1 @c This is for making the `INSTALL' file for the distribution.
2 @c Makeinfo ignores it when processing the file from the include.
5 @node Installation, Maintenance, Library Summary, Top
6 @c %MENU% How to install the GNU C library
7 @appendix Installing the GNU C Library
9 Before you do anything else, you should read the file @file{FAQ} found
10 at the top level of the source tree. This file answers common questions
11 and describes problems you may experience with compilation and
12 installation. It is updated more frequently than this manual.
14 Features can be added to GNU Libc via @dfn{add-on} bundles. These are
15 separate tarfiles which you unpack into the top level of the source
16 tree. Then you give @code{configure} the @samp{--enable-add-ons} option
17 to activate them, and they will be compiled into the library. As of the
18 2.1 release, two important components of glibc are distributed as
19 ``official'' add-ons. Unless you are doing an unusual installation, you
22 Support for POSIX threads is maintained by someone else, so it's in a
23 separate package. It is only available for Linux systems, but this will
24 change in the future. Get it from the same place you got the main
25 bundle; the file is @file{glibc-linuxthreads-@var{VERSION}.tar.gz}.
26 Support for the @code{crypt} function is distributed separately because
27 of United States export restrictions. If you are outside the US or
28 Canada, you must get @code{crypt} support from a site outside the US,
29 such as @samp{ftp.gwdg.de}. @samp{ftp.gwdg.de} has the crypt
30 distribution in @code{pub/linux/glibc}.
31 @c Check this please someone:
32 (Most non-US mirrors of @samp{ftp.gnu.org} will have it too.) The file
33 you need is @file{glibc-crypt-@var{VERSION}.tar.gz}.
35 You will need recent versions of several GNU tools: definitely GCC and
36 GNU Make, and possibly others. @xref{Tools for Compilation}, below.
39 * Configuring and compiling:: How to compile and test GNU libc.
40 * Running make install:: How to install it once you've got it compiled.
41 * Tools for Compilation:: You'll need these first.
42 * Supported Configurations:: What it runs on, what it doesn't.
43 * Linux:: Specific advice for Linux systems.
44 * Reporting Bugs:: So they'll get fixed.
47 @node Configuring and compiling
48 @appendixsec Configuring and compiling GNU Libc
52 GNU Libc can be compiled in the source directory but we strongly advise to
53 build in a separate build directory. For example, if you have unpacked
54 the glibc sources in @file{/src/gnu/glibc-2.1.0}, create a directory
55 @file{/src/gnu/glibc-build} to put the object files in. This allows to
56 remove the whole build directory in case an error occurs which is the
57 safest way to get a clean way and should always be done.
59 From your object directory, run the shell script @file{configure} found
60 at the top level of the source tree. In the scenario above, you'd type
63 $ ../glibc-2.1.0/configure @var{args...}
66 Please note that even if you're building in a separate build directory,
67 the compiliation needs to modify a few files in the source
68 directory, especially some files in the manual subdirectory.
71 @code{configure} takes many options, but you can get away with knowing
72 only two: @samp{--prefix} and @samp{--enable-add-ons}. The
73 @code{--prefix} option tells configure where you want glibc installed.
74 This defaults to @file{/usr/local}. The @samp{--enable-add-ons} option
75 tells configure to use all the add-on bundles it finds in the source
76 directory. Since important functionality is provided in add-ons, you
77 should always give this option.
79 It may also be useful to set the @var{CC} and @var{CFLAGS} variables in
80 the environment when running @code{configure}. @var{CC} selects the C
81 compiler that will be used, and @var{CFLAGS} sets optimization options
84 Here are all the useful options known by @code{configure}:
87 @item --prefix=@var{directory}
88 Install machine-independent data files in subdirectories of
89 @file{@var{directory}}. The default is to install in @file{/usr/local}.
91 @item --exec-prefix=@var{directory}
92 Install the library and other machine-dependent files in subdirectories
93 of @file{@var{directory}}. The default is to the @samp{--prefix}
94 directory if that option is given, or @file{/usr/local} otherwise.
96 @item --with-headers=@var{directory}
97 Look for kernel header files in @var{directory}, not
98 @file{/usr/include}. Glibc needs information from the kernel's private
99 header files. It will normally look in @file{/usr/include} for them,
100 but if you give this option, it will look in @var{DIRECTORY} instead.
102 This option is primarily of use on a system where the headers in
103 @file{/usr/include} come from an older version of glibc. Conflicts can
104 occasionally happen in this case. Note that Linux libc5 qualifies as an
105 older version of glibc. You can also use this option if you want to
106 compile glibc with a newer set of kernel headers than the ones found in
109 @item --enable-add-ons[=@var{list}]
110 Enable add-on packages in your source tree. If this option is given
111 with no list, it enables all the add-on packages it finds. If you do
112 not wish to use some add-on package that you have present in your source
113 tree, give this option a list of the add-ons that you @emph{do} want
114 used, like this: @samp{--enable-add-ons=crypt,linuxthreads}
116 @item --with-binutils=@var{directory}
117 Use the binutils (assembler and linker) in @file{@var{directory}}, not
118 the ones the C compiler would default to. You could use this option if
119 the default binutils on your system cannot deal with all the constructs
120 in the GNU C library. (@code{configure} will detect the problem and
121 suppress these constructs, so the library will still be usable, but
122 functionality may be lost---for example, you can not build a shared libc
126 Use this option if your computer lacks hardware floating-point support
127 and your operating system does not emulate an FPU.
129 @c disable static doesn't work currently
130 @c @item --disable-static
131 @c Don't build static libraries. Static libraries aren't that useful these
132 @c days, but we recommend you build them in case you need them.
134 @item --disable-shared
135 Don't build shared libraries even if we could. Not all systems support
136 shared libraries; you need ELF support and (currently) the GNU linker.
138 @item --disable-profile
139 Don't build libraries with profiling information. You may want to use
140 this option if you don't plan to do profiling.
142 @item --enable-omitfp
143 Use maximum optimization for the normal (static and shared)
144 libraries, and compile separate static libraries with debugging
145 information and no optimisation. We recommend against this. The extra
146 optimization doesn't gain you much, it may provoke compiler bugs, and
147 you won't be able to trace bugs through the C library.
149 @item --disable-versioning
150 Don't compile the shared libraries with symbol version information.
151 Doing this will make the library that's built incompatible with old
152 binaries, so it's not recommended.
154 @item --enable-static-nss
155 Compile static versions of the NSS (Name Service Switch) libraries.
156 This is not recommended because it defeats the purpose of NSS; a program
157 linked statically with the NSS libraries cannot be dynamically
158 reconfigured to use a different name database.
160 @item --build=@var{build-system}
161 @itemx --host=@var{host-system}
162 These options are for cross-compiling. If you give them both and
163 @var{build-system} is different from @var{host-system}, @code{configure}
164 will prepare to cross-compile glibc from @var{build-system} to be used
165 on @var{host-system}. You'll probably need the @samp{--with-headers}
166 option too, and you may have to override @var{configure}'s selection of
167 the compiler and/or binutils.
169 If you give just @samp{--host}, configure will prepare for a native
170 compile but use what you say instead of guessing what your system is.
171 This is most useful to change the CPU submodel. For example, if
172 configure guesses your machine as @code{i586-pc-linux-gnu} but you want
173 to compile a library for 386es, give @samp{--host=i386-pc-linux-gnu} or
174 just @samp{--host=i386-linux} and add the appropriate compiler flags
175 (@samp{-mcpu=i386} will do the trick) to @var{CFLAGS}.
177 If you give just @samp{--build}, configure will get confused.
180 To build the library and related programs, type @code{make}. This will
181 produce a lot of output, some of which may look like errors from
182 @code{make} but isn't. Look for error messages from @code{make}
183 containing @samp{***}. Those indicate that something is really wrong.
185 The compilation process takes several hours even on fast hardware.
186 Expect at least two hours for the default configuration on i586 for
187 Linux. For Hurd times are much longer. Except for EGCS 1.1 (and later
188 versions of EGCS), all supported versions of GCC have a problem which
189 causes them to take several minutes to compile certain files in the
190 iconvdata directory. Do not panic if the compiler appears to hang.
192 If you want to run a parallel make, you can't just give @code{make} the
193 @samp{-j} option, because it won't be passed down to the sub-makes.
194 Instead, edit the generated @file{Makefile} and uncomment the line
197 # PARALLELMFLAGS = -j 4
201 You can change the @samp{4} to some other number as appropriate for
202 your system. Instead of changing the @file{Makefile}, you could give
203 this option directly to @code{make} and call it as, e.g.
204 @code{make PARALLELMFLAGS=-j4}. If you're building in the source
205 directory, you've got to use the latter approach since in this case no
206 new @file{Makefile} is generated which you can change.
208 To build and run some test programs which exercise some of the library
209 facilities, type @code{make check}. This should complete successfully;
210 if it doesn't, do not use the built library, and report a bug.
211 @xref{Reporting Bugs}, for how to do that. Note that some of the tests
212 assume they are not being run by @code{root}. We recommend you compile
213 and test glibc as an unprivileged user.
215 To format the @cite{GNU C Library Reference Manual} for printing, type
216 @w{@code{make dvi}}. You need a working @TeX{} installation to do this.
217 The distribution already includes the on-line formatted version of the
218 manual, as Info files. You can regenerate those with @w{@code{make
219 info}}, but it shouldn't be necessary.
221 @node Running make install
222 @appendixsec Installing the C Library
225 To install the library and its header files, and the Info files of the
226 manual, type @code{make install}. This will build things if necessary,
227 before installing them. Don't rely on that; compile everything first.
228 If you are installing glibc as your primary C library, we recommend you
229 shut the system down to single-user mode first, and reboot afterward.
230 This minimizes the risk of breaking things when the library changes out
233 If you are upgrading from a previous installation of glibc 2.0 or 2.1,
234 @samp{make install} will do the entire job. If you're upgrading from
235 Linux libc5 or some other C library, you need to rename the old
236 @file{/usr/include} directory out of the way before running @samp{make
237 install}, or you will end up with a mixture of header files from both
238 libraries, and you won't be able to compile anything. You may also need
239 to reconfigure GCC to work with the new library. The easiest way to do
240 that is to figure out the compiler switches to make it work again
241 (@samp{-Wl,--dynamic-linker=/lib/ld-linux.so.2} should work on Linux
242 systems) and use them to recompile gcc. You can also edit the specs
243 file (@file{/usr/lib/gcc-lib/@var{TARGET}/@var{VERSION}/specs}), but
244 that is a bit of a black art.
246 You can install glibc somewhere other than where you configured it to go
247 by setting the @code{install_root} variable on the command line for
248 @samp{make install}. The value of this variable is prepended to all the
249 paths for installation. This is useful when setting up a chroot
250 environment or preparing a binary distribution.
252 Glibc 2.1 includes two daemons, @code{nscd} and @code{utmpd}, which you
253 may or may not want to run. @code{nscd} caches name service lookups; it
254 can dramatically improve performance with NIS+, and may help with DNS as
255 well. @code{utmpd} allows programs that use the old format for the
256 @file{utmp} file to coexist with new programs. For more information see
257 the file @file{login/README.utmpd}.
259 One auxiliary program, @file{/usr/libexec/pt_chown}, is installed setuid
260 @code{root}. This program is invoked by the @code{grantpt} function; it
261 sets the permissions on a pseudoterminal so it can be used by the
262 calling process. This means programs like @code{xterm} and
263 @code{screen} do not have to be setuid to get a pty. (There may be
264 other reasons why they need privileges.) If you are using a 2.1 or
265 newer Linux kernel with the @code{devptsfs} or @code{devfs} filesystems
266 providing pty slaves, you don't need this program; otherwise you do.
267 The source for @file{pt_chown} is in @file{login/programs/pt_chown.c}.
269 @node Tools for Compilation
270 @appendixsec Recommended Tools for Compilation
271 @cindex installation tools
272 @cindex tools, for installing library
274 We recommend installing the following GNU tools before attempting to
275 build the GNU C library:
281 You need the latest version of GNU @code{make}. Modifying the GNU C
282 Library to work with other @code{make} programs would be so hard that we
283 recommend you port GNU @code{make} instead. @strong{Really.} We
284 recommend version GNU @code{make} version 3.75 or 3.77. All earlier
285 versions have severe bugs or lack features. Version 3.76 is known to
286 have bugs which only show up in big projects like GNU @code{libc}.
287 Version 3.76.1 seems OK but some people have reported problems.
290 EGCS 1.1.1, 1.1 or 1.0.3, or GCC 2.8.1
292 The GNU C library can only be compiled with the GNU C compiler family.
293 As of the 2.1 release, EGCS 1.0.3 or higher is required. GCC 2.8.1 can
294 also be used (but see the FAQ for reasons why you might not want to).
295 Earlier versions simply are too buggy.
297 You can use whatever compiler you like to compile programs that use GNU
298 libc, but be aware that both GCC 2.7 and 2.8 have bugs in their
299 floating-point support that may be triggered by the math library.
301 On Alpha machines you need at least EGCS 1.1.1. Earlier versions don't
304 For PPC you might need some patches even on top of the last EGCS version.
308 GNU @code{binutils} 2.9.1, 2.9.1.0.16, or later 2.9.1.0.x release
310 You must use GNU binutils (as and ld) if you want to build a shared
311 library. Even if you don't, we recommend you use them anyway. No one
312 has tested compilation with non-GNU binutils in a long time.
314 The quality of binutils releases has varied a bit recently. The bugs
315 are in obscure features, but glibc uses quite a few of those. 2.9.1,
316 2.9.1.0.16, and later 2.9.1.0.x releases are known to work. Versions
317 after 2.8.1.0.23 may or may not work. Older versions definitely don't.
318 2.9.1.0.16 or higher is required on some platforms, like PPC and Arm.
320 For PPC you might need some patches even on top of the last binutils
321 version. See the FAQ.
324 GNU @code{texinfo} 3.12f
326 To correctly translate and install the Texinfo documentation you need
327 this version of the @code{texinfo} package. Earlier versions do not
328 understand all the tags used in the document, and the installation
329 mechanism for the info files is not present or works differently.
332 GNU @code{awk} 3.0, or some other POSIX awk
334 Awk is used in several places to generate files. The scripts should
335 work with any POSIX-compliant awk implementation; @code{gawk} 3.0 and
336 @code{mawk} 1.3 are known to work.
341 Perl is not required, but it is used if present to test the
342 installation. We may decide to use it elsewhere in the future.
347 If you change any of the @file{configure.in} files you will also need
351 GNU @code{autoconf} 2.12 or higher
355 and if you change any of the message translation files you will need
359 GNU @code{gettext} 0.10.35 or later (version 0.10.35 is a alpha release
360 and available via ftp from alpha.gnu.org/gnu)
364 You may also need these packages if you upgrade your source tree using
365 patches, although we try to avoid this.
367 @node Supported Configurations
368 @appendixsec Supported Configurations
369 @cindex configurations, all supported
371 The GNU C Library currently supports configurations that match the
377 arm-@var{*}-linuxaout
379 i@var{x}86-@var{*}-gnu
380 i@var{x}86-@var{*}-linux
382 powerpc-@var{*}-linux
384 sparc64-@var{*}-linux
387 Former releases of this library (version 1.09.1 and perhaps earlier
388 versions) used to run on the following configurations:
392 alpha-@var{*}-linuxecoff
393 i@var{x}86-@var{*}-bsd4.3
394 i@var{x}86-@var{*}-isc2.2
395 i@var{x}86-@var{*}-isc3.@var{n}
396 i@var{x}86-@var{*}-sco3.2
397 i@var{x}86-@var{*}-sco3.2v4
398 i@var{x}86-@var{*}-sysv
399 i@var{x}86-@var{*}-sysv4
400 i@var{x}86-force_cpu386-none
401 i@var{x}86-sequent-bsd
408 m68k-sun-sunos4.@var{n}
409 mips-dec-ultrix4.@var{n}
410 mips-sgi-irix4.@var{n}
411 sparc-sun-solaris2.@var{n}
412 sparc-sun-sunos4.@var{n}
415 Since no one has volunteered to test and fix these configurations,
416 they are not supported at the moment. They probably don't compile;
417 they definitely don't work anymore. Porting the library is not hard.
418 If you are interested in doing a port, please contact the glibc
419 maintainers by sending electronic mail to @email{bug-glibc@@gnu.org}.
421 Each case of @samp{i@var{x}86} can be @samp{i386}, @samp{i486},
422 @samp{i586}, or @samp{i686}. All of those configurations produce a
423 library that can run on this processor and newer processors. The GCC
424 compiler by default generates code that's optimized for the machine it's
425 configured for and will use the instructions available on that machine.
426 For example if your GCC is configured for @samp{i686}, gcc will optimize
427 for @samp{i686} and might issue some @samp{i686} specific instructions.
428 To generate code for other models, you have to configure for that model
429 and give GCC the appropriate @samp{-march=} and @samp{-mcpu=} compiler
430 switches via @var{CFLAGS}.
433 @appendixsec Specific advice for Linux systems
434 @cindex upgrading from libc5
435 @cindex kernel header files
437 If you are installing GNU libc on a Linux system, you need to have
438 the header files from a 2.2 kernel around for reference. You do not
439 need to use the 2.2 kernel, just have its headers where glibc can get
440 at them. The easiest way to do this is to unpack it in a directory
441 such as @file{/usr/src/linux-2.2.1}. In that directory, run
442 @samp{make config} and accept all the defaults. Then run @samp{make
443 include/linux/version.h}. Finally, configure glibc with the option
444 @samp{--with-headers=/usr/src/linux-2.2.1/include}. Use the most recent
445 kernel you can get your hands on.
447 An alternate tactic is to unpack the 2.2 kernel and run @samp{make
448 config} as above. Then rename or delete @file{/usr/include}, create
449 a new @file{/usr/include}, and make the usual symbolic links of
450 @file{/usr/include/linux} and @file{/usr/include/asm} into the 2.2
451 kernel sources. You can then configure glibc with no special options.
452 This tactic is recommended if you are upgrading from libc5, since you
453 need to get rid of the old header files anyway.
455 Note that @file{/usr/include/net} and @file{/usr/include/scsi} should
456 @strong{not} be symlinks into the kernel sources. GNU libc provides its
457 own versions of these files.
459 Linux expects some components of the libc installation to be in
460 @file{/lib} and some in @file{/usr/lib}. This is handled automatically
461 if you configure glibc with @samp{--prefix=/usr}. If you set some other
462 prefix or allow it to default to @file{/usr/local}, then all the
463 components are installed there.
465 If you are upgrading from libc5, you need to recompile every shared
466 library on your system against the new library for the sake of new code,
467 but keep the old libraries around for old binaries to use. This is
468 complicated and difficult. Consult the Glibc2 HOWTO at
469 @url{http://www.imaxx.net/~thrytis/glibc} for details.
471 You cannot use @code{nscd} with 2.0 kernels, due to bugs in the
472 kernel-side thread support. @code{nscd} happens to hit these bugs
473 particularly hard, but you might have problems with any threaded
477 @appendixsec Reporting Bugs
478 @cindex reporting bugs
479 @cindex bugs, reporting
481 There are probably bugs in the GNU C library. There are certainly
482 errors and omissions in this manual. If you report them, they will get
483 fixed. If you don't, no one will ever know about them and they will
484 remain unfixed for all eternity, if not longer.
486 It is a good idea to check first that the problem was not reported
487 before. Bugs are documented in two places: The file @file{BUGS}
488 describes a number of well known bugs and the bug tracking system has a
490 @url{http://www-gnats.gnu.org:8080/cgi-bin/wwwgnats.pl}. The WWW
491 interface gives you access to open and closed reports. The closed
492 reports normally include a patch or a hint on solving the problem.
494 To report a bug, first you must find it. Hopefully, this will be the
495 hard part. Once you've found a bug, make sure it's really a bug. A
496 good way to do this is to see if the GNU C library behaves the same way
497 some other C library does. If so, probably you are wrong and the
498 libraries are right (but not necessarily). If not, one of the libraries
499 is probably wrong. It might not be the GNU library. Many historical
500 Unix C libraries permit things that we don't, such as closing a file
503 If you think you have found some way in which the GNU C library does not
504 conform to the ISO and POSIX standards (@pxref{Standards and
505 Portability}), that is definitely a bug. Report it!
507 Once you're sure you've found a bug, try to narrow it down to the
508 smallest test case that reproduces the problem. In the case of a C
509 library, you really only need to narrow it down to one library
510 function call, if possible. This should not be too difficult.
512 The final step when you have a simple test case is to report the bug.
513 Do this using the @code{glibcbug} script. It is installed with libc, or
514 if you haven't installed it, will be in your build directory. Send your
515 test case, the results you got, the results you expected, and what you
516 think the problem might be (if you've thought of anything).
517 @code{glibcbug} will insert the configuration information we need to
518 see, and ship the report off to @email{bugs@@gnu.org}. Don't send
519 a message there directly; it is fed to a program that expects mail to be
520 formatted in a particular way. Use the script.
522 If you are not sure how a function should behave, and this manual
523 doesn't tell you, that's a bug in the manual. Report that too! If the
524 function's behavior disagrees with the manual, then either the library
525 or the manual has a bug, so report the disagreement. If you find any
526 errors or omissions in this manual, please report them to the Internet
527 address @email{bug-glibc-manual@@gnu.org}. If you refer to specific
528 sections when reporting on the manual, please include the section names
529 for easier identification.