1 GNU C Library NEWS -- history of user-visible changes. 1998-03-04
3 Copyright (C) 1992, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98 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 * Richard Henderson corrected size of struct timeval on Linux/Alpha to
13 conform to POSIX member type requirements. Symbol versions have been
14 adjusted as needed within the library, and for direct use by applications,
15 but there is potential for problems if third-party libraries use
16 struct timeval as part of their interface. This does not present
17 a problem for X and other "essential" system libraries.
19 * An additional locale model to support C++ Standard Library locale
20 model and probably more was implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
22 * Eric Youngdale and Ulrich Drepper implemented versioning of objects on
25 * Miles Bader provided the `argp' function family to support hierachical
26 command line argument parsing, layered on top of getopt.
28 * strtod accepts new hexadecimal floating-point format from ISO C 9X.
30 * printf has two new specifiers %a and %A to print hexadecimal flaoting-point
33 * scanf recognizes the %a and %A format for scanning floating point numbers.
35 * the new headers <stdint.h> and <inttypes.h> from ISO C 9X provides
36 information and interfaces for the available integer types.
38 * the new header <complex.h> contains definitions of the complex math
39 functions from ISO C 9X.
41 * the new header <tgmath.h> defines generic macros to use complex or
42 real valued functions.
44 * Thorsten Kukuk provided an implementation for NIS+, securelevel 0, 1 and 2.
46 * Andreas Jaeger provided a test suite for the math library.
48 * Mark Kettenis implemented the utmpx interface and an utmp daemon.
50 * Ulrich Drepper added character conversion functions.
52 * Optimized string functions have been added.
54 * The localedata addon is now part of glibc.
56 * An implementation of profiling shared libraries was added by Ulrich Drepper.
58 * Thorsten Kukuk and Ulrich Drepper provided an implementation for a caching
59 daemon for NSS (nscd).
61 Missing a better place here are some numbers on improvements. Under
62 Linux 2.1.125 un-tar-ing the kernel sources takes
66 using local files 12.19s 6.88s 22.91s
68 using NIS 13.92s 8.91s 26.34s
70 using NIS & nscd 10.37s 7.34s 25.30s
72 using NIS & old nscd [1] 13.83s 8.32s 29.60s
74 When NIS+ is used instead of NIS the benefit from using nscd is much bigger.
75 Keep in mind that non-namelookup related operations dominate above times.
76 It was just a common complain that using NIS+ unpacking the kernel is
77 horribly slow. When using nscd unpacking is now even faster than using
80 [1] The old nscd implementation is not anymore available since it was
81 distributed with glibc up to version 2.0.98.
83 * Tim Waugh provided an implementation of the POSIX.2 wordexp function family.
85 * Mark Kettenis provided a Hesiod NSS module.
87 * The ELF dynamic loader knows how to process dynamic string tokens ($ORIGIN
88 and $PLATFORM) in RPATHs and similar strings (Ulrich Drepper).
90 * rcmd can now handle netgroups (Dick Streefland).
92 * Interface changes relative to the latest 2.0.x release:
93 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
94 addseverity NEW: fmtmsg
96 argp_err_exit_status NEW: argp
98 argp_failure NEW: argp
101 argp_program_bug_address NEW: argp
102 argp_program_version NEW: argp
103 argp_program_version_hook NEW: argp
104 argp_state_help NEW: argp
106 authdes_create NEW: NIS+
107 authdes_getucred NEW: NIS+
108 authdes_pk_create NEW: NIS+
109 backtrace NEW: GNU ext.
110 backtrace_symbols NEW: GNU ext.
111 backtrace_symbols_fd NEW: GNU ext.
115 cacoshf NEW: ISO C 9x
116 cacoshl NEW: ISO C 9x
126 casinhf NEW: ISO C 9x
127 casinhl NEW: ISO C 9x
132 catanhf NEW: ISO C 9x
133 catanhl NEW: ISO C 9x
148 clearerr_locked REMOVED
149 clntunix_create NEW: sunrpc ext
152 clog10f NEW: ISO C 9x
153 clog10l NEW: ISO C 9x
184 des_setparity NEW: NIS+
198 feclearexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
199 fegetenv NEW: ISO C 9x
200 fegetexceptflag NEW: ISO C 9x
201 fegetround NEW: ISO C 9x
202 feholdexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
204 feraiseexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
205 ferror_locked REMOVED
206 fesetenv NEW: ISO C 9x
207 fesetexceptflag NEW: ISO C 9x
208 fesetround NEW: ISO C 9x
209 fetestexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
210 feupdateenv NEW: ISO C 9x
211 fflush_locked REMOVED
215 fgets_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
216 fileno_locked REMOVED
229 fputs_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
230 fread_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
241 fwrite_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
242 gai_strerror NEW: IPv6
246 getchar_locked REMOVED
248 getdate_err NEW: Unix98
249 getdate_r NEW: GNU ext.
251 getnameinfo NEW: IPv6
254 getpt NEW: Unix98 PTY
258 getutxline NEW: utmpx
260 globfree64 NEW: GNU ext.
261 gnu_get_libc_release NEW: GNU ext.
262 gnu_get_libc_version NEW: GNU ext.
263 grantpt NEW: Unix98 PTY
264 host2netname NEW: IPv6
266 iconv_close NEW: iconv
267 iconv_open NEW: iconv
268 if_freenameindex NEW: IPv6
269 if_indextoname NEW: IPv6
270 if_nameindex NEW: IPv6
271 if_nametoindex NEW: IPv6
272 in6addr_any NEW: IPv6
273 in6addr_loopback NEW: IPv6
274 inet6_isipv4mapped NEW: IPv6
275 isastream NEW: STREAMS
276 iswblank NEW: GNU ext.
277 key_decryptsession NEW: NIS+
278 key_decryptsession_pk NEW: NIS+
279 key_encryptsession NEW: NIS+
280 key_encryptsession_pk NEW: NIS+
282 key_get_conv NEW: NIS+
283 key_secretkey_is_set NEW: NIS+
285 key_setsecret NEW: NIS+
287 llrintf NEW: ISO C 9x
288 llrintl NEW: ISO C 9x
289 llround NEW: ISO C 9x
290 llroundf NEW: ISO C 9x
291 llroundl NEW: ISO C 9x
299 lroundf NEW: ISO C 9x
300 lroundl NEW: ISO C 9x
302 makecontext NEW: Unix98
303 mempcpy NEW: GNU ext.
306 modify_ldt NEW: kernel
310 nearbyint NEW: ISO C 9x
311 nearbyintf NEW: ISO C 9x
312 nearbyintl NEW: ISO C 9x
313 netname2host NEW: IPv6
314 netname2user NEW: IPv6
315 nextafterx NEW: ISO C 9x
316 nextafterxf NEW: ISO C 9x
326 printf_size NEW: GNU ext.
327 printf_size_info NEW: GNU ext.
328 profil_counter REMOVED
329 pthread_mutexattr_getkind_np REPLACED
330 pthread_mutexattr_setkind_np REPLACED
331 ptsname NEW: Unix98 PTY
332 ptsname_r NEW: Unix98 PTY
334 putchar_locked REMOVED
335 putgrent NEW: GNU ext.
338 pututxline NEW: utmpx
344 remquof NEW: ISO C 9x
345 remquol NEW: ISO C 9x
350 scalbln NEW: ISO C 9x
351 scalblnf NEW: ISO C 9x
352 scalblnl NEW: ISO C 9x
355 setcontext NEW: Unix98
359 sigignore NEW: Unix98
360 sigqueue NEW: POSIX.1b
363 sigtimedwait NEW: POSIX.1b
364 sigwaitinfo NEW: POSIX.1b
366 sincosf NEW: GNU ext.
367 sincosl NEW: GNU ext.
371 strcasestr NEW: GNU ext.
372 strfxtime NEW: ISO C 9x
373 strtoimax NEW: ISO C 9x
374 strtoumax NEW: ISO C 9x
375 strverscmp NEW: GNU ext.
376 svcauthdes_stats NEW: NIS+
377 svcunix_create NEW: sunrpc etx
378 svcunixfd_create NEW: sunrpc ext
379 swapcontext NEW: Unix98
380 tcgetsid NEW: Unix98 PTY
381 tdestroy NEW: GNU ext.
383 tgammaf NEW: ISO C 9x
384 tgammal NEW: ISO C 9x
391 unlockpt NEW: Unix98 PTY
393 user2netname NEW: IPv6
395 versionsort NEW: GNU ext.
396 versionsort64 NEW: LFS
398 wcscasecmp NEW: GNU ext.
399 wcsncasecmp NEW: GNU ext.
400 wcsnlen NEW: GNU ext.
401 wcstoimax NEW: ISO C 9x
402 wcstoll NEW: ISO C 9x
403 wcstoull NEW: ISO C 9x
404 wcstoumax NEW: ISO C 9x
407 wordfree NEW: POSIX.2
408 write_profiling REMOVED
410 xdr_authdes_cred NEW: NIS+
411 xdr_authdes_verf NEW: NIS+
412 xdr_cryptkeyarg NEW: NIS+
413 xdr_cryptkeyarg2 NEW: NIS+
414 xdr_cryptkeyres NEW: NIS+
415 xdr_getcredres NEW: NIS+
416 xdr_key_netstarg NEW: NIS+
417 xdr_key_netstres NEW: NIS+
419 xdr_keystatus NEW: NIS+
420 xdr_netnamestr NEW: NIS+
422 xdr_unixcred NEW: sunrpc ext
424 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
430 * inet_ntoa is thread-safe
432 * updwtmp is moved from libutil to libc
434 * rewrite of cbrt function
436 * update of timezone data
452 * fix complex problems in Berkeley DB code
458 * fixed lots of header problems (especially Linux/GNU specific)
460 * dynamic loader preserves all registers
462 * Roland McGrath provided support for handling of auxiliary objects in
463 the ELF dynamic loader.
465 * support for parallel builds is improved
469 * GNU extensions are no longer declared by default. To enable them you
470 must define the macro `_GNU_SOURCE' in your program or compile with
473 * The library has changed from using GNU ld symbol aliases to using weak
474 symbols where available. The ELF object file format supports weak
475 symbols; GNU ld also supports weak symbols in the a.out format. (There
476 is also now support for other GNU ld extensions in ELF. Use the
477 `--with-elf' option to configure to indicate you have ELF, and
478 `--with-gnu-ld' if using GNU ld.) This change resulted in the deletion
479 of many files which contained only symbol aliases, reducing the size of
480 the source and the compiled library; many other files were renamed to
481 less cryptic names previously occupied by the symbol alias files.
482 There is a new header file <elf.h> for programs which operate on
483 files in the ELF format.
485 * Converted to Autoconf version 2, so `configure' has more options.
486 Run `configure --help' to see the details.
488 * The library can now be configured to build profiling, highly-optimized
489 (but undebuggable), and/or shared libraries (ELF with GNU ld only). The
490 `--enable-profile', `--enable-omitfp', and `--enable-shared' options to
491 `configure' enable building these extra libraries. The shared library is
492 built by default when using both ELF and GNU ld. When shared libraries
493 are enabled, the new library `-ldl' is available for arbitrary run-time
494 loading of shared objects; its interface is defined in <dlfcn.h>. The
495 new header file <link.h> gives access to the internals of the run-time
496 dynamic linker, `ld.so'. The shell script `ldd' is similar to the
497 application of same name on other systems and it provides information
498 about dynamically linked binaries.
500 * The C library now provides the run-time support code for profiling
501 executables compiled with `-pg'. Programs can control the profiling code
502 through the interface in <sys/gmon.h>. The `gmon.out' files written by
503 the GNU C library can be read only by GNU `gprof' (from GNU binutils);
504 the support for this file format was contributed by David Mosberger-Tang.
506 * The math code has been replaced with a math library based on fdlibm from
507 Sun, and modified by JT Conklin and Ulrich Drepper with i387 support, by
508 Ian Taylor with `float' functions and by Ulrich Drepper with `long double'
509 functions. The math functions now reside in a separate library, so
510 programs using them will need to use `-lm' their linking commands.
512 * John C. Bowman contributed optimized ix87 assembler inline functions.
514 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed support for an `/etc/nsswitch.conf'
515 mechanism similar to that found in Solaris 2. This is now used for the
516 group, passwd, hosts, networks, services, protocols, rpc, ethers,
517 shadow, netgroup, publickey, and alias databases. The `nsswitch.conf'
518 file controls what services are used for each individual database. This
519 works by loading shared libraries with names specified in `nsswitch.conf',
520 so service modules can be changed or added at any time without even
521 relinking any program. Currently there are the file, db, and NIS based
522 NSS services available.
524 * The new functions `strtoq' and `strtouq' parse integer values from
525 strings, like `strtol' and `strtoul', but they return `long long int' and
526 `unsigned long long int' values, respectively (64-bit quantities).
528 * The new functions `strtof' and `strtold' parse floating-point values from
529 strings, like `strtod', but they return `float' and `long double' values,
530 respectively (on some machines `double' and `long double' are the same).
532 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new implementations of the floating-point
533 printing and reading code used in the `printf' family of functions and
534 `strtod', `strtof', and `strtold'. These new functions are perfectly
535 accurate, and much faster than the old ones.
537 * The implementation of the POSIX locale model was completely rewritten by
538 Ulrich Drepper. This includes the new programs `localedef' and `locale'
539 to compile the POSIX locale definition.
541 * The former dummy implementations of the strcoll and strxfrm function are
542 now replaced by fully functional code contributed by Ulrich Drepper. The
543 collation information comes from the POSIX locale definitions.
545 * The new header <langinfo.h> defines an interface for accessing
546 various locale-dependent data (using the locale chosen with `setlocale').
548 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed a new suite of functions for operation on
549 wide-character and multibyte-character strings, in <wchar.h>;
550 and classification and case conversion of wide characters, in <wctype.h>.
551 These new functions are conforming to the ISO C, Amendement 1 specification.
553 * There is now a second implementation of the standard I/O library available.
554 It comes from GNU libg++ as was written by Per Bothner, heavily modified
555 by Hongjiu Lu and made thread safe by Ulrich Drepper.
557 * You can now use positional parameter specifications in format strings
558 for the `printf' and `scanf' families of functions. For example,
559 `printf ("Number %2$d, Mr %1$s\n", "Jones", 6);'' prints
560 ``Number 6, Mr Jones''. This is mainly useful when providing different
561 format strings for different languages, whose grammars may dictate
562 different orderings of the values being printed. To support this
563 feature, the interface for `register_printf_handler' has changed; see
564 the header file <printf.h> for details.
566 * The `printf' and `scanf' families of functions now understand a new
567 formatting flag for numeric conversions: the ' flag (e.g. %'d or %'f) says
568 to group numbers as indicated by the locale; for `scanf' and friends, this
569 says to accept as valid only a number with all the proper grouping
570 separators in the right places. In the default "C" locale, numbers are
571 not grouped; but locales for specific countries will define the usual
572 conventions (i.e. separate thousands with `,' in the US locale).
574 * The pgrp functions have been regularized, slightly incompatibly but much
575 less confusingly. The core functions are now `getpgid' and `setpgid',
576 which take arguments for the PID to operate on; the POSIX.1 `getpgrp' (no
577 argument) and BSD `setpgrp' (identical to `setpgid') functions are
578 provided for compatibility. There is no longer an incompatible `getpgrp'
579 with an argument declared under _BSD_SOURCE; no BSD code uses it.
581 * The new header file <fts.h> and suite of functions simplify programs that
582 operate on directory trees. This code comes from 4.4 BSD.
584 * The resolver code has been updated from the BIND 4.9.5-P1 release.
585 Parts of the code were heavily modified by Ulrich Drepper to fit in the
586 NSS scheme used in glibc.
588 * There is a new malloc debugging hook `__memalign_hook'.
590 * There are new typedefs `ushort' for `unsigned short int' and `uint' for
591 `unsigned int' in <sys/types.h>. These are for compatibility only and
592 their use is discouraged.
594 * The `-lmcheck' library to enable standard malloc debugging hooks is now
595 done differently, so that it works even without GNU ld.
597 * New function `euidaccess' checks allowed access to a file like `access',
598 but using the effective IDs instead of the real IDs.
600 * The time zone data files have been updated for the latest and greatest
601 local time conventions of the countries of the world.
603 * The new function `dirfd' extracts the file descriptor used by a DIR stream;
606 * The new functions `ecvt', `fcvt', and `gcvt' provide an obsolete interface
607 for formatting floating-point numbers. They are provided only for
608 compatibility; new programs should use `sprintf' instead. There are
609 also equivalent function for the `long double' floating-point type and
610 all functions also exist in a reentrant form.
612 * The new auxiliary library `-lutil' from 4.4 BSD contains various
613 functions for maintaining the login-record files (primarily of use to
614 system programs such as `login'), and convenient functions for
615 allocating and initializing a pseudo-terminal (pty) device.
617 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new support for System V style
618 shared memory and IPC on systems that support it.
620 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed several miscellaneous new functions found
621 in System V: The `hsearch' family of functions provide an effective
622 implementation of hash tables; `a64l' and `l64a' provide a very simple
623 binary to ASCII mapping; `drand48' and friends provide a 48-bit random
626 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new reentrant counterparts for the
627 `random' and `hsearch' families of functions; `random_r', `hsearch_r', etc.
629 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new, highly-optimized versions of several
630 string functions for the i486/Pentium family of processors.
632 * Ulrich Drepper has updated the Linux-specific code, based largely
633 on work done in Hongjiu Lu's version of GNU libc for Linux.
634 The GNU library now supports Linux versions 2.0.10 and later,
635 using the ELF object file format (i[3456]86-*-linux).
637 * Andreas Schwab has ported the C library to Linux/m68k (m68k-*-linux).
639 * David Mosberger-Tang and Richard Henderson have ported the C library
640 to Linux/Alpha (alpha-*-linux). Richard Henderson contributed the
641 dynamic linking support for ELF/Alpha.
643 * Richard Henderson contributed several Alpha optimized assembler function
644 for arithmetic and string handling.
646 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed a new set of message catalog functions to
647 support multiple languages using the <libintl.h> interface, for use with
648 his new package GNU gettext. Translation volunteers have contributed
649 catalogs of the library's messages in Spanish, German, and Korean.
651 * For compatibility with XPG4, Ulrich Drepper has contributed the `gencat'
652 program and the `catgets' function for reading the catalog files it
653 creates. (The <libintl.h> interface is preferred; we include the
654 <nl_types.h> interface using `catgets' only for source compatibility with
655 programs already written to use it.)
657 * New header file <values.h> gives SVID-compatible names for <limits.h>
660 * Various new macros, declarations, and small header files for compatibility
663 * New function `group_member' is a convenient way to check if a process has
664 a given effective group ID.
666 * When using GCC 2.7 and later, the socket functions are now declared in a
667 special way so that passing an argument of type `struct sockaddr_in *',
668 `struct sockaddr_ns *', or `struct sockaddr_un *' instead of the generic
669 `struct sockaddr *' type, does not generate a type-clash warning.
671 * New function `error' declared in header file <error.h> is a convenient
672 function for printing error messages and optionally exiting; this is the
673 canonical function used in GNU programs. The new functions `err', `warn',
674 and friends in header file <err.h> are the canonical 4.4 BSD interface for
675 doing the same thing.
677 * The <glob.h> interface has several new flags from 4.4 BSD that extend the
678 POSIX.2 `glob' function to do ~ and {...} expansion.
680 * New function `unsetenv' complements `setenv' for compatibility with 4.4 BSD.
681 `clearenv' which is used in POSIX.9 is also available.
683 * New function `getsid' returns session ID number on systems that support it.
685 * We have incorporated the 4.4 BSD `db' library (version 1.85). New header
686 files <db.h> and <mpool.h> provide a rich set of functions for several
687 types of simple databases stored in memory and in files, and <ndbm.h> is
688 an old `ndbm'-compatible interface using the `db' functions. Link with
689 `-ldb' to get these functions.
691 * New macro `strdupa' copies a string like `strdup', but uses local stack
692 space from `alloca' instead of dynamic heap space from `malloc'.
694 * New function `strnlen' is like `strlen' but searches only a given maximum
695 number of characters for the null terminator. `stpncpy', `strndup' and
696 `strndupa' are similar variants for the `stpcpy', `strdup' and `strdupa'
699 * New function `statfs' in header <sys/statfs.h>.
701 * The new <argz.h> and <envz.h> interfaces contributed by Miles Bader
702 provide convenient functions for operating on blocks of null-terminated
705 * A new suite of functions in <utmp.h> handle all the details of reading
706 and writing the utmp file.
708 * An implementation of the NIS/YP(tm) based NSS service was contributed by
711 * Paul Eggert and Ulrich Drepper modified the `strftime' function to be
712 completely POSIX compliant and also implemented the extended functionality
713 to handle alternate digit representation and alternate era date formats.
715 * Ulrich Drepper provided an implementation of the `strptime' function
716 defined in XPG4.2 which transforms a string into a `struct tm' value.
718 * Paul Eggert provided the tzselect shell script as part of the timezone
719 code. The shell script makes it easy to select the correct timezone
722 * The implementation of the malloc family of functions is completely replaced
723 by a new implementation by Doug Lea with many improvements by Wolfram Gloger.
724 The implementation uses the mmap function (if available) and it is
725 optimized for the use in multi threaded programs.
727 * Ulrich Drepper contributed a MD5 "encryption" for the crypt family of
728 functions. This new functionality is usable by specifying a special
729 salt string and it is compatible with implementation on *BSD systems.
731 * Lots of functions from the XPG4.2 standard were added by Ulrich Drepper:
732 `getsubopt' to handle second level command line options, `bsd_signal'
733 to access BSD style `signal' functionality, the obsolete `regexp' style
736 * the `lchown' function is available on system which support this
739 * The implementation of the shadow password handling function was contributed
742 * David Mosberger-Tang changed the SunRPC implementation to be 64bit safe.
744 * POSIX.1g support was added. The <sys/select.h> header is available,
745 `isfdtype' and `pselect' are implemented. Craig Metz contributed an
746 implementation of `getaddrinfo'.
750 * For cross-compilation you should now set `BUILD_CC' instead of `HOST_CC'.
752 * New header file <fstab.h> and new functions `getfsspec', `getfsent' and
753 friends, for parsing /etc/fstab. This code comes from 4.4 BSD.
755 * The new function `daemon' from 4.4 BSD is useful for server programs that
756 want to put themselves in the background.
758 * Joel Sherrill has contributed support for several standalone boards that
759 run without an operating system.
761 * `printf', `scanf' and friends now accept a `q' type modifier for long
762 long int as well as `ll'. Formats using these might be `%qu' or `%lld'.
764 * All of the code taken from BSD (notably most of the math and networking
765 routines) has been updated from the BSD 4.4-Lite release.
767 * The resolver code has been updated from the BIND-4.9.3-BETA9 release.
769 * The new functions `getdomainname' and `setdomainname' fetch or change the
770 YP/NIS domain name. These are system calls which exist on systems which
773 * The time zone data files have been updated for the latest international
776 * The SunRPC programs `portmap' and `rpcinfo' are now installed in
777 $(sbindir) (usually /usr/local/sbin) instead of $(bindir).
781 * The C library now includes support for Sun RPC, from Sun's free
782 RPCSRC-4.0 distribution. The `portmap', `rpcinfo', and `rpcgen' programs
783 are included. (There is still no support for YP.)
785 * Tom Quinn has contributed a port of the C library to SGI machines running
786 Irix 4 (mips-sgi-irix4).
788 * The new `lockf' function is a simplified interface to the locking
789 facilities of `fcntl', included for compatibility.
791 * New time functions `timegm', `timelocal', and `dysize' for compatibility.
793 * New header file <sys/timeb.h> and new function `ftime' for compatibility.
795 * New header files <poll.h> and <sys/poll.h> and new function `poll' for
798 * The error message printed by `assert' for a failed assertion now includes
799 the name of the program (if using GNU ld) and the name of the calling
800 function (with versions of GCC that support this).
802 * The `psignal' function is now declared in <signal.h>, not <stdio.h>.
804 * The library now includes the <sys/mman.h> header file and memory
805 management functions `mmap', `munmap', `mprotect', `msync', and
806 `madvise', on systems that support those facilities.
808 * The interface for `mcheck' has changed slightly: the function called to
809 abort the program when an allocation inconsistency is detected now takes
810 an argument that indicates the type of failure. The new function
811 `mprobe' lets you request a consistency check for a particular block at
812 any time (checks are normally done only when you call `free' or `realloc'
815 * It is now possible to easily cross-compile the C library, building on one
816 system a library to run on another machine and/or operating system. All
817 you need to do is set the variable `HOST_CC' in `configparms' to the
818 native compiler for programs to run on the machine you are building on (a
819 few generator programs are used on Unix systems); set `CC' to the
822 * The new function `fexecve' (only implemented on the GNU system) executes
823 a program file given a file descriptor already open on the file.
827 * Brendan Kehoe has contributed most of a port to the DEC Alpha
828 running OSF/1 (alpha-dec-osf1). He says it is 75% complete.
830 * You can set the variable `libprefix' in `configparms' to specify a prefix
831 to be prepended to installed library files; this makes it easy to install
832 the GNU C library to be linked as `-lgnuc' or whatever.
834 * The new `stpncpy' is a cross between `stpcpy' and `strncpy': It
835 copies a limited number of characters from a string, and returns the
836 address of the last character written.
838 * You no longer need to check for whether the installed `stddef.h' is
839 compatible with the GNU C library. configure now checks for you.
841 * You can now define a per-stream `fileno' function to convert the
842 stream's cookie into an integral file descriptor.
844 * ``malloc (0)'' no longer returns a null pointer. Instead, it
845 allocates zero bytes of storage, and returns a unique pointer which
846 you can pass to `realloc' or `free'. The behavior is undefined if
847 you dereference this pointer.
849 * The C library now runs on Sony NEWS m68k machines running either
850 NewsOS 3 or NewsOS 4.
852 * The new `syscall' function is a system-dependent primitive function
853 for invoking system calls. It has the canonical behavior on Unix
854 systems, including unreliable return values for some calls (such as
855 `pipe', `fork' and `getppid').
857 * The error code `EWOULDBLOCK' is now obsolete; it is always defined
858 to `EAGAIN', which is the preferred name. On systems whose kernels
859 use two distinct codes, the C library now translates EWOULDBLOCK to
860 EAGAIN in every system call function.
864 * The GNU C Library Reference Manual is now distributed with the library.
865 `make dvi' will produce a DVI file of the printed manual.
866 `make info' will produce Info files that you can read on line using C-h i
867 in Emacs or the `info' program.
868 Please send comments on the manual to bug-glibc-manual@gnu.org.
870 * The library now supports SVR4 on i386s (i386-unknown-sysv4).
872 * Brendan Kehoe has contributed a port to Sun SPARCs running Solaris 2.
874 * Jason Merrill has contributed a port to the Sequent Symmetry running
875 Dynix version 3 (i386-sequent-dynix).
877 * The library has been ported to i386s running SCO 3.2.4 (also known as SCO
878 ODT 2.0; i386-unknown-sco3.2.4) or SCO 3.2 (i386-unknown-sco3.2).
880 * New function `memory_warnings' lets you arrange to get warnings when
881 malloc is running out of memory to allocate, like Emacs gives you.
883 * The C library now contains the relocating allocator used in Emacs 19 for
884 its editing buffers. This allocator (ralloc) minimizes allocation
885 overhead and fragmentation by moving allocated regions around whenever it
886 needs to. You always refer to a ralloc'd region with a "handle" (a
887 pointer to a pointer--an object of type `void **').
889 * There is a new `printf' format: `%m' gives you the string corresponding
890 to the error code in `errno'.
892 * In `scanf' formats, you can now use `%as' or `%a[' to do the normal `%s'
893 or `%[' conversion, but instead of filling in a fixed-sized buffer you
894 pass, the `a' modifier says to fill in a `char **' you pass with a
897 * The `fnmatch' function supports the new flag bits `FNM_LEADING_DIR' and
898 `FNM_CASEFOLD'. `FNM_LEADING_DIR' lets a pattern like `foo*' match a
899 name like `foo/bar'. `FNM_CASEFOLD' says to ignore case in matching.
901 * `mkstemp' is a traditional Unix function to atomically create and open a
902 uniquely-named temporary file.
906 * The standard location for the file that says what the local timezone is
907 has changed again. It is now `/usr/local/etc/localtime' (or more
908 precisely, `${prefix}/etc/localtime') rather than `/etc/localtime'.
910 * The distribution no longer contains any files with names longer than 14
913 * `struct ttyent' has two new flag bits: TTY_TRUSTED and TTY_CONSOLE.
914 These are set by the new `trusted' and `console' keywords in `/etc/ttys'.
916 * New functions `ttyslot' and `syslog' from 4.4 BSD.
920 * The configuration process has changed quite a bit. The `configure'
921 script is now used just like the configuration scripts for other GNU
922 packages. The `sysdeps' directory hierarchy is much rearranged.
923 The file `INSTALL' explains the new scheme in detail.
925 * The header files no longer need to be processed into ANSI C and
926 traditional C versions. There is just one set of files to install, and
927 it will work with ANSI or old C compilers (including `gcc -traditional').
929 * Brendan Kehoe and Ian Lance Taylor have ported the library to the
930 MIPS DECStation running Ultrix 4.
932 * The Sun 4 startup code (crt0) can now properly load SunOS 4 shared libraries.
933 Tom Quinn contributed the initial code. The GNU C library can NOT yet be
934 made itself into a shared library.
936 * Yet further improved support for the i386, running 4.3 BSD-like systems
937 (such as Mach 3 with the Unix single-server), or System V.
939 * New function `strncasecmp' to do case-insensitive string comparison
942 * New function `strsep' is a reentrant alternative to `strtok'.
944 * New functions `scandir' and `alphasort' for searching directories.
946 * New function `setenv' is a better interface to `putenv'.
948 * Ian Lance Taylor has contributed an implementation of the SVID `ftw'
949 function for traversing a directory tree.
951 * The GNU obstack package is now also part of the C library.
952 The new function `open_obstack_stream' creates a stdio stream that
953 writes onto an obstack; `obstack_printf' and `obstack_vprintf' do
954 formatted output directly to an obstack.
956 * Miscellaneous new functions: reboot, nice, sigaltstack (4.4 BSD only),
957 cfmakeraw, getusershell, getpass, swab, getttyent, seteuid, setegid.
959 * `FNM_FILE_NAME' is another name for `FNM_PATHNAME', used with `fnmatch'.
961 * The new functions `strfry' and `memfrob' do mysterious and wonderful
962 things to your strings.
964 * There are some new test programs: test-fseek, testmb, and testrand.
966 * Some work has been done to begin porting the library to 4.4 BSD and Linux.
967 These ports are not finished, but are a good starting place for really
968 supporting those systems.
970 * `/etc/localtime' is now the standard location for the file that says what
971 the local timezone is, rather than `/usr/local/lib/zoneinfo/localtime'.
972 This follows the general principle that `/etc' is the place for all local
975 * The C library header files now use `extern "C"' when used by the C++
976 compiler, so the C library should now work with C++ code.
978 * The header file <bstring.h> is gone. <string.h> now declares bcopy,
979 bcmp, bzero, and ffs.
981 * Mike Haertel (of GNU e?grep and malloc fame) has written a new sorting
982 function which uses the `merge sort' algorithm, and is said to be
983 significantly faster than the old GNU `qsort' function. Merge sort is
984 now the standard `qsort' function. The new algorithm can require a lot
985 of temporary storage; so, the old sorting function is called when the
986 required storage is not available.
988 * The C library now includes Michael Glad's Ultra Fast Crypt, which
989 provides the Unix `crypt' function, plus some other entry points.
990 Because of the United States export restriction on DES implementations,
991 we are distributing this code separately from the rest of the C library.
992 There is an extra distribution tar file just for crypt; it is called
993 `glibc-VERSION-crypt.tar.Z', e.g. `glibc-1.04-crypt.tar.Z'. You can just
994 unpack the crypt distribution along with the rest of the C library and
995 build; you can also build the library without getting crypt. Users
996 outside the USA can get the crypt distribution via anonymous FTP from
997 ftp.uni-c.dk [129.142.6.74], or another archive site outside the U.S.
999 * The code and header files taken from 4.4 BSD have been updated with the
1000 latest files released from Berkeley.
1002 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
1003 Copyright information:
1005 Copyright (C) 1992, 93, 94, 95, 96 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
1007 Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim copies
1008 of this document as received, in any medium, provided that the
1009 copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved,
1010 thus giving the recipient permission to redistribute in turn.
1012 Permission is granted to distribute modified versions
1013 of this document, or of portions of it,
1014 under the above conditions, provided also that they
1015 carry prominent notices stating who last changed them.
1018 version-control: never
projects / platform / upstream / glibc.git / blob