1 GNU C Library NEWS -- history of user-visible changes. 2001-1-30
3 Copyright (C) 1992-1999, 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 * lots of headers were cleaned up. Using the tool in the conform/ subdir
13 we can now check for namespace violations and missing declarations. The
14 result is that almost all headers are now Unix-compliant (as defined in
15 the upcoming XPG6). The negative side is that some programs might need
16 corrections, too, if they depend on the incorrect form of the headers in
17 previous versions which defined too many symbols and included too many
22 * The gencat program now parses the input file according to the charset
23 selected by the LC_CTYPE category. This is important for stateful
24 character sets. To make generating catalogs easier there is a way
25 to overwrite the charset selected by the locale: before the first
26 message or $ quote line the catalog can contain a line like
30 to select the charset (ISO-8859-2 in this case).
32 Implemented by Shinya Hanataka and Ulrich Drepper.
34 * New codeset conversion modules: IBM-922 (Estonia PC codeset),
35 IBM-1124 (Ukraine PC codeset), IBM-1129 (Vietnamese PC codeset).
36 Contributed by Masahide Washizawa <washi@jp.ibm.com>.
38 * Optimized string functions for Alpha ev6 and ev67 by Richard Henderson
39 <rth@redhat.com> and Rick Gorton <rick.gorton@alpha-processor.com>.
41 * The LANGUAGE environment variable is now ignored unless the locale is
42 changed from the default "C" locale.
44 * The usual bug fixes.
48 * Greg McGary added runtime support for bounds checking using gcc's
49 new -fbounded-pointers option. ix86 target is complete. PowerPC
52 * Thorsten Kukuk added secure mode support to nscd.
54 * The Berkeley db libraries have been removed.
56 Related, the nss_db module is now in a separate package since it
57 obviously requires a database library being available.
59 * Wide character I/O streams implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
61 * Functions from the extended socket API added by Ulrich Drepper.
63 * Functions feenableexcept and fedisableexcept to control the
64 behaviour of individual exceptions have been added by Andreas Jaeger.
66 * ldconfig program added by Andreas Jaeger and Jakub Jelinek.
68 * The resolver code has been updated from bind 8.2.3-T5B which supports
69 threads. The integration was done by Andreas Jaeger, Adam D. Bradley,
72 This change could in some situations effect backward compatibility. Since
73 now `_res' is a thread-local instead of a global variable, modifying it
74 in one thread does not have any effect in other threads.
76 The resolver library was also extended to allow IPv6 as the transport
77 protocol for the requests. This work was done by Stig Venaas.
79 * Compatibility code for K&R C compilers has been removed from the
80 header files. A ISO C compiler is needed to use the library
81 (conforming to either C89 or C99 standard).
83 * Complete rewrite of the localedef program to support multibyte character
84 sets. Implement handling of ISO 14651 and ISO 14652. Rewrite strcoll,
85 strxfrm, wcscoll, and wcsxfrm functions. Make isw*() functions work.
86 Implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
88 Bruno Haible significantly improved the generation and use of the data
89 structures for the wide character tables.
91 * Plural handling in gettext implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
93 * The utmp daemon has been removed.
95 * The port to MIPS-Linux has been finished by Andreas Jaeger.
97 * A port to Hitachi SH3 and SH4 has been contributed by Kazumoto Kojima
100 * POSIX clocks and timers implemented by Kaz Kylheku and Ulrich Drepper.
102 * POSIX barriers implemented by Kaz Kylheku.
104 * POSIX spawn function family implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
106 * POSIX spinlocks are now available.
108 * Timed wait functions for mutex, rwlock, and semaphores are implemented.
110 * the configure option --enable-kernel=X.Y.Z allows to strip out
111 compatibility for kernel versions before X.Y.Z. This is currently only
112 implemented for Linux.
114 * the sockaddr_in6 structure changed. The IPv6 working group added a new
115 field sin6_scope_id. This means that all programs using IPv6 should be
116 recompiled. Don't expect binary compatibility with previous glibc
119 * various conversion modules for IBM character sets contributed by
122 * IA-64 port by Jes Sorensen and HJ Lu.
124 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
125 Compiling the GNU C Library for Linux/ia64
126 ******************************************
128 Please refer to the file INSTALL in the same directory as you found
129 this file for general information about configuring and compiling
132 For general inquiries about glibc under Linux/ia64 please use the
133 following mailing list linux-ia64@linuxia64.org or one of the relevant
136 Recommended Tools for Compilation
137 =================================
139 In order for glibc-2.2 to build correctly on the ia64 you need at
140 least the following versions of the GNU tools (the :
142 * The Cygnus toolchain snapshot for the ia64 as of August 4
143 including the provided set of patches. It is however recommend
144 you use the October 24 toolchain snapshot or a more recent version.
146 OR alternatively you can try the following (the Cygnus toolchain is
147 the recommended solution):
149 * GCC and binutils, GAS and GNU LD out of CVS from
150 sources.redhat.com as of August 28, 2000 or later. The CVS tree
151 may require special patches to work properly on the ia64.
153 Configuring and compiling GNU Libc for Linux/ia64
154 =================================================
156 The library requires Linux kernel version 2.4.0-test4-000728 or
157 later to funtion properly. Besides that it support for debug libraries
158 is currently untested. Hence the following options
159 are required for configuring the library:
161 --disable-debug --enable-kernel=2.4.0
163 It is also important that you make sure the library picks up the
164 appropriate kernel header files, if you do not have recent enough
165 kernel headers in /usr/src/linux/include, you should use the
166 --with-headers=<path> option to specify the location.
168 As an example I personally use the following options to configure
173 --enable-kernel=2.4.0
177 --with-headers=/home/jes/linux/include
182 Jes Sorensen <jes@linuxcare.com>,
184 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
198 * New ISO C 9x function _Exit, imaxabs, and imaxdiv are added.
200 * New xdr functions are added; some rpc functions are now 64bit clean.
202 * Fixed a number of bugs and memory leaks (especially in NIS+ code).
204 * Fixed known incompatibilities with glibc 2.0.
206 * New functions lock64, strchrnul, rawmemchr, getutmp and getutmpx.
208 * Optimized a number of functions (especially the ELF dynamic loader).
210 * Update timezone data files.
212 * lots of charmaps corrections
214 * some new locale definitions and charmaps
219 * Richard Henderson corrected size of struct timeval on Linux/Alpha to
220 conform to POSIX member type requirements. Symbol versions have been
221 adjusted as needed within the library, and for direct use by applications,
222 but there is potential for problems if third-party libraries use
223 struct timeval as part of their interface. This does not present
224 a problem for X and other "essential" system libraries.
226 * An additional locale model to support C++ Standard Library locale
227 model and probably more was implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
229 * Eric Youngdale and Ulrich Drepper implemented versioning of objects on
232 * Miles Bader provided the `argp' function family to support hierachical
233 command line argument parsing, layered on top of getopt.
235 * strtod accepts new hexadecimal floating-point format from ISO C 9X.
237 * printf has two new specifiers %a and %A to print hexadecimal flaoting-point
240 * scanf recognizes the %a and %A format for scanning floating point numbers.
242 * the new headers <stdint.h> and <inttypes.h> from ISO C 9X provides
243 information and interfaces for the available integer types.
245 * about 130 new math functions were added to implement the ISO C9x math
248 * the new header <complex.h> contains definitions of the complex math
249 functions from ISO C 9X.
251 * the new header <tgmath.h> defines generic macros to use complex or
252 real valued functions.
254 * Thorsten Kukuk provided an implementation for NIS+, securelevel 0, 1 and 2.
256 * Andreas Jaeger provided a test suite for the math library.
258 * Mark Kettenis implemented the utmpx interface and an utmp daemon.
260 * Ulrich Drepper added character set conversion functions (iconv).
262 * Optimized string functions have been added.
264 * The localedata addon is now part of glibc.
266 * An implementation of profiling shared libraries was added by Ulrich Drepper.
268 * Thorsten Kukuk and Ulrich Drepper provided an implementation for a caching
269 daemon for NSS (nscd).
271 Missing a better place here are some numbers on improvements. Under
272 Linux 2.1.125 un-tar-ing the kernel sources takes
276 using local files 12.19s 6.88s 22.91s
278 using NIS 13.92s 8.91s 26.34s
280 using NIS & nscd 10.37s 7.34s 25.30s
282 using NIS+ 27.57s 30.37s 640.46s
284 using NIS+ & nscd 10.25s 7.83s 26.51s
286 using NIS & old nscd [1] 13.83s 8.32s 29.60s
288 Keep in mind that non-namelookup related operations dominate above times.
289 It was just a common complain that using NIS+ unpacking the kernel is
292 [1] The old nscd implementation is not available anymore since it was
293 distributed with glibc up to version 2.0.98 and thus is now replaced.
295 * Tim Waugh provided an implementation of the POSIX.2 wordexp function family.
297 * Mark Kettenis provided a Hesiod NSS module.
299 * The ELF dynamic loader knows how to process dynamic string tokens ($ORIGIN
300 and $PLATFORM) in RPATHs and similar strings (Ulrich Drepper).
302 * rcmd can now handle netgroups (Dick Streefland).
304 * A port to the ARM was contributed by Phil Blundell, Pat Beirne and Scott
307 * Support for the IPv6 protocol has been added to the socket API, as per the
308 latest draft standards.
310 * Support for Linux 2.2 has been added.
312 * Interface changes relative to the latest 2.0.x release:
313 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
314 addseverity NEW: Unix98
316 argp_err_exit_status NEW: argp, GNU ext
317 argp_error NEW: argp, GNU ext
318 argp_failure NEW: argp, GNU ext
319 argp_help NEW: argp, GNU ext
320 argp_parse NEW: argp, GNU ext
321 argp_program_bug_address NEW: argp, GNU ext
322 argp_program_version NEW: argp, GNU ext
323 argp_program_version_hook NEW: argp, GNU ext
324 argp_state_help NEW: argp, GNU ext
325 argp_usage NEW: argp, GNU ext
326 authdes_create NEW: Secure RPC
327 authdes_getucred NEW: Secure RPC
328 authdes_pk_create NEW: Secure RPC
329 backtrace NEW: GNU ext.
330 backtrace_symbols NEW: GNU ext.
331 backtrace_symbols_fd NEW: GNU ext.
335 cacoshf NEW: ISO C 9x
336 cacoshl NEW: ISO C 9x
346 casinhf NEW: ISO C 9x
347 casinhl NEW: ISO C 9x
352 catanhf NEW: ISO C 9x
353 catanhl NEW: ISO C 9x
355 cbc_crypt NEW: Secure RPC
368 clearerr_locked REMOVED
369 clntunix_create NEW: sunrpc ext
372 clog10f NEW: ISO C 9x
373 clog10l NEW: ISO C 9x
404 des_setparity NEW: Secure RPC
405 ecb_crypt NEW: Secure RPC
406 endutxent NEW: Unix98
418 feclearexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
419 fegetenv NEW: ISO C 9x
420 fegetexceptflag NEW: ISO C 9x
421 fegetround NEW: ISO C 9x
422 feholdexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
424 feraiseexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
425 ferror_locked REMOVED
426 fesetenv NEW: ISO C 9x
427 fesetexceptflag NEW: ISO C 9x
428 fesetround NEW: ISO C 9x
429 fetestexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
430 feupdateenv NEW: ISO C 9x
431 fflush_locked REMOVED
435 fgets_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
436 fileno_locked REMOVED
449 fputs_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
450 fread_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
461 fwrite_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
462 gai_strerror NEW: IPv6
466 getchar_locked REMOVED
468 getdate_err NEW: Unix98
469 getdate_r NEW: GNU ext.
471 getnameinfo NEW: IPv6
472 getnetname NEW: Secure RPC
474 getpt NEW: Unix98 PTY
476 getutxent NEW: Unix98
478 getutxline NEW: Unix98
480 globfree64 NEW: GNU ext.
481 gnu_get_libc_release NEW: GNU ext.
482 gnu_get_libc_version NEW: GNU ext.
483 grantpt NEW: Unix98 PTY
484 host2netname NEW: Secure RPC
486 iconv_close NEW: iconv
487 iconv_open NEW: iconv
488 if_freenameindex NEW: IPv6
489 if_indextoname NEW: IPv6
490 if_nameindex NEW: IPv6
491 if_nametoindex NEW: IPv6
492 in6addr_any NEW: IPv6
493 in6addr_loopback NEW: IPv6
494 inet6_isipv4mapped NEW: IPv6
495 isastream NEW: STREAMS
496 iswblank NEW: GNU ext.
497 key_decryptsession NEW: Secure RPC
498 key_decryptsession_pk NEW: Secure RPC
499 key_encryptsession NEW: Secure RPC
500 key_encryptsession_pk NEW: Secure RPC
501 key_gendes NEW: Secure RPC
502 key_get_conv NEW: Secure RPC
503 key_secretkey_is_set NEW: Secure RPC
504 key_setnet NEW: Secure RPC
505 key_setsecret NEW: Secure RPC
507 llrintf NEW: ISO C 9x
508 llrintl NEW: ISO C 9x
509 llround NEW: ISO C 9x
510 llroundf NEW: ISO C 9x
511 llroundl NEW: ISO C 9x
519 lroundf NEW: ISO C 9x
520 lroundl NEW: ISO C 9x
522 makecontext NEW: Unix98
523 mempcpy NEW: GNU ext.
526 modify_ldt NEW: kernel
530 nearbyint NEW: ISO C 9x
531 nearbyintf NEW: ISO C 9x
532 nearbyintl NEW: ISO C 9x
533 netname2host NEW: Secure RPC
534 netname2user NEW: Secure RPC
535 nexttoward NEW: ISO C 9x
536 nexttowardf NEW: ISO C 9x
537 nexttowardl NEW: ISO C 9x
541 passwd2des NEW: Secure RPC
547 printf_size NEW: GNU ext.
548 printf_size_info NEW: GNU ext.
549 profil_counter REMOVED
550 pthread_mutexattr_getkind_np REPLACED
551 pthread_mutexattr_setkind_np REPLACED
552 ptsname NEW: Unix98 PTY
553 ptsname_r NEW: Unix98 PTY
555 putchar_locked REMOVED
556 putgrent NEW: GNU ext.
559 pututxline NEW: Unix98
565 remquof NEW: ISO C 9x
566 remquol NEW: ISO C 9x
571 scalbln NEW: ISO C 9x
572 scalblnf NEW: ISO C 9x
573 scalblnl NEW: ISO C 9x
576 setcontext NEW: Unix98
578 setutxent NEW: Unix98
580 sigignore NEW: Unix98
581 sigqueue NEW: POSIX.1b
584 sigtimedwait NEW: POSIX.1b
585 sigwaitinfo NEW: POSIX.1b
587 sincosf NEW: GNU ext.
588 sincosl NEW: GNU ext.
592 strcasestr NEW: GNU ext.
593 strtoimax NEW: ISO C 9x
594 strtoumax NEW: ISO C 9x
595 strverscmp NEW: GNU ext.
596 svcauthdes_stats NEW: Secure RPC
597 svcunix_create NEW: sunrpc etx
598 svcunixfd_create NEW: sunrpc ext
599 swapcontext NEW: Unix98
600 tcgetsid NEW: Unix98 PTY
601 tdestroy NEW: GNU ext.
603 tgammaf NEW: ISO C 9x
604 tgammal NEW: ISO C 9x
611 unlockpt NEW: Unix98 PTY
613 user2netname NEW: Secure RPC
614 utmpxname NEW: Unix98
615 versionsort NEW: GNU ext.
616 versionsort64 NEW: GNU ext.
618 wcscasecmp NEW: GNU ext.
619 wcsncasecmp NEW: GNU ext.
620 wcsnlen NEW: GNU ext.
621 wcstoimax NEW: ISO C 9x
622 wcstoll NEW: ISO C 9x
623 wcstoull NEW: ISO C 9x
624 wcstoumax NEW: ISO C 9x
627 wordfree NEW: POSIX.2
628 write_profiling REMOVED
629 xdecrypt NEW: Secure RPC
630 xdr_authdes_cred NEW: Secure RPC
631 xdr_authdes_verf NEW: Secure RPC
632 xdr_cryptkeyarg NEW: Secure RPC
633 xdr_cryptkeyarg2 NEW: Secure RPC
634 xdr_cryptkeyres NEW: Secure RPC
635 xdr_getcredres NEW: Secure RPC
636 xdr_key_netstarg NEW: Secure RPC
637 xdr_key_netstres NEW: Secure RPC
638 xdr_keybuf NEW: Secure RPC
639 xdr_keystatus NEW: Secure RPC
640 xdr_netnamestr NEW: Secure RPC
641 xdr_sizeof NEW: Secure RPC
642 xdr_unixcred NEW: sunrpc ext
643 xencrypt NEW: Secure RPC
644 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
655 * inet_ntoa is thread-safe
657 * updwtmp is moved from libutil to libc
659 * rewrite of cbrt function
661 * update of timezone data
677 * fix complex problems in Berkeley DB code
683 * fixed lots of header problems (especially Linux/GNU specific)
685 * dynamic loader preserves all registers
687 * Roland McGrath provided support for handling of auxiliary objects in
688 the ELF dynamic loader.
690 * support for parallel builds is improved
694 * GNU extensions are no longer declared by default. To enable them you
695 must define the macro `_GNU_SOURCE' in your program or compile with
698 * The library has changed from using GNU ld symbol aliases to using weak
699 symbols where available. The ELF object file format supports weak
700 symbols; GNU ld also supports weak symbols in the a.out format. (There
701 is also now support for other GNU ld extensions in ELF. Use the
702 `--with-elf' option to configure to indicate you have ELF, and
703 `--with-gnu-ld' if using GNU ld.) This change resulted in the deletion
704 of many files which contained only symbol aliases, reducing the size of
705 the source and the compiled library; many other files were renamed to
706 less cryptic names previously occupied by the symbol alias files.
707 There is a new header file <elf.h> for programs which operate on
708 files in the ELF format.
710 * Converted to Autoconf version 2, so `configure' has more options.
711 Run `configure --help' to see the details.
713 * The library can now be configured to build profiling, highly-optimized
714 (but undebuggable), and/or shared libraries (ELF with GNU ld only). The
715 `--enable-profile', `--enable-omitfp', and `--enable-shared' options to
716 `configure' enable building these extra libraries. The shared library is
717 built by default when using both ELF and GNU ld. When shared libraries
718 are enabled, the new library `-ldl' is available for arbitrary run-time
719 loading of shared objects; its interface is defined in <dlfcn.h>. The
720 new header file <link.h> gives access to the internals of the run-time
721 dynamic linker, `ld.so'. The shell script `ldd' is similar to the
722 application of same name on other systems and it provides information
723 about dynamically linked binaries.
725 * The C library now provides the run-time support code for profiling
726 executables compiled with `-pg'. Programs can control the profiling code
727 through the interface in <sys/gmon.h>. The `gmon.out' files written by
728 the GNU C library can be read only by GNU `gprof' (from GNU binutils);
729 the support for this file format was contributed by David Mosberger-Tang.
731 * The math code has been replaced with a math library based on fdlibm from
732 Sun, and modified by JT Conklin and Ulrich Drepper with i387 support, by
733 Ian Taylor with `float' functions and by Ulrich Drepper with `long double'
734 functions. The math functions now reside in a separate library, so
735 programs using them will need to use `-lm' their linking commands.
737 * John C. Bowman contributed optimized ix87 assembler inline functions.
739 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed support for an `/etc/nsswitch.conf'
740 mechanism similar to that found in Solaris 2. This is now used for the
741 group, passwd, hosts, networks, services, protocols, rpc, ethers,
742 shadow, netgroup, publickey, and alias databases. The `nsswitch.conf'
743 file controls what services are used for each individual database. This
744 works by loading shared libraries with names specified in `nsswitch.conf',
745 so service modules can be changed or added at any time without even
746 relinking any program. Currently there are the file, db, and NIS based
747 NSS services available.
749 * The new functions `strtoq' and `strtouq' parse integer values from
750 strings, like `strtol' and `strtoul', but they return `long long int' and
751 `unsigned long long int' values, respectively (64-bit quantities).
753 * The new functions `strtof' and `strtold' parse floating-point values from
754 strings, like `strtod', but they return `float' and `long double' values,
755 respectively (on some machines `double' and `long double' are the same).
757 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new implementations of the floating-point
758 printing and reading code used in the `printf' family of functions and
759 `strtod', `strtof', and `strtold'. These new functions are perfectly
760 accurate, and much faster than the old ones.
762 * The implementation of the POSIX locale model was completely rewritten by
763 Ulrich Drepper. This includes the new programs `localedef' and `locale'
764 to compile the POSIX locale definition.
766 * The former dummy implementations of the strcoll and strxfrm function are
767 now replaced by fully functional code contributed by Ulrich Drepper. The
768 collation information comes from the POSIX locale definitions.
770 * The new header <langinfo.h> defines an interface for accessing
771 various locale-dependent data (using the locale chosen with `setlocale').
773 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed a new suite of functions for operation on
774 wide-character and multibyte-character strings, in <wchar.h>;
775 and classification and case conversion of wide characters, in <wctype.h>.
776 These new functions are conforming to the ISO C, Amendement 1 specification.
778 * There is now a second implementation of the standard I/O library available.
779 It comes from GNU libg++ as was written by Per Bothner, heavily modified
780 by Hongjiu Lu and made thread safe by Ulrich Drepper.
782 * You can now use positional parameter specifications in format strings
783 for the `printf' and `scanf' families of functions. For example,
784 `printf ("Number %2$d, Mr %1$s\n", "Jones", 6);'' prints
785 ``Number 6, Mr Jones''. This is mainly useful when providing different
786 format strings for different languages, whose grammars may dictate
787 different orderings of the values being printed. To support this
788 feature, the interface for `register_printf_handler' has changed; see
789 the header file <printf.h> for details.
791 * The `printf' and `scanf' families of functions now understand a new
792 formatting flag for numeric conversions: the ' flag (e.g. %'d or %'f) says
793 to group numbers as indicated by the locale; for `scanf' and friends, this
794 says to accept as valid only a number with all the proper grouping
795 separators in the right places. In the default "C" locale, numbers are
796 not grouped; but locales for specific countries will define the usual
797 conventions (i.e. separate thousands with `,' in the US locale).
799 * The pgrp functions have been regularized, slightly incompatibly but much
800 less confusingly. The core functions are now `getpgid' and `setpgid',
801 which take arguments for the PID to operate on; the POSIX.1 `getpgrp' (no
802 argument) and BSD `setpgrp' (identical to `setpgid') functions are
803 provided for compatibility. There is no longer an incompatible `getpgrp'
804 with an argument declared under _BSD_SOURCE; no BSD code uses it.
806 * The new header file <fts.h> and suite of functions simplify programs that
807 operate on directory trees. This code comes from 4.4 BSD.
809 * The resolver code has been updated from the BIND 4.9.5-P1 release.
810 Parts of the code were heavily modified by Ulrich Drepper to fit in the
811 NSS scheme used in glibc.
813 * There is a new malloc debugging hook `__memalign_hook'.
815 * There are new typedefs `ushort' for `unsigned short int' and `uint' for
816 `unsigned int' in <sys/types.h>. These are for compatibility only and
817 their use is discouraged.
819 * The `-lmcheck' library to enable standard malloc debugging hooks is now
820 done differently, so that it works even without GNU ld.
822 * New function `euidaccess' checks allowed access to a file like `access',
823 but using the effective IDs instead of the real IDs.
825 * The time zone data files have been updated for the latest and greatest
826 local time conventions of the countries of the world.
828 * The new function `dirfd' extracts the file descriptor used by a DIR stream;
831 * The new functions `ecvt', `fcvt', and `gcvt' provide an obsolete interface
832 for formatting floating-point numbers. They are provided only for
833 compatibility; new programs should use `sprintf' instead. There are
834 also equivalent function for the `long double' floating-point type and
835 all functions also exist in a reentrant form.
837 * The new auxiliary library `-lutil' from 4.4 BSD contains various
838 functions for maintaining the login-record files (primarily of use to
839 system programs such as `login'), and convenient functions for
840 allocating and initializing a pseudo-terminal (pty) device.
842 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new support for System V style
843 shared memory and IPC on systems that support it.
845 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed several miscellaneous new functions found
846 in System V: The `hsearch' family of functions provide an effective
847 implementation of hash tables; `a64l' and `l64a' provide a very simple
848 binary to ASCII mapping; `drand48' and friends provide a 48-bit random
851 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new reentrant counterparts for the
852 `random' and `hsearch' families of functions; `random_r', `hsearch_r', etc.
854 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new, highly-optimized versions of several
855 string functions for the i486/Pentium family of processors.
857 * Ulrich Drepper has updated the Linux-specific code, based largely
858 on work done in Hongjiu Lu's version of GNU libc for Linux.
859 The GNU library now supports Linux versions 2.0.10 and later,
860 using the ELF object file format (i[3456]86-*-linux).
862 * Andreas Schwab has ported the C library to Linux/m68k (m68k-*-linux).
864 * David Mosberger-Tang and Richard Henderson have ported the C library
865 to Linux/Alpha (alpha-*-linux). Richard Henderson contributed the
866 dynamic linking support for ELF/Alpha.
868 * Richard Henderson contributed several Alpha optimized assembler function
869 for arithmetic and string handling.
871 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed a new set of message catalog functions to
872 support multiple languages using the <libintl.h> interface, for use with
873 his new package GNU gettext. Translation volunteers have contributed
874 catalogs of the library's messages in Spanish, German, and Korean.
876 * For compatibility with XPG4, Ulrich Drepper has contributed the `gencat'
877 program and the `catgets' function for reading the catalog files it
878 creates. (The <libintl.h> interface is preferred; we include the
879 <nl_types.h> interface using `catgets' only for source compatibility with
880 programs already written to use it.)
882 * New header file <values.h> gives SVID-compatible names for <limits.h>
885 * Various new macros, declarations, and small header files for compatibility
888 * New function `group_member' is a convenient way to check if a process has
889 a given effective group ID.
891 * When using GCC 2.7 and later, the socket functions are now declared in a
892 special way so that passing an argument of type `struct sockaddr_in *',
893 `struct sockaddr_ns *', or `struct sockaddr_un *' instead of the generic
894 `struct sockaddr *' type, does not generate a type-clash warning.
896 * New function `error' declared in header file <error.h> is a convenient
897 function for printing error messages and optionally exiting; this is the
898 canonical function used in GNU programs. The new functions `err', `warn',
899 and friends in header file <err.h> are the canonical 4.4 BSD interface for
900 doing the same thing.
902 * The <glob.h> interface has several new flags from 4.4 BSD that extend the
903 POSIX.2 `glob' function to do ~ and {...} expansion.
905 * New function `unsetenv' complements `setenv' for compatibility with 4.4 BSD.
906 `clearenv' which is used in POSIX.9 is also available.
908 * New function `getsid' returns session ID number on systems that support it.
910 * We have incorporated the 4.4 BSD `db' library (version 1.85). New header
911 files <db.h> and <mpool.h> provide a rich set of functions for several
912 types of simple databases stored in memory and in files, and <ndbm.h> is
913 an old `ndbm'-compatible interface using the `db' functions. Link with
914 `-ldb' to get these functions.
916 * New macro `strdupa' copies a string like `strdup', but uses local stack
917 space from `alloca' instead of dynamic heap space from `malloc'.
919 * New function `strnlen' is like `strlen' but searches only a given maximum
920 number of characters for the null terminator. `stpncpy', `strndup' and
921 `strndupa' are similar variants for the `stpcpy', `strdup' and `strdupa'
924 * New function `statfs' in header <sys/statfs.h>.
926 * The new <argz.h> and <envz.h> interfaces contributed by Miles Bader
927 provide convenient functions for operating on blocks of null-terminated
930 * A new suite of functions in <utmp.h> handle all the details of reading
931 and writing the utmp file.
933 * An implementation of the NIS/YP(tm) based NSS service was contributed by
936 * Paul Eggert and Ulrich Drepper modified the `strftime' function to be
937 completely POSIX compliant and also implemented the extended functionality
938 to handle alternate digit representation and alternate era date formats.
940 * Ulrich Drepper provided an implementation of the `strptime' function
941 defined in XPG4.2 which transforms a string into a `struct tm' value.
943 * Paul Eggert provided the tzselect shell script as part of the timezone
944 code. The shell script makes it easy to select the correct timezone
947 * The implementation of the malloc family of functions is completely replaced
948 by a new implementation by Doug Lea with many improvements by Wolfram Gloger.
949 The implementation uses the mmap function (if available) and it is
950 optimized for the use in multi threaded programs.
952 * Ulrich Drepper contributed a MD5 "encryption" for the crypt family of
953 functions. This new functionality is usable by specifying a special
954 salt string and it is compatible with implementation on *BSD systems.
956 * Lots of functions from the XPG4.2 standard were added by Ulrich Drepper:
957 `getsubopt' to handle second level command line options, `bsd_signal'
958 to access BSD style `signal' functionality, the obsolete `regexp' style
961 * the `lchown' function is available on system which support this
964 * The implementation of the shadow password handling function was contributed
967 * David Mosberger-Tang changed the SunRPC implementation to be 64bit safe.
969 * POSIX.1g support was added. The <sys/select.h> header is available,
970 `isfdtype' and `pselect' are implemented. Craig Metz contributed an
971 implementation of `getaddrinfo'.
975 * For cross-compilation you should now set `BUILD_CC' instead of `HOST_CC'.
977 * New header file <fstab.h> and new functions `getfsspec', `getfsent' and
978 friends, for parsing /etc/fstab. This code comes from 4.4 BSD.
980 * The new function `daemon' from 4.4 BSD is useful for server programs that
981 want to put themselves in the background.
983 * Joel Sherrill has contributed support for several standalone boards that
984 run without an operating system.
986 * `printf', `scanf' and friends now accept a `q' type modifier for long
987 long int as well as `ll'. Formats using these might be `%qu' or `%lld'.
989 * All of the code taken from BSD (notably most of the math and networking
990 routines) has been updated from the BSD 4.4-Lite release.
992 * The resolver code has been updated from the BIND-4.9.3-BETA9 release.
994 * The new functions `getdomainname' and `setdomainname' fetch or change the
995 YP/NIS domain name. These are system calls which exist on systems which
998 * The time zone data files have been updated for the latest international
1001 * The SunRPC programs `portmap' and `rpcinfo' are now installed in
1002 $(sbindir) (usually /usr/local/sbin) instead of $(bindir).
1006 * The C library now includes support for Sun RPC, from Sun's free
1007 RPCSRC-4.0 distribution. The `portmap', `rpcinfo', and `rpcgen' programs
1008 are included. (There is still no support for YP.)
1010 * Tom Quinn has contributed a port of the C library to SGI machines running
1011 Irix 4 (mips-sgi-irix4).
1013 * The new `lockf' function is a simplified interface to the locking
1014 facilities of `fcntl', included for compatibility.
1016 * New time functions `timegm', `timelocal', and `dysize' for compatibility.
1018 * New header file <sys/timeb.h> and new function `ftime' for compatibility.
1020 * New header files <poll.h> and <sys/poll.h> and new function `poll' for
1023 * The error message printed by `assert' for a failed assertion now includes
1024 the name of the program (if using GNU ld) and the name of the calling
1025 function (with versions of GCC that support this).
1027 * The `psignal' function is now declared in <signal.h>, not <stdio.h>.
1029 * The library now includes the <sys/mman.h> header file and memory
1030 management functions `mmap', `munmap', `mprotect', `msync', and
1031 `madvise', on systems that support those facilities.
1033 * The interface for `mcheck' has changed slightly: the function called to
1034 abort the program when an allocation inconsistency is detected now takes
1035 an argument that indicates the type of failure. The new function
1036 `mprobe' lets you request a consistency check for a particular block at
1037 any time (checks are normally done only when you call `free' or `realloc'
1040 * It is now possible to easily cross-compile the C library, building on one
1041 system a library to run on another machine and/or operating system. All
1042 you need to do is set the variable `HOST_CC' in `configparms' to the
1043 native compiler for programs to run on the machine you are building on (a
1044 few generator programs are used on Unix systems); set `CC' to the
1047 * The new function `fexecve' (only implemented on the GNU system) executes
1048 a program file given a file descriptor already open on the file.
1052 * Brendan Kehoe has contributed most of a port to the DEC Alpha
1053 running OSF/1 (alpha-dec-osf1). He says it is 75% complete.
1055 * You can set the variable `libprefix' in `configparms' to specify a prefix
1056 to be prepended to installed library files; this makes it easy to install
1057 the GNU C library to be linked as `-lgnuc' or whatever.
1059 * The new `stpncpy' is a cross between `stpcpy' and `strncpy': It
1060 copies a limited number of characters from a string, and returns the
1061 address of the last character written.
1063 * You no longer need to check for whether the installed `stddef.h' is
1064 compatible with the GNU C library. configure now checks for you.
1066 * You can now define a per-stream `fileno' function to convert the
1067 stream's cookie into an integral file descriptor.
1069 * ``malloc (0)'' no longer returns a null pointer. Instead, it
1070 allocates zero bytes of storage, and returns a unique pointer which
1071 you can pass to `realloc' or `free'. The behavior is undefined if
1072 you dereference this pointer.
1074 * The C library now runs on Sony NEWS m68k machines running either
1075 NewsOS 3 or NewsOS 4.
1077 * The new `syscall' function is a system-dependent primitive function
1078 for invoking system calls. It has the canonical behavior on Unix
1079 systems, including unreliable return values for some calls (such as
1080 `pipe', `fork' and `getppid').
1082 * The error code `EWOULDBLOCK' is now obsolete; it is always defined
1083 to `EAGAIN', which is the preferred name. On systems whose kernels
1084 use two distinct codes, the C library now translates EWOULDBLOCK to
1085 EAGAIN in every system call function.
1089 * The GNU C Library Reference Manual is now distributed with the library.
1090 `make dvi' will produce a DVI file of the printed manual.
1091 `make info' will produce Info files that you can read on line using C-h i
1092 in Emacs or the `info' program.
1093 Please send comments on the manual to bug-glibc-manual@gnu.org.
1095 * The library now supports SVR4 on i386s (i386-unknown-sysv4).
1097 * Brendan Kehoe has contributed a port to Sun SPARCs running Solaris 2.
1099 * Jason Merrill has contributed a port to the Sequent Symmetry running
1100 Dynix version 3 (i386-sequent-dynix).
1102 * The library has been ported to i386s running SCO 3.2.4 (also known as SCO
1103 ODT 2.0; i386-unknown-sco3.2.4) or SCO 3.2 (i386-unknown-sco3.2).
1105 * New function `memory_warnings' lets you arrange to get warnings when
1106 malloc is running out of memory to allocate, like Emacs gives you.
1108 * The C library now contains the relocating allocator used in Emacs 19 for
1109 its editing buffers. This allocator (ralloc) minimizes allocation
1110 overhead and fragmentation by moving allocated regions around whenever it
1111 needs to. You always refer to a ralloc'd region with a "handle" (a
1112 pointer to a pointer--an object of type `void **').
1114 * There is a new `printf' format: `%m' gives you the string corresponding
1115 to the error code in `errno'.
1117 * In `scanf' formats, you can now use `%as' or `%a[' to do the normal `%s'
1118 or `%[' conversion, but instead of filling in a fixed-sized buffer you
1119 pass, the `a' modifier says to fill in a `char **' you pass with a
1122 * The `fnmatch' function supports the new flag bits `FNM_LEADING_DIR' and
1123 `FNM_CASEFOLD'. `FNM_LEADING_DIR' lets a pattern like `foo*' match a
1124 name like `foo/bar'. `FNM_CASEFOLD' says to ignore case in matching.
1126 * `mkstemp' is a traditional Unix function to atomically create and open a
1127 uniquely-named temporary file.
1131 * The standard location for the file that says what the local timezone is
1132 has changed again. It is now `/usr/local/etc/localtime' (or more
1133 precisely, `${prefix}/etc/localtime') rather than `/etc/localtime'.
1135 * The distribution no longer contains any files with names longer than 14
1138 * `struct ttyent' has two new flag bits: TTY_TRUSTED and TTY_CONSOLE.
1139 These are set by the new `trusted' and `console' keywords in `/etc/ttys'.
1141 * New functions `ttyslot' and `syslog' from 4.4 BSD.
1145 * The configuration process has changed quite a bit. The `configure'
1146 script is now used just like the configuration scripts for other GNU
1147 packages. The `sysdeps' directory hierarchy is much rearranged.
1148 The file `INSTALL' explains the new scheme in detail.
1150 * The header files no longer need to be processed into ANSI C and
1151 traditional C versions. There is just one set of files to install, and
1152 it will work with ANSI or old C compilers (including `gcc -traditional').
1154 * Brendan Kehoe and Ian Lance Taylor have ported the library to the
1155 MIPS DECStation running Ultrix 4.
1157 * The Sun 4 startup code (crt0) can now properly load SunOS 4 shared libraries.
1158 Tom Quinn contributed the initial code. The GNU C library can NOT yet be
1159 made itself into a shared library.
1161 * Yet further improved support for the i386, running 4.3 BSD-like systems
1162 (such as Mach 3 with the Unix single-server), or System V.
1164 * New function `strncasecmp' to do case-insensitive string comparison
1165 with limited length.
1167 * New function `strsep' is a reentrant alternative to `strtok'.
1169 * New functions `scandir' and `alphasort' for searching directories.
1171 * New function `setenv' is a better interface to `putenv'.
1173 * Ian Lance Taylor has contributed an implementation of the SVID `ftw'
1174 function for traversing a directory tree.
1176 * The GNU obstack package is now also part of the C library.
1177 The new function `open_obstack_stream' creates a stdio stream that
1178 writes onto an obstack; `obstack_printf' and `obstack_vprintf' do
1179 formatted output directly to an obstack.
1181 * Miscellaneous new functions: reboot, nice, sigaltstack (4.4 BSD only),
1182 cfmakeraw, getusershell, getpass, swab, getttyent, seteuid, setegid.
1184 * `FNM_FILE_NAME' is another name for `FNM_PATHNAME', used with `fnmatch'.
1186 * The new functions `strfry' and `memfrob' do mysterious and wonderful
1187 things to your strings.
1189 * There are some new test programs: test-fseek, testmb, and testrand.
1191 * Some work has been done to begin porting the library to 4.4 BSD and Linux.
1192 These ports are not finished, but are a good starting place for really
1193 supporting those systems.
1195 * `/etc/localtime' is now the standard location for the file that says what
1196 the local timezone is, rather than `/usr/local/lib/zoneinfo/localtime'.
1197 This follows the general principle that `/etc' is the place for all local
1198 configuration files.
1200 * The C library header files now use `extern "C"' when used by the C++
1201 compiler, so the C library should now work with C++ code.
1203 * The header file <bstring.h> is gone. <string.h> now declares bcopy,
1204 bcmp, bzero, and ffs. (Update: nowadays these functions are declared
1207 * Mike Haertel (of GNU e?grep and malloc fame) has written a new sorting
1208 function which uses the `merge sort' algorithm, and is said to be
1209 significantly faster than the old GNU `qsort' function. Merge sort is
1210 now the standard `qsort' function. The new algorithm can require a lot
1211 of temporary storage; so, the old sorting function is called when the
1212 required storage is not available.
1214 * The C library now includes Michael Glad's Ultra Fast Crypt, which
1215 provides the Unix `crypt' function, plus some other entry points.
1217 * The code and header files taken from 4.4 BSD have been updated with the
1218 latest files released from Berkeley.
1220 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
1221 Copyright information:
1223 Copyright (C) 1992-1999, 2000 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
1225 Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim copies
1226 of this document as received, in any medium, provided that the
1227 copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved,
1228 thus giving the recipient permission to redistribute in turn.
1230 Permission is granted to distribute modified versions
1231 of this document, or of portions of it,
1232 under the above conditions, provided also that they
1233 carry prominent notices stating who last changed them.
1236 version-control: never
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