 addseverity NEW: Unix98
178 argp_err_exit_status NEW: argp, GNU ext
179 argp_error NEW: argp, GNU ext
180 argp_failure NEW: argp, GNU ext
181 argp_help NEW: argp, GNU ext
182 argp_parse NEW: argp, GNU ext
183 argp_program_bug_address NEW: argp, GNU ext
184 argp_program_version NEW: argp, GNU ext
185 argp_program_version_hook NEW: argp, GNU ext
186 argp_state_help NEW: argp, GNU ext
187 argp_usage NEW: argp, GNU ext
188 authdes_create NEW: Secure RPC
189 authdes_getucred NEW: Secure RPC
190 authdes_pk_create NEW: Secure RPC
191 backtrace NEW: GNU ext.
192 backtrace_symbols NEW: GNU ext.
193 backtrace_symbols_fd NEW: GNU ext.
197 cacoshf NEW: ISO C 9x
198 cacoshl NEW: ISO C 9x
208 casinhf NEW: ISO C 9x
209 casinhl NEW: ISO C 9x
214 catanhf NEW: ISO C 9x
215 catanhl NEW: ISO C 9x
217 cbc_crypt NEW: Secure RPC
230 clearerr_locked REMOVED
231 clntunix_create NEW: sunrpc ext
234 clog10f NEW: ISO C 9x
235 clog10l NEW: ISO C 9x
266 des_setparity NEW: Secure RPC
267 ecb_crypt NEW: Secure RPC
268 endutxent NEW: Unix98
280 feclearexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
281 fegetenv NEW: ISO C 9x
282 fegetexceptflag NEW: ISO C 9x
283 fegetround NEW: ISO C 9x
284 feholdexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
286 feraiseexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
287 ferror_locked REMOVED
288 fesetenv NEW: ISO C 9x
289 fesetexceptflag NEW: ISO C 9x
290 fesetround NEW: ISO C 9x
291 fetestexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
292 feupdateenv NEW: ISO C 9x
293 fflush_locked REMOVED
297 fgets_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
298 fileno_locked REMOVED
311 fputs_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
312 fread_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
323 fwrite_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
324 gai_strerror NEW: IPv6
328 getchar_locked REMOVED
330 getdate_err NEW: Unix98
331 getdate_r NEW: GNU ext.
333 getnameinfo NEW: IPv6
334 getnetname NEW: Secure RPC
336 getpt NEW: Unix98 PTY
338 getutxent NEW: Unix98
340 getutxline NEW: Unix98
342 globfree64 NEW: GNU ext.
343 gnu_get_libc_release NEW: GNU ext.
344 gnu_get_libc_version NEW: GNU ext.
345 grantpt NEW: Unix98 PTY
346 host2netname NEW: Secure RPC
348 iconv_close NEW: iconv
349 iconv_open NEW: iconv
350 if_freenameindex NEW: IPv6
351 if_indextoname NEW: IPv6
352 if_nameindex NEW: IPv6
353 if_nametoindex NEW: IPv6
354 in6addr_any NEW: IPv6
355 in6addr_loopback NEW: IPv6
356 inet6_isipv4mapped NEW: IPv6
357 isastream NEW: STREAMS
358 iswblank NEW: GNU ext.
359 key_decryptsession NEW: Secure RPC
360 key_decryptsession_pk NEW: Secure RPC
361 key_encryptsession NEW: Secure RPC
362 key_encryptsession_pk NEW: Secure RPC
363 key_gendes NEW: Secure RPC
364 key_get_conv NEW: Secure RPC
365 key_secretkey_is_set NEW: Secure RPC
366 key_setnet NEW: Secure RPC
367 key_setsecret NEW: Secure RPC
369 llrintf NEW: ISO C 9x
370 llrintl NEW: ISO C 9x
371 llround NEW: ISO C 9x
372 llroundf NEW: ISO C 9x
373 llroundl NEW: ISO C 9x
381 lroundf NEW: ISO C 9x
382 lroundl NEW: ISO C 9x
384 makecontext NEW: Unix98
385 mempcpy NEW: GNU ext.
388 modify_ldt NEW: kernel
392 nearbyint NEW: ISO C 9x
393 nearbyintf NEW: ISO C 9x
394 nearbyintl NEW: ISO C 9x
395 netname2host NEW: Secure RPC
396 netname2user NEW: Secure RPC
397 nexttoward NEW: ISO C 9x
398 nexttowardf NEW: ISO C 9x
399 nexttowardl NEW: ISO C 9x
403 passwd2des NEW: Secure RPC
409 printf_size NEW: GNU ext.
410 printf_size_info NEW: GNU ext.
411 profil_counter REMOVED
412 pthread_mutexattr_getkind_np REPLACED
413 pthread_mutexattr_setkind_np REPLACED
414 ptsname NEW: Unix98 PTY
415 ptsname_r NEW: Unix98 PTY
417 putchar_locked REMOVED
418 putgrent NEW: GNU ext.
421 pututxline NEW: Unix98
427 remquof NEW: ISO C 9x
428 remquol NEW: ISO C 9x
433 scalbln NEW: ISO C 9x
434 scalblnf NEW: ISO C 9x
435 scalblnl NEW: ISO C 9x
438 setcontext NEW: Unix98
440 setutxent NEW: Unix98
442 sigignore NEW: Unix98
443 sigqueue NEW: POSIX.1b
446 sigtimedwait NEW: POSIX.1b
447 sigwaitinfo NEW: POSIX.1b
449 sincosf NEW: GNU ext.
450 sincosl NEW: GNU ext.
454 strcasestr NEW: GNU ext.
455 strtoimax NEW: ISO C 9x
456 strtoumax NEW: ISO C 9x
457 strverscmp NEW: GNU ext.
458 svcauthdes_stats NEW: Secure RPC
459 svcunix_create NEW: sunrpc etx
460 svcunixfd_create NEW: sunrpc ext
461 swapcontext NEW: Unix98
462 tcgetsid NEW: Unix98 PTY
463 tdestroy NEW: GNU ext.
465 tgammaf NEW: ISO C 9x
466 tgammal NEW: ISO C 9x
473 unlockpt NEW: Unix98 PTY
475 user2netname NEW: Secure RPC
476 utmpxname NEW: Unix98
477 versionsort NEW: GNU ext.
478 versionsort64 NEW: GNU ext.
480 wcscasecmp NEW: GNU ext.
481 wcsncasecmp NEW: GNU ext.
482 wcsnlen NEW: GNU ext.
483 wcstoimax NEW: ISO C 9x
484 wcstoll NEW: ISO C 9x
485 wcstoull NEW: ISO C 9x
486 wcstoumax NEW: ISO C 9x
489 wordfree NEW: POSIX.2
490 write_profiling REMOVED
491 xdecrypt NEW: Secure RPC
492 xdr_authdes_cred NEW: Secure RPC
493 xdr_authdes_verf NEW: Secure RPC
494 xdr_cryptkeyarg NEW: Secure RPC
495 xdr_cryptkeyarg2 NEW: Secure RPC
496 xdr_cryptkeyres NEW: Secure RPC
497 xdr_getcredres NEW: Secure RPC
498 xdr_key_netstarg NEW: Secure RPC
499 xdr_key_netstres NEW: Secure RPC
500 xdr_keybuf NEW: Secure RPC
501 xdr_keystatus NEW: Secure RPC
502 xdr_netnamestr NEW: Secure RPC
503 xdr_sizeof NEW: Secure RPC
504 xdr_unixcred NEW: sunrpc ext
505 xencrypt NEW: Secure RPC
506 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
517 * inet_ntoa is thread-safe
519 * updwtmp is moved from libutil to libc
521 * rewrite of cbrt function
523 * update of timezone data
539 * fix complex problems in Berkeley DB code
545 * fixed lots of header problems (especially Linux/GNU specific)
547 * dynamic loader preserves all registers
549 * Roland McGrath provided support for handling of auxiliary objects in
550 the ELF dynamic loader.
552 * support for parallel builds is improved
556 * GNU extensions are no longer declared by default. To enable them you
557 must define the macro `_GNU_SOURCE' in your program or compile with
560 * The library has changed from using GNU ld symbol aliases to using weak
561 symbols where available. The ELF object file format supports weak
562 symbols; GNU ld also supports weak symbols in the a.out format. (There
563 is also now support for other GNU ld extensions in ELF. Use the
564 `--with-elf' option to configure to indicate you have ELF, and
565 `--with-gnu-ld' if using GNU ld.) This change resulted in the deletion
566 of many files which contained only symbol aliases, reducing the size of
567 the source and the compiled library; many other files were renamed to
568 less cryptic names previously occupied by the symbol alias files.
569 There is a new header file <elf.h> for programs which operate on
570 files in the ELF format.
572 * Converted to Autoconf version 2, so `configure' has more options.
573 Run `configure --help' to see the details.
575 * The library can now be configured to build profiling, highly-optimized
576 (but undebuggable), and/or shared libraries (ELF with GNU ld only). The
577 `--enable-profile', `--enable-omitfp', and `--enable-shared' options to
578 `configure' enable building these extra libraries. The shared library is
579 built by default when using both ELF and GNU ld. When shared libraries
580 are enabled, the new library `-ldl' is available for arbitrary run-time
581 loading of shared objects; its interface is defined in <dlfcn.h>. The
582 new header file <link.h> gives access to the internals of the run-time
583 dynamic linker, `ld.so'. The shell script `ldd' is similar to the
584 application of same name on other systems and it provides information
585 about dynamically linked binaries.
587 * The C library now provides the run-time support code for profiling
588 executables compiled with `-pg'. Programs can control the profiling code
589 through the interface in <sys/gmon.h>. The `gmon.out' files written by
590 the GNU C library can be read only by GNU `gprof' (from GNU binutils);
591 the support for this file format was contributed by David Mosberger-Tang.
593 * The math code has been replaced with a math library based on fdlibm from
594 Sun, and modified by JT Conklin and Ulrich Drepper with i387 support, by
595 Ian Taylor with `float' functions and by Ulrich Drepper with `long double'
596 functions. The math functions now reside in a separate library, so
597 programs using them will need to use `-lm' their linking commands.
599 * John C. Bowman contributed optimized ix87 assembler inline functions.
601 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed support for an `/etc/nsswitch.conf'
602 mechanism similar to that found in Solaris 2. This is now used for the
603 group, passwd, hosts, networks, services, protocols, rpc, ethers,
604 shadow, netgroup, publickey, and alias databases. The `nsswitch.conf'
605 file controls what services are used for each individual database. This
606 works by loading shared libraries with names specified in `nsswitch.conf',
607 so service modules can be changed or added at any time without even
608 relinking any program. Currently there are the file, db, and NIS based
609 NSS services available.
611 * The new functions `strtoq' and `strtouq' parse integer values from
612 strings, like `strtol' and `strtoul', but they return `long long int' and
613 `unsigned long long int' values, respectively (64-bit quantities).
615 * The new functions `strtof' and `strtold' parse floating-point values from
616 strings, like `strtod', but they return `float' and `long double' values,
617 respectively (on some machines `double' and `long double' are the same).
619 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new implementations of the floating-point
620 printing and reading code used in the `printf' family of functions and
621 `strtod', `strtof', and `strtold'. These new functions are perfectly
622 accurate, and much faster than the old ones.
624 * The implementation of the POSIX locale model was completely rewritten by
625 Ulrich Drepper. This includes the new programs `localedef' and `locale'
626 to compile the POSIX locale definition.
628 * The former dummy implementations of the strcoll and strxfrm function are
629 now replaced by fully functional code contributed by Ulrich Drepper. The
630 collation information comes from the POSIX locale definitions.
632 * The new header <langinfo.h> defines an interface for accessing
633 various locale-dependent data (using the locale chosen with `setlocale').
635 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed a new suite of functions for operation on
636 wide-character and multibyte-character strings, in <wchar.h>;
637 and classification and case conversion of wide characters, in <wctype.h>.
638 These new functions are conforming to the ISO C, Amendement 1 specification.
640 * There is now a second implementation of the standard I/O library available.
641 It comes from GNU libg++ as was written by Per Bothner, heavily modified
642 by Hongjiu Lu and made thread safe by Ulrich Drepper.
644 * You can now use positional parameter specifications in format strings
645 for the `printf' and `scanf' families of functions. For example,
646 `printf ("Number %2$d, Mr %1$s\n", "Jones", 6);'' prints
647 ``Number 6, Mr Jones''. This is mainly useful when providing different
648 format strings for different languages, whose grammars may dictate
649 different orderings of the values being printed. To support this
650 feature, the interface for `register_printf_handler' has changed; see
651 the header file <printf.h> for details.
653 * The `printf' and `scanf' families of functions now understand a new
654 formatting flag for numeric conversions: the ' flag (e.g. %'d or %'f) says
655 to group numbers as indicated by the locale; for `scanf' and friends, this
656 says to accept as valid only a number with all the proper grouping
657 separators in the right places. In the default "C" locale, numbers are
658 not grouped; but locales for specific countries will define the usual
659 conventions (i.e. separate thousands with `,' in the US locale).
661 * The pgrp functions have been regularized, slightly incompatibly but much
662 less confusingly. The core functions are now `getpgid' and `setpgid',
663 which take arguments for the PID to operate on; the POSIX.1 `getpgrp' (no
664 argument) and BSD `setpgrp' (identical to `setpgid') functions are
665 provided for compatibility. There is no longer an incompatible `getpgrp'
666 with an argument declared under _BSD_SOURCE; no BSD code uses it.
668 * The new header file <fts.h> and suite of functions simplify programs that
669 operate on directory trees. This code comes from 4.4 BSD.
671 * The resolver code has been updated from the BIND 4.9.5-P1 release.
672 Parts of the code were heavily modified by Ulrich Drepper to fit in the
673 NSS scheme used in glibc.
675 * There is a new malloc debugging hook `__memalign_hook'.
677 * There are new typedefs `ushort' for `unsigned short int' and `uint' for
678 `unsigned int' in <sys/types.h>. These are for compatibility only and
679 their use is discouraged.
681 * The `-lmcheck' library to enable standard malloc debugging hooks is now
682 done differently, so that it works even without GNU ld.
684 * New function `euidaccess' checks allowed access to a file like `access',
685 but using the effective IDs instead of the real IDs.
687 * The time zone data files have been updated for the latest and greatest
688 local time conventions of the countries of the world.
690 * The new function `dirfd' extracts the file descriptor used by a DIR stream;
693 * The new functions `ecvt', `fcvt', and `gcvt' provide an obsolete interface
694 for formatting floating-point numbers. They are provided only for
695 compatibility; new programs should use `sprintf' instead. There are
696 also equivalent function for the `long double' floating-point type and
697 all functions also exist in a reentrant form.
699 * The new auxiliary library `-lutil' from 4.4 BSD contains various
700 functions for maintaining the login-record files (primarily of use to
701 system programs such as `login'), and convenient functions for
702 allocating and initializing a pseudo-terminal (pty) device.
704 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new support for System V style
705 shared memory and IPC on systems that support it.
707 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed several miscellaneous new functions found
708 in System V: The `hsearch' family of functions provide an effective
709 implementation of hash tables; `a64l' and `l64a' provide a very simple
710 binary to ASCII mapping; `drand48' and friends provide a 48-bit random
713 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new reentrant counterparts for the
714 `random' and `hsearch' families of functions; `random_r', `hsearch_r', etc.
716 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new, highly-optimized versions of several
717 string functions for the i486/Pentium family of processors.
719 * Ulrich Drepper has updated the Linux-specific code, based largely
720 on work done in Hongjiu Lu's version of GNU libc for Linux.
721 The GNU library now supports Linux versions 2.0.10 and later,
722 using the ELF object file format (i[3456]86-*-linux).
724 * Andreas Schwab has ported the C library to Linux/m68k (m68k-*-linux).
726 * David Mosberger-Tang and Richard Henderson have ported the C library
727 to Linux/Alpha (alpha-*-linux). Richard Henderson contributed the
728 dynamic linking support for ELF/Alpha.
730 * Richard Henderson contributed several Alpha optimized assembler function
731 for arithmetic and string handling.
733 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed a new set of message catalog functions to
734 support multiple languages using the <libintl.h> interface, for use with
735 his new package GNU gettext. Translation volunteers have contributed
736 catalogs of the library's messages in Spanish, German, and Korean.
738 * For compatibility with XPG4, Ulrich Drepper has contributed the `gencat'
739 program and the `catgets' function for reading the catalog files it
740 creates. (The <libintl.h> interface is preferred; we include the
741 <nl_types.h> interface using `catgets' only for source compatibility with
742 programs already written to use it.)
744 * New header file <values.h> gives SVID-compatible names for <limits.h>
747 * Various new macros, declarations, and small header files for compatibility
750 * New function `group_member' is a convenient way to check if a process has
751 a given effective group ID.
753 * When using GCC 2.7 and later, the socket functions are now declared in a
754 special way so that passing an argument of type `struct sockaddr_in *',
755 `struct sockaddr_ns *', or `struct sockaddr_un *' instead of the generic
756 `struct sockaddr *' type, does not generate a type-clash warning.
758 * New function `error' declared in header file <error.h> is a convenient
759 function for printing error messages and optionally exiting; this is the
760 canonical function used in GNU programs. The new functions `err', `warn',
761 and friends in header file <err.h> are the canonical 4.4 BSD interface for
762 doing the same thing.
764 * The <glob.h> interface has several new flags from 4.4 BSD that extend the
765 POSIX.2 `glob' function to do ~ and {...} expansion.
767 * New function `unsetenv' complements `setenv' for compatibility with 4.4 BSD.
768 `clearenv' which is used in POSIX.9 is also available.
770 * New function `getsid' returns session ID number on systems that support it.
772 * We have incorporated the 4.4 BSD `db' library (version 1.85). New header
773 files <db.h> and <mpool.h> provide a rich set of functions for several
774 types of simple databases stored in memory and in files, and <ndbm.h> is
775 an old `ndbm'-compatible interface using the `db' functions. Link with
776 `-ldb' to get these functions.
778 * New macro `strdupa' copies a string like `strdup', but uses local stack
779 space from `alloca' instead of dynamic heap space from `malloc'.
781 * New function `strnlen' is like `strlen' but searches only a given maximum
782 number of characters for the null terminator. `stpncpy', `strndup' and
783 `strndupa' are similar variants for the `stpcpy', `strdup' and `strdupa'
786 * New function `statfs' in header <sys/statfs.h>.
788 * The new <argz.h> and <envz.h> interfaces contributed by Miles Bader
789 provide convenient functions for operating on blocks of null-terminated
792 * A new suite of functions in <utmp.h> handle all the details of reading
793 and writing the utmp file.
795 * An implementation of the NIS/YP(tm) based NSS service was contributed by
798 * Paul Eggert and Ulrich Drepper modified the `strftime' function to be
799 completely POSIX compliant and also implemented the extended functionality
800 to handle alternate digit representation and alternate era date formats.
802 * Ulrich Drepper provided an implementation of the `strptime' function
803 defined in XPG4.2 which transforms a string into a `struct tm' value.
805 * Paul Eggert provided the tzselect shell script as part of the timezone
806 code. The shell script makes it easy to select the correct timezone
809 * The implementation of the malloc family of functions is completely replaced
810 by a new implementation by Doug Lea with many improvements by Wolfram Gloger.
811 The implementation uses the mmap function (if available) and it is
812 optimized for the use in multi threaded programs.
814 * Ulrich Drepper contributed a MD5 "encryption" for the crypt family of
815 functions. This new functionality is usable by specifying a special
816 salt string and it is compatible with implementation on *BSD systems.
818 * Lots of functions from the XPG4.2 standard were added by Ulrich Drepper:
819 `getsubopt' to handle second level command line options, `bsd_signal'
820 to access BSD style `signal' functionality, the obsolete `regexp' style
823 * the `lchown' function is available on system which support this
826 * The implementation of the shadow password handling function was contributed
829 * David Mosberger-Tang changed the SunRPC implementation to be 64bit safe.
831 * POSIX.1g support was added. The <sys/select.h> header is available,
832 `isfdtype' and `pselect' are implemented. Craig Metz contributed an
833 implementation of `getaddrinfo'.
837 * For cross-compilation you should now set `BUILD_CC' instead of `HOST_CC'.
839 * New header file <fstab.h> and new functions `getfsspec', `getfsent' and
840 friends, for parsing /etc/fstab. This code comes from 4.4 BSD.
842 * The new function `daemon' from 4.4 BSD is useful for server programs that
843 want to put themselves in the background.
845 * Joel Sherrill has contributed support for several standalone boards that
846 run without an operating system.
848 * `printf', `scanf' and friends now accept a `q' type modifier for long
849 long int as well as `ll'. Formats using these might be `%qu' or `%lld'.
851 * All of the code taken from BSD (notably most of the math and networking
852 routines) has been updated from the BSD 4.4-Lite release.
854 * The resolver code has been updated from the BIND-4.9.3-BETA9 release.
856 * The new functions `getdomainname' and `setdomainname' fetch or change the
857 YP/NIS domain name. These are system calls which exist on systems which
860 * The time zone data files have been updated for the latest international
863 * The SunRPC programs `portmap' and `rpcinfo' are now installed in
864 $(sbindir) (usually /usr/local/sbin) instead of $(bindir).
868 * The C library now includes support for Sun RPC, from Sun's free
869 RPCSRC-4.0 distribution. The `portmap', `rpcinfo', and `rpcgen' programs
870 are included. (There is still no support for YP.)
872 * Tom Quinn has contributed a port of the C library to SGI machines running
873 Irix 4 (mips-sgi-irix4).
875 * The new `lockf' function is a simplified interface to the locking
876 facilities of `fcntl', included for compatibility.
878 * New time functions `timegm', `timelocal', and `dysize' for compatibility.
880 * New header file <sys/timeb.h> and new function `ftime' for compatibility.
882 * New header files <poll.h> and <sys/poll.h> and new function `poll' for
885 * The error message printed by `assert' for a failed assertion now includes
886 the name of the program (if using GNU ld) and the name of the calling
887 function (with versions of GCC that support this).
889 * The `psignal' function is now declared in <signal.h>, not <stdio.h>.
891 * The library now includes the <sys/mman.h> header file and memory
892 management functions `mmap', `munmap', `mprotect', `msync', and
893 `madvise', on systems that support those facilities.
895 * The interface for `mcheck' has changed slightly: the function called to
896 abort the program when an allocation inconsistency is detected now takes
897 an argument that indicates the type of failure. The new function
898 `mprobe' lets you request a consistency check for a particular block at
899 any time (checks are normally done only when you call `free' or `realloc'
902 * It is now possible to easily cross-compile the C library, building on one
903 system a library to run on another machine and/or operating system. All
904 you need to do is set the variable `HOST_CC' in `configparms' to the
905 native compiler for programs to run on the machine you are building on (a
906 few generator programs are used on Unix systems); set `CC' to the
909 * The new function `fexecve' (only implemented on the GNU system) executes
910 a program file given a file descriptor already open on the file.
914 * Brendan Kehoe has contributed most of a port to the DEC Alpha
915 running OSF/1 (alpha-dec-osf1). He says it is 75% complete.
917 * You can set the variable `libprefix' in `configparms' to specify a prefix
918 to be prepended to installed library files; this makes it easy to install
919 the GNU C library to be linked as `-lgnuc' or whatever.
921 * The new `stpncpy' is a cross between `stpcpy' and `strncpy': It
922 copies a limited number of characters from a string, and returns the
923 address of the last character written.
925 * You no longer need to check for whether the installed `stddef.h' is
926 compatible with the GNU C library. configure now checks for you.
928 * You can now define a per-stream `fileno' function to convert the
929 stream's cookie into an integral file descriptor.
931 * ``malloc (0)'' no longer returns a null pointer. Instead, it
932 allocates zero bytes of storage, and returns a unique pointer which
933 you can pass to `realloc' or `free'. The behavior is undefined if
934 you dereference this pointer.
936 * The C library now runs on Sony NEWS m68k machines running either
937 NewsOS 3 or NewsOS 4.
939 * The new `syscall' function is a system-dependent primitive function
940 for invoking system calls. It has the canonical behavior on Unix
941 systems, including unreliable return values for some calls (such as
942 `pipe', `fork' and `getppid').
944 * The error code `EWOULDBLOCK' is now obsolete; it is always defined
945 to `EAGAIN', which is the preferred name. On systems whose kernels
946 use two distinct codes, the C library now translates EWOULDBLOCK to
947 EAGAIN in every system call function.
951 * The GNU C Library Reference Manual is now distributed with the library.
952 `make dvi' will produce a DVI file of the printed manual.
953 `make info' will produce Info files that you can read on line using C-h i
954 in Emacs or the `info' program.
955 Please send comments on the manual to bug-glibc-manual@gnu.org.
957 * The library now supports SVR4 on i386s (i386-unknown-sysv4).
959 * Brendan Kehoe has contributed a port to Sun SPARCs running Solaris 2.
961 * Jason Merrill has contributed a port to the Sequent Symmetry running
962 Dynix version 3 (i386-sequent-dynix).
964 * The library has been ported to i386s running SCO 3.2.4 (also known as SCO
965 ODT 2.0; i386-unknown-sco3.2.4) or SCO 3.2 (i386-unknown-sco3.2).
967 * New function `memory_warnings' lets you arrange to get warnings when
968 malloc is running out of memory to allocate, like Emacs gives you.
970 * The C library now contains the relocating allocator used in Emacs 19 for
971 its editing buffers. This allocator (ralloc) minimizes allocation
972 overhead and fragmentation by moving allocated regions around whenever it
973 needs to. You always refer to a ralloc'd region with a "handle" (a
974 pointer to a pointer--an object of type `void **').
976 * There is a new `printf' format: `%m' gives you the string corresponding
977 to the error code in `errno'.
979 * In `scanf' formats, you can now use `%as' or `%a[' to do the normal `%s'
980 or `%[' conversion, but instead of filling in a fixed-sized buffer you
981 pass, the `a' modifier says to fill in a `char **' you pass with a
984 * The `fnmatch' function supports the new flag bits `FNM_LEADING_DIR' and
985 `FNM_CASEFOLD'. `FNM_LEADING_DIR' lets a pattern like `foo*' match a
986 name like `foo/bar'. `FNM_CASEFOLD' says to ignore case in matching.
988 * `mkstemp' is a traditional Unix function to atomically create and open a
989 uniquely-named temporary file.
993 * The standard location for the file that says what the local timezone is
994 has changed again. It is now `/usr/local/etc/localtime' (or more
995 precisely, `${prefix}/etc/localtime') rather than `/etc/localtime'.
997 * The distribution no longer contains any files with names longer than 14
1000 * `struct ttyent' has two new flag bits: TTY_TRUSTED and TTY_CONSOLE.
1001 These are set by the new `trusted' and `console' keywords in `/etc/ttys'.
1003 * New functions `ttyslot' and `syslog' from 4.4 BSD.
1007 * The configuration process has changed quite a bit. The `configure'
1008 script is now used just like the configuration scripts for other GNU
1009 packages. The `sysdeps' directory hierarchy is much rearranged.
1010 The file `INSTALL' explains the new scheme in detail.
1012 * The header files no longer need to be processed into ANSI C and
1013 traditional C versions. There is just one set of files to install, and
1014 it will work with ANSI or old C compilers (including `gcc -traditional').
1016 * Brendan Kehoe and Ian Lance Taylor have ported the library to the
1017 MIPS DECStation running Ultrix 4.
1019 * The Sun 4 startup code (crt0) can now properly load SunOS 4 shared libraries.
1020 Tom Quinn contributed the initial code. The GNU C library can NOT yet be
1021 made itself into a shared library.
1023 * Yet further improved support for the i386, running 4.3 BSD-like systems
1024 (such as Mach 3 with the Unix single-server), or System V.
1026 * New function `strncasecmp' to do case-insensitive string comparison
1027 with limited length.
1029 * New function `strsep' is a reentrant alternative to `strtok'.
1031 * New functions `scandir' and `alphasort' for searching directories.
1033 * New function `setenv' is a better interface to `putenv'.
1035 * Ian Lance Taylor has contributed an implementation of the SVID `ftw'
1036 function for traversing a directory tree.
1038 * The GNU obstack package is now also part of the C library.
1039 The new function `open_obstack_stream' creates a stdio stream that
1040 writes onto an obstack; `obstack_printf' and `obstack_vprintf' do
1041 formatted output directly to an obstack.
1043 * Miscellaneous new functions: reboot, nice, sigaltstack (4.4 BSD only),
1044 cfmakeraw, getusershell, getpass, swab, getttyent, seteuid, setegid.
1046 * `FNM_FILE_NAME' is another name for `FNM_PATHNAME', used with `fnmatch'.
1048 * The new functions `strfry' and `memfrob' do mysterious and wonderful
1049 things to your strings.
1051 * There are some new test programs: test-fseek, testmb, and testrand.
1053 * Some work has been done to begin porting the library to 4.4 BSD and Linux.
1054 These ports are not finished, but are a good starting place for really
1055 supporting those systems.
1057 * `/etc/localtime' is now the standard location for the file that says what
1058 the local timezone is, rather than `/usr/local/lib/zoneinfo/localtime'.
1059 This follows the general principle that `/etc' is the place for all local
1060 configuration files.
1062 * The C library header files now use `extern "C"' when used by the C++
1063 compiler, so the C library should now work with C++ code.
1065 * The header file <bstring.h> is gone. <string.h> now declares bcopy,
1066 bcmp, bzero, and ffs.
1068 * Mike Haertel (of GNU e?grep and malloc fame) has written a new sorting
1069 function which uses the `merge sort' algorithm, and is said to be
1070 significantly faster than the old GNU `qsort' function. Merge sort is
1071 now the standard `qsort' function. The new algorithm can require a lot
1072 of temporary storage; so, the old sorting function is called when the
1073 required storage is not available.
1075 * The C library now includes Michael Glad's Ultra Fast Crypt, which
1076 provides the Unix `crypt' function, plus some other entry points.
1077 Because of the United States export restriction on DES implementations,
1078 we are distributing this code separately from the rest of the C library.
1079 There is an extra distribution tar file just for crypt; it is called
1080 `glibc-VERSION-crypt.tar.Z', e.g. `glibc-1.04-crypt.tar.Z'. You can just
1081 unpack the crypt distribution along with the rest of the C library and
1082 build; you can also build the library without getting crypt. Users
1083 outside the USA can get the crypt distribution via anonymous FTP from
1084 ftp.uni-c.dk [129.142.6.74], or another archive site outside the U.S.
1086 * The code and header files taken from 4.4 BSD have been updated with the
1087 latest files released from Berkeley.
1089 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
1090 Copyright information:
1092 Copyright (C) 1992, 93, 94, 95, 96 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
1094 Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim copies
1095 of this document as received, in any medium, provided that the
1096 copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved,
1097 thus giving the recipient permission to redistribute in turn.
1099 Permission is granted to distribute modified versions
1100 of this document, or of portions of it,
1101 under the above conditions, provided also that they
1102 carry prominent notices stating who last changed them.
1105 version-control: never
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