1 GNU C Library NEWS -- history of user-visible changes. 1999-08-25
3 Copyright (C) 1992, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99 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 * Update from Berkeley db 2.7.5.
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. No changes should be necessary for user programs. The
27 integration was done by Andreas Jaeger and Adam D. Bradley.
37 * New ISO C 9x function _Exit, imaxabs, and imaxdiv are added.
39 * New xdr functions are added; some rpc functions are now 64bit clean.
41 * Fixed a number of bugs and memory leaks (especially in NIS+ code).
43 * Fixed known incompatibilities with glibc 2.0.
45 * New functions lock64, strchrnul, rawmemchr, getutmp and getutmpx.
47 * Optimized a number of functions (especially the ELF dynamic loader).
49 * Update timezone data files.
51 * lots of charmaps corrections
53 * some new locale definitions and charmaps
58 * Richard Henderson corrected size of struct timeval on Linux/Alpha to
59 conform to POSIX member type requirements. Symbol versions have been
60 adjusted as needed within the library, and for direct use by applications,
61 but there is potential for problems if third-party libraries use
62 struct timeval as part of their interface. This does not present
63 a problem for X and other "essential" system libraries.
65 * An additional locale model to support C++ Standard Library locale
66 model and probably more was implemented by Ulrich Drepper.
68 * Eric Youngdale and Ulrich Drepper implemented versioning of objects on
71 * Miles Bader provided the `argp' function family to support hierachical
72 command line argument parsing, layered on top of getopt.
74 * strtod accepts new hexadecimal floating-point format from ISO C 9X.
76 * printf has two new specifiers %a and %A to print hexadecimal flaoting-point
79 * scanf recognizes the %a and %A format for scanning floating point numbers.
81 * the new headers <stdint.h> and <inttypes.h> from ISO C 9X provides
82 information and interfaces for the available integer types.
84 * about 130 new math functions were added to implement the ISO C9x math
87 * the new header <complex.h> contains definitions of the complex math
88 functions from ISO C 9X.
90 * the new header <tgmath.h> defines generic macros to use complex or
91 real valued functions.
93 * Thorsten Kukuk provided an implementation for NIS+, securelevel 0, 1 and 2.
95 * Andreas Jaeger provided a test suite for the math library.
97 * Mark Kettenis implemented the utmpx interface and an utmp daemon.
99 * Ulrich Drepper added character set conversion functions (iconv).
101 * Optimized string functions have been added.
103 * The localedata addon is now part of glibc.
105 * An implementation of profiling shared libraries was added by Ulrich Drepper.
107 * Thorsten Kukuk and Ulrich Drepper provided an implementation for a caching
108 daemon for NSS (nscd).
110 Missing a better place here are some numbers on improvements. Under
111 Linux 2.1.125 un-tar-ing the kernel sources takes
115 using local files 12.19s 6.88s 22.91s
117 using NIS 13.92s 8.91s 26.34s
119 using NIS & nscd 10.37s 7.34s 25.30s
121 using NIS+ 27.57s 30.37s 640.46s
123 using NIS+ & nscd 10.25s 7.83s 26.51s
125 using NIS & old nscd [1] 13.83s 8.32s 29.60s
127 Keep in mind that non-namelookup related operations dominate above times.
128 It was just a common complain that using NIS+ unpacking the kernel is
131 [1] The old nscd implementation is not available anymore since it was
132 distributed with glibc up to version 2.0.98 and thus is now replaced.
134 * Tim Waugh provided an implementation of the POSIX.2 wordexp function family.
136 * Mark Kettenis provided a Hesiod NSS module.
138 * The ELF dynamic loader knows how to process dynamic string tokens ($ORIGIN
139 and $PLATFORM) in RPATHs and similar strings (Ulrich Drepper).
141 * rcmd can now handle netgroups (Dick Streefland).
143 * A port to the ARM was contributed by Phil Blundell, Pat Beirne and Scott
146 * Support for the IPv6 protocol has been added to the socket API, as per the
147 latest draft standards.
149 * Support for Linux 2.2 has been added.
151 * Interface changes relative to the latest 2.0.x release:
152 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
153 addseverity NEW: Unix98
155 argp_err_exit_status NEW: argp, GNU ext
156 argp_error NEW: argp, GNU ext
157 argp_failure NEW: argp, GNU ext
158 argp_help NEW: argp, GNU ext
159 argp_parse NEW: argp, GNU ext
160 argp_program_bug_address NEW: argp, GNU ext
161 argp_program_version NEW: argp, GNU ext
162 argp_program_version_hook NEW: argp, GNU ext
163 argp_state_help NEW: argp, GNU ext
164 argp_usage NEW: argp, GNU ext
165 authdes_create NEW: Secure RPC
166 authdes_getucred NEW: Secure RPC
167 authdes_pk_create NEW: Secure RPC
168 backtrace NEW: GNU ext.
169 backtrace_symbols NEW: GNU ext.
170 backtrace_symbols_fd NEW: GNU ext.
174 cacoshf NEW: ISO C 9x
175 cacoshl NEW: ISO C 9x
185 casinhf NEW: ISO C 9x
186 casinhl NEW: ISO C 9x
191 catanhf NEW: ISO C 9x
192 catanhl NEW: ISO C 9x
194 cbc_crypt NEW: Secure RPC
207 clearerr_locked REMOVED
208 clntunix_create NEW: sunrpc ext
211 clog10f NEW: ISO C 9x
212 clog10l NEW: ISO C 9x
243 des_setparity NEW: Secure RPC
244 ecb_crypt NEW: Secure RPC
245 endutxent NEW: Unix98
257 feclearexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
258 fegetenv NEW: ISO C 9x
259 fegetexceptflag NEW: ISO C 9x
260 fegetround NEW: ISO C 9x
261 feholdexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
263 feraiseexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
264 ferror_locked REMOVED
265 fesetenv NEW: ISO C 9x
266 fesetexceptflag NEW: ISO C 9x
267 fesetround NEW: ISO C 9x
268 fetestexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
269 feupdateenv NEW: ISO C 9x
270 fflush_locked REMOVED
274 fgets_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
275 fileno_locked REMOVED
288 fputs_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
289 fread_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
300 fwrite_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
301 gai_strerror NEW: IPv6
305 getchar_locked REMOVED
307 getdate_err NEW: Unix98
308 getdate_r NEW: GNU ext.
310 getnameinfo NEW: IPv6
311 getnetname NEW: Secure RPC
313 getpt NEW: Unix98 PTY
315 getutxent NEW: Unix98
317 getutxline NEW: Unix98
319 globfree64 NEW: GNU ext.
320 gnu_get_libc_release NEW: GNU ext.
321 gnu_get_libc_version NEW: GNU ext.
322 grantpt NEW: Unix98 PTY
323 host2netname NEW: Secure RPC
325 iconv_close NEW: iconv
326 iconv_open NEW: iconv
327 if_freenameindex NEW: IPv6
328 if_indextoname NEW: IPv6
329 if_nameindex NEW: IPv6
330 if_nametoindex NEW: IPv6
331 in6addr_any NEW: IPv6
332 in6addr_loopback NEW: IPv6
333 inet6_isipv4mapped NEW: IPv6
334 isastream NEW: STREAMS
335 iswblank NEW: GNU ext.
336 key_decryptsession NEW: Secure RPC
337 key_decryptsession_pk NEW: Secure RPC
338 key_encryptsession NEW: Secure RPC
339 key_encryptsession_pk NEW: Secure RPC
340 key_gendes NEW: Secure RPC
341 key_get_conv NEW: Secure RPC
342 key_secretkey_is_set NEW: Secure RPC
343 key_setnet NEW: Secure RPC
344 key_setsecret NEW: Secure RPC
346 llrintf NEW: ISO C 9x
347 llrintl NEW: ISO C 9x
348 llround NEW: ISO C 9x
349 llroundf NEW: ISO C 9x
350 llroundl NEW: ISO C 9x
358 lroundf NEW: ISO C 9x
359 lroundl NEW: ISO C 9x
361 makecontext NEW: Unix98
362 mempcpy NEW: GNU ext.
365 modify_ldt NEW: kernel
369 nearbyint NEW: ISO C 9x
370 nearbyintf NEW: ISO C 9x
371 nearbyintl NEW: ISO C 9x
372 netname2host NEW: Secure RPC
373 netname2user NEW: Secure RPC
374 nexttoward NEW: ISO C 9x
375 nexttowardf NEW: ISO C 9x
376 nexttowardl NEW: ISO C 9x
380 passwd2des NEW: Secure RPC
386 printf_size NEW: GNU ext.
387 printf_size_info NEW: GNU ext.
388 profil_counter REMOVED
389 pthread_mutexattr_getkind_np REPLACED
390 pthread_mutexattr_setkind_np REPLACED
391 ptsname NEW: Unix98 PTY
392 ptsname_r NEW: Unix98 PTY
394 putchar_locked REMOVED
395 putgrent NEW: GNU ext.
398 pututxline NEW: Unix98
404 remquof NEW: ISO C 9x
405 remquol NEW: ISO C 9x
410 scalbln NEW: ISO C 9x
411 scalblnf NEW: ISO C 9x
412 scalblnl NEW: ISO C 9x
415 setcontext NEW: Unix98
417 setutxent NEW: Unix98
419 sigignore NEW: Unix98
420 sigqueue NEW: POSIX.1b
423 sigtimedwait NEW: POSIX.1b
424 sigwaitinfo NEW: POSIX.1b
426 sincosf NEW: GNU ext.
427 sincosl NEW: GNU ext.
431 strcasestr NEW: GNU ext.
432 strtoimax NEW: ISO C 9x
433 strtoumax NEW: ISO C 9x
434 strverscmp NEW: GNU ext.
435 svcauthdes_stats NEW: Secure RPC
436 svcunix_create NEW: sunrpc etx
437 svcunixfd_create NEW: sunrpc ext
438 swapcontext NEW: Unix98
439 tcgetsid NEW: Unix98 PTY
440 tdestroy NEW: GNU ext.
442 tgammaf NEW: ISO C 9x
443 tgammal NEW: ISO C 9x
450 unlockpt NEW: Unix98 PTY
452 user2netname NEW: Secure RPC
453 utmpxname NEW: Unix98
454 versionsort NEW: GNU ext.
455 versionsort64 NEW: GNU ext.
457 wcscasecmp NEW: GNU ext.
458 wcsncasecmp NEW: GNU ext.
459 wcsnlen NEW: GNU ext.
460 wcstoimax NEW: ISO C 9x
461 wcstoll NEW: ISO C 9x
462 wcstoull NEW: ISO C 9x
463 wcstoumax NEW: ISO C 9x
466 wordfree NEW: POSIX.2
467 write_profiling REMOVED
468 xdecrypt NEW: Secure RPC
469 xdr_authdes_cred NEW: Secure RPC
470 xdr_authdes_verf NEW: Secure RPC
471 xdr_cryptkeyarg NEW: Secure RPC
472 xdr_cryptkeyarg2 NEW: Secure RPC
473 xdr_cryptkeyres NEW: Secure RPC
474 xdr_getcredres NEW: Secure RPC
475 xdr_key_netstarg NEW: Secure RPC
476 xdr_key_netstres NEW: Secure RPC
477 xdr_keybuf NEW: Secure RPC
478 xdr_keystatus NEW: Secure RPC
479 xdr_netnamestr NEW: Secure RPC
480 xdr_sizeof NEW: Secure RPC
481 xdr_unixcred NEW: sunrpc ext
482 xencrypt NEW: Secure RPC
483 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
494 * inet_ntoa is thread-safe
496 * updwtmp is moved from libutil to libc
498 * rewrite of cbrt function
500 * update of timezone data
516 * fix complex problems in Berkeley DB code
522 * fixed lots of header problems (especially Linux/GNU specific)
524 * dynamic loader preserves all registers
526 * Roland McGrath provided support for handling of auxiliary objects in
527 the ELF dynamic loader.
529 * support for parallel builds is improved
533 * GNU extensions are no longer declared by default. To enable them you
534 must define the macro `_GNU_SOURCE' in your program or compile with
537 * The library has changed from using GNU ld symbol aliases to using weak
538 symbols where available. The ELF object file format supports weak
539 symbols; GNU ld also supports weak symbols in the a.out format. (There
540 is also now support for other GNU ld extensions in ELF. Use the
541 `--with-elf' option to configure to indicate you have ELF, and
542 `--with-gnu-ld' if using GNU ld.) This change resulted in the deletion
543 of many files which contained only symbol aliases, reducing the size of
544 the source and the compiled library; many other files were renamed to
545 less cryptic names previously occupied by the symbol alias files.
546 There is a new header file <elf.h> for programs which operate on
547 files in the ELF format.
549 * Converted to Autoconf version 2, so `configure' has more options.
550 Run `configure --help' to see the details.
552 * The library can now be configured to build profiling, highly-optimized
553 (but undebuggable), and/or shared libraries (ELF with GNU ld only). The
554 `--enable-profile', `--enable-omitfp', and `--enable-shared' options to
555 `configure' enable building these extra libraries. The shared library is
556 built by default when using both ELF and GNU ld. When shared libraries
557 are enabled, the new library `-ldl' is available for arbitrary run-time
558 loading of shared objects; its interface is defined in <dlfcn.h>. The
559 new header file <link.h> gives access to the internals of the run-time
560 dynamic linker, `ld.so'. The shell script `ldd' is similar to the
561 application of same name on other systems and it provides information
562 about dynamically linked binaries.
564 * The C library now provides the run-time support code for profiling
565 executables compiled with `-pg'. Programs can control the profiling code
566 through the interface in <sys/gmon.h>. The `gmon.out' files written by
567 the GNU C library can be read only by GNU `gprof' (from GNU binutils);
568 the support for this file format was contributed by David Mosberger-Tang.
570 * The math code has been replaced with a math library based on fdlibm from
571 Sun, and modified by JT Conklin and Ulrich Drepper with i387 support, by
572 Ian Taylor with `float' functions and by Ulrich Drepper with `long double'
573 functions. The math functions now reside in a separate library, so
574 programs using them will need to use `-lm' their linking commands.
576 * John C. Bowman contributed optimized ix87 assembler inline functions.
578 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed support for an `/etc/nsswitch.conf'
579 mechanism similar to that found in Solaris 2. This is now used for the
580 group, passwd, hosts, networks, services, protocols, rpc, ethers,
581 shadow, netgroup, publickey, and alias databases. The `nsswitch.conf'
582 file controls what services are used for each individual database. This
583 works by loading shared libraries with names specified in `nsswitch.conf',
584 so service modules can be changed or added at any time without even
585 relinking any program. Currently there are the file, db, and NIS based
586 NSS services available.
588 * The new functions `strtoq' and `strtouq' parse integer values from
589 strings, like `strtol' and `strtoul', but they return `long long int' and
590 `unsigned long long int' values, respectively (64-bit quantities).
592 * The new functions `strtof' and `strtold' parse floating-point values from
593 strings, like `strtod', but they return `float' and `long double' values,
594 respectively (on some machines `double' and `long double' are the same).
596 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new implementations of the floating-point
597 printing and reading code used in the `printf' family of functions and
598 `strtod', `strtof', and `strtold'. These new functions are perfectly
599 accurate, and much faster than the old ones.
601 * The implementation of the POSIX locale model was completely rewritten by
602 Ulrich Drepper. This includes the new programs `localedef' and `locale'
603 to compile the POSIX locale definition.
605 * The former dummy implementations of the strcoll and strxfrm function are
606 now replaced by fully functional code contributed by Ulrich Drepper. The
607 collation information comes from the POSIX locale definitions.
609 * The new header <langinfo.h> defines an interface for accessing
610 various locale-dependent data (using the locale chosen with `setlocale').
612 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed a new suite of functions for operation on
613 wide-character and multibyte-character strings, in <wchar.h>;
614 and classification and case conversion of wide characters, in <wctype.h>.
615 These new functions are conforming to the ISO C, Amendement 1 specification.
617 * There is now a second implementation of the standard I/O library available.
618 It comes from GNU libg++ as was written by Per Bothner, heavily modified
619 by Hongjiu Lu and made thread safe by Ulrich Drepper.
621 * You can now use positional parameter specifications in format strings
622 for the `printf' and `scanf' families of functions. For example,
623 `printf ("Number %2$d, Mr %1$s\n", "Jones", 6);'' prints
624 ``Number 6, Mr Jones''. This is mainly useful when providing different
625 format strings for different languages, whose grammars may dictate
626 different orderings of the values being printed. To support this
627 feature, the interface for `register_printf_handler' has changed; see
628 the header file <printf.h> for details.
630 * The `printf' and `scanf' families of functions now understand a new
631 formatting flag for numeric conversions: the ' flag (e.g. %'d or %'f) says
632 to group numbers as indicated by the locale; for `scanf' and friends, this
633 says to accept as valid only a number with all the proper grouping
634 separators in the right places. In the default "C" locale, numbers are
635 not grouped; but locales for specific countries will define the usual
636 conventions (i.e. separate thousands with `,' in the US locale).
638 * The pgrp functions have been regularized, slightly incompatibly but much
639 less confusingly. The core functions are now `getpgid' and `setpgid',
640 which take arguments for the PID to operate on; the POSIX.1 `getpgrp' (no
641 argument) and BSD `setpgrp' (identical to `setpgid') functions are
642 provided for compatibility. There is no longer an incompatible `getpgrp'
643 with an argument declared under _BSD_SOURCE; no BSD code uses it.
645 * The new header file <fts.h> and suite of functions simplify programs that
646 operate on directory trees. This code comes from 4.4 BSD.
648 * The resolver code has been updated from the BIND 4.9.5-P1 release.
649 Parts of the code were heavily modified by Ulrich Drepper to fit in the
650 NSS scheme used in glibc.
652 * There is a new malloc debugging hook `__memalign_hook'.
654 * There are new typedefs `ushort' for `unsigned short int' and `uint' for
655 `unsigned int' in <sys/types.h>. These are for compatibility only and
656 their use is discouraged.
658 * The `-lmcheck' library to enable standard malloc debugging hooks is now
659 done differently, so that it works even without GNU ld.
661 * New function `euidaccess' checks allowed access to a file like `access',
662 but using the effective IDs instead of the real IDs.
664 * The time zone data files have been updated for the latest and greatest
665 local time conventions of the countries of the world.
667 * The new function `dirfd' extracts the file descriptor used by a DIR stream;
670 * The new functions `ecvt', `fcvt', and `gcvt' provide an obsolete interface
671 for formatting floating-point numbers. They are provided only for
672 compatibility; new programs should use `sprintf' instead. There are
673 also equivalent function for the `long double' floating-point type and
674 all functions also exist in a reentrant form.
676 * The new auxiliary library `-lutil' from 4.4 BSD contains various
677 functions for maintaining the login-record files (primarily of use to
678 system programs such as `login'), and convenient functions for
679 allocating and initializing a pseudo-terminal (pty) device.
681 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new support for System V style
682 shared memory and IPC on systems that support it.
684 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed several miscellaneous new functions found
685 in System V: The `hsearch' family of functions provide an effective
686 implementation of hash tables; `a64l' and `l64a' provide a very simple
687 binary to ASCII mapping; `drand48' and friends provide a 48-bit random
690 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new reentrant counterparts for the
691 `random' and `hsearch' families of functions; `random_r', `hsearch_r', etc.
693 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new, highly-optimized versions of several
694 string functions for the i486/Pentium family of processors.
696 * Ulrich Drepper has updated the Linux-specific code, based largely
697 on work done in Hongjiu Lu's version of GNU libc for Linux.
698 The GNU library now supports Linux versions 2.0.10 and later,
699 using the ELF object file format (i[3456]86-*-linux).
701 * Andreas Schwab has ported the C library to Linux/m68k (m68k-*-linux).
703 * David Mosberger-Tang and Richard Henderson have ported the C library
704 to Linux/Alpha (alpha-*-linux). Richard Henderson contributed the
705 dynamic linking support for ELF/Alpha.
707 * Richard Henderson contributed several Alpha optimized assembler function
708 for arithmetic and string handling.
710 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed a new set of message catalog functions to
711 support multiple languages using the <libintl.h> interface, for use with
712 his new package GNU gettext. Translation volunteers have contributed
713 catalogs of the library's messages in Spanish, German, and Korean.
715 * For compatibility with XPG4, Ulrich Drepper has contributed the `gencat'
716 program and the `catgets' function for reading the catalog files it
717 creates. (The <libintl.h> interface is preferred; we include the
718 <nl_types.h> interface using `catgets' only for source compatibility with
719 programs already written to use it.)
721 * New header file <values.h> gives SVID-compatible names for <limits.h>
724 * Various new macros, declarations, and small header files for compatibility
727 * New function `group_member' is a convenient way to check if a process has
728 a given effective group ID.
730 * When using GCC 2.7 and later, the socket functions are now declared in a
731 special way so that passing an argument of type `struct sockaddr_in *',
732 `struct sockaddr_ns *', or `struct sockaddr_un *' instead of the generic
733 `struct sockaddr *' type, does not generate a type-clash warning.
735 * New function `error' declared in header file <error.h> is a convenient
736 function for printing error messages and optionally exiting; this is the
737 canonical function used in GNU programs. The new functions `err', `warn',
738 and friends in header file <err.h> are the canonical 4.4 BSD interface for
739 doing the same thing.
741 * The <glob.h> interface has several new flags from 4.4 BSD that extend the
742 POSIX.2 `glob' function to do ~ and {...} expansion.
744 * New function `unsetenv' complements `setenv' for compatibility with 4.4 BSD.
745 `clearenv' which is used in POSIX.9 is also available.
747 * New function `getsid' returns session ID number on systems that support it.
749 * We have incorporated the 4.4 BSD `db' library (version 1.85). New header
750 files <db.h> and <mpool.h> provide a rich set of functions for several
751 types of simple databases stored in memory and in files, and <ndbm.h> is
752 an old `ndbm'-compatible interface using the `db' functions. Link with
753 `-ldb' to get these functions.
755 * New macro `strdupa' copies a string like `strdup', but uses local stack
756 space from `alloca' instead of dynamic heap space from `malloc'.
758 * New function `strnlen' is like `strlen' but searches only a given maximum
759 number of characters for the null terminator. `stpncpy', `strndup' and
760 `strndupa' are similar variants for the `stpcpy', `strdup' and `strdupa'
763 * New function `statfs' in header <sys/statfs.h>.
765 * The new <argz.h> and <envz.h> interfaces contributed by Miles Bader
766 provide convenient functions for operating on blocks of null-terminated
769 * A new suite of functions in <utmp.h> handle all the details of reading
770 and writing the utmp file.
772 * An implementation of the NIS/YP(tm) based NSS service was contributed by
775 * Paul Eggert and Ulrich Drepper modified the `strftime' function to be
776 completely POSIX compliant and also implemented the extended functionality
777 to handle alternate digit representation and alternate era date formats.
779 * Ulrich Drepper provided an implementation of the `strptime' function
780 defined in XPG4.2 which transforms a string into a `struct tm' value.
782 * Paul Eggert provided the tzselect shell script as part of the timezone
783 code. The shell script makes it easy to select the correct timezone
786 * The implementation of the malloc family of functions is completely replaced
787 by a new implementation by Doug Lea with many improvements by Wolfram Gloger.
788 The implementation uses the mmap function (if available) and it is
789 optimized for the use in multi threaded programs.
791 * Ulrich Drepper contributed a MD5 "encryption" for the crypt family of
792 functions. This new functionality is usable by specifying a special
793 salt string and it is compatible with implementation on *BSD systems.
795 * Lots of functions from the XPG4.2 standard were added by Ulrich Drepper:
796 `getsubopt' to handle second level command line options, `bsd_signal'
797 to access BSD style `signal' functionality, the obsolete `regexp' style
800 * the `lchown' function is available on system which support this
803 * The implementation of the shadow password handling function was contributed
806 * David Mosberger-Tang changed the SunRPC implementation to be 64bit safe.
808 * POSIX.1g support was added. The <sys/select.h> header is available,
809 `isfdtype' and `pselect' are implemented. Craig Metz contributed an
810 implementation of `getaddrinfo'.
814 * For cross-compilation you should now set `BUILD_CC' instead of `HOST_CC'.
816 * New header file <fstab.h> and new functions `getfsspec', `getfsent' and
817 friends, for parsing /etc/fstab. This code comes from 4.4 BSD.
819 * The new function `daemon' from 4.4 BSD is useful for server programs that
820 want to put themselves in the background.
822 * Joel Sherrill has contributed support for several standalone boards that
823 run without an operating system.
825 * `printf', `scanf' and friends now accept a `q' type modifier for long
826 long int as well as `ll'. Formats using these might be `%qu' or `%lld'.
828 * All of the code taken from BSD (notably most of the math and networking
829 routines) has been updated from the BSD 4.4-Lite release.
831 * The resolver code has been updated from the BIND-4.9.3-BETA9 release.
833 * The new functions `getdomainname' and `setdomainname' fetch or change the
834 YP/NIS domain name. These are system calls which exist on systems which
837 * The time zone data files have been updated for the latest international
840 * The SunRPC programs `portmap' and `rpcinfo' are now installed in
841 $(sbindir) (usually /usr/local/sbin) instead of $(bindir).
845 * The C library now includes support for Sun RPC, from Sun's free
846 RPCSRC-4.0 distribution. The `portmap', `rpcinfo', and `rpcgen' programs
847 are included. (There is still no support for YP.)
849 * Tom Quinn has contributed a port of the C library to SGI machines running
850 Irix 4 (mips-sgi-irix4).
852 * The new `lockf' function is a simplified interface to the locking
853 facilities of `fcntl', included for compatibility.
855 * New time functions `timegm', `timelocal', and `dysize' for compatibility.
857 * New header file <sys/timeb.h> and new function `ftime' for compatibility.
859 * New header files <poll.h> and <sys/poll.h> and new function `poll' for
862 * The error message printed by `assert' for a failed assertion now includes
863 the name of the program (if using GNU ld) and the name of the calling
864 function (with versions of GCC that support this).
866 * The `psignal' function is now declared in <signal.h>, not <stdio.h>.
868 * The library now includes the <sys/mman.h> header file and memory
869 management functions `mmap', `munmap', `mprotect', `msync', and
870 `madvise', on systems that support those facilities.
872 * The interface for `mcheck' has changed slightly: the function called to
873 abort the program when an allocation inconsistency is detected now takes
874 an argument that indicates the type of failure. The new function
875 `mprobe' lets you request a consistency check for a particular block at
876 any time (checks are normally done only when you call `free' or `realloc'
879 * It is now possible to easily cross-compile the C library, building on one
880 system a library to run on another machine and/or operating system. All
881 you need to do is set the variable `HOST_CC' in `configparms' to the
882 native compiler for programs to run on the machine you are building on (a
883 few generator programs are used on Unix systems); set `CC' to the
886 * The new function `fexecve' (only implemented on the GNU system) executes
887 a program file given a file descriptor already open on the file.
891 * Brendan Kehoe has contributed most of a port to the DEC Alpha
892 running OSF/1 (alpha-dec-osf1). He says it is 75% complete.
894 * You can set the variable `libprefix' in `configparms' to specify a prefix
895 to be prepended to installed library files; this makes it easy to install
896 the GNU C library to be linked as `-lgnuc' or whatever.
898 * The new `stpncpy' is a cross between `stpcpy' and `strncpy': It
899 copies a limited number of characters from a string, and returns the
900 address of the last character written.
902 * You no longer need to check for whether the installed `stddef.h' is
903 compatible with the GNU C library. configure now checks for you.
905 * You can now define a per-stream `fileno' function to convert the
906 stream's cookie into an integral file descriptor.
908 * ``malloc (0)'' no longer returns a null pointer. Instead, it
909 allocates zero bytes of storage, and returns a unique pointer which
910 you can pass to `realloc' or `free'. The behavior is undefined if
911 you dereference this pointer.
913 * The C library now runs on Sony NEWS m68k machines running either
914 NewsOS 3 or NewsOS 4.
916 * The new `syscall' function is a system-dependent primitive function
917 for invoking system calls. It has the canonical behavior on Unix
918 systems, including unreliable return values for some calls (such as
919 `pipe', `fork' and `getppid').
921 * The error code `EWOULDBLOCK' is now obsolete; it is always defined
922 to `EAGAIN', which is the preferred name. On systems whose kernels
923 use two distinct codes, the C library now translates EWOULDBLOCK to
924 EAGAIN in every system call function.
928 * The GNU C Library Reference Manual is now distributed with the library.
929 `make dvi' will produce a DVI file of the printed manual.
930 `make info' will produce Info files that you can read on line using C-h i
931 in Emacs or the `info' program.
932 Please send comments on the manual to bug-glibc-manual@gnu.org.
934 * The library now supports SVR4 on i386s (i386-unknown-sysv4).
936 * Brendan Kehoe has contributed a port to Sun SPARCs running Solaris 2.
938 * Jason Merrill has contributed a port to the Sequent Symmetry running
939 Dynix version 3 (i386-sequent-dynix).
941 * The library has been ported to i386s running SCO 3.2.4 (also known as SCO
942 ODT 2.0; i386-unknown-sco3.2.4) or SCO 3.2 (i386-unknown-sco3.2).
944 * New function `memory_warnings' lets you arrange to get warnings when
945 malloc is running out of memory to allocate, like Emacs gives you.
947 * The C library now contains the relocating allocator used in Emacs 19 for
948 its editing buffers. This allocator (ralloc) minimizes allocation
949 overhead and fragmentation by moving allocated regions around whenever it
950 needs to. You always refer to a ralloc'd region with a "handle" (a
951 pointer to a pointer--an object of type `void **').
953 * There is a new `printf' format: `%m' gives you the string corresponding
954 to the error code in `errno'.
956 * In `scanf' formats, you can now use `%as' or `%a[' to do the normal `%s'
957 or `%[' conversion, but instead of filling in a fixed-sized buffer you
958 pass, the `a' modifier says to fill in a `char **' you pass with a
961 * The `fnmatch' function supports the new flag bits `FNM_LEADING_DIR' and
962 `FNM_CASEFOLD'. `FNM_LEADING_DIR' lets a pattern like `foo*' match a
963 name like `foo/bar'. `FNM_CASEFOLD' says to ignore case in matching.
965 * `mkstemp' is a traditional Unix function to atomically create and open a
966 uniquely-named temporary file.
970 * The standard location for the file that says what the local timezone is
971 has changed again. It is now `/usr/local/etc/localtime' (or more
972 precisely, `${prefix}/etc/localtime') rather than `/etc/localtime'.
974 * The distribution no longer contains any files with names longer than 14
977 * `struct ttyent' has two new flag bits: TTY_TRUSTED and TTY_CONSOLE.
978 These are set by the new `trusted' and `console' keywords in `/etc/ttys'.
980 * New functions `ttyslot' and `syslog' from 4.4 BSD.
984 * The configuration process has changed quite a bit. The `configure'
985 script is now used just like the configuration scripts for other GNU
986 packages. The `sysdeps' directory hierarchy is much rearranged.
987 The file `INSTALL' explains the new scheme in detail.
989 * The header files no longer need to be processed into ANSI C and
990 traditional C versions. There is just one set of files to install, and
991 it will work with ANSI or old C compilers (including `gcc -traditional').
993 * Brendan Kehoe and Ian Lance Taylor have ported the library to the
994 MIPS DECStation running Ultrix 4.
996 * The Sun 4 startup code (crt0) can now properly load SunOS 4 shared libraries.
997 Tom Quinn contributed the initial code. The GNU C library can NOT yet be
998 made itself into a shared library.
1000 * Yet further improved support for the i386, running 4.3 BSD-like systems
1001 (such as Mach 3 with the Unix single-server), or System V.
1003 * New function `strncasecmp' to do case-insensitive string comparison
1004 with limited length.
1006 * New function `strsep' is a reentrant alternative to `strtok'.
1008 * New functions `scandir' and `alphasort' for searching directories.
1010 * New function `setenv' is a better interface to `putenv'.
1012 * Ian Lance Taylor has contributed an implementation of the SVID `ftw'
1013 function for traversing a directory tree.
1015 * The GNU obstack package is now also part of the C library.
1016 The new function `open_obstack_stream' creates a stdio stream that
1017 writes onto an obstack; `obstack_printf' and `obstack_vprintf' do
1018 formatted output directly to an obstack.
1020 * Miscellaneous new functions: reboot, nice, sigaltstack (4.4 BSD only),
1021 cfmakeraw, getusershell, getpass, swab, getttyent, seteuid, setegid.
1023 * `FNM_FILE_NAME' is another name for `FNM_PATHNAME', used with `fnmatch'.
1025 * The new functions `strfry' and `memfrob' do mysterious and wonderful
1026 things to your strings.
1028 * There are some new test programs: test-fseek, testmb, and testrand.
1030 * Some work has been done to begin porting the library to 4.4 BSD and Linux.
1031 These ports are not finished, but are a good starting place for really
1032 supporting those systems.
1034 * `/etc/localtime' is now the standard location for the file that says what
1035 the local timezone is, rather than `/usr/local/lib/zoneinfo/localtime'.
1036 This follows the general principle that `/etc' is the place for all local
1037 configuration files.
1039 * The C library header files now use `extern "C"' when used by the C++
1040 compiler, so the C library should now work with C++ code.
1042 * The header file <bstring.h> is gone. <string.h> now declares bcopy,
1043 bcmp, bzero, and ffs.
1045 * Mike Haertel (of GNU e?grep and malloc fame) has written a new sorting
1046 function which uses the `merge sort' algorithm, and is said to be
1047 significantly faster than the old GNU `qsort' function. Merge sort is
1048 now the standard `qsort' function. The new algorithm can require a lot
1049 of temporary storage; so, the old sorting function is called when the
1050 required storage is not available.
1052 * The C library now includes Michael Glad's Ultra Fast Crypt, which
1053 provides the Unix `crypt' function, plus some other entry points.
1054 Because of the United States export restriction on DES implementations,
1055 we are distributing this code separately from the rest of the C library.
1056 There is an extra distribution tar file just for crypt; it is called
1057 `glibc-VERSION-crypt.tar.Z', e.g. `glibc-1.04-crypt.tar.Z'. You can just
1058 unpack the crypt distribution along with the rest of the C library and
1059 build; you can also build the library without getting crypt. Users
1060 outside the USA can get the crypt distribution via anonymous FTP from
1061 ftp.uni-c.dk [129.142.6.74], or another archive site outside the U.S.
1063 * The code and header files taken from 4.4 BSD have been updated with the
1064 latest files released from Berkeley.
1066 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
1067 Copyright information:
1069 Copyright (C) 1992, 93, 94, 95, 96 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
1071 Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim copies
1072 of this document as received, in any medium, provided that the
1073 copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved,
1074 thus giving the recipient permission to redistribute in turn.
1076 Permission is granted to distribute modified versions
1077 of this document, or of portions of it,
1078 under the above conditions, provided also that they
1079 carry prominent notices stating who last changed them.
1082 version-control: never
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