1 GNU C Library NEWS -- history of user-visible changes. 1999-02-02
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 * 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 * about 130 new math functions were added to implement the ISO C9x math
41 * the new header <complex.h> contains definitions of the complex math
42 functions from ISO C 9X.
44 * the new header <tgmath.h> defines generic macros to use complex or
45 real valued functions.
47 * Thorsten Kukuk provided an implementation for NIS+, securelevel 0, 1 and 2.
49 * Andreas Jaeger provided a test suite for the math library.
51 * Mark Kettenis implemented the utmpx interface and an utmp daemon.
53 * Ulrich Drepper added character set conversion functions (iconv).
55 * Optimized string functions have been added.
57 * The localedata addon is now part of glibc.
59 * An implementation of profiling shared libraries was added by Ulrich Drepper.
61 * Thorsten Kukuk and Ulrich Drepper provided an implementation for a caching
62 daemon for NSS (nscd).
64 Missing a better place here are some numbers on improvements. Under
65 Linux 2.1.125 un-tar-ing the kernel sources takes
69 using local files 12.19s 6.88s 22.91s
71 using NIS 13.92s 8.91s 26.34s
73 using NIS & nscd 10.37s 7.34s 25.30s
75 using NIS+ 27.57s 30.37s 640.46s
77 using NIS+ & nscd 10.25s 7.83s 26.51s
79 using NIS & old nscd [1] 13.83s 8.32s 29.60s
81 Keep in mind that non-namelookup related operations dominate above times.
82 It was just a common complain that using NIS+ unpacking the kernel is
85 [1] The old nscd implementation is not available anymore since it was
86 distributed with glibc up to version 2.0.98 and thus is now replaced.
88 * Tim Waugh provided an implementation of the POSIX.2 wordexp function family.
90 * Mark Kettenis provided a Hesiod NSS module.
92 * The ELF dynamic loader knows how to process dynamic string tokens ($ORIGIN
93 and $PLATFORM) in RPATHs and similar strings (Ulrich Drepper).
95 * rcmd can now handle netgroups (Dick Streefland).
97 * A port to the ARM was contributed by Phil Blundell, Pat Beirne and Scott
100 * Support for the IPv6 protocol has been added to the socket API, as per the
101 latest draft standards.
103 * Support for Linux 2.2 has been added.
105 * Interface changes relative to the latest 2.0.x release:
106 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
107 addseverity NEW: Unix98
109 argp_err_exit_status NEW: argp, GNU ext
110 argp_error NEW: argp, GNU ext
111 argp_failure NEW: argp, GNU ext
112 argp_help NEW: argp, GNU ext
113 argp_parse NEW: argp, GNU ext
114 argp_program_bug_address NEW: argp, GNU ext
115 argp_program_version NEW: argp, GNU ext
116 argp_program_version_hook NEW: argp, GNU ext
117 argp_state_help NEW: argp, GNU ext
118 argp_usage NEW: argp, GNU ext
119 authdes_create NEW: Secure RPC
120 authdes_getucred NEW: Secure RPC
121 authdes_pk_create NEW: Secure RPC
122 backtrace NEW: GNU ext.
123 backtrace_symbols NEW: GNU ext.
124 backtrace_symbols_fd NEW: GNU ext.
128 cacoshf NEW: ISO C 9x
129 cacoshl NEW: ISO C 9x
139 casinhf NEW: ISO C 9x
140 casinhl NEW: ISO C 9x
145 catanhf NEW: ISO C 9x
146 catanhl NEW: ISO C 9x
148 cbc_crypt NEW: Secure RPC
161 clearerr_locked REMOVED
162 clntunix_create NEW: sunrpc ext
165 clog10f NEW: ISO C 9x
166 clog10l NEW: ISO C 9x
197 des_setparity NEW: Secure RPC
198 ecb_crypt NEW: Secure RPC
199 endutxent NEW: Unix98
211 feclearexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
212 fegetenv NEW: ISO C 9x
213 fegetexceptflag NEW: ISO C 9x
214 fegetround NEW: ISO C 9x
215 feholdexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
217 feraiseexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
218 ferror_locked REMOVED
219 fesetenv NEW: ISO C 9x
220 fesetexceptflag NEW: ISO C 9x
221 fesetround NEW: ISO C 9x
222 fetestexcept NEW: ISO C 9x
223 feupdateenv NEW: ISO C 9x
224 fflush_locked REMOVED
228 fgets_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
229 fileno_locked REMOVED
242 fputs_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
243 fread_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
254 fwrite_unlocked NEW: GNU ext.
255 gai_strerror NEW: IPv6
259 getchar_locked REMOVED
261 getdate_err NEW: Unix98
262 getdate_r NEW: GNU ext.
264 getnameinfo NEW: IPv6
265 getnetname NEW: Secure RPC
267 getpt NEW: Unix98 PTY
269 getutxent NEW: Unix98
271 getutxline NEW: Unix98
273 globfree64 NEW: GNU ext.
274 gnu_get_libc_release NEW: GNU ext.
275 gnu_get_libc_version NEW: GNU ext.
276 grantpt NEW: Unix98 PTY
277 host2netname NEW: Secure RPC
279 iconv_close NEW: iconv
280 iconv_open NEW: iconv
281 if_freenameindex NEW: IPv6
282 if_indextoname NEW: IPv6
283 if_nameindex NEW: IPv6
284 if_nametoindex NEW: IPv6
285 in6addr_any NEW: IPv6
286 in6addr_loopback NEW: IPv6
287 inet6_isipv4mapped NEW: IPv6
288 isastream NEW: STREAMS
289 iswblank NEW: GNU ext.
290 key_decryptsession NEW: Secure RPC
291 key_decryptsession_pk NEW: Secure RPC
292 key_encryptsession NEW: Secure RPC
293 key_encryptsession_pk NEW: Secure RPC
294 key_gendes NEW: Secure RPC
295 key_get_conv NEW: Secure RPC
296 key_secretkey_is_set NEW: Secure RPC
297 key_setnet NEW: Secure RPC
298 key_setsecret NEW: Secure RPC
300 llrintf NEW: ISO C 9x
301 llrintl NEW: ISO C 9x
302 llround NEW: ISO C 9x
303 llroundf NEW: ISO C 9x
304 llroundl NEW: ISO C 9x
312 lroundf NEW: ISO C 9x
313 lroundl NEW: ISO C 9x
315 makecontext NEW: Unix98
316 mempcpy NEW: GNU ext.
319 modify_ldt NEW: kernel
323 nearbyint NEW: ISO C 9x
324 nearbyintf NEW: ISO C 9x
325 nearbyintl NEW: ISO C 9x
326 netname2host NEW: Secure RPC
327 netname2user NEW: Secure RPC
328 nexttoward NEW: ISO C 9x
329 nexttowardf NEW: ISO C 9x
330 nexttowardl NEW: ISO C 9x
334 passwd2des NEW: Secure RPC
340 printf_size NEW: GNU ext.
341 printf_size_info NEW: GNU ext.
342 profil_counter REMOVED
343 pthread_mutexattr_getkind_np REPLACED
344 pthread_mutexattr_setkind_np REPLACED
345 ptsname NEW: Unix98 PTY
346 ptsname_r NEW: Unix98 PTY
348 putchar_locked REMOVED
349 putgrent NEW: GNU ext.
352 pututxline NEW: Unix98
358 remquof NEW: ISO C 9x
359 remquol NEW: ISO C 9x
364 scalbln NEW: ISO C 9x
365 scalblnf NEW: ISO C 9x
366 scalblnl NEW: ISO C 9x
369 setcontext NEW: Unix98
371 setutxent NEW: Unix98
373 sigignore NEW: Unix98
374 sigqueue NEW: POSIX.1b
377 sigtimedwait NEW: POSIX.1b
378 sigwaitinfo NEW: POSIX.1b
380 sincosf NEW: GNU ext.
381 sincosl NEW: GNU ext.
385 strcasestr NEW: GNU ext.
386 strtoimax NEW: ISO C 9x
387 strtoumax NEW: ISO C 9x
388 strverscmp NEW: GNU ext.
389 svcauthdes_stats NEW: Secure RPC
390 svcunix_create NEW: sunrpc etx
391 svcunixfd_create NEW: sunrpc ext
392 swapcontext NEW: Unix98
393 tcgetsid NEW: Unix98 PTY
394 tdestroy NEW: GNU ext.
396 tgammaf NEW: ISO C 9x
397 tgammal NEW: ISO C 9x
404 unlockpt NEW: Unix98 PTY
406 user2netname NEW: Secure RPC
407 utmpxname NEW: Unix98
408 versionsort NEW: GNU ext.
409 versionsort64 NEW: GNU ext.
411 wcscasecmp NEW: GNU ext.
412 wcsncasecmp NEW: GNU ext.
413 wcsnlen NEW: GNU ext.
414 wcstoimax NEW: ISO C 9x
415 wcstoll NEW: ISO C 9x
416 wcstoull NEW: ISO C 9x
417 wcstoumax NEW: ISO C 9x
420 wordfree NEW: POSIX.2
421 write_profiling REMOVED
422 xdecrypt NEW: Secure RPC
423 xdr_authdes_cred NEW: Secure RPC
424 xdr_authdes_verf NEW: Secure RPC
425 xdr_cryptkeyarg NEW: Secure RPC
426 xdr_cryptkeyarg2 NEW: Secure RPC
427 xdr_cryptkeyres NEW: Secure RPC
428 xdr_getcredres NEW: Secure RPC
429 xdr_key_netstarg NEW: Secure RPC
430 xdr_key_netstres NEW: Secure RPC
431 xdr_keybuf NEW: Secure RPC
432 xdr_keystatus NEW: Secure RPC
433 xdr_netnamestr NEW: Secure RPC
434 xdr_sizeof NEW: Secure RPC
435 xdr_unixcred NEW: sunrpc ext
436 xencrypt NEW: Secure RPC
437 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
448 * inet_ntoa is thread-safe
450 * updwtmp is moved from libutil to libc
452 * rewrite of cbrt function
454 * update of timezone data
470 * fix complex problems in Berkeley DB code
476 * fixed lots of header problems (especially Linux/GNU specific)
478 * dynamic loader preserves all registers
480 * Roland McGrath provided support for handling of auxiliary objects in
481 the ELF dynamic loader.
483 * support for parallel builds is improved
487 * GNU extensions are no longer declared by default. To enable them you
488 must define the macro `_GNU_SOURCE' in your program or compile with
491 * The library has changed from using GNU ld symbol aliases to using weak
492 symbols where available. The ELF object file format supports weak
493 symbols; GNU ld also supports weak symbols in the a.out format. (There
494 is also now support for other GNU ld extensions in ELF. Use the
495 `--with-elf' option to configure to indicate you have ELF, and
496 `--with-gnu-ld' if using GNU ld.) This change resulted in the deletion
497 of many files which contained only symbol aliases, reducing the size of
498 the source and the compiled library; many other files were renamed to
499 less cryptic names previously occupied by the symbol alias files.
500 There is a new header file <elf.h> for programs which operate on
501 files in the ELF format.
503 * Converted to Autoconf version 2, so `configure' has more options.
504 Run `configure --help' to see the details.
506 * The library can now be configured to build profiling, highly-optimized
507 (but undebuggable), and/or shared libraries (ELF with GNU ld only). The
508 `--enable-profile', `--enable-omitfp', and `--enable-shared' options to
509 `configure' enable building these extra libraries. The shared library is
510 built by default when using both ELF and GNU ld. When shared libraries
511 are enabled, the new library `-ldl' is available for arbitrary run-time
512 loading of shared objects; its interface is defined in <dlfcn.h>. The
513 new header file <link.h> gives access to the internals of the run-time
514 dynamic linker, `ld.so'. The shell script `ldd' is similar to the
515 application of same name on other systems and it provides information
516 about dynamically linked binaries.
518 * The C library now provides the run-time support code for profiling
519 executables compiled with `-pg'. Programs can control the profiling code
520 through the interface in <sys/gmon.h>. The `gmon.out' files written by
521 the GNU C library can be read only by GNU `gprof' (from GNU binutils);
522 the support for this file format was contributed by David Mosberger-Tang.
524 * The math code has been replaced with a math library based on fdlibm from
525 Sun, and modified by JT Conklin and Ulrich Drepper with i387 support, by
526 Ian Taylor with `float' functions and by Ulrich Drepper with `long double'
527 functions. The math functions now reside in a separate library, so
528 programs using them will need to use `-lm' their linking commands.
530 * John C. Bowman contributed optimized ix87 assembler inline functions.
532 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed support for an `/etc/nsswitch.conf'
533 mechanism similar to that found in Solaris 2. This is now used for the
534 group, passwd, hosts, networks, services, protocols, rpc, ethers,
535 shadow, netgroup, publickey, and alias databases. The `nsswitch.conf'
536 file controls what services are used for each individual database. This
537 works by loading shared libraries with names specified in `nsswitch.conf',
538 so service modules can be changed or added at any time without even
539 relinking any program. Currently there are the file, db, and NIS based
540 NSS services available.
542 * The new functions `strtoq' and `strtouq' parse integer values from
543 strings, like `strtol' and `strtoul', but they return `long long int' and
544 `unsigned long long int' values, respectively (64-bit quantities).
546 * The new functions `strtof' and `strtold' parse floating-point values from
547 strings, like `strtod', but they return `float' and `long double' values,
548 respectively (on some machines `double' and `long double' are the same).
550 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new implementations of the floating-point
551 printing and reading code used in the `printf' family of functions and
552 `strtod', `strtof', and `strtold'. These new functions are perfectly
553 accurate, and much faster than the old ones.
555 * The implementation of the POSIX locale model was completely rewritten by
556 Ulrich Drepper. This includes the new programs `localedef' and `locale'
557 to compile the POSIX locale definition.
559 * The former dummy implementations of the strcoll and strxfrm function are
560 now replaced by fully functional code contributed by Ulrich Drepper. The
561 collation information comes from the POSIX locale definitions.
563 * The new header <langinfo.h> defines an interface for accessing
564 various locale-dependent data (using the locale chosen with `setlocale').
566 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed a new suite of functions for operation on
567 wide-character and multibyte-character strings, in <wchar.h>;
568 and classification and case conversion of wide characters, in <wctype.h>.
569 These new functions are conforming to the ISO C, Amendement 1 specification.
571 * There is now a second implementation of the standard I/O library available.
572 It comes from GNU libg++ as was written by Per Bothner, heavily modified
573 by Hongjiu Lu and made thread safe by Ulrich Drepper.
575 * You can now use positional parameter specifications in format strings
576 for the `printf' and `scanf' families of functions. For example,
577 `printf ("Number %2$d, Mr %1$s\n", "Jones", 6);'' prints
578 ``Number 6, Mr Jones''. This is mainly useful when providing different
579 format strings for different languages, whose grammars may dictate
580 different orderings of the values being printed. To support this
581 feature, the interface for `register_printf_handler' has changed; see
582 the header file <printf.h> for details.
584 * The `printf' and `scanf' families of functions now understand a new
585 formatting flag for numeric conversions: the ' flag (e.g. %'d or %'f) says
586 to group numbers as indicated by the locale; for `scanf' and friends, this
587 says to accept as valid only a number with all the proper grouping
588 separators in the right places. In the default "C" locale, numbers are
589 not grouped; but locales for specific countries will define the usual
590 conventions (i.e. separate thousands with `,' in the US locale).
592 * The pgrp functions have been regularized, slightly incompatibly but much
593 less confusingly. The core functions are now `getpgid' and `setpgid',
594 which take arguments for the PID to operate on; the POSIX.1 `getpgrp' (no
595 argument) and BSD `setpgrp' (identical to `setpgid') functions are
596 provided for compatibility. There is no longer an incompatible `getpgrp'
597 with an argument declared under _BSD_SOURCE; no BSD code uses it.
599 * The new header file <fts.h> and suite of functions simplify programs that
600 operate on directory trees. This code comes from 4.4 BSD.
602 * The resolver code has been updated from the BIND 4.9.5-P1 release.
603 Parts of the code were heavily modified by Ulrich Drepper to fit in the
604 NSS scheme used in glibc.
606 * There is a new malloc debugging hook `__memalign_hook'.
608 * There are new typedefs `ushort' for `unsigned short int' and `uint' for
609 `unsigned int' in <sys/types.h>. These are for compatibility only and
610 their use is discouraged.
612 * The `-lmcheck' library to enable standard malloc debugging hooks is now
613 done differently, so that it works even without GNU ld.
615 * New function `euidaccess' checks allowed access to a file like `access',
616 but using the effective IDs instead of the real IDs.
618 * The time zone data files have been updated for the latest and greatest
619 local time conventions of the countries of the world.
621 * The new function `dirfd' extracts the file descriptor used by a DIR stream;
624 * The new functions `ecvt', `fcvt', and `gcvt' provide an obsolete interface
625 for formatting floating-point numbers. They are provided only for
626 compatibility; new programs should use `sprintf' instead. There are
627 also equivalent function for the `long double' floating-point type and
628 all functions also exist in a reentrant form.
630 * The new auxiliary library `-lutil' from 4.4 BSD contains various
631 functions for maintaining the login-record files (primarily of use to
632 system programs such as `login'), and convenient functions for
633 allocating and initializing a pseudo-terminal (pty) device.
635 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new support for System V style
636 shared memory and IPC on systems that support it.
638 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed several miscellaneous new functions found
639 in System V: The `hsearch' family of functions provide an effective
640 implementation of hash tables; `a64l' and `l64a' provide a very simple
641 binary to ASCII mapping; `drand48' and friends provide a 48-bit random
644 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new reentrant counterparts for the
645 `random' and `hsearch' families of functions; `random_r', `hsearch_r', etc.
647 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed new, highly-optimized versions of several
648 string functions for the i486/Pentium family of processors.
650 * Ulrich Drepper has updated the Linux-specific code, based largely
651 on work done in Hongjiu Lu's version of GNU libc for Linux.
652 The GNU library now supports Linux versions 2.0.10 and later,
653 using the ELF object file format (i[3456]86-*-linux).
655 * Andreas Schwab has ported the C library to Linux/m68k (m68k-*-linux).
657 * David Mosberger-Tang and Richard Henderson have ported the C library
658 to Linux/Alpha (alpha-*-linux). Richard Henderson contributed the
659 dynamic linking support for ELF/Alpha.
661 * Richard Henderson contributed several Alpha optimized assembler function
662 for arithmetic and string handling.
664 * Ulrich Drepper has contributed a new set of message catalog functions to
665 support multiple languages using the <libintl.h> interface, for use with
666 his new package GNU gettext. Translation volunteers have contributed
667 catalogs of the library's messages in Spanish, German, and Korean.
669 * For compatibility with XPG4, Ulrich Drepper has contributed the `gencat'
670 program and the `catgets' function for reading the catalog files it
671 creates. (The <libintl.h> interface is preferred; we include the
672 <nl_types.h> interface using `catgets' only for source compatibility with
673 programs already written to use it.)
675 * New header file <values.h> gives SVID-compatible names for <limits.h>
678 * Various new macros, declarations, and small header files for compatibility
681 * New function `group_member' is a convenient way to check if a process has
682 a given effective group ID.
684 * When using GCC 2.7 and later, the socket functions are now declared in a
685 special way so that passing an argument of type `struct sockaddr_in *',
686 `struct sockaddr_ns *', or `struct sockaddr_un *' instead of the generic
687 `struct sockaddr *' type, does not generate a type-clash warning.
689 * New function `error' declared in header file <error.h> is a convenient
690 function for printing error messages and optionally exiting; this is the
691 canonical function used in GNU programs. The new functions `err', `warn',
692 and friends in header file <err.h> are the canonical 4.4 BSD interface for
693 doing the same thing.
695 * The <glob.h> interface has several new flags from 4.4 BSD that extend the
696 POSIX.2 `glob' function to do ~ and {...} expansion.
698 * New function `unsetenv' complements `setenv' for compatibility with 4.4 BSD.
699 `clearenv' which is used in POSIX.9 is also available.
701 * New function `getsid' returns session ID number on systems that support it.
703 * We have incorporated the 4.4 BSD `db' library (version 1.85). New header
704 files <db.h> and <mpool.h> provide a rich set of functions for several
705 types of simple databases stored in memory and in files, and <ndbm.h> is
706 an old `ndbm'-compatible interface using the `db' functions. Link with
707 `-ldb' to get these functions.
709 * New macro `strdupa' copies a string like `strdup', but uses local stack
710 space from `alloca' instead of dynamic heap space from `malloc'.
712 * New function `strnlen' is like `strlen' but searches only a given maximum
713 number of characters for the null terminator. `stpncpy', `strndup' and
714 `strndupa' are similar variants for the `stpcpy', `strdup' and `strdupa'
717 * New function `statfs' in header <sys/statfs.h>.
719 * The new <argz.h> and <envz.h> interfaces contributed by Miles Bader
720 provide convenient functions for operating on blocks of null-terminated
723 * A new suite of functions in <utmp.h> handle all the details of reading
724 and writing the utmp file.
726 * An implementation of the NIS/YP(tm) based NSS service was contributed by
729 * Paul Eggert and Ulrich Drepper modified the `strftime' function to be
730 completely POSIX compliant and also implemented the extended functionality
731 to handle alternate digit representation and alternate era date formats.
733 * Ulrich Drepper provided an implementation of the `strptime' function
734 defined in XPG4.2 which transforms a string into a `struct tm' value.
736 * Paul Eggert provided the tzselect shell script as part of the timezone
737 code. The shell script makes it easy to select the correct timezone
740 * The implementation of the malloc family of functions is completely replaced
741 by a new implementation by Doug Lea with many improvements by Wolfram Gloger.
742 The implementation uses the mmap function (if available) and it is
743 optimized for the use in multi threaded programs.
745 * Ulrich Drepper contributed a MD5 "encryption" for the crypt family of
746 functions. This new functionality is usable by specifying a special
747 salt string and it is compatible with implementation on *BSD systems.
749 * Lots of functions from the XPG4.2 standard were added by Ulrich Drepper:
750 `getsubopt' to handle second level command line options, `bsd_signal'
751 to access BSD style `signal' functionality, the obsolete `regexp' style
754 * the `lchown' function is available on system which support this
757 * The implementation of the shadow password handling function was contributed
760 * David Mosberger-Tang changed the SunRPC implementation to be 64bit safe.
762 * POSIX.1g support was added. The <sys/select.h> header is available,
763 `isfdtype' and `pselect' are implemented. Craig Metz contributed an
764 implementation of `getaddrinfo'.
768 * For cross-compilation you should now set `BUILD_CC' instead of `HOST_CC'.
770 * New header file <fstab.h> and new functions `getfsspec', `getfsent' and
771 friends, for parsing /etc/fstab. This code comes from 4.4 BSD.
773 * The new function `daemon' from 4.4 BSD is useful for server programs that
774 want to put themselves in the background.
776 * Joel Sherrill has contributed support for several standalone boards that
777 run without an operating system.
779 * `printf', `scanf' and friends now accept a `q' type modifier for long
780 long int as well as `ll'. Formats using these might be `%qu' or `%lld'.
782 * All of the code taken from BSD (notably most of the math and networking
783 routines) has been updated from the BSD 4.4-Lite release.
785 * The resolver code has been updated from the BIND-4.9.3-BETA9 release.
787 * The new functions `getdomainname' and `setdomainname' fetch or change the
788 YP/NIS domain name. These are system calls which exist on systems which
791 * The time zone data files have been updated for the latest international
794 * The SunRPC programs `portmap' and `rpcinfo' are now installed in
795 $(sbindir) (usually /usr/local/sbin) instead of $(bindir).
799 * The C library now includes support for Sun RPC, from Sun's free
800 RPCSRC-4.0 distribution. The `portmap', `rpcinfo', and `rpcgen' programs
801 are included. (There is still no support for YP.)
803 * Tom Quinn has contributed a port of the C library to SGI machines running
804 Irix 4 (mips-sgi-irix4).
806 * The new `lockf' function is a simplified interface to the locking
807 facilities of `fcntl', included for compatibility.
809 * New time functions `timegm', `timelocal', and `dysize' for compatibility.
811 * New header file <sys/timeb.h> and new function `ftime' for compatibility.
813 * New header files <poll.h> and <sys/poll.h> and new function `poll' for
816 * The error message printed by `assert' for a failed assertion now includes
817 the name of the program (if using GNU ld) and the name of the calling
818 function (with versions of GCC that support this).
820 * The `psignal' function is now declared in <signal.h>, not <stdio.h>.
822 * The library now includes the <sys/mman.h> header file and memory
823 management functions `mmap', `munmap', `mprotect', `msync', and
824 `madvise', on systems that support those facilities.
826 * The interface for `mcheck' has changed slightly: the function called to
827 abort the program when an allocation inconsistency is detected now takes
828 an argument that indicates the type of failure. The new function
829 `mprobe' lets you request a consistency check for a particular block at
830 any time (checks are normally done only when you call `free' or `realloc'
833 * It is now possible to easily cross-compile the C library, building on one
834 system a library to run on another machine and/or operating system. All
835 you need to do is set the variable `HOST_CC' in `configparms' to the
836 native compiler for programs to run on the machine you are building on (a
837 few generator programs are used on Unix systems); set `CC' to the
840 * The new function `fexecve' (only implemented on the GNU system) executes
841 a program file given a file descriptor already open on the file.
845 * Brendan Kehoe has contributed most of a port to the DEC Alpha
846 running OSF/1 (alpha-dec-osf1). He says it is 75% complete.
848 * You can set the variable `libprefix' in `configparms' to specify a prefix
849 to be prepended to installed library files; this makes it easy to install
850 the GNU C library to be linked as `-lgnuc' or whatever.
852 * The new `stpncpy' is a cross between `stpcpy' and `strncpy': It
853 copies a limited number of characters from a string, and returns the
854 address of the last character written.
856 * You no longer need to check for whether the installed `stddef.h' is
857 compatible with the GNU C library. configure now checks for you.
859 * You can now define a per-stream `fileno' function to convert the
860 stream's cookie into an integral file descriptor.
862 * ``malloc (0)'' no longer returns a null pointer. Instead, it
863 allocates zero bytes of storage, and returns a unique pointer which
864 you can pass to `realloc' or `free'. The behavior is undefined if
865 you dereference this pointer.
867 * The C library now runs on Sony NEWS m68k machines running either
868 NewsOS 3 or NewsOS 4.
870 * The new `syscall' function is a system-dependent primitive function
871 for invoking system calls. It has the canonical behavior on Unix
872 systems, including unreliable return values for some calls (such as
873 `pipe', `fork' and `getppid').
875 * The error code `EWOULDBLOCK' is now obsolete; it is always defined
876 to `EAGAIN', which is the preferred name. On systems whose kernels
877 use two distinct codes, the C library now translates EWOULDBLOCK to
878 EAGAIN in every system call function.
882 * The GNU C Library Reference Manual is now distributed with the library.
883 `make dvi' will produce a DVI file of the printed manual.
884 `make info' will produce Info files that you can read on line using C-h i
885 in Emacs or the `info' program.
886 Please send comments on the manual to bug-glibc-manual@gnu.org.
888 * The library now supports SVR4 on i386s (i386-unknown-sysv4).
890 * Brendan Kehoe has contributed a port to Sun SPARCs running Solaris 2.
892 * Jason Merrill has contributed a port to the Sequent Symmetry running
893 Dynix version 3 (i386-sequent-dynix).
895 * The library has been ported to i386s running SCO 3.2.4 (also known as SCO
896 ODT 2.0; i386-unknown-sco3.2.4) or SCO 3.2 (i386-unknown-sco3.2).
898 * New function `memory_warnings' lets you arrange to get warnings when
899 malloc is running out of memory to allocate, like Emacs gives you.
901 * The C library now contains the relocating allocator used in Emacs 19 for
902 its editing buffers. This allocator (ralloc) minimizes allocation
903 overhead and fragmentation by moving allocated regions around whenever it
904 needs to. You always refer to a ralloc'd region with a "handle" (a
905 pointer to a pointer--an object of type `void **').
907 * There is a new `printf' format: `%m' gives you the string corresponding
908 to the error code in `errno'.
910 * In `scanf' formats, you can now use `%as' or `%a[' to do the normal `%s'
911 or `%[' conversion, but instead of filling in a fixed-sized buffer you
912 pass, the `a' modifier says to fill in a `char **' you pass with a
915 * The `fnmatch' function supports the new flag bits `FNM_LEADING_DIR' and
916 `FNM_CASEFOLD'. `FNM_LEADING_DIR' lets a pattern like `foo*' match a
917 name like `foo/bar'. `FNM_CASEFOLD' says to ignore case in matching.
919 * `mkstemp' is a traditional Unix function to atomically create and open a
920 uniquely-named temporary file.
924 * The standard location for the file that says what the local timezone is
925 has changed again. It is now `/usr/local/etc/localtime' (or more
926 precisely, `${prefix}/etc/localtime') rather than `/etc/localtime'.
928 * The distribution no longer contains any files with names longer than 14
931 * `struct ttyent' has two new flag bits: TTY_TRUSTED and TTY_CONSOLE.
932 These are set by the new `trusted' and `console' keywords in `/etc/ttys'.
934 * New functions `ttyslot' and `syslog' from 4.4 BSD.
938 * The configuration process has changed quite a bit. The `configure'
939 script is now used just like the configuration scripts for other GNU
940 packages. The `sysdeps' directory hierarchy is much rearranged.
941 The file `INSTALL' explains the new scheme in detail.
943 * The header files no longer need to be processed into ANSI C and
944 traditional C versions. There is just one set of files to install, and
945 it will work with ANSI or old C compilers (including `gcc -traditional').
947 * Brendan Kehoe and Ian Lance Taylor have ported the library to the
948 MIPS DECStation running Ultrix 4.
950 * The Sun 4 startup code (crt0) can now properly load SunOS 4 shared libraries.
951 Tom Quinn contributed the initial code. The GNU C library can NOT yet be
952 made itself into a shared library.
954 * Yet further improved support for the i386, running 4.3 BSD-like systems
955 (such as Mach 3 with the Unix single-server), or System V.
957 * New function `strncasecmp' to do case-insensitive string comparison
960 * New function `strsep' is a reentrant alternative to `strtok'.
962 * New functions `scandir' and `alphasort' for searching directories.
964 * New function `setenv' is a better interface to `putenv'.
966 * Ian Lance Taylor has contributed an implementation of the SVID `ftw'
967 function for traversing a directory tree.
969 * The GNU obstack package is now also part of the C library.
970 The new function `open_obstack_stream' creates a stdio stream that
971 writes onto an obstack; `obstack_printf' and `obstack_vprintf' do
972 formatted output directly to an obstack.
974 * Miscellaneous new functions: reboot, nice, sigaltstack (4.4 BSD only),
975 cfmakeraw, getusershell, getpass, swab, getttyent, seteuid, setegid.
977 * `FNM_FILE_NAME' is another name for `FNM_PATHNAME', used with `fnmatch'.
979 * The new functions `strfry' and `memfrob' do mysterious and wonderful
980 things to your strings.
982 * There are some new test programs: test-fseek, testmb, and testrand.
984 * Some work has been done to begin porting the library to 4.4 BSD and Linux.
985 These ports are not finished, but are a good starting place for really
986 supporting those systems.
988 * `/etc/localtime' is now the standard location for the file that says what
989 the local timezone is, rather than `/usr/local/lib/zoneinfo/localtime'.
990 This follows the general principle that `/etc' is the place for all local
993 * The C library header files now use `extern "C"' when used by the C++
994 compiler, so the C library should now work with C++ code.
996 * The header file <bstring.h> is gone. <string.h> now declares bcopy,
997 bcmp, bzero, and ffs.
999 * Mike Haertel (of GNU e?grep and malloc fame) has written a new sorting
1000 function which uses the `merge sort' algorithm, and is said to be
1001 significantly faster than the old GNU `qsort' function. Merge sort is
1002 now the standard `qsort' function. The new algorithm can require a lot
1003 of temporary storage; so, the old sorting function is called when the
1004 required storage is not available.
1006 * The C library now includes Michael Glad's Ultra Fast Crypt, which
1007 provides the Unix `crypt' function, plus some other entry points.
1008 Because of the United States export restriction on DES implementations,
1009 we are distributing this code separately from the rest of the C library.
1010 There is an extra distribution tar file just for crypt; it is called
1011 `glibc-VERSION-crypt.tar.Z', e.g. `glibc-1.04-crypt.tar.Z'. You can just
1012 unpack the crypt distribution along with the rest of the C library and
1013 build; you can also build the library without getting crypt. Users
1014 outside the USA can get the crypt distribution via anonymous FTP from
1015 ftp.uni-c.dk [129.142.6.74], or another archive site outside the U.S.
1017 * The code and header files taken from 4.4 BSD have been updated with the
1018 latest files released from Berkeley.
1020 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
1021 Copyright information:
1023 Copyright (C) 1992, 93, 94, 95, 96 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
1025 Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim copies
1026 of this document as received, in any medium, provided that the
1027 copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved,
1028 thus giving the recipient permission to redistribute in turn.
1030 Permission is granted to distribute modified versions
1031 of this document, or of portions of it,
1032 under the above conditions, provided also that they
1033 carry prominent notices stating who last changed them.
1036 version-control: never
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